African Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) are increasingly turning to technology, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), to advance sustainability goals as climate pressures and regulatory demands intensify across the continent.
The KPMG 2025 Africa CEO Outlook Report reveals a growing recognition that digital tools are no longer just operational enhancers but strategic levers for achieving environmental, social, and governance (ESG) objectives.
According to the report, 78 percent of African CEOs are using AI to reduce emissions and improve energy efficiency, while a similar proportion are applying the technology to enhance climate risk modelling and scenario planning.
“While attitudes towards ESG vary, the KPMG 2025 CEO Outlook indicates that most CEOs remain strongly committed to navigating the regulatory landscape to achieve their sustainability goals,” the report notes.
In addition, 79 percent of CEOs are deploying AI to improve sustainability-related data quality and reporting.
These trends highlight a growing alignment between climate ambitions and digital transformation strategies, suggesting that AI is becoming central to how African businesses prepare for a low-carbon future.
The report observes that both African and global CEOs view AI as a key enabler of sustainability, underscoring a shared belief that data-driven insights can accelerate progress toward net-zero goals.
However, adopting AI for sustainability sits within a broader effort to navigate diverse ESG attitudes and regulatory environments across markets.
The report further shows that 79 percent of African CEOs are confident in their organisations’ ability to adapt to evolving regulatory and political differences in ESG, though this remains ten percentage points behind their global peers, reflecting a more fragmented policy landscape across African economies.
While 46 percent of CEOs on the continent are aligning sustainability targets with core business strategies, 51 percent are prioritising compliance and reporting obligations.
This dual focus illustrates the balancing act executives face: maintaining business competitiveness while responding to growing regulatory expectations around climate disclosure, emissions reduction, and responsible governance.
Still, the report acknowledges the challenges ahead.
“African organisations face higher regulatory challenges, with 21 percent citing the complexity of decarbonising supply chains as their top barrier to achieving net-zero and climate ambitions, and a lack of skills and expertise to successfully implement solutions,” it states.
Many supply chains across the continent remain resource-intensive, informal, or insufficiently digitised, making emissions tracking and reduction more difficult.
Compounding this is a shortage of skills needed to implement climate technologies effectively, including specialised AI applications.
These realities show that while African CEOs exhibit strong intent and growing confidence, the operating environment remains structurally challenging.
On investment priorities, CEOs globally and in Africa are increasingly integrating sustainability into capital allocation decisions, though at varying levels of maturity.
Globally, 36 percent of CEOs factor sustainability costs and returns into some decisions, while 29 percent do so comprehensively. In Africa, 30 percent consider sustainability in some investment decisions, with 21 percent integrating these considerations fully.
This reflects gradual progress as African CEOs work to establish clearer frameworks for quantifying sustainability value.
“In a positive light, more than 40 percent of global and African CEOs indicate they are actively developing and launching new products or services,” the report adds.
These innovations are supporting the energy transition and demonstrating a forward-looking approach that seeks not only compliance but also market opportunity.
Overall, African CEOs are steadily embedding technology into climate action and corporate strategy. While regulatory fragmentation and capacity gaps persist, the growing use of AI for emissions modelling, risk forecasting, and sustainability reporting points to meaningful momentum toward climate-aligned growth.
