AI’s energy appetite and what UK businesses should be doing about it
Artificial intelligence is hungry for energy. Behind every chatbot, Copilot, or agent are servers burning a lot of power.
As more UK companies adopt AI tools, it’s worth paying attention to how much energy those tools use and what that means for your sustainability targets and reporting requirements.
AI’s environmental footprint is growing
In 2022, Microsoft used 6.4 million cubic metres of water to cool its data centres, a 34 percent increase on the year before. Data for 2024 hasn’t been released in full, but you can predict the number is likely higher with the overall demand for cooling still rising.
A recent report from MIT Technology Review highlighted the scale of AI’s environmental impact. Training a single large model can emit as much carbon as five petrol cars over their lifetimes. Most of the ongoing energy use comes not from training, but from everyday use. If your business is regularly using generative AI, you’re contributing to that footprint.
Meta recently signed a long-term nuclear energy deal to meet the rising power demands of its AI infrastructure. UK businesses won’t be building their own data centres, but they do need to know how their chosen tools are powered.
What UK companies are expected to report
Larger companies in the UK are already required to report their energy use under the Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) framework. This includes electricity used by cloud services and data platforms.
There are also mandatory climate-related disclosures under the Companies Act, aligned with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). These cover governance, strategy and risk related to climate change.
New rules are on the way. The UK is planning to adopt the UK Sustainability Reporting Standards from 2026, based on international frameworks from the ISSB. These rules are expected to apply to a broader set of businesses over time, not just listed companies.
What you should be doing now
If you’re adopting AI tools in your business, now is the time to bring those decisions into your sustainability thinking. Start with these actions:
- Ask your technology suppliers how their services are powered
- Choose AI tools that run on low-carbon or energy-efficient infrastructure
- Build AI-related emissions into your ESG and SECR reporting if applicable
- Keep an eye on evolving UK sustainability standards
- Consider future procurement policies that factor in environmental impact
The British Standards Institution has published guidance to help companies measure the carbon footprint of AI systems. It’s an emerging area, but the direction of travel is clear.
Final thought
AI can improve productivity, creativity and insight. But it also comes with environmental cost. The businesses that understand that now, and plan accordingly, will be in a stronger position when stakeholders start demanding answers.
Interested in more content like this? Sign up to our Newsletter here.
How we can help
At iwantmore.ai, we specialise in helping businesses bridge the AI divide turning curiosity into capability and capability into competitive advantage.
We work with organisations to:
- Assess AI readiness: Understand where you are today across people, processes, and platforms.
- Identify high-impact use cases: Through discovery workshops and hands-on collaboration, we surface the areas where AI and automation can add the most value specific to your business.
- Design and implement practical solutions: From AI agents to process automation, we help you build solutions that deliver real business outcomes not just tech demos.
Whether you’re just starting out or looking to take your existing efforts to the next level, we’re here to guide you every step of the way.
We understand you are busy but don’t get left behind. Start your AI journey with confidence. Contact us and let’s explore what’s possible for your business.
Other AI articles you may be interested in:
AI agents are the fancy buzzword of the day. Loads of hype, but also loads of potential. Despite the hype, over promise and noise, we are still witnessing the birth of a new business model: human-agent teams. Human employees that are building, managing and working alongside AI agents. Meet the agent boss.
We recently met a chief executive who despite his team asking for AI tools to help them work smarter, had decided that AI was not for him or his business. He even went as far as calling it ‘artificial unintelligence’. Despite this position, he admitted that competitors were taking market share. They were using AI to do a lot more with less. These were AI forward businesses. But what exactly is an AI forward business?
As AI tools become more widespread, some businesses are putting their money where their strategy is and offering financial rewards to employees who use AI in their work. It’s a bold move. But is it effective or could it backfire? And what message does it send to employees? We’ve taken a look at the pros and cons, including the very real human concerns around job security and why rewarding AI use can be a good move when done correctly.
Vibe marketing is the next big thing in digital marketing. But what is Vibe Marketing? Vibe marketing is a new approach that uses generative AI to translate a brand feeling or essence into marketing assets (images, copy, ads, full campaigns, and even product ideas). Coined from the concept of vibe coding, introduced by AI legend Andrej Karpathy, vibe marketing is all about marketers describing their brand’s feel, audience, and intention in plain English.
AI continues to move forwards at a ridiculous pace. New models are popping up weekly. Things you couldn’t do a week ago now seem second nature. But behind the headlines about innovation, is good old regulation. Whether it’s GDPR or new legal frameworks emerging to tackle foundation models, in the UK, AI won’t remain unregulated for long.
In the world of artificial intelligence, there's a slightly corny phrase that gets repeated a lot: ‘data is the new oil.’ I don’t like it, but it’s catchy. It makes a point. But like all catchy phrases, it oversimplifies reality. Yes, data fuels AI, but does that mean you need to stop everything until your data is pristine? Nope.
iwantmore.ai – The AI consulting firm that helps you build a smarter business
Wherever you are with your AI implementation initiatives, we have a range of stand-alone AI quick start services to help you fast track the transformative benefits of AI across your business.
