With ten researchers affiliated with universities in the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Sweden, conducting research on digital infrastructures and communication, we wrote a joint submission in response to the European Commission’s White Paper ‘How to master Europe’s digital infrastructure needs?’. We structure our response to this consultation process along four key demands. European policy-making related to secure and sustainable digital infrastructures should:
- View and regulate data centres as utilities.
- Increase the level of transparency in energy use and resource use reporting, broaden the scope of metrics in all EU Member States, and make reports available for research.
- Address the issue of competition over base resources — water, electricity, land — to ensure that all industrial sectors have equal access to essential societal infrastructures.
- Include public-interest decision-making on digital infrastructures.
See full paper: Mollen, Anne and Keilbach, Judith and Brodie, Patrick and Jancovic, Marek and Helmond, Anne and Crosera, Arianna and Velkova, Julia and Ochner, Valentina and Maxigas, Maxigas and Jansen, Fieke, Governing Digital Infrastructures for a Secure and Sustainable Future (June 27, 2024). Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4879449