Texas halted environmental permits for data-centre projects on 21 September until they pay their own way, days after Loudoun voted to draft a year-long pause and Holyrood backed halting decisions. Spain, Ireland, Victoria and Singapore set proof-first conditions too. Brazil and Argentina moved the other way, cutting taxes and clearing grid.
Texas, Loudoun, Scotland and Spain paused or priced data-centre builds; Brazil cut taxes and cleared grid to attract them.
Governor Greg Abbott told Texas's environmental regulator on 21 September to stop issuing any permit tied to a data centre, new or pending, until two state audits of power and water report.
Texas governor Greg Abbott ordered the state's environmental regulator to halt every data-centre permit on 21 September. The freeze covers new and pending projects alike.
Developers must now show they can pay for the grid and water they need. The order responds to a 438-gigawatt grid queue, about 90% of it data centres, far beyond current supply.
The Scottish Parliament voted 80-26 to pause data-centre decisions, but only minister Hannah Mary Goodlad's planning Direction binds, and she says it covers live applications.
Scotland's Parliament voted 80 to 26 on 16 September for a motion pausing data-centre planning decisions until national guidance is published. The vote itself creates no legal duty.
A separate ministerial order already covers the applications now in the system. The minister confirmed its scope on 16 September, the same day as the vote.
Spain's draft decree would make data centres match 80% of their power with renewables hour by hour; Aragon's economy chief says no site could comply.
IrelandSpain's energy ministry closed consultation on a draft decree for new data centres on 10 September. It sets a tough efficiency target and demands 80% renewable power matched hour by hour.
Aragon, a region hosting many proposed sites, said on 11 September that no data centre can meet the draft as written. Aragon holds about 3,600 megawatts of granted grid access for data centres.
President Lula signed Lei 15.504 on 15 September, turning Brazil's Redata data-centre tax break into law with no veto message and the Senate's water condition in Article 11-B.
Brazil's president Lula signed Lei 15.504 on 15 September, creating tax breaks for data-centre and AI construction. He signed without vetoing the bill's water-use limit.
That limit, 0.05 litres per kilowatt-hour, was written in by the Senate and stays intact. The law creates the new Redata tax regime for data-centre and AI builds.
Loudoun County's Board of Supervisors voted 7-1-1 to draft a 12-month halt on new data-centre rezonings, 18 months after it rejected a moratorium.
Loudoun County's Board of Supervisors voted 7 to 1 on 16 September to draft a 12-month pause on new data-centre rezoning. The county hosts 233 data centres, the world's densest cluster.
The pause is not yet law; supervisors vote again in October to adopt it. Existing approvals, including 35.7 million square feet of unbuilt space, are unaffected.
Ireland's planning appeals body refused a €1.5bn data centre at Killala, County Mayo, because the developer showed no fixed grid connection and no renewable power contract.
BelgiumIreland's national planning appeals board refused the €1.5bn Killala data centre on 17 September. The ruling overturns Mayo County Council's 2025 approval.
The developer had no confirmed grid connection and no renewable-power contract. The appeals board required both before it would grant approval.
Seven Chilean data-centre projects, one linked to Google, have asked the environmental assessment service to rule them outside full review, with declared diesel stocks clustered just under the trigger.
Seven Chilean data-centre projects, including one linked to Google, have asked regulators to rule they fall outside full environmental review. The newest, Polpaico Campus Norte in Tiltil, was lodged on 17 September.
Several declared diesel backup storage just under the threshold that triggers full review. The pattern echoes an earlier case at Alto Jahuel, though no filing breaks a rule.
Oracle spent $28.5bn on capital expenditure in the quarter to 31 August and delivered 850 MW of data-centre capacity, while customer prepayments cut its net cash outlay to $18bn.
South AfricaOracle reported $28.5bn of capital spending for its first fiscal quarter on 10 September, and held full-year guidance at $90 to $95bn. It delivered 850 megawatts of new capacity.
