Every year, Climate Week is... well, let's say "dramatic." I wrote a multi-part series of posts in the wake of last year's events, and I expect this year to provide even more fodder.

What's interesting to me is that last year, everything was AI. And of course, you're thinking sure, Climate Week would be anti-AI. No no no, my friends. AI was positioned as the answer to everything! It wasn't going to use water, it was going to solve water. It wasn't going to use energy, it was going to solve energy. (You get the idea.) I see that my analysis that the bubble was going to keep growing for another year was correct.

But this year, the run-up to the event feels different. Based on some of the session descriptions, there's a lot more balance. Sure, some sessions are still all in on AI, but there's definitely a shifting trend towards pumping the brakes on this. We know what the hyperscale datacenters are doing. We feel the vibe shifting in mainstream media coverage.

Oh, and even AI employees are saying that there is an existential threat from this stuff, after they've spent years working at the Boiling People Alive Factory and getting paid handsomely to build the systems that are doing the boiling.

I'm not worried about this stuff becoming superintelligent and killing us. I'm worried that the superintelligent people working on it haven't given a single thought to the consequences of it. I'm worried about what I'm seeing every day as a result of climate change, which AI is definitely, markedly contributing to. I live in San Diego county and the water temperature has been running about 75 degrees F (24 degrees C), which is so far above average that surfers are out there without wetsuits or complaining that it's too hot to surf. (This simply doesn't happen.) We have seen dramatic, El Niño-driven beach erosion happening almost overnight, from the Mexico border up through the greater LA area. And wildfire season is coming. There's a very visible sense that the walls are closing in.

So as I head into Climate Week, I'm looking for answers. I want to see funding going towards solutions, not AI vibes. I want to find ways to connect that back to the work that we do. Because we know that the solutions are out there.

U.S. retailer Target isn't going to meet its emissions goals. They're just one of many companies walking back their climate commitments.

On a brighter note, sustainable investment funds are outperforming their conventional counterparts in 2026. Granted, not by much, but it still gives hope that even the most craven, money-obsessed investors might be willing to put their money into greener investments instead of the Boiling People Alive Factory.

We know that we're going to exceed the 1.5 degree C goal. Now the U.N. is talking about what to do about it.

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Alisa Bonsignore

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