Skip to content
    • About us
    • Our ambition
    • Our people
    • Our places
    • Startups and scaleups
    • Government and Public sector
    • Corporates and Industry
    • Academia
    • Investors
    • Services, products and facilities
    • Technologies
    • Facilities
    • Opportunities
    • Current interventions
    • Case studies
    • Events
    • Blogs
    • Publications
    • Press releases
  • Search
  • Contact
Digital Catapult > Get involved > Events > AI and the Future of Sustainability Reporting

AI and the Future of Sustainability Reporting

Date: 1 April 2026 09:45 - 16:00

Register by: Friday 27 March 2026

About this event

Join us as we bring together sustainability practitioners, technologists, and researchers to explore how AI is accelerating sustainability reporting, and what responsible, effective adoption looks like in practice.

AI is transforming sustainability reporting, carbon accounting, and supply chain transparency at scale. As the technology matures, so does the opportunity to embed trust, accuracy, and accountability into how it’s used.

We’ll explore:

  • How AI is advancing supplier engagement, ESG analysis, and disclosure practices
  • Strengthening the link between reporting and meaningful real-world action
  • Best practice for validating AI-driven outputs and building confidence in results
  • How sustainability teams can harness AI to drive greater impact
  • What the road ahead looks like for carbon data, social licence, and corporate accountability

 

About the programme

This event is part of Sustainable AI Futures. Digital Catapult is a partner in the Sustainable AI Futures programme, an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Bridging Responsible AI Divides (BRAID) project that aims to address the challenge of how we can responsibly govern AI’s sustainability needs. The project, led by Bath Spa University, investigates the social life of AI environmental governance tools, including how they work, how they are made, how to improve them, their potential for unintended consequences, and their wider political, social, and ethical implications.

Who should attend

This event is open to anyone working at the intersection of sustainability and technology, including:

  • Sustainability and ESG professionals at organisations of any size or sector
  • Carbon accounting, measurement, and reporting specialists
  • AI, data, and tech leads at companies with climate or sustainability goals
  • Founders and innovators building tools for a more sustainable future
  • Policymakers, researchers, and advocates interested in the role of technology in sustainability

Why attend

Attendees will:

  • Hear from experts at the forefront of responsible and sustainable AI
  • Network and share best practice with peers across sectors
  • Explore opportunities for collaboration, innovation, and collective impact

Together, we’ll look beyond compliance to ask a deeper question: how well does the sustainability information ecosystem serve the needs of society and the environment, and what role should AI play in shaping its future?

Agenda

09:45- Arrival and coffee

10:15- Welcome and introduction

Why is AI and sustainability reporting are converging? What are the current regulatory and organisational pressures?

Speakers:

  • Chanell Daniels, Senior Responsible Technology Manager, Digital catapult
  • Jo Lindsay Walton, Principal Research Fellow in Arts, Climate and Technology,University of Sussex

10:30- Keynote: The sustainability of AI

A grounding talk on the environmental, social, and governance implications of AI systems, including energy use, supply chains, data, and emerging standards.

Speaker:

  • Jo Lindsay Walton, Principal Research Fellow in Arts, Climate and Technology,University of Sussex

11:00- Panel 1: Is AI sustainable? Risks, trade-offs, and futures

A critical discussion of the sustainability of AI itself: material impacts, challenges of measurement, rebound effects, “net impact”, and what “responsible” or “sustainable” AI can realistically mean for organisations and policy.

Chair:

  • Jo Lindsay Walton, Principal Research Fellow in Arts, Climate and Technology,University of Sussex

Speakers:

  • Melissa Gregg, Professor of Digital Futures, University of Bristol Business School
  • Oliver Cronk, CEO, Cronk Advisory
  • Loïc Lannelongue, Assistant Research Professor, University of Cambridge
  • Tim Dennett, Sustainability Manager, University of Exeter

11:45- Coffee break

12:00- Facilitated session 1: Mapping AI and sustainability risks and gaps

An interactive session helping participants identify where AI is already shaping sustainability and risk exposure in their own contexts. The session will also explore where and how organisations or policymakers can intervene most effectively.

