Sustainability Magazine May 2025 | Page 157

“ June can be an interesting time of year in Europe,” explains John McCalla-Leacy, KPMG’ s Global Head of ESG.
“ It can be both windy and very sunny, meaning lots of renewable energy, but other times, we don’ t have what we need. AI can play a crucial role in getting that energy to the right place.”
Cautious curiosity: The energy sector’ s relationship with AI Despite all the enthusiasm, energy companies are taking a rather measured approach to AI implementation.
KPMG’ s report reveals that 33 % of energy companies remain in the‘ proofof-concept’ stage for AI experimentation, piloting the technologies before committing to rolling them out.
Still, this is 8 % higher than the crosssector average, which shows that the energy sector is open to new ideas.
“ Energy executives are showing an increased interest in AI,” explains Daniel.
“ But while they’ re eager to explore AI’ s potential, there are three main factors tempering the pace of their adoption.”
First, the sector is wary of maximising the value of its investments.
Having been early adopters of enterprise resource planning systems, energy companies are today facing some challenges in modernising entrenched infrastructure to access the cloud capabilities necessary for AI projects.
Secondly, many companies that begin implementing AI
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