Coalition for Environmentally Sustainable Artificial Intelligence.

91 partners, including 37 tech companies, 11 other countries and 5 international organizations, including UNDP, the IEA and GGGI, have joined forces under the Coalition for Environmentally Sustainable Artificial Intelligence (AI), aiming to ramp up global momentum to place AI on a more environmentally sustainable path. Spearheaded by France, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Coalition brings together stakeholders across the AI value chain for dialogue and ambitious collaborative initiatives.

The Coalition was announced at the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit in Paris, where Heads of State and Government, leaders of international organizations, CEOs, academics, artists, and members of civil society gathered to discuss support for AI innovation, and respect for rights to ensure development of these technologies in the interests of all, including developing countries.

While AI may help tackle some of the world’s biggest environmental emergencies – for instance, AI is being used to map the destructive dredging of sand and chart emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas – a growing body of research cautions that there is a negative side to the explosion of AI and its associated infrastructure, including the electronic waste produced, and high levels of electricity and water consumed.

The Coalition aims to strengthen sustainable AI’s place in the global discussion around AI in much the same way AI security or AI ethics are studied.

A number of recent initiatives have been launched in the context of the Summit to build the knowledge base around AI and the environment, some of which were carried out specifically in preparation of the Summit :

• Through the National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology (INRIA) and the French Ministry of Ecological Transition, a community of 36 scientists, companies, public institutions and international organizations have published a position paper identifying the challenges that must be overcome to maximize the positive effects of AI systems while limiting their environmental impact.
• The first hackathon combining AI and energy sobriety, the Frugal AI Challenge, also brought together more than 60 teams of data scientists around the unprecedented challenge of designing AI models related to environmental issues, including the detection of climate disinformation, analysis of regions at risk of fires, identification of illegal deforestation) while optimizing their energy efficiency.
• In addition, the first international working group on the use of generative AI to provide access to environmental knowledge brought together experts from UNEP, OECD, IPCC, IPBES, WMO, UNESCO, and INRIA, as well as researchers and representatives from administrations, businesses and civil society, to develop a best practice guide for the effective and ethical use of generative AI to provide access to environmental documents.
• The International Energy Agency (IEA) is launching the first global observatory dedicated to energy and AI, enabling, by centralizing and analyzing data: (i) to better anticipate the energy needs of data centers and AI models, based on a transparent methodology, (ii) to optimize energy systems and reduce carbon emissions through AI, and (iii) to promote breakthrough innovations in AI applied to energy.
• In order to foster collaboration in the standardization field, a roadmap on the standardization of the environmental impact of AI has been established by more than 30 private and public partners defining guidelines for the environmental assessment of AI and identifying areas of cooperation between the major international standardization organizations (International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
• The multi-stakeholder Green Digital Action initiative convened by the International Telecommunication Union launched a new thematic pillar on green computing with a dedicated Sustainable AI working group. The group is working to identify the current efforts and gaps in the measurement of AI workloads and scenarios, conduct measurement and testing of different AI workloads and scenarios to understand their environmental footprint; and develop actionable insights and recommendations to enhance AI practices, with a final report planned to be published ahead of COP30.

Founding members of this Coalition for Sustainable AI:

Corporations (by alphabetical order): AMD, Artefact, Aveva, Baidu, Capgemini, Cohere, Dassault Systems, Data4, Ecodatacenters, EDF, Ekimetrics, Engie, Equinix, Ericsson, Eviden, Forward Global, Generali, Group Duval, Hugging Face, IBM, Lenovo, LG AI Research, Mistral AI, NAVER, Nvidia, Orange, OVH Cloud, Philips, Photoroom, Salesforce, SAP, Schneider Electric, Skeleton Technologies, Sopra Steria, Telehouse, Thales, Verne

Research: CEA, INRIA, Université Clermont Auvergne, LIG, Loughborough University, Mila, Obvia, Stockholm Environment Institute, Universita di Pavia, Umwelt Bundesamt Ai lab, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdamn

NGOs and associations: AFNUM, Climate Change AI, GAIA, FTCC, Nature Finance, Royal Academy of Engineering, Shift Project

Investors: Ardian, Crédit Agricole, Daphni, Eurazeo, Growth Fund the National Fund of Greece, Mirova, Princeville Capital, Tikehau Capital,

Public sector: BPIFrance, IGN, Nectec

Start-ups: Ahods, Boltzmann, Hivenet, Pruna AI, Rhite, Sepia Infrastructure, Sperta, Tomorrow today

With the support of the governments of Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Kenya, Korea, Morocco, Norway, United Kingdom, and international organizations (Global Green Growth Institute, International Energy Agency, United Nations Development Program, United Nations Environment Program, International Telecommunication Union).

The partners have a history of working on the environmental sustainability of AI. Now they join forces to foster international collaboration.

As part of the national AI strategy, France has been promoting Frugal AI in all sectors, with a dedicated program for AI demonstrators for the ecological transition. 12 local projects are being spearheaded by the French Ministry of Environment to optimize the use of resources and get a better knowledge of local dynamics in terms of transportation, pollution, water scarcity, etc. In June 2024, France published the first General Framework for Frugal AI, a voluntary standard built in collaboration with other 100 companies, associations, researchers and administrations in France.

In 2024, UNEP released an issue note that explores AI’s environmental footprint and considers how the technology can be rolled out sustainably; it followed a major UNEP report, Navigating New Horizons, which also examined AI’s promise and perils. In March 2025, UNEP will publish a guide to encourage public and private purchases towards energy-efficient data centres. These guidelines will be based on international best practices and established global standards (EU Code of Conduct, Energy Star, ISO/IEC 30134, etc.). They will inform investors, development banks and local authorities on the objective elements defining an energy-efficient data centre.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the UN agency for digital technologies, is at the forefront of environmentally sustainable digital transformation. Through the Green Digital Action initiative, ITU brings together partners worldwide to develop practical solutions, boost industry-wide climate support, and strengthen global frameworks for monitoring and reporting. Organized since 2017, AI for Good’s goal is to identify trustworthy applications of AI, build AI skills and standards, and strengthen global dialogue on AI governance for sustainable development. A recent report examines AI and the environment and associated technical standards development for environmental sustainability.