At a Climate Week panel on AI and data centers, protesters from Extinction Rebellion NYC repeatedly interrupted the speakers, forcing security to remove them. But according to a Wired analysis, such climate-focused protests are not representative of the broader backlash against data centers. Poll after poll shows that climate change is one of the last environmental concerns for voters, who are more worried about water use, energy bills, and local air and noise pollution.
That local focus is visible in political races. William Lawrence, a Sunrise Movement co-founder running for Congress in Michigan, has made data center opposition a cornerstone of his campaign, yet his platform makes no mention of climate change. Lawrence told Wired that water concerns and energy bills tend to rank higher for his constituents, even though some do raise climate worries.
Tech executives at the panel argued that data centers could become "good citizens" and help transform the grid. But analysts at BloombergNEF presented a different picture: data centers will likely make up more than 5 percent of global electricity demand by 2035, with most new demand met by natural gas. A separate analysis of 99 proposed on-site gas plants found they could increase US power sector emissions by 20 to 33 percent.