Topic: 2025 – Artificial Intelligence and Resource Consumption
Country: Greece
Delegate Name: Avi Messamore
Committee: United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)
Topic: Artificial Intelligence and Resource Consumption
Country: Greece
School: Mattawan High School
AI has boundless potential when it comes to improving society as a whole. AI is being used to develop more efficient practices in health care, transportation, education, and more. Although AI was being developed and improved upon since the 1900s, it took until 1990 for AI to live up to its title of “intelligence”. Alongside the positive developments of AI are the negative effects. Data centres require massive amounts of resources to function. The amount of water used to cool data centres is comparable to that required to run entire countries. And depending on the country, more than a nation’s entire water supply (globally, 6 times that of Denmark). And to use just one search through generative AI uses 10 times the amount of energy as a Google search. AI is a wonderful tool, but steps must be taken to make sure the cost is not more than the benefits.
Greece is eager to take advantage of AI’s potential; we have already begun implementing AI to minimise tax fraud, improve transportation efficiency, and improve education and research. Data centres are predicted to create around 20,000 new jobs for Greece’s citizens by 2030. AI is anticipated to be a turning point in Greece’s economy, with an expected contribution of up to 25% of Greece’s GDP. Alongside the societal impact, Greece has been using AI to help the environment. Greece has developed AI to work in wildfire detection, monitor water scarcity, boost energy efficiency, and decrease CO2 emissions. Greece has faced many environmental concerns and believes that AI is a powerful tool that can be used to mitigate these dangers. When implementing AI and constructing data centres, Greece stresses the importance of transparency and ethics. AI should create more positives than negatives, so it’s important to ensure that citizens are safe and that the economy and environment are not being hindered. Greece is also concerned about the amount of water required to maintain these data centres, as the country is already dealing with intense water scarcity. Another concern with the data centres is the amount of carbon emissions created from using fossil fuels to run them; luckily, Greece is already moving towards renewable energy sources to combat these emissions, but the concern remains. Greece plans to generate 61% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030. Greece is also a part of the EU, and through the Energy Efficiency Directive, AI databases are required to report their carbon emissions twice a year, partially increasing transparency. Greece’s overall environmental and societal intentions are to have AI’s benefits outweigh its costs.
The delegation of Greece will not support a resolution banning AI altogether or placing restrictions on its use. Instead, we should directly look at solutions to resource consumption. The delegation of Greece recommends further research to decrease the negative environmental impacts of data centres. It’s imperative to find ways to decrease their extensive energy, water, and fossil fuel reliance. We should also consider constructing (and researching) alternative cooling systems to water. If nations have not already started to move towards renewable sources for running data centres, they should take steps to do so. It is also practical for countries to improve the transparency of their data centres and to remain ethical as AI continues to gain relevance. Greece is eager to work alongside fellow delegates to build a more environmentally sound world regarding AI.
References:
https://www.mtu.edu/computing/ai/#:~:text=What%20is%20AI-,What%20is%20Artificial%20intelligence%20(AI)?,you’ve%20interacted%20with%20AI.
https://cosmosphilly.com/greece-becomes-a-digital-gateway-inside-the-countrys-data-center-boom/#:~:text=The%20policy%20environment%20has%20made,hurdles%2C%20the%20outlook%20stays%20positive.
https://www.euronews.com/next/2025/09/22/how-greece-is-using-big-data-drones-and-ai-to-overhaul-its-tax-and-finance-sector
https://www.trade.gov/market-intelligence/greece-information-technology-national-ai-strategy
https://greekreporter.com/2025/09/19/greece-ai-public-services-efficiency-transparency/
https://babl.ai/greece-unveils-ambitious-blueprint-to-lead-ai-transformation/
https://greekreporter.com/2025/09/09/greece-tackles-water-scarcity-ai-powered-waterwise-project/
https://iclei-europe.org/news?AI_and_technology_lead_climate_action_in_Greece_&newsID=6f1pkP0d#:~:text=Greece%20has%20been%20grappling%20with%20climate%20change,problems%20like%20rising%20CO2%20emissions%20and%20pollution
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2199853125001131
https://www.euronews.com/next/2025/02/10/data-centres-could-strain-europes-power-supply-by-2030-report-warns
