AI is no longer an experiment in adland – it’s a nine-figure strategic arms race. Publicis Groupe is investing an additional €300 million through 2027 into proprietary platforms, with other holding groups committing comparable sums. These investments depend on rare minerals, water and energy-intensive data centres.

As AI embeds itself in everyday practice, its environmental costs remain dangerously overlooked by the industry – invisible to creative teams, yet physical, local and unequally distributed.

The first thing to consider is who is paying for our ‘efficiency’. Climate change disproportionately affects those least responsible for it. Small island states like Tuvalu didn’t cause global warming, yet face existential loss from rising seas.

AI follows a similar logic. Data centres – powering our prompts and renders – are often built in low-income communities and communities of colour, where land is cheaper and political resistance weaker. They strain local grids and reduce land available for housing and green space. This is at the heart of environmental justice.