Speaking at Datacloud Energy & ESG 2025 in Brussels, Niamh Gallagher called for a shift to proactive grid investment, emphasising that the existing framework is not fit for purpose.
Gallagher highlighted the rapid rise of AI and cloud services as placing unprecedented demand on data centre infrastructure. While AWS has made strides in energy efficiency and sustainability, she warned that unreliable grid access remains a critical bottleneck.
“There’s no conversation about data centre growth that doesn’t almost immediately touch upon the need to seriously modernise European grid infrastructure.”
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During her keynote speech, she outlined three key actions AWS are advocating for: enabling proactive grid investment based on future demand projections, streamlining permitting and infrastructure upgrades, and revolutionising connection processes to reduce bottlenecks.
“We can’t wait for demand to materialise before we act,” Gallagher stated, calling on regulators to move beyond discussion and into execution.
“We must tackle the energy infrastructure housing challenge head on,” she said. “The EU Grid Action Plan provides a good framework, but the implementation piece is key. We need to move from talking about streamlining to actually happen on the road.”
Gallagher described the current European connection system as “not fit for purpose” and stressed that policies that would improve the efficiency of connection processing and focus on renewables would help ensure competitiveness across the EU.
With Europe moving into a new regulatory cycle, Gallagher stressed the need for policymakers and industry to work together to balance digital growth with sustainability.
She welcomed the proposed data centre rating scheme but argued that any regulatory framework must account for operational realities.
AWS has proposed a phased implementation, starting with self-improvement measures before transitioning to a comparative framework incorporating key sustainability metrics like power and water usage effectiveness alongside renewable energy adoption.
Gallagher said such an approach “acknowledges the diverse operational characteristics of data centres and their various potentials for improvement”.
“Our industry enables others, and by doing so, we drive efficiency and create opportunities. But we need the right infrastructure to support it,” she added.
Sustainability and efficiency at the core
Gallagher touted AWS’s data centre design as a leading factor supporting sustainability in its data centre operations.
The hyperscaler overhauled its rack designs, electrical distribution and mechanical systems, and facility cooling to increase efficiency at the turn of the year.
Gallagher suggested that the design overhaul delivers 12% more compute power with improved power usage effectiveness (PUE) ratings.
Beyond operations in the facility, the executive also spoke about what AWS is doing to tackle embodied carbon in things like data centre construction.
One of the projects highlighted during the keynote was its work in Sweden, where it’s using low-carbon steel to build two new facilities, which she said would cut 10,000 tonnes of embodied carbon.
Gallagher also highlighted the firm’s approach to water use, with an ambitious goal of becoming water-positive by 2030.
Earlier in the week, the hyperscaler unveiled three new water projects in Zaragoza, Spain, investing €17.2 million to improve water availability using AI.
Gallagher said the Spanish investment would both support AWS to “achieve its water needs in the region, but also provide a security and supply water infrastructure for the communities in which we operate”.
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