On October 8-9, 2025, the Palais des Congrès in Paris hosted the 18th edition of Produrable, France's largest sustainable economy trade show. Nearly 15,000 visitors, 750 speakers, and 340 partners gathered to address a common challenge: how to make ESG more effective, measurable, and integrated into business strategies.
Ditto participated with a booth and two hands-on workshops focused on AI usage and everyday tools for ESG teams. With over 300 participants, we shared field insights and practical demonstrations to turn discourse into action.
A more operational and collaborative approach to CSR
This edition confirmed a major shift: ESG is moving beyond the realm of "experts" to become a collective responsibility. Discussions spanned the show's three thematic villages—Environment, Social & HR, and Governance & Reporting—and revealed a clear consensus: credibility now depends on evidence, cooperation, and rigor.
Conferences covered a wide range of topics:
- Decarbonization and biodiversity, with insights from The Shift Project on low-carbon trajectories
- Social dialogue and inclusion, in the HR Village workshops
- Sustainable finance and governance, with case studies from Caisse d'Épargne Île-de-France and impact investors
- Energy transition, debated by François Gemenne and Emmanuelle Wargon
- Territorial anchoring and ecosystem regeneration, championed by the ORÉE association
Workshop 1: AI and ESG – Bridging the gap between promise and reality
Artificial intelligence promises spectacular efficiency gains. But in the demanding field of ESG, where credibility rests on precision and transparency, can we really trust algorithm-generated results? This was the central question of our first workshop, co-led with Florence Jean, ESG Director at Europ Assistance.
Widespread adoption, legitimate questions
More than half the participants already use AI in their daily work—a number that surprises no one given how quickly ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Claude have become mainstream. But this adoption comes with essential questions: How do we avoid algorithmic greenwashing? Will AI replace ESG jobs? And most importantly, how do we ensure data reliability in a field where credibility is everything?
When a company deploys AI for 12,000 employees
The Europ Assistance case perfectly illustrates both the opportunities and pitfalls of AI in ESG. The group deployed Microsoft 365 Copilot for its 12,000 employees across 36 entities, with a clear vision: making Europ Assistance a "60-year-old startup" where every employee masters these new tools.
Benefits quickly emerged: accelerated monitoring, automatic synthesis of complex reports, help structuring responses to EcoVadis and CDP questionnaires, considerable time savings on understanding CSRD frameworks. But so did limitations: biased syntheses, completeness errors (AI "forgets" important elements), confusion between ambitions and concrete achievements, and sometimes even invention of plausible but completely absent figures from source documents.
A telling example: while preparing a CDP questionnaire response, the AI presented responsible purchasing guidelines (still being rolled out) as already operational practices. The embellishment was subtle but misleading. After correction, this "hallucination" became a lever: it helped identify concrete improvement areas and launch a three-month action plan with certain partners.
"AI takes the load off reporting, but it doesn't replace credibility, relationships, and human prioritization." — Florence Jean
7 key learnings for AI in service of ESG
1. AI Is an accelerator, not a source of truth
Time savings are undeniable for report synthesis, understanding regulatory frameworks, or structuring complex information. But biases and completeness errors persist. AI can "forget" crucial elements or "invent" others. The recommended approach? Consider AI as a "time saver, not a truth provider." Human control remains essential: systematic review, cross-referencing sources, constant supervision.
2. Decentralize ESG rather than centralizing everything
The Europ Assistance approach is instructive: rather than an ESG team that carries everything, the group empowers business teams. AI then becomes a distribution facilitator—through internal training programs, "AI champions" in each department, and licenses open to all. This decentralized and equipped governance significantly accelerates the organization's ESG maturity.
3. Master the fundamentals before automating
AI is not "the expert"—it's a support tool for competent professionals. Before deploying tools, you must first professionalize the ESG function: master regulatory foundations, read texts, get trained, confront field realities. Only then come automations, with clear safeguards:
- Systematically verify figures at source (HR, Finance, Operations)
- Implement regular controls
- Document prompts and business rules to frame usage
4. Integrate ethics, transparency, and frugality from the start
The carbon footprint of AI systems (energy, water, servers) is becoming an ESG issue in its own right. Not to mention the rebound effect: the more tools are available, the more we use them. Hence the importance of reasoned usage frugality. As Florence Jean emphasizes: "I don't activate AI for everything and anything. A simple email? I write it myself."
