Kronstorf Server Farm

Now Confirmed: Google Does Not Need an Environmental Impact Assessment

Google is building its data center on this site in Kronstorf.(Bild: FOTOKERSCHI / WERNER KERSCHBAUMM)

Because an environmental impact assessment (EIA) is required in Lower Austria for a data center of similar size, Upper Austria’s State Minister for Climate Affairs had the matter reviewed again for the Google project in Kronstorf. But the decision stands: There will be no EIA for the server farm in Upper Austria.

“The legally binding EIA determination notice from 2020 also covers the now-planned expansion. The facts and legal situation have not changed. Therefore, no new EIA determination procedure can be initiated ex officio,” states an excerpt from the legal review examining whether an environmental impact assessment is, after all, necessary for the Google data center in Kronstorf.

In other words: The Upper Austrian authority had already determined six years ago that Google does not need an EIA for its project in Kronstorf. And what’s legally settled is final.

“The response must be accepted”
As reported, State Climate Minister Stefan Kaineder (Greens) commissioned a re-examination of the server farm last week. The background to this is a decision in Lower Austria, where another U.S. corporation is also building a server farm in Leopoldsdorf. There, however, an EIA is required. The decisive factor here is the planned emergency power generators with a capacity of around 470 megawatts (Google plans for a connected load of 500 megawatts in Kronstorf once fully operational). Kaineder therefore had a potential EIA reviewed again—but the result remains the same, as was announced on Wednesday. According to Kaineder’s office, “as long as neither the decisive facts nor the relevant legal situation change, a decision cannot be made again on the same matter.”

“I deliberately commissioned this review because it must be made clear whether and to what extent the decision from Lower Austria creates new legal facts. The answer is clear, and that must be accepted,” says Kaineder himself. “But this very case shows why we finally need clear rules for data centers in the EIA Act.”

Data centers will be subject to EIA in the future
For the Green Party politician, the renewed review was likely also a welcome opportunity to take a stand on the Google data center, as the move drew widespread praise from environmental organizations. Markus Achleitner (ÖVP), State Councilor for Economic Affairs, however, criticizes the re-examination as a “superfluous political victory lap with a showy character.” Achleitner continued: “The main problem is that this has completely unnecessarily fueled doubts about legal certainty as an important location factor in Upper Austria.”

For future data centers, however, this discussion is likely to be moot anyway. The federal government published a draft amendment to the EIA Act this week. It stipulates that server farms with a connected load of at least 100 megawatts are automatically subject to an EIA. In areas requiring special protection, an EIA is required for facilities with a connected load of 50 megawatts or more.