Are AI Data Centers a Threat to our Clean Energy Future? Local and Global Perspectives

Pratt Institute’s Sustainable Environmental Systems program hosted its third annual Just Energy Transition event during NYC Climate Week 2026.

The conversation brought together local and global perspectives on the challenges and opportunities shaping the energy transition, with a particular focus on the rapid expansion of energy-intensive data centers supporting artificial intelligence (AI).

Moderated by recent Pratt SES alumna Jen Hung, the panel explored how new technologies and infrastructure are affecting the path toward a just and sustainable energy transition. Speakers discussed the policy, economic, environmental, and historical factors shaping energy systems, as well as the challenges of ensuring the transition to a low-carbon economy benefits communities and does not deepen existing inequities.

The discussion touched on decarbonization, climate finance, climate diplomacy, infrastructure, net zero goals, water, technology and AI, incentives for transition, the green economy, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The event took place during the 2026 United Nations General Assembly and NYC Climate Week, bringing these questions into a broader conversation about the future of global climate action and sustainable development.

• Martha Molfetas | Visiting Assistant Professor, Pratt Institute; Senior Policy Consultant & Writer: Martha Molfetas is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute’s Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment, where she teaches Environmental Economics. Martha is a senior climate and energy policy consultant, writer, and strategist with over 17-years of experience helping NGOs, think tanks, and businesses unpack climate, environmental justice, resource conflict, sustainable development, and global policy issues with organizations ranging from Dalberg Research to Transparency International, NRGI and Oil Change International, to name a few. She previously worked as a Senior Fellow on just energy transition at New America. Her work has appeared in Current Affairs, The World Politics Review, The Global Policy Journal, Policy Mic, Common Dreams, and others.

• Summer Sandoval | Academic Coordinator, Visiting Assistant Professor, Pratt Institute & Community Investment and Implementation Director, USDN: Summer Sandoval is the Community Investment and Implementation Director at Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN), where she supports local governments and communities in navigating funding opportunities and realizing their projects to advance equitable climate action. Summer is also the Academic Coordinator and a Visiting Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute’s Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment, where she teaches Urban Energy Management. Summer has worked at the intersection of climate, environmental, and energy justice in community-based organizations and city government.  

• Rami Dinnawi | Program Director, North Star Fund: Rami Dinnawi is a Lebanese/Palestinian grassroots activist based in New York City. Informed by generational knowledge of people’s struggle for self-determination, Rami strives to ground his work within these historical legacies. He is currently serving as the NYC Program Director at North Star Fund. Prior to joining North Star Fund, Rami worked extensively in the New York environmental justice movement space, as the environmental justice campaign and policy manager at El Puente. Rami is currently serving on the Advisory Committee of the Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School. With over a decade of organizing experience, Rami’s commitment extends beyond borders, as he actively engages with activism and movements on a global scale.

• Pierre Cannet | Global Head of Public Affairs and Policy, Client Earth:Pierre leads Client Earth’s Global Public Affairs and Policy team, overseeing the organization’s influence on decision-makers to achieve the systems change pursued in its strategy across the world. Before joining Client Earth, Pierre was Executive Director of Advocacy at WWF in France, where he spent a decade leading campaigns and programs on a range of environmental issues, from climate and energy to nature and plastics, collaborating at multiple levels across WWF’s global network. Before that, Pierre worked with the United Nations in New York on preparing for the Rio+20 Summit and corporate climate engagement. He was heavily involved in activities around Climate COP21 to help establish the Paris Agreement, and has substantial experience building and developing high-impact activities from newly established teams.

  Jen Hung | Recent Pratt SES and HP Alumna | Moderator