UNU Report Highlights Environmental Costs of AI's Energy Use on Carbon, Water, and Land
The United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) has released a report examining the environmental costs associated with the energy consumption of artificial intelligence (AI) systems. The report, titled 'Environmental Cost of Artificial Intelligence: Carbon, Water, and Land Footprints,' highlights the significant carbon, water, and land footprints resulting from the electricity used to train, deploy, and operate AI at scale. It emphasizes that these environmental costs are not solely dependent on the amount of electricity consumed but also on the sources of this electricity. The report identifies that low-carbon electricity does not necessarily equate to low-water or low-land impacts. It also points out that AI's environmental footprint is influenced by infrastructure trends such as the growth of data centers and everyday use patterns, including model choice and output length. 
