Tuesday April 14, the National Assembly adopted a new law which should facilitate the establishment of data centers in France, while the think tank The Shift Project pleads for the establishment of national and territorial planning for the entire sector, in a new report published the same day.
The alerts from several associations and the publication of a new report from the Shift Project think tank will not have made French parliamentarians bend. In a context where data centers are applauded by some while others call for more planning, or even limitation, the National Assembly finally approved, on Tuesday April 14, the bill aimed at simplifying economic life. One of its flagship measures (article 15) consists of simplifying the administrative procedures for companies wishing to set up data centers in France.
Thus, a data center which takes on “ particular importance for the digital transition, the ecological transition or national sovereignty can also be qualified by decree as a project of major national interest (PINM)”, specifies article 15. It will however be possible to refuse the building permit “ of a data center located in an area experiencing structural tensions on water resources », details the text.
What does this PINM status change?
The bill is part of the government’s desire to make France an El Dorado for data centers, with the country opening its arms wide to any data center project for reasons of digital sovereignty and the race for AI. These infrastructures, essential to artificial intelligence, consume a lot of electricity: an ingredient that EDF has in abundance, particularly thanks to its nuclear capacities. However, the text was greeted with gnashing of teeth by several associations, which had been pleading for weeks for its abandonment.
Because once this PINM status is in hand, those responsible for the data center project will be able to escape some of their environmental obligations such as those relating to the protection of endangered species. The government will be able to bypass the local authorities normally competent in this matter, warned a group of association and union leaders, in an article published on April 8 in Liberation.
Among the signatories, the digital rights defense association Quadrature du Net calls for the establishment of a moratorium “ on the construction of these large server warehouses “. For Pauline Denis, responsible for Digital for the Shift Project, this think tank chaired by engineer Jean-Marc Jancovici, the text above all allows data centers to be removed from the public debate: a problem for this sector which is, for the moment, not the subject of any planning in the law, ” even if it is starting to happen at RTE and in the draft national low carbon strategy 3 », she explains to us.
In the data center sector, “everything is done backwards”: zero planning, but regulatory changes
In this sector, “ everything is done backwards. We have regulatory changes pushed by the industry, without planning. We call for the construction of a national planning with a consumption ceiling trajectory (…), but also to the construction of a territorial planning with the existence of processes (…) which involve all stakeholders, including territorial “, she pleads.
Coincidence of the calendar, the day of the vote, the Shift Project presented a new report listing its 20 priority projects to carry out to achieve carbon neutrality. Among these projects, the think tank, which intends to influence the future presidential campaign with its studies on “the key issues of decarbonization”calls, contrary to the desires of public decision-makers, for a “ mastery of data center deployment » in France.
Because if, today, the government’s objective is to welcome as many data center projects as possible, with its fast track procedure which aims to accelerate the 5 to 7 years necessary to set up a center on French territory, or even the publication of a guide intended for local authorities, ” oWe don’t even prioritize European players when we welcome them (data center projects). They are exempt, they contribute nothing economically speaking », tackles Pauline Denis, in charge of digital within the think tank.
Also read: The European Commission will have a “sovereign cloud”, several French players in the ranks
NGOs warn of European docility towards digital giants
In 2025, half of RTE connection requests concerned data centers
👉🏻 Follow tech news in real time: add 01net to your sources on Google, and subscribe to our WhatsApp channel.
