Energy costs and AI power demand reshape climate talks in New York

{"text":[[{"start":8.36,"text":"The Iran war and AI boom transformed the discussions about clean energy among political and business leaders gathered for New York climate week, as soaring oil and natural gas prices push consumers in many countries towards renewables, batteries and electric vehicles."}],[{"start":25.58,"text":"At the first such event held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly since the US and Iran hostilities, the disruption of global energy markets dominated debate that had previously concentrated more on cutting emissions."}],[{"start":39.4,"text":"Iran’s seven-month blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, behind skyrocketing oil and gas costs, strengthened the economic and security case made by climate advocates for reducing dependence on imported fossil fuels."}],[{"start":52.16,"text":"Across speeches, panels and meetings this week, politicians and executives argued the crisis was accelerating a trend already under way: from presenting clean energy principally as a response to the damage caused by the greenhouse gases behind climate change to promoting it as a source of cheaper and more secure power."}],[{"start":69.76,"text":"“I think people now see the energy security imperative, the energy independence imperative of clean energy,” UK foreign secretary Ed Miliband told the opening ceremony, saying the Iran war, like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine before it, had exposed the risks of riding the “fossil fuel rollercoaster”."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":88.2,"text":"Iceland’s Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir cited her country’s experience after the oil shocks of the 1970s, when it rapidly expanded geothermal energy."}],[{"start":97.24,"text":"“Start before you must. Build the resilience before the crisis tests it,” she told attendees."}],[{"start":103.4,"text":"The host country for the upcoming annual UN climate summit, Turkey proposed a global goal for 35 per cent of final energy use to be met by electricity by 2035."}],[{"start":114.88,"text":"The message contrasted sharply with that of US President Donald Trump. In his UN General Assembly speech on Tuesday, Trump likened warnings over climate change to what he sees as doomsday warnings over AI."}],[{"start":127.36,"text":"“The very same people who said we’ll all be dead in 12 years because of global warming . . . These are the same people that are now saying that AI is going to kill us all,” he said, adding the planet is “cooling, not warming”."}],[{"start":138.44,"text":"Beyond the US, there are strong signs the energy crisis is influencing government policy and consumer behaviour."}],[{"start":145.64,"text":"Chinese exports of batteries, EVs and solar equipment have averaged $21bn a month since the Iran war began, more than a third higher than before the conflict, according to consultancy BloombergNEF."}],[{"start":158.16,"text":"The shift has been particularly evident in countries exposed to imported oil and unreliable electricity grids. Chinese solar exports to Africa rose 37 per cent in the first half of 2026 from a year earlier, as households and businesses increasingly turned to solar power instead of diesel and petrol generators."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":176.32,"text":"EV sales have also accelerated in parts of Asia. Sales in Indonesia and the Philippines have doubled, while purchases of such cars and two-wheelers rose in India after government petrol relief measures ended in May."}],[{"start":189.28,"text":"Europe has been among the regions most exposed. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen last week said the continent had “bitterly felt the cost” of its dependence on fossil fuels. Since the closure of the strait, imports have cost an additional €90bn."}],[{"start":204.32,"text":"In return, Europe’s new electric car registrations jumped nearly two-thirds in August 2026 compared to their levels last year, the latest data showed. At the same time, petrol car sales fell one-fifth. In the year-to-date, battery electric and petrol cars each accounted for an equal 21.7 per cent market share."}],[{"start":223.48,"text":"BYD, the Chinese manufacturer, in August said it generated more revenue overseas than domestically for the first time during the first half of the year, after international sales jumped 71 per cent."}],[{"start":234.8,"text":"“I think [the Iran war] has been a catalytic event,” said Ethan Zindler, head of country and policy research at BloombergNEF. “We keep hearing the resolution is around the corner and then the corner just keeps moving further away.”"}],[{"start":247.64,"text":"Among the governments responding, Germany increased the volumes available in wind power auctions by 12 gigawatts in July, while South Korea has said it will seek to generate 20 per cent of its electricity from renewables by 2030."}],[{"start":261.2,"text":"Brussels is pushing to expand and modernise the European bloc’s electricity networks, in part to connect 480GW of renewable projects waiting for access to the grid."}],[{"start":270.92,"text":"The US has proved a prominent exception. Its plentiful domestic gas supplies have insulated it from the price rises experienced elsewhere: Henry Hub gas has traded at about $3 per million British thermal units since the war began, compared with prices above $20 in Europe and Asia."}],[{"start":288.04,"text":"While US wind and solar construction is running at record levels, that is because developers are racing to complete projects before federal tax credits expire. Residential solar installations fell to their lowest quarterly level in five years in the second quarter of 2026, according to Wood Mackenzie."}],[{"start":308.96,"text":"Elevated petrol prices have produced a more complicated picture for EVs in the US. Overall new-car sales have fallen, but Americans bought 15 per cent more used EVs in August than a year earlier."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":321.72,"text":"“In the US and certainly in California, we’ve seen gasoline prices go up. That’s really fuelled interest in EVs,” said Pedro Pizarro, chief executive of utility Edison International."}],[{"start":334.68,"text":"The other major issue hanging over discussions at climate week was AI and data centre expansion, which is meeting resistance from communities concerned about power and water consumption, infrastructure costs and environmental damage."}],[{"start":348.08,"text":"“AI leaders are now on thin ice when it comes to license to operate,” said Simon Stiell, the UN’s climate chief."}],[{"start":356.32,"text":"Tech company executives argued one answer would be to make data centres more responsive to the electricity system — reducing workloads during periods of peak demand and increasing them when power, particularly from intermittent sources such as wind and solar, was abundant."}],[{"start":372.6,"text":"Such “flexibility” could reduce the need to construct additional fossil-fuel power plants while making it easier for grids to absorb renewable generation."}],[{"start":381.16,"text":"“Flexible data centres create incentives for renewables to come on to the grid,” said Varun Sivaram, chief executive of Emerald AI, a start-up which develops software to manage grid systems."}],[{"start":393.32,"text":"But developers would need to invest in technologies to curb the direct emissions impact of data centres to maintain public support, some executives said."}],[{"start":402.4,"text":"“You’re not going to compensate for gas-fired turbines and engines by just building more solar,” said David Crane, chief executive of infrastructure developer Generate Capital and former under-secretary for infrastructure in the US energy department. “People are going to have to start adding carbon capture whether they’re in front of, or behind the meter.”"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":427.64,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1790567497_3416.mp3"}