Is artificial intelligence greening global supply chains? Exposing the political economy of environmental costs
Abstract
Artificial intelligence (AI) is set to greatly enhance the productivity and efficiency of global supply chains over the next decade. Transnational corporations are hailing these gains as a ‘game changer’ for advancing environmental sustainability. Yet, looking through a political economy lens, it is clear that AI is not advancing sustainability nearly as much as industry leaders are claiming. As this article argues, the metrics and rhetoric of corporate social responsibility are exaggerating the benefits and obscuring the costs of AI. Productivity and efficiency gains in the middle sections of supply chains are rebounding into more production and consumption, doing far more to enhance the profitability of big business than the sustainability of the earth. At the same time, AI is accelerating natural resource extraction and the distancing of waste, casting dark shadows of harm across marginalized communities, fragile ecosystems, and future generations. The micro-level gains from AI, as this article exposes, are not going to add up to macro-level solutions for the negative environmental consequences of global supply chains, while portraying AI as a force of sustainability is legitimizing business as usual, reinforcing a narrative of corporate responsibility, obfuscating the need for greater state regulation, and empowering transnational corporations as global governors. These findings extend the theoretical understanding in the field of international political economy of the hi…
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The mining of these metals comes with a cost to the environment, given the tonnes of earth that have to be mined, the radiation produced, and the toxic waste created.
“The mining of these metals also comes with a cost to the environment, given the tonnes of earth that have to be mined, the radiation produced, and the toxic waste created [28].”
From From Efficiency Gains to Rebound Effects: The Problem of Jevons' Paradox in AI's Polarized Environmental Debate (2025) · cites this paper as [28]
The rare earth minerals needed to produce computing hardware are mined in unsustainable and opaque ways.
“The rare earth minerals needed to produce computing hardware are mined in unsustainable and opaque ways.”
From From Efficiency Gains to Rebound Effects: The Problem of Jevons' Paradox in AI's Polarized Environmental Debate (2025) · cites this paper as [28]
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“Delving more deeply and critically into the international political economy (IPE) of artificial intelligence, however, reveals that the vast majority of these apparent gains entail costs for marginalized peoples, distant ecosystems, and future generations – costs that CSR rhetoric and metrics are obscuring from consum…”
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- Authors
- Dauvergne, P.
- Affiliations
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Dauvergne, Peter
- ORCID
- Dauvergne, Peter
- Venue
- Review of International Political Economy
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2020-09-03
- Volume
- 29
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 696-718
- ISSN
- 0969-2290 (ISSN-L)
- 1466-4526
- OpenAlex
- W3082005054
- Cited by
- 321
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 81 · 2025: 103 · 2024: 60 · 2023: 43 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 2
- FWCI
- 19.13
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Review of International Political Economy (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Global trade, sustainability, and social impact
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Impact of AI and Big Data on Business and Society
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Sustainable Supply Chain Management
- Keywords
- artificial intelligence, global supply chains, environmental sustainability, political economy of technology, multinational corporations, corporate social responsibility, rebound effect, resource extraction, waste, marginalized communities, government regulation, corporate governance, environmental costs
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