AI and carbon measurement

• Efficiency is now measured per business transaction, not per endpoint
• Smaller AI models are not always more efficient once retries count
• Token billing could raise LLM costs tenfold
• Footprint tools arrive: AI Impact Calculator, SOMA and the Tret harness
• Sustainability is being built into AI, not added afterwards
• Credible AI carbon figures start with quality data and governance
• Buyers demand product level carbon disclosure for AI

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Data center infrastructure

• PUE is giving way to WUE, TUE and watts per token
• Viridien immersion retrofit delivers 4x compute on less power
• Cutting PUE from 1.54 to 1.09 at 1 GW saves about 3,940 GWh yearly
• Microsoft's biomimicry pilot expands to over 20 datacenter sites
• IBM Diamondback tape cuts storage costs up to 84% and energy 97%
• Power sourcing now drives data center siting
• No data centre model is universally sustainable

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Policy, regulation and corporate accountability

• The European Commission adopted A to G data centre ratings
• Scotland mandates impact assessments for data centres above 50MW
• AWS's Senate submission omits absolute Australian energy and water use
• A Green AI Label moves into concrete roadmaps
• Climate Week panels found high enthusiasm but low trust
• Deloitte's 2026 survey shows sustainability shifting to execution

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Events and community

• Climate Week NYC centered on AI energy transparency
• Green IO London asked whether offshore wind can power AI
• Greener ICT standards advance through Nairobi and Finnish forums
• AI data centre bottlenecks extend beyond renewable energy access
• Events link sustainability to chip manufacturing and engineering
• Upcoming: G-AI-A Milan on 8 October, EXPO REAL Munich 5 to 7 October

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Thanks to Pavel Khamiakou, Anita Schüttler, Maike Conrads, Nina Benoit, Alyson Freeman, Lilibeth Bustos Linares, Fernanda A., ST. Shailesh Tyagi, Navveen Balani, Sigrid Braun, Miguel Fernandez, Micha Schildmann, Richard Tarboton, Nick McDonald, Šimon Rákosník, Kevin Leslie, Esmeralda Colombo, Robbie Epsom and Aydin Mir Mohammadi, and everyone else who contributed insights to this edition. Find the full list of posts and voices on LinkedIn: