Image by Gerd Altmann at Pixabay
Knowledge is power, so the old adage goes, and greater knowledge is at the heart of AI’s potential to combat climate change. Because the capacity for AI to analyse highly complex and multi-faceted databases is giving us a better understanding of our impact on the environment, thus allowing us to make more informed decisions.
Monitoring and analysis using AI systems can help organizations optimize their use of resources such as energy, water and materials to avoid waste and identify which products and services are the most carbon emitting. AI technologies can help with sustainable building design, precision agriculture, air pollution and even in reducing climate warming vapour trails.
Yet AI systems have the tendency to consume a lot of energy themselves. Some reports say global emissions from cloud computing emit more carbon than commercial airlines and a recent study showed that, by 2027, the AI industry could be using as much energy as a country the size of the Netherlands.
While many efforts are underway to reduce these emissions, such as more efficient systems and the use of renewable sources of energy, more can be done.
The IEC and ISO joint committee for AI, SC42, is working on the world’s first international standard for sustainability in AI.
The technical report ISO/IECTR20226, when published next year, will cover all the aspects where AI and environmental sustainability coincide. This includes everything from energy and water consumption, waste, carbon footprint, the AI system life cycle and supply chains. It will also include ways to measure the environmental sustainability aspects of AI systems, such as energy efficiency, raw materials, transport and water, as well as approaches to reducing AI systems’ environmental sustainability impacts.
Project editor Harm Ellens said the primary objective of the report is to make these aspects visible to end users in order to enable them to make informed choices.
“It includes practices from around the world that help organizations actively reduce their impact on the environment.”
Read more in e-tech.
Learn about the upcoming technical report on sustainability in AI from project editor Harm Ellens.
