Growing AI adoption could modestly increase U.S. carbon emissions, highlighting the need for energy-efficient AI systems.
A study published in Environmental Research Letters estimates that expanding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) across the United States could raise annual carbon dioxide emissions by about 900,000 tons.
Although this represents a measurable increase, the authors emphasize that it would account for only a small fraction of total national emissions.
AI growth brings a manageable carbon cost
As AI systems become more widely deployed to improve efficiency and drive economic growth, the study suggests their overall environmental impact is modest compared to many other energy-intensive industries. The researchers assessed how AI could be adopted across multiple sectors and calculated the additional electricity demand and resulting carbon emissions linked to that expansion.
Key findings include:
- Widespread adoption of artificial intelligence across the U.S. economy could lead to about 896,000 additional tons of CO2 emissions each year. Even so, this increase would account for only 0.02% of total U.S. emissions.
- At the industry level, energy demand could rise by as much as 12 petajoules per year, an amount roughly equal to the annual electricity use of about 300,000 households in the United States.
Co-author Anthony R. Harding explains: “While the projected emissions from AI adoption are modest compared to other sectors, they still represent a meaningful increase. This underscores the importance of integrating energy efficiency and sustainability into AI development and deployment, especially as adoption accelerates across industries.”
As AI technologies become more integrated into daily operations, researchers encourage industry leaders to incorporate energy efficiency and sustainability into their AI strategies to ensure responsible growth as adoption scales.
Reference: “Watts and bots: the energy implications of AI adoption” by Anthony R Harding and Juan Moreno-Cruz, 11 November 2025, Environmental Research Letters.
DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ae0e3b
A R H and J M C were supported by funding from Google.
Never miss a breakthrough: Join the SciTechDaily newsletter.
Follow us on Google and Google News.
4 Comments
The silence from every single institution, government, and person, screaming from the rooftops for decades about climate change, is all the proof you need to know everything is a scam to manipulate and control you.
People should be on alert about AI.
AI is being forced on the world in every market, industry, and facet of our lives.
My life experience has taught me, when something is forced on you (or everyone) regardless of if they want it or not, there is usually a nefarious purpose behind it.
What if the “experts” are wrong about carbon, just as they were wrong about Thalidomide? Why is it that anyone who questions the “science” is silenced? Is it science or scientism?
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/PPrCJrEIe4c
The little reported and always absent fact is we are barely above the 0.02% atmospheric carbon necessary to sustain plant life –
Plant life needs to breathe carbon exactly analogous to animals needing Oxygen to breathe.
It is up to each individual as whether they are capable of thought in this regard, but obviously it is in the interest of animals that enriching atmospheric carbon be undertaken.
We are at the very floor of sustainability. Therefore, Kate, if you will add the first sentence above to your various calculations, you will find your product may be altered.
First, the article states, “Growing AI adoption could MODESTLY increase U.S. carbon emissions, …”
Then, near the bottom of the article, we are told, “Widespread adoption of artificial intelligence across the U.S. economy could lead to about 896,000 additional tons of CO2 emissions each year. Even so, this increase would account for only 0.02% of total U.S. emissions.” That is about 2 pennies out of $100! I would characterize that as negligible, rather than a “modest” increase. That is why numbers are important.
To quote Sargent Joe Friday, “Just the facts, ma’am. Just the facts.”