Inspraak Minimum performance standards for data centres in Europe
Full official title
Establishment of common Union minimum performance standards for data centres located in its territoryopen on 5 Oct 2026 Open for answers from 21 Sep 2026 to 14 Dec 2026 (open). Answer on the Commission's site. Topics: Energy.
What the Commission proposes
The European Commission is preparing an initiative to establish common Union minimum performance standards for data centres located in its territory. Building on existing reporting and rating schemes under the Energy Efficiency Directive, the proposed regulation aims to phase out unsustainable practices and technologies in new or retrofitted facilities. The initiative seeks to address rising energy and water consumption, limited waste heat reuse, and regulatory fragmentation across Member States. An impact assessment is planned for late 2026, with a legislative proposal anticipated in the second quarter of 2027.
- Establish common EU minimum performance standards for data centres regarding energy efficiency, water use, waste-heat reuse, and grid services.
- Form the third step in the EU sustainability framework for data centres, following the 2024 reporting scheme and the 2026 rating scheme.
- Prevent divergent national approaches and reduce regulatory fragmentation across Member States.
- Improve sector competitiveness and reduce operational costs by cutting energy and water waste.
- Support energy system integration by aligning data centre operations with power grid and heat network needs.
- Prepare an impact assessment in Q4 2026 to support the drafting of the legislative proposal for Q2 2027.
Affected, as named in the text: European industries; private stakeholders; industry; associations; public stakeholders; Member States; regulators; data centre operators.
What is asked: The consultation aims to collect in-depth evidence, information, data and feedback from stakeholders on the need for and feasibility of minimum performance standards for data centres in the EU, the most appropriate way to establish them, which indicators should have standards, and what thresholds should be set.
Summary written from 11 passages of the Commission document by gemini-3.5-flash-lite on 3 Oct 2026; cached and shared by every organisation.
Dossier summary from the portal
EU rules on energy efficiency introduced provisions to promote the energy efficiency and sustainability of data centres. With this initiative, the European Commission aims to establish common Union minimum performance standards for data centres located in its territory.
Commission documents: Establishment of common Union minimum performance standards for data centres... (EN, 3 pages).
Who has already answered
23 submissions in the snapshot (5 from organisations), portal total 23. Feedback list on the portal.
5 of 5 organisation submissions analysed; the model reads them as: wants changes 2 3 held back for review (low confidence).
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Hydrogen Ireland Association Business association, IRL; register: Trade and business associations model reads as: wants changes source
- Recognise the role of hydrogen in providing zero-carbon backup and long-duration resilience.
1. Recognise hydrogens role in providing zerocarbon backup and longduration resilience
- Support onsite electrolysis and clean generation as part of data centre design.
2. Support onsite electrolysis and clean generation as part of datacentre design
- Reward flexibility services that reduce system costs and integrate more renewables.
3. Reward flexibility services that reduce system costs and integrate more renewables
- Recognise the role of hydrogen in providing zero-carbon backup and long-duration resilience.
-
DigitalTrade4.EU Other, EST; register: Other organisations, public or mixed entities model reads as: wants changes source
- Ensure binding thresholds are based on robust evidence rather than applied mechanically to an immature dataset.
binding thresholds should be based on robust, comparable and enforcement-ready evidence rather than applied mechanically to an immature dataset.
- Calibrate each KPI separately and keep measurement rules and methodology versions explicit.
recommend that the Commission calibrate each KPI separately, keep measurement rules and methodology versions explicit
- Avoid rules that unintentionally penalise AI, HPC, liquid cooling, necessary redundancy or economically proportionate retrofits.
avoid rules that unintentionally penalise AI/HPC, liquid cooling, necessary redundancy or economically proportionate retrofits.
- Ensure binding thresholds are based on robust evidence rather than applied mechanically to an immature dataset.
Who met the cabinets on the subject
60 meetings by subject similarity, approximate
subject match, approximate The top 60 cabinet meetings by similarity (the list stops at 60) whose recorded subject is close to this consultation's title and summary (embedding similarity at 0.45 or more, cached from the nightly map). Generic subjects such as "exchange of views on EU regulation" also pass, so read this as a lead, not a finding. Source: Commission meetings file, portal.
