Accountants need to ensure long term sustainability objectives are not sacrificed for short term AI gains
Dubai, UAE; 10 December 2024: The latest of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants’ (ACCA) AI Monitor series Unravelling AI’s role in sustainability states that to embrace AI effectively requires education and a cultural mind shift.
Accountants have a key role in driving organisations towards using AI (artificial intelligence) to hit sustainability goals, especially in the area of data quality and data governance. At the same time, they must make organisations aware of the environmental impact of AI investment in terms of greater emissions and water usage.
Embracing this sophisticated, emerging set of technologies could help in the fight to meet present needs without compromising future generations’ ability to meet their needs. AI solutions are increasingly seen as critical in helping organisations measure and report their environmental impact.
Alistair Brisbourne, Head of Technology Research at ACCA warns AI is a double-edged sword. He said: “It is clear AI holds tremendous potential, but without due consideration AI technologies can also threaten progress towards achieving sustainability goals.”
This is where accountants can add vital strategic value. As ACCA’s research Chief Value Officer – the important evolution of the CFOpointed out,as organisations increasingly integrate analysis and AI into their processes, it is the human analysis and validation of the outputs that create the insights which stimulate value generation.
Brisbourne said: “Organisations need to focus on getting people to think about AI as something that is learning from them, encouraging people to input and maintain data that will provide more value. At the heart of these challenges lies the fundamental issue of data quality and standardisation. Accountants need to lead in the establishment of good data practices to ensure benefits are realised.”
Kush Ahuja, Head of Eurasia and Middle East at ACCA, commented, “As businesses in the Middle East embrace AI to accelerate their sustainability journey, it is imperative to balance short-term efficiency gains with long-term environmental considerations. Accountants have a strategic role to play in ensuring the deployment of AI aligns with the region’s broader ESG objectives and sustainability goals.”
AI could be used to accelerate progress on achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Innovative solutions are needed with only 17% of SDG targets on track for 2030 and another 35% showing signs of stagnation or regression.
In particular, technology could play a supporting role in sustainability reporting with AI overcoming one key challenge – converting financial data into meaningful environmental metrics. However, the challenge of data quality is not solved purely using AI. Brisbourne said: “In terms of sustainability reporting, accountants have a critical role in making sense of transaction data to underpin and improve reporting.
“They need to ensure high-quality data input that AI systems can effectively interpret and learn over time, dealing with exceptions and verifying data. From an assurance angle, they can also support improved validation of estimates and monitoring of models running such exercises.”
The report also examines how AI brings its own sustainability challenges. A single ChatGPT request has been estimated by the Electric Power Research Institute to require approximately ten times the amount of energy as a Google query. Goldman Sachs estimates that currently relatively stable data centre power usage is set to surge 160% by 2030 fuelled by AI. As a result, modern data centres are also increasing water usage – extensive cooling systems are required as more powerful chips generate more heat.
Ahuja further added, “The Middle East is at the forefront of AI innovation, and this comes with the responsibility to ensure its deployment is ethical, sustainable, and aligned with stakeholder expectations. By adopting good data practices and integrating human oversight, accountants can ensure AI solutions deliver both environmental and business value.”
Practical implications for accountants
- Maintain good data practices
- Actively participate in AI system feedback loops to allow continual improvement
- Ethical implementation and use
- Recognise the importance of granularity in data
- Consider the environmental impact of solutions
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