AI, Energy, and Water: What Cities Need to Know
This four-part commentary series was originally published in partnership with The Energy Mix, a national media outlet covering climate, energy, and sustainability.
This series examines how emerging technologies intersect with climate action, infrastructure planning, and equity at the local level. As cities across Canada experiment with AI-enabled tools—from service delivery to climate modelling—there is a growing need to connect digital innovation with its real-world energy, water, and fiscal impacts.
Through our AI & Cities dialogues, UCL convenes local governments, utilities, researchers, labour, and civil society to move beyond optimism or alarmism and toward grounded, actionable governance. This series reflects the same commitment: making invisible costs visible and centring municipal decision-making in national conversations about AI.
Part 1: What Does AI Cost Us Environmentally? Cities Could Demand Answers
Published: October 8, 2025
The opening piece grounds the series by examining the environmental costs of AI, focusing on electricity demand and water use. As data centres scale to support AI applications, cities are often left without clear information about how much energy and water these facilities consume—or how those demands align with local climate and infrastructure plans.
The commentary argues that municipalities and utilities can and should ask tougher questions. Transparency requirements, stronger reporting standards, and clearer accountability mechanisms are essential if cities are to make informed decisions about hosting and enabling AI‑driven infrastructure.
Read the article here.
Part 2: AI Won’t Rescue City Budgets On Its Own
Published: November 03, 2025
This installment challenges the growing narrative that AI will automatically deliver cost savings for municipal governments. While AI tools may improve efficiency in certain areas, they also introduce new expenses—both direct and indirect—that are rarely accounted for in budget planning.
The piece highlights the risk of overstating AI’s fiscal benefits while underestimating the costs of infrastructure, energy, workforce, and governance. Without deliberate policy frameworks, cities may find themselves absorbing new financial pressures rather than realizing net savings.
Read the article here.
Part 3: At COP30, AI Optimism Meets Lingering Energy and Water Questions
Published: November 15, 2025
Written in the context of COP30, this commentary situates AI within global climate discussions. While international forums increasingly celebrate AI as a climate solution, far less attention is paid to the resource demands that accompany large‑scale deployment.
The article underscores a growing disconnect: enthusiasm for AI‑enabled climate tools is outpacing serious conversations about grid capacity, water scarcity, and cumulative environmental impacts. For cities already grappling with extreme heat, drought, and aging infrastructure, these omissions carry real risks.
Read the article here.
Part 4: Canada Can Still Keep Data Centre Costs Off Household Power Bills
Published: December 3, 2025
The final piece focuses on policy pathways available in Canada. It argues that rising data centre demand does not have to translate into higher household electricity bills—if governments act decisively.
Options explored include cost‑allocation mechanisms, rate-design reforms, and stronger coordination among utilities, regulators, and municipalities. The commentary emphasizes that proactive policy choices today can protect affordability while still enabling innovation.
Read the article here.
Why This Series Matters
For cities, AI is no longer a hypothetical future concern—it is a present‑day planning challenge. Decisions made now about data centres, energy systems, and digital infrastructure will shape emissions trajectories, water use, and public finances for decades.
This series contributes to UCL’s broader work on AI, cities, and equitable climate action by:
Making the hidden resource demands of AI visible
Grounding AI optimism in physical and fiscal realities
Highlighting the role of municipal leadership in shaping outcomes
UCL invites policymakers, utility leaders, researchers, and community advocates to engage with this series and consider how AI governance can align with climate resilience, affordability, and equity goals.
Read our AI, Cities, and Equitable Climate Action resources to explore key questions, risks, and policy considerations shaping this work.
