{"slug": "london-s-ps14-7b-ai-data-centre-s-annual-carbon-emissions-could-equal-8480-new", "title": "London's £14.7B AI Data Centre's Annual Carbon Emissions Could Equal 8,480 New York Flights", "summary": "Digital Reef's proposed £14.7B ($20.1B) East Havering Data Centre Campus in North Ockendon, London, would emit an estimated 1.2 million tonnes of CO2 annually once fully operational, equivalent to 8,480 one-way flights from Heathrow to John F Kennedy, according to planning documents analyzed by The Guardian. The developer's own submission concedes the project 'does not align with a science-based 1.5C compatible trajectory and achieving net zero by 2050,' with total emissions over 60 years exceeding 72 million tonnes. The campus would draw 2.65 billion kWh of electricity per year at 50% load, matching the demand of over 1 million UK homes, and would require a £77.6M ($105.9M) payment to the borough's carbon offset fund to cover the shortfall by 2038.", "body_md": "# London's £14.7B AI Data Centre's Annual Carbon Emissions Could Equal 8,480 New York Flights\n\n## Proposed data centre in East Havering faces scrutiny over projected carbon emissions and energy demands\n\nOne of Britain's largest planned data centres would generate carbon emissions its own developer concedes are incompatible with the UK's net zero targets.\n\nPlanning papers for the £14.7B ($20.1B) East Havering Data Centre Campus estimate the site would emit 1.2M tonnes of carbon dioxide a year once fully running, roughly the same as 8,480 long-haul flights from London to New York.\n\nThe project, drawn up by developer Digital Reef, would cover 218 hectares of green belt at North Ockendon, east of London. If Havering council approves it, the campus would rank among Europe's largest, running [servers for AI and cloud computing](https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ai-power-demands-threaten-data-centre-stability-1812899).\n\nDigital Reef bills the plan as a sustainable campus of the future. Yet its own submission states the development 'does not align with a science-based 1.5C compatible trajectory and achieving net zero by 2050.' Over a projected 60-year life, the papers put total emissions above 72M tonnes of CO2 equivalent.\n\nThe flight figure comes from the UN's International Civil Aviation Organization calculator, for one-way Heathrow to John F Kennedy trips. An analysis of planning filings for dozens of proposed UK data centres, carried out by *The Guardian*, found East Havering carries the highest projected emissions any developer has yet disclosed.\n\n## Power Demand to Match a Million Homes\n\nMost of that demand lands on the electricity grid. Digital Reef told planners that at a 'likely' 50% load, the campus would draw 2.65B kWh of electricity a year. Against [Ofgem's figure ](https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/uk-data-centres-power-connection-deposits-1811292)of 2,500 kWh for the average household, that is the yearly demand of more than 1M UK homes.\n\nFeeding it needs a 600MVA connection via the Warley substation and major new grid works, due by 2033.\n\nDonald Campbell, advocacy director at tech justice group Foxglove, called the projected emissions 'staggering'. He said, 'It's a big threat to the ability to decarbonise in the UK. It's also going to be a big drain on important resources that are needed by homes and other businesses.'\n\n## A £77.6M Bill to Cover the Shortfall\n\nBy 2038, the campus alone would consume nearly 20 times Havering borough's entire carbon budget, and almost 1% of the UK's, the documents show. Where the zero-carbon target cannot be met on site, any shortfall would be paid into the borough's carbon offset fund. Digital Reef puts that figure at about £77.6M ($105.9M).\n\nCampbell said the burden was landing in the wrong place. 'They shouldn't just plug into the grid and [drain the power ](https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/north-lanarkshire-data-centre-expansion-concerns-1814997)that everyone else needs,' he said, arguing such sites will serve the world's wealthiest companies and should carry the cost.\n\n## Another Council Cleared a Million-Tonne Data Centre\n\nNorth Ockendon is not the first case. In March 2026, North Lincolnshire councillors unanimously approved the Elsham data centre, whose paperwork forecast peak emissions of 1,004,478 tonnes by 2033-34, a total the council report described as 'not significant'. Foxglove said officials reached that by weighing one year of the plant's pollution against five years of the whole UK's, a comparison it called 'both mistaken and deeply misleading.'\n\nMinisters designated data centres 'critical national infrastructure' in 2024, on a par with water, energy, and emergency services. In January 2026 the rules changed again, letting developers seek approval directly from central government and largely bypass local authorities. Neso, the grid operator, told MPs that developers have already requested 72.8GW of connections by 2039, nearly 60% above Britain's peak power demand last year.\n\n*Carbon Brief* Disputes the Government's Figures\n\nIndependent analysis suggests the national total could run far higher than official modelling shows. Government modelling put emissions from AI computing at just 142,000 tonnes by 2035.\n\n*Carbon Brief* found the real figure could be hundreds of times higher if even a slice of the power comes from gas, potentially matching the yearly output of Denmark or Sweden and reaching 20% of the UK's projected emissions.\n\nData centres could also drive up to £35B ($47.8B) into British renewables if clean supply keeps pace, *Carbon Brief* noted. The first consultation on East Havering closed in April 2026, with a revised plan due this autumn.\n\nCouncillor Keith Prince, Reform UK leader of Havering council, said it would be 'wrong' to comment before a decision. Digital Reef did not respond to a request for comment.\n\n© Copyright IBTimes 2026. All rights reserved.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/london-s-ps14-7b-ai-data-centre-s-annual-carbon-emissions-could-equal-8480-new", "canonical_source": "https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/east-havering-data-centre-carbon-emissions-1815792", "published_at": "2026-08-24 06:39:45+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-24 06:44:13.726555+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-infrastructure", "ai-policy", "ai-ethics"], "entities": ["Digital Reef", "East Havering Data Centre Campus", "The Guardian", "Foxglove", "Donald Campbell", "Havering Council", "North Lincolnshire Council", "Elsham data centre"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/london-s-ps14-7b-ai-data-centre-s-annual-carbon-emissions-could-equal-8480-new", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/london-s-ps14-7b-ai-data-centre-s-annual-carbon-emissions-could-equal-8480-new.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/london-s-ps14-7b-ai-data-centre-s-annual-carbon-emissions-could-equal-8480-new.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/london-s-ps14-7b-ai-data-centre-s-annual-carbon-emissions-could-equal-8480-new.jsonld"}}