A new report from Greenpeace Australia Pacific calls for a nationwide moratorium on data centre development in Australia. The report argues that the tech industry will not build enough renewable energy to match the surging electricity demand from AI data centres, and that gas-fired data centres could worsen emissions. The author, Ketan Joshi, warns that current projections keep underestimating demand and that a pause is needed to put proper regulation in place. The article points to a pattern of big tech companies lobbying to avoid binding renewable energy requirements. Without a moratorium, the risk is that data centre growth will lock in new fossil fuel generation and slow Australia's progress on decarbonization. The piece is part of a broader series tracking how data centre expansion is colliding with climate policy in Australia.
