The AI Debate

AI is being sold as a sustainability solution. The infrastructure behind it tells a different, more complicated story. This session cuts through the hype to look at what data centres actually consume - energy, water, land, critical minerals - and what that means for organisations procuring, specifying, and operating AI-enabled buildings and services. It draws on international policy research and governance frameworks from Ireland, the Netherlands, Singapore, and the EU, and asks the questions our sector is not yet asking loudly enough.