Examining Tech’s Role in a Greener Future.

In the coming year, technologies designed to mitigate environmental damage and reduce carbon emissions will see significant expansion.

AI-driven systems, when harnessed appropriately, have the potential to transform our approach to climate change by streamlining sustainable practices and accelerating the shift to renewable energy sources.

For instance, AI-powered distributed energy systems hold great potential for renewable energy production and storage within the energy industry. This ecosystem is further enhanced by AI-facilitated developments in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), electric vehicle charging infrastructure, variable electricity tariffs, and smart metering systems. In the transportation sector, AI-enabled autonomous vehicles can optimize energy efficiency with intelligent navigation and eco-conscious driving practices.

Beyond these examples, AI algorithms can analyze data from sensors in real-time, addressing broader environmental challenges like water purity, air pollution, deforestation, land degradation, and biodiversity loss. Additionally, AI can interpret satellite and ground-based sensor data to provide real-time, large-scale weather monitoring and early warnings for events like hurricanes and floods.

However, the energy consumption of AI systems is a growing concern and a major contributor to rising data center costs. According to market research company IDC, global spending on AI systems is projected to exceed $300 billion by 2026, growing at a compound annual rate of 26.5% and driven by the energy-intensive GPUs used to train AI models. These GPUs require advanced cooling systems, further increasing energy costs.

While cloud-based AI is becoming expensive, AI edge computing offers a solution. By running AI applications directly on IoT devices, AI edge computing enables real-time processing, learning, and decision-making from field data. One company leading the way in edge-AI for IoT devices is Synaptics, which has just launched its Astra “AI-native” embedded computing platform

Innovation in sustainability isn’t just limited to AI. A recent report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in collaboration with Accenture, Quantum for Society: Meeting the Ambition of the SDGs, raises awareness about the potential of quantum technologies to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (UN). Earlier this year, the UN proclaimed 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ) and, while quantum technologies are still emerging, it could mark a significant milestone for its impact on our lives, especially with the rise of AI. Quantum-powered AI – quantum computing, quantum sensing and quantum communication – could present the opportunity to make substantial advances towards our sustainability goals.

Get ready for a groundbreaking 2025.