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AI Footprint Report 2026
June 8 , 2026
15 hrs 0 min
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- The United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) released the report “Environmental Cost of AI's Energy Use: Carbon, Water and Land Footprints”.
- Global data centres consumed about 448 Terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity in 2025, projected to reach 945 TWh by 2030.
- Data-centre operations could require 9.3 trillion litres of water annually by 2030 for cooling and electricity generation.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)-related electricity infrastructure may occupy over 14,500 sq km of land by 2030.
- Inference (running AI models for user queries) accounts for 80–90% of AI's total energy consumption.
- AI infrastructure could generate up to 2.5 million tonnes of electronic waste (e-waste) annually by 2030.
- Over 90% of global AI computing capacity is concentrated in the United States and China, highlighting a growing digital divide.
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