Britain’s flagship AI data centre can’t get the power to switch on
Britain’s flagship AI data centre can’t get the power to switch on

Britain wants to be an AI superpower. One of its flagship data centres cannot get the electricity to switch on. Nscale’s £2bn Essex site has the money, the planning permission, and a grid connection, but no power arriving in time. Nscale has the cash, …

Microsoft promised to be carbon negative. Its emissions just jumped 25%
Microsoft promised to be carbon negative. Its emissions just jumped 25%

Microsoft promised to be carbon negative by 2030. Its own report shows emissions up 25% in a year instead. The number is worse than it looks, and also more honest than it looks, and the reason for both is the same: AI data centres. Microsoft set one of…

Chinese EVs Are Surging. But America Is Fighting The Wrong Battle

While U.S. and European leaders blame “massive subsidies,” new analysis shows that China’s EV advantage comes from something far more consequential.

How Bordeaux Is Adapting Fine Wine For A Hotter Future

Bordeaux and Médoc-Atlantique are adapting for rising heat by focusing on overall vineyard resilience through more biodiversity, cover crops and changing wine blends.

Meta’s Hyperion data centre hit $50bn, and split a Louisiana town in two
Meta’s Hyperion data centre hit $50bn, and split a Louisiana town in two

Meta’s Hyperion data centre in rural Louisiana has ballooned from $10bn to more than $50bn in under two years. In a parish of 20,000 people, it has made some locals a fortune and priced others out of their homes. Meta just made its biggest AI bet bigge…

Decoupling from China would cost the West $23.6tn
Decoupling from China would cost the West $23.6tn

Cutting the West’s reliance on China would carry a staggering price. A new study puts the cost of decoupling from China at $23.6tn over 25 years, and warns the bill would land hardest on the industries building Europe’s tech future. The West has spent …

France thinks cheap power is its AI edge. Now it must decide who plugs in
France thinks cheap power is its AI edge. Now it must decide who plugs in

France believes its cheap, low-carbon electricity is Europe’s overlooked advantage in AI. A debate has now opened over that power. Should it go to homegrown AI firms, or to the American giants building data centres on French soil? When the head of Euro…

Local Authorities In England Praised For Clean Air Progress In New Study

The report by the UK100 group of councils claims local work around tacking air pollution between 2019 and 2025 prevented an estimated 13,722 deaths.

Renewed Iran Fighting Will Sustain Shift To Clean Energy

This week’s Current Climate newsletter also looks at California’s new EV rebates and Peak Energy’s sodium-ion battery plans

AI has triggered the biggest gas-plant building boom in history, and a quiet fight to stop it
AI has triggered the biggest gas-plant building boom in history, and a quiet fight to stop it

The AI build-out has done something the fossil-fuel industry could not do for itself. It has set off the largest-ever construction boom in natural gas-fired power plants, the Associated Press reports. Aging coal plants are being kept alive past their r…