676 square metres of protest: Greenpeace lays giant banner beside data centre site

On Friday, 6 November, a banner measuring 26 by 26 metres lay in a meadow in Beringen, canton Schaffhausen. Greenpeace activists had spread it out right beside a site where US company STACK Infrastructure is developing a data centre. Drone footage published by Euronews shows the action from the air.

It showed images of tech entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos alongside the slogan “Big Tech Bros suck our water, electricity, data”.

What Greenpeace wants

The organisation is calling for a nationwide moratorium on new mega data centres, to stay in place until binding rules protect energy supplies, water resources and the public interest.

Greenpeace argues that the rapid expansion is putting growing pressure on local infrastructure. According to the organisation, the two facilities planned in Beringen could together use around one and a half times as much electricity a year as the entire canton of Schaffhausen – plus substantial amounts of water for cooling. It also asks how the waste heat will be reused and who will ultimately benefit from the projects.

Part of an international campaign

According to Euronews, the action is part of an international campaign against the unchecked expansion of large data centres, with similar actions in other European countries.

The consumption figures come from Greenpeace and have not been independently verified here.