DOI: 10.53136/979122182377610
Pages: 155-167
Publication date: December 2025
Publisher: Aracne
ABSTRACT The paper explores the intersection between artificial intelligence (AI), its relevant infrastructures and environmental sustainability for the AI deployment. While the debate around AI often emphasizes its virtual and intangible dimensions, the material infrastructure that supports it - the so called “datacentres”- entails significant environmental costs in terms of energy consumption and resource use. The paper aims at highlighting the legal relevance of environmental considerations in AI governance and to contribute to a broader understanding of how the environmental footprint of digital infrastructures challenges contemporary regulatory approaches.
KEYWORDS Artificial Intelligence - Environmental sustainability
TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction to the topic. – 2. The environmental issue of artificial intelligence in the A.I. Act. – 3.
The environmental issue of A.I. and its infrastructure in the national regulation. – 4. The datacentres environmental and
planning regulation in Italy. – 5. Conclusions.
