Marketers Face New AI Dilemma: Lack of Quantification of Environmental Footprint
Climate technology and consulting firm 51toCarbonZero released a report indicating that most marketing leaders recognize AI drives up carbon emissions, yet quantification of its environmental impact is severely lacking. The survey covered 200 senior marketing executives in the US and UK, revealing a significant gap between AI environmental governance and overall sustainable development progress.
Key Takeaways:
- A new report from climate tech and consultancy firm 51toCarbonZero shows that most marketers believe AI is expanding their carbon footprint, but many are not fully measuring the total environmental impact of their technology use.
- Among senior marketing leaders surveyed, 88% believe AI increases their carbon footprint, and 42% believe AI causes a significant rise in emissions. However, only 36% of leaders fully measure the environmental effects of their AI investments, and 8% do not measure them at all.
- Awareness of the negative impacts of the AI boom is in tension with the progress marketers report in other areas of sustainability. Budget concerns around sustainability have declined since 2025, while 85% of marketers report moderate to significant progress in reducing emissions.
Deep Dive:
The environmental side effects of investing in AI—including the energy-intensive data centers that power the technology—have become afocal point of consumer concern. Marketers are largely aware of the issue, but many have not yet invested enough effort to fully understand the extent to which AI is increasing their carbon footprint, posing an obstacle to their broader sustainability initiatives.
This cognitive dissonance identified by 51toCarbonZero—where the vast majority of marketers believe AI is driving up emissions, but fewer than half fully account for AI's impact—comes at a time whenmany CMOs feel pressureto quickly master this complex and costly technology. 51toCarbonZero attributes part of the gap to governance challenges within marketing organizations—which believe they have already improved their sustainability practices.
"Companies cannot effectively reduce what they do not measure—there is still work to be done in building clearer visibility into AI's environmental impact," said Richard Davis, co-founder and CEO of 51toCarbonZero, in a statement accompanying the research.
51toCarbonZero, in partnership with Censuswide, surveyed 100 U.S. and 100 U.K. marketing leaders in June for its "Zeroed In: The Brand Marketing Pulse" benchmark report. Respondents were senior-level or C-suite marketers across multiple departments at large brands.
Some differences in sentiment emerged between regions. For example, 51% of U.S. marketers believe AI causes a significant rise in emissions, compared to 32% of U.K. marketers. Overall, marketers also feel the hefty price tag of AI beyond environmental factors. 88% say AI raises operating costs, with 35% saying it raises them considerably.
The AI-related findings cast a shadow over progress in other areas of sustainability. Only 17% of marketers express budget concerns in this area, down 20 percentage points from 2025. Fewer than a quarter of respondents cite internal coordination around sustainability as a key challenge.
The 51toCarbonZero report comes as the early AI boom continues to cool, with growing public backlash against the technology andheightened investor skepticism. Some AI-centric platforms are attempting to ease consumer AI fears through marketing. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared a video earlier this week presenting AI in an optimistic, human-centric light. According to Adweek, the parent company of Facebook and Instagramplans to back the campaign with paid media support。