Most companies aren't measuring AI's environmental impact, new report shows

Companies are adopting AI quickly, but most still overlook the energy impact of the systems they use daily. New research suggests this gap is now large enough to affect electricity use in offices, data rooms and commercial buildings. Energy specialists say the problem could be turned into an opportunity -- if firms pay attention to how their AI tools work in practice.

The Thomson Reuters Foundation has published early findings from its AI Company Data Initiative, known as AICDI. The new study examines AI governance disclosures from 1,000 companies in 13 sectors. Built with UNESCO, it is described as the largest dataset that tracks how firms explain and oversee their use of AI.

AI governance

The results show an obvious gap between the speed of AI adoption and the quality of its governance. Companies are bringing AI into daily operations far faster than they are managing the risks that come with it, and one of the biggest gaps comes in the form of environmental reporting.

AICDI found that 97 percent of companies did not assess the environmental impact of their AI systems, which includes energy use, emissions and the added load placed on existing infrastructure.

Many firms describe their AI systems as ethical, trustworthy or secure, but the study shows that almost none link AI deployment with rising electricity demand or the climate commitments they report elsewhere.

Responding to the report, Donatas Karčiauskas, CEO of Exergio, a company developing tools for energy efficiency in real estate, said: “Many people assume AI will always waste energy, so they never stop to ask about its environmental impact. But that’s not true. There are tools where AI does the opposite -- it cuts consumption. Advanced building management systems, for example, use AI to lower heating and cooling demand instead of raising it."

The study also found that while 76 percent of companies with an AI strategy say the technology is overseen at the management level, only 41 percent make their policies accessible to employees or even require staff to acknowledge them.

Evaluating AI wrong

Karčiauskas said this shows how the industry evaluates AI in the wrong way. “The study exposes a governance gap around measurement," he explained. "If you don’t watch what AI is doing in real time, you’re guessing whether it helps or harms your goals. In buildings, that means knowing when systems switch on, how much power they pull, and what actually changes once AI starts running them. Without that operational data, AI governance is just paperwork.”

AICDI reports that companies in Europe, the Middle East and Africa are the most likely to publish AI strategies, with 53 percent doing so. The EU AI Act has influenced this shift, but even in Europe, the environmental impact of AI is still barely mentioned in governance documents.

“Europe is ahead on regulation, but even here the energy footprint of AI is mostly absent from the discussion. As the EU AI Act matures, operational transparency, including how much power AI uses and whether it saves any, needs to be part of governance. Otherwise, it’s too easy to sell ‘responsible AI’ on paper while ignoring what happens to real world energy use,” Karčiauskas noted.

AICDI concludes that companies need a better understanding of where AI sits inside their operations and how it changes day to day activity. Most remain at an early stage in assessing the operational and environmental footprint of the systems they use.

What do you think about AI’s growing energy impact? Let us know in the comments.

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