Data Center Boom Strains Grids but May Force Clean Energy Breakthrough

A Climate Week NYC panel convened by S&P Global wrestled with one of the defining tensions of the energy transition: whether the explosive growth of AI-driven data centers will lock in decades of fossil fuel emissions or become the market force that finally funds breakthrough clean energy at scale. Three startup CEOs — from geothermal discovery, energy regulatory intelligence, and photonic chip design — converged on a surprising answer: the decisive variable isn't technology. It's community power.

• Data center electricity demand is outpacing clean energy supply, forcing fossil fuel buildout even as gas turbines are backordered
• AI-powered geothermal discovery could offer carbon-free baseload power uniquely suited to data center co-location, Zanscar CEO says
• Solar and battery alone can't power large data centers at acceptable cost, creating the first buyer willing to pay "almost anything" for new nuclear, geothermal, and long-duration storage
• Social license — not technology — is the No. 1 risk for data center development, all three panelists agreed
• $45 trillion in U.S. retirement savings gives ordinary investors more collective power than endowments to hold companies accountable for pollution
• Communities passing 100% renewable requirements for data centers are emerging as the most effective policy lever

Why it matters: The scale of AI-driven electricity demand is the single largest new variable in global emissions forecasts. How that demand is met — with gas or with clean energy — will shape climate progress for decades.