In the third week of September 2026, world leaders gathered in New York for Climate Week beneath the shadow of a record El Niño, carrying both the quiet confidence of a clean energy transition that had begun to deliver and the unease of a new complication none had fully anticipated: artificial intelligence, now consuming electricity and water at a scale that rivals small cities, was pulling against the very progress it was meant to support. The gathering did not resolve this tension so much as name it clearly — a necessary act, even when clarity offers no immediate comfort.