Guterres Launches AI Environmental Transparency Initiative in London

During London Climate Action Week on June 23, 2026, António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, launched the AI Environmental Transparency Initiative. Guterres called on major artificial intelligence firms to publicly disclose their carbon emissions, water usage, and land footprints, urging a commitment to 100% renewable energy for data centers by 2030. He warned that AI electricity consumption could nearly double to 3% of global use by 2030, with water needs potentially matching the basic annual needs of 1.3 billion people in sub-Saharan Africa.

Addressing the public amid a record-breaking UK heatwave, Guterres unveiled a seven-point blueprint for clean energy transition. He argued that fossil fuel dependency drives both the climate crisis and global energy instability, specifically citing the U.S. war in Iran and shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz. He criticized the United States government under President Donald Trump for shifting back toward fossil fuels and called on G20 nations to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies and tax windfall profits from the eight largest oil and gas companies.

Concurrent with the UN initiative, risk-analytics firm XDI Pty Ltd reported that 6% of nearly 3,000 planned global data centers face immediate climate damage risks, particularly in New Jersey and China's Jiangsu province. While U.S. officials like Senator Elizabeth Warren and Utah Governor Spencer Cox expressed concerns over local utility costs and water use, NVIDIA and Elon Musk claimed that new cooling systems could significantly reduce water consumption.