In this context, energy efficiency in data centres is not a technical detail but a strategic policy lever. It is directly linked to the EU’s objectives on climate neutrality, energy security and strategic autonomy. Stronger and clearer efficiency requirements for data centres can deliver a material contribution to EU energy efficiency and climate targets, while reducing pressure on electricity grids and limiting the need for costly new generation and network investments.

By 2030, efficiency measures could realistically offset between 30 and 45 percent of the projected increase in electricity demand from data centres, saving 20 to 30 terawatt-hours per year. This is electricity that Europe would not need to generate, transport or store. In system terms, energy efficiency is the fastest, cheapest and most resilient capacity the EU can deploy.

Efficiency will not stop digital demand from growing. But without ambitious efficiency policies, data centre expansion would be almost twice as expensive for the European energy system, with higher costs ultimately borne by consumers, industry and public budgets. This is why efficiency must be treated as a strategic enabler of digital growth, not as a secondary optimisation exercise or a regulatory burden.

The sector itself has already demonstrated what is achievable when technology, economics and incentives are aligned. Over the past two decades, facility energy overheads in data centres have been reduced by almost half, with average PUE values falling from around 2.5 to close to 1.1. At the same time, computing efficiency has improved by roughly a factor of one hundred, with energy use per computation falling by about 99%.

As data centres increasingly resemble energy-intensive industrial installations, their impacts on electricity grids, water resources and local communities can no longer be treated as peripheral issues. This makes the case for EU-level coordination and regulation even stronger, ensuring a level playing field across Member States and avoiding a fragmented approach driven by short-term competition for investment.

Yet in many EU digital policy debates, speed, scale and global competitiveness still dominate the narrative, while efficiency is perceived as a potential constraint on deployment. At the same time, the benefits of efficiency are systemic and long-term, whereas the political and economic pressure to build new capacity is immediate.

Addressing this imbalance requires a shift in EU political framing.

Energy and water efficiency must become explicit priorities in EU digital, AI and industrial strategies, not issues delegated exclusively to energy policy. Stable, predictable and coherent EU regulation is essential to provide certainty for investment and innovation. And sustainable digital infrastructure must be clearly framed as a competitive advantage for Europe, strengthening resilience, lowering system costs and supporting climate objectives.

If the European Union wants digital growth that is compatible with its Green Deal, its energy security goals and its ambition for strategic autonomy, energy efficiency in data centres must move from the margins to the core of EU digital policy.

Monica Frassoni
President, EU-ASE
Brussels, 29 January 2026

Among these solutions, one in particular continues to be underestimated: the drastic and possible reduction of energy demand. It is a powerful lever, decisive also in countering an increasingly widespread ideological narrative: that of so-called “technological neutrality”. In practice, this concept often becomes an excuse to indiscriminately support all energy production technologies, irrespective of their concrete operativity, from “clean” gas to expensive, imaginary and distant technologies such as “clean” nuclear power or carbon capture. This approach has a specific effect: it deflects the urgency of cutting emissions immediately, diverts resources and priorities away from renewables and energy efficiency, and condemns us to an endless transition, while continuing to happily depend on gas.

It is a perverse logic that keeps some governments and unfortunately also part of the industrial world – behind on renewables, uninterested in energy efficiency and all too vocal on nuclear power.

Yet the data speaks for itself. Without the efficiency measures already in place, the EU’s energy consumption would be 27% higher today, equivalent to the combined consumption of France, Germany and Finland. And if we fully achieve the targets set, we could save €33 billion a year in energy imports by 2030, rising to over €70 billion by 2040.

Every percentage point of improvement in energy efficiency equates to a 2.6% cut in gas imports. And, crucially after events such as the blackout in Spain, managing electricity consumption more flexibly, avoiding peaks, could reduce the investment needed in networks by 35%. That is no small thing.

It is precisely to put this often overlooked issue back at the centre of the agenda that on 12 and 13 June, the International Energy Agency, together with the EU Commission and a group of multinationals united in the EE Movement, organised the tenth edition of the Global Energy Efficiency Conference. This is a high-level annual event, which this year brought together over 700 participants from around 100 countries.

The focus of the 2025 edition was the preparation of COP30 in Belém and the translation into concrete actions of the commitments made in Dubai during COP28: the start of the phase-out of fossil fuels, the doubling of the annual rate of improvement in energy efficiency (from 2% to 4%) and the tripling of installed renewable energy capacity by 2030. At a time when the European Green Deal is under pressure and the Commission is tempted to reopen – under the pretext of simplification – regulations that have already been approved, the decision to hold the conference in Brussels took on significant political value.

