Officials underestimated impact of AI datacentres on UK carbon emissions
5 hours ago
- #UK Government
- #Artificial Intelligence
- #Climate Impact
- UK government drastically revised AI carbon emission estimates upward by over 100 times.
- AI datacentres could emit up to 123 million tonnes of CO₂ over 10 years, equal to emissions of 2.7 million people.
- Previous estimate, now deleted, predicted only 0.142 million tonnes of CO₂ in a single year.
- AI datacentres consume much more electricity than standard datacentres, largely from fossil fuels.
- Emissions from AI could account for 0.9% to 3.4% of UK's total emissions from 2025 to 2035.
- Lower emissions depend on improved AI efficiency and faster decarbonization of the energy grid.
- Revision followed criticism from watchdogs highlighting significant underestimates.
- Concerns raised about AI's impact on national electricity consumption and net-zero commitments.