Riassunto analitico
Since the Paris Agreement, an increased number of countries have established net-zero emissions targets in order to pursue effective action against climate change. The EU, being the third largest greenhouses gas emitter worldwide, has also set the objective to become the first climate-neutral political region by mid-century with the implementation of the European Green Deal. The revolutionizing potential of the employment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to aid tackle climate change has made these new cutting-edge technologies as a key tool to accelerate climate action. Nonetheless, despite the growing applications of AI, there is a scarce empiric evidence of the effects of AI on the environment. To this purpose, the current work endeavors to contribute to the limited body of research, with a particular attention to the EU area. Using European data from 2012 to 2021, we investigate the environmental impact of the increased applications of AI. Our findings indicate that: i) AI significantly reduces carbon dioxide emissions in EU countries over the period; ii) the effects of AI on carbon emissions are robust to different specifications, particularly, countries with higher government AI preparedness show stronger carbon-inhibiting effects of AI as opposed to countries with lower infrastructure and technological advancement;
iii) AI significantly bolsters the development of the tertiary sector which can have an indirect positive effect on the environment as service-oriented economies are typically less carbon- intensive.
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