Why are data centre projects opposed in France?

In May 2026, data centre projects had reserved nearly 18 GW of grid connection with RTE, for about 80 projects. Several have met local opposition: groups of residents and associations, petitions, resolutions by elected officials, questions in Parliament. To understand what is being objected to, we read the files of 3 projects at different stages, in their public documents: consultation file, environmental authority opinion, local council resolutions, government replies.

The Campus IA project, at Fouju in Seine-et-Marne, led by the Emirati fund MGX, Bpifrance, Mistral AI and Nvidia, obtained its environmental authorisations on 29 July 2026. For Microsoft's project at Petit-Landau and Hombourg, in the Haut-Rhin, we did not find a decision by the prefect as of 13 November 2026. MRS5, Digital Realty's 5th centre in Marseille, is under construction.

The Microsoft project would use as much electricity as more than 280,000 households, about 80% of household consumption in the Haut-Rhin, according to the Grand Est environmental authority. For Fouju, the developer does not publish an annual consumption. Data centres connected to the transmission grid currently draw on average 22% of their connection capacity, and their operators expect about 80% within 10 to 15 years, according to RTE. At these rates, 700 MW would amount to 1.3 to 4.9 TWh a year (our calculation).

Farmland. Fouju and Petit-Landau are being built on cultivated land. At Petit-Landau, the environmental authority notes that more than half of the area will be sealed. The developers and local authorities reply that this land was earmarked for economic activity: at Fouju, a logistics project was due to be built there; at Petit-Landau, the territorial coherence scheme classifies the area as a strategic economic zone, and the departmental commission gave a favourable opinion on the agricultural compensation. The Marseille project occupies an industrial brownfield site.

Electricity and climate. The Grand Est environmental authority lists energy consumption and the contribution to climate change among the major shortcomings of the Microsoft file; the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur authority noted that the MRS5 study did not state the site's total electricity consumption, which the developer provided later. Microsoft says it intends to cover its consumption through low-carbon electricity purchase contracts.

Cooling and air. Fouju has chosen water-free cooling, with rooftop refrigeration units containing 601 tonnes of refrigerant gas: opponents are concerned about leaks and PFAS. At Petit-Landau, the environmental authority estimates, by comparison with similar installations, that the backup generators could add about 20% to current nitrogen oxide emissions in Alsace, and notes that the entire hazard study was kept confidential.

Heat. At Fouju, the government lists 3 options studied by Campus IA: the Melun Val-de-Seine heat network, the future Crisenoy prison and greenhouses. At Petit-Landau, the elected officials behind a motion object to the lack of a connection to a heat network; the urban community replies that studies found the heat, at 30 °C, unsuitable for district heating, and that use for market gardening is being considered. In Marseille, the environmental authority mentions the connection of the extension of the cooling loop of the Digital Realty data centres, supplied with water from a former mine gallery, to the Massileo heat network. Our explainer on the heat of data centres shows why it remains little used.

Public information. The Fouju public inquiry lasted 31 days, the legal minimum being 30; a senator for Seine-et-Marne judged it insufficient, and the opponents' group called it "rushed". The online petition against the project had more than 47,000 signatures in August 2026. The inquiry commissioners gave a favourable opinion.

Governance. The Senate question and the Petit-Landau motion also raise the role of foreign capital in these projects and decisions seen as imposed; the Senate question reports that, according to the environmental authority, the Fouju site would have been classified Seveso had it been declared in a single file.

The environmental authority issues a non-binding opinion: the developer responds in writing, and the prefect decides on the environmental authorisation. At Petit-Landau, the urban community gave a favourable opinion on 22 June 2026, citing the lack of an alternative site, 150 to 200 jobs and an investment of nearly 2 billion euros, and noting that the environmental authority's opinion is not binding; it rejected, by 75 votes and 7 proxies to 10, a motion by councillors asking the prefect to follow that opinion. The municipality or the inter-municipal body brings the local land-use plan into line; RTE builds the connection.

The State intervenes upstream. The accelerated connection procedure approved by the Commission de régulation de l'énergie in May 2025 applies to sites identified by the State; Fouju was its first application. The law on the simplification of economic life of 26 May 2026 makes it possible to classify a data centre by decree as a project of major national interest, according to its importance for the digital transition, the ecological transition or national sovereignty; the prefect then becomes competent for the building permit. On 30 July 2026, the government stated that Campus IA had not requested this status. The public consultation at Fouju, under the aegis of the Commission nationale du débat public, was voluntary: the project was not subject to it.