Media & news
Climate Compromise
Mar 3, 2025
For decades, numerous environmental organizations and the environmental media have run an increasingly pressurized campaign to eliminate the use of all fossil fuels. You have seen the headlines – Net Zero by 2050, Keep Fossil Fuels in the Ground, Clean Energy Not Dirty Fuels, and many others.
One of the leading media organizations driving the Climate Change movement is The New York Times, which, a number of years ago, established a Climate Forward Desk to report on climate change news and activities. The Times’ Climate Forward writers are experienced journalists who do more than just focus on climate news. They promote and advance a climate doctrine of complete elimination of fossil fuels, and they criticize any level of compromise that doesn’t include complete elimination of fossil fuels as soon as possible. Anyone who disagrees with their positions is labeled a denier or a planet destroyer.
That position changed, at least a little, on January 7, 2025 with an article written by David Gelles, the leader of the Times’ Climate Forward Newsletter, titled, What Will Power the A.I. Revolution?
Mr. Gelles notes that Microsoft recently announced it would invest $80 billion during 2025 to build data centers to support its growing artificial intelligence (AI) business. Other tech companies like Apple, Meta, Amazon, and Google are making similar commitments to AI. A huge amount of electricity will be required to power the wave of data centers that are projected to be built. Mr. Gelles notes the growth will further strain the electric grid, which is predominantly powered by natural gas and coal. He states, “That growth in electric usage will mean more planet warming emissions from electric generation.”
Mr. Gelles also points out the irony that Microsoft and the other giant tech companies that are responsible for the surge in electric use and increasing emissions have historically been corporate leaders in combating global warming. He comments on Microsoft’s 2020 promise to remove all its historic emissions from the atmosphere, Amazon’s climate pledge, and Google’s Net Zero goals. Now those companies are dramatically increasing their energy uses, despite their climate promises.
The tech companies claim AI will improve energy efficiency around the world and deliver breakthroughs in developing clean energy. If that comes to pass, today’s spike in emissions will just be a short-term disruption to their climate goals. Nili Gilbert, vice-chairwoman of Carbon Direct, a company that helps corporations lower their emissions, said, “It was encouraging that the companies seeing growth in the AI data centers are also the most highly committed and the biggest spenders on their climate targets. They are very focused on renewable energy.”
Mr. Gelles notes the increased interest and investment in nuclear power, while not considered renewable, is carbon free. Microsoft is investing in the reopening of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant in Pennsylvania. Other tech companies are investing in other nuclear technologies. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, expressed his faith that nuclear fusion was on the cusp of going mainstream, saying: “Fusion’s gonna work.”
However, Jason Burdoff, the founding director of the Center for Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, said, “The challenge is, this is a decade away, and they need power in 12 to 18 months. There are few options to do that in the very short term other than natural gas.”
Mr. Gelles concludes the article by expressing hope that the tech giants are correct – AI will help solve the climate change problem. He states that optimism is shared by more than the tech giant executives. AI proponents say the technology has the potential to save more power than it consumes by providing more efficient airline routes and traffic patterns, optimizing power flows through the electric grid, and identifying new technological breakthroughs. And Mr. Burdoff is further quoted in the article, saying: “On the one hand, AI is going to take energy, and on the other hand, AI can help improve how we deploy clean energy. I am optimistic that’s going to net out in a positive direction from an energy transition standpoint.”
Mr. Gelles concludes the article, “That’s a rosy view of how the AI revolution will unfold. But until nuclear takes off or fusion breaks through, or AI unleashes a new wave of cheap renewables, AI will exact a steep toll on the climate.”
PowerSouth has supported a reasonable, balanced approach to climate change with emphasis on reliability and affordability. We believe providing all the world’s energy in an affordable manner without using fossil fuels, and without a breakthrough in current technology, will be impossible. We recognize that, despite the hype and subsidies, renewable power is more expensive and less reliable than dispatchable fossil fuel generation. It is very unlikely that AI ever provides enough energy efficiency or technology to displace the staggering amount of electricity they will require.
Mr. Gelles’s conclusion of the inevitability of increasing fossil fuel emissions is a dramatic position shift for environmentalists. It is a shame that it takes tech billionaires, in their quest to make billions more, to convince the Times’ Climate Desk to accept a compromise in allowing fossil fuels for powering AI data centers, when environmentalists have long harmed poor Americans (who are just trying to make ends meet every day) by aiming to deny their opportunity to receive reliable, affordable power from fossil fuels. I’m not sure if it is a climate compromise as much as a climate hypocrisy.
I hope you have a good month.