Page 39 - AI for Good - Impact Report

AI for Good

recycle. As AI becomes more integrated across various industries, the cumulative demand will
increase, exerting additional pressure on the planet's boundaries.

Governments need to support the development of new hardware solutions that will generate
a lower environmental impact.

Established practice: European Union AI Act

The EU AI Act acknowledges the environmental impact of AI, and provides recommendations to
make sure that AI systems “are developed and used in a sustainable and environmentally friendly
manner as well as in a way to benefit all human beings, while monitoring and assessing the long-
term impacts on the individual, society and democracy”. Additionally, the text suggests for
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the voluntary disclosure around the following theme: “Assessing and minimizing the impact of
AI systems on environmental sustainability, including as regards energy-efficient programming
and techniques for the efficient design, training and use of AI.”
While the EU AI Act agrees on the importance of the environment for AI development, it
proposes mostly voluntary approaches to support this synergy and does not yet bind the
development of AI technologies to environmental impact.

Emerging good practice: Various

Currently, limited regulations are forcing the development of AI solutions in line with
environmental considerations. The environmental impact of AI is, however, raising important
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concerns for global actors, and many voices are advocating for a change. The OECD, for
example, published a paper on “Measuring the environmental impacts of artificial intelligence
compute and applications” in 2022. The Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence also created
a working group in 2022 called Raise (Responsible AI Strategy for the Environment) to account
for the environmental impact of the solutions.
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As the topic is being addressed more and more by international actors, this topic is expected
to rise and grow. However, this is currently a topic that is missing from current legislation and
policies.

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