The Cloud and the Climate

Awareness of the environmental impacts of AI and the cloud has been growing rapidly. While there are potential environmental benefits to unlock if we get our policy and practice right, indications from the latest AI revolution point toward a backsliding in climate
and environmental commitments.

Benjamin Sovacool is a co-author on a new report with Jo Lindsay Walton from the Sussex Digital Humanities Lab, part of the Digital Humanities Climate Coalition. The report gives an informative snapshot of current issues around AI, the cloud and climate change.

Some key messages within the report include:

1. The digital has a physical basis. When we think of AI and ‘the cloud’ (where most AI is run), it’s easy to imagine something intangible. But in reality, it relies on tangible resources.
2. The climate footprint of the cloud is growing when it should be shrinking. Innovation and the spread of best practices are improving efficiency. However, the overall growth of data centres and other network infrastructure is overwhelming the efficiency gains.
3. Although the carbon-aware computing approach has helped to raise awareness, and generated efficiency gains, so far it has not really considered the systemic picture of achieving global net zero.
4. Responsible AI tools and frameworks are maturing, but there is work to be done. AI Ethics, Responsible AI, and AI Safety are currently the dominant paradigms for regulation and other applied critical thinking around AI. Responsible AI tools have yet to reflect in any actionable, granular way the environmental impacts of AI.

Read the full report

Read the summary and full report here