In many ways, 2024 was the year of AI. ChatGPT, for example, became mainstream and had noticeable impacts across many fields, from communications to business, and beyond. Unsurprisingly, the question of AI’s role in sustainability has come up repeatedly, and promises to be one of the main themes of 2025. The answer, though, isn’t so straightforward.

Artificial Intelligence offers transformative opportunities to scale climate action and help us decarbonize our economy more quickly. Examples include improving the efficiency of the energy grid, monitoring conservation efforts, and developing climate modeling, as well as optimizing transport networks and supply chains to reduce emissions.

But, as the World Economic Forum puts it, it’s not a “silver bullet”: “AI can help scale and expedite sustainability efforts, but like kryptonite, its energy demands could undermine its benefits if not managed carefully.”

Three Game-Changing Ways AI Drives Sustainability

With the ability to monitor, analyse and compare huge amounts of data, AI can detect patterns and predict future outcomes. The practical applications of this abound: from monitoring the environment to predict extreme weather events, thus reducing their devastating effects, to helping governments, businesses and people make greener, more efficient choices.

1. More Sustainable Businesses

Companies today are expected to have a net zero approach and comply with regional and global sustainability standards. This requires extensive analysis of information and often complex reporting processes. AI can be a great tool in both instances. For example, it can make reporting simpler and offer ways in which companies can become more sustainable, from supply chain optimization to the more efficient use of energy and water. 

2. ‘Precision’ Agriculture and Reduced Food Waste

Using AI, farmers can analyze data from satellite imagery and weather forecasts to optimize  the use of water, fertilizers and pesticides. Data suggest precision agriculture can boost farm efficiency by 20% to 40% while reducing farming’s environmental impact through more efficient resource use. Furthermore, AI tools could also help reduce food waste by improving food distribution. 

3. Environmental Monitoring

According to the UN’s Environment Program, AI is “already being used to map the destructive dredging of sand and chart emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.” In the Amazon rainforest, where wildfires pose a dramatic threat, AI is being used to detect fires quickly, which significantly reduces response times and damages.

What about AI’s sustainability set-backs?

According to the UN, AI’s environmental problem is related to the data centers in which most large-scale AI deployments are housed. These take a heavy toll on the planet. Firstly, they consume significant amounts of energy and require large quantities of raw materials, including rare earth elements. Secondly, they produce electronic waste, which often contains hazardous substances, like mercury and lead. Finally, data centers require substantial amounts of water, both during construction and for ongoing cooling. According to UNEP, “globally, AI-related infrastructure may soon consume six times more water than Denmark, a country of 6 million, according to one estimate. That is a problem when a quarter of humanity already lacks access to clean water and sanitation.”

The key question becomes whether AI’s sustainability benefits can outweigh its own energy and resource demands. It’s clear AI can help reduce global emissions significantly, but we need to find a way to mitigate its own carbon footprint and resource consumption if we are to truly rely on it as a “solution” for the world’s sustainability problem.