A group of people walk across a road carrying a large banner which reads 'Data Centres are Energy Vampires'
Image Source: Climate Camp Ireland

How to Stop a Data Centre: Tools for Community Resistance

By ,

Communities around the world are organising to stop the construction of harmful data centres. Access toolkits, training videos, maps, research and reports.

Introduction

The AI boom is fast-tracking data centre builds around the world, but communities are building power to stop them.

Data centres have significant harms, from huge use of power and water, air and noise pollution, increased energy costs, and use of land which could be used for affordable housing or nature preservation. Campaigns and community organising has slowed and stopped developments in many places. 

The Commons librarians have gathered toolkits, videos, research and reports to inform you. Please note that rights and regulations vary across state and national borders, so check the situation where you are. Help us keep this overview up-to-date by sharing your own guides and those you come across.

Most data center fights have been won by engaged community members getting organized, learning the facts, and growing their numbers. When hundreds or thousands of people show up at commission meetings or city council meetings refuting big business talking points, city and county officials cannot ignore us. – Site Fight Guide

What is a Data Centre?

Excerpt from the Site Fight Guide by the Data Center Working Group:

“Data centers are giant warehouses that hold computer servers, chips, storage, and networking equipment (aka the hardware that enables computing and the “cloud”). They power everything from video streaming to social media to artificial intelligence (AI). Data centers have existed for a long time, for use by telecoms companies, hospital systems, universities, and the government, but we are currently seeing a rapid buildout of much larger, more energy-intensive facilities that are primarily used for AI, as well as cryptocurrency mining and cloud storage. 

These noisy, hot warehouses require immense amounts of power to run, water to cool, and land to build on. The tech companies behind the global AI “race” have pushed this rampant expansion—with many companies speeding past local environmental, water, air quality, labor, and land regulations in the process, as well as basic community approvals or local buy-in. Many proposals are hidden behind Non Disclosure Agreements, so neighbors do not see the plans in advance until agreements are already set in stone. 

Lots of data centers’ computing power is used for products that everyday people don’t want, such as data collection, manipulating our viewing and buying habits, targeted advertising, facial recognition, chatbots, and other tools that aim to replace people with grounded expertise.” 

What’s a hyperscaler? 

“The current buildout consists mostly of hyperscale data centers, also known as hyperscalers. The name refers to their immense power capacity and size, often consuming over 100 megawatts of power capacity… Data centers being developed for AI can use as much electricity as 900,000 households (approximately 1 gigawatt) and consume the same amount of water as a city of 50,000 people.”

Toolkits

North Star Data Center Policy Kit

AI Now Institute (USA)

“This policy toolkit is primarily geared toward stopping, slowing, and restricting rampant data center development in the US at the local and state level. Our approach recognizes the extractive relationship between data centers and local communities: Hyperscale data centers deplete scarce natural resources, pollute local communities and increase the use of fossil fuels, raise energy costs for everyday ratepayers, pull tax dollars away from community needs, and fail to deliver on overpromised economic developments.

This toolkit is intended to help organizers and policymakers identify the strongest possible actions. Recognizing that the North Star policy may not always be feasible, we also offer scaffolded protections that put people above corporate profits.” 

Screenshot from the North Star Data Center Policy website. Three blocks include photographs of data centers with the headings: Local Interventions; State & Regional Interventions; Federal Interventions.

How to use the toolkit:

  • The toolkit is intended as a menu of options to be analyzed in relation to local and state conditions. 
  • Not every intervention will be feasible in every locality, state, or region due to differences in local and state laws, existing regulation, and political conditions. 
  • The issue-specific recommendations (water, energy, air quality, and so on) can be used both to limit the impacts of data centers and to act as mechanisms to restrict data center development when they do not work in the community’s best interest. 
  • We provide examples of existing or proposed policies, with notes indicating that they are very strong, strong, or weak. Please note that inclusion in this toolkit does not mean we endorse the example or specific language used. In cases where there is no strong example, we have consulted experts and community advocates to identify the North Star policy action, threshold, or quantitative targets.

Explore Local Interventions, State & Regional Interventions and Federal Interventions.

Issue areas: 

Download the full toolkit in PDF. 

Site Fight Guide: Stop Data Centers, Free the Robots

Data Center Working Group (USA)

“This guide supports community members and organizers to launch a data center site fight, or join ongoing efforts. It breaks down what data centers are, strategies and organizing tips to start a data center fight, a primer on data center impacts and myths, research and policy resources, sample messaging, and real-life examples of campaigns.” 

Quick links to tabs: 

This is a hugely bipartisan movement. Data center site fights are engaging communities and demographics across the nation that are hard to reach on other issues. You may find many opportunities for collaboration in unexpected places. Take this rare chance to build ties—by educating and working alongside people on this front, we may be able to build a wider advocacy base for other local environmental justice issues. – Lauren Posey, Protect PT (Pennsylvania)

How to Resist Data Centers: A Guide For Local Communities in Europe 

AlgorithmWatch (Europe)

“As data centers proliferate across the globe, local groups are mobilising to document the severe harm these facilities inflict on their regions and the immense strain they place on energy resources. We have compiled a set of practical steps that communities can take to educate themselves when a data center is planned in their area, and to address its potential impacts.”