On the economic cost side, vigilance is also required: monitor token prices, optimize models used, and ensure each use case brings real added value.
5. The risk of algorithmic greenwashing is real
AI can embellish reality in subtle but dangerous ways. Algorithmic "greenwashing" exists: ambitions presented as achievements, optimistic projections confused with facts. But this same ability to project an "ideal version" can also serve as a compass, to identify improvement areas and define a roadmap.
ESG professionals therefore have a dual responsibility: establish strict ethical safeguards (clarify sources, trace processes, choose responsible tools) while exploiting this forward-looking mirror to progress.
6. Humans remain irreplaceable
Contrary to certain fears, AI doesn't threaten ESG jobs. Most of an ESG manager's time focuses on stakeholder engagement, change management, culture building—everything that's human. AI takes the load off reporting and monitoring but in no way replaces facilitation, relational credibility, or the ability to prioritize strategic issues.
7. An operational framework for success
Audience questions: reliability, time savings and HR impact
Participants raised concrete concerns that resonate with many ESG professionals' worries.
On reliability and actual time savings: if AI makes errors that need correcting, do we really save time? The answer is nuanced. Control remains essential—you need to review, verify figures, find source passages. But AI helps precisely by quickly locating references in voluminous documents. A recurring problem? Outdated dates (a 2019 report cited instead of 2025). Reliability mainly depends on two factors: a corpus of reliable, bounded sources (AI only searches validated documents), and explicit business rules. Well-framed, time savings are spectacular.
On HR impact: will ESG teams shrink by 2028? Not necessarily. At Europ Assistance, the team remains small and likely will stay that way, with correspondents in countries. An additional resource was even requested for environmental issues, as workload increases. AI doesn't replace an expert—it optimizes certain aspects, but stakeholder engagement remains fundamentally human.
A clear vision: AI as a tool, never as a substitute
Artificial intelligence isn't a passing fad—it's a paradigm shift. But technology cannot replace professional expertise. AI's promise becomes real only when built on mastered data, explicit ethics, and a culture of reasoned usage.
ESG managers have a central role to play: define safeguards, train teams, control quality, and ensure efficiency never comes at the expense of credibility.
Would you like to relive the entire workshop?
👉 The replay is available here
Workshop 2: The AI toolbox for high-performing ESG managers
The next day, focus on pure practice. Faced with multiplying AI tools, how do you sort through them? How do you go from "discovering a topic" to "presenting a clear strategy to the executive committee" in under an hour? Alexis de Taillac answered these questions with a concrete demonstration, centered on a use case many ESG professionals encounter: preparing an SBTi initiative.
92% of ESG professionals believe AI is transforming their field
A study conducted by Ditto among a hundred ESG managers reveals a striking figure: 92% of respondents think AI will transform their profession within three years. And for many, it's already underway. In the room, about 50% of participants already used an AI tool weekly.
The workshop objective: show free tools, immediately accessible, with a replicable method from the very next day.
The use case: from zero to an SBTi presentation in 1 hour
Imagine an ESG manager who must propose to her management to commit to an SBTi (Science Based Targets initiative) approach—emission reductions aligned with international climate goals. She knows the acronym but not yet the substance: issues, steps, potential obstacles, strategic benefits.
The solution? A cascade of four free tools, used intelligently.
1. Perplexity: Explore a New Topic with Reliable Sources
Before AI, standard research went through Google, Wikipedia (whose SBTi page is quite short), then a laborious dive into dozens of PDFs on the official website. Hard to find your way quickly.
Perplexity changes the game. Rather than search then compile, you directly ask a structured question: "Write a comprehensive summary on SBTi's origin, mission, functioning, and challenges, with reliable sources and a table of contents."
The result? A structured report, far more complete than Wikipedia, with automatic citations to trusted sources: Novethic, BPI France, the official SBTi site, etc. The "Sources" tab lets you verify information quality and origin with one click.
ESG Utility: clear a new topic in minutes and identify primary sources to keep for follow-up.
