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Artificial intelligence raises operational carbon emissions from data centers
- Truvace record
- TRV-2026-2878raw data (JSON)
- Version
- v1Published
- First published
- Evidence type
- Observational study
- Sources
- 1 sourcePeer-reviewed
- sha256
- 70867cdadc46…check it
Artificial intelligence is expanding computing demand, yet how this expansion affects the operational carbon emissions that arise from purchased electricity at data centers remains poorly quantified. Existing work has not systematically isolated this operational-phase outcome or examined the mechanisms, thresholds, and spatial patterns that shape it. Here we show that artificial intelligence development raises operational carbon emissions from data centers. A bottom-up accounting of 1,090 data centers across 162…
The problem
A study of 1,090 data centers in 162 Chinese cities from 2015 to 2024 found that a one-standard-deviation rise in an AI index was associated with an extra 68.82 million tonnes of operational carbon emissions.
What this doesn’t fix
The 68.82 million tonne figure is an association rather than a proven causal effect, and the data cover only Chinese cities from 2015 to 2024.
Sources
1 on file- Environmental Science and Ecotechnologydoi:10.1016/j.ese.2026.100789
Cite this record
v1Truvace Impact Record TRV-2026-2878, v1: “Artificial intelligence raises operational carbon emissions from data centers.” Truvace, 2026-11-13. /record/TRV-2026-2878 (accessed on the day you copy it). sha256 70867cdadc468f90…
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