‘You can’t put that genie back in the bottle’: Greens call for one-year pause on AI data centres

Sunday, 26 July 2026

The Green Party says it wants a one-year “pause” on consenting new AI data centres in New Zealand.

Co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said the data centres could currently be approved with little public say, despite their potential environmental impacts and enormous power usage.

Other jurisdictions, in particular Australia, have changed rules to require data centres to underwrite their own power and minimise water use.

New artificial intelligence data centres in New Zealand have caused a stir in local communities, with concerns about their huge drain on electricity.

And the Green Party now wants a halt on any new data centres until rules can be drawn up to properly measure their impact.

The party, which is holding its annual general meeting in Auckland on Sunday, announced a policy of pausing any data centre consents for a year. It comes after the Labor-led Government in Australia tightened the rules for these developments.

“Right now, AI data centres can be consented behind closed doors, with no community input,” said co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick.

“Experience overseas has seen these projects turn local water supply to sludge and suck huge amounts of energy, driving up prices for regular people.”

Swarbrick said a one-year pause would allow “intentional” regulation to be developed.

'Some may argue these AI data centres could build their own renewable energy, or that they’re increasingly using closed-loop water cooling systems.

“That may well be the case, but our current rules don’t require any of those things. New Zealanders haven’t even had the opportunity to discuss and decide whether they want them.'

She cited the case of the Datagrid hyperscale AI centre in Southland, which gained resource consent for a 78,000 square metre facility in March.

The Singapore company’s data centre has been tentatively supported by Southern mayors because of the economic boost it will provide but has also prompted protests from some local communities.

The main concerns are its projected energy use – it would draw roughly 6% of New Zealand’s electricity supply, making it the second largest power user in the country behind the Tiwai aluminium smelter.

Datagrid has said that its project will create up to 1200 jobs – though its permanent staff once up and running has been reported to be between 50 and 80 people. The company has also said it has engaged closely with local councils and affected neighbours at the Makarewa site.

Tech giant Amazon also planned to build a hyperscale data centre in Auckland’s Westgate but construction on that site has now stalled.

Swarbrick noted that under the existing process, councils could decide through their planning rules whether to consent developments like the Southland centre. These consents could be on a non-notified basis, meaning no public input was required.

“As other cities and countries are quickly discovering, you can’t put that genie back in the bottle. Let’s take a moment to figure out the right way to do this.”

The Greens pointed to other jurisdictions where authorities had paused the approval of new AI data centres.

New York signed a one-year moratorium on new hyperscale data centres earlier this month – the first US state to do so. Its leaders said the move was to give room to develop stronger standards which protected ratepayers and the environment.

And in Australia, the Government will legally require data centres to cover their own power costs from next year. The companies will have to underwrite new renewable generation, pay for their own grid connections and water infrastructure and minimise water use.

'If an AI data centre project does not meet basic standards for power, water use and environmental impact, why should we allow it to be built here?” Swarbrick said.