Part 1/5 of David Carlin's series on sustainability teams' use of AI today
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In his digest series Ask David, David Carlin explores the challenges sustainability teams face today, giving actionable advice on demonstrating financial value, strengthening business strategy, managing risk, and driving real organizational impact. His new five-part series offers insights into how AI can help bridge the gap between sustainability teams' broad mandates and limited resources. Part 1 gives an overview of how AI is currently used in the work of sustainability teams.
Almost every sustainability team we speak to is now using AI in some form. But the sophistication of those applications varies significantly.
Reporting is probably the most common use case today. Teams are looking at how AI can reduce the considerable amount of time spent gathering information, reviewing requirements, structuring disclosures and, increasingly, helping put reports themselves together.
That makes sense. Sustainability reporting involves large volumes of structured and unstructured information, often spread across different systems and teams. Much of the work involves gathering, reconciling, checking and organizing information before the higher-value judgment even begins.
But reporting is really just the tip of the iceberg.
We are beginning to see more interesting applications emerge around risk data and analysis, regulatory monitoring, research and other sustainability processes. At the same time, organizations are developing policies and controls around how AI should be used, particularly given concerns around confidentiality, accuracy and reliability.
Reporting may be where adoption has started, but I think we are at the beginning of a much larger shift in how sustainability teams operate.
For more information, visit the D. A. Carlin & Company or explore David Carlin's Substack.
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investESG
investESG
