AI boom could further threaten 2050
decarbonization commitments unless used responsibly and scaled to
its full potential as a lever of achieving net zero
Only one in six (16%) of the world’s largest companies are
currently on track to reach net zero emissions in their operations
by 2050, while close to half (45%) continued to increase carbon
emissions, according to new analysis from Accenture (NYSE: ACN).
The analysis also showed a need to expand how AI is used to reduce
emissions within and across companies, as only 14% of companies
display evidence of using the fast-advancing technology for carbon
emissions reduction today.
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Despite net zero target-setting stalling,
majority of companies have cut carbon emissions (Graphic: Business
Wire)
In its fourth year, Accenture's "Destination Net Zero" report is
an analysis of net zero commitments, carbon reduction activities
and emissions data for the 2,000 biggest companies worldwide. The
report found that while full net zero target-setting has stalled at
37%, more than half (52%) of companies have cut both carbon
emissions and emissions intensity since the Paris Agreement was
adopted in 2016.
“A majority of the world's largest companies are now cutting
their emissions even as the size of their operations and revenues
grow. While this is a significant milestone, to get to net zero by
2050 all of us need to move faster, together, to reinvent
sustainable value chains using deep collaboration and
transformative technologies,” said Stephanie Jamison, global
resources industry practice lead and global sustainability services
lead at Accenture. “AI can help but can only go so far when only
22% of AI-employing companies are currently using it for
decarbonization, the most realistic scenario is probably one in
which AI initially emits more than it abates, until a critical
crossover point. Responsible and sustainable scaling of AI means
ensuring that crossover point is reached as early as possible.”
Accenture modeled the expected incremental use of AI-focused
hardware in data centers around the world and forecast that
AI-related emissions will rise more than 10-fold, from 68 to 718
million tons CO2e by 2030, in the absence of major innovation in
energy systems, computing technology and algorithms. However, most
leaders are optimistic about AI's potential in decarbonization.
When asked about their expectations of how AI will affect emissions
globally, more leaders expect it to reduce emissions (42%) rather
than increase emissions (27%) in the short-term (1 to 3 years), and
a clear majority (65%) expect AI to reduce emissions over the long
term (10+ years).
In a sign of positive change that businesses are starting to
rewire for net zero and focus on operationalizing their
decarbonization strategies, many of the levers companies can pull
to decarbonize their operations and value chains have started to
become standard business practice: five key levers—energy
efficiency, waste reduction, renewables adoption, circular
principles and decarbonization of buildings—are each adopted by at
least 80% of companies, and 30% are adopting 15 or more levers.
Regionally, that percentage increases to nearly half (48%) of
European companies adopting 15 or more levers--a share that is more
than 20 percentage points higher than that of their Asia Pacific
and North American counterparts. In addition to far outpacing their
peers in having more than double the proportion of businesses with
net zero targets (64%), European companies also lead the way on AI
adoption. For example, one in five European businesses (20%) are
using AI for decarbonization purposes, compared to 14% in the Asia
Pacific and 10% in North America.
“The recent Draghi report highlights the need for Europe to
marry decarbonization with competitiveness,” said Mauro Macchi, CEO
of Accenture, EMEA. “It's therefore encouraging to see businesses
across the region taking a lead both in setting ambitious net-zero
targets and using new technologies such as AI to reduce carbon
emissions. This will help boost growth and resilience as
regulations such as the CSRD come into force.”
Accenture continues to place an ever-greater emphasis on
creating financial value and sustainability impact for clients by
expanding capabilities and investing in expertise across
sustainability strategy, supply-chain transformations, green IT and
data-driven management of decarbonization. Its Sustainability
Services portfolio helps clients improve their environmental,
social, and governance (ESG) and carbon intelligence. This set of
capabilities helps organizations control, improve, and create value
and reduce impact by using carbon—and broader sustainability—data
and intelligence in decision-making across the core business.
As an example, Accenture built a custom large language model for
ESG reporting using Meta Llama 3.1. It helps sustainability teams
prepare their data collection and reporting requirements at a time
of increased regulation. The tool has more than 16,000 hours of GPU
training on over 15,000 ESG reports and can improve productivity by
upwards of 70% by structuring ESG data and assisting in drafting
ESG disclosures based on regulatory standards.
Explore “Destination Net Zero” in Accenture’s thought leadership
app, Foresight, and get a personalized feed of our latest insights,
data, case studies and more at
https://www.accenture.com/foresight.
About the research
This analysis takes stock of global corporate emissions
trajectories, net zero targets, decarbonization levers and
transition plans. Our sample was based on the Accenture G2000: an
Accenture-developed list of the top 2,000 public and private
companies in the world by revenue. We worked with The SmartCube to
collect data on the G2000 across a given set of criteria relating
to decarbonization. This involved manual inspection of company
public documentation (e.g. websites, annual reports, sustainability
reports). The approach allowed us to build a proprietary database
of the decarbonization targets and levers adopted by companies in
the G2000.
Emissions data retrieved from: S&P Global Trucost 2024. We
then analyzed emissions trends up to the latest available year to
look for evidence of an acceleration in decarbonization and
identify relationships with the target and lever data.
As part of Accenture’s regularly fielded pulse surveys of ~3,000
top corporate executives, we included questions to gather insights
on the expected impact of AI on global and corporate carbon
emissions. We also modeled the future energy consumption and
emissions impact of AI use by using projected AI data center growth
and regional carbon emissions data.
About Accenture
Accenture is a leading global professional services company that
helps the world’s leading organizations build their digital core,
optimize their operations, accelerate revenue growth and enhance
services—creating tangible value at speed and scale. We are a
talent- and innovation-led company with 774,000 people serving
clients in more than 120 countries. Technology is at the core of
change today, and we are one of the world’s leaders in helping
drive that change, with strong ecosystem relationships. We combine
our strength in technology and leadership in cloud, data and AI
with unmatched industry experience, functional expertise and global
delivery capability. Our broad range of services, solutions and
assets across Strategy & Consulting, Technology, Operations,
Industry X and Song, together with our culture of shared success
and commitment to creating 360° value, enable us to help our
clients reinvent and build trusted, lasting relationships. We
measure our success by the 360° value we create for our clients,
each other, our shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us at
www.accenture.com.
Copyright © 2024 Accenture. All rights reserved. Accenture and
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Alexander Aizenberg Accenture +1 917 452 9878
alexander.aizenberg@accenture.com
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