Jul 23, 2025 - Energy & Climate

UN leader makes data center plea amid new growth projections

Ben Geman

an illustration of a leaf and binary code surrounded by various shapes — Illustration: Tiffany Herring/Axios

UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for lower-carbon data center development in a major address on climate change as the COP30 summit draws closer.

Why it matters: It signals how AI's massive energy thirst is high on the climate world's radar as hyperscalers expand infrastructure for training and use of powerful AI tools.

Driving the news: "By 2030, data centers could consume as much electricity as all of Japan does today. This is not sustainable — unless we make it so," he said Tuesday.

"Today I call on every major tech firm to power all data centers with 100% renewables by 2030," Guterres said.

The intrigue: The comments come as everyone's grappling with how much data centers' capacity will grow, how much power they'll need, and how much energy access will put the brakes on development.

The estimates vary a lot.
Morgan Stanley analysts, in a new note, project 23% annual growth in worldwide data center capacity through 2030 and lots of continued growth through 2035.
Contra the UN boss's goal, they see a mix of fuels powering it, including gas, renewables and nuclear.

What we're watching: Whether new clean energy commitments and goals around data centers emerge at COP30 in November.

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UN leader makes data center plea amid new growth projections

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