B[Wang Xin, Director of the Research Bureau of the People's Bank of China: The water consumption caused by the development of artificial intelligence deserves great attention] On September 15th, at the 2026 Annual Meeting of the Green Finance International Institute of the Central University of Finance and Economics with the theme of "Digital Intelligence Empowering Green Financial Innovation", Wang Xin, Director of the Research Bureau of the People's Bank of China, said, "Artificial intelligence plays an important role in the application of sustainable financial standards, information disclosure, risk monitoring and assessment and energy It has been increasingly widely used in capacity building and other aspects, playing an important role in improving the efficiency and accuracy of financial support for green and low-carbon development. At the same time, the rapid development of artificial intelligence has brought about continued growth in the demand for computing power, which is also accompanied by significant energy and water consumption. In particular, the large-scale water use of computing power centers and its potential impact on the water resources carrying capacity of local areas deserve great attention. "
Wang Xin suggested that in response to water resources issues in the development of artificial intelligence and computing power, corresponding measures can be taken from the aspects of computing power development itself, green finance, and sustainable finance: First, strengthen water resource measurement monitoring, data verification, and information disclosure; second, promote water-saving technology and improve the resource efficiency evaluation mechanism of green data centers; third, better play the role of water prices in resource allocation; fourth, give full play to the role of green finance to support the coordinated development of artificial intelligence and water resources. In terms of financial products, green asset securitization, infrastructure REITs and other related financial instruments can be explored to better support the construction of green and efficient computing infrastructure.
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