Al Gore downplays AI data center emissions, points to industry warnings

Al Gore, a longtime climate advocate, said in an interview with TechCrunch on Sept. 17 that emissions from AI data centers are not the most pressing concern, despite growing public opposition to the facilities. He was joined by Lila Preston, head of growth equity at Generation Investment Management.

Gore argued that the combined emissions of all AI data centers represent only a small fraction of the emissions from uncovered landfills worldwide. He said the more serious issue is the warnings coming from inside the AI industry itself, pointing to experts at OpenAI and Anthropic who have raised concerns about job losses and other risks. He also suggested that public backlash against data centers is driven more by anxiety over automation than by carbon emissions.

However, Gore expressed deep concern about hyperscalers adopting new methane turbines. His worry, he said, is not the AI workload driving demand, but the prospect that new gas plants could lock in decades of fossil fuel generation. He said he prefers companies to use renewables and batteries, and expects more firms to move in that direction as clean energy becomes cheaper.

Gore also rejected a binary view of AI risk and climate potential, citing a study by economist Nicholas Stern projecting that AI applications focused on efficiency and waste reduction could cut global emissions by 6% to 9% per year starting next decade.