Greenpeace Campaigners Display Giant Banner Beside Swiss Data Centre Site

Campaigners have displayed a 676-square-metre banner beside a data centre facility being developed by US company STACK Infrastructure in Beringen, Switzerland.

The demonstration featured images of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos alongside the slogan: “Big Tech Bros suck our water, electricity, data”. It formed part of an international campaign challenging the unchecked expansion of large-scale data centres, with similar actions reported across Europe.

Greenpeace calls for moratorium

Greenpeace used the demonstration to call for a nationwide moratorium on new mega data centres until binding regulations are introduced.

The organisation said such rules should protect energy supplies, water resources and the public interest. Greenpeace also argued that the rapid growth of data centre infrastructure is placing increasing pressure on local systems.

Two facilities are planned in Beringen. Greenpeace estimates that, together, they could use around one and a half times as much electricity each year as the entire canton of Schaffhausen. The estimate is attributed to Greenpeace and was not independently verified in the supplied information.

Concerns over water and waste heat

Greenpeace said the planned facilities would require substantial quantities of water for cooling. The organisation also raised questions about how waste heat from the developments would be reused and who would ultimately benefit from them.

The group urged authorities to put environmental protection and public needs ahead of the commercial interests of technology companies.

The available information does not include a response from STACK Infrastructure or local authorities. It also does not specify the facilities’ planned capacities, completion dates or whether any moratorium has been adopted.