Exactly how much of an environmental menace is AI? Here’s what we know

By Laura Paddison, CNN

(CNN) — The staggering rise of AI has become a political flashpoint, especially when it comes to the data centers needed to train and operate it.

As the industry booms, many people are increasingly worried about the environmental impacts of these hulking buildings, from their seemingly insatiable demand for water and energy, to the heat and noise they produce.

Nearly 90% of Americans say they’re more concerned than excited about the rise of AI data centers, according to a CNN poll conducted by SSRS in September.

Information and statistics are flying around, with some groups framing the AI data center boom as a potential environmental catastrophe, while others say concerns are overblown or even fake. It’s adding up to a confusing picture.

So, just how bad is AI for the environment?

Well, to be annoying, it’s complicated. The impacts of each data center depend on a slew of factors, including where it’s located, the kind of electricity that powers it and the technology it uses.

There is also a dearth of fully transparent and detailed data from AI providers, making it tricky to build an accurate picture of impacts. Instead, we rely on estimates.

To make the whole picture even more challenging, it’s difficult to project future impacts because there is so little certainty about how AI technology and demand will develop.

But here’s what we can say at the moment:

It has big energy demands…

Training and running AI models require large amounts of computing power, and that takes a ton of energy.

AI’s energy efficiency is improving at a fast clip, but more people are using the technology and there’s been a boom in particularly energy-intensive forms.

Simple text queries, for example, typically use less electricity than a TV would over the same time period, according an analysis by the International Energy Agency. But, more energy-intensive applications, such as video generation, sometimes require thousands of times more energy. The electricity consumption of AI data centers surged by 50% last year, the IEA found.

Around 0.5% of the world’s electricity was consumed by AI data centers in 2025, according to an analysis from Our World in Data, which projects that figure will reach 1.5% by 2030.

It might sound small, but data centers are very geographically concentrated. Nearly half of their global electricity consumption happens in the United States, where data centers could account for up to 12% of electricity consumption by 2028 as AI rapidly expands, according to an analysis from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

… and that means climate (and health) impacts

Because the world’s electricity is still dominated by fossil fuels, it adds up to more planet-heating pollution. There are big concerns that the AI boom is pushing climate targets even further out of reach.

Where a data center gets its power from is key; the more clean energy is on the grid, the lower its climate impact. Currently, global data centers are powered mostly by coal (30%), followed by renewables at 27% and natural gas at 26%.

As AI electricity demand soars, some is being met with clean energy, but there are also plenty of planet-warming fossil fuels in the mix.

Natural gas is emerging as a key data center power source in the US. The country has the most gas-fired power capacity in development globally, with more than a third intended to power AI, according to a January report from Global Energy Monitor.

Data centers are increasingly building their own energy infrastructure to avoid straining local grids and driving up people’s bills. This often takes the form of gas turbines, which are less efficient than big power plants and can not only bring hefty climate impacts but also health costs, due to harmful air pollution, including nitrogen oxides and fine particulate matter.

The public health burden of US data centers could reach $20 billion by 2028, according to one recent study.

It’s thirsty for water

There’s an oft-cited statistic that a 100-word email generated by an AI chatbot requires about one bottle of water — just over 2 cups — to produce.

But there’s another estimate, from Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, who says the average ChatGPT query uses about one fifteenth of a teaspoon of water.

So which is right? As with many data center impacts, it depends on context and on what people choose to measure.

AI data centers use water directly to cool their equipment, but also indirectly to create the power on which they run.

The water impacts of an individual data center will depend on its specific circumstances: the technology it uses, the kind of energy it relies on and the local water situation.

Some regions, for example, have plentiful water resources; others face high stress. Around two-thirds of data centers built or in construction in the US since 2022 are in areas of water stress, according to a 2025 Bloomberg analysis.

Tech companies say they are introducing measures to slash water use, including by developing new cooling technologies. Some analysts say water concerns have been vastly overestimated and that the burger you eat or cotton shirt you wear require much more water.

But AI’s water impacts are far from minimal. US data centers could consume up to 110 billion gallons a year by 2030, equivalent to 7% of total annual consumptive use in US public water systems, according to a March analysis by scientists from the University of California, Riverside and other institutions.

Indirect water use for electricity could push this figure much higher. A recent report from Ceres, a nonprofit advocacy organization, analyzed data centers across seven states and found they used around 3.4 trillion gallons of freshwater a year for electricity generation, equivalent to roughly 12 times the annual water use of Los Angeles, Phoenix and Washington, DC, combined.

It can be a noisy neighbor

Some of the key concerns people have about data centers revolve around quality of life impacts — including noise pollution.

Data centers can produce a cacophony of noises: the low thrum of cooling systems, the drone of gas turbines or diesel generators and the humming of equipment.

Some communities have filed noise pollution lawsuits, including residents near a huge data center in Vineland, New Jersey.

There are steps data centers can take to reduce their impact, including soundproofing equipment and the building itself. Some experts are urging state and local governments to beef up noise regulations.

It could increase temperatures

There are also fears the data centers could create “heat islands,” warming the air and land around them — a phenomenon that would add to the temperature rises already happening due to fossil fuel pollution.

A study by scientists at Arizona State University found data center heat pollution in Phoenix warmed downwind neighborhoods by as much as 4 degrees Fahrenheit.

“Even if these data centers only contribute to an additional heat island magnitude of 1 degree or 2 degrees, that can still have a very significant impact on our lives,” said lead author David Sailor, director of ASU’s School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning.

More research is needed, however, to really pin down these impacts, and some experts argue there is little difference between a data center and any other industrial facility when it comes to heat.

It’s hungry for critical minerals

One of the more overlooked aspects of AI are the minerals and metals it requires, including for semiconductors and data storage components.

Mining for these raw materials, often in the Global South, has been linked to air and water pollution, deforestation, human health risks and climate pollution.

And as AI scales and advances, it will generate electronic waste, a rapidly-growing waste stream that is toxic if not disposed of properly. Currently only about a fifth of e-waste is recycled.

There’s also concern that AI’s demand for these minerals put it in direct competition with sectors that are critical for reducing planet heating pollution, namely wind and solar energy.

Ultimately AI’s impacts depend on us

Experts say AI’s environmental harms are not locked in. Instead, its impacts will depend on the choices we make: Where data centers are located, how they are powered, how they are regulated, how transparent AI providers must be about impacts along their full supply chains.

Before a new AI data center is built, it needs to be clear “who benefits from it,” said Kaveh Madani, director of the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health. That includes asking questions like: Does it bring jobs? Will it improve the local economy? Will it take water from local users who need it more, like farmers?

“There are trade-offs like any other technology,” Madani said. “It has has downsides that need to be regulated, monitored, and mitigated.”

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

CNN’s Isabelle LaBianco and Jennifer Agiesta contributed reporting.