Vast AI data centres planned for Scotland spark fury amid ‘Olympic-level greenwashing’
dailyrecord.co.uk Jun 14, 2026

Vast AI data centres planned for Scotland spark fury amid ‘Olympic-level greenwashing’

AI-summarised brief · reviewed before publication

Two massive 'hyperscale' data centres are planned for Scotland, sparking fury among locals who accuse developers of "Olympic-level greenwashing". Planning applications have been submitted for sites in Stirlingshire and Fife, with the latter being bigger than 50 football pitches. The proposed data centres would guzzle huge amounts of electricity, with research suggesting that if all 16 large data centres currently in planning went ahead, their energy use would be 1.5 times greater than peak winter demand for Scotland. Locals are protesting the plans, citing concerns over the environmental impact and job creation claims. The projects have sparked widespread opposition, with nearly 800 objections lodged against the Larbert bid.

💡 Why It Matters

  • · Scotland's natural resources are being exploited to power the data centres of US tech giants, undermining the country's own environmental goals.
  • · The true beneficiaries of these projects are major investment firms and tech companies, rather than local communities.