Skip to content
Review Open access

Generative AI for Sustainable Education: A Systematic Review of Opportunities, Challenges and Future Directions

Aug 2026 · International Journal of Technology and Emerging Research · Vol 2, pp. 205-216 · 0 citations · 32 references

TL;DR

The study concludes that the long-term sustainability of GenAI in education depends on balancing technological innovation with environmental transparency and ethical stewardship, advocating for longitudinal research to monitor future cognitive and ecological impacts.

Abstract

The emergence of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) has stimulated a significant transformation in higher education, aligning with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals while simultaneously presenting a "sustainability trade-off." While GenAI offers emerging opportunities for individualized learning, enhanced accessibility, and the development of transferable skills such as critical thinking and creativity. The sustainable integration of GenAI remains challenging because the training and deployment of large language models require energy-intensive computational infrastructure, leading to increased carbon emission and water consumption, while simultaneously introducing ethical challenges such as academic integrity, transparency and algorithmic bias. This paper presents a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) conducted in accordance with the PRISMA 2020 guidelines, synthesizing findings from 32 recent scholarly works published between 2022 and 2026. The review employs the Population–Exposure–Outcome (PEO) framework to examine how GenAI restructures learning environments across dimensions of operational efficiency, pedagogy, and ideology. Key results identify five strategic processes for sustainable implementation: ethical appropriation, infrastructure management, faculty development, curricular transformation, and pedagogical innovation. Furthermore, the review addresses global power dynamics, highlighting a shift toward plurality while cautioning against algorithmic colonialism. We propose the Generative AI-Enabled Sustainable Education (GAISE) framework as a roadmap for institutional resilience. The study concludes that the long-term sustainability of GenAI in education depends on balancing technological innovation with environmental transparency and ethical stewardship, advocating for longitudinal research to monitor future cognitive and ecological impacts Keywords: education; Generative Artificial Intelligence; Sustainable Development Goals; GenAI

Read PDF

Similar papers

Review Open access Jul 2026

Generative Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education: A Systematic Review of Educational Transformation, Assessment, and Governance

It is shown that successful GenAI integration requires a balanced approach combining technological capability, pedagogical redesign, and responsible governance, and that successful GenAI integration requires a balanced approach combining technological capability, pedagogical redesign, and responsible governance.

Syusinka Rahmatika, Martanto, Ryan Hamonangan · 0 citations
Conference Open access Jul 2026

A Critical Analysis of Generative AI in Higher Education: Benefits, Challenges, and Future Directions

The findings reveal that GenAI can effectively improve teaching efficacy, enable personalised learning experiences, and streamline assessment procedures, however, its implementation also draws attention to concerns regarding academic integrity, data privacy, algorithmic bias, and ethical governance.

Xi Bi · 0 citations
Open access Aug 2026

Navigating Education 5.0: The Interplay of Digital Transformation, AI Ethics, and Evolving Work Competencies

Sustainable progress in Education 5.0 requires policymakers, educators, and technologists to adopt an integrated approach that treats ethical AI governance and evolving competency development as co-constitutive rather than ancillary concerns.

Felix Tersoo Gbaeren · 0 citations
Review Open access Jul 2026

Environmental Impacts of Generative AI in Education: A Systematic Review of Educational and Technical Evidence

The rapid adoption of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in educational institutions has occurred without systematic assessment of its environmental impacts. Training and operating large language models result in electricity consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, water use, hardware manufacturing, and electronic waste, yet these physical footprints remain largely invisible to educators and learners. This PRISMA-based systematic review addressed two research questions: (a) What types of environmental impacts are associated with GenAI tools in educational contexts? and (b) What indicators, data sources, assumptions, and methodological approaches are used to measure or estimate these impacts? A search of four databases (Scopus, Web of Science, ERIC, IEEE Xplore) identified 23 eligible publications from 2022 to 2026, classified into two evidence streams: education-specific studies (n = 8) examined GenAI in direct educational settings, while complementary technical studies (n = 15) provided transferable environmental indicators, benchmarks, and assessment methods from the broader AI sustainability literature. This two-stream design was chosen because education-specific environmental evidence remains scarce, and methodological approaches from technical literature are essential for understanding how educational impacts could be assessed. The synthesis found that operational electricity consumption, carbon emissions, and water demand are the most frequently reported impacts, but evidence in educational settings remains limited and methodologically inconsistent. Technical studies provide precise hardware-level measurements and lifecycle assessments, while educational research relies mainly on indirect proxies, self-reported surveys, or token-count approximations. Education-specific empirical evidence remains limited, with a small number of studies suggesting that GenAI use can increase the energy footprint of student work under some conditions, while real-time carbon-feedback displays may reduce prompt volume and estimated emissions. Comparative labor studies provide mixed findings: although some estimates portray AI-generated work as less carbon-intensive than human labor, correctness-controlled evidence from programming tasks shows that emissions can increase substantially when iterative prompting and output verification are included. Water footprints, embodied emissions, and electronic waste are acknowledged conceptually but measured empirically only in related technical fields. The review proposes a three-tiered policy framework spanning pedagogical practices, technical platform choices, and institutional governance to align educational AI use with environmental sustainability commitments.

Marko Radovan, Tadej Košmerl, Danijela Makovec Radovan · 1 citation · ⚡1
Review Open access Aug 2026

Towards a Psychologically Grounded Framework for Ethical, Inclusive, and AI-Enhanced Education

A conceptual framework offering AI designers, teacher educators, and policymakers a psychologically grounded, empirically mapped, and internationally contextualised basis for developing AI-supported educational systems that advance equity, learner engagement, and meaningful educational transformation is proposed.

Arpana Koul · 0 citations

We use cookies to run the site and, with your consent, for analytics and to show ads. See our Cookie Policy.