Scaling Laws: Identifying the Myths and Facts of AI's Environmental Impact with Gavin McCormick

In this episode of Scaling Laws , we explore how the "black box" of global greenhouse gas emissions is being cracked open by artificial intelligence and satellite imagery. Kevin Frazier is joined by Gavin McCormick, who leads Watt Time and ClimateTrace, a global coalition that has revolutionized the process of identifying and quantifying emissions. For decades, climate policy has relied on self-reported data from nations and corporations—a system prone to gaps and "greenwashing." McCormick’s work leverages machine learning to monitor every major source of emissions on Earth in near real-time. They discuss the legal implications of "radical transparency," how AI-driven data can be used to enforce regulations and measure claims, and the myths and facts of AI’s environmental consequences. Find Scaling Laws on the Lawfare website , and

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Scaling Laws: Identifying the Myths and Facts of AI's Environmental Impact with Gavin McCormick is an episode from The Lawfare Podcast by The Lawfare Institute.

This episode is 51:47 long.

This episode was published on May 1, 2026.

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