Businesses struggling with AI’s climate impact - report

Published by the Capgemini Research Institute, the report found that almost half (48 per cent) of executives believe their use of generative AI (Gen AI) has driven a rise in emissions, with 42 per cent needing to reassess climate goals.

While adoption of Gen AI has risen sharply – increasing fourfold between 2023 and 2024, according to the report - just 12 per cent of executives that use the technology say their organisation measures the environmental footprint of that use. Only a fifth of respondents ranked environmental impact as a top five factor when selecting or building AI models.

The research found that three-quarters of businesses are finding it challenging to measure the technology’s footprint due to limited transparency from providers, with the industry lacking a methodology around how to account for environmental footprint. As the vast majority (three-quarters) of businesses exclusively use pre-trained models, executives are heavily reliant on their technology partners to assess Gen AI’s climate impact.