Negotiators from over 190 countries are meeting in Antalya, Turkey, for the COP31 climate summit. Ahead of the event, Turkey introduced the Antalya Artificial Intelligence Pledge, which is scheduled for an official launch on November 16.
The pledge encourages the use of clean energy for data centers and calls for international standards for responsible AI development. It also proposes reporting requirements to increase transparency regarding the environmental impact of data centers and addresses the management of electronic waste generated by the AI sector.
The document explicitly states that all objectives are voluntary and non-prescriptive, imposing no new obligations on participating nations. Implementation is left to the discretion of individual countries based on their specific national circumstances.
The United States, which hosts the largest number of data centers globally, is not represented by official delegates at the summit. Additionally, research published in a Nature journal in August indicates that current AI development contributes more to carbon emissions through fossil fuel production than it offsets through renewable energy gains.
