Greetings earthlings,

Emma here, co-founder of Spark AI. Let’s get straight into it. AI and environment—two words that make creative leaders quietly panic.

“Isn’t ChatGPT terrible for the planet?” We hear this question constantly in our workshops, inboxes and all over LinkedIn. Creative leaders care deeply about their impact, but when it comes to AI and the environment, there’s been a lot of headlines… but not a single place to get a grounded, practical answer—especially for those of us working in marketing, media, and creativity.

So we decided to fix that.

This week, you’re getting 🔥 exclusive first access 🔥 to something we’ve been quietly building: our new report The Environmental Impact of AI—what every creative and marketing leader needs to know.

It’s evidence-based, industry-specific, and cuts through the confusion to help you lead with confidence. In this edition of Spark Intelligence we’ll pull out the key messages of the report. Get your full copy of the report here:

Inside this edition

• Special report - how bad is AI for the planet?

• Events events events! Jam packed June

  • 1. Spark AI at The AI Summit London

  • 2. A bonanza of free webinars on AI for agencies

  • 3. Cannes-bound? Book a free 1:1 AI clarity chat

• Talk to us about AI training bookings for September

  • Not a subscriber yet?

How bad is AI for the planet?

One Google search? About 0.3 watt-hours of energy.

One ChatGPT prompt? Around 3 watt-hours.

That’s roughly the same as running a low-energy lightbulb for 3 hours.

Now lets zoom out:

• Reading this newsletter for 20 minutes? That’s about 6 prompts’ worth.

• Using ChatGPT 8 times a day for a year? Same as running a space heater for 2 hours.

• If every person in the UK made 10 AI queries a day, it would increase national electricity use by just 0.2%—compared to the 1.5% we already use globally on video streaming.

You don’t need to use AI less—you need to use it better

At Spark, we teach a ridiculously simple method in all our programmes:

Think → Prompt → Think.

It’s a surprisingly effective mindset shift in how you use AI to ensure creative rigour, and importantly for this article, it’s also a sustainability tool.

• Think first. Know what you're trying to get from the tool.

• Prompt deliberately. One good prompt replaces a dozen loose ones.

• Think again. Judge the result. Refine with purpose.

Using this method you’ll put more though into your prompts, making them stronger and less need for wasteful AI use. Whether you're trying to get to better headlines, creative concepts or pitch copy—this makes your thinking tighter and your AI impact lower. Win-win. Let’s take an example of bad vs better prompting:

(You’ll likely need at least 6–8 follow-ups asking it to: clarify the tone, add audience relevance, align with values, and rewrite in different formats.)

Why it matters: This single, well-structured prompt saves you:

• Energy (yes, environmental, but also yours)

• Time (you’re not stuck wrangling it into coherence)

• Creative momentum (you stay in strategic mode, not reactive fix-it mode)

What about carbon and water? Let’s put it into context.

A single ChatGPT prompt emits around 2–3g of CO₂. That means using it every day for a year adds up to about 11kg of CO₂—0.16% of the average UK individual’s footprint.

Water use is trickier to estimate, but also lower than you might think:

• 🧴 1 ChatGPT prompt ≈ 30ml

• 📺 1 hour of Netflix (4K) ≈ 1–2 litres

• 🎵 1 hour of music streaming ≈ 250ml

That’s about 50 prompts’ worth of water to match one hour of 4K bingeing.

So should we stop using AI? No - but we should stop prompting on autopilot. And we should apply the same rule of thoughtful, intentional use to our video and music streaming too, where it would have an even bigger impact.

Why creative leaders have influence

So should we stop using AI? No. The better question is: how do we use it with intention? How can using AI reduce our footprint in other areas which actually have a larger environmental impact, like travel?

As a creative leader, you already influence how ideas are made, shared, and scaled. You don’t just have access to the tools—you shape the standards.

