Context: Artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as one of the most consequential technologies of our time. Surging demand for digital services, including AI, is creating a wave of investment in data centres, raising concern about the challenge of meeting the energy needs of AI (Energy for AI). At the same time, applications of AI in the energy sector could offer numerous benefits, including enhancing efficiency, modernising and improving grid flexibility, accelerating the deployment of clean energy technologies, promoting decarbonisation, and boosting innovation (AI for Energy). The AI revolution is still at an early stage and how it will unfold remains uncertain. To ensure that AI helps to meet energy sector goals, and to manage the energy sector challenges arising from the rapid uptake of AI, there is an urgent need for deeper and more structured dialogue between all relevant stakeholders, including policy makers, the energy industry, the tech sector, financial institutions, and academia and civil society.
Event: The International Energy Agency (IEA) convened the Global Conference on Energy & AI on 4 and 5 December 2024 in Paris, France. The Conference represented a first-of-its-kind event bringing together high-level representatives from government, the energy industry, the tech sector, financial institutions, and civil society and academia. The Conference was structured around the two interlinked themes of Energy for AI and AI for Energy.
Background to the IEA's work: In 2017, the International Energy Agency published a Special Report on Digitalisation and Energy. Since then, the IEA has expanded its analytical and modelling capacities, data collection, and policy recommendations in this field. In 2024, the IEA Secretariat developed a dedicated workstream on Energy for AI and AI for Energy, which will include a special report on energy and AI in the first half of 2025.
