The next big business metric? Your AI footprint.

Artificial intelligence is changing everything: how we work, build, create, and grow. It’s unlocking opportunities daily. At Grove Collaborative, we’ve seen it firsthand. AI helps us move faster, make smarter decisions, and, most importantly, serve our customers better.

But here’s the part not enough people are talking about: the environmental cost.

AI is resource-intensive, especially when rolled out at scale. It uses a ton of electricity and water, drives new forms of e-waste, and complicates carbon accounting. For mission-driven companies—especially those built on sustainability—that creates a real tension. We want to innovate. But we also want to protect the planet we all share.

So we asked ourselves a deceptively simple question: What’s our AI footprint?

We didn’t know the answer. There was no standard. No export from a large language model. No tool. Just a growing impact no one seemed to be measuring.

So we built one.

A METHOD TO ESTIMATE AI EMISSIONS

Partnering with our longtime friends at Gravity, a carbon and energy accounting platform, we developed a science-informed method for estimating AI emissions—factoring in compute time, server power, and grid emissions. It’s not perfect (no model is). But it’s a practical start that gives us real visibility into the footprint we’re creating.

Our projected 2025 AI-related carbon footprint is 17.8 metric tons of CO2e, equivalent to roughly 6% of our 2024 business travel emissions (299 metric tons of CO2e). This is a first estimate based on our current usage today, but we know this number will grow. And having a baseline is essential to understand our impact so that we can explore how to reduce it over time.

During NYC Climate Week, we became one of the first retailers to disclose estimated AI emissions. And beginning in 2026, we’ll include them in our annual sustainability reporting.

But this can’t just be about us. Which is why we’re open-sourcing the methodology. Any company, whether a startup or multinational, can—and should—use it to measure and track their AI footprint. Because the speed of AI adoption is outpacing our ability to measure its impact. Without transparency, there’s no path to making AI both powerful and sustainable.

This isn’t about slowing innovation. It’s about making sure innovation and sustainability move forward together, not in opposition.

4 WAYS TO MEASURE YOUR AI FOOTPRINT

Here’s the playbook we’re proposing for you to measure your AI footprint:

• Measure what matters. Don’t guess. Track AI emissions with as much granularity as current science allows. Build them into Scope 3 emissions reporting.
• Mitigate with integrity. Offset what you can’t reduce, but don’t stop there. Balance AI emissions with high-quality carbon offsets and, based on your measurement, invest in strategies to reduce them over time.
• Choose more sustainable models. Favor AI platforms that share environmental data, prioritize efficiency and water stewardship, and embrace circular design.
• Lead through disclosure. Perfect measurement doesn’t exist. But transparency builds trust and drives momentum.

Of course, this only works if the upstream providers—the companies building the AI infrastructure itself—step up too. We’re calling on OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, Meta, NVIDIA, and others to disclose their tools’ environmental impact. Without their transparency, no one can truly measure with accuracy.

LEAD WITH TRANSPARENCY

We know we’re early. We don’t have all the answers. But we believe in leading with openness, not waiting for perfect data, and driving progress over perfection. Our mission at Grove has always been to create healthier homes and a healthier planet. That mission doesn’t end with AI, but it does have to evolve to include it.

Our current AI emissions are modest. But even small footprints matter. And if we don’t measure them, they’ll grow unchecked.

So here’s the challenge I’ll leave with my peers: Don’t let sustainability lag behind innovation. Measure your impact. Share your findings. Hold yourself accountable.

The future of innovation isn’t just faster. It’s more responsible, more transparent, more human. That’s how we make real progress—and make sure it lasts.

Jeff Yurcisin is CEO of Grove Collaborative.