United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called on artificial intelligence companies to release data on carbon emissions, water use, and land use on Tuesday [1, 2].

The demand targets the opaque nature of the AI industry's resource consumption as the technology scales globally. By forcing transparency, the UN aims to push the sector toward clean-energy practices and hold firms accountable for the physical costs of digital intelligence [1, 2].

Speaking in London during Climate Action Week, Guterres announced the AI Environmental Transparency Initiative [1, 2]. The program is designed to make AI firms measure and disclose the environmental footprint of their technology [1, 2].

The urgency of the initiative follows reports on the massive energy requirements of the industry. Data centers consumed more electricity than all but 10 countries in 2025 [1].

Guterres said that the hidden costs of AI must be brought to light to ensure the technology does not undermine global climate goals [1, 2]. The initiative encourages a commitment to clean energy to mitigate the growing strain on electrical grids and local water supplies [2].

The call for transparency comes as AI models require increasingly vast amounts of computing power, which translates to higher electricity demands and significant cooling needs for the hardware [1, 2].

“Data centres consumed more electricity than all but 10 countries in 2025”

This initiative represents a shift from focusing solely on the ethical or societal risks of AI toward its physical infrastructure. By quantifying the land and water usage alongside carbon emissions, the UN is attempting to establish a global standard for 'green AI,' potentially paving the way for future international regulations on data center efficiency.