By: Valerie Volcovici
WASHINGTON, July 22 (Reuters)
The United Nations, or, as otherwise known, the UN was founded in 1945. The basis of this international organization to promote security peace as well as cooperation among the different nations. The organization goes to great lengths to address global issues and challenges such as human rights, poverty, conflict, as well as climate change. A lot of these issues run cross-border and is also addressed as such. At the moment, 193 member states form part of the UN.
A powerful call to action by a powerful individual
In January 2017 Antรณnio Manuel de Oliveira Guterres assumed office as the ninth Secretary General of the United States. This came after his formal election by the UN General Assembly which took place on 13 October 2016. Guterres is also the first national leader who became the UN Secretary General. This remarkable individual has been recognized countless times for all the work that he does.
UN Secretary General Antรณnio Guterres on Tuesday called on tech companies to power the build out of data centers with 100% renewable energy by 2030, even as the industry turns to gas and coal-fired power plants to meet surging demand.ย The secretary general made his case for why he believes energy-hungry data centers should lock in a future of clean energy,ย saying the transition to renewable energy is inevitable, even as some countries and companies still embrace fossil fuels.
A future driven by natural power
“The future is being built in the cloud,” Guterres said in a speech at the United Nations’ headquarters in New York. “It must be powered by the sun, the wind, and the promise of a better world.” His appeal to technology companies comes a day before U.S. President Donald Trump unveils his administration’s AI Action Plan, which is expected to contain aย number of executive actionsย aimed at easing restrictions on land use and energy production to unleash artificial intelligence development.
Trump has declared a national energy emergency to address the vast amounts of energy needed by data centers to power AI to compete with China and enable him to ease environmental restrictions to build more power plants fueled by gas, coal and nuclear.ย Top economic rivals, the U.S. and China, are locked in a technological arms race over who can dominate AI.
Adaptable global climate change plans
At the same time, Trump has issued executive orders and signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act thatย curtails the use of incentives for wind and solar energy, which dominate the queue of new power generation waiting to connect to the electric grid.ย Guterres also appealed to governments to ready new national climate plans to deliver the goals of the Paris climate agreement by September that will lock-in a transition away from fossil fuels.
The Paris Agreement itself is a legally binding international treaty specifically on climate change. It was adopted by 195 parties at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris. This took place on 12 December 2015. From there it was entered into force on 4 November 2016.ย He said this moment is an opportunity for governments to meet all new electricity demand with renewables and use water sustainably in cooling systems.
It seems that renewable energy has been in the spotlight for quite some time. But, understandably so. The threat of climate change is very real. It is already evident with all the strange weather anomalies that are currently experienced throughout the world. As a method to try and combat this, the whole climate change revolution has evolved. Another important consideration with this type of an energy source is that it is mostly inexhaustible. Solar and wind energy both good examples here. Being able to then incorporate that into a country’s energy situation seems a wise decision.
GCN.com/REUTERS.