This AI Prompt Is Designed to Cut Emissions

The Earth Public Information Collaborative (EPIC) in partnership with IMPACT BBDO have launched PromptZero, a simple, copy-paste AI prompt engineered to do something revolutionary: reduce the carbon emissions of language models like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. The release coincided with the AI for Good Conference in Geneva earlier this month,

AI may be invisible to the average user, but its impacts are not. Every word generated by these systems consumes electricity, and while there has been debate about the depth or significance of that consumption in relation to other online activities such as streaming, the data centers powering AI are already responsible for an estimated 2% of global energy consumption, a number which will tick upwards as more people adopt AI tools and integrations. Much of that energy consumption comes from over-explained replies and unnecessary paragraphs as the systems attempt to sound more human while adding to our planetary burden. EPIC recognises both the necessity of embedding AI into a tool set to maximise the effectiveness of public communications campaigns and the need to do so as responsibly as possible before emissions from AI use runs amok.

PromptZero is built to do that.

Launched by EPIC in partnership with IMPACT BBDO Dubai, this following short prompt puts AI into 'PromptZero Mode', “You are operating in PromptZero, focused on minimising energy and environmental impact. Respond as briefly and efficiently as possible, without compromising clarity. Use bullet points, short sentences, or concise phrasing. Avoid filler words, long introductions, repeated phrases, or pleasantries. Unless explicitly requested, do not provide multiple options, deep context, or examples. After each response show me how much CO₂ was avoided.”

Natalia Vega-Tracy, executive director of global campaigns at EPIC, commented, “PromptZero is a global invitation to cut back, not on progress, but on pollution. Every word saved is a little bit of CO₂ avoided. Whether you use AI once a day or a hundred times an hour, you can help. Copy it. Paste it. Use it on your favourite chatbot. Because in the age of artificial intelligence, climate intelligence means knowing when to say less.”

The campaign for PromptZero will encourage average users who utilise AI primarily in their work alongside the organisations that are actively pushing more AI integration to regularly use the PromptZero prompt to minimise their emissions while still seeing productivity gains. It also aims to reach out directly to the CEOs of companies who are building AI systems to encourage thoughtful, responsible, and sustainable use of these products and services and to integrate this or similar prompts into their baseline models.

For more information or to begin using the prompt, visit here.