- Half of the companies believe that AIS benefits outweigh its environmental impact
- Many are still struggling to see concrete results or high ROI
- Energy consumption continues to rise in the middle of AI -adoption
Many companies are apparently happy to invest in AI without necessarily considering the negative consequences, including environmental effects, new research has found.
A report from Capgemini claims that three-fifths (61%) of global organizations are planning to increase Genai spending in the next year, and this will come after a year when 88% have already increased Genai spending.
To this tune, more than half (51%) believe that generative AI’s benefits will offset its environmental impact – a mood that is more pronounced in the UK (56%).
Investing companies blindly in AI?
With AI use skyrocketing in recent years, the focus has largely been on the companies behind the AI tools we use and not the companies that use them.
For example, Google recently revealed a 27% increase in its data center energy consumption during the latter half of 2024 and the first half of 2025. Microsoft experienced an increase of 168% in total energy consumption between 2020 and 2024.
Companies not only fail with sustainability – one in five (21%) are not satisfied with their results so far, and many notice “Bill Shocks” where scaling AI efforts surpass the first projections.
“Quick adoption is not necessarily translated to a large scale implementation with concrete ROI,” explained CTO Franck Greverie.
Looking ahead, several companies turn to small language models to increase cost -effectiveness, with 12% of the budgets on average dedicated to generative AI alone.
However, investing freely in AI is not the most effective solution. Greerie explained that “companies need to create a solid data fundament, in a trusted environment that is compatible, secure and ensures necessary privacy” to see the greatest ROI.
Looking ahead, Capgemini suggests a more targeted approach to holding a grip on the environmental and economic effects of AI, and it started by establishing management policies (as only 46% have done) and focused on areas with great influence such as customer operations, marketing and risk management.
