United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres urged artificial intelligence companies on Tuesday to be more open about the environmental footprint behind their technology, calling for public disclosure of the carbon emissions, water consumption and land use tied to their operations.
Speaking during London Climate Action Week, Guterres introduced the AI Environmental Transparency Initiative, a proposal aimed at pushing companies to measure and report the climate and resource impacts of AI systems as demand for the technology accelerates. The rapid expansion of data centers that support AI has drawn criticism from environmental advocates and communities, while governments have increasingly pressed the industry for clearer, more consistent reporting standards.
Guterres also said AI firms should pledge to run their facilities on electricity generated from renewable sources, including wind and solar power, by 2030.
“No more hidden costs,” Guterres told attendees at Europe’s largest independent climate conference. “No more shifting the burden onto those least able to bear it. It is time to come clean.”
AI’s energy demands continue to rise
Many of the world’s largest technology companies have already promised to shift their operations toward cleaner energy, with some setting targets for the end of this decade. Amazon and Google, among others, have pointed to solar and nuclear power as important parts of their future energy plans.
Even so, the intense push to build and deploy AI tools has made those climate goals harder to reach. The growth in computing demand has contributed to rising greenhouse gas emissions, which are produced by burning fossil fuels such as oil, coal and gas and are a major driver of global warming. Regulatory hurdles have also slowed some projects designed to support cleaner energy development.
Coal currently provides about 30% of the electricity used by data centers worldwide, according to the International Energy Agency. Renewable sources — mainly wind, solar and hydropower — account for roughly 27%, while natural gas supplies 26% and nuclear power contributes 15%. Over the next five years, renewables are expected to cover only about half of the sector’s growing electricity demand.
As AI booms, many, including Guterres, have touted its ability to accelerate climate solutions. It could improve energy efficiency, and reduce pollution and emissions.
At the same time, the environmental footprint of data centers already rivals some of the world’s largest countries, according to a U.N. report released earlier this month.
That report also said the water, energy use and pollution associated with AI will double in just four years. Data centers needed to fuel AI accounted for about 1.5% of the world’s electricity consumption in 2025, and will account for nearly 3% of the world’s projected electricity use by 2030.
“Despite these obvious concerns, communities are often left in the dark about the environmental impact of the infrastructure rising around them,” Guterres said in his remarks.
The UN continues to sound urgent alarms
The U.N. chief has long urged the world to take serious climate action, and will once again convene leaders at the annual Conference of Parties, this year in Turkey, to negotiate plans.
On Tuesday, addressing AI was just a number of steps he said needed to be taken to keep the world below the warming limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) compared to pre-industrial times, a goal set during the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Last year was the first time that the three-year temperature average broke through that threshold.
“Every major emitter must accelerate action,” Guterres said. “And every country must over-deliver on its commitments.”
He called for cutting methane, a powerful greenhouse gas responsible for around one-third of global warming and significantly more potent than carbon dioxide, though comparatively it lingers for less time in the atmosphere. He also called for a reduction in dependence on coal, oil and gas.
Renewables progress seen around th
e globe but challenges remain
Guterres noted in his remarks positive developments in renewable energy, as scale drives down the costs of the technologies and adoption increases.
Clean power generation — largely driven by solar and wind — exceeded overall global electricity demand growth last year. The share of renewables also hit more than one-third of the world’s electricity mix for the first time in modern history in 2025, and coal power saw its share fall below one-third of global generation.
China continues to drive the world’s clean energy transition, and in Europe, fossil generation is generally trending down.
But the U.S. under President Donald Trump has embraced coal, oil and gas and slashed support for renewables and broader climate action — all amid the global energy crisis exacerbated by the U.S. war in Iran, which Guterres called “the mother of all energy shocks.”
Guterres referred to the current state of the world as “A Tale of Two Crises,” drawing a metaphor to the Charles Dickens’ novel, “A Tale of Two Cities” — also a nod to London where the address was given.
“For the climate agenda, this is indeed the best of times and the worst of times,” he said. “The worst – because climate impacts are intensifying, tipping points are looming, and the energy crisis has exposed the deep risks of dependence on fossil fuels. But also the best – because the renewables revolution is well underway.”
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Alexa St. John is an Associated Press climate reporter. Follow her on X: @alexa_stjohn. Reach her at ast.john@ap.org.
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