Podcast / Tech Won’t Save Us / Oct 1, 2026

The AI Buildout Is a Boon for the Fossil Fuel Industry—With Ketan Joshi

Paris Marx talks to Ketan Joshi about how the data center buildout is driving a surge in fossil fuel investment, and how it’s all playing out in Australia.

The Nation Podcasts
The Nation Podcasts

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.

The AI Buildout is a Boon for the Fossil Fuel Industry w/ Ketan Joshi / Tech Won’t Save Us
byThe Nation Magazine

Tech companies are working with the fossil fuel industry to push unnecessary data center projects while misrepresenting the climate impact — and governments are letting it all happen. Ketan Joshi joins Paris Marx to discuss how the data center buildout is driving a surge in fossil fuel investment, and how it’s all playing out in Australia.

Ketan Joshi is a climate writer and data analyst based in Oslo working with climate and environmental groups.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The NEXTDC data center in the northern Canberra suburb of Bruce, Australia, on August 26, 2026.

(Zhang Na / Xinhua via Getty Images)

Tech companies are working with the fossil fuel industry to push unnecessary data center projects while misrepresenting the climate impact—and governments are letting it all happen. Ketan Joshi joins Paris Marx to discuss how the data center buildout is driving a surge in fossil fuel investment, and how it’s all playing out in Australia.

Ketan Joshi is a climate writer and data analyst based in Oslo working with climate and environmental groups.

Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/subscribe.

The Nation Podcasts
The Nation Podcasts

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.

The AI Buildout is a Boon for the Fossil Fuel Industry w/ Ketan Joshi / Tech Won’t Save Us
byThe Nation Magazine

Tech companies are working with the fossil fuel industry to push unnecessary data center projects while misrepresenting the climate impact — and governments are letting it all happen. Ketan Joshi joins Paris Marx to discuss how the data center buildout is driving a surge in fossil fuel investment, and how it’s all playing out in Australia.

Ketan Joshi is a climate writer and data analyst based in Oslo working with climate and environmental groups.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Episode play icon
The AI Buildout is a Boon for the Fossil Fuel Industry w/ Ketan Joshi / Tech Won’t Save Us
Episode Description
Episode play icon
How Mass Layoffs Changed Working in Tech w/ Clarissa Redwine & JS Tan / Tech Won’t Save Us
Episode Description
Episode play icon
Tech Fascism Has Come for American Democracy w/ Gil Durán / Tech Won’t Save Us
Episode Description
Episode play icon
Government Is Putting AI Before People and the Planet w/ Matt Haugen / Tech Won’t Save Us
Episode Description
Episode play icon
Shopify’s Leaders Are Pushing Right-Wing Politics in Canada w/ Rachel Gilmore / Tech Won’t Save Us
Episode Description
Episode play icon
How Cloud Giants Wield Their Power Against Us All w/ Cecilia Rikap / Tech Won’t Save Us
Episode Description
Episode play icon
Librarians Are Helping the Public Ditch AI w/ Hannah Cyrus & Alison Macrina / Tech Won’t Save Us
Episode Description
Episode play icon
Tech Refusal Has a Very Long History w/ Thomas Dekeyser / Tech Won’t Save Us
Episode Description
Episode play icon
The RAM Crisis is Coming for All Your Tech w/ Chris Person / Tech Won’t Save Us
Episode Description
Episode play icon
Data Center Opposition Is Uniting Communities w/ Saul Levin / Tech Won’t Save Us
Episode Description
Search Results placeholder

Subscribe to The Nation to Support all of our podcasts

Subscribe
Paris Marx

Paris Marx is the author of Hyperscale: The Ambition and Excess of Big Tech's Data Empires. He hosts the Tech Won’t Save Us podcast and writes the Disconnect newsletter.

More from The Nation

Google headquarters campus in Mountain View, California.

How Mass Layoffs Changed Working in Tech—Clarissa Redwine & JS Tan How Mass Layoffs Changed Working in Tech—Clarissa Redwine & JS Tan

Discussing the state of worker organizing in the tech industry, including how it’s changed since the mid-2010s and where it needs to go from here.

Paris Marx

Congressional Candidate Sam Husseini and Talking NBA Over-Unders

Congressional Candidate Sam Husseini and Talking NBA Over-Unders Congressional Candidate Sam Husseini and Talking NBA Over-Unders

Green Party candidate Sam Husseini joins the show and Arya returns.

Dave Zirin

Tech Fascism Has Come for American Democracy—With Gil Durán

Tech Fascism Has Come for American Democracy—With Gil Durán Tech Fascism Has Come for American Democracy—With Gil Durán

Paris Marx is joined by Gil Durán to discuss Silicon Valley’s embrace of far-right politics and the tech billionaires seeking to consolidate corporate and political power.

Paris Marx

https://bookshop.org/a/15865/9780316450850

Government Is Putting AI Before People and the Planet—With Matt Haugen Government Is Putting AI Before People and the Planet—With Matt Haugen

Paris Marx is joined by Matt Haugen to discuss how AI policy benefits tech giants at the planet’s expense—and what a people- and climate-first alternative could look like.

Paris Marx

Concerned Rockland County residents joined members of Food & Water Watch, Indivisible Rockland and the Bi-State Data Center Crisis Coalition of NY/NJ outside the Orangetown Town Hall in Orangeburg, New York.

Data Center Opposition Is Uniting Communities—With Saul Levin Data Center Opposition Is Uniting Communities—With Saul Levin

Saul Levin joins Paris Marx to discuss how rising opposition to data center construction is uniting people across party lines.

Paris Marx

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney and his wife, Diana Fox Carney, arrive to attend the G7 summit, in Évian, eastern France.

Canada’s Government Is Rushing AI Adoption—With Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood Canada’s Government Is Rushing AI Adoption—With Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood

Paris Marx is joined by Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood to discuss how the Canadian government is going all in on AI without understanding the real effects of the technology. 

Paris Marx

x