A backlash against data centres is spilling into French municipal election races

By Layli Foroudi and Forrest Crellin

LE BOURGET, France, March 13 (Reuters) - In the town of Le Bourget outside Paris, Sofiane Milous, a candidate in France's municipal elections, is vowing to reverse plans for a data centre he says will intensify heat islands, worsen noise pollution and create few local jobs.

The former judo champion, running on a green ticket, said the race to build artificial intelligence data centres was no answer to the industrial decline of working‑class towns like his, where manufacturer Alstom shut a plant three decades ago.

"We lost an industry that gave us a livelihood, even if it polluted, and now we face this new 'industry 4.0' that doesn’t create jobs for residents," Milous told Reuters.

President Emmanuel Macron has championed data centres as key to regaining control over critical tech infrastructure and last year declared France was "back in the AI race" with plans for 109 billion euros ($126 billion) in private-sector investment.

But local resistance is growing, fuelled by concerns over strains on the power grid, pollution and the dominance of U.S. Big Tech.

France holds municipal elections over two rounds on March 15 and 22, with the race for the control of more than 35,000 town and city halls seen as a test of the far right's ability to deepen its support base ahead of a presidential vote in 2027.

A Reuters tally found that candidates in at least 10 towns - including Marseille and Bordeaux - are campaigning against new data centres or calling for moratoriums or more transparency.

While not decisive in this election, these campaigns highlight rising voter concern over the issue, which has become central in smaller communities such as Le Bourget.

This mirrors trends across Europe and the United States, where a surge in data centre construction has fuelled a backlash and turned power use and Big Tech's footprint into electoral issues on a local and national level.

EUROPEAN BACKLASH WIDENS

In Ireland, where data centres consume 22% of national electricity, opposition parties have criticised the government's move to lift an effective four-year moratorium on grid connection. Near London, a hyperscale data centre faces a legal challenge from campaigners who argue the project failed to account for climate-change impacts.

Amid a surge in grid requests, France is also cracking down on speculative investors acquiring land for "zombie" projects, following similar steps taken in Britain late last year.

Opponents range from environmentalists and academics to property owners and labour groups, said Chris Adams, director of technology and policy at the Green Web Foundation.

"It's an unregulated industry that is now upsetting people across the political spectrum," he said.

COMPETING DEMAND FOR POWER

France is promoting its nuclear power as a relatively cheap, abundant source of carbon‑free energy as it competes with neighbours such as Britain and Germany to attract new data‑centre investment.

The Seine-Saint-Denis prefecture approved the Le Bourget project in January, requiring developer Segro Bourget to conduct additional studies on noise and air pollution and hold a public meeting. Segro Bourget did not comment.

Outgoing right-wing mayor Jean‑Baptiste Borsali has said he trusts the state's assessment and that the centre could benefit half the town's residents through heat recovery. He did not respond to interview requests.

At the Le Bourget market one Saturday ahead of the election, several shoppers said the project would determine their vote.

"I signed the petition — it's right next to schools. I want a park for my children; we have no green space," said Veronique Pernolet, a 28-year-old teacher who lives near the former H&M warehouse where the facility is planned.

In Marseille, where undersea cables have made the port city a data centre hotspot, left‑wing candidate Sebastien Barles is calling for a moratorium.

"We have significant electricity needs - powering ships at dock, ship‑repair facilities - and these data centres consume a large share of available power," said Barles, who is running with the France Unbowed list.

In Wissous, south of Paris, municipal candidate Philippe de Fruyt is bringing a legal challenge due to be heard in court next week to block the extension of an existing data centre used by Amazon. Amazon did not comment.

LEGISLATIVE PUSH

Connecting a new data centre in Europe's major markets can take on average seven to 10 years, though access to the French grid is relatively unconstrained compared to some of its neighbours, according to climate think tank Ember.

A draft law proposes classifying data centres as “projects of national interest”, reducing legal and environmental hurdles and allowing the state to bypass local authorities. The bill is currently stuck in France's parliament.

Some academics and politicians say the measures would weaken public input.

"We've seen what happened in the U.S., where so many data centres were built that serious opposition emerged," said Anthony Devillet, of The Cloud Is Under Our Feet advocacy group. "With the rise of AI, I think the debate will become omnipresent here."

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