26 February 2026
Siemens Energy faces civil society pressure over fossil gas expansion betting on data centre-driven power demand
- The company is supplying gas turbines to 83.6 GW of gas-fired power plants that are under development worldwide – a move that runs against climate and energy commitments.
- While Siemens Energy celebrated record revenues in its first-ever public AGM, and continues to promote its ‘green’ credentials, the new AI-driven energy frenzy risks raising consumers’ electricity bills and locking them in volatile fossil fuels.
Berlin, 26 February 2026 – Civil society groups attending today’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Siemens Energy urged the company to set a timeline to phase-out its intensive gas turbine business and transition towards more sustainable energy solutions. They also called on Siemens Energy to adopt a strategy to mitigate the harmful impacts of data centers – in particular by ensuring that their demand for electricity is met exclusively with renewables, and not with fossil gas, so that Europe’s clean energy transition stays on track and that the US’ is not further derailed.
Campaigners from Beyond Fossil Fuels, together with other NGOs including DUH, Urgewald, Fridays For Future, Parents for Future, Greenpeace Germany and Friends of the Earth Germany, underscored at the company’s first public AGM a growing contradiction between Siemens Energy’s public positioning as a driver of the energy transition and its continued reliance on fossil gas turbines and infrastructure to generate record revenues.
“Siemens Energy presents itself as enabling a sustainable future, yet its growth strategy still hinges on fossil gas and new gas turbine supply tied to rising power demand from fossil-based utilities and energy-hungry data centers,” said Kathrin Gutmann, Beyond Fossil Fuels Campaign Director, present at the AGM. “This risks locking Europe and global energy systems into decades of pricey fossil fuels, just as clean alternatives like batteries can already be deployed at scale.”
“Siemens Energy is going all-in on fossil gas, disregarding the much more viable renewable energy alternatives,” said Moritz Leiner, Energy and Finance Campaigner at Urgewald. “In its own interest, the company must quickly phase out its fossil gas turbine production. Otherwise it will fall into the same fossil trap where German car manufacturers are stuck right now.”
Protest at the entrance to Siemens Energy AGM – Fridays For Future. CC BY Lukas Stratmann. More pictures can be found here, here and here.
AI boom risks fossil lock-in
Despite Siemens Energy’s promise of being a supporter of the ‘transition to a more sustainable world’, nearly half of its recent order intake comes from business areas linked to fossil fuel infrastructure, including gas services and industrial transformation. The company has announced major investments including to expand gas turbine manufacturing capacity, betting on data centres’ energy demand.
Campaigners warned that Siemens Energy is taking advantage of the AI bubble for short term profits that can cause long term climate harm. They stressed that the majority of people in Europe agree to limit data centres’ untethered growth, which is also impacting consumers’ electricity bills by locking in more fossil gas power generation. At the same time, a record portion of fund managers surveyed by Bank of America said they think companies are “overinvesting” in AI capital expenditure. NGOs concerns were echoed by several investors during the meeting, who pointed out the risk of stranded assets from an AI bubble and the need to set a net-zero target.
“AI infrastructure must not become the next excuse for fossil expansion,” Gutmann said. “If unchecked data centre demand is met with fossil gas instead of renewables, batteries and grids, we risk reversing hard-won progress on emissions reductions.”
Clean flexibility offers a viable alternative to fossil gas
As Europe accelerates renewable energy deployment, the German company is also justifying the fossil gas infrastructure expansion by arguing that it is needed to balance the grid. However, clean solutions can play the role of bringing flexibility to the power system, as this week’s report by The Bratte Group reveals.
Moreover, clean flexibility is not just good for the climate, it makes economic sense. In the UK alone, flexibility solutions reduced electricity bills by £300 million in 2024. Across Europe, demand-side balancing technologies could save up to €300 billion per year by 2030.
–ENDS–
Footnotes
1. Global Energy Monitor, “Global Oil and Gas Plant Tracker, Global Energy Monitor, January 2026 release” and its full data set.
2. Urgewald’s “Siemens Energy – Grünes Image, fossiles Lobbying”, p.2; Siemens Energy Annual Report 2024, see p. 19 and p. 96.
Notes
- On Siemens Energy:
- Urgewald’s report: “Siemens Energy – Grünes Image, fossiles Lobbying”
- DUH’s report: “Turbines for Tyrans”
- Siemens Energy’s sustainability statement 2025
- Siemens Energy’s letter to shareholders and recent interview in Frankfurter Allgemeine
- Presentation to shareholders (include information on orders for data centres)
- On data centres:
- February 2026: “The AI climate hoax: behind the curtain of how big tech greenwashes impacts”, a report which debunks the narrative that Big Tech has been promoting around Artificial Intelligence’s (AI) supposed climate benefit claims.
- October 2025: Polling research, commissioned to Savanta, to understand European citizens’ views on the growth of data centres, their energy impacts, and the responsibility of both Big Tech and governments.
- February 2025: “System Overload”, a report that explores booming data centre growth in Europe leading to a surge in power demand.
- On clean flexibility:
- February 2026 “Clean flexibility supports a reliable grid without fossil fuels”, a report by The Brattle Group and a briefing on Flexibility Needs Assessments (FNAs) that EU member states will submit by June 2026.
Contacts
Kathrin Gutmann, Campaign Director at Beyond Fossil Fuels, kathrin.gutmann@bff.earth
Brigitte Alarcon, Campaigner at Beyond Fossil Fuels, brigitte.alarcon@bff.earth
Moritz Leiner, Energy and Finance Campaigner at Urgewald, moritz.leiner@urgewald.org
About Beyond Fossil Fuels
Beyond Fossil Fuels is a civil society network committed to ensuring a just and rapid transition to a fossil-free, renewables-based future. Building upon the Europe Beyond Coal campaign, its goal is for Europe to be coal-free by 2030 and phase out fossil gas from the power sector by 2035. A clean and flexible energy system will deliver lasting benefits for people, the climate and the broader economy. Beyond Fossil Fuels is a non-profit organisation with an office in Berlin, with staff spread across Europe. www.beyondfossilfuels.org