Cooling the AI boom: Insights from Climate Week NYC
Oct 2, 2025
At Climate Week NYC, one thing was clear: we’re not just talking about climate action anymore. We’re doing it. Across industries, companies are stepping up with real solutions, and Munters was right in the middle of it.
In a panel hosted by We Don’t Have Time, Munters joined forces with Aligned Data Centers to explore one of the biggest questions facing the tech world today: how do we keep up with the explosive growth of AI without overheating the planet? The conversation featured Keith Dunnavant (VP Offer Strategy and Portfolio Management, Munters), Andréa Haag (VP Sustainability, Munters), and Phill Lawson-Shanks (Chief Innovation Officer, Aligned Data Centers).
AI is driving a massive surge in demand for computing power, and with that a growing need for energy to run and cool data centers. Phill pointed out, we’ve gone from 3 kW racks to needing 300 kW and beyond, and that’s just the beginning. The launch of ChatGPT kicked off what he called an “arms race” in AI infrastructure, with hyperscalers, enterprises and neoclouds scrambling to scale up.
“This is the underpinning of the next industrial revolution,” Phill said. “It’s not going away.”
Munters ambition: halving climate footprint and pushing cooling innovation
Munters is responding with action. As Andréa explained, the company has mapped its entire value chain and found that more than 90% of its emissions come from product use, which means improving energy efficiency is the key to cutting climate impact.
“We’re committed to halving our climate footprint while doubling in size,” Andréa said. “This means working with our customers on energy efficiency, renewable fuels, and relying on global policy.”
Keith walked through Munters cooling innovations, from closed-loop chilled water systems to thermosiphon-driven refrigerant systems, designed to reject heat with minimal energy and water use.
The energy needed to reject the heat from data centers has historically represented as much as 40% of the annual IT power consumed. Modern data centers have become a lot more energy efficient, with cooling that requires only around 10% of the IT energy, depending on the site location and cooling system deployed. But there is room for even more improvement, according to Keith.
“Our goal is to consume only 3–5% of IT energy for cooling, That’s unheard of and it’s essential.”
Munters is also helping data centers move toward dry cooling systems, preserving water resources without compromising performance.
Climate Week calls for urgency and strong collaboration
The panel didn’t shy away from the bigger picture. Phill shared how Aligned is repurposing old industrial sites, like the one in Perkins Township, Ohio, and working with local schools and communities to bring lasting value beyond the data center walls.
There was also talk of heat reuse, embodied carbon tracking, and the potential for cooling technologies to be applied in other sectors, like urban cooling in increasingly hot cities.
Despite global instability and the fact that emissions data shows we haven’t yet bent the curve, the tone at Climate Week was hopeful. As Andréa put it, “If we can keep pushing energy efficiency, renewables, and supportive policy, we’ll be in a good place.”
