James Kirkwood

Already 2020 is looking like it’s going to be one of the top five hottest years on record, with temperatures easily matching last year’s summer heatwave highs.

In the year that Amsterdam claims to be Europe’s largest data centre hub, the city government has in effect put the brakes on the construction of new data centres – a decision that the Dutch Data Centre Association (DDA) questions given the importance of the digital and IT sector to the area.

With the temperature hitting 38.1C in the UK at the end of July, and records also falling across the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France (where Paris recorded a high of 42.6C), climate experts are talking of 40C temperatures becoming the new normal for European summers.