Source: French to English Tester Published on: 2026-04-02
Source: The Conversation – in French– By Bruno Lafitte, Data Center Expert, Ademe (Agency for Ecological Transition)
France has the will to be a land of welcome for data centers in the coming decades. The Agency for Ecological Transition, Ademe, has carried out aprospective work with a horizon of 2060to assess several scaling-up scenarios for these very energy-intensive infrastructures across the national territory and the societal choices they imply. Interview with Bruno Lafitte, data center expert at Ademe, who coordinated this study.
The Conversation: Let’s start with the state of affairs: what do we know today about the presence of data centers in France, the uses made of them, and their total electrical consumption?
Bruno Lafitte:Today, Ademe records 352 data centers operating on the national territory. Their total electricity consumption amounts to 10 terawatt-hours (TWh) per year, which corresponds to the electricity consumed by about 10 urban areas with more than 100,000 inhabitants over the course of a year.
This amounts to 2.2% of the country’s total annual electricity consumption. Indeed, the use of digital technology has a materiality that is not always suspected: energy-intensive infrastructures consuming electricity and water for cooling, not to mention the upstream server production chain which also carries its share of environmental impacts.
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Why does France want to be a host country for these infrastructures?
B. L. :There is today a genuine political will in France to position itself as a European leader in data center hosting. This is already reflected in massive investments in the country, which are facilitated by administrative flexibility. This choice is based on two major findings.
One holds the crucial stake ofdigital sovereigntyThus: half of the digital uses of the French are currently processed by data centers located abroad, and all scenarios show that this dependence will increase as usage intensifies. Given the current geopolitical stakes, relocating our data appears crucial.
The other is linked to the major advantage that France has in this matter. Due to itsdecarbonized electric mixand its widely available electricity, but also its environmental standards, data centers will be better regulated in France. As a result, they will have a lower climate impact than elsewhere, and inparticularly to the United States, where most of the data centers we depend on today are concentrated. (As an example, the carbon intensity of French electricity was approximately in 202430 gCO₂/kWh, while in the United States, it was on average391 gCO₂/kWh in 2019, editor’s note.)
Because, by 2050, nearly 80% of French digital uses will rely on data centers based abroad. These outsourced uses will account for 97% of the digital sector’s greenhouse gas emissions in France.
What is known about the development prospects of data centers by 2050 and their energy consumption?
B. L.:With the acceleration ofgenerative artificial intelligenceand, in the medium term, of theblockchain, the demand for data centers is expected to explode. Their typology will evolve towards very large centers called “hyperscale” », housing very energy-intensive supercomputers.
To give an idea, the very large data centers currently present in France represent 10 megawatts (MW) of installed electric power. Tomorrow, the largest will approach a gigawatt (GW) – that is, 100 times more.
To assess the prospects in France, we have designed a prospective model, based on the most reliable international model to date, which we have updated, the modelMasanet, which takes into account the volume of servers and the expected future evolution of their energy efficiency according to their typical model. This open model will be made available to the general public.
In the baseline scenario, which would continue the current trajectory, electricity consumption induced by French digital uses could increase by a factor of 3.7 by 2035 for data centers located in France — and even by 4.4, taking into account the consumption of data centers located abroad.
In this scenario, French digital usage will lead, by 2050, to a consumption of 55 TWh by French data centers – representing emissions of 1.8 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent – and nearly 200 TWh by data centers located abroad – corresponding to emissions of over 48 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent.For comparison, total electricity consumption in France reachednearly 450 TWh in 2024, ed..)
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What challenges and risks does this represent for our electrical infrastructures?
B. L. :This development poses many territorial, environmental, and socioeconomic challenges. Today, France has access to a large quantity of decarbonized electricity (94% of its production, in 2024,editor’s note). As a result, it is relatively spared from the tensions caused by the establishment of data centersin view of some of its European neighbors.
However, it has set itself ambitions in all areas ofelectrification(notably for the decarbonization of the economy, editor’s note) which will significantly increase the needs and pressure on the electrical network. Added to this is now the development of data centers, to address both the explosion of usage and the desire for relocation expressed by France.
We took into account, in our study, the forthcoming progress in energy efficiency, but it will not be enough to offset the increase in the volume of hosted data.
The possibility of a technological revolution, for example related toquantum computing, is certainly not to be ruled out, but it does not guarantee energy savings. Moreover, it is known that technological innovations have always led to the emergence of new services, resulting in an increase in usage rather than a decrease in consumption.
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What options are available to France to respond to its desire for digital sovereignty by hosting data centers, while adhering to its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050?
B. L. :In this context, France must make societal choices. One option is sobriety, with a prioritization of digital uses and a more or less strong distancing from all-digital. In the most frugal scenario we considered, the installed power for data centers on the territory can be limited to only 5.7 TWh in 2050, or 190,000 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent.
The other approach is to rely on innovation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from other sectors and to optimize the energy consumption of digital technology. Our model estimates that the installed capacity for data centers in France would then be around 64 TWh, which is 11 times more than by opting for sobriety. This would correspond to emissions of 2.15 million tonnes CO₂ equivalent.
The central question here, which involves a citizen’s choice, is about the role we want to give to digital technology tomorrow in our society without renouncing our objective of carbon neutrality.
Statements collected by Nolwenn Jaumouillé.
Bruno Lafitte does not work for, advise, hold shares in, or receive funds from any organization that could benefit from this article, and has declared no affiliation other than his research institution.
–ref. Energy consumption of data centers: France at the crossroads –https://theconversation.com/energy-consumption-of-data-centers-france-at-a-crossroads-276815