Or Is It Just Using Up Too Much Energy?
Helen Tandy, Founder Eco Communities
There’s a growing debate about artificial intelligence and climate change. Some argue that AI’s enormous appetite for energy means we simply shouldn’t be using it in a low-carbon world. The data centres that power AI require vast amounts of electricity and water, and demand is rising fast as governments and companies race to expand AI capability.
But there’s another side to the story, one that matters especially for people working on climate solutions at the community level.
AI can save time.
And time might be one of the most under-recognised resources in the climate transition.
The promise: AI helping reduce emissions
Optimists believe AI could help tackle climate change directly. Researchers suggest that improvements enabled by AI in sectors such as electricity systems, transport and food production could reduce global greenhouse gas emissions significantly.
Smarter energy grids, optimised transport systems, and more efficient agriculture are all areas where AI could support lower emissions. Used well, AI might help coordinate complex systems — balancing renewable energy supply, predicting weather patterns, or reducing waste in supply chains.
These are not trivial gains. In theory, they could cut global emissions by a meaningful margin over the next decade.
But there’s a catch.
The problem: AI itself consumes enormous energy
Training and running large AI models requires vast data centres, facilities packed with powerful computers running continuously.
Estimates suggest that the electricity demand from AI infrastructure could rise dramatically in the coming years. In the UK alone, proposed new data centres could require tens of gigawatts of capacity, potentially more than doubling current peak demand.
That presents a challenge. If the electricity powering these systems still relies on fossil fuels, then AI risks increasing emissions before it helps reduce them.
The issue isn’t just energy consumption either. Data centres also require large amounts of water for cooling and place pressure on electricity grids that are already struggling to connect new renewable generation.
In short, AI could both help and hinder climate action.
Waiting for a miracle solution
There’s also a more subtle risk.
The idea that AI might eventually “solve” climate change can become a form of technological wishful thinking, a belief that we can delay difficult decisions because future technology will fix the problem.
But the uncomfortable truth is that we already know what needs to be done.
We know we must:
rapidly reduce fossil fuel use
transition to renewable energy
improve energy efficiency
restore nature
change consumption patterns
These solutions are not futuristic. They are available now.
The barrier is rarely knowledge, it’s political will, investment, and social change.
The overlooked benefit: freeing people’s time
Where AI might genuinely help climate action is not just through future breakthroughs, but through something more immediate: productivity. Many people working on climate and community projects spend huge amounts of time searching for information, writing reports, analysing data, or drafting communications.
AI can do some of that work quickly.
That doesn’t replace human thinking or leadership, but it can remove some of the administrative burden. If used thoughtfully, AI could allow people to spend less time on repetitive tasks and more time on the things that really matter , building community projects, developing local energy initiatives, supporting behaviour change, and collaborating with others.
In other words, AI might help scale human action, not replace it.
The real question isn’t whether we should use AI
The real question is how we use it.
If AI simply accelerates consumption, advertising, and data-driven growth, it will worsen the climate crisis.
But if it is used to:
accelerate renewable energy deployment
improve energy efficiency
support climate research
empower communities
and free up time for people working on solutions
then it could become a valuable tool.
Technology is not the solution, people are
Climate change will not be solved by AI alone.
It will be solved by people, governments, communities, businesses and citizens, making deliberate choices about energy, infrastructure, and the way we live.
AI may help along the way.
But the biggest risk is not that we use AI.
The biggest risk is that we wait for it to save us instead of acting on what we already know.
