{"id":16568,"date":"2025-07-10T17:20:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T17:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/TheNextWeb=1414389"},"modified":"2025-07-10T17:20:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T17:20:07","slug":"magical-thinking-to-believe-uks-ai-boom-wont-derail-climate-goals-report-warns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=16568","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Magical thinking\u2019 to believe UK\u2019s AI boom won\u2019t derail climate goals, report warns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A new report from the University of Cambridge has warned that the UK\u2019s push to lead in AI risks derailing its climate targets \u2014 unless urgent action is taken.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the University\u2019s Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy, the unchecked growth of AI<\/a> could drive a 25-fold increase in the global tech sector\u2019s energy use by 2040, putting massive strain on power grids and accelerating carbon emissions. <\/span><\/p>\n

Even the most conservative scenario suggests a five-fold rise over the next 15 years. The report\u2019s authors argue it\u2019s \u201cmagical thinking at the highest levels\u201d to assume countries such as the UK can lead in AI while also hitting targets to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Currently, data centres already account for nearly 1.5% of global emissions, but this figure could rise to 8% by 2040, surpassing those from air travel, the report found. In some countries, computing power makes up a larger proportion of energy. In Ireland, for instance, data centres are now responsible for up to 20% of electricity use.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Despite climate pledges from Big Tech, the sector\u2019s emissions are rising fast. <\/span>Google<\/a> and Microsoft\u2019s <\/a><\/span>carbon emissions have soared by 51% and 41%, respectively, since 2019, according to the report. However, the paper stresses that the real footprint is likely higher due to Big Tech\u2019s limited transparency, <\/span>inconsistent emissions accounting<\/span><\/a>, and a lack of independent audits to verify the claims of these companies.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe know the environmental impact of AI will be formidable, but tech giants are deliberately vague about the energy requirements implicit in their aims,\u201d said Bhargav Srinivasa Desikan, the report\u2019s lead author and an AI expert. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to see urgent action from governments to prevent AI from derailing climate goals, not just deferring to tech companies on the promise of economic growth,\u201d he continued. <\/span><\/p>\n

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has rolled out the red carpet for AI firms in recent months.  <\/span><\/p>\n

In January, AI data centre builders Vantage Data Centres, Nscale, and Kyndryl pledged a combined \u00a314bn to build out AI infrastructure across the country. <\/span>Amazon Web Services<\/span><\/a> (AWS), Blackstone, and <\/span>CoreWeave<\/span><\/a> are investing billions into sprawling new data centre campuses, while <\/span>Nvidia<\/span><\/a> recently partnered with local firms to supercharge the UK\u2019s compute capacity. <\/span><\/p>\n

All told, the UK is positioning itself as a global hub for AI. But the report warns that oversight is lacking. It calls for the UK\u2019s energy authority, Ofgem, to impose strict energy efficiency targets for data centres, and for government departments to tie AI funding to clean power use.<\/span><\/p>\n

The researchers also criticised the UK\u2019s <\/span>new AI Energy Council<\/span><\/a> for excluding civil society voices. \u201cThe Council currently consists entirely of energy bodies and tech companies,\u201d the report notes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Professor John Naughton, chair of the Minderoo Centre\u2019s advisory board, called for greater transparency about AI\u2019s impacts. \u201cEvery megawatt allocated to AI data centres will be a megawatt unavailable for housing or manufacturing,\u201d he said. \u201cGovernments need to be straight with the public about the inevitable energy trade-offs that will come with doubling down on AI as an engine of economic growth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new report from the University of Cambridge has warned that the UK\u2019s push to lead in AI risks derailing its climate targets \u2014 unless urgent action is taken. According to the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16569,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16568"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}