It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. You can fill in the rest yourself, but that tired old Dickens line genuinely captures the spirit of this year's New York Climate Week.

A large portion of the climate tech world — much like the broader U.S. economy — is enthusiastically surfing the AI wave. Sure, some harbor concerns about the enormous number of natural gas plants being constructed to supply power to AI data centers. But since so many climate tech startups are focused on energy or something close to it, this buildout has been welcomed as a lifeline to help companies survive the dreaded valley of death.

That narrow focus, however, carries a cost: some promising sectors are at risk of being neglected. This isn't a new development — it's the continuation of a pattern that has been taking shape over the past year. As climate tech companies faced difficulties securing financing — whether due to canceled federal grants or investors pulling back — those capable of reshaping their pitch to ride the AI frenzy did exactly that.

This strategic pivot has enabled many climate tech startups to secure fresh investment. According to the latest available figures from PitchBook, total venture deal value has climbed for four straight quarters, surpassing the $14 billion threshold in the first quarter of this year. It's the strongest fundraising climate for climate tech in several years, with the bulk of deal value coming from sectors buoyed by data center construction — including the built environment, grid infrastructure, and dispatchable energy sources that can be switched on or off as needed.

It's a chance few wanted to let slip by. One exchange during a New York Climate Week panel perfectly encapsulated the mood: when two founders were asked whether they'd rather see the AI buildout continue at its present speed or slow to a more climate-conscious pace, they answered immediately that faster was preferable. Not surprisingly, both of their startups operated in the energy space.

Still, not everyone is on board. Several founders I spoke with felt the data center boom was pulling attention away from other promising areas of climate tech — including those hitting their milestones without leaning on AI hype. "Corporates are still interested in climate," one founder told me. What's changed is that big companies no longer want to boast about it, largely out of concern for provoking the Trump administration's wrath.

There were also hints that the AI boom was starting to lose some of its luster for certain people. For many startups just three years ago, finding money to scale was a struggle, even when they had promising results to show. Now, customers are fighting their way into demos. "Where was this money three years ago?" I asked multiple people. More than a few responded with knowing eye rolls. This is simply the world they operate in now, they conceded. The savvy entrepreneurs are all figuring out how to meet customers wherever they happen to be.

In the end, the prevailing undercurrent at New York Climate Week was this: the data center party won't go on indefinitely, but it may last long enough to help startups build resilient businesses. Once that's achieved, they can return their focus to the carbon-reduction mission they were originally founded to pursue.