The Green Party wants a one-year moratorium on resource consents for new AI data centres, saying New Zealand's rules have not kept up with the scale of the developments now coming through the consenting pipeline.

The call comes as Singapore-based Datagrid holds resource consent for a $3.5 billion data centre in Makarewa, Southland. The facility would cover 78,000 square metres and draw 280 megawatts of power, making it the second-largest electricity user in the country behind the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter. Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said the Datagrid centre alone would consume roughly six percent of New Zealand's total electricity supply. RNZ

Resource consent is the legal permission councils grant under the Resource Management Act for activities that affect land, water, or air. The Greens' concern is that this framework was built for conventional developments, not for facilities that consume as much power as a small city.

The Datagrid consents also include the ability to draw more than 600,000 litres of groundwater per day. Datagrid has stated it will not use any groundwater, preferring Invercargill's naturally cool air temperatures and rainwater when needed.

Mercury Energy has taken a 12.7 percent minority equity stake in Datagrid NZ for $53 million, following a 140 megawatt power purchase agreement signed in March. Southland mayor Rob Scott has described the data centre as a good opportunity for the region.

Swarbrick framed the proposed pause as targeted and time-limited. She said it was "not a ban on data infrastructure but a pause on the most resource-intensive developments until intentional regulation was developed." She also noted that councils can currently consent data centre developments on a non-notified basis, meaning no public input is required.

The Greens are pointing to international precedents. The Australian government recently announced it would establish an Office of AI within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, tasked with managing AI standards and requiring data centres to be net producers of energy and to limit water usage. Swarbrick also cited New York's pause on new hyperscale data centres until a framework was developed as a model for New Zealand to follow.

The broader context here is that New Zealand's resource management system was not designed with hyperscale AI infrastructure in mind. The Datagrid facility, at 280 megawatts, would sit behind only Tiwai Point in national electricity demand, and Tiwai's future has itself been the subject of repeated uncertainty. Adding a load of that magnitude to the national grid has implications for generation capacity, transmission investment, and the pace of the broader electrification transition. The fact that such a consent can be processed on a non-notified basis means these questions are being resolved without public scrutiny.

The Greens' proposal puts the focus on whether the resource management framework is the right vehicle for assessing the cumulative effects of multiple large-scale data centres, or whether a dedicated regulatory regime, comparable to what Australia is moving toward, is needed. The one-year pause would give policymakers time to develop rules addressing energy intensity, water use, and the public interest in how scarce grid capacity is allocated.

The party's call also intersects with the coalition government's broader resource management reform agenda. Whether a moratorium gains any traction will depend on whether the government views the current consenting framework as fit for purpose for this category of development, or whether it shares the Greens' assessment that the pace of AI infrastructure deployment has outstripped the regulatory response.