Three things you can do right now:

1. Use AI intentionally. Don’t burn compute on casual prompting.

2. Train your team. Teach smart workflows like Think → Prompt → Think. We teach this (and so much more) for agencies and marketing teams.

3. Focus your broader climate action first. Travel, energy, suppliers — that’s where the big gains are.

I’ve only skimmed the surface of what’s in the report here - download the full thing to hear about our impact on upstream AI use, the impact of training models and data centers and how agentic AI might change this picture in the future.

Our training programmes are fully booked until September, but we’re still offering keynote talks and 1:1 coaching sessions over the summer. Whether you want to spark a mindset shift or sharpen your team’s AI fluency, we’ve got options.

Hit reply or drop us a note at [email protected] to grab a summer slot.

Events events events! Jam packed June

1. Spark AI at The AI Summit London

We’re excited to share to be speaking at The AI Summit London in a couple of weeks. Are you going? Come and see us at:

🎤 11 June, 13:30–14:20 – Jules and I will be running a masterclass on "How GenAI is reshaping agencies, brands & business models". Our favourite topic!

🎤 12 June, 15:00–15:40 – I’ll be on the Industries Stage moderating a panel of been-there-and-done it speakers – Lily McCann from Choreograph, Matt Garbutt from Brave Bison and Kate Ross eight&four on "Human-centred AI in marketing & advertising". We’ve done a mini run-through - it’s going to be excellent!

2. A bonanza of free webinars on AI for agencies

I’ve gone a bit mad with organising webinars this month! But they are all SO GOOD I couldn’t resist. Join us for behind-the-scenes on what actually works in agency settings—from AI skills and workflows to positioning, pricing and client expectations.

They are all free, highly practical and without the usual AI waffle. Register to join us:

3 June, 11am: Distinctiveness is your survival strategy in the age of AI

Hear how UnitedUs and eight&four agencies have doubled down on distinctiveness as their competitive edge in a world with AI. 👉 Register now

10 June, 11am: What its really like to accelerate AI adoption in your agency

Hear from the leaders of Analogue and mark-making* about how they are shifting their agencies from experimenters to AI leaders. 👉 Register now

17 June 11am: Where agencies really are with AI

Join Becky McOwen-Banks and I for a down to earth chat about what we are seeing actually working—and what isn’t. 👉 Register now

Join us for a session that sounds most relevant, or make it a hat-trick. I’d love to see you.

3. 🇫🇷 Cannes-bound? Book a free 1:1 AI clarity chat

Heading to Cannes? So are me and Jules. I’ve been knee-deep in Propeller and The Digital Voice’s events lists and furiously filling out registration forms. Feel familiar?

Cannes will be full of big claims and bold opinions about AI. But beneath the media trained panel discussions, the real questions creative agencies and marketers need to answers to are strategic:

• What does AI actually change for us—and when?

• How do we shift from experimentation to transformation?

• And what does confident leadership look like in this next phase?

We’ll be in Cannes all week, rocking up at a cafe near you, to help you answer those questions.

Book a 15-minute Spark Clarity Chat with me and Jules — short, sharp conversations to help you answer the questions that matter. Reply to this email or ping us at [email protected] to get your slot.

Thinking of taking one of our programmes later this year?

We’re now booking our tailored AI programmes for September onwards. So if Spark’s even a twinkle in your eye, give us a wave early—we really hate saying no when our team’s availability disappears. Book a slot in my diary if you’d like to have a chat and get on our radar.

That’s all for this week. I really hope you found the environment deep-dive helpful. Feel free to forward on the link to download a copy to your team, clients and friends. The more we all have our eyes open on this topic the better.

See you next time!

Emma

Co-founder of Spark AI

P.S. Jules and I both made it into the BIMA 100 this year! We are super chuffed to be in very esteemed company.

About Spark AI

We help creative and marketing leaders turn AI curiosity into confidence—through hands-on training, strategic support and tailored roadmaps for your team.

Whether you're just getting started or scaling fast, Spark helps you lead with AI on your terms.

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