The Data Governance Act and European Constitutional Imaginaries: Assessing the Environmental Impact of European Data Sovereignty
The Data Governance Act and European Constitutional Imaginaries: Assessing the Environmental Impact of European Data Sovereignty
Monday, 7 July 2025: 00:00
Location: FSE015 (Faculty of Education Sciences (FSE))
Oral Presentation
Data have gained ground as a metaphor for prosperity and innovation, promising to solve complex individual and societal problems, including environmental crises. The EU is pursuing an ambitious strategy of reorganising the European economy and society around big data. As part of its data governance strategy, the EU has enacted the Data Governance Act (DGA). This legislation establishes a horizontal regime to unlock the re-use of certain categories of protected data held by the public sector, sets up data intermediation services, and promotes services based on data altruism for the public good. The DGA echoes issues of solidarity and distribution, treating data as the great equaliser in today’s surveillance-capitalistic society.
However, by combining sociotechnical and constitutional imaginaries, this paper argues that the idea of data as a source of powerful innovation also functions as a tool for the self-empowerment of the European constitutional project. The paper underlines how the European data governance strategy comes at the expense of environmental justice. To advance this argument, the paper particularly focuses on data centres. Data require physical infrastructure as they need to be stored and securely contained. Data centres, massive assemblages necessary to store, manage, and process data, are part of critical internet infrastructure. A constant power supply and cooling systems are imperative for protecting the operations of data centres, which are dependent on specific climate and geographical conditions.
This paper claims that, while the European data strategy attempts to foster greater redistribution, efficiency, and prosperity, the strategy remains inherently rooted in the capitalistic logic of extraction and accumulation, which dramatically contributes to the exploitation of environmental resources. This is an opportunity to rethink constitutional questions at the boundaries of law, technology and the environment.
However, by combining sociotechnical and constitutional imaginaries, this paper argues that the idea of data as a source of powerful innovation also functions as a tool for the self-empowerment of the European constitutional project. The paper underlines how the European data governance strategy comes at the expense of environmental justice. To advance this argument, the paper particularly focuses on data centres. Data require physical infrastructure as they need to be stored and securely contained. Data centres, massive assemblages necessary to store, manage, and process data, are part of critical internet infrastructure. A constant power supply and cooling systems are imperative for protecting the operations of data centres, which are dependent on specific climate and geographical conditions.
This paper claims that, while the European data strategy attempts to foster greater redistribution, efficiency, and prosperity, the strategy remains inherently rooted in the capitalistic logic of extraction and accumulation, which dramatically contributes to the exploitation of environmental resources. This is an opportunity to rethink constitutional questions at the boundaries of law, technology and the environment.