C-Suite Perspectives How AI Is Reshaping Corporate Sustainability
Feb 17, 2026
Andrew Jones, Principal Researcher at The Conference Board's Governance & Sustainability Center, studies AI governance and its environmental impacts. He explores AI’s dual lenses: managing AI’s own footprint and using AI to advance sustainability. The conversation covers data center energy and local impacts, hardware turnover and e-waste, and how AI can deliver measurable sustainability ROI.
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AI's Growing Energy Footprint
- AI training and inference at scale consume large and growing amounts of electricity and drive data center expansion.
- This rising demand risks higher greenhouse gas emissions if grids rely on fossil fuels.
Data Centers Create Local Water Stress
- Large AI data centers use substantial water for cooling and sometimes draw potable municipal water.
- Local water stress can make data center siting a significant community-level environmental issue.
Accelerated Hardware Turnover Drives E‑Waste
- AI data centers have accelerated hardware refresh cycles that generate rising volumes of e-waste.
- Few facilities currently recover advanced chips and memory at scale, creating a responsibility gap.