AI boom has caused same CO2 emissions in 2025 as New York City, report claims
The AI boom has caused as much carbon dioxide to be released into the atmosphere in 2025 as emitted by the whole of New York City, it has been claimed.The global environmental impact of the rapidly spreading technology has been estimated in research published on Wednesday, which also found that AI-related water use now exceeds the entirety of global bottled-water demand.The figures have been compiled by the Dutch academic Alex de Vries-Gao, the founder of Digiconomist, a company that researches the unintended consequences of digital trends.He claimed they were the first attempt to measure the specific effect of artificial intelligence rather than datacentres in general as the use of chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini soared in 2025.The figures show the estimated greenhouse gas emissions from AI use are also now equivalent to more than 8% of global aviation emissions.
His study used technology companies’ own reporting and he called for stricter requirements for them to be more transparent about their climate impact,“The environmental cost of this is pretty huge in absolute terms,” he said,“At the moment society is paying for these costs, not the tech companies,The question is: is that fair? If they are reaping the benefits of this technology, why should they not be paying some of the costs?”De Vries-Gao found that the 2025 carbon footprint of AI systems could be as high as 80m tonnes, while the water used could reach 765bn litres,He said it was the first time AI’s water impact had been estimated and showed that AI water use alone was more than a third higher than previous estimates of all datacentre water use.
The figures are published in the academic journal Patterns,The International Energy Agency (IEA) said earlier this year that AI-focused datacentres draw as much electricity as power-thirsty aluminium smelters and datacentre electricity consumption is expected to more than double by 2030,“This is yet more evidence that the public is footing the environmental bill for some of the richest companies on Earth,” said Donald Campbell, the director of advocacy at Foxglove, a UK non-profit that campaigns for fairness in tech,“Worse, it is likely just the tip of the iceberg,The datacentre construction frenzy, driven by generative AI, is only getting started.
“Just one of these new ‘hyperscale’ facilities can generate climate emissions equivalent to several international airports.And in the UK alone, there are an estimated 100-200 of them in the planning system.”The IEA has reported that the largest AI-focused datacentres being built today will each consume as much electricity as 2m households with the US accounting for the largest share of datacentre electricity consumption (45%) followed by China (25%) and Europe (15%).The largest datacentre being planned in the UK, at a former coal power station site in Blyth, Northumberland, is expected to emit more than 180,000 tonnes of CO2 a year when at full operation – the equivalent to the amount produced by more than 24,000 homes.In India, where $30bn (£22.
5bn) is being invested in datacentres, there are growing concerns that a lack of reliability from the National Grid will mean the construction of huge diesel generator farms for backup power, which the consultancy KPMG this week called “a massive … carbon liability”.Technology companies’ environmental disclosures are often insufficient to assess even the total datacentre impact, never mind isolating AI use, said De Vries-Gao.He noted that when Google recently reported on the impact of its Gemini AI, it did not account for the water used in generating the electricity needed to power it.Google reported that in 2024 it managed to reduce energy emissions from its datacentres by 12% due to new clean energy sources, but it said this summer that achieving its climate goals was “now more complex and challenging across every level – from local to global” and “a key challenge is the slower-than-needed deployment of carbon-free energy technologies at scale”.Google was approached for comment.
MPs to question Vodafone on ‘unjust’ treatment of store franchise owners
Vodafone executives will next month meet MPs scrutinising the company’s treatment of scores of business owners running its stores.The move follows claims reported by the Guardian last week of suicide and attempted suicide by people who had agreed deals to run outlets for the £18bn telecoms company. The report led to suggestions that the government might consider new laws to correct the power imbalance in franchise agreements.A group of 62 former Vodafone franchisees brought a high court claim in 2024, alleging the company “unjustly enriched” itself in 2020 by slashing sales commissions.The court papers alleged that Vodafone acted in “bad faith” by unilaterally cutting fees to its franchisees; imposed fines of thousands of pounds for seemingly minor administrative errors; and then cajoled them into taking out loans and government grants to keep their businesses afloat
BP opts for culture shock with new CEO appointment, but the timing is odd
Here we go again. Just when you thought BP was trying to generate less drama, the new chair has decided a new chief executive is needed. Say goodbye to Murray Auchincloss, who junked the green-ish transition strategy of his predecessor as recently as February. Meg O’Neill, the American boss of the Australian group Woodside Energy, becomes BP’s first outside hire as chief executive.At face value, a new appointment should not be an outright surprise
TikTok signs Trump-backed deal to sell US entity to American investors
TikTok has signed a deal to sell its US business to three American investors – Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX – ensuring the popular social video platform can continue operating in the United States.The deal is expected to close on 22 January, according to an internal memo seen by he Associated Press and Reuters. The TikTok chief executive officer, Shou Zi Chew, said in the memo that ByteDance and TikTok have signed binding agreements with the three investors.The new TikTok US joint venture will be 50% held by a consortium of new investors, including Oracle, Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi-based MGX with 15% each. Another 30
Facebook tests charging users to share links in potential blow for news outlets
Facebook is testing a system that charges users for sharing web links, in a move that could prove to be a further blow to news outlets and other publishers.Meta, the social media platform’s owner, said it is carrying out a “limited test” in which those without a paid Meta Verified subscription, costing at least £9.99 a month, can only post two external links a month.The test appears to involve a subset of Facebook pages and user profiles on Professional Mode, which includes features used by content creators to monetise their posts.News organisations are not included in the test
Australia v England: Ashes third Test, day three – live
27th over: Australia 104-2 (Head 58, Khawaja 22) Carse continues and is back to digging the ball in short too often. A curious tactic when England need wickets to stay in the game – and series. Head picks up a single on the offside as Joe Root spins the arms.As this innings begins to show all the signs of drifting away from England, Edward poses an interesting question from Germany: “5C here in Mannheim and missing the Australian heat. Quick question: is Australia the worst test team in reviewing decisions both in terms of success rate and when deciding to review?”Without having the stats around that to hand, the eye test (and fading memory) certainly suggests there is plenty of room for improvement
Rory McIlroy named BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2025 – as it happened
Time to sign off, I’ll leave you with Sean Ingle’s report. Thanks for joining me.Sports Personality of the Year: Rory McIlroyRunners-up: Ellie Kildunne, Lando NorrisTeam of the Year: Europe’s Ryder Cup teamCoach of the Year: Sarina WiegmanYoung Sports Personality: Michelle AgyemangWorld Sport Star: Armand DuplantisLifetime Achievement Award: Thierry HenryHelen Rollason Award: Sergio Aguiar and David StancombeIf you’re new here, you can get the best of our coverage delivered to your inbox every Sunday. Sign up below:A reminder of Rory McIlroy’s golden year:And with that, the ticker tape flies and Balding, Logan and Scott bid us farewell. That was a very watchable ceremony with plenty of insights – it was also emotional, even fraught, at times
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