Microsoft and other US tech companies lobbied the European Commission to add a confidentiality clause to EU datacentre emissions rules, with the final rule text nearly identical to language they submitted. The 2024 provision classifies individual datacentre environmental metrics as confidential business information, blocking public and media access even through freedom of information requests. Environmental law scholars warn the blanket secrecy clause may violate EU transparency rules and international agreements on public environmental access. The timing coincides with an AI boom driving massive new datacentre construction powered partly by fossil gas.