How AI took over a key climate event

Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images

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Each year in mid-September, about 100,000 climate activists, journalists, tech entrepreneurs, diplomats and funders descend on New York City to talk about all things climate related. Climate Week is timed to coincide with the annual UN General Assembly, which brings leaders from nearly every nation to the city, some of whom participate in Climate Week events on the sidelines of their packed schedule of UN meetings.

The whirlwind of events collectively reveals the pulse of the climate community, what issues are most prominent right now or are likely to emerge in the next several months, and what is on the descent.

This year’s Climate Week diverged markedly from past years that had been focused more closely on climate targets, timetables, emissions reductions and scaling up promising solutions . To an extent, that continued this year, too. But discussions focused more on how to power the AI revolution and its electricity-hungry data centers without relying on newly constructed fossil fuel plants.

Most notably, the word “climate” was curiously absent from many panel discussions and one-on-one conversations. Instead, there was an overflow of events dealing with the challenge of getting more electricity onto the grid, ASAP.

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I moderated two panels at the Electricity Innovation Initiative’s summit focused on the challenge of electrifying the economy — an important goal, since renewable energy is electric. Naturally, many of those discussions gravitated toward data centers and AI’s thirst for electrons. The growing backlash to data centers was a prominent topic on panels featuring a bipartisan group of governors, mayors and other officials who are navigating the rapidly changing politics on this issue.

At other events I attended, and in conversations I had with executives, climate activists and climate tech professionals, it was hard to miss the drastic differences from past climate weeks that have focused more centrally on the challenge of cutting planet-warming fossil fuel emissions to avoid the most damaging consequences from climate change.

In addition to the data center and AI obsession, there was another prominent theme that stood out, which was climate-related but framed differently: The need for businesses, countries, cities and even individuals to be more resilient in the face of the quickening pace and increasing severity of climate disasters .

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I have been going to New York Climate Week consistently for about the past decade, and I’ve watched trends come and go. But something about this year’s discussions struck me, as there is now a shared recognition bordering on a resigned acceptance that we are missing the climate targets — particularly the 1.5-degree warming target from the Paris Climate Agreement — and that we now have serious consequences to deal with, even if we manage to quickly and drastically slash emissions in the near-term.

During the past several years, climate change has shifted from a future problem to a present-day crisis. At the same time, there’s an economic need to scale up data centers to facilitate the AI revolution, and that need has stripped the climate challenge of its sense of urgency.

In sit down meetings, climate professionals from a variety of sectors, including the insurance industry, major food producers, among others, spoke of resilience rather than using the word “climate.” This reflects where we are right now, firmly in the era of climate change consequences.

Timothy A. Clary/法新社/盖蒂图片社

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每年九月中旬，约有十万名气候活动家、记者、科技企业家、外交官和资助者齐聚纽约，探讨所有与气候相关的话题。气候周的举办时间与一年一度的联合国大会同期，届时几乎所有国家的领导人都会齐聚纽约，其中一些人会在繁忙的联合国会议间隙参加气候周的各项活动。

这一系列事件共同揭示了气候界的脉搏，哪些问题目前最为突出，哪些问题可能在未来几个月内出现，以及哪些问题正在衰落。

今年的气候周与往年截然不同，往年更侧重于气候目标、时间表、减排以及推广有前景的解决方案。虽然今年也在一定程度上延续了这些重点，但讨论的焦点更多地集中在如何在不依赖新建化石燃料发电厂的情况下，为人工智能革命及其耗电量巨大的数据中心提供动力。

最值得注意的是，“气候”一词在许多小组讨论和一对一谈话中都出奇地缺席。取而代之的是，大量活动都在探讨如何尽快将更多电力接入电网这一挑战。

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在电力创新倡议峰会上，我主持了两场专题讨论会，主题是经济电气化——这是一个重要的目标，因为可再生能源本身就是电力。不出所料，许多讨论都围绕数据中心和人工智能对电力的需求展开。数据中心日益增长的反对声浪也成为专题讨论会上的一个重要议题，与会的与会者包括来自两党的州长、市长和其他官员，他们正在努力应对这一问题上瞬息万变的政治局势。

在我参加的其他活动中，以及与企业高管、气候活动家和气候技术专业人士的交谈中，很难忽视与以往气候周的巨大差异，以往气候周更侧重于应对减少导致全球变暖的化石燃料排放的挑战，以避免气候变化带来的最严重后果。

除了对数据中心和人工智能的痴迷之外，还有一个突出的主题，它与气候有关，但表述方式不同：企业、国家、城市甚至个人都需要提高应对气候灾害加速发展和日益严重程度的韧性。

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过去十年左右，我几乎每年都参加纽约气候周，也见证了各种趋势的兴衰更替。但今年的讨论让我印象深刻，因为人们现在普遍认识到，我们未能实现气候目标——特别是《巴黎气候协定》中设定的将全球升温幅度控制在1.5摄氏度以内的目标——而且即便我们能在短期内迅速大幅削减温室气体排放，也必须面对由此带来的严重后果，甚至可以说是无奈接受的。

过去几年，气候变化已从一个未来问题演变为一场迫在眉睫的危机。与此同时，为了推动人工智能革命，数据中心规模的扩张成为经济需求，而这种需求却削弱了气候挑战的紧迫性。

在多次座谈会上，来自各行各业的气候专家，包括保险业、大型食品生产商等，都用“韧性”一词来指代气候变化，而不是使用“气候”这个词。这反映了我们目前的处境，我们已然身处气候变化后果的时代。