Every year as top government officials come to the United Nations General Assembly<\/a> and business executives flock to New York City Climate Week sessions, global warming generates lots of talk but little action. This time two new forces \u2014 the rise of energy-hungry artificial intelligence and data centers and higher fossil fuel prices from wars in Iran and Ukraine \u2014 should change the discussion, experts and activists said. That\u2019s on top of the usual climate-driven disasters that reached new levels of destruction, with more than 1,300 killed in sudden flooding caused by a collapsing glacier<\/a> on the Nepal-China border.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve gone from seeing the fingerprints of climate change in individual events to seeing the handprint of climate change on the whole world,\u201d said scientist Bill Hare, CEO of the organization Climate Analytics.<\/p>\n The effects of rising prices<\/p>\n Climate change is \u201cdriving up food prices and wider inflation,\u201d U.N. climate chief Simon Stiell said Monday in prepared remarks. \u201cBillions of people around the world are realizing that fossil fuel dependence is hitting them hard at the fuel pump<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Protests about high prices<\/a> have sparked worldwide<\/a>. In the U.S., consumer confidence<\/a> is plunging while gas prices have reached record highs<\/a>. Stiell said energy shortages due to the Iran war have cost American consumers more than $100 billion in higher fuel prices.<\/p>\n Mohamed Adow, director of Powershift Africa and a veteran climate negotiations analyst, said there are two climate stories happening at the same time: \u201cOne is extremely hopeful. Renewable energy is booming, technology is improving and the economics of clean energy increasingly make sense without anyone having to make a moral argument for it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe other is terrifying. Climate impacts are accelerating faster than our political and financial systems are responding,\u201d Adow said. \u201cNew York needs to bring those two stories together.\u201d<\/p>\n FILE \u2013 Meta data centers operate Sept. 5, 2026, near Social Circle, Ga. (AP Photo\/Mike Stewart, File)\n<\/p>\n FILE \u2013 A man rides past an operating oil pumpjack in Cabimas, Venezuela, Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ariana Cubillos, File)\n<\/p>\n FILE \u2013 American Electric Power\u2019s John Amos coal-fired power plant operates in Winfield, W.Va., across the Kanawha River from Poca, W.Va., March 22, 2026. (AP Photo\/Carolyn Kaster, File)\n<\/p>\n FILE \u2013 A barge is fully loaded with coal on the Mahakam River in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, Aug. 19, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ahmad Mulia Panjaitan, File)\n<\/p>\n FILE \u2013 Residents pull a newly installed zipline to help people commute across the Trishuli River in the aftermath of floods at Bidur in Nepal\u2019s Nuwakot district, Nepal, Sept. 2, 2026. (AP Photo\/Rajesh Kumar Singh, File)\n<\/p>\n Show Caption<\/p>\n 1 of 5<\/p>\n FILE \u2013 Meta data centers operate Sept. 5, 2026, near Social Circle, Ga. (AP Photo\/Mike Stewart, File)\n<\/p>\n Expand<\/a> The environmental footprint of artificial intelligence and data centers looms large this week. That\u2019s because of the fear that the data center boom will mean a surge in coal, oil and gas use, which emits heat-trapping gases, even though data centers can be powered with zero-emission fuels.<\/p>\n United Nations officials are blunt in describing the matter.<\/p>\n \u201cEnergy-guzzling artificial intelligence<\/a> is driving up planet-heating pollution from coal, oil and gas, while ratcheting up energy costs for households and businesses. All while fueling disinformation, social division, and even larger inequalities of wealth,\u201d Stiell said. \u201cAI leaders are now on thin ice when it comes to license to operate, and sinking deep underwater when it comes to public support.\u201d<\/p>\n The issue touches on fairness and the growing gap between rich and poor and represents more concrete in people\u2019s backyards, so it reaches people not as worried about climate change, said Tufts University analyst Jennifer Morgan, a former German top climate negotiator and CEO of Greenpeace.<\/p>\n In some ways AI is becoming more vilified in climate talks than the fossil fuel industry, but the industry \u201chas always been good at deflection,\u201d Morgan said.<\/p>\n Activists plan to focus on AI in the week\u2019s scheduled climate protests.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is becoming very tangible to people. This is about what\u2019s happening to my electricity bill,\u201d said Climate Justice Alliance legislative director Mar Zepeda, who said her Washington, D.C., electric bill increased $200 in the past month.<\/p>\n National Artificial Intelligence Association President Caleb Max said AI now uses about 1.5% of global electricity and it should reach 3% by the end of the decade, but it\u2019s becoming much more efficient. And, he said, it could help solve the climate problem by unlocking \u201cnumerous currently unknown advances in science, technology and research.\u201d<\/p>\n Johan Rockstr\u00f6m, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, said data centers should not be the only focus because fossil fuels are the source of the climate crisis.<\/p>\n World leaders to discuss adding renewable power faster<\/p>\n The world can still meet a goal set in 2023<\/a> to triple renewable power capacity by the end of the decade, but it must move much faster.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the conclusion of a new report released for Climate Week\u2019s opening. The International Renewable Energy Agency, the Global Renewables Alliance, and Turkey \u2014 as the host of this year\u2019s U.N. climate talks \u2014 assessed progress toward the goal.<\/p>\n They found that despite record growth in renewables in 2025, the world must build more renewable power capacity in 2026 to 2030 than in all previous years combined.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to move faster, electrify faster and build the systems to support it,\u201d IRENA Director-General Francesco La Camera said.<\/p>\n The amount of renewable power added globally reached a peak of 693 gigawatts<\/a> in 2025, about half the installed power in the United States, IRENA found. At the same time, there was a sharp rebound in countries adding fossil fuels compared to 2024, mainly driven by China adding coal power.<\/p>\n \u201cThe journey so far on renewables is remarkable,\u201d Potsdam\u2019s Rockstr\u00f6m said. \u201cIt\u2019s particularly impressive given that it\u2019s succeeding despite unfair competition. Because it\u2019s competing with heavily-subsidized fossil fuel-based energy and electricity systems.\u201d<\/p>\n Unfortunately, Rockstr\u00f6m said, renewables are meeting a growing demand for electricity but not \u201cbending the curve\u201d to reduce oil, coal or gas use \u2014 which is necessary to cut carbon pollution and meet climate targets.<\/p>\n Paradoxically, military action waged by U.S. President Donald Trump in Venezuela and Iran and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Ukraine \u2014 both big fossil fuel advocates \u2014 have caused oil and gas shortages that have driven up prices, spurring countries to switch to renewables faster, Rockstr\u00f6m said.<\/p>\n \u201cBoth Putin and Trump, in their passionate belief that we should continue driving the global economy on fossil fuels, are in fact helping us transition away from fossil fuels,\u201d Rockstr\u00f6m said.<\/p>\n The Associated Press\u2019 climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP\u2019s standards<\/a> for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BY SETH BORENSTEIN and JENNIFER McDERMOTT NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 World and business leaders gathering this week in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3250,7443,2053,9,11,10,95385],"class_list":["post-352568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-ai","tag-climate-change","tag-data-centers","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-wars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Meta](\"https:\/\/www.bostonherald.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Climate_New_York_Climate_Week_AI_99831.jpg?w=620\")
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\nA spotlight on AI<\/p>\n