IBM Consulting Q&A: How can AI be used for Sustainability?

Another important consideration is where you process your data. Co-locating your data next to your processing can lead to significant energy savings, and doing this in a data centre with available renewable energy sources can help reduce your carbon footprint even further.

Infrastructure behind your model also plays a critical role. Since up to 90% of a model’s lifespan is spent in use, choosing the right chips and infrastructure can make a significant difference in an organisation’s energy consumption. 

Prioritising transparency and open-source collaboration is important. By embracing open-source, we can tap into the ‘wisdom of crowds’, enabling us to pool collective expertise, resources and perspectives to develop better, more energy-efficient, and more sustainable AI solutions.

How do reporting guidelines and regulations impact AI?

Many companies face a number of regulations and reporting requirements, nationally, internationally, and sometimes even regionally. 

AI impacts this in at least two ways. As a tool that is rapidly being adopted, it will contribute to companies’ overall impact and have to be accounted for in their sustainability reporting. However, AI can also be leveraged to make operations more efficient and significantly decrease the burden of the actual reporting.

According to a recent IBM Institute for Business Value study, spending on sustainability reporting exceeds spending on sustainability innovation by 43%. AI can help rebalance these dollars toward innovation, by streamlining data collection and enabling organisations to take more targeted actions that allow them to drive meaningful sustainability progress.

How is IBM helping organisations make progress on their sustainability initiatives?

IBM believes that everyone has a role to play in addressing today’s environmental challenges. That’s why we’re committed to helping organisations develop and implement sustainable practices, as well as leveraging data-driven technologies to deliver positive environmental impact.

We work closely with companies to integrate sustainability into their decision-making processes, driving measurable improvements to operations, performance, and progress towards their sustainability goals. 

By empowering organisations with AI and other technologies, we can help streamline reporting, mitigate climate-related risks, reduce carbon footprint and much more. 

For instance, IBM Consulting and Hera SpA, a leading multi-utility in Italy, worked together to use AI to help minimise landfill waste. By leveraging AI to analyse video footage of incoming waste, Hera SpA was able to better identify the characteristics of items and materials that can be recovered and reused, achieving greater efficiency across 89 facilities and more sustainable outcomes.

******

Make sure you check out the latest edition of Sustainability Magazine and also sign up to our global conference series – Sustainability LIVE 2024

******

Sustainability Magazine is a BizClik brand

******