A United Nations University report finds that the environmental footprint of data centers is already comparable to that of some countries. The report estimates the impact of the data center sector in terms of “nation-sized” footprints, highlighting how energy use, water consumption, and pollution associated with computing and artificial intelligence scale with demand. It projects that these resource and pollution burdens will increase sharply as AI usage grows. Multiple outlets report that the study forecasts water and energy use and pollution will approximately double within four years, driven by expanding data center activity and rising computational demand. The findings emphasize that data center impacts can be large enough to resemble those of major national economies when measured on environmental dimensions. The coverage also notes that the report connects current data center footprints with forward-looking estimates, framing the issue as an emerging sustainability challenge tied to AI adoption rather than limited to individual sites. Overall, the sources agree on the report’s key conclusions: data centers already have outsized environmental effects and are expected to grow rapidly in coming years.