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UN Secretary-General Launches AI Environmental Transparency Initiative
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In Short: The UN Secretary-General has launched an initiative calling on AI companies to disclose their carbon, water, and land footprints, highlighting the environmental costs of AI's expansion.
The UN Secretary-General has launched the AI Environmental Transparency Initiative, urging AI companies to disclose their carbon, water, and land footprints. This initiative aims to address the environmental impacts of AI, which the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) has highlighted in a recent report on the 30th anniversary of the institute.
The report, 'Environmental Cost of Artificial Intelligence: Carbon, Water and Land Footprints,' examines the underexplored environmental consequences of AI's rapid growth, emphasizing that AI is not just a digital technology but also a material system with measurable environmental costs.
To mitigate these risks, the report advocates for a responsible AI ecosystem that prioritizes transparency, efficiency, equity, environmental justice, lifecycle responsibility, global cooperation, and sustainable use.
This initiative underscores the UN's commitment to fostering a sustainable and responsible AI industry, recognizing the urgent need to address the environmental footprints of AI technologies.
Background
The United Nations University (UNU) is the think tank and academic arm of the United Nations. Headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, with diplomatic status as a UN institution, its mission is to help resolve global issues related to human development and welfare through collaborative research and education.
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- United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada. doi: 10.53328/INR26RMA002 This report, Environmental Cost of Artificial Intelligence: Carbon, Water…
- The report shows that AI is not only a digital technology, but also a material system with measurable environmental costs.
- To address these risks, the report calls for a responsible AI ecosystem grounded in transparency, efficiency by design, equity and environmental justice, lifecycle responsibility, global cooperation, and sustainable use.