United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres urges artificial-intelligence companies to disclose the environmental costs of their systems instead of treating them as external to their operations. In a call aimed at firms behind the AI boom, the UN asks companies to provide information on the carbon footprint, as well as water and land use associated with AI infrastructure, particularly data centres. The request also includes expectations that companies take responsibility for environmental impacts across their data-centre operations and supply chains.
The push follows growing scrutiny from environmental groups over the energy intensity and water demands of rapidly expanding data-centre networks worldwide. One cited UN study indicates that data centres use more electricity than all but 10 countries as of 2025, underscoring the scale of power consumption. Overall, the UN position is that greater transparency would help quantify impacts and guide efforts to reduce them as AI deployment accelerates.
