UN chief urges tech sector to power data centers with renewables

UN Secretary General António Guterres on Tuesday called on tech companies to power the build out of data centers with 100% renewable energy by 2030, even as the industry turns to gas and coal-fired power plants to meet surging demand.

The secretary general made his case for why he believes energy-hungry data centers should lock in a future of clean energy, saying the transition to renewable energy is inevitable, even as some countries and companies still embrace fossil fuels.

"The future is being built in the cloud," Guterres said in a speech at the United Nations' headquarters in New York. "It must be powered by the sun, the wind, and the promise of a better world."

His appeal to technology companies comes a day before US President Donald Trump unveils his administration's AI Action Plan, which is expected to contain a number of executive actions aimed at easing restrictions on land use and energy production to unleash artificial intelligence development.

Trump has declared a national energy emergency to address the vast amounts of energy needed by data centers to power AI to compete with China and enable him to ease environmental restrictions to build more power plants fueled by gas, coal and nuclear.

Top economic rivals, the US and China, are locked in a technological arms race over who can dominate AI.

At the same time, Trump has issued executive orders and signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that curtails the use of incentives for wind and solar energy, which dominate the queue of new power generation waiting to connect to the electric grid.

Guterres also appealed to governments to ready new national climate plans to deliver the goals of the Paris climate agreement by September that will lock-in a transition away from fossil fuels.

He said this moment is an opportunity for governments to meet all new electricity demand with renewables and use water sustainably in cooling systems.