An appliance label, for buildings that draw megawatts
The European Commission proposed a common rating scheme for data centres on Monday, one that will rank individual sites on a coloured A-to-G scale of the kind already used for fridges and washing machines. It applies to any data centre with a capacity above 500 kW, and the first labels are expected to appear in 2027.
The scheme measures how efficiently a site uses energy and water rather than how much of either it consumes. There is no cap, and operators are not required to publish their total power draw. What they must report feeds an EU database, from which the labels are generated automatically.
What gets measured
Alongside energy and water efficiency, the scheme covers what the Commission calls a data centre’s contribution to the grid: the reuse of waste heat, the addition of clean generation capacity, and flexibility — the ability to adjust electricity use when the grid is strained. Water is reported in relation to local water stress, not only as a ratio.
The Commission put a number on the waste heat question in its announcement: reusing around half of all waste heat from European data centres would be equivalent to the total heating demand of four million European households.
The capacity the rules are built for
The scheme is being written into an expansion the Commission itself is pushing. The EU wants to triple its data centre capacity over the next five to seven years, and the Commission argues that growth on that scale brings pressure on electricity grids, water and emissions that has to be addressed rather than waited out.
“Tripling our data centre capacity cannot mean tripling the pressure on our grids, our water and our energy bills,” Teresa Ribera, the Commission vice-president responsible for the clean transition, said in remarks reported by RTÉ. The same report cites an International Energy Agency estimate that the sector will account for more than 3% of EU electricity demand by 2030.
Voluntary now, possibly not later
On the same day, the Commission opened a call for evidence and public consultation on minimum performance standards for data centres operating in Europe. That is the step that would turn a transparency scheme into a floor, and the Commission has said it is looking into setting such standards.
The instrument itself is a Delegated Regulation, which now goes to the European Parliament and the Council for a two-month scrutiny period. The co-legislators can object to the delegated act — questioning the delegated power or the process — but they cannot propose changes to the text.
What to watch
A first review of the scheme is due by the end of 2028. Before that, the Commission is following up on a declaration of intent signed in June 2026 with data centre operators, grid operators, energy providers and public authorities, working towards what it calls a tripartite agreement on data centres in the second half of this year. The open question is whether a label nobody is required to beat changes what gets built.
