Short-term
2026–2028 — Impacts already visible or imminent
Environment & Sustainability: Shortterm (20262028) Current State The environmental footprint of artificial intelligence has become one of the defining tensions of the mid2020s. AI systems demand enormous quantities of electricity, water, and rare materials and this demand is growing at...
Medium-term
2028–2033 — Transformations underway, accelerating
Environment & Sustainability: Mediumterm (20282033) Current State By 2028, the environmental contradictions of the AI era will have sharpened into a defining political and economic tension. The data center buildout that began in 20232025 will be fully operational, making AI infrastructure...
Long-term
2033–2046 — Projected scenarios, structural shifts
Environment & Sustainability: Longterm (20332046) Current State By the mid2030s, the relationship between artificial intelligence and the environment enters a fundamentally different phase. The first decade of the AI explosion (20232033) was characterized by a race between exponentially ...