Ecological Footprint and Gen AI
According to the study "Developing Sustainable Gen AI", Gen AI has a significant and increasingly negative impact on the environment. However, many companies are failing to adequately account for this growing footprint, jeopardizing their ESG goals. The study outlines measures to develop a responsible and sustainable strategy for Gen AI so that companies can harness the potential of Gen AI while pursuing their sustainability goals.
Adoption of Gen AI has accelerated rapidly. Previous research by Capgemini shows that by the end of 2023, only six percent of companies had integrated Gen AI into their processes and locations, compared to 24 percent in October 2024. As well as driving business growth, Gen AI has the potential to increase energy efficiency and support sustainability initiatives.
Gen AI consumes resources
However, Gen AI requires the processing of large amounts of data, which consumes significant amounts of electricity, water, and other resources. As a result, nearly half (48 percent) of the executives surveyed believe that the use of Gen AI has led to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions. This increase is expected to continue. Organizations currently measuring their Gen AI footprint expect Gen AI-related emissions to increase from an average of 2.6 to 4.8 percent of their organization's total CO2 emissions over the next two years. To counteract this, companies are increasingly turning to renewable energy and optimizing their AI infrastructure.
While innovative Gen AI solutions are rapidly proliferating, organizations have not kept pace in tracking the technology's environmental footprint: twelve percent of executives using Gen AI say their organization tracks its environmental footprint, and only 38 percent are generally aware of the technology's environmental impact.
In terms of competitiveness, companies are evaluating Gen AI solutions primarily on the basis of performance, scalability, and cost—with sustainability playing a secondary role. Only one-fifth of executives consider the environmental footprint of Gen AI to be one of the top five factors in selecting or developing Gen AI models. However, more than half are aware that the environmental footprint could be reduced if sustainability was considered as a key criterion when selecting Gen AI tools.
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