Will AI Fight Climate Change Or Make It Much Worse? Hot Debate On The Topic Now

AI is obviously the Next Big Thing.

Illustration from Appen 

Like it or not, it's invading all aspects of our lives. And of course, AI will have an enormous effect on other Big Things. Like climate change.  

Whether or not AI is good or bad, there was certainly a lot of interest in it at the recently concluded COP30 sessions.

That's the big annual UN shindig where countries from around the world try to come up with agreements on how to fix climate change. 

Usually, including this year, they didn't make much progress. And, the United States sat this one out all because our Glorious Leader says climate change is a hoax. 

But back to AI and climate. 

The Associated Press said they counted at least 24 sessions related to AI during the conference. 

They included using AI to help neighboring cities share energy, and a ceremony for the first AI for Climate Action Award for a project on water scarcity and climate variability in Laos.

All the tech bros at the converse are telling anyone that will listen that AI will solve climate change. Or at least make it less bad.  Or maybe help us deal with it better. They give examples. For instance, it can increase the efficiency of electric grids. 

AI can help farmers more accurately predict whether to save their crops. It can design buildings, roads and other infrastructure to withstand ever-increasing weather extremes. 

AI can also directly fight climate change. It's being used to detect methane leaks. Methane is an even more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. 

As NPR reported back in January, 2024 that methane leaks were seldom found and monitored. Now, scientists and companies use AI daily to find methane emissions by by interpreting enormous amounts of satellite images.   

That data is now used by the United Nations to verify the accuracy of corporation and government reports on methane emissions. 

Forest managers use AI to detect forest fires before they get out of hand. The technology can also ensure conditions are right for controlled burns to prevent future huge forest fires 

These are just some examples of how AI could save the world from a climate catastrophe, goes the theory. Or something like that. 

OR IS AI KILLING US 

It takes a TON of energy to run the data centers that keep AI afloat. So maybe AI will just make climate change even worse.

Per the Associated Press: 

"Climate groups, however, are sounding the alarm about AI's growing environmental impact, with its surging needs for electricity and water for powering searches and data centers They say an AI boom without guardrails will only push the world farther off track from goals set by 2015 Paris Agreement to slow global warming."

We'll probably blow past that 1.5 degree Celsius goal with or without sincere climate action. But AI might make us go far beyond that goal.

AI relies on data centers that use tremendous amounts of electricity, Data centers accounted for 1.5 percent of the world's electricity consumption in 2024. Since 2017, electricity consumption in data centers has grown by 12 percent, more than four times faster than the total rate of electricity consumption. 

Since a pretty big share of electricity is still generated via fossil fuel generation, data centers contribute to climate change. 

According to cornell.edu:

"Cornell researchers have used advanced data analytics - and, naturally, some AI, too - to create a state-by-state look at that environmental impact. The team found that, by 2030, the current rate of AI growth would annually put 24 to 44 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the emissions equivalent of adding 5 to 10 million cars to U.S. roadways. 

It would also drain 731 to 1,125 million cubic meters of water per year - equal to the annual household water usage of 6 to 10 million Americans. The cumulative effect would put the AI industry's net-zero emissions targets out of reach."

Sounds really bad. But then again, maybe not that bad?

Says cornell.edu again:

"On the upside, the study also outlines an actionable roadmap that would use smart siting, faster grid decarbonization and operational efficiency to cut these impacts by approximately 73% (carbon dioxide) and 86% (water) compared with worst-case scenarios."

So, the bottom line is AI is maybe one of the biggest new thing of all big new things we've ever had. AI could let us swim or make us sink. 

Only the future will tell us. And the future might come sooner than we think.