A panel at Data Centre World, part of Tech Show London at ExCeL (12 and 13 March 2025), on the growing impact of AI and data centres on nature. Astrid Wynne (Techbuyer) chaired, and I joined Sarah Krisht (NatureFinance), Laila Takeh (ISEP Fellow) and Professor Deborah Andrews (London South Bank University).
The panel argued that looking only at operational energy and carbon misses the materials, mining and toxic substances behind data centre hardware, and that nature risks need a more holistic governance framework. My contribution was a warning about greenwashing: plenty of sustainability claims on the show floor had little substance behind them, and rather than following the US model of building ever more massive data centres, the profession should step back, ask where technology really adds value, and make more of the devices we already have.
I also wrote up what I saw across the conference, from best intentions to outright greenwashing, on Scott Logic’s blog.
A few months later Astrid and I spoke in the same session, on sustainable AI and IT infrastructure, at London South Bank University’s DxD25 conference.