By Jiyun Choi
Publication Date: 2026-09-29 07:28:00
The sleek panel entitled “Confronting the data center energy crisis” at New York Climate Week was in full swing, with tech executives painting a rosy vision of an AI-powered, sustainable future. Then, the polished presentation was interrupted when Josh Parker, head of sustainability at NVIDIA, was expressing how much NVIDIA cares about climate change. A Greenpeace activist called out to him: “If you really care, why don’t you focus on decarbonisation? If you really care, you should do more!”, holding a banner that read, “STOP GREENWASHING.”
Interestingly, besides the Greenpeace activist, three other disruptions occurred during this 35-minute discussion, with protestors calling on this company to stop the data centre boom accelerating the climate crisis and enabling warfare. As NVIDIA positions itself as the savior of the modern tech world, and Big Tech pushes Artificial Intelligence as the ultimate solution to climate change, there is an invisible elephant in the room: the dirty reality of AI itself.
The “unstoppable” NVIDIA
NVIDIA has been dominating the news headlines lately, sitting firmly at the center of the global AI frenzy. That prominence was on full display at the ALL-IN Summit a few days ago, a major gathering of tech leaders and investors. There, CEO…