2. NotebookLM: Go Deeper with a Controlled Corpus
Once sources are identified, you need to go further. NotebookLM (Google's free tool) lets you import URLs, PDFs, or text, then query AI on this precise corpus. That's the major difference from ChatGPT: here, AI never "leaves" provided documents.
You import three sources spotted via Perplexity (the SBTi site, a BPI France article, a Global Compact page), then ask targeted questions:
- "What are the concrete benefits of implementing an SBTi approach in my company?"
- "Give me a five-step action plan for sector-specific deployment."
AI responds by systematically citing its exact sources, facilitating verification. Unexpected bonus: NotebookLM can generate an audio summary as a podcast between two "experts" debating the topic. Ideal for reviewing during commutes.
ESG Utility: understand a topic in depth, structure learning, and have verifiable references.
3. ChatGPT: Contextualize for Your Company
The first two tools enable skill development. Now, you need to adapt content to your company's specific context. This is where ChatGPT (pro version with confidentiality enabled) comes in.
You provide an internal document—here, a "ESG Governance at Ditto" document describing:
- The ESG & Impact strategic committee
- The Climate & Energy sub-committee
- The Trust Ditto 2030 program
Then ask: "Create five slides to present an SBTi approach to the executive committee, adapted to Ditto's context and tone."
AI understands organizational structure, ESG maturity level, and tone to adopt (educational, pragmatic, no jargon). It proposes five content blocks corresponding to five slides:
- SBTi context and strategic interest
- Why commit now
- Concrete benefits for the company
- Step-by-step roadmap
- Internal governance and action levers
In minutes, you get coherent, credible content adapted to the company's DNA.
ESG Utility: transform generic knowledge into customized argumentation, aligned with organization governance and culture.
4. Gamma: Transform Content into Professional Presentation
Content is ready, now format it. Gamma is an automatic professional slide generator. You import company branding (logo, colors, fonts), paste ChatGPT-produced text, and Gamma does the rest.
It automatically cuts content into slides, creates titles, structures bullet points, and applies coherent layout. The result: five clean slides, in company branding, ready to export to PDF, PowerPoint, or Google Slides.
For those who've spent hours formatting PowerPoint, Gamma is a game changer.
ESG Utility: save considerable time on formatting while guaranteeing professional visual quality.
Bonus: Napkin for Visual Diagrams
Last tool in the toolkit: Napkin, a visual diagram generator from text. You paste a paragraph, and the tool proposes several possible visuals: mindmaps, flow diagrams, conceptual illustrations.
You can then customize colors and fonts before exporting to your presentation. A modern, intelligent alternative to old WordArt.
ESG Utility: enrich presentations with clear, impactful visuals, without design skills.
A replicable method: from ignorance to operational expertise in 1 hour
This approach's power lies in its systematic character:
- Perplexity to explore and identify credible sources
- NotebookLM to understand deeply with a controlled corpus
- ChatGPT to adapt to company context and governance
- Gamma to create professional visual presentation
- Napkin to enrich with striking diagrams
All these tools are free (or offer sufficient free versions). What makes the difference isn't the technology itself, but the method: knowing which tool to use, when, and for what purpose.
If your executive committee asks you tomorrow to talk about a topic you don't know yet, you now have a proven method to be ready in one hour.
Would you like to relive the entire workshop?
👉 The replay is available here
Key takeaways from Produrable 2025
The future of ESG: between efficiency and responsibility
Produrable 2025 confirmed the sector's growing maturity. ESG is no longer discourse—it's a discipline of evidence and action. Artificial intelligence represents a major opportunity to gain efficiency, rigor, and impact—provided it's used with discernment, ethics, and frugality.
ESG managers have a strategic role to play: they're the guarantors of credibility, architects of safeguards, trainers of teams. Their professional expertise cannot be replaced by algorithms. On the contrary, it becomes even more precious in a world where technology can accelerate as much as it can deceive.
At Ditto, we support over 500 companies to transform compliance into a lever for performance, credibility, and trust. Our two Produrable workshops showed it's possible to reconcile technological innovation with professional standards, efficiency with responsibility, speed with rigor.
Ready to take the next step? Explore our solutions or get in touch to discuss your ESG challenges.
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