Today, in our hyperconnected world, every stream, click and search leaves an invisible carbon trail. With almost 5.5 billion internet users in 2024, the impact of our digital habits on the environment can be huge.
Digital technologies represent around 2.5% of France’s carbon footprint. There are a lot of statistics like this one that we could use to describe how difficult it is to increase the development of our new digital creations without being more dangerous to the environment.
The rapid adoption of artificial intelligence has introduced a new dimension to digital emissions. New creations can have a bigger impact on the environment than other digital technologies. For example, a ChatGPT request uses 10 times as much electricity as a Google search, this shows us that the future doesn’t necessarily mean that we are going to have access to green and ecological technologies.
We can talk about an Artificial Intelligence paradox: AI, which is meant to solve problems, is creating new environmental challenges.
Of course, some emerging technologies are created to reduce digital emissions instead of increasing them. From 2021 to 2024, the continued adoption of cloud computing could reduce emissions of more than 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide through 3 different measures:
-server consolidation
-auto-scaling
-carbon-aware computing
The digital transformation doesn’t have to come at the expense of our climate; the digital carbon footprint obviously represents one of the fastest-growing sources of emissions in our modern society.
Raising awareness among individuals and organizations is just as vital as advancing technology itself. Encouraging more deliberate digital behavior—such as reducing streaming quality, deleting unnecessary emails, or opting for eco-friendly websites—can have a tangible environmental impact. Companies also hold a key responsibility in this transition. By adopting principles of digital sobriety, upgrading IT efficiency, and monitoring their carbon footprint through environmental audits, businesses can help accelerate the broader shift toward sustainability.
In recent months, the European Union has intensified its regulatory approach to the environmental impact of digital technologies. In 2025, the EU introduced new policies designed to curb the rising energy use of data centers and artificial intelligence systems. Among these initiatives, the proposed Green Digital Act sets energy efficiency requirements for major cloud providers and digital platforms while demanding clearer disclosure of the carbon footprint linked to emerging AI technologies. Tech giants have reacted swiftly: in October 2025, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon unveiled new commitments to expand their investments in renewable energy—particularly solar and wind—to power European data centers and to develop more energy-efficient AI architectures.
These developments come at a decisive moment. Experts caution that without immediate corrective measures, the rapid proliferation of generative AI and streaming platforms could cause global digital emissions to double by 2030. Across the world, major economies are now working to synchronize their digital growth with environmental goals—a clear sign that sustainability is no longer a side concern but a central component of digital transformation strategies.
Beyond these policies, the magnitude of the challenge becomes unmistakable when looking at the energy demands of leading-edge AI systems. Training a large language model already consumes between 100 and 150 megawatts per run. Forecasts suggest that by 2030, some of the largest projects could require between 4 and 16 gigawatts—enough electricity to power millions of households for an entire year. This surge highlights a profound shift in computing infrastructure: global data center energy use, estimated at about 415 terawatt-hours in 2024, could almost triple to 950 terawatt-hours by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency. Presently, AI accounts for roughly 14 percent of data center electricity use, but that figure could climb to 27 percent by 2027. This trajectory illustrates a central paradox: the very technologies helping us optimize energy systems and manage the climate crisis also consume extraordinary amounts of power. Without coordinated efforts in renewable energy expansion, infrastructure upgrades, and algorithmic efficiency, AI’s potential as a climate ally could easily be eclipsed by its growing energy appetite.
Finally, In the coming years, collaboration between actors like governments, industries, and citizens will be essential to reduce the digital impact. There is a need for regulations to promote sustainable innovation, more investments in renewable energy especially for data centers and the development of new efficient algorithms, that could help growth the digital sector with environmental responsibility. The challenge for next years is to ensure a smarter but also greener digital revolution.
Sources:
https://www.myclimate.org/en/information/faq/faq-detail/what-is-a-digital-carbon-footprint/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_artificial_intelligence
https://www.strategie-plan.gouv.fr/en/publications/contribution-numerique-decarbonation
