United Nations researchers said on Wednesday that data centres will consume twice as much electricity and water by 2030 as they expand to meet demand from artificial intelligence, warning that the physical infrastructure behind AI poses mounting environmental risks unless governments act.

According to a report from the UN University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, global data centre electricity use is projected to reach 945 terawatt-hours by 2030, roughly equivalent to Japan’s total consumption, up from 448 TWh in 2025. Their water consumption is expected to hit 9.3 trillion litres over the same period, while carbon dioxide emissions will climb to 399 million tonnes.

The report stated that AI accounted for a fifth of data centre power usage last year, but its share is forecast to rise to 40 per cent by the end of the decade. The land occupied by such facilities is also set to more than double, from 6,900 square kilometres in 2025 to over 14,500 square kilometres.

Kaveh Madani, the institute’s director and lead author of the report, argued that the public debate often treats AI as software, overlooking its material demands. “AI is also physical infrastructure: data centres, electricity generation, cooling systems, transmission networks, chips, minerals, land and water,” he said.

Madani cautioned that the race to deploy AI was overriding principles of sustainable growth. “Right now, the competition for growing faster than others overshadows the very basic principles,” he added. He stressed that while AI will not exhaust resources globally, poorly planned expansion could collide with water and power shortages in specific regions, making responsible planning critical before infrastructure becomes locked in.