- Indian firms see AI's potential for sustainability but lag in adoption and execution
- Only 31% centrally use AI for environmental sustainability despite 58% team alignment
- Just 9% pilot agentic AI, with 1% fully deploying autonomous AI-driven sustainability
While Indian organisations recognise the potential of artificial intelligence to transform their sustainability posture — through resource optimisation, smarter decision making, and driving innovation — adoption of AI lags.
A study by Kyndryl, in collaboration with Microsoft, shows that despite 58% of organisations reporting strong alignment between technology and sustainability teams, only 31% leverage AI centrally to drive environmental sustainability and informed decisions.
The adoption of agentic AI for sustainability remains nascent in India, with only 9% of organisations piloting or implementing it, and just 1% having fully deployed it, highlighting that autonomous, AI-driven sustainability execution is still in early stages.
“The 2025 Global Sustainability Barometer Study shows that more than half of leading organisations now use predictive AI to anticipate and act on sustainability challenges — rather than just to track and analyse — making forward-looking intelligence central to sustainability strategy,” said Ricardo Davila, GM, Enterprise Partner Solutions, Microsoft.
Gap Between Ambition And Execution Of Sustainability
The study reveals that 69% of Indian organisations rate sustainability as a top priority, with 76% leveraging digital solutions that improve resource efficiency and lower environmental impact across operations. However, the findings also highlight a gap between ambition and execution.
While 47% organisations are driving environmental sustainability through proactive or consistent initiatives, only 15% have embedded it as a driver of innovation, cost savings, and long-term resilience — indicating that sustainability efforts remain fragmented in many organisations.
Key India Findings
Clearer ROI Drives Action: Around 58% of organisations accelerated sustainability initiatives because they see clearer ROI and stronger business case. Furthermore, 49% of all respondents cite the lack of measurable ROI and impact as the biggest barrier to scale sustainability.
Data Collected, But Underutilised: While 74% of organisations track environmental metrics centrally, just 34% actively use this data to inform decisions and optimise performance, suggesting that sustainability data are still primarily used for reporting rather than continuous improvement.
Employees Emerge As Top Voice: In India, employees (62%) are found to be the top voice shaping sustainability action, followed by investors/shareholders (56%) and customers (54%).
