arXiv AI

A Checklist to assess the energy and carbon impacts of ML/AI applications in Earth System Modeling

arXiv AI
Oct 2

Beyond State-of-the-Art: Standardising Environmental Impact Metrics for AI Research

The paper highlights that as Large Language Models grow in capability and prevalence, their environmental footprint is increasing, yet the machine learning community lacks standardized carbon accounting practices. An automated review of 5,285 NeurIPS 2025 papers shows almost no reporting of environmental impact. To address this, the authors propose standardized sustainability metrics for training efficiency, heuristics for estimating inference carbon costs, a software tool called carbonbenchmark for tracking emissions, and the SMAJ framework to encourage prioritizing computational efficiency and environmental accountability over marginal accuracy gains.

By Lachlan McGinness, Dan Pagendam, Robert Offner
arXiv Machine Learning
Sep 18

The Environmental Impacts of Language Model Training Keep Rising Now is the Time to Catch Impacts on the Rebound

The paper analyzes the environmental footprint of machine learning model training, focusing on large language models and their hardware. It finds that energy use and environmental impacts have risen exponentially over the past decade, even when employing carbon‑efficient electricity and more efficient hardware. The study argues that optimization strategies alone cannot curb these impacts due to a rebound effect, and stresses the need to evaluate hardware life‑cycle impacts and integrate environmental metrics into NLP research practices.

By Cl\'ement Morand (STL), Anne-Laure Ligozat (ENSIIE, LISN, STL), Aur\'elie N\'ev\'eol (STL, LISN)
arXiv AI
Jun 10

Accounting for AI Inference in Corporate GHG Inventories: A Four-Tier Methodology for Scope 3 Category 1 Reporting

arXiv:2606. 10660v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: AI inference services -- API subscriptions, enterprise chat tools, and SaaS products with embedded AI features -- fall unambiguously within Scope 3 Category 1 under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which requires disclosure for fiscal years starting January 2024.

By Guillermo Llopis (SOMA AI, Barcelona)
arXiv AI
Jul 3

The Rising Unsustainability of AI Graphics Cards Production

arXiv:2607. 01258v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: The rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been accompanied by significant increases in computational and environmental costs, driven by large-scale investments in AI infrastructure, hardware, and software.

By Cl\'ement Morand, Aur\'elie N\'ev\'eol, Anne-Laure Ligozat
arXiv AI
Jun 11

The Environmental Cost of LLMs in AIED: Reporting and Practices

arXiv:2606. 11215v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Large Language Model (LLM) usage in recent years has become increasingly widespread in the Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED) community.

By Sabrina C. Eimler, Lukas Erle, Daniel Flood, Aditi Haiman, Luca H\"ackert, Andr\'e Helgert, Lachlan McGinness, B\"usra Yapici