Source: WIRED
Google is building new data center capacity powered by natural gas infrastructure rather than renewable energy. The move exposes a hard constraint in the AI boom: compute demand is outpacing both renewable capacity and grid modernization timelines. Major cloud operators are extending the life of fossil fuel plants to guarantee power reliability for their most profitable workloads, trading long-term climate commitments for near-term operational certainty. The gap between corporate sustainability pledges and actual infrastructure choices is now a material financial risk for investors betting on tech sector decarbonization.