How Can AI Empower Sustainable Business Development?
As companies look to be more sustainable, AI could hold the answer.
Climate instability is becoming more of a global issue and those within the technology industry could play a key role in new environmental initiatives focused on climate change. Whilst AI is responsible for demanding increased levels of energy, it could be a crucial solution if used with sustainability in mind.
Within the workplace, AI is often used to improve productivity, gain greater insights from data and enhance decision-making. However, as it continues to rapidly develop, organisations have started using AI to make good on their sustainability strategies.
Some of the ways AI can be used to make businesses more sustainable include optimising renewable energy sources, balancing power grids and improving efficiency. In order to be successful in sustainable AI investments, experts at EY and AspenTech advocate for its responsible development.
Suggesting that businesses focus on education and collaboration, we hear their insights on how AI can be harnessed for sustainability without consuming more energy.
Creating real impact: Implementing AI for sustainable practice
Significantly, AI can help organisations meet their environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting challenges. The technology can be implemented in many different ways to support these practices. As Amy Brachio, EY’s Global Vice Chair of Sustainability explains, one such way is that it can augment human capabilities to analyse, predict and make decisions.
“One of the ways this can be done is through using AI to help predict and adapt to climate impacts, improving resilience and long-term economic stability,” Amy explains. “Corporations have been increasingly deploying AI in supply chains for demand planning and procurement, while exploring its use in other areas, such as standardising processes.
“A top-down integrated AI strategy aligned with business and sustainability goals can maximise the value creation opportunities from AI.”
Some of the benefits of AI in the workplace include assisting new employees in understanding system optimisation and can support staff in managing complex processes, freeing them up from routine tasks so that they can focus on tasks with much higher value.
“This will innovate job roles and create opportunities for long-term growth but it will require a cultural shift within organisations to allow this transformation to take place,” Amy says.
Utilising AI in this way could have myriad benefits for key industries, including healthcare, supply chain and data centres. It can optimise these areas by lowering emissions and costs across important processes if organisations leverage the technology’s capabilities in data analysis and process optimisation to achieve greater sustainability.
AI also holds the potential to revolutionise crucial areas of business operations and can deliver real impact, optimising business performance, improving customer experiences and unlocking new sustainability opportunities.
From a sustainability perspective, providing greater agility in this way can enable organisations to drive sustainability efforts, adapt to changing business conditions and become more competitive.
“Organisations should start by analysing energy-intensive processes and pinpointing inefficiencies, such as excessive energy consumption, high emission points, or waste in production lines,” states Heiko Claussen, Senior Vice President of AI at AspenTech. “AI can be particularly impactful in predictive maintenance, where it anticipates equipment failures and optimises operational schedules to reduce downtime and energy use.”
He adds: “AI's ability to enhance agility, provide insightful guidance, and automate routine tasks significantly boosts operational efficiency and strategic decision-making, positioning businesses to achieve greater success and sustainability.”
Reducing environmental impact with AI data insights
However, implementing AI does not come without its challenges.
Some of the major obstacles include integrating AI into existing operations, as the technology may not be compatible with legacy infrastructure. However, businesses can use AI systems to sift through large datasets and optimise energy usage, reducing waste as a result.
“AI can also monitor emissions in real-time, identifying sources of excessive emissions and suggesting corrective actions,” Heiko adds. “Machine learning models can analyse production processes to detect suboptimal performance and recommend adjustments that improve efficiency and reduce resource consumption.”
AI is already shaping up to be one of the greatest tests of public confidence since the COVID-19 pandemic. This level of responsibility comes with transformation.
According to Amy Brachio, the Edelman Trust Barometer shows 35% of the public are already resistant to AI technology, with 59% believing governments lack the competence to regulate it. As a result, Amy suggests business leaders need to balance ‘jumping in’ with ‘getting it right the first time’.
“Businesses will have to build trust with their customers or clients when implementing AI into their operations,” Amy states. “EY data shows 69% of businesses say they need to learn more about the risks of AI adoption, so leaders need to invest in upskilling to build their employee’s confidence and ensure they understand the consequences of using AI.”
In order to reduce environmental footprint across a company’s operations, businesses can address where their impact is largest and work to mitigate that.
“Aligning AI initiatives with corporate sustainability goals and gaining stakeholder buy-in can be difficult, requiring clear communication of AI’s potential benefits and strategic value,” Heiko explains. “Overcoming these challenges necessitates careful planning, investment in training, and a commitment to continuous improvement.”
There is also the problem of AI requiring a significant amount of energy, resulting in greater carbon emissions for businesses.
“AI comes with its own environmental footprint and businesses should be mindful of this when integrating it into their operations,” Amy notes. “Smaller, more efficient AI models, and new PCs with generative AI (Gen AI) capabilities built in, can reduce the carbon footprint associated with training large language models (LLMs), which is critical for environmental sustainability.”
She adds: “Businesses should transparently report the net impacts of AI development and deployment, balancing negative and positive sustainability impacts against global benchmarks. Moving more AI work onboard your computer could strengthen data privacy, reduce climate-stressing data-centre power demands.”
Additionally, AI simulations are able to explore operational scenarios and allow companies to adopt strategies to better minimise their environmental impact.
Heiko says: “By continuously learning and adapting, AI systems help businesses stay on top of their sustainability goals and dynamically adjust their operations for better environmental performance.”
The intersection of sustainability and technology
On a larger global scale, it is paramount that governments and regulatory bodies cooperate to ensure that AI is being developed and utilised in ways that are ethical and genuinely beneficial to businesses and wider society.
As businesses become more literate in their digital transformations, they will start to test and apply AI in multiple ways - thereby speeding up its development even further. As a result, technology and sustainability initiatives will need to operate in tandem throughout an organisation in order to drive a successful ESG strategy.
“Businesses must ensure that they are embedding knowledge and skills development around AI throughout their organisation. This isn’t solely an issue of being a technology expert, but a broader need for wider business skills,” Amy notes.
The role of AI within sustainability is a complex one, but the technology can play a crucial role if it is embedded into corporate strategy. As Heiko explains, AI-powered tools can evaluate the environmental impact of various business activities and therefore enable companies to make informed choices that align with their sustainability goals.
“In decision-making processes, AI can help prioritise initiatives that offer the greatest sustainability benefits, balancing environmental, social and economic considerations,” he highlights. “For stakeholder engagement, AI can enhance transparency and communication by providing real-time data on sustainability metrics and progress toward ESG targets.
“By integrating AI into their strategic framework, businesses can more effectively drive and communicate their commitment to sustainability.”
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