It has brought back into the spotlight a fundamental issue that is often sacrificed in favour of more “glamorous” discussions, such as those on gas or nuclear power, and has provided an opportunity to share solutions that are already available and, in many cases, are just waiting to be implemented on a large scale.

The event also showed that, at global level, a significant number of governments, businesses and social actors are pushing hard for energy consumption reduction, recognising it as a crucial component of the transition and a guarantee of energy independence and security. Private meetings between CEOs and ministers, working sessions organised by technical bodies such as the ECEEE, and strategic discussions on the role of industrial parks and smart grids enriched the debate, culminating in an official commitment by 47 countries to consider energy efficiency a political priority in all sectors.

As for the European Union, Commissioner Dan Jørgensen took the opportunity to launch a ten-point action plan to “give new impetus” to energy efficiency. The measures announced include greater support for Member States in implementing directives on efficiency, ecodesign and the energy performance of buildings, the inclusion of specific provisions on efficiency in the new legislative package on networks and electrification, instruments to facilitate investment in the transport, construction and industrial processes sectors, and the introduction of guarantee schemes for small and medium-sized enterprises. Finally, the promise to present a legislative package dedicated to the energy efficiency of data centres by early 2026 is particularly significant.

However, alongside the enthusiasm expressed by Commissioner Jørgensen, who has always been personally committed to this issue, there remain serious concerns about the EU’s action. According to the recently published report on the state of implementation of the National Energy and Climate Plans, the commitments made by governments indicate that the EU is on track with regard to renewables and emissions reduction, but energy efficiency remains dramatically behind: compared to a European target of an 11.7% reduction in final consumption by 2030 compared to the baseline scenario, the measures currently envisaged in the national plans would lead to an improvement of only 8%.

It should be noted that the 11.7% target set in the 2023 European Energy Efficiency Directive corresponds to a final energy consumption of 763 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe) and a primary consumption of 992.5 Mtoe, with a reduction from previous levels equivalent, in practice, to the annual energy consumption of a country such as Spain.

Despite these undeniable figures, many Member States remain reluctant to allocate adequate resources, particularly in the building and transport sectors. Utilities are also far from enthusiastic about the new demand reduction obligations contained in the efficiency directive. Furthermore, the EU executive has not shelved the idea of simplifying – i.e. weakening – some of the regulations in the Fit for 55 package. Only joint action by businesses and NGOs has so far prevented the reopening of the directives on energy efficiency and energy performance of buildings. However, pressure from the more conservative industrial world and political forces opposed to the transition shows no sign of abating.

Finally, in the delicate discussions that have been going on for months on the revision of the Climate Law, aimed at defining new interim targets for 2040, it is the European Commission itself that seems not to envisage any specific targets for energy efficiency, which would risk making the 2030 target less binding. This is a perplexing choice, justified by some with the widespread but unfounded argument that reducing energy demand would slow economic growth. Yet the data show exactly the opposite: while EU emissions have fallen by 37% since 1990, GDP has grown by 68% over the same period. This is a clear sign that reducing energy consumption is not only compatible with development but can actually be one of its main drivers, activating technological supply chains, generating employment and increasing competitiveness. In short, reducing energy demand in homes, industry and transport today means boosting economic activity, not depressing it.

In this context, the event organised by the IEA offered an encouraging sign: the clearest and most resolute voices came from businesses themselves. In particular, Anne-Laure de Chammard, executive vice president of Siemens, forcefully summarised a message that we fully share: businesses have a direct responsibility to push for the consistent application of regulations that have already been approved, without reopening or dismantling what has been painstakingly built; and it is precisely businesses that need to provide more explicit examples, highlighting the concrete benefits of energy efficiency: competitiveness, innovation and resilience. Rather than reopening or dismantling, what is needed today is a strong awareness-raising campaign to make the concrete, tangible and accessible results that energy efficiency can offer visible to the public and governments: a positive, clear and, in some ways, unusual message. This is especially true for those of us in Italy who are used to hearing only complaints and calls to scale back the Green Deal from institutional representatives of much of the business community.

Monica Frassoni
President, EU-ASE
Brussels, 16 June 2025

Article published on GreenReport: https://www.greenreport.it/editoriale/56263-priorita-allefficienza-energetica-il-green-deal-contro-la-cultura-della-guerra