The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs released “Crosscurrents: Navigating the AI–Water–Energy Nexus” on 7 October. Prepared by the UAE Permanent Mission to the United Nations with analysis from Eurasia Group, the report argues that AI’s resource needs cannot be reduced to data-centre cooling. It treats semiconductor fabrication, electricity generation, facility cooling and pressure on local water basins as connected stages. The report recommends planning water and energy alongside digital infrastructure, with permitting decisions reflecting local basin conditions and community input.

The report cites a 2026 study that estimates global data-centre electricity use at 448 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2025, with a water footprint of 4.5 trillion litres. AI-focused facilities account for an estimated 93 TWh and 0.9 trillion litres. For 2030, the study projects total data-centre electricity use of 945 TWh and water use of 9.32 trillion litres; the AI portion is projected at 378 TWh and 3.7 trillion litres. These are model estimates and projections as reported in the document, not measured consumption or figures for UAE facilities alone. The report also stresses that substantial water use occurs upstream, including at power plants and chip factories, rather than at data centres themselves.

That broader boundary helps explain why technology firms, power and water utilities, and city planners need to coordinate. For example, cooling systems that use little water can require more electricity, while the way electricity is generated changes its indirect water footprint. The report does not present one cooling technology as a universal answer. Choices need to reflect temperature, local water scarcity, the power mix, equipment efficiency and how heat is rejected. Efficiency gains also do not guarantee lower total resource use: demand for cheaper computing capacity can partly offset savings.

The report’s five recommendations include shared international principles for responsible water use, integrated national and basin-level water-energy planning, comparable disclosure, investment in water-efficient technology and incentives for private firms. The 8–10 December 2026 UN Water Conference, co-hosted by the UAE and Senegal, is presented as an upcoming forum for discussion; the announcement does not say the conference has adopted the recommendations. More useful company indicators would include water withdrawn and consumed at each facility, source and basin stress, indirect water impacts from electricity, and disclosure across chip supply chains. The report does not show that such data are already published using a common scope and method, leaving comparable performance measurement as a policy and data gap.