Data centres and AI are among the fastest-growing exposures on bank balance sheets. How they are financed also affects the influence banks have over their clients. Data centres are typically financed against the asset itself, while AI services companies are more often financed at the parent-company level, giving banks less direct influence over how the business operates.

Join UNEP FI for the launch of the Data Centres and AI Services Sector Brief — the first UNEP FI publication on the sector and the first output of the PRB Workstream on Data Centres and AI. The brief looks at the sector’s key sustainability risks, impacts and opportunities, including energy and water use, human rights, jobs and access to AI. It also considers how banks can assess these issues across different financing structures.