2025’s AI boom caused huge CO2 emissions and use of water, research finds | Artificial intelligence (AI)
It was claimed that the artificial intelligence explosion caused as much carbon dioxide to be released into the atmosphere as the entire New York City by 2025.
Global environmental impact of rapidly spreading technology estimated by research It was published The research out Wednesday also found that AI-connected water use now exceeds the entire global demand for bottled water.
The figures were compiled by its founder, Dutch academic Alex de Vries-Gao. Digital EconomistA company that investigates the unintended consequences of digital trends. He claimed that while the use of chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini will grow rapidly in 2025, these are the first attempt to measure the specific impact of AI rather than data centers in general.
Figures also show that estimated greenhouse gas emissions from the use of AI are now equivalent to more than 8% of global aviation emissions. He used tech companies’ own reporting in his research and called for stricter requirements for them to be more transparent about their climate impacts.
“The environmental cost of this is quite large in absolute terms,” he said. “Right now, society is paying these costs, not the tech companies. The question is: Is this fair? If they’re enjoying the benefits of this technology, why shouldn’t they pay some of the costs?”
De Vries-Gao found that the 2025 carbon footprint of artificial intelligence systems could reach up to 80 million tons, while the water used could reach 765 billion liters. He said it was the first time AI’s water impact had been estimated, showing that AI’s water use alone was more than a third higher than previous estimates for entire data center water use.
The figures are published in the academic journal Patterns. International Energy Agency (IEA) in question Earlier this year it was reported that AI-driven data centers draw as much electricity as power-hungry aluminum smelters, and data center electricity consumption is expected to more than double by 2030.
“This is further evidence that the public is footing the environmental bill for some of the world’s richest companies,” said Donald Campbell, director of advocacy at Foxglove, a UK nonprofit that campaigns for fairness in technology. “Worse still, this is probably just the tip of the iceberg. The generative AI-driven data center building craze is just getting started.”
“Just one of these new ‘hyperscale’ facilities could produce climate emissions equivalent to many international airports. And in the UK alone, there are an estimated 100-200 of these in the planning system,” Campbell said.
The IEA reports that the largest AI-focused data centers built today will each consume as much electricity as 2 million households, with the United States accounting for the largest share of data center electricity consumption (45%), followed by China (25%) and Europe (15%).
The UK’s largest data centre, planned on a former coal power plant site in Blyth, Northumberland, is expected to emit more than 180,000 tonnes of CO2 per year in full operation; This is equivalent to the amount produced by more than 24,000 homes.
In India, where $30bn (£22.5bn) has been invested in data centres, concerns are growing that the National Grid’s lack of reliability will mean the construction of huge diesel generator farms for backup power. in the name “a huge… carbon responsibility”.
De Vries-Gao said tech companies’ environmental disclosures are often inadequate to assess the total data center impact, let alone isolate AI use. He noted that when Google recently reported on the impact of Gemini AI, the water used to produce the electricity needed to power it was not taken into account.
Google reported that it managed to reduce energy emissions from data centers by 12% in 2024, thanks to new clean energy sources. in question This summer, he noted that achieving climate goals “is now more complex and challenging at every level, from local to global,” and that “a key challenge is the deployment of carbon-free energy technologies more slowly and at scale than necessary.”
Google has been approached for comment.
