Taking to the stage on day one of Datacloud Energy Europe 2026 in Brussels, Niamh Gallagher shared how the data centre industry continues to change across Europe – and how it will remain pivotal to the digital infrastructure world. Yet, she said, policy alignment will be critical to ensure strong, sustainable development moving forward.
Gallagher – who is director of infrastructure policy for the EMEA region at AWS – explained how data centres will remain the backbone of digital life.
“Europe’s data centre story is two stories – those two stories are deeply interconnected, but all separate from each other,” she explained during her keynote address. “The first is the AI infrastructure story, the second is the policy story – the permitting, the grid access and the regulatory frameworks.”
Turning industry ambition into sustainable growth
Data centre market growth has surged across Europe in recent years, driven by international investment and ongoing interest in AI growth. With the European Commission setting the goal of tripling data centre capacity over the next five to seven years, Gallagher shared her optimism about the next phase of industry growth.
“The ambition is right … the investment appetite is certainly there,” she explained. “What we need now is the policy environment to match business momentum.”
During her speech, Gallagher explained how the industry has reached an “urgent period” in European policymaking to turn ambition into reality.
“There is a real opportunity for Europe to act collectively and get ahead,” she said. “There is much variation currently in terms of timelines and processes.”
These policies are being developed across Europe, including the Cloud and AI Development Act, which is the type of framework that Gallagher said could present opportunities for consistency across the European Union (EU).
“One is to have a single coordinating authority for operators and authorities,” she said. “The second is to have parallel processing of environmental planning and grid assessments – clear maximum timelines that create certainty for everyone involved.”
A significant aspect of sustainable policy change is water, with the need for an enabling framework for industrial water reuse for cooling.
The formal review of water reuse regulations is being planned for 2028, with implementation expected no earlier than 2030. Despite this, Gallagher suggested this offers the data centre industry an opportunity to be more ambitious.
“Investment decisions are being made now,” she said. “We believe that a sustainable water use factor would sustain the water’s duration.”
She added: “Water reuse projects work when the right elements come together – that’s what has made this policy area a partnership challenge, not just an operator obligation.”
According to the IEA, the adoption of AI in end-use sectors by 2035 would lead to a reduction of emissions that’s 3x larger compared to total data centre emissions. With this in mind, Gallagher explained how the data centre industry is missing much potential for sustainable development.
“Data centre operators can and should make heat available [for reuse], but the infrastructure to receive and distribute that heat requires action,” she explained.
AWS continues to scale sustainability
Operating on such a large scale, AWS can prioritise higher energy efficiency across its data centres – spanning infrastructure, design and hardware. Gallagher explained that efficiency and sustainability remain at the core of what the company does.
“We’ve invested nearly two decades now in designing, building and operating data centre infrastructure, continuously working to improve and minimise not only our own operational impact, but also towards our goal of becoming net zero carbon by 2040,” she shared.
“We think about achieving that goal across three dimensions: energy, efficiency and water.”
On energy, she provided insights that Amazon has now invested in more than 40 gigawatts (GW) of renewable and carbon-free capacity across more than 700 projects worldwide. When investing in new sources of clean energy, Gallagher explained how the company works proactively with utilities, grid operators and policymakers to support industrial growth and its own decarbonisation targets.
“Our latest data centre design is projected to deliver 12% more compute power, which translates into industry-leading PUE figures,” she added. “In 2024, our global PUE is 1.15, and our best-performing site in Europe is 1.04.”
When it comes to water, Amazon has an ambitious goal to be water positive by 2030, meaning it will return more water to communities and the environment than it uses in its operations.
“We’re more than halfway there,” Gallagher said. “Getting there means re-thinking how we use water at every level – from efficiency improvements, real-time monitoring, alternative water sources like recycled rainwater, to returning water to communities through replenishment projects.”
Gallagher also explained how the company tracks its water use effectiveness (WUE) to measure the volume of water its drawn per kilowatt-hour of IT.
“Many other data centres use no water at all, and that performance comes from thousands of centres, monitoring our systems in real-time to detect and address inefficiencies immediately, combined with advanced cooling technologies that can reduce water use by up to 85% compared to traditional methods,” she said.
“For us, water stewardship is deeply embedded within our facilities.”
Related stories
Datacloud Energy Europe: ‘Clarity and partnerships’ are the answer to sustainable innovation