12:45- Lunch

13:45- Panel 2: AI tools in ESG and sustainability reporting

A practical panel on how AI is being used in sustainability and ESG, how this is reshaping workflows, skills, and professional roles, and what the future might hold.

Chair:

  • Rachel Rayns, Principal of Service Transformation, Digital Catapult

Speaker:

  • Massimo Contrafatto, Reader in Accounting for Sustainability, University of Sussex
  • Jamie Riley, Head of Sustainability, Robinson PLC
  • Justine Porterie, Sustainability, ESG, Inclusion Leader & Strategic Advisor and Ex Impact Director at Depop
  • Alexis Normand, CEO & Co-founder, Greenly

14:30- Facilitated session 2: The future of AI and sustainability

An interactive, design-led session where participants will draw on our collective intelligence to prototype different plausible AI and sustainability futures.

15:15- Research into climate-related corporate reporting from Department for Business & Trade

Speaker:

  • Shane Brownie – Economic Adviser and Analytical Lead Corporate Reporting (Sustainability), Department for Business & Trade

15:30-Reflections and next steps

Key takeaways from the day, emerging priorities for organisations, and areas for further collaboration or action.

15:45- Close and networking 

16:00- Event ends 

 

—–

The Catapult may take photographs and/or videos at the physical event, which may be used in general promotional material recording or relating to the event, including use with websites, emails, social media and tangible literature. CCTV is also in operation in our premises. If you have any concerns relating to this, please contact the events coordinator at the event. For more information on Catapult’s use of your personal details, please see our Legal and Privacy Terms tab and our Privacy Policy.

Legal and Privacy Terms

Data Protection:

Catapult is hosting this event and is the data controller for your personal data. Catapult is responsible to you for how it stores, uses and processes your personal data in accordance with our privacy policy which can be found at https://www.digicatapult.org.uk/legal/privacy-policy/

Any data processors will only process your personal data on our instructions and for the purpose defined below.

Catapult may take photographs and/or video at the physical event, which may be used in general promotional material recording or relating to the event, including use with websites, emails, social media and tangible literature. If you have any concerns relating to this, please contact the events coordinator at the event.

Catapult may also use your submitted information for the purposes of organising and operating the event, related post event and dissemination activities, and assessing the impact of the event. Catapult may also contact you for feedback or research purposes. If you’ve signed up to allow us to stay in contact, we may also contact you regarding other activities and events they hope to be of interest to you. Where a programme, facility or event sponsor has been named, we may also pass your information to such sponsor for the same uses as Catapult in relation to the event.

By attending the event, you agree to Catapult collecting and using your personal data in the ways, for the purpose(s) and for the period defined above.

If you are applying on behalf of another person, you are confirming their acknowledgement and agreement to these terms.

You may at any time send a request to Catapult at [email protected] to access, rectify, erase, restrict processing or object to the processing your personal data.

 

Terms and Conditions:

Notice of admission: Digital Catapult (DC) is private property and admission to DC is by invitation only. We reserve the right to refuse admission to DC or to parts of DC to any person, or to require a person to leave DC, if his or her conduct or presence is considered by an officer of DC to be causing or liable to cause annoyance, endanger/be liable to endanger the exhibits, fabric of the building or be otherwise undesirable.

Your Property: We reserve the right to refuse to allow any item to be brought into DC, or to inspect any item. No item may be left unattended anywhere in DC. We reserve the right to deal with any unattended items as we deem appropriate, and accept no liability for damage which may be caused in consequence. We accept no responsibility for any loss or damage sustained by items left in the lockers, or cloakrooms, other than loss or damage caused by our negligence or that of our staff. You agree that the organisers may use your contributions for, without limitation, creating and publishing material relating to the event, but no contribution will be personally attributed in materials without explicit consent. We reserve the right to use delegate participation in our post event activities.

Enforcement: Employees of the Catapult are authorised by us to require compliance with these conditions.

If you are applying on behalf of another person, you are confirming their consent to these terms and the privacy terms.

Any comments or complaints about this event should be sent to [email protected], with the subject line “COMPLAINT” and dated.