Asset Owners Double AI Environmental Risk View in Year

Concern about artificial intelligence’s environmental effects is rising among both investors and the public. A Morningstar survey found that 25% of asset owners now view AI’s environmental impact as a risk, up from 12% a year earlier, while six in 10 worry that data-center and power demand could raise energy costs and inflation. An AP-NORC and University of Chicago poll found that 53% of Americans are extremely or very concerned about AI’s environmental impact, up from 41% in 2025, and 47% believe AI will do more harm than good to the environment. Respondents expressed particular concern about data centers’ effects on electricity prices, water supplies and power outages, although many also see benefits for technological advancement and jobs and support requiring facilities to pay for grid upgrades and use clean energy. The expansion of data centers is also drawing scrutiny over pollution from gas-fired power plants, while researchers are exploring generative AI as a potentially lower-computing method for producing more detailed air-pollution forecasts.