SCOTLAND must put on hold proposed new hyperscale data centres or risk blowing any chance of it meeting climate targets, campaigners have urged.

In a letter to First Minister John Swinney, Stop Climate Chaos Scotland (SCCS) chairman Mike Robinson has warned that these sites now making their way through the planning process would need more than 4,500 megawatts — enough to power millions of homes — to run, putting enormous extra pressure on the grid.

One proposal for Irvine alone is expected to require 1,000 megawatts, the equivalent of a quarter of Scotland’s peak electricity demand.

The letter, also sent to Tories, Labour, Lib Dem and Scottish Green leaders, points out that, alarmingly, the Scottish government’s draft climate change plan not only fails to factor in the vast energy demands of the centres, which are designed to support AI workloads, but has no information on how the impact can be managed and mitigated and calls for a moratorium to avoid demand that could result in blackouts.

Becky Kenton-Lake of SCCS said: “We have spent years pressing ministers to shift to a fairer, cheaper and cleaner energy system, and some progress has been made. We cannot let that be reversed.

“While AI has the potential to bring societal benefits, these hyperscale data centres, if approved, would collectively require more than Scotland’s total current electricity usage.

“Politicians across all parties should back our calls for a moratorium to avoid blowing any hopes of meeting our climate targets out of the water.”

A Scottish government spokesperson said its “green data centres vision and action plan aims to stimulate commercial investment in a diverse portfolio of data centres.

“Planning authorities have a responsibility to consider the environmental implications of all developments which require planning permission, and all proposed developments are considered on their own merits.”