Infrastructure Market: EU Proposes Data Center Label to Measure AI Energy, Water Use

The European Commission has proposed a mandatory sustainability rating for data centers in the EU, aiming to make energy and water consumption comparable, similar to household appliance energy labels. Based on Article 33 of the EU Energy Efficiency Directive, the rating would apply to data centers with installed IT capacity of 500 kW or above, evaluating Power Usage Effectiveness, Water Usage Effectiveness, and renewable energy share, with stricter rules for green power claims. Labels would be generated automatically, updated annually, and made publicly accessible, with the first round planned for 2027. The article highlights rising data center energy demand—IEA projects global consumption to more than double to around 945 TWh by 2030—and discusses interim power solutions including gas turbines and nuclear/SMR investments. It also covers research by Silicon Austria Labs into energy-efficient AI hardware accelerators based on RISC-V and on-device AI to reduce data center load.