Beyond the Hype: Measuring AI's Environmental Cost and Charting a Sustainable Path

SPEAKERS

Thomas Basikolo  Programme Coordinator, International Telecommunication Union

DESCRIPTION

AI’s environmental impact, driven by energy-intensive models like LLMs, demands urgent attention as adoption grows. This session, titled “Beyond the Hype: Measuring AI’s Environmental Cost and Charting a Sustainable Path,” shifts focus from individual models to evaluating current methods for quantifying AI’s ecological footprint across applications. Experts from industry, academia, and policy will discuss gaps in metrics related to energy use, carbon emissions, and resource consumption, while exploring pathways to standardize assessments. This session aims to advance actionable strategies that align AI innovation with sustainability, ensuring transparency and accountability in its global deployment.

This session is part of the UNU Macau AI Conference 2025, which brings together thought leaders, innovators, and stakeholders under the theme AI for Humanity: Building an Equitable Digital Future. To view the full program, please visit the program page. To join the Conference, please visit the registration page.

Celebrating #UN80 and #UNUat50 | Oct. 23-25, 2025 | Macau SAR, China
UNU Macau AI Conference 2025 | AI Education Day | AI for SDGs: Global Youth AI Future Innovation Competition