A research conducted by the Capgemini Research Institute entitled "Climate AI: How artificial intelligence can power your climate action strategy" shows that 48% of the companies interviewed, belonging to different market sectors, use artificial intelligence to combat climate change. This research therefore suggests that technology can play a fundamental role in safeguarding environmental health.
Artificial Intelligence can help organizations improve the energy efficiency of their infrastructure and help reduce dependence on fossil fuels thanks to alternative solutions; furthermore, by speeding up and optimizing the production processes, thus reducing errors and unexpected events, the need and use of any type of resource, from electricity to raw materials, will consequently be reduced.
Since 2017, a 12.9% reduction in greenhouse gases has been estimated, energy efficiency has improved by 10.9% and waste has been reduced by 11.7%. A reduction of greenhouse gases of up to 16% is hoped for, meeting 45% of the objectives set for 2030 with the Paris Agreement in just 5 years.
The implementation of advanced technological tools, especially related to AI, still remains the prerogative of large multinationals and would require competent teams to be able to implement them; moreover, after the coronavirus emergency many investments of this kind have been discouraged, but great results are obtained by taking small steps such as, for example, investing in updated and cutting-edge software capable of managing and optimizing production processes, taking care of every detail . Having technologies available that can predict errors, simulate any future scenarios before any investment would allow for a considerable saving of resources.
As far as the adoption of AI by companies is concerned, Europe holds the record, in fact, two fifths of the organizations examined belong to the old continent. Unfortunately, the potential of AI in terms of sustainability is not yet known, but we believe that one day these can really make a difference.