🔥 Gas Plants Rise: Climate Crisis Intensifies 🌎
Tech
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The United States is currently leading a significant global increase in the construction of new gas-fired power plants, driven primarily by expanding data center energy demands. Analysis by the Global Energy Monitor reveals that US gas-fired capacity in development rose by almost a quarter of the global increase in 2025, surpassing China’s growth. Over a third of this expansion is earmarked to power data centers. This trend represents a notable shift, as nearly every nation was developing new gas plants a decade prior. Despite efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions and a historic agreement signed by China and the US, US greenhouse gas emissions increased in 2025. The US, a major gas producer and home to the world’s largest concentration of data centers, is prioritizing rapid infrastructure development, potentially hindering progress towards ambitious climate goals.
Gas Plant Surge: America Leads the Way
The United States is currently leading a global surge in the construction of new gas-fired power plants, largely driven by increasing energy demand from data centers. According to a recent analysis by the nonprofit Global Energy Monitor (GEM), global gas-fired power generation in development rose by 31 percent in 2025, with nearly a quarter of that added capacity slated for the US, surpassing China as the country with the largest increase. More than a third of this growth in the US is expected to directly power data centers.
AI’s Unexpected Demand Fuels the Fire
The rush to install more powerful hardware within expanding data centers, fueled by forecasts of skyrocketing power demand related to generative AI, has prompted this expansion. Many proposed data centers could ultimately fail to materialize, but the anticipated need for processing power is driving the construction of new gas-fired plants.
A Decade of Broken Promises
In 2002, the United States began experiencing what became known as the “shale gas revolution,” with the sudden unleashing of previously inaccessible reserves through fracking. This shift resulted in natural gas becoming a cheaper power source than coal and, when burned, produced less carbon pollution. However, gas production releases methane, a greenhouse gas significantly more potent than carbon dioxide, although it doesn’t persist in the atmosphere for as long.
The Paris Agreement – A Forgotten Goal
A decade prior, nearly every country on Earth—including its two largest greenhouse gas emitters, China and the United States—signed the Paris Agreement, establishing a historic commitment to limit global warming. Achieving the most ambitious goals of the Paris Agreement would necessitate replacing fossil fuels with less-polluting alternatives, such as renewable energy, and drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by around 2050.
Reversal of Progress and a Return to Fossil Fuels
Following a period of decline, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions increased after two years of reduction during the Biden administration. Despite this, President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement. President Trump has actively supported research suppression and efforts to limit greenhouse gas pollution in favor of maintaining reliance on oil, gas, and coal.
This article is AI-synthesized from public sources and may not reflect original reporting.