White paper shows how AI can help solve the environmental challenges it creates
Resource efficiency should be designed into systems from the start
Sustainable AI requires lifecycle thinking and circular-economy principles
TOKYO and LONDON – October 28, 2025 – A new white paper from NTT DATA, a global leader in AI, digital business and technology services, highlights the urgent need to embed sustainability into every layer of AI development and deployment to counteract the technology’s environmental impact. Deploying innovative solutions for sustainable AI is a corporate responsibility and a strategic opportunity to create lasting value, build organizational strength and consume fewer essential resources.
The new paper, Sustainable AI for a Greener Tomorrow, illustrates the growing environmental impact of AI and outlines a path to sustainable innovation. The technology requires enormous volumes of electricity to support surging computational demands to train large language models, run inference pipelines and maintain always-on services. Researchers predict AI workloads will drive more than 50% of data center power consumption by 2028. Other primary environmental impacts include water consumption for data center cooling systems, e-waste and rare earth mineral extraction for hardware production.
“The resource consequences of AI’s rapid growth and adoption are daunting, but the technology also can empower innovative solutions to the environmental problems it creates,” said David Costa, Head of Sustainability Innovation Headquarters, NTT DATA. “AI’s amazing capabilities can help manage energy grids more efficiently, reduce overall emissions, model environmental risks and improve water conservation. It’s vital for organizations to recognize the challenge and build sustainability into AI systems from the start.”
Key Insights
Expand From Performance to Green Priorities: NTT DATA’s AI experts and sustainability consultants urge the use of holistic sustainability goals, not just conventional AI performance metrics such as accuracy and speed. Efficiency must be prioritized, not as a trade-off, but as a core design principle.
Quantify Environmental Impact: AI’s energy consumption, carbon emissions and water footprint need standard and verifiable metrics. Industry benchmarks such as the “AI Energy Score” and “Software Carbon Intensity (SCI) for AI” offer ways to embed sustainability into governance, procurement and compliance protocols.
Lifecycle-Centric Approach: Sustainable AI requires lifecycle thinking, from raw material extraction and hardware production to system deployment and ultimate disposal. Important steps include lengthening hardware lifespans, optimizing cooling systems and applying circular-economy principles.
Shared Accountability Across the Ecosystem: Responsibility is widely distributed, encompassing hardware manufacturers, data center operators, software developers, cloud providers, policymakers, investors and consumers. Cross-sector cooperation is essential for systemic change.
Barriers and Best Practices
Today, fragmented assessments and inconsistent metrics frequently prevent meaningful benchmarking. Many organizations focus narrowly on energy or emissions without considering water usage, rare material depletion and e-waste. These and other factors must be addressed comprehensively. Even when environmental goals are set, organizations often lack actionable methods to apply sustainability at every stage of the AI lifecycle.
To address these and other concerns, the report outlines numerous best practices, including:
Applying green software engineering patterns to reduce resource consumption
Running AI workloads in locations and at times that align with renewable energy availability
Leveraging remote GPU Services and on-premises AI
Reducing e-waste by prioritizing modular and upgradable components, and extending hardware lifespans through refurbishment, reuse and responsible recycling
While the road to sustainable AI is complex, an intentional, end-to-end redesign of the AI lifecycle can help fulfill this technology’s positive potential while protecting the environmental systems on which all living things depend.
To help accelerate the transition towards a sustainable future, please visit our website to download the whitepaper and learn more about NTT DATA’s sustainability services.
About NTT DATA
NTT DATA is a $30+ billion business and technology services leader, serving 75% of the Fortune Global 100. We are committed to accelerating client success and positively impacting society through responsible innovation. We are one of the world’s leading AI and digital infrastructure providers, with unmatched capabilities in enterprise-scale AI, cloud, security, connectivity, data centers and application services. Our consulting and industry solutions help organizations and society move confidently and sustainably into the digital future. As a Global Top Employer, we have experts in more than 70 countries. We also offer clients access to a robust ecosystem of innovation centers as well as established and start-up partners. NTT DATA is part of NTT Group, which invests over $3 billion each year in R&D. Visit us at nttdata.com
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HSBC profits fall 14% amid hit from Hong Kong property downturn and Madoff provision
Kalyeena Makortoff
Here’s more on HSBC.
HSBC has reported a 14% drop in third quarter profits to $7.3bn (£5.5bn), as it took a dual hit from both a real estate downturn in Hong Kong, and a lawsuit over the Bernard Madoff ponzi scheme.
It came as the London-based bank reported a 24% jump in operating costs to $10.1bn, which included restructuring costs – severance for bankers let go as part of the process – linked to a major shake-up under chief executive Georges Elhedery announced last year.
But those operating costs also reflected a $1.1bn provision to cover a lawsuit by investors who lost money in the Madoff ponzi scheme. It comes after a Luxembourg court turned down HSBC’s appeal.
Madoff admitted in 2009 to defrauding thousands of investors, losing them $65bn (£48.8bn). He died in prison in 2021. HSBC has been battling a 2009 lawsuit against its Luxembourg arm, with investors trying to recoup losses from the fraud. HSBC said it plans to file a further appeal with the Luxembourg Court of Appeal and, if that fails, it will dispute the final amount in later proceedings.
HSBC also put aside another $1bn to deal with the ripple effects of China and Hong Kong’s real estate downturn, which has hit the banking sector, with a rise in bad debts linked to the crash in property prices.
Chief executive Georges Elhedery said:
We are becoming a simple, more agile, focused bank, built on our core strengths. The intent with which we are executing our strategy is reflected in our performance this quarter, despite taking legal provisions related to historical matters.
He added:
We remain fully focused on helping our customers navigate new economic realities, putting their changing needs at the heart of everything we do.
Introduction: UK reportedly faces more than £20bn hit from steeper productivity downgrade, fuelling tax rise speculation
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.
The chancellor faces a bigger-than-expected hit to the public finances of around £20bn, because of poor productivity in the UK economy.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the government’s official forecaster, is expected to cut its trend productivity growth prediction by 0.3 percentage points, the Financial Times reported. It is expected to deliver its forecasts to Rachel Reeves on Friday, and they will be published on budget day on 26 November.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies think-tank has said that each 0.1 percentage point downgrade to productivity would increase public sector net borrowing by £7bn in 2029-30, so a 0.3 point reduction could create a £21bn hit.
Analysts have been expecting a smaller downgrade to productivity that would result in a £7bn to £14bn fiscal hit under the IFS calculation.
This would result in a total fiscal hole of £20bn to £30bn according to analysts’ estimates. A larger-than-expected productivity downgrade would increase the size of that hole, but the final number could be offset by other factors.
A bigger hit from worse productivity would make Rachel Reeves’ job much harder. She hinted at the downgrade on Monday, saying productivity was “poor” and blamed the financial crisis and Brexit. Speaking to business leaders in Saudi Arabia, she said:
Our independent forecaster is likely to downgrade the forecast for productivity in the UK, based not on anything this government has done but on our past productivity numbers, which, to be honest, since the financial crisis and Brexit, have been very poor.
Poor productivity has long been a problem for the UK economy, to be fair.
The mooted downgrade will increase expectations that the chancellor will be forced to breach Labour’s election manifesto pledge on tax, with speculation around an income tax hike in the budget.
Meanwhile, HSBC has reported a 14% drop in third quarter profits, as it took a dual hit from a real estate downturn in Hong Kong, and a lawsuit over the Bernard Madoff ponzi scheme.
Pre-tax profits at the London-headquartered bank fell to $7.3bn in the three months to September 30, down from $8.5bn during the same period last year (more later).
