UN SDG Media Zone panel: AI can accelerate energy access but data centers raise local costs

At the SDG Media Zone at United Nations headquarters, moderator Charisse Barbell led a discussion on how artificial intelligence could help expand clean energy access while also creating local harms tied to data centers’ large energy and water demands.

Alexandre Descrew, introduced in the transcript as an administrator with the United Nations Development Programme, said AI "is a great enabler in bringing energy and electricity to the people who today do not have it," arguing the technology can improve targeting for decentralized mini‑grids, renewables, storage and demand management to reach remote and fragile communities.

Why it matters: the panel framed the debate ahead of the SDG 7 review this year. Panelists said the commercial competitiveness of solar plus storage—and the geopolitical risks linked to fossil fuel shocks—make rapid rollout of renewables and policy reforms urgent if investments are to flow to underserved areas rather than carbon‑intensive data centers.

Damilola Ogunbi, identified as the Special Representative for the Secretary‑General for Sustainable Energy for All, said the world has reached about 92% electrification since 2015 but that "655,000,000" people still lack electricity. She added that clean cooking is widely neglected: "There's still 2,000,000,000 people that have no access to clean cooking," with roughly "970,000,000" of them in her continent as stated in the discussion.

Ogunbi highlighted that electrification should serve productive uses, not only households: she cited a Nigerian program in which decentralized solutions "were able to connect 8,000,000 people in 12 months," and said data and modeling can help plan staged upgrades so systems match households’ future needs.

Panelists also cautioned about local costs. Barbell and Descrew referenced concerns that data centers’ high energy and cooling demands can cause "community displacement and also really... limiting access to clean water." Ogunbi said the UN system wants to "hold AI companies accountable" while seeking ways data centers in areas with cheap energy supply can benefit nearby communities.

Descrew added that energy security has prompted expensive subsidies and that some fossil‑fuel subsidy spending has surged; in the transcript he said the increase was "with more than 400,000,000 US dollars." He argued those resources could be redirected toward renewables and public services if policy and de‑risking reforms attract private investment.

The panel closed with both speakers urging whole‑of‑government strategies and context‑specific pathways: Ogunbi stressed that transitions differ within countries and must support industrialization and livelihoods in addition to household electrification. Barbell thanked the panelists for the discussion and said the conversation offered food for thought for the audience.

Next steps: the perspectives feed into ongoing SDG 7 discussions and the broader UN dialogue on how to align AI deployment, energy investments and accountability to accelerate equitable access to clean energy.