Wildfire smoke creates orange skies over the Bay Area on Sept. 9, 2020. San Francisco is the capital of the AI boom, but the industry creates significant emissions that are making climate change and wildfires worse.

Last week, a disorienting wintertime heat wave shattered March temperature records across the Bay Area. Thanks to human-caused climate change, every year we’re seeing many more high temperature records fall than record lows being set, and that discrepancy is growing as the world continues to warm. 

Like many cities around the world, San Francisco has taken action to lower the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change. City ordinance and its 2021 Climate Action Plan set a goal of net zero emissions by 2040. But buried in the plan is a quieter truth: Even if San Francisco implemented every strategy (including eliminating natural gas from every building, replacing all gas-powered cars with electric vehicles, and shifting most transit in the city away from driving altogether), it would still fall short.

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That shortfall matters even more now because San Francisco has positioned itself as the global hub of artificial intelligence. The companies building these systems are in the city, and the political and economic decisions that enable their growth are being made there, too. But much of the energy required to power the AI boom, which is resulting in significant emissions that are making climate change........

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