# A.5 Environmental impact

AI-related objective: The environmental footprint of developing and operating the AI system, including energy and resource use, is understood and managed. Used when establishing risk criteria (6.3.4), identifying consequences (6.4.2.6) and evaluating risk (6.4.4). The artefact behind the answer is assessment of the AI system's energy and resource use. Read environmental impact against the objective the use threatens most.

- Framework: ISO/IEC 23894:2023
- Cited to: ISO/IEC 23894:2023, clause A.5
- Source: https://www.iso.org/standard/77304.html
- Last updated: 2026-10-20

## What it asks

AI-related objective: The environmental footprint of developing and operating the AI system, including energy and resource use, is understood and managed. Used when establishing risk criteria (6.3.4), identifying consequences (6.4.2.6) and evaluating risk (6.4.4).

## Where generative AI changes the answer

The environmental cost of generative inference is a real objective in the risk set, and it is the one most often left out of an AI risk register.

## Who it binds

The AI risk owner, with the objective owner named in the risk treatment plan.

## Evidence an auditor samples

- Assessment of the AI system's energy and resource use

## The test you can run

Ask which objective the use threatens most and what measure shows it. A blank answer is the finding.

## Common failures

- Compute cost tracked in money and never in environmental terms

## Before the draft publishes

Pick the two objectives the use most affects, write the test you would apply, and record the result before the draft is published.

## What this page does not say

It does not state the text of ISO/IEC DTS 25568, because ISO has not published the draft's clause text. It does not certify anything.

Not legal advice; does not certify.