For the second year running, AI is the top sustainability enabler for Design and Make industries, with 39% of leaders saying they use AI to be more sustainable, more than any other action; this is up from 34% in 2024 and 26% in 2023. 

With nearly all organizations taking steps to be more sustainable, many are turning to AI technology to help enable sustainable outcomes. For instance, in the design and manufacturing industries, where 80% of a product’s environmental impact is influenced by decisions made at the design stage, AI is helping leaders think about sustainability from conception through production.

The integration of AI into sustainability efforts is having an impact across Design and Make industries. Among other things, AI helps to mitigate the impact of natural disasters by visualizing flood impacts, reduce carbon footprint by optimizing building energy use and preventing material waste, and assess product lifecycles, providing a detailed view of environmental impact from materials sourcing through disposal. 

Not surprisingly, digitally mature companies report using the technology for sustainability more than less digitally mature organizations (43% and 35%, respectively). At data-effective organizations—those at which leaders said they are “very effective” at leveraging data—45% of leaders are using AI to enable sustainability, compared to 38% of other organizations. These numbers could highlight an AI implementation gap—one that may widen as technology advances and provide a competitive advantage for data-centric organizations. 

Ironically, the AI technology enabling more sustainable outcomes is also increasingly taxing on the environment. Data centers require a large amount of water and energy to run and cool, and they produce electronic waste that is difficult to dispose of. Design and Make organizations are exploring solutions to this problem to offset the impact of data centers, including carbon-removal technology or carbon-offset programs.