US leads record global surge in gas-fired power driven by AI demands, with big costs for the climate

[groundloop]

Source: The Guardian

The US is leading a huge global surge in new gas-fired power generation that will cause a major leap in planet-heating emissions, with this record boom driven by the expansion of energy-hungry datacenters to service artificial intelligence, according to a new forecast.

This year is set to shatter the annual record for new gas power additions around the world, with projects in development expected to grow existing global gas capacity by nearly 50%, a report by Global Energy Monitor (GEM) found.

The US is at the forefront of a global push for gas that is set to escalate over the next five years, after tripling its planned gas-fired capacity in 2025. Much of this new capacity will be devoted to the vast electricity needs of AI, with a third of the 252 gigawatts of gas power in development set to be situated on site at datacenters.

All of this new gas energy is set to come at a significant cost to the climate, amid ongoing warnings from scientists that fossil fuels must be rapidly phased out to avoid disastrous global heating.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jan/29/gas-power-ai-climate

[Stargazer99]

1. Maybe the planet will finally get sick of man and eliminate the irritant by destruction of the systems

of balance in nature....

[Miguelito Loveless]

2. That program

is currently under way.

Check out the news about the massive storms hitting Ireland and the UK. Meanwhile, Australia is baking.

[A Badger]

4. Yes,

Australia has set several 'all-time Tmax' records this past week.

Also of note-
The monthly anomaly this January 2026 in Kitsissorsuit, Greenland (on Baffin Bay), is close to +15C above average. That is a global record, for the month.

[Bayard]

3. Its a crime

AI is not worth the cost of destroying the planet.