This week in ESG
An upcoming Biodiversity Summit, nuclear energy and the rise of data centres.
Key highlights
🌍 COP 16 Biodiversity Summit – The first UN summit, since a landmark global framework was established in 2022, will be held in Columbia this week. The meeting will focus on progress towards meeting 2030 goals to limit biodiversity loss and restore ecosystems.
❓Questions over an orderly net zero – 57% of investment managers believe the transition to net zero will be disorderly or fail completely, found a survey by Clark, Lane & Peacock. Over 50% also report a lack of training on important responsible investment issues.
✅ Almost all insurers have set climate transition targets – 99% of insurers have established climate transition objectives in their own investment portfolios. 56% have also set a net zero goal, found a global Blackrock survey.
💰 US funding for small nuclear reactors – The Department of Energy will provide up to $900m to support small modular reactor (SMR) technology to help meet the country’s green goals.
👣 Amazon and Google move into nuclear – both mega-tech companies have signed deals with nuclear power providers to help combat the climate footprint of their AI data centres.
Chart spotlight - data centres' share of total power consumption
Source: Apollo; Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Apollo Chief Economist
The chart above shows how much of each US state's energy consumption goes towards powering data centres.
Why this matters?
Data centres are crucial to powering the rise in Artificial Intelligence, automation and other tech developments, which could bring many benefits to society and the planet. However, they consume a vast (and ever growing) supply of power – which now exceeds 10% of the total power expended in some American states, even reaching 26% of all power consumed in Virginia.
Efficiencies in cooling systems and a wholesale move to renewable energy, actions which are already well underway in some centres, will be key to aligning this rise with the planet’s net zero goal.
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