Environmentalists are finding new challenges to net zero goals from galloping technology – with advances proving frustratingly energy intensive.

Still, an ongoing KPMG survey is finding Bermuda’s corporate environmentalism on par with its Atlantic neighbours.

“That is very encouraging,” said Arnaud van Dijk, KPMG Islands Group partner and environmental, social and governance head. He is in charge of the survey looking at corporate sustainability, that includes islands such as Jamaica, Guernsey, Barbados and Malta, among others.

Reporting is a key challenge for many organisations, but the survey due out next year will reveal 80 per cent of corporations surveyed have sustainability programmes on their way, or already in place, to reduce their carbon footprint.

In 2015, nearly 200 countries including the United Kingdom signed the Paris Agreement, promising to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 in an effort to slow down global warming.

Without intervention global temperatures could warm by as much as 5 degrees Celsius, kicking off catastrophic climate damage.

Almost a decade later we are making progress, Mr van Dijk said, but not nearly enough. He applauded Bermuda’s “ambitious” targets.

The Regulatory Authority of Bermuda has been studying an Integrated Resource Plan that would more than halve the island’s carbon dioxide emissions by 2030. It calls for significant investment in renewable energy and a switch from power generation using heavy fuel oil to light fuel.

“Of course, we need to see action and we need to see follow up on it, but it is a good start,” Mr van Dijk said.

Speaking at the Captive Conference in Bermuda in September, Peter Princi, managing director, institutional consulting director, Graystone Consulting for Morgan Stanley, said technology growth is outpacing any progress made towards net zero goals. He pointed to artificial intelligence in cloud computing as an example.

“Nvidia chips now use five times the amount of power that AI systems used five years ago,” Mr Princi said. “You cannot build enough wind and solar to keep up with that.”

Mr van Dijk, however, noted: “We have to do something. What is the alternative?

“There is absolutely a challenge when it comes to the net zero targets, because we are not going fast enough. Indeed, new technologies are super energy intense and will drive up emissions if they are not fuelled by any sort of green or renewable energy source. Does that mean you have to let go of that target? I don’t think so.”

He predicted that in the next decade or two we will see a better mix of energy sources being used.