At CES 2025, Silence on Sustainability as Climate Change Disasters Rage
Every January, International Consumer Electronics Show Designed to showcase the technology trends that will shape the coming year. While the annual tech trade show is known for its out-of-the-sky futuristic concepts — from rollable screens to flying cars — this year’s event felt particularly detached from reality. The technology future predictions for CES 2024 are balanced by: Progressive commitment to sustainability initiatives At CES 2025, many major companies were very quiet about their efforts to protect the planet.
Although the largest technology exhibition this year promotes $7,000 coffee machine, humanoid robot and jaw-dropping tvwildfires are sweeping across the northern and western edges of one of the world’s most populous cities (the one where I live). As we learn about the future of technology against the backdrop of gorgeous casino lights and elaborate cocktail parties, 10,000 homes in Los Angeles burned to ashesbecause the people in my city have lost everything they are and have been.
Catastrophic weather events aside, the tech industry isn’t exactly known for its sustainability. The smartphones I excitedly write about are made from rare earth elements mined in harsh conditions by modern-day slaves, Reported by National Public Radio. More than a decade after the first news broke of a suicide at a Foxconn factory in China that makes iPhones, reports continue to emerge about the harsh conditions on assembly lines for today’s devices. 2023 report Rest of the world For example, it details the production of iPhones in Zhengzhou, China, as well as information from Korean nation This came to light last year when female workers on a Samsung mobile phone production line in Giheung-gu, Yongin City, South Korea, went on strike because they injured their fingers.
But I’ve been frustrated lately that even the little bit of sustainability shown at last year’s CES 2024 was vastly underrated. Sustainability has never been the sexiest topic, with companies often shoehorning their eco-commitments into the last moments of presentations. But even being mentioned in a keynote shows priorities, and importance in the company’s plans. As a trade show about the future, CES lacks significant advancements designed to help the world cope with today’s increasingly severe climate reality.
Why don’t the big tech giants use their CES stage time to showcase how they’re helping to solve the crises of our time? Samsung’s keynote made at best passing mention of leveraging its modular (and vaguely detailed) future space platform as well as its youth leadership program and fundraising partnership with the United Nations Development Program to improve office energy efficiency. While well-intentioned, the benefits of these programs may not be apparent for several years and will do little to address what’s happening now: fires, hurricanes and floods that have destroyed homes and upended lives for years.
this is a A sharp drop from last year’s CESBig tech companies and even the Consumer Technology Association itself (which hosts CES) have pledged to increase the use of recycled materials in their products. CTA led Lenovo, LG, Panasonic, Samsung and Sony in signing the agreement Consumer Technology Circular Initiative making their own personal commitments, though we haven’t heard any efforts from the group since. Dell and Razer have both announced plans to use more recycled materials in their products, but Google has chosen its timing Voice support for repair rights move.
It’s strange to hear silence in 2025, as big tech companies have been touting their sustainability plans for years, with Samsung also announcing Reuse ocean plastic in phones and headphones and previous commitments Using recycled materials in TVs by 2025 and other initiatives. Samsung was one of the first companies to use recycled materials in product packaging, and for better or worse, it was quick to follow Apple’s lead by keeping charger nuggets in the boxes of its new devices. The latter is a controversial measure that could reduce the glut of power bricks gathering dust in consumer homes, but could also arguably benefit the companies that make the devices because it saves costs.
apple Recording skit for iPhone 15 launch event Among them, CEO Tim Cook won over Mother Nature with the company’s environmentally friendly metrics, including reducing emissions throughout the supply chain and sourcing materials more sustainably. Apple has pledged to decarbonize its supply chain by 2030 and push suppliers to use clean energy, while Samsung aims to be carbon neutral and 100% renewable by 2050.
Read more: How environmentally friendly is Apple? A closer look at iPhone makers’ sustainability credentials
These sustainability efforts are encouraging, but they do little to help those affected by disasters exacerbated by climate change. For those whose homes will be destroyed as the climate worsens over the next decade, decarbonization by mid-century may be cold comfort.
The most promising sustainability announcements at CES came from automakers and startups, not big tech companies. they include Electric car wrapped in solar panelsmainstream honda electric car, Plug and play solar panels and paper battery. Small companies are recognizing the opportunity to provide consumers with products that, ideally, will have a lower emissions impact in a world that continues to warm.
As the focus on sustainability appears to be waning in big tech companies’ CES keynotes, there’s more emphasis on robotics and artificial intelligence. While I’m not immune to the fascination of small robots, especially those designed to assist disabled homeowners, seeing so much artificial intelligence while my city burned in wildfires was a sobering experience.
ChatGPT prompts using 10 times more battery than Google search, according to a recent study International Energy Agency Report pointed out. According to an October 2023 report, global AI demand could consume up to 6.6 billion cubic meters of water by 2027, equivalent to half of the UK’s annual water consumption academic papers. With artificial intelligence becoming a big part of our future, it would be great to hear more about how tech companies plan to offset power consumption.
CES, once known as the Consumer Electronics Show, was designed to showcase the products that will make their way into our homes and lives in the coming months and years. But an emphasis on “the consumer” has led big tech companies to prioritize making devices suitable for today’s world rather than innovating for the deteriorating world we’re experiencing.
It’s hard to imagine people who have been left homeless by the Los Angeles wildfires being excited about a home robot like this one Samsung’s Ballybut they will definitely be more interested in devices with early warning systems. For everyone in Southern California, nonprofit support Watch Duty app saves information. Likewise, people living in the southeastern United States that was devastated by Hurricane Helene last year may not be excited about more AI solutions unless it helps them prepare for and survive the next catastrophe of worsening climate.
It would be nice to see some of the emphasis in AI shift towards improving tools that can help with disasters, such as SOS and satellite messaging capabilities, rather than plugging in bots that no one is buying. A device shown off at CES 2025 that could help people in the Los Angeles wildfires is Headset off-grida handheld accessory that connects your smartphone to satellite services to send text messages and call emergency assistance. Anyone caught in a fire that knocks out local cell phone towers can use OffGrid to contact emergency personnel for rescue and to contact family members in an emergency.
Looking at the stunning wonders at CES 2025, I can’t help but wonder how long big tech companies can ignore climate change. As consumerism continues its cycle of greed, piling new products in front of the masses and leaving them looking for solutions they can buy, it baffles me that so-called innovative companies are not adapting at least some of their new product lineups to address the climate Worsening disasters occur more frequently.
As the fires raged dozens of miles north of me, it felt like I was helping my colleagues cover a trade show on another planet rather than a state away.