INDIA MUST FOCUS ON AI AND ITS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

NEWS: While Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being widely discussed for its benefits in healthcare, agriculture, governance, etc., its environmental costs are largely ignored. The article argues that India must urgently recognise, measure, and regulate the environmental impact of AI, especially as AI adoption is accelerating

AI has an environmental cost

• Training and running AI models require massive computing power. This leads to high electricity use and increased carbon emissions
• According to a working paper by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): AI development increases carbon footprint, worsening climate change
• The global ICT sector (hardware + software) contributes: 8%–2.8% of global greenhouse gas emissions
• United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) warns: AI servers may use 4.2–6.6 billion cubic metres of water by 2027
• Training a single Large Language Model (LLM) can emit around 3,00,000 kg of CO₂

Key suggestions

• Extend Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) framework to include AI model development & deployment
• Develop indicators for energy use, water consumption, GHG emissions
• Make AI environmental impact part of ESG reporting
• Regulators like Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) can require disclosure of emissions from data centres & AI training
• Shift focus from “AI growth at any cost” to AI for sustainability