AlgorithmWatch reports that it gave members of the Bundestag a petition it says has more than 160,000 signatures, at the first reading of a bill amending the Energy Efficiency Act. The signature count and the group’s reading of the draft come only from the campaigning organisation itself.
How this is computed
- Key claims supported: 0 of 6
- Type of source: Institution on its own work
- Independent confirmation: None
Rates the source, not the topic and not our analysis.
Why it matters
Our reading: The case illustrates how the energy and water footprint of AI-driven data centre growth is becoming a parliamentary issue, with civil society and, according to AlgorithmWatch, tech companies trying to shape the same bill. Whether the draft weakens transparency as claimed cannot be judged without the bill text, which the source does not link.
What the source says
- Vendor claim only AlgorithmWatch says more than 160,000 people supported its petition against weakening climate protection rules for data centres; the figure is its own.
- Unverifiable According to AlgorithmWatch, the economics ministry under Katherina Reiche presented plans to amend the Energy Efficiency Act, which currently obliges data centre operators to publish electricity and water consumption.
- Unverifiable AlgorithmWatch argues the draft would significantly weaken the law and let large companies hide consumption values behind trade secrets.
- Unverifiable AlgorithmWatch claims demands in lobby papers from Google and other tech companies partly match the ministry’s draft, in some cases word for word; it does not publish the comparison.
- Unverifiable AlgorithmWatch says past efficiency standards led data centres to use less electricity and that lowering them would effectively abolish energy-saving obligations; no data is cited.
- Unverifiable Julian Bothe of AlgorithmWatch says new data centre construction in Germany has already reached unforeseen dimensions, without giving figures.
The key caveat
All statements come from a single advocacy organisation reporting on its own campaign, and it links neither the draft bill nor the lobby papers it says the draft mirrors.
Open questions
- What exactly does the ministry’s draft change in the transparency and efficiency obligations for data centres, including any trade secret exemption?
- Can the alleged word-for-word overlap between tech lobby papers and the draft be confirmed by a side-by-side comparison?
- How the ministry and the named tech companies respond to the accusations is not reported.
What’s next
Watch the Bundestag’s further deliberation of the Energy Efficiency Act amendment after its first reading.
Source: AlgorithmWatch, 24 September 2026: 160.000+ Unterschriften an Bundestag übergeben – für Klimaschutz statt KI-Wahn
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