The AI data centre buildout took over this year's New York Climate Week, dividing climate tech founders and investors, according to reporting from the event.
Much of the climate tech community has embraced the AI wave. Some have reservations about the quantity of natural gas power plants being built to power AI data centres, but because many climate tech startups are energy-focused or energy-adjacent, the buildout has been treated as an opportunity to get companies through the valley of death.
The pivot has helped many climate tech startups land fresh funding. Total venture deal value has risen for four consecutive quarters, cresting the $14 billion mark in the first quarter of this year, according to the most recent available PitchBook data. Most of that deal value was driven by sectors boosted by data centre construction, including the built environment, grid infrastructure and dispatchable energy.
One exchange during a panel captured the moment: two founders, asked whether they would prefer the AI buildout to proceed at its current pace or at a more climate-responsible speed, said without hesitation that faster was better. Both of their startups were in energy.
Not everyone agrees. Several founders said the data centre boom was distracting from other promising segments of climate tech, including those meeting their targets without relying on AI mania. One founder said corporates are still interested in climate, but that large companies do not want to crow about it, mostly for fear of drawing the Trump administration's ire.
There were also signs the AI boom was beginning to wear thin on some. For many startups, money for scaling was hard to find three years ago even with promising results; now, customers are clawing their way into demos. The undercurrent at the event was that the data centre party won't last forever, but it might last long enough to help startups build durable businesses before they refocus on their carbon-cutting missions.