National foreword

This Published Document is the UK implementation of CEN/CLC/TR 18145:2025.

The UK participation in its preparation was entrusted to Technical Committee ART/1, Artificial Intelligence.

A list of organizations represented on this committee can be obtained on request to its committee manager.

Contractual and legal considerations

This publication has been prepared in good faith, however no representation, warranty, assurance or undertaking (express or implied) is or will be made, and no responsibility or liability is or will be accepted by BSI in relation to the adequacy, accuracy, completeness or reasonableness of this publication. All and any such responsibility and liability is expressly disclaimed to the full extent permitted by the law.

This publication is provided as is, and is to be used at the recipient’s own risk.

The recipient is advised to consider seeking professional guidance with respect to its use of this publication.

This publication is not intended to constitute a contract. Users are responsible for its correct application.

This publication is not to be regarded as a British Standard.

Compliance with a Published Document cannot confer immunity from legal obligations.

This Published Document was published under the authority of the Standards Policy and Strategy Committee on 28 February 2025.

This Technical Report was approved by CEN on 10 February 2025. It has been drawn up by .

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European foreword

This document (CEN/CLC/TR 18145:2025) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/CLC/JTC 21 “Artificial Intelligence”, the secretariat of which is held by DS.

Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent rights. CEN shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

Any feedback and questions on this document should be directed to the users’ national standards body. A complete listing of these bodies can be found on the CEN website.

1 Scope

This document provides a description of the main environmental sustainability issues that organisations or individuals that are developing and/or using Artificial Intelligence (AI) consider, in particular, in the context of the European energy systems and resources.

It is important to have a focus where AI helps in optimization and virtual deployment of engineering solutions [1], especially in Europe with limited natural resources. This document reviews the European AI landscape, with a context of environmental sustainability. This is addressed with a focus on European-specific aspects of AI demands for resources, as well as its potential to contribute to environmental sustainability in Europe [2]. The document creates an inventory of impacts and techniques to support environmentally sustainable use of AI, and an equitable access to computation resources.

Suggested improvements in AI resource management are focused on:

reduction of the operational AI energy consumption (see section 5)
reduction of other AI resource consumption (water, etc.) (see section 6)

The document also considers the potential benefits of using AI from a sustainability perspective. Methods of measuring the environmental sustainability impacts of AI are also quantified.

This document is intended to help with the development of new standards and complement existing European standards and standardization deliverables that define resource measurement for the use of AI. It describes best practices and indicates which techniques and management processes for improvement of AI resource performance and environmental viability. The document is expected to contribute to voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Europe, and increase sustainability awareness for individuals when designing, developing, and using AI. The aim is to create a focus on the responsible use of AI that prioritizes ethical considerations, human values, and an understanding of the social implications of AI design and use.

The document is aligned with equivalent activities in ISO/IEC/JTC 1/SC42/WG4, TR 20226 “Green and Sustainable AI”, but takes into account specific aspects of the European energy system that are not applicable elsewhere. In particular, sustainable energy supply provided via the European interconnectors will be taken into account when assessing AI carbon footprint. Additionally AI solutions for the optimization of energy use will be reviewed and quantified to balance the energy use of AI applications and services which make extensive use of energy. This report also identifies and addresses the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals [3, 4]. Additionally, this document aligns with ISO/IEC DIS 21031 Information Technology – Software Carbon Intensity (SCI) [5], ISO/DIS 59004 Circular Economy – Terminology, Principles and Guidance for Implementation, and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG), Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard [6].

The upcoming EU AI Act in its current draft encourages voluntary assessment of companies for environmental sustainability.

2 Normative references

3 Terms, definitions and abbreviated terms

3.1 Terms and definitions

3.2 Abbreviated terms

4 Environmental impacts

4.1 General

4.2 A definition of the issue

4.3 European energy infrastructure

5 Energy resources and AI

5.1 General

5.2 Energy consumption by AI

5.3 AI energy efficiency methods

6 Non-energy resources and AI

6.1 General

6.2 AI Water use and pollution

6.3 Resources for hardware

6.4 Land use and soil pollution

6.5 Guidance on mitigation solutions

6.6 Policymaking for mitigation of AI environmental impact

7 Environmental benefits of using AI

7.1 General

7.2 Use cases of energy savings

7.3 Use cases that save other resources

8 Quantification of AI environmental sustainability

8.1 General

8.2 AI carbon footprint estimation

8.3 Comparative measures of efficiency

Bibliography

PD CEN/CLC/TR 18145:2025

Environmentally sustainable Artificial Intelligence

Current

Published:

28 Feb 2025