Tokyo residents plan suit against GLP over data centre project

Tokyo residents have formed a lawsuit group to challenge a proposed logistics and data centre complex, with the intention of filing a civil case this year against GLP Japan, the project's operator. This marks Japan's first instance of a data centre operator facing a civil lawsuit. The planned 3.63-million-megawatt development in Akishima, western Tokyo, comprises three logistics buildings and eight data centre buildings.

Local inhabitants are apprehensive about the potential adverse effects of the data centre, including harm to wildlife, depletion of their water supply, environmental pollution, and a surge in electricity consumption. The lawsuit follows years of advocacy by residents, who claim their efforts to alter GLP's plans have been unsuccessful.

This development highlights the mounting conflict between Japan's ambition to expand digital infrastructure and the growing apprehension among local residents regarding the environmental and social repercussions of data centre construction.