At Scotland’s Big Nature and Climate Debate, organised by five coalitions of charities and communities working on environment issues, a Question about Hyperscale data centres was asked. How do we tackle the insatiable demand for energy from AI data centres? See how the political parties answered it.
The Politicians on the panel, from left to right, were:
- Helen McDade, Reform UK
- Mark Ruskell, Scottish Greens
- Douglas Lumsden, Scottish Conservatives
- Caitlin Stott, Scottish Labour
- Gillian Martin, SNP
It was great to have the Cabinet Secretary representing SNP on the panel
Fve of Scotland’s diverse coalitions teamed up to host the biggest climate and nature husting ahead of the 2026 Scottish elections. Working together, Our Seas Coalition, Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, Scottish Environment LINK, the Scottish Food Coalition and the Scottish Rewilding Alliance represent hundreds of organisations and over 1 million people in Scotland.
This pre-election debate saw party representatives answer questions from an audience live in central Edinburgh and was broadcast online to hundreds of members of the public across Scotland.
Polling recently conducted by Scottish Environment LINK shows that 7 out of 10 voters say that environmental and climate issues are important to them when deciding how to vote.