• AI and sustainability could go hand in hand, but many hurdles lie along the path.
• Data centres are responsible for the consumption of an enormous amount of electricity.
• Tech giants, including Amazon and Meta, have set emissions-reduction goals, but so far, not much progress has been made toward achieving them.

A UN report notes that between 2020 and 2023, indirect carbon emissions from the world's largest tech companies—Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet (Google), and Meta (Facebook and WhatsApp)—climbed by an average of 150%.

The United Nations’ International Telecommunication Union (ITU) report revealed that carbon emissions increased considerably due to the use of artificial intelligence (AI), which requires a large amount of energy to power data centres.

READ MORE: As AI Grows, Data Centres Face Soaring Energy Demand

What are Indirect Emissions?

Indirect emissions are greenhouse gases that result from a company's activities but are controlled by others or from sources outside its purview. Examples include emissions from purchased electricity, waste disposal, employee commuting, steam, heating, and cooling, among others.

Over the course of three years, the ITU studied data from the top 200 digital companies. According to the report, Amazon tops the list with emissions increasing by 182%, followed by Microsoft, Meta, and Alphabet, whose emissions soared by 155%, 145%, and 138%, respectively.

Meta and Amazon underlined their sustainability reports to show they are shoring up their sustainability efforts. For example, Meta said it is working to reduce emissions, energy use, and water consumption in data centres.

In the meantime, Amazon highlighted its investments in renewable energy, and Microsoft said it is developing new cooling methods and energy-saving designs to lower energy consumption.

ALSO READ: Study Finds TikTok's CO2 Emissions Exceed Greece's

However, the report has raised the alarm: if investments in AI continue to grow, AI-related carbon emissions could become the new villain in the room, pushing emissions up to 102.6 million tonnes per year. Data centres claim a lion’s share of these emissions as they are power-hungry.

It also said data centre power consumption is growing four times faster than overall global electricity consumption, which could further strain global energy systems.

Eventually, the report notices that even though a majority of tech giants have set emissions-reduction targets, those targets have yet to yield results, which challenges the concept of sustainability in AI.

ALSO READ: AI and ESG: One ChatGPT Prompt Uses Half a Litre of Drinking Water

For a detailed analysis of the report, click here to view or download it.

Ends/

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Source: Reuters