Helping Businesses Navigate The AI and Climate Transitions: A Deep Dive with CO2 AI’s CEO

AI and climate change are two of the most disruptive forces shaping business today. But as scrutiny grows over AI’s carbon footprint, climate risks accelerate, and sustainability policy faces political headwinds, business leaders are struggling to navigate these complex transitions.

Charlotte Degot, CEO of CO2 AI, believes the answer isn’t to scale back. It’s to scale smarter. In this edition of Sustainability Deep Dives, we discuss how AI is reshaping the future of climate action, from automating Scope 3 data collection to helping companies track ROI from sustainability investments.

1. AI is everywhere right now, but as sustainability disclosure rules get weakened in the EU and beyond, are regulators underestimating the role AI can play in accelerating and simplifying data collection and aggregation?  

AI is one of the greatest enablers today for companies wanting to move from climate ambition to action. It can dramatically reduce the manual burden of sustainability reporting by automating data ingestion from hundreds of systems, harmonizing it across suppliers, and providing real-time quality checks.  Last month, we launched CO2 AI Agents, a full suite of AI Agents tailored specifically for sustainability professionals. One of the agents is automatically collecting public data from suppliers to provide emissions assessment in minutes, vs. months of surveying. Overall, deployment has achieved 70% time savings for customers by accelerating the data and decision workflows that matter most.  

Today, we have the tools to accelerate corporate decarbonization like never before. We don’t need deregulation; we need regulatory pressure to nudge corporations to embrace innovation and accelerate their climate action. Weakening standards underestimates both the urgency of the climate crisis and the tools we have to tackle it efficiently. 

2. AI has been criticized more for its carbon footprint than celebrated for its potential to reduce emissions. How do you guide businesses to adopt AI in ways that align with their climate goals? 

The concerns with AI’s environmental impact are real, and I share them. The consumption of AI, and especially generative AI, is skyrocketing. In our business, we use it in a very conscious way. Our AI solution was developed to increase the precision and accuracy of emissions measurement for companies. We have optimized the data pipelines to create the smallest and most relevant context window to optimize the use of AI, without retraining or fine-tuning. What I’d like to emphasize is that while there is an environmental cost of using AI, there is also an environmental cost of NOT using it. Think about the missed opportunity of not having accurate emissions data, not being able to identify the hotspots and abatement levers, and ultimately, not being able to decarbonize in line with your targets to reach Net Zero. The collective impact of corporate inaction will be catastrophic to the environment.  

We don’t have a lot of time, there’s a mountain to climb, and we need to do it quickly. By leveraging efficient AI inference, organizations can achieve accurate emissions tracking at a fraction of the cost and resource consumption and at a much faster scale, which will ultimately be positive for the planet in the long run. 

3. AI thrives on data, but most companies still struggle with emissions accuracy, especially for Scope 3. How is CO2 AI helping close the data gap while keeping reporting credible and decision-useful? 

The carbon accounting process has traditionally been extremely complex and manual. A big challenge is the magnitude of activities that you need to capture and account for. With our clients, we leverage AI to close the data gap and facilitate measuring-for-decision-making and actual decarbonization.  

I can give the example of Reckitt, a leader in health, hygiene, and nutrition products. They used our software to automate the measurement of their carbon footprint. Using AI technology, they were able to collect 300,000 data points in 2023 to re-baseline, moving from a footprint based on averages to detailed, granular, accurate emissions data. The carbon footprint of around 25,000 Reckitt products is now automatically measured, and they can refresh that data at the press of a button. That is the speed, accuracy, and scalability that CO2 AI brings to the carbon accounting process, enabling our clients to move from ambition to action. 

4. You’ve said sustainability must become embedded into business decisions. How does CO2 AI help companies move beyond compliance and generate measurable ROI from climate data? 

We’ve worked with our customers to calculate the ROI of investing in a sustainability platform that doesn’t just support compliance but delivers tangible business value. Across our customers, we’ve measured a 300% return on investment within the first year, largely driven by operational efficiencies and faster decision-making unlocked by the platform implementation. Instead of spending months manually collecting and cleaning emissions data, companies can reallocate resources to where it matters: decarbonization strategy. 

For example, The Economist Group uses CO2 AI to leverage powerful scenario planning capabilities. These enable the sustainability team to take forecasted business growth into account, track the impact of different reduction initiatives, and identify any gaps between the current trajectory and its 2030 targets. They have achieved a 30% reduction compared with their FY2020 base year emissions, and surpassed their 25% Science-Based Target initiative (SBTi) target in 2025. 

5. AI and climate are arguably the two most disruptive forces in business today. What makes a company truly AI- and climate-ready, and how can they navigate both transitions at once? 

 BCG published a great report in December 2024 on the cost of climate inaction. The report found that physical risks of climate change could threaten 5% to 25% of corporate profits by 2050. Businesses no longer have a choice but to be AI and climate-ready. To navigate both transitions at once, we need leaders who understand and anticipate the importance of building supply chain resilience. Leaders need to think long-term benefits over short-term wins, understand and factor in the ROI of decarbonizing, and above all, be open to change. In my experience, you can’t convince people; they need to feel it. The role of a CEO isn't just about generating profits or ensuring short-term success. It's fundamentally about guiding the company toward long-term survival and sustainability. If they aren't factoring climate change and environmental responsibility into their strategy, they are neglecting a crucial part of their duty. The CEOs who are working proactively to future-proof their business will emerge as the winners in the next decades. 

6. What excites you most about the convergence of AI and climate tech? Are there any breakthroughs or shifts on the horizon that business leaders should be watching closely? 

We already know that we are not going to stay below the 1.5°C limit that was outlined in the Paris Agreement, but I am hopeful that AI can be applied strategically to prevent and/or significantly delay the worst outcomes for the planet.  We were selected as one of the World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneers for this year, and looking at some of the tremendous work that other startups are doing in the cohort, I feel recharged. From innovations in carbon capture to renewable energy, the convergence of AI and climate tech is shaping up to be an enormous catalyst for change.