The good, the bad and the upheaval of AI
In this issue:
Is Deepseek an energy gamechanger?
We’ve heard a lot about Deepseek over the last week or so, not least because of its impact on the share prices of major US companies linked with AI. NVIDIA alone took a valuation hit of US$600billion (NZ$1,062bn). But it wasn’t just software companies that suffered. Because of its claimed improvements in processing efficiency and reduced energy consumption, energy companies took huge hits as well with falls of 20-30% seen across the sector. Can Deepsake really slash energy consumption and emissions that much?
Is AI greenwashing?
Deepseek’s main competitors were also under scrutiny recently. Global Witness is accusing the current main AI players of greenwashing by providing overly positive narratives about oil and gas companies and downplaying their contributions to climate change. The group tested four chatbots: ChatGPT, MetaAI, Grok and Gemini, by asking them questions about climate change, the oil and gas sector and the COP summit. According to Global Witness, the responses leant towards highlighting the fossil fuel sector’s efforts to be more sustainable and underplayed their historic contribution to climate change.
Ocean surface is boiling
Perhaps not literally but a team from the University of Reading has found ocean surface temperatures are warming 400% faster than during the 1980s. Back then, the underlying rate of warming was about 0.06C per year, which has now increased to 0.27C a year. Also, the increase is not linear but is continuing to accelerate.
Corporates to increase investment in sustainability
While President Trump is slashing expenditure on clean initiatives, it was at least pleasing to hear 62% of corporates are expected to be increasing their investment levels in 2025. That’s the conclusion of a study of 2,500 corporates by CapGemini. The average increase in investment is predicted to by 10.5% and only 23% of the companies now believe the cost of sustainability initiatives exceeds the benefits.
Nature outperforms tech
In a study of 12 nature-based and 10 tech-based interventions, a study commissioned by FAIRR (Farm Animal Investment Risk and Return Initiative) revealed the nature-based solutions consistently outperformed the tech-based solutions for tackling emissions. The tech solutions, such as feed additives, often came with negative trade-offs such as emissions and nature impacts. Large scale digesters, selective breeding and feeds, in particular, were associated with these negative trade-offs.
Millions at risk from extra heat
Extreme temperatures are predicted to cause around 2.3 million deaths in Europe by the end of the century if climate change is not brought under control, according to a study by scientists from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Currently, cold causes more death than heat in Europe but this is likely to flip with extreme heat becoming the dominant cause of temperature related deaths. Of course, Europe is relatively affluent and better able to cope than many other regions.