By 2030, AI's water use will match the needs of 1.3bn people while its power use triples that of 650m, a UN University investigation warns. It finds that AI is driving a surge in land, water and climate consequences cascading from the technology’s intense and fast-rising energy consumption. Consequently, the UN University scientists call for urgent, multi-stakeholder action in a new UNU-INWEH report.
Clear, credible benchmarks for sustainable data centre are being developed through the Greening AI Data Centres Coalition (GADCC). The coalition brings together nine of the world’s leading built environment, sustainability and finance organisations in response to the rapid global growth of AI-driven data centres and the increasing pressures these facilities place on energy systems and networks, water resources and local communities.
Rare earth elements are moving rapidly to the forefront of global policy making for energy, transport, advanced manufacturing and digital technologies as demand continues to expand while supply chains remain highly concentrated, according to a new International Energy |Agency (IEA) report developed to inform G7 discussions this year.
Members of Congress in the US have been targeted by more than 230 organisations demanding a national moratorium on the approval and construction of new data centres. The organisations represent millions of people in all 50 states. The letter is explicit in the environmental and social threats posed by unbridled data centre construction.