Energy, water use and pollution of AI and data centers rival most
countries
[June 04, 2026] By
SETH BORENSTEIN
WASHINGTON (AP) — The environmental footprint of data centers already
rivals some of the world's largest countries, according to a United
Nations University report, which also predicts their water and energy
use and pollution will double in just four years as use of artificial
intelligence grows.
Last year, global data centers used 448 trillion watt-hours of
electricity, more than all but 10 countries of the world, said the
report issued Wednesday. That electricity use produced about 208 million
tons (189 million metric tons) of carbon dioxide, about the same amount
as Argentina, and producing that much energy consumed about 1.2 trillion
gallons (4.5 trillion liters) of water, according to the report on the
environmental consequences of AI's energy use.
By 2030, data centers will account for nearly 3% of the world's
projected electricity use, with 935 trillion watt-hours. If data centers
were a country, the country would be projected to rank sixth-highest in
power use in 2030. That would produce nearly 440 million tons (399
million metric tons) of carbon dioxide, the report said. The study
focused on energy use and didn’t examine the massive amount of water
used to cool data centers.
“If you look at these numbers, we're seeing scales comparable to
nations,” said study co-author Kaveh Madani, a water scientist and
director of the United Nations University Institute for Water,
Environment and Health in Canada. “The demand is enormous.”
Much of the growth of data centers is being driven by AI. About 20% of
data centers’ energy is currently due to AI, but that should grow to 40%
by 2030, the report said.
First global look at ecological impact
The report is significant because of the credibility and authority of
the U.N., not just because of any one set of eye-popping numbers, said
Fengqi You, a Cornell University energy engineering professor who
directs the college’s AI sustainability issues.
“Its value is that a U.N. institution is putting carbon, water, land,
life-cycle impacts and environmental justice into one frame” for an
issue that is often shrouded in secrecy and partial disclosures, said
You, who was not part of the report.
“The general public should be concerned, but not panicked,” he added.
Jean Su, director of the Energy Justice Program at the Center for
Biological Diversity, said the report is important because it is the
first U.N., or even global, report “that shines a light on the
environmental harms of AI.”
National Artificial Intelligence Association President Caleb Max
emphasized how his industry is becoming more efficient and how it
benefits the public: “AI is rapidly becoming part of our everyday lives
and adding benefits that improve safety, live longer, work more
efficiently, enhance food production, and reduce poverty. The evidence
is growing daily that the energy return on investment of AI development
is transformative for our world and therefore more than worth it.”
Josh Levi, president the Data Center Coalition, said the industry takes
its environmental impact seriously.
“We remain committed to working with policymakers, local communities,
and industry partners to ensure that as data centers grow, they do so
responsibly, transparently, and in ways that reflect the best available
practices,” he said in a statement.
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Meta's Stanton Springs Data Center is visible Jan. 13, 2026, in
Newton County, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)
 How much energy your query uses
and how to trim it
Madani, also the winner of the most recent of the Stockholm Water
Prize, said the numbers show the environmental cost of AI, which may
seem cleaner at first glance than other mechanical devices, such as
cars and furnaces, that have visible pollution.
"AI is not just a virtual thing. We’re talking about something that
has physics, something that has real impacts. There is
infrastructure there. There is energy that is being used,” Madani
said. “A lot of hardware is behind all these operations that to us
seem very, very clean because we don’t see smoke out of our devices.
On our cellphone, there is no visible smoke or out of our computer
or something. But somewhere else someone is suffering.”
People can reduce AI’s massive energy appetite by being less polite
and more concise in their queries, Madani said. The report found
that cutting word use in requests by 30% can reduce energy used by
AI by 25%. That would save about the same amount of electricity as
what about 700,000 people in Africa use in a year, the report said.
“If you’re too polite, then that extra ‘please’ you put there can
make a huge difference,” Madani said. “You’ve got to be very precise
and be short.”
A typical ChatGPT-style query is about 200 times more
energy-intensive than the type of basic text classification used in
an email spam filter, for example. AI-generated images or video
require much more energy.
And the more complicated the AI, the more energy it takes to train
or learn. The report said GPT-3 used about 1.3 billion watt-hours to
train, but the next version used 50 to 70 billion watt-hours.
But it's not training that really feasts on power, said study
co-author Miriam Aczel, a United National University environmental
policy researcher. About 90% of the power use of AI comes from
operational requests, she said. GPT alone accounts for 2.5 billion
prompts a day, she said.
Efficiency still means more power use
Even though tech advocates can argue that their machines are
becoming more efficient, there's a common paradox that finds when
things get more efficient, they are used more often and total energy
use soars even if individual uses are more efficient, Madani said.
While some companies tout the use of renewable energy for data
centers, Madani said that means the supply of clean electricity is
depleted and thus dirtier energy is used elsewhere.
One of the problems in conducting this study is that many companies
and places are not transparent about what data centers and AI are
consuming or even where and how big they are, Aczel and Madani said.
“We cannot manage what companies do not disclose,” Cornell's You
said.
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