ITI was once again on the ground at Climate Week NYC. As leaders from business, government, and civil society gathered in New York for Climate Week, one message is increasingly clear: technology is not a separate part of the climate conversation; it is woven throughout it.
Few issues received more attention during Climate Week than the intersection of AI, energy, and infrastructure. Data centers were mentioned so often that several speakers and attendees joked that Climate Week should be renamed as Data Center Week. Much time was spent on the challenges arising from the rapid growth of AI, but the ICT industry was also frequently mentioned as a necessary contributor of solutions through continued improvements in computing, cooling, power systems, manufacturing, and facility operations. Established industry tools, including metrics developed by ITI’s affiliate The Green Grid can help operators and governments measure and improve data center energy, water, and resource efficiency using technically grounded and transparent methodologies.
These broad priorities were reflected at ITI’s event where government, technology, and infrastructure leaders explored how the industry can meet rapidly growing digital demand while advancing energy efficiency, reliability, affordability, and sustainability. A central theme was the need to optimize existing infrastructure while investing in the grid of the future. Participants discussed opportunities for data centers to become more active grid participants through flexible loads, energy storage, demand response, and diverse sources of reliable power, alongside policies that support transmission, storage, and grid modernization. The discussion also underscored that sustainability extends beyond electricity consumption to water, embodied carbon, materials, and circularity. Across these issues, participants emphasized the importance of consistent metrics, meaningful transparency, measurable progress, and engagement with local communities.
Participants also noted multiple concrete examples where newer digital technologies are providing solutions such as models enabling rapid evaluation of more sustainable building designs, or better grid performance through previously impossible fusion and analysis of massive quantities of data. Together, these themes point toward a broader approach to digital infrastructure—one in which technology companies, utilities, policymakers, and communities work collaboratively to accommodate growing computing demand while strengthening the resilience and efficiency of the energy system.
ITI and its members will continue working with policymakers and stakeholders to advance solutions that strengthen energy systems, improve resource efficiency, enable technological innovation, and ensure that the infrastructure powering our digital future also supports a sustainable and resilient economy. As AI, advanced manufacturing, and other technologies drive new electricity demand, grid modernization will be essential to ensuring that digital growth remains affordable, reliable, and sustainable. ITI’s Powering Growth Now: Recommendations to Accelerate an Affordable, Reliable Grid provides a roadmap for that transition, highlighting how grid-enhancing technologies, software, improved planning, storage, and other innovative solutions can unlock additional capacity from existing infrastructure while longer-term generation and transmission investments move forward. Together, these efforts demonstrate that sustainability and digital growth need not be competing priorities: innovation can help the United States meet rising energy demand, protect ratepayers, strengthen resilience, and build the infrastructure needed for a more sustainable digital future.