Artificial intelligence has moved from experiment to everyday practice in EHS and Sustainability. Just a few years ago, only 5% of organizations reported using AI tools — today, that figure is 94%. In this 2026 report from NAEM, sponsored by Cority, researchers examine how EHS&S teams are putting AI to work across real-world use cases spanning research, content creation, data analysis, and decision support. Drawing on survey responses from 109 companies and in-depth interviews with 12 EHS&S AI experts, The State of Artificial Intelligence in EHS and Sustainability offers a peer benchmark for where adoption is gaining traction and where it remains constrained. For leaders navigating AI in regulated, risk-sensitive environments, the report serves as a practical reference point for evaluating readiness and guiding responsible use.
The research maps AI use against a seven-level maturity framework, ranging from informal background research to fully governed, enterprise-wide deployment. Most organizations remain in the early stages — applying AI to summarize regulations, draft policies and procedures, and synthesize incident and audit data — while advanced, integrated applications like predictive risk modeling and autonomous hazard detection stay rare. The report also surfaces actionable use cases drawn directly from practitioner experience, spanning incident documentation, internal knowledge access, image-based hazard identification, and more. A consistent theme runs through them: the highest-value applications pair AI with human-in-the-loop oversight and domain expertise, keeping experienced professionals accountable for decisions while AI accelerates the work behind them.
The State of Artificial Intelligence in EHS and Sustainability is equally candid about what’s holding adoption back. Uncertainty around data privacy (49%), gaps in internal expertise (49%), and inconsistent or hard-to-validate outputs (48%) top the list of barriers, underscoring why governance, data quality, and explainable AI matter as much as the technology itself. Efficiency remains the dominant driver — cited by 82% of respondents — but the report makes clear that scaling beyond individual productivity demands deliberate leadership, sustained investment, and a strong data foundation. With most organizations still building the conditions for responsible adoption, the report gives EHS&S leaders the context to benchmark against peers, prioritize high-impact use cases, and chart a credible path toward intelligent, agentic systems built for safety-critical work.
