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Could Keir Starmer's AI dream derail his own green energy promise?
For once, this is a headline with the obvious answer "yes".
Keir Starmer this week launched a plan to bring a 20-fold increase in the amount of artificial intelligence (AI) computing power under public control by 2030.
But the race to build more electricity hungry AI datacentres over the next five years appears to work against another government target: to plug in enough low-carbon electricity projects to create a clean power system by the same date.
The green goal was already considered to be “at the outer limit of what’s achievable” by Fintan Slye, the chief executive of the National Energy System Operator (Neso), which is responsible for delivering the net zero target. But the enormous energy appetite of an AI boom has raised concerns that the government may end up derailing the clean power pledge just months after making it one of its key election promises.
...
“All our modelling suggests that on the current trajectory the government’s [2030] target will be extremely stretching,” says Kate Mulvany, a principal consultant at Cornwall Insight, one of the UK’s most respected energy advisories. “We cannot see how these targets can be met with current schemes and policies.”
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/14/keir-starmer-ai-labour-green-energy-promise
But the race to build more electricity hungry AI datacentres over the next five years appears to work against another government target: to plug in enough low-carbon electricity projects to create a clean power system by the same date.
The green goal was already considered to be “at the outer limit of what’s achievable” by Fintan Slye, the chief executive of the National Energy System Operator (Neso), which is responsible for delivering the net zero target. But the enormous energy appetite of an AI boom has raised concerns that the government may end up derailing the clean power pledge just months after making it one of its key election promises.
...
“All our modelling suggests that on the current trajectory the government’s [2030] target will be extremely stretching,” says Kate Mulvany, a principal consultant at Cornwall Insight, one of the UK’s most respected energy advisories. “We cannot see how these targets can be met with current schemes and policies.”
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/14/keir-starmer-ai-labour-green-energy-promise