How to use AI without wrecking the planet

Artificial intelligence relies on vast amounts of energy. Kyndryl, the world’s largest IT infrastructure management company, is leading the development of a global framework to employ the technology. 

Artificial intelligence tools, used in anything from emails to tornado warnings, are pervading every corner of the economy. Yet business leaders are cautious – one reason: Running the technology has a surprisingly steep environmental cost. 

Generative AI models, in particular – bots that mimic human creativity and produce text, images or videos from scratch – require far more electricity than traditional internet uses. 

“AI uses an enormous amount of computational power,” says Faith Taylor, Global Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability Officer at Kyndryl, the world’s largest IT infrastructure services provider with 230 data centres in +60 countries. She says companies using generative AI have to make some trade-off decisions. 

Double the appetite

According to Goldman Sachs Research, a simple query on ChatGPT needs nearly 10 times as much electricity as a regular Google search. A worst-case scenario published in Joule, a peer-reviewed science journal, predicts Google’s AI alone could consume as much electricity per year as Ireland. As a result, the power use of data centres worldwide is set to double by 2026, according to the International Energy Agency, the foremost authority on energy data. 

The warnings come at a time when many companies are rushing to cut emissions. Many of them are in a quandary about how to harness AI without hurting their climate goals. Several of the world’s largest corporations, including Google and Microsoft, have partnered with Kyndryl to help with data analytics, guidance and expertise focused on their mainframe infrastructure modernisation. This can help companies understand their footprint and reduce it. 

Showing what’s possible

For Taylor, the path forward is clear. 

“The root cause of everything is that you have to source clean, renewable energy,” she says. “It is the foundation. The first step is to quantify your footprint and correctly source the energy. End of story.” 

Kyndryl, which spun off from IBM three years ago, likens itself to the heart and lungs of the global economy. The IT company runs the critical infrastructure that enables thousands of customers in 60 countries worldwide to do business online. Its networks are why school kids in New York can surf the internet, banking customers in Australia can transfer money online, and retailers in France can track their products and services. 

Kyndryl’s uses its AI-powered platform, Kyndryl Bridge, to share market insights to help customers build, manage and modernise their digital systems’ sustainably using Sustainability Advisor. As business leaders ponder if and how to employ energy-hungry AI, Kyndryl is deepening its stewardship. The company is using its journey toward climate-friendly computing as a benchmark for what’s possible. 

“We call ourselves customer zero,” says Taylor. “We’ve been transforming ourselves to demonstrate to customers: This is how you can do it as well.” 

Kyndryl’s emissions declined 8% in a year

Taylor, who came to Kyndryl with nearly two decades of experience in various sustainability leadership roles, achieved a remarkable feat. Within 18 months, the team analysed the entire energy profile of the newly spun-off company. They tracked which offices were running on fossil fuel and which were running on hydropower. They collected data from every nook and cranny housing the company’s 80,000 global staff. Then, they wrote a plan to transform Kyndryl into a net-zero company by 2040, received board approval and validated the plan with external experts. 

Most importantly, they are modernising and transforming their data centres, offices and overall portfolio. This has enabled them to drop their Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 8% or more. And only 0.01% of their IT e-waste still ends up in landfills. 

“We’re walking the talk,” says Taylor, who says she’s not one to pontificate about lofty ideas. Doing the hard work herself, she wants to share lessons for success with other companies: “Let’s talk about where you are on this journey. What are the challenges? How do we help you get there?” 

By now, most companies are at least dabbling with generative AI. However, only 10% of chief executives have a strategy in place, according to a recent Kyndryl survey. Almost half of those surveyed haven’t even started. Many grapple with a scattered focus on many sustainability issues, revealed in The Global Sustainability Barometer 2024, a joint report by Ecosystm, Kyndryl and Microsoft. 

The pressures are growing. 

Starting in January 2025, large businesses and banks must disclose climate-related financials in their sustainability reports in Australia. In Europe, new sustainability rules known as CSRD were implemented last year for 27 EU member states. They force about 10,000 listed businesses – including non-EU companies with European operations – to report how their activities impact people and the environment. 

Progress with purpose

Companies need to ask whether generative AI is right for them, says Taylor. “That’s where you start,” she says. “What is your business model, and what is your purpose aligned with driving profits?” 

For Kyndryl, generative AI is being integrated into its sustainability strategy. Its data centres have been using machine learning tools for years. For example, they detect patterns and peak energy usage times. They can quickly adjust electricity flows to save costs and emissions. 

Relocating also helped. Kyndryl moved out of old, inefficient warehouses with endless server rows and massive cooling needs. Its modern hubs achieve more with less, allowing Kyndryl to cut some rack units from 21 to two. 

Paramount, however, is the search for cleaner energy. Companies are looking as far as Iceland to find geothermal to power their operations. It also drives Amazon, Google and Microsoft to invest in nuclear reactors as an alternative to fuel their data centre growth. 

Taylor praises Kyndryl’s culture and passion for collaboration and teamwork, as well as being fast, flat, and focused – from its in-country real estate teams to its senior executives – as the reason for Kyndryl’s success. Still, she is a major champion. 

Her team started doubting the progress: “Are we doing enough?” Taylor started talking about the man who inspired her to keep going: a socially conscious entrepreneur named Ray Anderson, the inventor of modular eco-friendly carpets. Long before sustainability reporting was even a thing, this man had set himself the goal of running a zero-emissions business. 

When Anderson told her about ‘Mission Zero’, she was bewildered. Yet his carpet business, Interface Inc., reached the target in 2019, one year earlier than planned. 

“That’s what a vision can do,” Taylor told her team. “One person. Imagine how much we could transform together if we all did something like that.” 

For more information, visit www.kyndryl.com/au/en