theSIGNAL ENVIRONMENT
15 September 2026
"Technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral."
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Environment

AI's Hidden Cost: A Forever-Chemicals Surge

As artificial intelligence reshapes global industry, PFAS manufacturers are racing to expand output — and regulators may not be ready to stop them.

In a factory outside Osaka, engineers at Daikin are preparing what the company calls a "datacentre hub" — a dedicated production line for the fluorinated chemicals that keep AI servers cool and semiconductor wafers clean. Daikin is not alone. A survey by ChemSec, the Swedish chemicals watchdog, found that nearly all of the ten largest PFAS manufacturers worldwide had active plans to increase output, with sites expanding across Europe, Asia and North America. The demand driver, cited repeatedly in corporate filings and press releases, is the same: the AI revolution.

PFAS — per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — are used at multiple stages of semiconductor manufacturing and are central to the liquid cooling systems that next-generation datacentres rely on to manage heat. Because they do not break down in soil, water or the human body, they have been linked to cancers, immune disruption and reproductive harm. Chemours, a US-based producer recently ordered to pay $450 million to settle a lawsuit over PFAS discharges into waterways, is nonetheless expanding its "innovative liquid cooling solutions" range to serve what it describes as advanced datacentre and AI hardware markets. France's Arkema has opened a $60 million production unit in Kentucky for refrigerants aimed squarely at the same sector.

The expansion is alarming to health advocates precisely because Europe, the United Kingdom and parts of the United States have only recently begun drafting restrictions on the chemicals. Anne-Sofie Bäckar, executive director of ChemSec, argues that corporate growth plans are moving faster than regulatory ones.

Photo: Winston Chen / Unsplash
Cooling towers at a large datacentre facility reflect the AI industry's surging energy and chemical demands.
Discuss
  • Why might AI companies be reluctant to publicise their reliance on PFAS chemicals?
  • Should governments ban PFAS outright, or is gradual regulation a more realistic approach?
  • Is it fair to blame PFAS manufacturers when the ultimate demand comes from consumers of AI services?
Science

Australia's Fossil Fuel Exit: A Global Test

Within five years, Earth is expected to breach the 1.5°C warming limit set by the 2015 Paris Agreement — a threshold that scientists link to collapsing ice sheets and mass coral bleaching across reefs from the Great Barrier Reef to Ningaloo. A joint report by Climate Analytics and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research finds that peak warming could still be held near 1.7°C if governments act decisively. Australia, which supplies roughly 4.5% of global CO₂ emissions through fossil fuel exports, faces particular pressure. Fossil fuels currently cover about 90% of Australia's raw energy needs.…
  • Can a major fossil fuel exporter credibly lead a global phaseout by 2050?
Science

Young bodies aging faster, raising cancer risk

A study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, published in *Nature Medicine*, has found that younger generations are accumulating biological damage faster than older generations did at equivalent ages — and that the wider the gap between biological and chronological age, the higher the risk of early-onset cancer. The research, conducted under Cancer Grand Challenges — a joint initiative of the U.S. National Cancer Institute and Cancer Research UK — revealed that the link is organ-specific: a biologically older immune system correlated with early lung cancer, while aged fat tissue was tied to early colorectal cancer.…
  • If biological age matters more than chronological age, how should doctors screen younger patients?
"
These companies' expansion plans show that unless governments and regulators insist on a rapid phaseout, we will face a new tidal wave of forever chemicals.
Anne-Sofie Bäckar, Executive Director, ChemSec
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theSIGNAL IN THE LAB
1VOCABULARY
fluorinated chemicalsramping up
biological damageearly-onset cancerphaseout scenario
waterwayschronological age
2GRAMMAR FOCUS
Inversion with negative adverbials
When a sentence begins with a negative or restrictive adverbial such as 'Not only', 'Hardly', 'No sooner', or 'Seldom', the subject and auxiliary verb are inverted, as in a question structure. This formal construction adds emphasis to the negative idea.
had · did · does · were · was · only · when
  1. Not did Daikin announce a new production line, but several other PFAS manufacturers also revealed plans to expand output.
  2. Hardly regulators begun drafting restrictions on PFAS when corporations announced major new investments in production capacity.
  3. No sooner Chemours settled its $450 million lawsuit than it announced an expanded range of liquid cooling solutions for AI markets.
  4. Not only PFAS fail to break down in the environment, but they have also been linked to cancers and immune disruption in humans.
  5. Seldom a single list of manufacturers span six continents, yet the ChemSec survey identified exactly such a global network of PFAS producers.
  6. Hardly the research into biological ageing published before scientists began calling for urgent investigation into what is driving the acceleration.
3IDIOMS
Define each idiom in your own words. Then write one in a sentence of your own.
  1. survive contact with economic reality (Australia article)
  2. ramping up (PFAS article)
  3. squarely at (PFAS article — 'aimed squarely at the same sector')
  4. act decisively (Australia article)
  5. raises an uncomfortable question (PFAS article)
4CRITICAL THINKING
The three articles together suggest that technologies and systems designed to improve human life — AI, modern medicine, global energy — are simultaneously creating or accelerating serious harms. To what extent do you think society is capable of recognising and acting on these trade-offs before the damage becomes irreversible, and what would need to change for that to happen?
5CREATIVE · HEADLINES
Write a headline for the top story in each of the following styles. One line each, no explanation:
  • TABLOID NEWSPAPER
  • LUXURY MAGAZINE
  • ACTIVIST BLOG
6WRITING
Drawing on the biological ageing study and the PFAS expansion, argue whether the health consequences of the AI industry are being adequately communicated to the public, and who you believe should be responsible for doing so.
7DEGREES OF EXTREMITY
Complete each ladder from mild to strong.
  • concerned→→
  • linked to→→
  • expanding→→
  • restriction→→
  • uncomfortable→→
  • damage→→
8SPEAKING
  1. Which PFAS-producing country bears the greatest moral responsibility?
  2. Should cancer screening age limits be lowered given biological ageing findings?
  3. How might Australia's economy look in 2050 after a full phaseout?
  4. Could the 1.7°C target still be met without Australia's cooperation?