Customer prepayments cut Oracle's actual cash outlay to $18bn, putting part of the cost on customers. Spending has not slowed even as Texas, New York and Loudoun County pause permits.
Singapore's Digital Infrastructure Bill creates two data-centre licences, one for security at 10 MW or more and one for energy efficiency covering every site of 3 MW or more.
Singapore's government tabled a new Digital Infrastructure Bill for first reading on 8 September. It creates licences covering data-centre security and energy efficiency.
Compliance is currently voluntary under separate standards; the bill would make it a legal requirement. The Infocomm Media Development Authority would enforce both licences.
Victoria's new plan requires future data centres to supply renewable generation and storage matching their demand, pay their own grid costs and cool without drinking water.
United StatesVictoria's premier Ben Carroll released a Sustainable Data Centre Action Plan on 22 September. New centres in the Australian state must supply their own renewable power and storage.
They also cannot use drinking water for cooling, and must pay their own grid connection costs. The plan applies only to future projects, not existing ones.
The European Commission adopted a delegated regulation creating an A-to-G sustainability rating scheme for data centres above 500 kW, with the first labels due in 2027.
BelgiumThe European Commission adopted rules on 21 September creating an A to G energy rating for data centres above 500 kilowatts. Parliament and Council have two months to object.
The scheme reuses the letter-grade format already used for appliances and buildings. First labels are due in 2027, so this is groundwork, not an immediate requirement.
Empire State Development set a voluntary benchmark of $1m of community investment per megawatt, the framework Governor Kathy Hochul's July data-centre permit freeze required.
New York's state development agency published a Community Investment Framework on 15 September. Governor Kathy Hochul's July permit freeze required the document.
It sets a voluntary benchmark of $1m per megawatt for community spending. No developer must pay it, since the benchmark carries no penalty for missing it.
NERC's first reliability standards for computational loads passed their initial industry ballot, applying to sites of at least 50 MW connected at 100 kV or above.
North America's grid-reliability body passed its first computing-load standards through an initial industry ballot on 18 September. They would apply to sites of 50 megawatts or more at high voltage.
Passing the first ballot is an early step, not final adoption; federal regulators still have to approve it. It is the first continent-wide rule aimed at data-centre demand.
Brazil's electricity regulator authorised Scala Data Centers to connect its AI City campus in Rio Grande do Sul to the national grid, with 120 MW due from January 2028.
Brazil's regulator Aneel authorised Scala Data Centers' AI City campus to connect to the national grid. The connection is confirmed at 120 megawatts from January 2028.
The decision was dated 3 September but only published on 10 September, the date that counts as when it became public.
Industrial Info Resources counted 15 announced or under-evaluation Argentine data-centre projects worth US$46.4bn, but two schemes hold about 99% of the disclosed capacity.
A research tracker counted 15 announced or under-evaluation data-centre projects in Argentina worth US$46.4bn combined, reported on 14 September. This is a tally of proposals, not confirmed government investment.
OpenAI's Stargate and Green Capital's Atlas Gigahub hold about 99% of the disclosed capacity between them. Those two projects, not a wider boom, drive the US$46.4bn figure.
The Housing Assembly and Foxglove appealed Cape Town's approval of an Equinix data centre, citing missing water, emissions, noise and diesel-generator data, and the appeal suspends the consent.
South AfricaAn appeal by South Africa's Housing Assembly and Foxglove, lodged on 6 August, is keeping Cape Town's approval of an Equinix data centre suspended. The groups cite thin public consultation.
They also flag missing water, emissions and noise data. The appeal is only now widely reported, more than six weeks after it was filed.
Sideways, pending two 2026 deadlines. TCEQ must report Texas compliance to the Governor's office by 19 October, against a queue ERCOT had already put above 225 GW, and the five grid operators FERC granted abeyance must answer by 16 November. Either date could tip the US posture toward binding restriction if the answers show projects cannot meet the new conditions, or toward resumption if the audits clear the backlog faster than expected.
