Recently, ClimateFast participated in the provincial consultation on the "Economic and Strategic Assessment Framework for New Data Centres". The consultation period was open for only 30 days on the Environmental Registry of Ontario from August 13 to September 12 at the end of summer period when the public is least engaged. Here is a bit of what we submitted:
"For context, currently there are around 7,000 megawatts (MW) of data centre-related requests to connect to Ontario’s grid and an estimated total of more than 10,000 MW in proposals cumulatively. During a time when a significant number of energy and water-intensive AI data centres are applying to connect to Ontario’s grid, the Ford government has weakened the independence of the IESO and OEB, gutted Ontario’s Freedom of Information laws, weakened environmental policies, conducted reckless deregulation, and abandoned Ontario’s net-zero targets. This is the context in which this public consultation is occuring. We are submitting our comments on Ford’s data centre playbook while this government has repeatedly ignored public comments and rammed through bills that are eroding government transparency, accountability and
democracy in Ontario.
Words don’t matter, actions do. If the government seeks to earn public trust, it must prove that it is working for and putting the interests of Ontarians first; not of AI data centres, companies, developers, investors of AI companies, and the oil and gas sector. Instead of developing a data centre framework that embraces the expansion of AI data centres as an opportunity to accelerate economic growth, the government must listen to
its constituents and pass an immediate moratorium on AI data centres. A moratorium should have come first before embarking on the development of a framework.
To read the full submission, see: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19mZiO0MPBXMnOluEuL0stRd81sNln21b/view?…