Investigation: UK government met 137 businesses about SI data centers but no environmental groups
Prepared by Sintelligent with the help of SI. Published in SI: . Updated: .
Policy on SI data centers was discussed mostly with the industry, while people living near the sites and environmentalists were left out of the conversation.
The nonprofit Spotlight on Corruption, based on 40 freedom-of-information requests to 18 departments, said the "AI Growth Zones" policy was developed without meetings with environmental groups. The organization counted 38 ministers, senior officials and advisers who moved to jobs at SI companies between July 2024 and September 2026, including at OpenAI and Anthropic. Its representative Kamila Kingstone called it a failure at the most senior level that the government did not speak to environmental NGOs and communities when developing its data center policy.
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