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LeadersGoldDiscovery

From data centres to climate goals: International standards for a more energy efficient AI

    • Date
    7 July 2026
    Timeframe
    09:00 - 11:00 CEST
    Duration
    2 hours
    • Days
      Hours
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    Every AI system runs on electricity. The servers that power large language models, the data centres that host cloud infrastructure, the grids that keep it all running — all of it consumes energy, and that consumption is growing fast. The International Energy Agency projects a dramatic increase in energy demand from data centres globally in the years ahead. For grids, for climate commitments, and for countries that want to participate in the AI economy, this is not a background issue. It is a central one.

    Yet in most conversations about AI — about its governance, its risks, its potential — the crucial energy question is often absent.

    This workshop puts it front and centre.

    IEC and ISO, together with senior representatives from the international energy community, development institutions, and industry, will demonstrate why adopting international standards is essential to the AI expansion, showing how they are the invisible infrastructure behind every AI system. They govern how electricity is generated, transmitted, and used. They underpin data centre efficiency, grid stability, and the interoperability of power systems across the world. Without them, AI at scale is neither sustainable nor universally accessible.

    The first part of the session brings together voices from across the energy and development landscape to set the strategic frame: how significant is AI’s projected energy footprint, what does it mean for climate goals, and where do standards fit in the response? The second part moves from strategy to substance, presenting concrete examples of how international standards address each layer of the challenge:  from cooling systems in data centres to grid integration of renewables to the specific barriers facing emerging economies that want to build AI infrastructure without locking in inefficiency.

    This is a session for energy ministers and officials, AI policymakers, development finance professionals, and grid operators: anyone who needs to understand the connection between AI ambition and energy reality, and how they can use international standards to make that connection work.

    The message is simple: standards are not a technical footnote. They are the condition of possibility for a better AI ecosystem. And we need to commit to using standards for a sustainable, affordable, and genuinely global AI future.

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