An illustrations showing silhouettes of protesters holding banners and placards. Messages say 'Big Tech' and 'not for sale'.
Image source: AlgorithmWatch 2025 CCBY 4.0

What You Can Do If a Data Center Is Coming to Your Community:

  • Check the zoning and land use
  • Request planning and environmental documents
  • Engage local officials and demand public hearings
  • Connect with others, locally and across borders
  • Connect with experts
  • Demand transparency and accountability
  • Advocate for policy reforms that fit your region
  • Envision better infrastructure
  • Shift the frame

Toolkit for the Field: An Organizer’s Guide to Stop Data Centers

MediaJustice (USA)

A toolbox for on-the-ground organizers getting started with resisting hyperscale data centers in their communities. Resources include campaign best practices, outreach templates, and organizing tools to help with:

  • Basebuilding In Your Community
  • Local Research
  • Building Your Campaign Strategy
  • Telling Your Story

The toolkit’s templates mean campaigns don’t have to start from scratch. Simply update the factsheet, flyer, slide deck, press release, op-ed, or doorknocking script to fit your local context.

Across the country, the people are saying no – organizing and pushing back against the chaos and harm inflicted by a handful of wealthy tech corporations and their relentless, extractive projects. We give thanks to the organizers and communities who are on the frontlines, and whose experiences resisting data centers shaped this toolkit. – MediaJustice

The People Say No: Resisting Data Centers

MediaJustice (USA)

“The People Say No: Resisting Data Centers Toolkit is an offering to build knowledge, power, and resistance to one of the most dangerous extraction projects of our time – AI and data center expansion. The rise of artificial intelligence is behind massive data center buildouts as the world’s largest tech corporations— also known as Big Tech—are spending billions of dollars on these power-hungry facilities. Tech corporations are marketing data center projects as “progress.” The reality is that tech giants like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta are devouring our finite resources—energy, water, and land—and wreaking havoc on our communities. Pollution from data centers is suffocating frontline communities, contaminating and depleting drinking water, and destroying ecosystems necessary for our survival. Meanwhile, monthly utility bills spike as tech corporations offload the costs of their infrastructure upgrades onto everyday people. 

This toolkit is aimed at helping communities cut through the propaganda, disinformation, and secrecy that are powering rapid data center development. Whether your community is currently battling a data center project – or looking to create protective measures for your land, energy, and water – we hope this toolkit can help strengthen your fight and move us towards a world where people aren’t being poisoned in the name of innovation, where communities aren’t competing with corporations for water, and where Big Tech doesn’t get to take over democratic processes aimed at protecting people and the environment we live in. Tech companies would like us to believe that data centers are inevitable. But we know, when we fight, we win! In the past two years, at least 142 activist groups across 24 states have organized to stall or stop data center projects throughout the U.S. MediaJustice is ready to fight and be in solidarity with local communities fighting Big Tech extraction.” 

Contents: 

  • Letter from MediaJustice | 3
  • Introduction to the Harms of Data Centers and Their Rapid Expansion | 4
  • Fact or Fiction | 5
  • Case Studies | 10
  • River of Life | 12
  • Reframing the Story | 14
  • Myths and Messaging | 15
  • Messaging Worksheet | 17
  • Data Center Factsheet | 19
  • Scenario Role Plays (with Printouts) | 23
  • Building Our Fight | 31
  • When We Fight, We Win (with Printouts) | 32
  • Mapping Our Knowledge | 41
  • Research Sheet | 43
  • Glossary of Terms | 46
  • Resources | 47
  • About Us | 48

How to Stop a Data Center Near You

Food & Water Watch (USA)

  • Step 1: Know Your Voice Matters 
  • Step 2: Sound the Alarm to Your Community
  • Step 3: Apply Pressure to Leaders with the Power

View the related video below.

Videos

How to Stop a Data Center in Your Community!

Food & Water Action (USA)

North Star Data Center Policy Videos

AI Now Institute (USA)

AI should be understood as a technology which concentrates power… We’ve ended up in this position where, whether it’s AI or the data center buildout, we’re talking about concentrations of power at many levels. – Amba Kak, AI Now Institute

Organizing Against Data Centers Video Playlist

MediaJustice (USA)

Want to get involved in a data center fight? Or want to build your own campaign against an emergent data center proposal in your region? Here’s a one-stop shop for learning from local campaigns across the USA, how data centers follow a legacy of corporate extraction on our communities, and what you need to fight back.

Big Tech Takeovers Video Playlist

More Perfect Union (USA)

Covering the impacts of Big Tech data centers on communities across the United States.

Data Centres and Energy

Ketan Joshi and Linda McIver, Australian Data Science Education Institute Podcast (Australia)

Maps

A world map with coloured circles indicating the location of data centres.
Data Center Map
  • Data Center Map (Global): Global Infrastructure Intelligence. This map is open source with files available on GitHub.
  • Brockovich AI Data Center Reporting (USA): A map of major AI data centers in the U.S. that are either operational or under construction, overlaid with locations where community members have reported concerns.
  • AI Data Center Map (USA): This map exists for the public good, to help communities understand the resource impact of nearby infrastructure and to support informed, peaceful action.

Research, Articles and Statements 

Global

Australia

Submissions to Inquiries:

North America

Latin America

Europe & UK

Africa

Asia-Pacific

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Responding to other AI harms:

Resources for community resistance:

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