Environmental groups embrace AI, even as they warn of data centre impacts

Environmental groups are leveraging artificial intelligence to analyze climate data, track forest fires, and count endangered wildlife while also acknowledging the technology's potential environmental drawbacks. These organizations recognize that AI can come with environmental costs, such as increased electricity demand, water use, and greenhouse-gas emissions due to the large data centers required to power it.

However, they argue that AI can help them move faster and make better use of the information they collect, especially as climate and biodiversity crises intensify. For instance, Conservation International uses AI to identify hotspots from satellite data and send real-time alerts to community forest patrols about potential wildfires in remote parts of Cambodia.

Similarly, Kenya's Save the Elephants uses machine learning to improve population surveys and study elephant communication, significantly reducing the time needed to analyze data. AI is also being used to digitize handwritten field notes at the Jane Goodall Institute, which previously took 13-15 years to complete. Despite these benefits, environmental groups express concern about the environmental impact of data centers, which could double in size by 2030 and consume about 945 terawatt-hours of electricity annually, producing the equivalent of more than 300 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.

To mitigate these impacts, some organizations are experimenting with resource-efficient AI practices, such as limiting resource-intensive applications, caching query results, and using AI-powered digital cameras for data collection on the edge.