Global climate-tech investment from venture capital hit $26 billion in the first half of 2026, according to data from Currence, a finance tracker for the industry. That’s 55% higher than last year, and products and services for data centers are getting a massive slice of that pie.
But as a Semafor piece about the report points out, some sectors are slipping through the cracks: Carbon management and low-carbon fuels saw VC investment plummet this year. These are important solutions for addressing climate change but may not be able to sell themselves to a data center.
So far, the data center buildout has come with a hefty emissions toll. A few years ago, Microsoft, Google, and Meta all had ambitious goals to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Now they’ve all seen emissions rise, largely because of data centers that are needed to power AI.
Some people are optimistic. AI could help speed up progress in areas like the search for new catalysts, as Evelyn Wang, MIT’s VP of energy and climate, pointed out during a panel. And data centers won’t add to climate and water problems forever, Wang told the Associated Press. (She puts the timeline at about a decade until data centers no longer add to planet-warming emissions.)
But a whole lot of natural gas is coming online to meet the immediate demand created by new data centers. And once those power plants are built, they have a decades-long lifetime.
That’s partly why public pushback to AI is growing—people are seeing more pollution and noise near these data centers and the power plants that provide them with electricity. Overall, what I’m hearing this week is that many in the climate sector are skeptical of AI, at best.
“AI leaders are now on thin ice when it comes to license to operate and sinking deep underwater when it comes to public support,” said UN climate chief Simon Stiell in a speech this week. “Tech titans need to start showing why the benefits of AI outweigh its skyrocketing costs—for the many, not just the tiny few.”
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