Data center surge drives Catholic climate groups to press for safeguards

As artificial intelligence drives a rapid expansion of energy-hungry data centers across the United States, Catholic environmental advocates are urging lawmakers, technology companies, and consumers to evaluate the industryʼs growth through the lens of Catholic social teaching.

Catholic leaders in social teaching, environmental stewardship, and advocacy said the Church is not opposed to artificial intelligence itself.

“The Church is not anti-tech. It is not, in a sense, anti-AI,” Scott Hurd, vice president of leadership development and Catholic identity at Catholic Charities USA, told EWTN News. “But it is very concerned about the ethics involved in the design of these tools and the data centers.”

Why data centers matter Data centers house the computer servers that process and store information behind artificial intelligence systems. Their rapid growth, however, has also prompted concerns over electricity use, water consumption, electronic waste, and impacts on nearby communities.

Hurd said the issues can be understood in simple terms.

“They require immense amounts of energy,” he said, noting that facilities also consume large quantities of water to keep servers cool. In…