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What is the Impact of AI on the Environment? Environment Top 5
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In this episode of EnvCast, we discuss the Environment Top 5 things to consider about artificial intelligence (AI) in environmental work. We cover what AI is, the digital impact of AI, carbon emissions and environmental cost of AI, hardware considerations, ethics of using AI and advice for environmental practitioners.
This special AI episode of EnvCast features two Chartered Environmentalists, Astrid Wynne CEnv, Head of Sustainability, AI and Automation at Techbuyer and Dominic Walkling CEnv, Associate director at Nature Positive.
Speaker bios:
Astrid is Head of Sustainability, AI and Automation at Techbuyer, a sustainable IT solutions provider that specialises in circular economy for enterprise hardware. She has co-authored a number of peer reviewed papers on Circular Economy, Energy Efficiency and Carbon Reporting in the data centre sector. She is also chair of the Sustainability Special Interest Group at the Data Centre Alliance.
Dominic Walkling is an Associate Director at Nature Positive, where he leads the greenhouse gas service delivery team. He specialises in corporate carbon footprinting and Science Based Targets, supporting clients with complex emissions reporting and reduction strategies. Dominic has spent time working on carbon tools and software development and has led an internal working group to research AI, upskill staff and promote efficient adoption of AI tools in consulting.
Extra resources:
- Circular Economy for the Data Centre Industry (CEDaCI) project: www.cedaci.org
- Paper: Is Hot IT a False Economy? (PDF) Is Hot IT a False Economy? An Analysis of Server and Data Center Energy Efficiency as Temperatures Rise
- https://news.mit.edu/2025/explained-generative-ai-environmental-impact-0117
- https://hbr.org/2024/07/the-uneven-distribution-of-ais-environmental-impacts
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-54271-x?trk=article-ssr-frontend-pulse_little-text-block
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925231224008671
Professional registration:
Registered status as a Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv), Registered Environmental Practitioner (REnvP) or Registered Environmental Technician (REnvTech) are available. To find out more about our registrations visit: https://socenv.org.uk/professional-re...
Check out our other platforms:
YouTube: Society for the Environment //
Website: socenv.org.uk // LinkedIn: society-for-the-environment
Chapters
1. What is the Impact of AI on the Environment? Environment Top 5 (00:00:00)
2. What is AI? (00:02:44)
3. Environmental Costs of Using AI (00:11:58)
4. Hardware considerations (00:21:07)
5. Ethics of using AI (00:31:49)
6. What should Environmental practitioners consider when using AI? (00:37:26)
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