Companies barely consider the CO2 footprint of Gen AI

22 January 2025 Consultancy.eu

The majority of companies worldwide seem to not be very concerned with the environmental impact of generative AI (Gen AI), according to a new report from Capgemini.

At around half of all companies surveyed by the global management and technology consulting firm, managers said they believe that the generative AI (Gen AI) applications their organization use will likely cause additional CO2 emissions.

Gen AI tools use enormous amounts of data and require far more data center capacity than traditional computing. For that reason, they consume a lot of electricity, a lot of which is generated using high-emissions fossil fuels like oil and gas.

Half of executives agree that Gen AI has increased their organizations GHG emissions

Source: Capgemini Research Institute, Gen AI and Sustainability survey

According to Capgemini, Gen AI is currentlt responsible for around 2.6% of an average organization’s total emissions. Due to the ever-increasing popularity of Gen AI, that percentage could nearly double to 4.8% within the next two years.

The amount of CO2 emissions caused by Gen AI varies a bit by sector. For example, the high-tech industry is responsible for the largest share of emissions on average, followed by life sciences and the utilities sector. The automotive industry, banking, and the public sector score below average.

Only 12% of organizations measure the environmental impact of Gen AI
Source: Capgemini Research Institute, Gen AI and Sustainability

“If we want Gen AI to be a force for sustainable business value, there needs to be a market discussion around how we account for the environmental footprint of AI, so business leaders are equipped to make more informed, responsible business decisions,” says Cyril Garcia, Global Leader of Sustainability Services and Corporate Responsibility at Capgemini.

In this respect, there is still a lot of work to be done – worldwide, only 12% of organizations measure the carbon footprint of their Gen AI activities. Despite that, a vast majority of organizations (82%) intend to begin measuring that footprint within the next 24 months.

As of now, the sustainability rating of Gen AI models does not appear to be very important to companies. Only 27% of organizations worldwide base their choice of a particular model on its energy consumption. Instead, organizations mainly judge AI tools based on scalability, technical capabilities, and cost.

The environmental footprint is given the least consideration when developing or choosing a Gen AI model

Source: Capgemini Research Institute, Gen AI and Sustainability survey

Gen AI as a sustainability tool

In their report, the researchers emphasize that Gen AI itself can also contribute to reducing the CO2 footprint of companies. For example, the technology can be used to automate back-office tasks or to organize delivery routes or production processes more efficiently. These improvements would then require less energy to be used and would reduce CO2 emissions.

“AI has the potential to accelerate business objectives and sustainability initiatives,” Garcia notes.

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