The AI Climate Hoax: Behind the Curtain of How Big Tech Greenwashes Impacts

The expansion of data centres – which is driven in large part by AI growth – is creating a shocking new demand for fossil fuels. The tech companies driving AI expansion try to downplay AI’s proven climate impacts by claiming that AI will eventually help solve climate change. Our analysis of these claims suggests that rather than relying on credible and substantiated data, these companies are writing themselves a blank cheque to pollute on the empty promise of future salvation. While the current negative effects of AI on the climate are clear, proven and growing, the promise of large-scale solutions is often based on wishful thinking, and almost always presented with scant evidence.

This analysis collected the most prominent AI climate claims and determined a) what types of AI were referred to and b) what evidence was presented to back up those claims. It finds that:

1. Most claims of climate benefit relate to ‘traditional’ AI, which has a much lower environmental impact than consumer generative AI tools. Even if these benefits are real, they are unrelated to – and dwarfed by – the massive expansion of energy use from the generative AI industry.
2. Where claims of traditional AI climate benefits are made, they tend to rely on weaker forms of evidence, such as corporate websites, rather than published academic research. Only 26% cited published academic research while 36% did not cite any evidence at all.

Read our full press release on the publication of this report.