AI is dominating the conversation at Climate Week

人工智能主导了气候周的讨论

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This week, world leaders descended on Manhattan for the UN General Assembly. It’s also New York Climate Week—investors, policymakers, advocates, and journalists are colliding at panels, talks, and fancy dinners. With so many climate voices in one place, the discourse can feel a little louder than usual. This year, the unavoidable topic is artificial intelligence. 执行摘要 本周，世界各国领导人齐聚曼哈顿参加联合国大会。与此同时，纽约气候周也在进行中——投资者、政策制定者、倡导者和记者们穿梭于各类小组讨论、讲座和高端晚宴之间。由于如此多的气候议题相关人士汇聚一堂，讨论的声音显得比往常更加响亮。今年，一个无法回避的话题就是人工智能。

There’s been a growing tension bubbling up about AI’s impacts on climate and climate tech. Depending on where you stand, you might point to AI’s potential for advancing research, or to the way funding and attention from Big Tech is trickling into energy startups. Or you might focus on the emissions-heavy natural-gas buildout that’s unfolding to meet the sector’s electricity demand. Everyone seems to agree that AI is important. The big question for those in the climate world, and the conversation I’m constantly having and hearing this week, involves how you see its influence unfolding. 关于人工智能对气候和气候技术的影响，一种日益紧张的情绪正在酝酿。根据立场不同，你可能会指出人工智能在推动研究方面的潜力，或者关注大型科技公司的资金和注意力如何流入能源初创企业。又或者，你可能会聚焦于为了满足该行业电力需求而正在进行的、高排放的天然气设施建设。每个人似乎都同意人工智能很重要。对于气候界的人士来说，一个核心问题——也是我本周不断参与和听到的讨论——在于你如何看待其影响的演变。

UN Secretary-General António Guterres highlighted the AI and climate crossover in a speech on the first day of the assembly. “The climate crisis fuels instability and displacement,” Guterres said. “Artificial intelligence could help solve all these challenges, or it could make them worse.” 联合国秘书长安东尼奥·古特雷斯在大会第一天的演讲中强调了人工智能与气候的交叉点。“气候危机加剧了不稳定和流离失所，”古特雷斯说，“人工智能可能有助于解决所有这些挑战，也可能使情况变得更糟。”

It feels relevant that this year is the first that the world has really had to grapple with the fact that climate goals are slipping out of reach. A recent report from the UN Environment Program said that the world has nearly passed the point where we could possibly keep warming to less than 1.5 °C above preindustrial levels. Since we’ve essentially missed this target, the report lays out the need not only to quickly and drastically reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, but also to employ carbon removal to help suck up emissions that have already been released into the atmosphere. 今年是世界首次真正不得不面对气候目标正渐行渐远这一事实，这显得尤为重要。联合国环境规划署最近的一份报告指出，世界已几乎错过了将升温控制在工业化前水平 1.5°C 以下的可能性。由于我们实际上已经错过了这一目标，报告指出，不仅需要迅速且大幅度地减少温室气体排放，还需要采用碳清除技术，以帮助吸收已经排放到大气中的温室气体。

The billion-dollar question is whether AI could help with any of this. The energy-intensive technology is certainly shining a spotlight on the need to build out electricity supplies and shore up grid reliability. The result is more attention and money for energy technologies, some of which happen to be low- or zero-emissions. As I’ve covered before, startups across the energy and climate sectors are benefiting. Firms in nuclear, geothermal, wind, and solar power have signed deals with the likes of Google, Meta, and others looking to power their new or growing data centers. 价值数十亿美元的问题是，人工智能能否在这方面提供帮助。这种能源密集型技术无疑凸显了扩大电力供应和加强电网可靠性的必要性。其结果是，能源技术获得了更多的关注和资金，其中一些恰好是低排放或零排放技术。正如我之前报道的那样，能源和气候领域的初创企业正在受益。核能、地热能、风能和太阳能领域的公司已经与谷歌、Meta 等寻求为其新建或扩建的数据中心供电的企业签署了协议。

Global climate-tech investment from venture capital hit $26 billion in the first half of 2026, according to data from Currence, a finance tracker for the industry. That’s 55% higher than last year, and products and services for data centers are getting a massive slice of that pie. But as a Semafor piece about the report points out, some sectors are slipping through the cracks: Carbon management and low-carbon fuels saw VC investment plummet this year. These are important solutions for addressing climate change but may not be able to sell themselves to a data center. 根据行业金融追踪机构 Currence 的数据，2026 年上半年全球气候技术风险投资额达到 260 亿美元。这比去年增长了 55%，而数据中心的产品和服务占据了其中的很大一部分。但正如 Semafor 关于该报告的一篇文章所指出的，一些领域正被忽视：碳管理和低碳燃料领域的风险投资今年大幅下滑。这些是应对气候变化的重要解决方案，但可能无法向数据中心推销自己。

So far, the data center buildout has come with a hefty emissions toll. A few years ago, Microsoft, Google, and Meta all had ambitious goals to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Now they’ve all seen emissions rise, largely because of data centers that are needed to power AI. Some people are optimistic. AI could help speed up progress in areas like the search for new catalysts, as Evelyn Wang, MIT’s VP of energy and climate, pointed out during a panel. And data centers won’t add to climate and water problems forever, Wang told the Associated Press. (She puts the timeline at about a decade until data centers no longer add to planet-warming emissions.) 到目前为止，数据中心的建设带来了沉重的排放代价。几年前，微软、谷歌和 Meta 都曾制定了雄心勃勃的温室气体减排目标。现在，它们的排放量都有所上升，这在很大程度上是因为支持人工智能所需的数据中心。有些人持乐观态度。麻省理工学院能源与气候副校长伊芙琳·王（Evelyn Wang）在小组讨论中指出，人工智能可以帮助加快寻找新催化剂等领域的进展。王告诉美联社，数据中心不会永远加剧气候和水资源问题。（她预计大约十年后，数据中心将不再增加导致地球变暖的排放。）

But a whole lot of natural gas is coming online to meet the immediate demand created by new data centers. And once those power plants are built, they have a decades-long lifetime. That’s partly why public pushback to AI is growing—people are seeing more pollution and noise near these data centers and the power plants that provide them with electricity. 但是，为了满足新数据中心产生的迫切需求，大量的天然气发电项目正在上线。一旦这些发电厂建成，它们的使用寿命长达数十年。这也是公众对人工智能的抵制情绪日益增长的部分原因——人们在这些数据中心以及为它们提供电力的发电厂附近看到了更多的污染和噪音。

Overall, what I’m hearing this week is that many in the climate sector are skeptical of AI, at best. “AI leaders are now on thin ice when it comes to license to operate and sinking deep underwater when it comes to public support,” said UN climate chief Simon Stiell in a speech this week. “Tech titans need to start showing why the benefits of AI outweigh its skyrocketing costs—for the many, not just the tiny few.” 总的来说，我本周听到的是，气候领域的许多人对人工智能充其量持怀疑态度。“在运营许可方面，人工智能领导者现在如履薄冰；在公众支持方面，他们正深陷泥潭，”联合国气候变化负责人西蒙·斯蒂尔（Simon Stiell）在本周的一次演讲中说道。“科技巨头需要开始证明，为什么人工智能的益处超过了其飙升的成本——这是为了大众，而不仅仅是为了极少数人。”