AI energy demand and environmental impact to take centre stage at COP31 talks

As artificial intelligence (AI) expands rapidly, the number of data centres is growing. Running these centres requires huge amounts of electricity and water, putting extra pressure on the environment.

The growing energy demand of AI technology and its environmental impact will now be one of the main topics of discussion at the United Nations climate conference, COP31.

COP31, the 31st conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), begins on Monday in Antalya, Turkey. Heads of government, policymakers, scientists, environmentalists and business leaders from many countries will take part.

Ahead of the conference, a pledge called the 'Antalya Artificial Intelligence Pledge' has been published to tackle the environmental impact of AI. Different countries and institutions can join it voluntarily. The pledge aims to address concerns about the environmental impact of AI technology, and to open up discussion on the rising use of electricity to run AI, the energy demand of data centres, and their effect on the environment.

Turkey's climate minister, Murat Kurum, has said that open discussion is needed on AI's growing energy use. Governments should draw up policies on this, he said. AI companies must disclose information about their energy use and use clean energy to run their operations.

Ivan Tachevsky, chief data and AI officer at the World Resources Institute, believes strong policies are needed to ensure the responsible use of AI. Data centres must use renewable energy, AI companies must fully disclose their electricity and water use and environmental impact, and the companies must bear the cost of improving power infrastructure. He also stressed involving local people in decision-making from the very start of building a data centre.

Alongside AI, this year's conference will discuss the transition to renewable energy, increasing electricity use, reducing waste and methane emissions, building climate-resilient cities, youth participation, and climate finance.

There is also a target to meet 35 percent of the world's total energy demand through electricity by 2035. In 2024, that share was a little over 20 percent. The aim is to increase electricity use in industry and other sectors and to use electricity generated from renewable sources instead of fossil fuels, thereby cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Finance to deal with climate change damage will also be an important issue, especially demands to increase international support for adaptation work in poor and vulnerable countries and for recovering losses caused by climate change.

Alexis Abramson, dean of the Columbia Climate School, said that at last year's conference in Brazil, climate adaptation and support for vulnerable countries received importance. This time, attention needs to be given to how the promises can be implemented.

There will be no formal delegation from the United States federal government at this conference. For the second year in a row, the country's federal government will be absent. On the first day of his second term, President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement for a second time. On 7 January, he signed an executive order withdrawing the country from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as well. That withdrawal is due to take effect next year.

Even without federal representatives, governors, mayors, scientists, environmentalists and representatives of non-government organisations from various US states will attend the conference. More than a hundred US leaders will join COP31 through the initiatives America Is All In, Climate Mayors and the US Climate Alliance. Their aim is to highlight state- and local-level leadership and cooperation on climate in the United States.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the world is now on course to exceed the Paris Agreement's temperature limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius. The agency says that even if the limit is exceeded, the overshoot can be kept as short and as limited as possible. The United Nations has called for continued work to bring temperatures back below 1.5 degrees by the end of the century.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says that in 2025, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached a new record. Since the 1960s, the rate of increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has tripled. Between 2011 and 2020, its concentration rose by an average of 2.4 parts per million per year. In the 1960s, the average rate of increase was 0.8 parts per million per year. Over the same period, methane and nitrous oxide concentrations also reached record highs. These greenhouse gases are the main cause of human-driven climate change.

UNEP, however, sees the rapid spread of renewable energy and policy initiatives in different countries to cut emissions as progress. Inger Andersen, the agency's executive director, said there are many successful examples of rapid emission cuts, and countries now need to take urgent steps to adopt and implement effective policies.

Experts say the success of COP31 cannot be judged only by the decisions taken in formal talks. Important progress can also come through meetings outside the conference and bilateral discussions among country representatives, scientists, businesspeople and environmentalists.