| Date | Cabinet | Interest representative | Subject as recorded |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 Jun 2026 | Commissioner Dan Jørgensen | Data4 (Companies & groups) | Data centers in Europe |
| 9 Apr 2025 | Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra | Everpure, Inc. (Companies & groups) | Discussion on the energy efficiency potential for data centers |
| 9 Apr 2025 | Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra | Madoqua Renewables Holding (Companies & groups) | Discussion on the energy efficiency potential for data centers |
| 3 Apr 2025 | Commissioner Dan Jørgensen | Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners P/S (Companies & groups) | How Europe can build up the capacity of energy instruments capacity |
| 17 Feb 2025 | Commissioner Jessika Roswall | Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V. (Non-governmental organisations, platforms and networks and similar) | European Commission Priorities |
| 8 Sep 2025 | Executive Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné | OVH Groupe (Companies & groups) | Feuille de route de la Commission européenne en matière de compétitivité et de souveraineté ; réforme des marchés publics ; Cyber resilience act ; localisation des data centers. |
| 8 May 2026 | Commissioner Dan Jørgensen | Grundfos A/S (Companies & groups) | Energy efficiency and data centres |
| 9 Apr 2025 | Commissioner Dan Jørgensen | Everpure, Inc. (Companies & groups) | Energy efficiency, data centres |
| 1 Oct 2025 | Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva | Commissariat à l'Energie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (Think tanks and research institutions) | • EU R&I policies and recent initiatives related to energy • European Strategy on research and technology infrastructures • Commission’s proposal for the Euratom Research and Training Programme 2028-2034 • Developments in innovat |
| 27 May 2026 | Commissioner Jessika Roswall | Fortum Oyj (Companies & groups) | Commission’s draft Delegated Regulation establishing a common Union rating scheme for datacenters |
| 21 Feb 2025 | Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen | Suomen itsenäisyyden juhlarahasto (Other organisations, public or mixed entities) | EU data union |
| 7 Jul 2026 | Executive Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné | Data4 (Companies & groups) | General exchange on data centre infrastructure and its role in European digital and industrial competitiveness. |
| 20 Nov 2025 | President Ursula von der Leyen | OVH Groupe (Companies & groups) | To discuss European Cloud and Data Strategy |
| 3 Sep 2025 | Executive Vice-President Raffaele Fitto | UniCredit (Companies & groups) | General discussion on the priorities of the European Commission |
| 27 Mar 2025 | Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen | InterDigital, Inc. (Companies & groups) | EU tech competitiveness agenda and standardization policy |
| 3 Jun 2025 | Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen | Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos (Think tanks and research institutions); Helsinki EU Office (Other organisations, public or mixed entities) | Discussion on the Data Union Strategy, access to health data for health research, and EU crisis resilience and preparedness |
| 27 Jan 2025 | Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis | EuroGeographics (Other organisations, public or mixed entities) | European data space |
| 9 Sep 2026 | Commissioner Dan Jørgensen | Polish Electricity Association (Trade and business associations) | Priorities for EU energy policy |
| 13 Nov 2025 | Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra | Bitkom e.V. (Trade and business associations) | The intersection of digitalization and climate policy in the European Union, data centers, AI, and sustainability efforts. |
| 22 Jun 2026 | Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis | Insurance Europe (Trade and business associations) | European Sustainability reporting standards |
| 9 Apr 2025 | Commissioner Michael McGrath | Everpure, Inc. (Companies & groups) | Exchange of views on competitiveness and data centre energy efficiency |
| 1 Jul 2025 | Executive Vice-President Raffaele Fitto | EPIA SolarPower Europe (Trade and business associations) | SolarPower Europe proposals for the sector development and the EU involvement. |
| 28 Apr 2026 | Executive Vice-President Raffaele Fitto | European Alliance to Save Energy (Trade and business associations) | Energy Efficiency and EU Competitiveness |
| 17 Jun 2026 | Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis | Siemens AG (Companies & groups); Alstom (Companies & groups); Schneider Electric (Companies & groups); Manufacture Française des Pneumatiques Michelin (Companies & groups); Orange (Companies & groups) | European Sustainability Reporting Standards |
| 20 Apr 2026 | Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis | DIGITALEUROPE (Trade and business associations) | European Sustainability Reporting Standards |
| 19 Mar 2026 | Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis | Cattaneo Zanetto Pomposo & Co. (Professional consultancies) | European Sustainability Reporting Standards |
| 2 Mar 2026 | Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis | WWF European Policy Programme (Non-governmental organisations, platforms and networks and similar); Frank Bold Society (Non-governmental organisations, platforms and networks and similar) | European Sustainability Reporting Standards |
| 10 Feb 2026 | Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis | Danfoss A/S (Companies & groups); Orange (Companies & groups); ABB Ltd (Companies & groups); Siemens AG (Companies & groups); Schneider Electric (Companies & groups); Manufacture Française des Pneumatiques Michelin (Companies & groups); SAP (Companies & groups) | European Sustainability Reporting Standards |
| 29 Jan 2026 | Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis | Stiftung Familienunternehmen und Politik (Trade and business associations) | European Sustainability Reporting Standards |
| 17 Dec 2025 | Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis | Manufacture Française des Pneumatiques Michelin (Companies & groups) | European Sustainability Reporting Standards |
Showing 30 of 60.