UN report: AI data centers’ footprint rivals nations

UN Report Warns AI Data Centers Threaten Water, Land, and Climate on a National Scale

A United Nations report released on Wednesday warns that the environmental footprint of artificial intelligence data centers rivals that of entire nations, with projected electricity consumption set to double by 2030 and water use equaling the basic needs of 1.3 billion people in Sub-Saharan Africa.

A Country-Sized Footprint

The report, published by the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), projects that global data centers powering AI will consume 945 terawatt-hours of electricity by 2030 — nearly triple the combined annual electricity use of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nigeria, countries home to more than 650 million people. If data centers were a country, they would rank as the sixth-highest energy consumer globally by that date.yahoo

In 2025, data centers already consumed an estimated 448 terawatt-hours of electricity — more than Saudi Arabia — and emitted approximately 189 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, roughly equivalent to Argentina’s output. The report finds that AI currently accounts for about 20 percent of data center energy use, a figure projected to rise to 40 percent by 2030.time

Water, Land, and E-Waste

Beyond energy, the report quantifies impacts often overlooked in carbon-focused assessments. Data centers could consume 9.32 trillion liters of water by 2030, enough to meet the annual basic domestic water needs of all 1.3 billion people in Sub-Saharan Africa. Their land footprint could exceed 14,500 square kilometers — twice the size of the Jakarta metropolitan area, home to more than 32 million people.elpais

AI infrastructure could also generate up to 2.5 million metric tons of electronic waste annually by 2030, predominantly obsolete processors that risk accumulating in low-income countries and exposing communities to toxic substances.time

Calls for Transparency and Trade-Offs

The report urges AI companies to “make the invisible visible” by providing standardized environmental disclosures on energy, water, and land impacts. It calls on governments to mandate such reporting and to avoid siting data centers in water-scarce regions.yahoo

The authors highlight a critical trade-off: switching to renewable energy can reduce carbon footprints but may increase water and land use, making carbon-only metrics insufficient for capturing AI’s true environmental cost. Even individual users can help — the report notes that reducing the word count of AI prompts by 30 percent can cut energy consumption by 25 percent, equivalent to the annual electricity use of approximately 700,000 people in Africa.time