The Lombardy regional council approved a law that doubles construction charges for data centres in parks and adds a 100 % surcharge in agricultural land, aiming to curb unchecked expansion while still allowing development on repurposed industrial sites.
What the law claims to achieve
Lombardy’s new regional decree, approved on 26 May 2026, raises the fiscal contribution that developers must pay for building data‑centre facilities in protected zones. The headline figures are a 100 % increase in the standard construction charge for agricultural land and a 200 % increase for land classified as park or other green area. The regulation also introduces a fast‑track permitting path for projects that reuse disused industrial sites, where no extra charge is applied.
The official rationale, voiced by regional councillor Massimo Sertori, is to “discourage the speculative acquisition of green land for data‑centre projects that lack clear timelines or sustainability plans.” The region argues that it already hosts the bulk of Italy’s data‑centre pipeline – 33 operational sites in the Milan metro area, another 10 under construction and 23 under evaluation – and therefore can afford to set stricter local conditions.
What is actually new
| Aspect | Previous rule (draft) | Final law |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural land surcharge | +50 % | +100 % |
| Park / green area surcharge | +75 % | +200 % |
| Incentive for brownfield reuse | No special provision | Zero surcharge + simplified bureaucracy |
The amendment was driven by the regional Lega group leader Alessandro Corbetta, who pushed the percentages higher during the council debate. While the draft already represented a significant cost increase, the final numbers are substantially steeper, especially for parkland where the fee triples.
In practice, the surcharge is added to the “onere di urbanizzazione” (urbanization charge) that developers pay to the municipality. For a typical 10 000 m² data‑centre footprint, the extra contribution could rise from a few hundred thousand euros to well over a million, depending on local rates.
Why the numbers matter
- Economic signal – The extra cost directly affects the internal rate of return (IRR) calculations that cloud‑provider finance teams use. A 100 % surcharge effectively halves the net profit margin for a project that would otherwise break even on the urbanization fee alone.
- Location shift – By making green‑area builds financially unattractive, the law nudges developers toward brownfield sites. This aligns with the EU’s Circular Economy Action Plan, which encourages re‑use of existing industrial land.
- Energy planning – The decree caps the region’s authorised data‑centre power draw at 2 GW, far below the 30 GW of applications filed nationwide. Terna, Italy’s grid operator, will sit on a steering committee to map site‑level power availability, ensuring that new facilities do not overload the local grid.
Limitations and open questions
- Enforcement complexity – The surcharge is a fiscal instrument, not a hard ban. Companies with deep pockets could simply absorb the cost, especially multinationals like Amazon or Aruba that already have economies of scale.
- Definition of “green area” – Italian land‑use classifications vary by municipality. Without a uniform definition, developers may contest the categorisation of a parcel, leading to legal disputes that could delay projects further than the intended deterrent effect.
- Impact on regional competitiveness – While Lombardy claims to be ahead of the national government, the higher fees could push new investments to neighboring regions with looser rules, potentially eroding the region’s 63 % share of Italy’s data‑centre applications.
- Energy‑efficiency standards – The law mentions a “maximum of 2 GW” but does not tie the surcharge to the energy‑efficiency of the facility. A more nuanced approach would couple the fee with PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) targets, rewarding greener designs.
- Long‑term land‑use planning – The decree does not address future expansion of existing sites. A data centre that starts on a brownfield plot could later acquire adjacent green land once the initial surcharge is paid, a loophole that the current text does not close.
How this fits into the broader European context
Several EU regions have introduced similar fiscal levers. For example, Bavaria imposes a “green‑area premium” on new data‑centre permits, and Netherlands municipalities can levy a “climate surcharge” based on projected electricity consumption. Lombardy’s approach is more aggressive in percentage terms but shares the same underlying goal: align data‑centre growth with territorial and climate policies.
What to watch next
- National response – The Italian government has signalled an intention to draft a country‑wide framework for data‑centre siting. If a national law supersedes regional ones, Lombardy’s surcharge could be overridden or harmonised.
- Industry reaction – Major operators have yet to comment publicly. Monitoring statements from the Italian Data Centre Association (Associazione Italiana Data Center – AIDC) will give an early indication of whether the surcharge will be absorbed or lead to relocation.
- Legal challenges – Expect at least one administrative appeal to the Regional Administrative Court (TAR) within the next six months, likely questioning the proportionality of the 200 % increase.
For further details on the decree, see the official Lombardy Gazette publication here. The full text of the urbanization charge schedule is available on the regional finance portal.
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