Guterres requires IA sector to reveal its true environmental cost

“ Chega of hidden costs. No more burdening those who least can bear it. It's time to tell the whole truth. If the AI wants to contribute to the construction of a better future, it needs to be honest about what it costs us today,” said António Guterres in his speech of the Week of Climate Action, which takes place in London.

According to a UN study published this month, data centers that feed AI and other digital services consume an extremely high amount of energy, which was estimated to have reached 448 terawatts-hours (TWh) of electricity in 2025.

If they were a country, their consumption would place them at 11th place worldwide, just behind France (468 TWh).

The actual energy consumption by data centres is still not known for what the UN leader announced the launch of the AI Environmental Transparency Initiative, which will require global AI giants to measure and publish the environmental footprint — in terms of carbon, water and land, for example — of their operations.

In addition, it argued, companies must commit to feeding data centres with renewable energy by the end of the decade.

“ The communities are often unaware of the environmental impact of the infrastructure that is being developed around them,” he stressed, acknowledging that the AI can also help to “accelerate climate solutions.”.

In addition to the proposal on the technological sector, the UN Secretary-General also launched a “global call for action on methane”, the second largest contributor to climate change following CO2, with the aim of achieving “near zero emissions across the value chain.”.

Guterres proposed a series of targets related to methane leaks in the oil and gas industry and the burning practices of natural gas emitted during oil extraction, also calling for a reduction in emissions in the agricultural sector and landfills.

According to a report published in May by the International Energy Agency, detecting and repairing leaks or limiting routine burning could avoid 30% of fossil fuel emissions “without costs”, since the captured gas could be sold.

“ In 2025 alone, some 167 billion cubic meters of gas were burned, equivalent to the annual consumption of Africa,” he stressed.

Stressing that the world faces a climate and energy crisis, aggravated by the ongoing war in the Middle East, the UN Secretary-General said that these crises “share the same destructive origin: fossil fuels.”.

“We cannot continue to rely on a fossil fuel-based system,” Guterres warned, saying that the heat records recorded in Europe are a clear sign of climate change caused mainly by burning coal, oil and gas.

“ We must act much more urgently to strictly limit the extent and duration of any overrun [from the rise in temperature to the pre-industrial levels] of 1.5°C,” added António Guterres, referring to the heating limit set in the 2015 Paris Agreement, a mark that was first exceeded in 2025.

According to data from the main Earth Observation Programme of the European Union, Copernicus, the average global temperature of the planet, calculated in a three-year cycle (2023-2025), showed an increase in average temperature above the fixed limit.

The unprecedented cycle took place in a context where the year 2024 broke the record as the hottest record ever, and 2023 and 2025 were also among the highest temperatures ever recorded.

“ All major issuers must accelerate their shares,” Guterres said, adding that “all countries must overcome their commitments.”.

While recognizing positive developments in renewable energy, Guterres warned that there are still many challenges in this area.

The generation of clean energy – driven mainly by solar and wind energy – surpassed the overall growth of global electricity demand last year.

The share of renewable energy also exceeded one third of the world's electricity matrix for the first time in modern history in 2025, and the share of coal energy fell to less than a third of the global generation.

China continues to drive the global transition to clean energy, and in Europe fossil energy generation is generally on a declining trend.

But the US, under the presidency of Donald Trump, embraced coal, oil and gas and drastically reduced support for renewable energy and wider climate action — all this in the midst of the global energy crisis exacerbated by the US 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 Crisiss”, making a metaphor with Charles Dickens’ novel, “A Tale of Two Cities” — also a reference to London, where the speech was delivered.