Expert Voices - What is the environmental cost of AI?

2025-05-13

Welcome to Digestible Academia, the podcast where we break down complex academic research into something more digestible. In this episode, we dive into an important and increasingly relevant topic – the environmental cost of AI. We're joined by Dr. Albert Plugge, Professor of ESG Transformation & Digital Innovation at Nyenrode Business University, where he leads the lecture series on Digital Business Ecosystems. Describing himself as a 'hybrid' in the field, Dr. Plugge blends academic r...

Welcome to Digestible Academia, the podcast where we break down complex academic research into something more digestible.

In this episode, we dive into an important and increasingly relevant topic – the environmental cost of AI.

We're joined by Dr. Albert Plugge, Professor of ESG Transformation & Digital Innovation at Nyenrode Business University, where he leads the lecture series on Digital Business Ecosystems. Describing himself as a 'hybrid' in the field, Dr. Plugge blends academic research with hands-on consulting expertise. In his role at KPMG, he supports companies in operationalising digital strategies, helping them respond to fast-changing markets.

We ask Dr Plugge how companies should be using AI with sustainability in mind, are some AI services more environmentally friendly than others, and what is the actual cost of saying please and thank you to ChatGPT?

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