CIOTech Outlook Team | Wednesday, 23 July 2025, 09:20 IST
.jpg)
António Guterres, the Secretary General of the United Nations has called on large-scale technology companies to commit to as much renewable energy as possible in order to meet the heavy energy demands of artificial intelligence data centers. In a UN conference at its headquarters in New York, Guterres made a point that while artificial intelligence can improve energy innovation and resiliency, its ever-growing use of electricity is untenable if it is not generated by solar, wind or other clean energy sources.
He highlighted that major AI facilities today use as much electricity as a 100,000 homes—and the biggest upcoming centers could require 20 times that. Alarmingly, by 2030 data centers could use the same amount of energy as all of Japan does now.
Also Read: Google Inks $3B US Hydropower Deal, Largest Clean Energy Pact Yet
There has been declining prices and growing momentum in renewables globally, with 74 percent of new global electric capacity in 2022 coming from clean sources, but the transition is still biased to advanced economies and leaving emerging markets behind.With growing demand for more energy, traditional utilities are suggesting raising rates and increasing in fossil fuel reliance. Technology companies express worry about the availability of energy and emissions reliant on fossil fuels.
Traditional utilities have created emissions associated with entertainment and A.I. for tech companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Meta. They are offsetting emissions for their own impacts but are also heavily reliant on energy production reliant on carbon. Guterres also stated this shift can happen and calls upon governments to support it with strong climate policy and modernized infrastructure for the continuous supply of clean energy for A.I. to grow.
