Sustainable datacentres and eco-modernist frictions in Sweden

This article discusses frictions related to a datacentre enterprise in amunicipality in northern Sweden. These frictions were related to theeco-modernist underpinnings of the enterprise and at the sametime contributed to shaping eco-modernism as a concept. Thearticle builds on critical datacentre studies, critiques of ecomodernismand the twin transition, and the concept of friction.The empirical context is ongoing plans for a ‘green’ industrialdatacentre enterprise in Östersund, a municipality in northernSweden, planned to host servers for AI. Two major frictions werefound: one concerning the datacentre company and how itnegotiated its sustainability profile knowing that its business stillrequired considerable material resources, and the otherconcerning the resistance that the initiative met from actors inÖstersund. I argue that even though the enterprise was framed ineco-modernist terms, the frictions contributed to shaping theuniversal of eco-modernism in a way that shifted focus fromecological to social sustainability and to discursive legitimisationof sustainability efforts. However, this did not make the businessany less resource intensive.