Intense Lobbying for AI Data Centres in Scotland Raises Concerns

London, United Kingdom Aug 25, 2026 ALN: AI data centre developers and the wider industry have engaged in a sustained lobbying blitz of the Scottish Parliament, The National can reveal.

Companies including CoreWeave, Apatura, DataVita, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Cisco, IBM, and industry bodies TechUK and ScotlandIS have lobbied well over two dozen MSPs, several ministers, and the First Minister in at least 31 separate meetings since the start of 2025, according to our analysis of the Holyrood lobbying register.

It’s a dramatic increase compared with previous years and comes amid the rapid growth of the AI industry and plans for Scotland to be home to a series of massive data centres.

While proponents see it as a major economic opportunity, campaigners have raised serious concerns about the potential impact on the environment and local communities.

Amid pressure, the Scottish Government has so far resisted calls for a moratorium on new hyperscale developments, despite a new requirement for environmental impact assessments to be carried out on two proposed new centres — in Auchtertool in Fife and Wester Hermiston in Edinburgh.

Apatura, which is behind more Scottish data centre proposals than any other firm, lobbied MSPs seven times in 2025. This included directly lobbying local MSPs about planned development in their constituency, including the SNP’s Clare Adamson about Apatura's plan to submit Ravenscraig as a proposed AI Growth Zone.

The company also spoke with former Falkirk West MSP Michael Matheson about the Larbert data centre, which is on land owned by Scottish Enterprise. Apatura’s Wester Hermiston development was also raised with former Edinburgh MSP Gordon Macdonald.

It comes after The Ferret revealed that the firm has also been lobbying the Scottish Government to publicly endorse its definition of a “green” data centre, according to internal documents.

American AI cloud company CoreWeave, which is partnering with Scottish data centre operator DataVita on a multi-billion-pound AI growth zone in North Lanarkshire, also met with both First Minister John Swinney and his then-business minister Richard Lochhead at St Andrews House in November last year.

According to the register, they discussed “Scotland’s digital and innovation ambitions” as well as the “importance of resilient and sustainable data infrastructure”.

DataVita – alongside ScotlandIS, which describes itself as a “membership organisation for Scotland's digital technology industry” – also spoke with Lochhead in February last year where they discussed the “requirements from Scottish data centres who are looking to expand”, adding that it was “agreed Datavita would submit their thoughts on a short document to the minister”.

ScotlandIS met with Lochhead a further three times in 2025, including a meeting with the First Minister in November in which they talked about “barriers to investment, including planning permissions and processes, and how these could be made faster and easier”.

Another tech industry body – TechUK – also lobbied Lochhead on four occasions since 2025, including a meeting in which it was stressed that there was a need to “articulate the benefits” of more AI data centres.

The wider AI industry – including US tech giants – also lobbied Scottish ministers and MSPs. Other logged meetings in 2025 include a bespoke AI training course from Google for almost the entire Scottish Labour MSP group (16 of them, including former leader Anas Sarwar and deputy leader Jackie Baillie) in which the firm stressed the importance of “pro-innovation regulation”.

Baillie separately met with Microsoft UK in April 2025 to discuss the use of AI “across social care and the NHS”.

Amazon, Cisco, and Microsoft also lobbied Scottish ministers – notably former deputy first minister Kate Forbes and Lochhead – and the First Minister’s special advisers on multiple occasions.

The Scottish Greens – who have called for a halt to all hyperscale data centre proposals – said that they hope the First Minister “ignores” the lobbying efforts.

“These giant tech firms are desperate to get their hyperscale data centres approved before the penny drops and the Scottish Government realises what a disaster they would be,” co-leader Ross Greer said.

“The first twenty-four applications alone would require one and a half times as much energy as the whole country. That is obviously absurd but more importantly, it's not possible. Given the lack of any adequate Scottish Government guidance on the conditions councils should even attach to these developments, they clearly won’t benefit the communities they’re being forced upon.

“If they’re allowed to go ahead, hyperscale data centres will be another case of multinational companies extracting huge profits from Scotland whilst our economy sees next to no benefit and our environment suffers. The Scottish Greens are calling for a halt to all hyperscale data centre proposals. It's clear that councils don’t have the government guidance they need to come to a decision on this kind of development.”

Greer added: “We can’t allow these tech companies to mark their own homework or set their own standards. They will always put their shareholders’ pockets before the needs of local communities and Scotland’s environment.

“I hope that the First Minister will ignore these corporate lobbying efforts, hit pause on all applications immediately and protect the interests of people and planet.”

Dr Kat Jones, the director of Action to Protect Rural Scotland and a prominent anti-data centre campaigner, added: "It doesn't come as much of a surprise that these tech companies and developers are lobbying ministers and MSPs. But the question is how much the government is able to look beyond this to independent experts and to listen also to communities and civil society.”

A TechUK spokesperson said: "Data centres provide significant benefits to the economy while supporting local communities, and it is important that these benefits are clearly understood and recognised by national and local governments."

An SNP spokesperson said: “MSPs rightly meet with a range of stakeholders in relation to inward investment and development in Scotland.

“It is an opportunity to both understand proposals, assess the merit to Scotland and raise concerns too.”

An Apatura spokesperson said: "Constructive dialogue between government and industry is a normal and necessary part of good policymaking. When a sector is new and fast-moving, as the data centre sector is, and central to national priorities such as energy security, investment and economic growth, ministers and officials need to understand the realities of delivery – from grid capacity to deliverability, sustainability and timelines."