Scotland’s proposed artificial intelligence (AI) data centers could become the country’s biggest source of pollution by 2030, consuming more than half of its remaining carbon budget, environmental campaigners have warned.

Friends of the Earth Scotland published emissions estimates based on 23 proposed data center projects currently going through planning processes in various Scottish councils.

According to the group, if all 23 projects receive approval, they could generate 14 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually by 2030, accounting for 208 million tonnes over their lifetime and consuming 51% of Scotland’s remaining carbon budget.

The Scottish government has set a total carbon budget of 406 million tonnes for the period up to 2045, by which time it has committed to achieving net-zero emissions.

The campaign group also estimated that Scotland’s existing data center capacity of around 50 megawatts (MW) could increase 182-fold to 9,100 MW if all proposed facilities are built.

“Data centres risk torpedoing Scotland’s climate plans. If ministers approved all these projects, every other sector of Scottish life would have to cut its climate pollution further and faster,” Kim Pratt, a senior campaigner at Friends of the Earth Scotland, told the National.

“We can’t allow our remaining climate budget to be wasted on AI slop instead of vital services, food production and things people genuinely need,” she added.

Kat Jones, director of Action to Protect Rural Scotland, warned that building all hyperscale data centers in the electricity grid queue could triple Scotland’s peak energy demand.

“If every hyperscale data centre in the grid queue was to be built it would triple Scotland’s peak energy demand, we would see new records set for air pollution, and the process of decarbonising our economy would be set back by decades,” she said.