COP28: How technology-driven climate change has been overlooked

Hyderabad: Technology-driven climate change seems to have been overlooked in the COP28 Summit in Dubai.

The COP28 shed light on the multifaceted challenges posed by climate change, with discussions spanning various aspects of human activities impacting the environment.

However, technology is often overlooked in these debates.

Founder & MD of The Tech Whisperer Ltd, Jaspreet Bindra, highlighted the potential role of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in accelerating global warming and climate change.

GenAI, a recent entrant in the technological landscape, has sparked both excitement and concern. While discussions around blockchain and crypto's environmental impact are not uncommon, the environmental ramifications of AI and GenAI remain underexplored. Bindra highlights three ways in which GenAI contributes to environmental degradation.

Firstly, training massive GenAI models demands colossal energy, resulting in significant carbon emissions. For instance, training a 213 million parameter GenAI model can produce emissions equivalent to 125 round flight trips between New York and Beijing. Larger models like GPT3 with 175 billion parameters exacerbate these environmental impacts.

Secondly, the cloud infrastructure that hosts these models, such as Microsoft Azure for GPT, relies on numerous data centers worldwide, consuming substantial amounts of water and power. The surge in GenAI adoption is projected to escalate global electricity consumption, potentially surpassing that of Japan by 2030.

Thirdly, the production of GenAI models relies on chips from companies like TSMC and Nvidia, necessitating energy-intensive chip fabrication plants. These fabs, requiring massive amounts of electricity and pure water, contribute to environmental strain.

Bindra emphasized the urgent need to integrate technology's environmental impact into global climate discussions. He calls for heightened awareness within communities, prompting responsible participation from Big Tech in developing cutting-edge technologies while considering their carbon footprint.

Acknowledging the issue, major tech companies like Microsoft and Google have committed to making their clouds more environmentally friendly. However, Bindra proposed additional measures, such as carbon footprint estimation for each model and exploring alternatives like smaller models with reduced resource consumption.

While the tech industry is making strides toward sustainability, governments and communities must play a pivotal role. Bindra urged governments to consider environmental factors when incentivizing the establishment of data centers and fabs.

He emphasized the importance of public awareness in evaluating the benefits of such infrastructure and ensuring adequate measures to counter environmental degradation.