The Delhi Declaration: A Diplomatic Triumph or a Sovereign Surrender to AI Ambition?

LONDON / NEW DELHI

The lights have dimmed on the inaugural Global South AI Summit, leaving behind the Delhi Declaration: a document signed by 86 nations out of the 193 UN Member States, including the world’s leading technological powers. While the media celebrates the "Delhi Consensus" as a victory for Indian diplomacy, a more rigorous analysis reveals a dangerous paradox. We are witnessing a global framework high on rhetoric but intentionally devoid of the binding mechanisms required to govern the most transformative force of our century.

At Green Cross UK, our position is firm: the Declaration could be considered a sophisticated diversion. It manages the symptoms of technological expansion while deliberately shielding the root cause: the unchecked ambition of a corporate-state duopoly operating without effective international oversight.

1. The "Chakra" Framework: Orchestrated Voluntarism

The Declaration’s seven pillars (Chakras) are conceptually sound but structurally hollow. The accession of the major powers was purchased at an unacceptable price: absolute non-binding voluntarism. By rejecting mandatory governance, the signatories ensure that control remains in private hands. For the world, "democratisation of access" without "democratisation of control" is merely a new form of technological and sovereign dependency.

2. The Environmental Blind Spot: Data Centres and Water Bankruptcy

The summit mobilised $300 billion for infrastructure, yet the strategic cost is staggering. India, with 18% of the world’s population and only 4% of its freshwater, is on track to consume 358 billion litres of water annually by 2030 solely to cool servers.

This expansion proceeds as if the United Nations had not already declared a state of global water bankruptcy—a chronic condition where aquifers lose their capacity to recover, turning once-temporary droughts into permanent scarcity. At Green Cross UK, we maintain that any AI expansion that competes with human thirst is not "innovation"; it is an existential liability.

3. Our Demands: A Roadmap for Accountable Power

It is not enough to "recognise" the problem; as a global society, we must demand a change in the management model. Our demand is articulated across three hierarchical levels:

1. Binding International Governance (The Absolute Priority): We demand a Binding International AI Treaty with the force of law, similar to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. We need a transnational authority to impose real sanctions, guarantee algorithmic transparency, and ensure that sovereignty over natural capital prevails over the interests of Big Tech.

2. Sustainable Infrastructure Certification: Data centres must be addressed and mandatorily certified as sustainable critical infrastructures. Regardless of the technology utilised, these facilities must operate under net-zero impact standards and undergo external audits to guarantee they do not interfere with the human right to water.

3. Comprehensive Footprint Offsetting: AI companies must internalise their environmental costs. We demand the verifiable restoration of their water footprint (replenishment in stressed basins), their carbon footprint (genuine neutrality without fictitious "credits"), and their ecological footprint (restoration of biodiversity degraded by hardware mining).

Conclusion

The Delhi Declaration is a diplomatic step, but unless it translates into binding laws that subject the power of AI owners to public scrutiny, it will be nothing more than a smokescreen while unchecked ambition continues to undermine our future. Technology must serve life; life must not serve ambition.

Editorial Note: This article has been edited and optimised using Artificial Intelligence under the author’s direct supervision. At Green Cross UK, we do not oppose AI; on the contrary, we actively integrate it into our sustainable infrastructure initiatives and impact programmes, demonstrating that technology is a powerful ally when subjected to ethical and sustainability criteria.

About Green Cross United Kingdom Member of Green Cross International—founded by Nobel laureate Mikhail Gorbachev—with UN consultative status (ECOSOC, UNESCO), observer status at climate conventions (UNFCCC, UNCCD), and strategic partnerships including the Club of Rome, World Bank, and WWF.