More than four in five Australians, as part of the YouGov survey, believe data centre operators should be required to invest in new renewable energy and storage to offset their growing electricity demand, according to new polling commissioned by the Climate Council.

The survey of 1,624 Australians found 82% of respondents support governments requiring new data centres to fund additional renewable energy and storage infrastructure that matches their electricity consumption.

The findings come ahead of next week’s meeting of the Energy and Climate Change Ministerial Council (ECMC), where federal and state energy ministers are expected to discuss the impact of rapidly growing data centre demand on Australia’s electricity system.

The polling also found that 67% of survey takers believe data centres risk putting additional strain on the electricity grid and driving up household power bills.

Additionally, 69% support mandatory energy and water efficiency standards for new data centres and just 49% believe the industry will deliver a significant boost to Australia’s economy.

Climate Council chief executive Amanda McKenzie says Australians want stronger safeguards as AI-driven demand for data centres accelerates.

“Australians have sent a crystal-clear message: Operators cashing in on the AI boom must bring their own clean energy to the table,” she says.

“With energy demand from Australian data centres set to triple by 2030, we can’t afford to let this industry drain our grid, push up electricity bills and create more climate pollution.”

Amanda adds that requiring data centre operators to build or procure additional renewable generation was essential to protecting households from higher energy costs.

“The Federal Government promised last week to ensure that data centres won’t drive up power prices. This requires mandating that data centres build their own additional renewable power,” she says.

“Without immediate action, Australian households will pay the price through spiked energy bills and soaring pollution within the next few years.”

The Climate Council is urging state and federal governments to introduce stronger requirements for renewable energy investment and efficiency standards as Australia’s data centre sector continues to expand alongside growing demand for artificial intelligence and cloud computing services.