Wednesday 23 September 2026
Before the Storm
Building the foundations for sustainable AI
Ludlow House, New York
Fee Gloria Gronemeyer
Event Summary
Getting it right, together
During Climate Week NYC, THE NAT and ServiceNow brought together around 40 leaders from data centre development, energy, technology, cities, foundations and community organisations at Ludlow House.
It was deliberately a working dinner, not a panel — guests were asked to disagree openly and focus on practical solutions rather than restating the problem.
The Central Question
As AI infrastructure scales, which sustainability challenges need the most urgent collective action, and what practical solutions can help us get it right?
Five Takeaways
- 01
The build-out is a once-in-a-generation lever.
Around $1 trillion is expected to be spent on AI infrastructure in the next 12 months. The question is how to direct it towards clean energy, nature and communities.
- 02
No one is in charge of getting it right.
Responsibility is shared, from communities all the way up to corporations — which makes collaboration the missing ingredient.
- 03
Community trust is the binding constraint.
Data centres have become a rare bipartisan flashpoint in the US. Social licence, rather than technology, increasingly decides what gets built.
- 04
Place-based beats one-size-fits-all.
Water is the constraint in one place and grid capacity in another. Solutions need to start from local needs and be co-created with communities.
- 05
Benefits must be visible, and they must last.
Lower bills through distributed energy, local jobs, restored nature and transparent reporting well beyond construction.
Numbers from the Room
Figures as shared by participants during the discussion.
“No one is in charge of getting it right. It is all about our responsibility.”
Hosted by: THE NAT & ServiceNow · Contributors: Biomimicry 3.8, Activate, Resilience