The environmental cost of AI

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♻️ This week’s sustainability news

The UN’s plan to reduce the environmental cost of AI

What’s happening: This week, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) released an issue note that explores AI’s environmental footprint and considers how the technology can be rolled out sustainably. It follows a major UNEP report, Navigating New Horizons, which also examined the potential and danger of AI.

Why it’s happening: The main advantage of artificial intelligence (AI) is that it can find patterns in data, like unusual events or common trends, and use past information to predict what might happen in the future. This makes AI very useful for keeping an eye on the environment and helping governments, businesses, and people make better choices for the planet. It can also help things run more efficiently. These developments are creating hope that AI might help address parts of the three big global problems: climate change, loss of nature and biodiversity, and pollution and waste.

However, AI is also very problematic for the environment.

1. Most large-scale AI systems are kept in data centres, like those run by cloud service companies, which can harm the environment. The electronics inside them need a lot of resources: making a 2 kg computer needs 800 kg of raw materials. The microchips that run AI also need rare earth elements, which are often mined in ways that hurt the environment, according to Navigating New Horizons.

2. Data centres create electronic waste, which often has dangerous materials like mercury and lead.

3. Data centres use water when they are being built and to keep their equipment cool once they are running. Worldwide, AI-related infrastructure might soon use six times more water than Denmark, a country with 6 million people, according to one estimate.

4. Data centres that support AI technology also need a lot of energy to run their advanced electronics. Most of this energy still comes from burning fossil fuels, which release greenhouse gases that warm the planet. According to the International Energy Agency, using ChatGPT uses 10 times more electricity than a Google Search. Thanks partly to the rapid growth of AI, the number of data centres has increased from 500,000 in 2012 to 8 million today.

5. Some experts are concerned about unexpected problems caused by AI. For instance, self-driving cars might make more people choose to drive instead of biking or using public transport, which could increase pollution. Additionally, AI could spread false information about climate change, making people think it's less of a problem than it really is.

Why it’s important: Over 190 countries have agreed on some guidelines for using AI in an ethical way, including its impact on the environment. The European Union and the United States have also made laws to reduce AI's environmental effects. But there aren’t enough of these laws globally. The UNEP therefore recommends five main actions. First, countries can create standard ways to measure how AI affects the environment, as there is currently not enough reliable information. Second, with help from UNEP, governments can make rules that require companies to reveal the environmental impact of their AI products and services. Third, tech companies can make AI algorithms more efficient to use less energy and recycle water and parts when possible. Fourth, countries can encourage companies to make their data centers more eco-friendly by using renewable energy and offsetting carbon emissions. Finally, countries can integrate their AI policies into their overall environmental regulations.

📖 Read the UNEP issue note: Artificial intelligence (AI) end-to-end: The environmental impact of the full AI lifecycle needs to be comprehensively assessed

📖 Read the previous UNEP report on AI: Navigating New Horizons

California seeks climate investment from voters

What’s happening: After another year of extreme heat and destructive wildfires, Californians can show their support for urgent climate action by voting for a $10 billion climate resilience bond in the November election. Scientists, policymakers, climate experts, and environmental justice advocates are asking voters to support Proposition 4, the Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024.

Why it’s happening: Two years ago, California had a massive budget surplus and decided to allocate $54 billion to move away from oil and protect people from climate change. However, the state soon faced a budget deficit instead because expected income tax revenues didn't come in. As a result, Governor Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers had to reduce and delay their climate spending plans. California's budget issues are expected to persist, along with the climate change-related disasters affecting the state. To ensure steady funding for important climate action, lawmakers approved a bill in July asking voters to allow the state to borrow $10 billion for climate resilience projects. Governor Newsom signed the bill on the same day.

Why it’s important: A warmer climate is expected to change ecosystems forever, cause many species to go extinct, and lower crop production due to more heat waves and drier soil, according to a 2021 report by the nonpartisan think tank Energy Innovation Policy & Technology. Not being prepared for big wildfires, droughts, extreme heat, and other severe events could cost California about $113 billion each year by 2050, says California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment. Most of these costs are due to lives lost, drought effects, and damage to coastal and inland areas from long-lasting floods like the one in 1861-1862 that killed thousands and bankrupted the state. Even this assessment did not include the costs of other climate-related problems like health issues and property damage from wildfires, sickness and death from extreme heat, and the effects of drought on water quality, wildlife, and ecosystems. A study found that the 2018 wildfires alone caused nearly $150 billion in damages.

Experts say it's much cheaper to prepare for climate disasters than to deal with them after they happen. For every dollar spent on being ready for climate issues, we save $6 on fixing the damage later, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. So, if we spend $10 billion on climate preparedness now, we could save $60 billion in future disaster costs. If Proposition 4 is approved by voters, California officials will quickly start funding projects to improve access to safe drinking water, reduce risks from wildfires and drought, make food systems stronger, restore natural habitats, and protect communities, farmland, and ecosystems from climate risks.

📖 Read the full article: California ballot asks voters to invest in climate solutions

🌐 Travel to Casa Battló in Barcelona

Sustainable architecture ahead of its time

The genius of Antoni Gaudí: The Spanish architect is perhaps most famous for the stunning Sagrada Família, but this residential building in the middle of Barcelona is also considered one of his masterpieces and reveals how he was inspired by nature and sustainable construction.

😇 People doing great things

Eliminating electronic waste with paper

Electronic devices made recyclable and dissolvable: Franziska Kerber is a university student at ​​FH Joanneum in Graz, Austria, and the national winner of the 2024 James Dyson Awards. She won for inventing PAPE, or ‘Paper Electronics’, a family of products mainly made from tightly packed paper fibres with a dissolvable and recyclable printed circuit board (PCB) inside. PCBs are found in nearly all modern electronic devices, like phones, tablets, and smartwatches. Even companies that have added a ‘dissolution’ step at the end stage of their products still need to take apart and recover the PCB board before it can be recycled. With Kerber’s PAPE products, users can recycle their devices without taking them apart. In 2020, Europe produced 4.9 million tonnes of electronic waste. Less than half of that waste was properly collected and recycled. The rest was thrown away with regular trash, buried in landfills, or burned, causing the loss of valuable materials.

⭐️ Weekly inspiration

A nutrient-rich protein made out of air

New method developed by German scientists: Microbes make protein and vitamin B9 using just hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide via a fermentation process similar to beer for a nutritious protein alternative that might one day be a regular part of our meals.

Chile had biggest share of energy from solar in 2023

9.4% of its primary energy: According to the Energy Institute’s Statistical Review of World Energy with solar producing 20% of the total amount of electricity generated in the country; just a decade earlier, Chile generated almost no electricity from solar.

Norway has more electric than petrol-powered vehicles

But there are still more diesel-powered vehicles: Despite being one of the world’s biggest exporters of oil, Norway plans to be the first country to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles in 2025 via tax breaks and other incentives mostly funded by their $1.7 trillion USD sovereign wealth fund built from the proceeds of oil.

Ozone layer remains on track for a full recovery

According to the World Meteorological Organization: The UN weather agency said that if we keep following current policies, the ozone layer could get back to its 1980 state (before any hole had appeared) by around 2066 over the Antarctic and could also fully recover by 2045 over the Arctic and by 2040 for the rest of the world.

Nearly two million trees planted in northern England

Over 1.9 million trees planted in 2023: The Northern Forest project plans to plant 50 million trees across the country around cities like Liverpool, York, Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, and Hull by 2043, with almost eight million trees already planted since 2018 and last year seeing the most ever planted.

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