05-07-2025
As Britain chases net zero, this town's emissions are soaring
Slough has emerged as Britain's fastest-growing pollution hotspot, with its surging data centre industry driving up greenhouse gas emissions.
The southern town's concentration of more than 30 massive data centres has pushed up commercial emissions by 52pc since 2005 – making it the only place in the UK to see such a rapid rise in pollution.
Slough's total emissions equate to five tonnes of CO2 for each of its citizens – far above the three tonnes per person seen in traditional industrial areas such as South Tyneside, the 3.7 tonnes recorded in Newcastle upon Tyne and the four tonnes recorded in Sunderland.
The figures come from the latest government data on the UK's local and regional greenhouse gas statistics, which said Slough stood out from Britain's other council authority areas.
'All but one of the UK's 361 local authority areas have seen a reduction in commercial emissions since 2005,' said the report, covering emissions from 2005-2023.
The one authority that saw an increase is Slough, where commercial sector emissions increased by 52pc between 2005 and 2023. This increase may be because of the large number of data centres that have been built there.'
The government data shows that Slough's total commercial emissions rose from 183,000 tonnes of CO2 in 2005 to 280,000 tonnes in 2023.
By contrast, the emissions from the entire North East of England – a much larger area – fell from 2.9m tonnes in 2005 to just 960,000 tonnes in 2023.
It means emissions per person in the North East fell from 13.4 tonnes to just 3.1 tonnes – far lower than in Slough, and a direct consequence of the collapse of energy-intensive industries in the region.
'The North East of England was the region with the largest proportional fall in emissions over this period, at 67pc, in part due to industrial closures,' said the report.
'Data centre alley'
Slough's massive increase in commercial greenhouse gas emissions is linked to the arrival of an estimated 31 large data centres.
The concentration of data hubs – one of the densest on the planet – has seen Slough described as 'Europe's data centre alley'.
Its explosive growth is linked to its proximity to London plus its positioning on the arterial cabling that links London to other countries including the US.
This means Slough has high transmission speeds – essential for meeting the demands of financial institutions, technology companies and companies that stream movies, which all need minimal delays in data transfer.
Slough has long had a negative reputation – perpetuated partly by past poet laureate Sir John Betjeman's famous poem of the same name whose first line reads: 'Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!'
Dexter Smith, Conservative leader of Slough Council, said the new figures were a bombshell because of the borough's aim of becoming carbon-neutral by 2040, with ambitions to achieve this by 2030.
He said Slough's hopes of improving life expectancy for its citizens – currently 10 years lower than in surrounding boroughs – lay in opening the way for more such high-tech developments.
'I would be devastated if the explanation for this data was down to Slough's high concentration of data centres … We have 31 data centres with more on the way. Planning applications will have to comply with operating requirements that include stringent control of emissions and being carbon neutral,' he said.
The Data Centre Alliance, trade body for the industry, said Slough's surging commercial emissions showed it was becoming a success story.
Venessa Moffat, executive director, said: 'Slough offers access to one of the largest business and financial ecosystems in the world without the real estate costs and power constraints of central London.
'Every text sent, app downloaded, or movie streamed uses IT housed in data centres. But it's not data centres that pollute – it's the demand that we, as human beings, put on our digital infrastructure.'
