Heatmap News just published The AI Boom Needs Carbon Removal.
In an opinion piece for Heatmap News, Climeworks CEO Christoph Gebald contends that the rapid buildout of AI data centers is locking in new fossil fuel emissions, since natural gas is the power source that can be deployed fast enough to meet demand. He cites IEA projections that global data center electricity use could more than double to around 945 terawatt-hours by 2030, roughly equal to Japan’s current demand. With a five-year backlog for combined-cycle gas turbines, some operators are turning to more carbon-intensive single-cycle units. Gebald argues that carbon removal, including direct air capture and nature-based methods, should be priced into digital infrastructure as a complement to clean energy.
Our take (Context): The demand numbers and gas turbine backlog are well-sourced, and the IPCC does treat removal as necessary alongside cuts. But the author runs Climeworks, so the framing that AI buildout should fund carbon removal is not a neutral analysis. Worth reading with that conflict in mind, and noting the piece does not engage much with DAC’s current cost per ton or delivery track record.
-> Read the full piece at Heatmap News
Captain Drawdown is flagging this. The reporting is Heatmap News’s. Go read them directly, not a rewrite from us.
Source: Heatmap CDR