WORLD (Enmaeya News) - December 22, 2025
Artificial intelligence has already generated as much carbon dioxide as New York City emits in a year and used as much water as the world consumes in bottled water in 2025, according to new research.
The study, published on December 17 in the academic journal Patterns by Alex de Vries-Gao, a PhD candidate at the VU Amsterdam Institute for Environmental Studies, highlights the growing environmental footprint of AI.
Using publicly available data, analyst estimates, and company reports, it is estimated that AI systems could emit between 32.6 million and 79.7 million tons of CO2 this year, roughly equivalent to New York City’s annual emissions of 50 million tons.
AI’s electricity demand globally is projected to reach 23 gigawatts in 2025, surpassing the power used for Bitcoin mining in 2024.
The study also finds that AI-related water consumption could reach between 312.5 and 764.6 billion liters, exceeding previous estimates for all data centers and earlier projections for 2027.
Most of this water is used in cooling systems for servers and power plants that supply electricity to AI data centers.
With the surge in AI-focused data centers, particularly in the U.S., communities are raising concerns over electricity and water usage, emphasizing the urgent need to address the climate impact of AI growth.
