In Australia, the drive to lead in both artificial intelligence and sustainability has sparked a high-stakes conflict.
As the nation pushes to become a global AI powerhouse, striking a balance between cutting-edge innovation and green ambitions is proving to be a formidable challenge as Australia navigates the delicate intersection of technological advancement and ecological responsibility.
How Australian companies leverage technology for sustainability
Technology is central to much of Australia’s work in innovation and sustainability.
For example, a renewable energy company called Sunshine Hydro leverages a software solution, called AESOP, as its point of difference. AESOP is a complex application that allows Sunshine Hydro to blend together several renewable energy sources — solar, pumped hydro, and wind — with storage and then distribute it efficiently to the grid.
Another company, Enosi, has developed a way to trace carbon-free energy at a grid level. This Powertracer smart metering technology allows large enterprises and grids to source energy generated exclusively from renewable sources and therefore achieve a “true zero carbon” position on power.
Enosi is working with Google to help these companies develop better power-sourcing strategies and meet their ESG objectives — even as they rapidly boost their investment in AI.
Companies like Sunshine Hydro and Enosi highlight the role that Australia’s IT industry will have as part of the nation’s overall ambitions to become a renewable energy superpower. While the government is investing heavily in innovative manufacturing and looking to have Australia develop sovereign capabilities in solar panels, storage battery manufacturing, and other areas, IT will play a critical role in bringing this innovation to life and supporting its deployment and operation.
As an article in the AFR noted, when assessing the skills required to support renewable energy and sustainability in Australia: “Likely in-demand clean energy occupations include electricians, metal fitters and machinists, plant operators as well as technologists, developers and artificial intelligence (AI) experts.”
The Australian government has been investing in building AI technologists. In 2023, the government announced a major $5 billion collaboration with Microsoft to develop talent in the “AI era” within Australia and create high-value jobs required to manage innovative sustainability projects.
Meanwhile, an online platform backed by Mike Cannon-Brookes, co-founder of Atlassian, is aiming to help train and move more than 100,000 Australians into clean-energy roles by 2027. “Software and Technology” is one of the six key areas where the platform, Terra.do, provides upskilling and training courses.
What are the challenges of AI in sustainability?
While efforts have been made to tune technology towards sustainability and leverage AI in support of green outcomes, there are serious issues about the sustainability of AI.
The first issue is a political one: A deep political debate over whether to invest in nuclear rather than renewables just to meet current power demands has become a major debating point between the two major parties.
Additionally, the AI being built into sustainability applications is delivering a net sustainability gain, but Australia’s widespread enthusiasm for embracing AI as a concept is likely to cause significant setbacks to the nation’s sustainability goals.
Firstly, AI is a well-known power drain. A single search on ChatGPT consumes as much power as 10 Google searches. As the Washington Post noted, one data centre that Meta uses for AI purposes “burns the annual equivalent amount of power as 7 million laptops running eight hours every day, based on data shared publicly by the company.”
AI is also a heavy consumer of water, which is used to cool the servers that run the applications. Globally, AI’s water usage will hit 6.6 billion m3 by 2027. Currently, a lot of the AI applications used in Australia are powered by overseas data centres. But as Australia invests more deeply in innovation and technology, the demand for local data centres to keep AI applications and their data within Australian borders will increase.
As a Forbes article noted, in discussing what company boards and leadership need to ask themselves when considering AI adoption: “Have you quantified the social risks in your AI investment business cases, and is your board involved in reviewing the stakeholder and brand reputation risks to your ESG goals?”
While Australia considers taking a leadership position in both sustainability and AI, the nation must still navigate the inherent conflict between the two. Even if Australia can power AI applications through traced renewable energy sources, there are other environmental impacts of AI that seem to be overlooked.