Your AI Footprint is Real, But Smaller Than You Think

Generative AI is everywhere - summarising reports, parsing bond frameworks, unpacking sustainability disclosures. But as its use grows, so does a fair question: 

Are we inflating our footprint by using these tools?

The short answer: yes.

The longer answer: not by much - and it may not be the smartest place to focus our climate efforts.

As AI gets cleaner and more efficient, the real risk may be in falling behind in a rapidly evolving field. Here’s what you need to know.

• Per-prompt reality: A single AI prompt consumes about 0.24 Wh of energy, emits 0.03 gCO₂e, and uses roughly 1.3 mL of water. That's equivalent to 9 seconds of TV power and 25 drops of water.
• The true cost per page: One page is about 20 AI prompts. That's 4.8 Wh energy, 0.60 gCO₂e, and 27 mL of water. And with annual reports averaging 160 pages, the costs start adding up.
• 20 kg CO₂e annually: A heavy AI user in a professional context who's regularly processing company assessments, bond reports and quarterly reports generates up to 20 kg CO₂e each year.

Curious about the hard numbers and behind-the-scenes calculations? Dive into the data and explore the interactive charts that reveal the true impact of AI in sustainability work. If you have any questions, reach out to Aleksi - the brains behind the analysis (aleksi@climatealigned.co).

Oops! Looks like some of the links in last week’s newsletter didn’t work. Last week we published two guides to help you make the most of reporting season and understand what our bond product can do:

How to Do Reporting Season: A Practical Guide for Labelled Bond Funds (Sep 29) A practical framework for developing robust labelled bond fund and portfolio reports that satisfy stakeholder expectations while telling a compelling story about the impact of your investments.

Bond Product Overview: Coverage, Features, and How It Works (Sep 26) Our comprehensive dataset now covers 32,384 bonds and $6.3 trillion in issuance since 2006—valuable for both pre-issuance and post-issuance analysis.

2025 C-suite Sustainability Report (Deloitte) - Annual report indicates sustainability remains a top three priority for C-suite execs, alongside tech adoption and AI.

The Net-Zero Banking Alliance shuts down - The former membership organisation morphs into a guidance framework reflecting evolving climate governance in the industry.

ESG might be more resilient than critics expect (FT, paywalled) - Despite recent pullbacks, there's still a growing appetite for ESG data and adoption of standards.

Thanks for reading!

– Natasha Salmi

Explore our products:

app.climatealigned.co - Access our labelled bond data service with insights on 30,000+ bonds. Check out a free sample!

brief.green - Run AI-powered ESG assessments on-demand. Try it for free!

Want to learn more about what we do? Visit climatealigned.co