Will AI accelerate or delay the race to net-zero emissions?
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As artificial intelligence transforms the global economy, researchers need to explore scenarios to assess how it can help, rather than harm, the climate. As artificial intelligence transforms the global economy, researchers need to explore scenarios to assess how it can help, rather than harm, the climate.
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Lack of standardized reporting impedes a full lifecycle assessment and perpetuates an environment in which the indirect burdens of AI remain opaque.
“This lack of standardized reporting impedes a full lifecycle assessment and perpetuates an environment in which the indirect burdens of AI remain opaque [72].”
From From Efficiency Gains to Rebound Effects: The Problem of Jevons' Paradox in AI's Polarized Environmental Debate (2025) · cites this paper as [72]
In “Develop quantitative analytical frameworks” (page unavailable), the paper calls for reporting standards and better data to assess AI’s direct and indirect emissions, and says indirect effects are especially difficult to quantify. It does not specifically discuss a full lifecycle assessment, and it attributes uncertainty about indirect effects to more than reporting gaps alone. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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Cites
Recalibrating global data center energy-use estimates
Masanet, E., Shehabi, A., Lei, N., Smith, S., & Koomey, J. (2020) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aba3758 · Cited by 1,545 · see citing works
Self-citationThe growing energy footprint of artificial intelligence
de Vries, A. (2023) · Joule · doi:10.1016/j.joule.2023.09.004 · Cited by 597 · see citing works
The Carbon Footprint of Machine Learning Training Will Plateau, Then Shrink
Patterson, D., Gonzalez, J., Holzle, U., Le, Q., Liang, C., Munguia, L.-M., Rothchild, D., So, D. R., Texier, M., & Dean, J. (2022) · Computer · doi:10.1109/mc.2022.3148714 · Cited by 400 · see citing works
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Luccioni, A. S., Strubell, E., & Crawford, K. (2025) · Proceedings of the 2025 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency · doi:10.1145/3715275.3732007 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Tzanis, E., Adams, L. C., Akinci D’Antonoli, T., Bressem, K. K., Cuocolo, R., Kocak, B., Malamateniou, C., & Klontzas, M. E. (2026) · Diagnostic and Interventional Imaging · doi:10.1016/j.diii.2025.10.002 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
- Authors
- Luers, A., Koomey, J., Masanet, E., Gaffney, O., Creutzig, F., Lavista Ferres, J., & Horvitz, E.
- Affiliations
- Microsoft (United States) (US)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US)
- Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Luers, Amy
- Koomey, Jonathan
- Masanet, Eric
- Gaffney, Owen
- Creutzig, Felix
- Horvitz, Eric
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2024-04-22
- Volume
- 628
- Issue
- 8009
- Pages
- 718-720
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W4395001647
- Cited by
- 45
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 7
- FWCI
- 15.95
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Climate Change Policy and Economics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Innovation, Sustainability, Human-Machine Systems
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Energy, Environment, Economic Growth
- Keywords
- artificial intelligence, net-zero emissions, climate change mitigation, decarbonization
- MeSH terms
- Acceleration, Air Pollution, Artificial Intelligence, Carbon Dioxide, Time Factors, Global Warming, Environmental Policy
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