This episode of Think Change explores the growing environmental footprint of artificial intelligence – from rising energy demand and emissions to the vast quantities of water needed to power and cool the data centres behind today’s AI revolution.
As Europe experiences another summer of record-breaking heat, devastating wildfires and growing water stress, the race to develop and deploy AI raises urgent questions about how we balance technological progress with climate goals. Can the environmental costs of AI be managed? And who bears the burden when new technologies increase pressure on already stretched resources?
The conversation looks beyond technology alone to the governance challenges shaping AI’s future: who sets the rules, whose interests are prioritised, and how we can ensure that AI development supports rather than deepens existing inequalities.
Recorded during London Climate Action Week, the episode brings together perspectives on energy systems, climate policy and international cooperation to ask what it will take to build an AI future that is innovative, sustainable and fair.
Guests:
Sara Pantuliano (host), Chief Executive, ODI Global
Divij Joshi, Research Fellow, ODI Global
Joaquim Levy, former Finance Minister of Brazil and a Commissioner of the Future of Development Cooperation Coalition
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