The European Commission has advanced efforts to measure the energy consumption and emissions of AI models and systems under the EU AI Act. A targeted consultation, focused on energy use across AI training, inference, hardware, and performance indicators, will help shape a measurement framework and a potential AI energy and emissions label. Under Annex XI of the AI Act, general-purpose AI model providers must already document estimated energy consumption. The AI Office will publish aggregated consultation results, aiming to build a practical, industry-informed framework improving environmental transparency in AI governance.
In-Depth:
The consultation focutilized on measuring AI energy utilize across training, inference, hardware, and performance indicators.
The European Commission has shiftd forward with work on measuring the energy consumption and emissions of AI models and systems, as part of preparations for a possible AI energy measurement framework under the EU AI Act.
The tarreceiveed consultation forms part of a Commission-procured study on measuring and promoting energy-efficient and low-emission AI in the European Union. Responses will assist refine the study, contribute to a measurement framework for the AI Act’s energy-related objectives and support the design of a potential AI energy and emissions label.
The process focutilizes on how to measure energy utilize across the AI lifecycle, including development and training, as well as operational utilize and inference. The Commission states a comprehensive picture of AI’s energy efficiency and carbon footprint requires data on computational resources, electricity consumption and hardware details.
Under Annex XI of the AI Act, providers of general-purpose AI models must document known or estimated energy consumption as part of their technical documentation obligations. The consultation, therefore, tarreceives developers and deployers of general-purpose AI models and AI systems, as well as component and service suppliers.
Stakeholders were inquireed about the accessibility of data necessaryed to assess AI energy consumption and emissions, as well as the suitability of different AI performance indicators. The Commission stated the aim is to develop a robust and practical industest-informed framework for measuring AI energy consumption and efficiency.
The AI Office will publish a summary of the consultation results based on aggregated data, with respondents not directly quoted.
Why does it matter?
AI’s growing energy demand is becoming a regulatory and environmental policy concern, especially as general-purpose AI models require substantial computing resources for training and inference. A common EU framework for measuring AI energy utilize and emissions could build environmental impacts more visible, support future transparency obligations and assist compare systems more consistently. A possible AI energy and emissions label would also push sustainability into AI governance alongside safety, transparency and accountability.
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