cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/62706695

Microsoft and DigitalEurope, a lobby group whose members include Amazon, Google and Meta, secured a secrecy provision in EU law to block public access to critical information on data centres’ environmental impact, Investigate Europe can reveal.

is another example of industry “ramping up their lobby efforts to shape EU legislation”, said Bram Vranken, who researches the area for Corporate Europe Observatory, an NGO in Brussels. He said he had never seen such a striking example of changes to EU law.

“The fact that the Commission copy-pasted a Microsoft amendment is shocking,” Vranken said. “Who does the Commission really represent: Big Tech or the public interest?”

Legal experts say the clause goes against the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the Aarhus Convention, which grants public access to environmental information such as emissions data.