AI and Data Centers Could Cut More Climate-Change-Causing Emissions Than They Create
AI could be used to cut more emissions than it creates it
Aviary and associated data centers could make the grid cleaner, which ends up reducing more climate change emissions they produce
John M Lund Photography Inc / Getty Images
Climatewire | Artificial intelligence could reduce world climate pollution up to 5.4 billion metric tonnes per year over the next decade if it was exploited in a way that would improve transport, energy and food production.
These reductions would even prevail over the expected increase in global energy consumption and emissions that would be created by executing power centers of power associated with AI, according to research by the Grantham Research Institute published in the journal NPJ climate action.
“The key will be to channel AI practical applications to the main areas of impact to accelerate the market adoption rate and the effectiveness of low carbon solutions,” said the study, noting that governments will have a vital role to play.
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“Governments must regulate AI to minimize their environmental footprint,” said the study, highlighting the need for energy -efficient AI models and the use of renewable energies to supply data centers.
He also indicates that governments should invest in AI infrastructure and education in developing countries, “ensure that the benefits of AI are shared fairly”.
The use of AI has exploded in recent years and President Donald Trump has expanded a priority when he seeks to surpass China on advanced technologies. But its voracious use of energy has raised concerns about its climate impact, especially since Trump and other officials argue than winning the AI race is a reason to extend fossil fuels.
The International Energy Agency provides that by 2030, data centers will consume twice as much electricity as today. Increasing energy requests already dispute the American network, and oil companies use AI to find new areas to drill. Bloombergnef said that fossil fuels will provide most of the new power for data centers during the next decade, implementing efforts to reduce carbon pollution.
There are ways to mitigate damage, said Grantham’s study.
It describes five areas where AI can be used to reduce emissions, including consumer behavior, energy management and technological innovation.
For example, AI can help integrate renewable energies into the network in anticipation of supply and demand fluctuations and help the grid to distribute energy more precisely, by reducing concerns about intermittent. This may increase the absorption of solar and wind and reduce the use of polluting backup energy sources, depending on the ratio.
“Electrical networks are at the heart of the entire economy, therefore improving their effectiveness reduces emissions in several sectors,” said Roberta Pierfederici, Policy stock market at Grantham Research Institute and Author of the Study, in an email.
The AI can also identify new types of protein to replace meat and dairy products in human regimes – industries that are heavy transmitters. And it can improve transport by lowering the cost of electric vehicles thanks to battery improvements or by encouraging people to move to shared transport.
These combined actions could reduce emissions from 3.2 billion to 5.4 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent each year by 2035 compared to their current trajectory, the study said. It is more than the whole European Union. In comparison, the United States released 6.2 billion metric tonnes of climate pollution in 2023.
These cuts do not comply with what is necessary to prevent the increase of more than 1.5 degrees Celsius since the start of the industrial era. But they could control the warming by compensating for the released emissions using AI. The study estimated that energy emissions linked to data centers and AI will reach 0.4 billion at 1.6 billion metric tonnes of CO2 equivalent to the next decade.
The study has its limits, given the speed at which the domain of AI changes. The authors admitted that they could have underestimated the potential of the AI to reduce emissions because they only examined how AI is currently applied to three sectors. On the other hand, the study did not consider how the gains in the energy efficiency of the AI could lead to increased consumption elsewhere that could increase emissions.
Pierfederici said that if the increase in data centers emissions is a valid concern, it thinks that the study is highly argument for AI to help fight temperatures.
“That said, governments must play an active role in guiding how AI is applied and governed, to ensure that the disadvantages are managed effectively and that the full potential of AI for climate action is carried out,” she added.
Reprinted with E & E News With the permission of politico, LLC. Copyright 2025. E & E News provides essential news to energy and environmental professionals.
