What artificial intelligence means for sustainability Posted on : Jul 19 - 2017

It’s hard to open a newspaper these days without encountering an article on the arrival of artificial intelligence. Predictions about the potential of this new technology are everywhere.

Media hype aside, real evidence shows that artificial intelligence (AI) already drives a major shift in the global economy. You now use it in your day-to-day life, as you look to Netflix to recommend your next binge or ask Alexa to play music in your home. And the benefits of AI are driving the technologies into every corner of the global economy. Look, for example, at the number of times the largest U.S. companies mention artificial intelligence in their 10-K filings. (See chart below, which measures mentions of "artificial intelligence" and related worlds in 10-K filings of S&P companies, from 2011 to 2016.)

For all of the debate about the dawn of artificial intelligence, there is little talk about what AI means for sustainability.

Will AI mean a massive technological boost to sustainability priorities? Or will the rapid changes associated with AI give us a net negative sustainability outcome? By mining the narrative disclosures that companies make about their CSR activities, we can derive some insights into how AI is transforming corporate sustainability activity. Using keyword searches in ESG Trends, a dataset of corporate sustainability disclosures, we looked across thousands of CSR reports and CDP disclosures from large, global companies to see what, if anything, companies are disclosing about the impact of artificial intelligence. This analysis below, which measures mentions of AI in corporate sustainability reports and CDP filings, can help us start to answer the question: What does AI mean for sustainability?

What we see is that AI is already having an impact on corporate sustainability activity. Companies already are making use of AI to achieve step changes in, for example, efficiency and emissions reductions, and to innovate new products and services. These AI applications for sustainability are not widespread, and they are early stage, but the data suggests that AI can bring significant benefits for sustainability in the medium term. What we don’t see, however, is much evidence that companies are understanding the numerous and serious risks that AI presents. 

AI unlocks opportunities for major sustainability progress

The vast majority of the mentions of artificial intelligence in CSR reports and CDP filings relate to how AI presents opportunities for companies. AI is helping the next generation of companies reduce their environmental and social impact by improving efficiency and developing new products.

We can look first at utility company Xcel Energy. When the company creates electricity from burning coal at its two plants in Texas, one major byproduct is a potent greenhouse gas called nitrous oxide. Nitrous oxide emissions contribute to climate change, as well as harming the ozone layer. View More