By Nishat Mirza, NEW YORK- With the world on the brink of an AI-powered revolution and energy systems in turmoil, Columbia University’s 2025 Global Energy Summit on April 9 was an urgent call for a worldwide shift to clean energy.
Hosted by the Center on Global Energy Policy, the summer gathered experts in a discussion to tackle one of the greatest challenges of our time — how to fuel the exponential growth of artificial intelligence without further burdening the planet.
One of the most pressing concerns echoed across panels: artificial intelligence, while revolutionary, is a massive new energy consumer. Data centers, machine learning models, and real-time processing demand enormous electricity inputs, which poses new questions for power grids, geopolitics, and climate goals alike.
“AI can help the U.S. progress so fast that humanity has no idea what’s coming,” said Jonathan Ross, CEO and Founder of Groq, “But humanity will catch up.”
His words captured the urgency and potential of the moment. Ross emphasized that although the power demands of AI systems are immense, this very technology could also be the key to unlocking greater energy efficiency and sustainable innovation. “We need to reduce costs and emissions by utilizing renewables,” he stressed, calling for a swift pivot to solar, wind, and other clean sources.
At the Energy Summit, discussions ranged from AI-powered decarbonization and domestic energy resilience to the global power dynamics of energy production. There was a clear consensus: artificial intelligence is here, it’s growing fast, and our energy systems must evolve just as rapidly to keep up.
“AI has created a whole new energy demand,” said Dr. Jane Flegal, Executive Director of the Blue Horizons Foundation. “It’s not just about meeting that demand, it’s about reorganizing how we think about energy altogether. We have a moment now to reinvent our systems to be smarter, cleaner, and more equitable.”
Flegal was among many who called attention to the need for long-term planning, robust domestic infrastructure, and strategic investment. “The main thing is keeping the cost of electricity down while also accelerating decarbonization.”
She also addressed a strong defense of key U.S. legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which provides critical support for clean energy development. “We have to defend the IRA if we want to build a future that’s not just energy-rich, but climate-resilient.”
“Our economic models need to reflect the true cost of greenhouse gas emissions. If we can prove that decarbonization is profitable, then we can win this race.”
Another key message echoed across the summit: while AI is undeniably energy-hungry today, it holds extraordinary potential to transform how we generate, distribute, and use energy. When combined with renewable power and forward-thinking policy, AI becomes more than a tool—it becomes a powerful driver of progress. It can optimize energy grids in real time, reduce waste, and balance supply and demand with greater precision. AI can also improve forecasting for wind and solar energy, automate infrastructure maintenance, and guide smarter investment through advanced data analysis. For countries still using outdated systems, this opens a pathway to bypass traditional hurdles and move directly into cleaner, more resilient energy solutions—unlocking both climate security and economic growth.
Experts agreed that for this promise to be realized, urgent action is required — not just in technological innovation, but in workforce training, manufacturing capacity, and cross-sector collaboration.
“We need to build the mechanics domestically to meet this challenge,” Ross said, noting the importance of U.S.-based chip manufacturing and renewable energy production. “AI is no longer just a technological conversation — it’s an energy, economic, and geopolitical conversation.”
