How Can Brands Balance AI Media Buying With Sustainability Goals? The European Example

In Cannes, we partnered with PwC France to host "AI-led Marketing and Sustainability Commitments," bringing together leaders from companies like LVMH, AXA, Google, UDM and PwC to tackle a critical challenge: How can energy-intensive generative AI align with ambitious climate commitments?

The conversation revealed clear consensus — AI is here to stay, but adoption must prioritize sustainability and responsibility, highlighting a distinctly European cultural approach that brings valuable perspective to the global AI debate.

Brands must accept that AI is here to stay. We're far from the disappointing tech waves of previous years, like the metaverse or blockchain.

"We can't go back," said Marine Gissy, Global Media Lead at AXA. "We use AI every day—even on confidential documents with our internal secured AI we are lucky to have. But now the real question is: How do we remain responsible while moving forward so quickly? The significant transformation will stem from the trust people have in AI responses, such as those from chatbots and social searches, especially during purposeful inquiries, but also from how it's built and its responsible impact on the entire ecosystem."

Every brand marketer must be asking themselves how to be properly indexed on these new tools that will render traditional search methods obsolete, and how to redefine the right time, right place, right person in an agentic internet. There's no room for evasive marketers anymore. We're facing a fundamental shift that's transforming the very nature of marketing itself.

What drives the surge in AI adoption across industries?

European companies are rapidly deploying AI technologies, especially in marketing and media. According to recent data shared by Mckinsey and the WFA, over 90% of global advertisers now have working groups focused on integrating AI across all functions, from supply chain to advertising.

“This isn’t just a trend,” noted Marion Setiey, Deputy Group International Media Director at LVMH. “It’s a structural change. AI adoption began with individual users, not businesses, and now companies are racing to catch up. AI must enhance—not replace—human creativity. At LVMH, for example, creative decisions remain deeply rooted in brand heritage, DNA and craftsmanship. Technology and innovation are intrinsically linked to creativity. For us, it’s about keeping the human at the center.”

Why is AI’s carbon footprint a major concern?

While AI offers clear productivity gains — estimated at nearly one hour per day — concerns over its carbon footprint are rising. Generative AI models like ChatGPT or Gemini require massive computational resources, and thus, energy. This puts achieving climate commitments at risk. . Google, for instance, has pledged to be carbon neutral by 2030, even as it accelerates AI innovation.

“We committed to carbon neutrality before the AI boom,” said François Loviton, Managing Director Google Advertising France. “We still aim for 2030, but predicting the future environmental impact of AI is complex and evolving, and our historical trends likely don't fully capture AI’s future trajectory.”

Moreover, measuring emissions accurately remains a technical and collaborative challenge. Estimates of AI’s energy usage vary wildly, from 1x to 100x, due to inconsistent data sources and methods.

“There’s a huge variance,” François added. “We need rigorous, shared metrics. Otherwise, we risk acting on misinformation. AI isn’t just hype—it represents structural change driving disruptive team upskilling gains and sustainability issues. To help drive change, we’re giving advertisers newfound insight into the emissions of ads running on our platform, inclusive of AI emissions, with Carbon Footprint for Google Ads first party reporting data.”

How are European brands measuring sustainable AI?

To address sustainability concerns around AI, European brands are investing in tools and frameworks to measure and mitigate AI’s environmental impact. At LVMH, this began two years ago with the creation of a proprietary tool to track media-related carbon emissions. The tool aligns with Ad Net Zero and the Global Sustainability Framework (GMSF), but achieving accurate measurements has been difficult due to differing standards and data access issues across media partners. This collaboration will also need to extend  to generative AI. While LLM-based advertising isn’t yet fully mainstream, Marion confirmed that LVMH plans to measure its carbon footprint once it becomes viable.

“We wanted our own methodology to account for our partners, the media vendors’ progress," said Marion Setiey. “Each brand in our Group now uses that tool to build their own sustainability roadmap. It is very interesting because every Maisons have different carbon emissions profile in media, depending on their very own media strategies. Now that our measurement capabilities are in place, we are in the process of accompanying the Maisons to optimize their carbon footprint, but not at the cost of their media strategy and performance of the campaigns as both should be led in parallel.”

What role do efficiency, innovation, and regulation play?

Despite the energy concerns, there is reason for optimism.

According to François Loviton, advancements in prompt optimization have already reduced the energy cost per prompt by 80%. Google is also exploring ways to serve user needs without resorting to the most resource-intensive AI processes. The push for greener AI also intersects with economic imperatives.

Serving AI-powered ads at scale, for example, may not be financially viable unless energy efficiency improves. At a regulatory level, the conversation acknowledged Europe’s leadership in proactive governance but cautioned against overregulation.

“If someone just wants the weather, there’s no need to use a large language model,” he noted. “Traditional search is faster, cheaper, and greener. It’s not just about sustainability—it’s also about making AI affordable to run,” he emphasized. “We’re already regulating something that’s barely off the ground,” warned Jean-Luc Chetrit, General Manager at the French “Union des Marques”: “If we move too fast, we risk slowing down European innovation.”

How Is the ad industry building a responsible AI future?

Ultimately, striking a balance between innovation and environmental responsibility requires a shared framework. That’s why a coalition of European firms — including Bouygues, Nestlé, and LVMH — recently co-authored a guide for deploying responsible generative AI.

"We built a set of 23 best practices, covering everything from sovereignty and diversity to carbon impact," said Jean-Luc Chetrit. "It's about asking the right questions—and updating the answers constantly. This highlights the governance challenge companies face: how to integrate all departments to effectively manage AI strategy, ensuring brands develop value-creating innovations within a defined framework before sharing them with stakeholders across our initiatives."

Above all, the human element must remain at the core of AI strategy.

“We believe strongly in test-and-learn,” Marion Setiey added. “But creativity, heritage, and human must always stay central. We must maintain a consumer-centric perspective, prioritize people first in all AI and sustainability discussions, and aim for better performance through a more for less approach. The future of advertising lies in balancing technological advancement with human expertise & creativity and environmental responsibility.”

The European advertising industry is rapidly evolving as AI opportunities and growing demand for sustainable advertising reshape the sector, creating new complexities and choices. As the "digital burden" escalates , advertisers can already leverage a variety of strategies to reduce their carbon footprint through deploying agentic solutions, partnering closer with their media agencies, or increasing internal resources.

“Regardless of how brands go about putting sustainable AI and advertising into practice, what brands need is trust above all.” said Eleonore Ogrinz Marketing & Media Director Europe at PwC.

The opportunity lies in AI's ability to deliver on plans that reduce carbon footprint while achieving stronger consumer resonance and better ROI. AI makes sustainability goals more accessible.  Despite advances in technology, decisions will continue to be made by humans, supported by experts who help advertisers navigate their ever expanding list of choices.

“The human element remains crucial as we transform our organizations and adapt operational models at unprecedented speed. We must be careful not to create 'digital overload' and stay sensitive to the increased demands AI places on our colleagues and partners.”

Key Takeaways:

• European companies like LVMH or AXA are leading responsible AI adoption by aligning technology with sustainability goals.
• Emissions tracking tools are emerging but still face data standardization challenges, while efficiency innovations reduce AI's energy footprint.
• Regulation must balance supporting innovation without stifling technological progress.
• Human control and oversight remain critical, with humans managing strategy and decisions while AI provides the execution layer.
• Europe's cautious, collaborative approach could become the global model for sustainable AI development.