That we lead a life of contradictions has become evident today in the round table on sustainability and business held on this second day of the annual meeting of the Cercle d’Economia in Barcelona. We question air transport due to its high environmental impact but we incessantly resort to digital information and, for some time now, to AI tools that consume a large amount of energy, explained the moderator of the debate, Carmina Ganyet, member of the Cercle Board of Directors.
The CEO of Cellnex, Marco Patuano, has picked up the gauntlet and recalled that, indeed, data centers that move instruments such as the already popular ChatGPT have a large ecological footprint. Specifically, just training an AI model can emit as much CO? as five cars throughout their useful life (approximately 284 tons of CO?), according to ChatGPT itself when asked about it.
Be that as it may, companies, whether technological or transportation, are assuming more and more social and legislative pressure to reduce their emissions. “We have to use more green energy but also reduce energy consumption,” Patuano stressed. This applies both to computing and to other activities. And here technological evolution must play in our favor, commented the Cellnex manager.
Carolina Martinoli, CEO of Vueling, recalled the roadmap of the IAG group, to which the low cost company based in El Prat belongs, to comply with the environmental standards prepared by the European Commission. Brussels has set planes to fly on a minimum of 6% sustainable fuel (SAF) by 2023. “IAG has committed to reaching 10% SAF by then,” Martinoli said.
But this transition comes at a cost. As an example, Vueling management has cited that the price of SAF is three times higher than that of fossil fuel today. “It is possible to decarbonize aviation but it is not easy, nor fast, nor cheap, and we cannot do it alone,” they concluded. Here he has once again demanded a public-private investment plan to produce SAF in Spain.
Therefore, both ChatGPT and flying on an airplane pollute. But for now AI has been saved from scrutiny and regulation.
