This year’s Climate Week drew an unprecedented 100,000 participants who attended more than 1,000 events, spreading conversations and brainstorming sessions about ways to save our warming planet to street corners across New York City.
Record turnout could be due to the growing alarm about the rapid development of data centers and their climate consequences. I certainly felt the sense of urgency while attending a roundtable that put major technology companies in conversation with utilities, banks, and investors.
Our discussion at the top of the midtown Morgan Stanley building— high above the bustling masses— reflected the separation of these decision makers from the cities and, increasingly, remote rural towns where they are developing data centers.
This was a rare convergence of Big Tech titans, having frank discussions with investors and NGOs on the siting and environmental impacts of data centers. Participants shared how foisting these centers onto communities has created local pushback due to the resulting impacts of noise, pollution, water shortages, heat plumes, ratepayer hikes and more.
While the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) has called for a two-year moratorium on the construction of new, large data centers, Green Century shareholder advocates regularly meet with companies to drive actions that will address the environmental consequences of data centers and AI.
The results of advocates’ initial meetings were five semiconductor companies’ pledges to publish roadmaps to reach targets for expanding renewables and limiting global warming. Now that the artificial intelligence build-out is increasing tech giants’ emissions, Green Century is following up with these companies to guarantee data center demands do not compromise their climate commitments.
Shareholder advocates are also spearheading investor engagement with companies increasing the use of AI in their products and operations.
A United Nations University report found that if data centers were a country, their power use could be sixth highest in the world by 2030. The power-hungry houses of artificial intelligence are likely to be fed by dirty fossil fuels. Closure has been delayed of at least 17 fossil fuel generating units due to concerns about rising electricity demand from data centers, according to Frontier Group (like PIRG, also part of The Public Interest Network). So, it makes sense that these computing hubs have taken the center stage and brought the urgency at Climate Week to a new level.
Climate Week’s main goal is to accelerate action, but, in the case of data centers, nothing is more important than slowing down. My final event here is a talk about state leadership and sustainable data centers. Your representatives are another key stakeholder that needs to listen to community leaders and locals. Take Climate Week from the streets of New York City to your backyard by telling your governor today to support a two-year moratorium on large data centers.
–Giovanna Eichner
Shareholder Advocate