IBM, Nokia & Amazon: Deploying AI for Sustainability Goals

Regulatory pressure is mounting on technology companies to demonstrate measurable progress on climate commitments. 

As the EU tightens disclosure requirements and stakeholders demand transparency, firms are turning to the same tools that power their core businesses to tackle sustainability challenges.

Now IBM, Nokia and Amazon have published sustainability reports detailing how they use AI-powered analytics to track emissions, optimise energy consumption and quantify environmental impact. 

The three companies operate in different sectors but share a data-driven approach that treats sustainability as an engineering problem requiring precise measurement and continuous optimisation.

How IBM embeds analytics across enterprise operations

IBM has integrated sustainability analytics into its software and consulting offerings, using platforms including Envizi and Maximo Application Suite to track emissions and manage asset lifecycles. 

The enterprise technology provider positions these tools as essential for clients trying to get a handle on their own environmental footprint.

The company’s approach extends across supply chains, facilities and IT infrastructure, supporting environmental risk assessment and resource efficiency decisions. 

IBM frames sustainability as integral to its hybrid cloud and AI growth strategy, with research investments focused on advancing capabilities that combine governance features with technical infrastructure.

Christina Shim, Chief Sustainability Officer at IBM, describes how deeply embedded these priorities have become: “Sustainability is not just a feel-good word here, it is in our DNA,” she says.

How Amazon measures carbon intensity amid delivery growth

Amazon’s approach centres on carbon intensity, a metric that measures emissions relative to gross merchandise sales rather than absolute output.

The figure reached 72.6g CO2e per dollar of GMS in 2024, representing progress even as the company’s overall emissions grew alongside its expanding operations.

The numbers tell the story of a company trying to decouple growth from environmental impact. 

Amazon delivered 1.5 billion packages using more than 31,400 electric vehicles during the year, while reducing single-use plastic in delivery packaging by 16.4% globally. 

The company uses AI to optimise packaging dimensions, improve product sizing recommendations and identify energy inefficiencies across its operations.

Kara Hurst, Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) at Amazon, says: “Sustainability is not separate from our customer obsession – it’s an extension of it,” she says.

Amazon reports a Power Usage Effectiveness rating of 1.15 for its AWS data centres, a measure of how efficiently computing infrastructure uses energy. 

The company tracks Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, covering direct emissions, purchased energy and value chain impacts respectively.

Why Nokia targets product efficiency under EU rules

Nokia’s sustainability statement follows requirements set by the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, which mandates detailed ESG disclosures. 

The telecommunications equipment manufacturer conducted a double materiality assessment to identify which sustainability topics matter most to its business and to society.

The analysis revealed something striking: 95% of Nokia’s greenhouse gas emissions come from customers using its products, classified as Scope 3 emissions.

That finding drives the company’s focus on improving energy efficiency in its technology rather than just cleaning up its own operations.

Nokia has set a target to reduce Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by half by 2030, using 2019 as a baseline. 

The company reports achieving a 36% reduction by 2024 and has mapped out a net-zero pathway to 2040 that quantifies expected emissions reductions from product improvements and supply chain initiatives.

Subho Mukherjee, Vice President and Global Head of Sustainability at Nokia, frames the challenge in terms that go beyond quarterly results: “Digital technologies underpin critical aspects of our lives, but we have a responsibility to ensure the cost of these benefits is not paid for by future generations,” he says