Executives from Microsoft, Google parent company Alphabet, and others responded to controversies surrounding the rapid expansion of data centers, including electricity costs, labor input, and water efficiency, at a climate conference in New York. A report from research firm Data Center Watch shows that approximately 45 data center projects, totaling $68 billion, were blocked or delayed in the second quarter of this year due to local resident and policy-level backlash. Amanda Peterson Corio, Google's Global Head of Data Center Energy, stated directly that political resistance is one of the biggest obstacles currently facing data centers.