The US is leading a huge global increase in new gas-fired electricity generation that will cause a huge jump in planet-warming emissions, according to a new forecast, with the record surge driven by the expansion of energy-hungry datacenters to serve artificial intelligence.
This year is set to break annual records for new gas energy additions worldwide, with development projects expected to increase existing global gas capacity by nearly 50%, according to a report. Global Energy Monitor (GEM) found.
The US is at the forefront of the global push for gas, which is set to increase over the next five years, after tripling its planned gas-fired capacity by 2025. The majority of this new capacity will be dedicated to AI’s huge power needs, with a third of the 252 gigawatts of gas power in development located on-site in datacentres.
Amid ongoing warnings from scientists that fossil fuels must be rapidly phased out to avoid catastrophic global warming, this new gas energy will come at a significant price to the climate.
Gas projects under development in the US, if completed, would emit 12.1 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide over their lifetime, double the current annual emissions from all sources in the US. Worldwide, the planned gas boom will release 53.2 billion tons of emissions over the lifetime of the projects upon completion, pushing the planet toward even worse heat, drought, flooding and other climate impacts.
“Shutting down new gas plants to meet uncertain AI energy demand means turning decades of pollution into an intractable problem that can be solved with flexible, clean power,” said Jenny Martos, project manager of GEM’s Oil and Gas Plant Tracker.
“As the AI bubble expands, the US must decide whether it will double down on a fossil future while the rest of the world moves toward renewables.”
Many countries around the world are betting big on gas, according to GeM’s tracker, which details projects that have been announced or are in various stages of construction. Last year, China, the world’s biggest carbon emitter, installed 22.4GW of gas, the most gas capacity ever installed in a single year.
But it is the US that leads the way with almost a quarter of all global gas capacity in development, followed by China, Vietnam, Iraq and Brazil. Texas is the epicenter of this boom in the US, with 57.9GW of new gas power under construction last year, followed by Louisiana and Pennsylvania. In 2026, new gas addition is set to surpass the annual record of 100GW new gas in the US set in 2002.
Much of this power will be swallowed by the huge datacenters being built by tech companies to develop the AI industry. AI has developed rapidly PROMOTED By Donald Trump The President said his administration will do “whatever it takes” to lead the US in AI, vowing to eliminate “stupid regulations” that slow down datacenter construction.
However, the proliferation of datacenters has increased greenhouse gas emissions and increased electricity demand. This has increased electricity bills for many Americans, even though Trump had promised to halve electricity costs in his first year in office.
The administration has also blocked several clean energy projects and increased exports of liquefied natural gas, both measures that have pushed up the price of energy for American households, experts say. Domestic gas prices rose last year and are set to stabilize after 2026 Estimated to increase again next year.
“Frenzy datacenter development with little transparency or guardrails risks massive cost overruns to the public,” said Steve Klemmer, director of energy research at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Prediction Electricity demand in the US could increase by 60% by 2050 due to new datacenters.
However, grassroots backlash against datacenters over electricity bills and the facilities’ massive water use has stalled some projects and created political headaches for Republicans, with Trump recently promising that big tech companies like Microsoft would “pay their own way” for new infrastructure, though details on such a plan remain scant.
“I said, you can’t generate that much energy,” Trump admitted in a recent speech in Davos, Switzerland. “We need more than double the energy the country currently has to maintain AI plants, and I said we can’t do that.”
However, the datacenter juggernaut shows little sign of slowing down plan of Like tech giant Meta is building a $1.5 billion datacenter powered by gas in El Paso, Texas.
Meanwhile, in western Pennsylvania, there is a closed coal plant ready to revive As the largest gas-fired facility in the US to serve a datacenter campus. Plans for the 3,200-acre Homer City site, about 50 miles east of Pittsburgh, have divided the local community, according to Tom Pike, campaigns director at the Clean Air Council, a local green group.
“The coal plant was an environmental monstrosity, but it was a pillar of the local economy and some people are indifferent to it,” Pike said.
“But no one wants to live next to a datacenter. The ammonia from the gas and its smell will be worse than a coal plant, and the electricity generated will be used in the service of private profit rather than keeping the lights on in homes.
“There’s no way it won’t impact electricity prices. There is tremendous public concern about this plan.”
