World and business leaders gathering in New York this week are confronting the growing economic and human costs of climate change, as extreme weather, higher energy prices and the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence reshape the global climate debate.
The discussions are taking place alongside the United Nations General Assembly and Climate Week New York, where governments, businesses, scientists and climate advocates are seeking ways to accelerate the transition to cleaner energy while dealing with rising electricity demand and climate-related disasters.
Scientists and climate experts say the scale of recent extreme events has underscored the urgency of the crisis. This summer brought severe heat waves, widespread wildfires and catastrophic flooding, including a deadly glacier-related flood in the Nepal-China border region that killed more than 1,300 people.
“We’ve gone from seeing the fingerprints of climate change in individual events to seeing the handprint of climate change on the whole world,” said Bill Hare, chief executive of Climate Analytics.
Rising energy prices add pressure
The economic impact of energy prices is another major issue at the meetings. U.N. climate chief Simon Stiell said climate change is contributing to higher food prices and broader inflation, while continued dependence on fossil fuels is increasing pressure on consumers.
Mohamed Adow, director of Power Shift Africa, said the global energy transition is producing two contrasting trends. Renewable energy is expanding rapidly and clean technologies are becoming increasingly competitive, while climate impacts are accelerating faster than political and financial systems are responding.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the international community cannot remain “frozen in time” as global temperatures continue to rise.
AI boom raises new climate concerns
The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence and data centres has emerged as another major issue during Climate Week.
Data centres require large amounts of electricity and, in many cases, water for cooling. Experts warn that growing demand could increase reliance on fossil fuels unless additional clean energy is deployed.
Stiell warned that energy-intensive AI could increase pollution from coal, oil and gas while putting additional pressure on household and business energy costs.
Industry and academic leaders, however, argue that AI could ultimately become an important tool for addressing climate change. Eva Riesenhuber, Head of Sustainability at Siemens, and Evelyn Wang, MIT Vice President for Energy and Climate, said technological advances could significantly reduce the environmental footprint of data centres.
Wang said data centres could become water-neutral within several years and eventually stop adding to global warming.
The issue also raises questions about fairness and the distribution of environmental impacts, with analysts noting that new data-centre construction can place additional pressure on local communities and resources.
The Turkish government, which will host the U.N. climate negotiations in Antalya in November, has also announced the Antalya Pledge on Artificial Intelligence, a political initiative focused on the energy use and deployment of AI.
Renewable energy growth must accelerate
A new report released during the New York meetings said the world can still achieve the 2023 goal of tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030, but the pace of expansion must increase substantially.
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the Global Renewables Alliance and Türkiye said renewable capacity additions reached a record 693 gigawatts in 2025. However, the report found that the world would need to add more renewable capacity between 2026 and 2030 than it has built in all previous years combined to remain on track for the target.
At the same time, fossil-fuel generation has also rebounded, with increased coal-power capacity in China contributing to the rise.
Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, said renewable energy growth has been significant but has not yet reduced global dependence on oil, coal and gas at the pace required to meet climate targets.
Climate action linked to national security
The energy transition is increasingly being discussed not only as a climate and economic issue but also as a matter of national security.
UK Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero Ed Miliband said the shift toward clean energy should be viewed as a national security priority alongside jobs and energy security.
He argued that climate change should receive greater attention from foreign and national security policymakers, as well as energy and environment ministers.
With COP31 scheduled to take place in Antalya in November, discussions in New York are expected to shape the international climate agenda ahead of the negotiations, particularly on renewable energy, climate finance, energy security and the environmental implications of artificial intelligence.
