Introduction
Amid the many political casualties of 2025, the passing of one of the last decade’s defining political projects went almost entirely unnoticed. On December 31, 2025, the Green New Deal Network, a coalition of climate, labor, and social justice organizations, officially died.
The Political Context
The coalition wasn’t intended to last forever, but its demise was sped up by the political mood that got President Donald Trump reelected in 2024, when the momentum that the movement had enjoyed under the Biden administration seemingly evaporated overnight.
The Fight Against Data Centers
Many climate activists are following a similar path. Concerns about greenhouse gas emissions, air and water pollution, and social justice fit organically into the growing anti-data center movement, which has attracted a much broader, bipartisan coalition than the Green New Deal ever did.
Environmental Consequences
Hyperscale data centers are poised to cause carbon emissions to spike. A recent report from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that data centers could account for about one-third of the growth in U.S. electricity demand between 2024 and 2030.
Conclusion
Climate activists are increasingly realizing that this is a fight that’s both an important fight and a strategic fight. The fight against data centers is an example of how climate activists can come together with people from different backgrounds and beliefs to fight for a common goal.
Source / Reference
This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Climate activists take on a new foe: Data centers on June 29, 2026.