Greta Thunberg’s school strike outside the Swedish parliament began in August 2018 with a cardboard sign. Within months, students across Europe were walking out of their classrooms. The climate movement suddenly had its own language, a youthful figurehead and images that dominated mainstream media coverage.
Green parties were among the chief beneficiaries. In the 2019 European Parliament elections, they made substantial gains in Germany, France, Ireland and several northern European countries. In Germany, the Greens peaked at 20.5% and later supplied both the vice chancellor and foreign minister. Fridays for Future helped propel Green politicians into offices that would previously have seemed beyond their reach.
From School Strikes to Street Protest
The school strikes were soon followed by more radical forms of protest. Extinction Rebellion blocked roads and public squares, while Last Generation activists glued themselves to roadways, disrupted events and used works of art as backdrops for their demonstrations.
The protests attracted attention but increasingly alienated parts of the public that had previously supported the movement’s climate agenda. The mood began to turn. Motorists dragged protesters off the road, courts imposed penalties and politicians introduced tougher laws. The movement that had helped propel the Greens to prominence began to pull them back down.
In the 2024 European Parliament elections, Green parties lost a substantial share of their seats. In Germany, the party’s vote fell to 11.9%. Rising energy prices, migration, war and economic uncertainty pushed climate policy down the list of voters’ concerns.
Greta Thunberg herself has long since shifted her focus. Her public appearances now center largely on the war in Gaza and pro-Palestinian activism.
AI Opens a New Front
The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence is creating a fresh political battleground. Data centers consume enormous amounts of electricity, occupy large tracts of land and, in many cases, require substantial quantities of water for cooling. They are often built on the outskirts of cities, in industrial zones or on land previously used for agriculture.
Their vast appetite for energy could offer a ready-made cause to a movement that has traditionally preached restraint and reduced consumption rather than sought solutions.
The European Union plans to expand its data-center capacity substantially in the coming years. Technology companies are investing billions in new sites to run cloud services and AI models. Each project places additional strain on power grids and generating capacity.
Europe’s Data-Center Backlash
Ireland shows how heavy the industry’s demands can be. Data centers already account for almost a quarter of the country’s metered electricity consumption. In the Greater Dublin Area, new grid connections were temporarily restricted, and operators must now demonstrate how they intend to secure their power supply.
The Netherlands has also imposed limits on large facilities. Amsterdam temporarily halted further development before designating specific areas for data centers. The Dutch government now permits the largest complexes at only a handful of sites.
Opposition is also growing to a planned Google data center in Austria. Critics are demanding a full environmental assessment and more detailed information about its electricity and water requirements. The site is expected to cover around 50 hectares. A petition opposing the development has attracted thousands of signatures.
The Scottish Greens, meanwhile, are calling for a halt to new hyperscale data centers until stricter planning rules are introduced. They argue that the proposed facilities could consume a significant share of the available power supply.
Such disputes are easy for political parties to exploit. Local concerns can be turned into sweeping warnings. Just as campaigners once stoked fears of heatwaves and drought, they may now seek to direct public anxiety toward server farms.
The Search for a New Greta
Opposition to data centers unites several political constituencies. Environmentalists warn about electricity and water use. Consumer groups argue that households should not have to pay for new power lines and generating capacity. Technology skeptics see the facilities as the physical infrastructure behind an AI revolution they already distrust.
The industry also offers campaigners a ready-made cast of villains. Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta have vast investment budgets and often make decisions about new sites far removed from the communities affected. The result is fertile ground for a campaign linking Big Tech, rising living costs and pressure on local resources.
Environmental groups know how to turn local disputes into national campaigns. Large organizations can support residents’ initiatives with expert assessments, legal advice and ready-made objections to planning applications. Individual developments can then be folded into a broader political narrative, transforming municipal planning disputes into a Europe-wide confrontation.
For Green parties, the issue may prove more immediate than international climate summits. A data center can be built near people’s homes, require new access roads and contribute to higher electricity bills. That gives residents a direct reason to organize.
What the movement still lacks is someone capable of turning technical questions into a simple political message. Greta Thunberg transformed carbon emissions and temperature targets into a story that millions of young people could grasp. No comparable figure has yet emerged in the campaign against server farms.
The movement still lacks a face. Its next enemy, however, is already taking shape.