NiCE Balances AI Growth With Data Centre Sustainability

Software company NiCE has released its 2024 ESG report detailing its performance for the year. The review highlights an 11% reduction in combined Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions intensity year-on-year despite NiCE expanding its operations.

This reduction was achieved primarily through office optimisation and infrastructure upgrades as part of a hybrid work model.

While this shows progress in certain areas, NiCE’s total absolute emissions experienced an increase of 1.8% reaching 6,581 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent. Scott Russell, who became CEO in January 2025, acknowledges the challenge of balancing commitments.

"We are proud to report on our progress on our ESG journey across different areas of impact – customers, employees, communities and the environment," he says.

Data centre migration and emissions

A major component of NiCE's sustainability strategy in 2024 was the migration of its Israeli data centre operations to cloud infrastructure, a process expected to conclude in 2025.

This transition, however, has coincided with a notable increase in NiCE's carbon footprint. For 2024, NiCE's Scope 3 emissions from data centres were recorded at 783 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent, a substantial rise from the 408 tonnes reported in 2023.

In response to the growing impact of its data centre operations, NiCE is placing greater emphasis on the sustainability credentials of its suppliers. NiCE's two primary data centre suppliers have both made commitments to source 100% renewable energy for their operations.

This was a key condition in the awarding of contracts. Further sustainability efforts are visible at NiCE's Pune office in India, where two of five electrical units were moved to renewable power sources.

This action accounts for 30% of the site's energy consumption coming from renewable sources, contributing to its IGBC Platinum Certification.

The AI and energy challenge

NiCE is navigating a challenge common to many technology firms: balancing investment in AI infrastructure with sustainability commitments. In 2024, NiCE allocated 14% of its US$2.735bn revenue to research and development with a strong focus on generative AI and agentic AI.

These technologies are integral to NiCE's platforms that monitor over five billion financial transactions daily and manage more than 30 million pieces of digital evidence. Such operations demand massive computational resources and the energy to support them.

To address this, NiCE has implemented energy-efficient coding practices, multi-tenant architecture and automated shutdowns of development resources during off-hours. These measures have helped align NiCE with the AWS Well-Architected Framework, which includes sustainability as one of its core pillars.

ESG governance and future targets

NiCE established its ESG Steering Committee in 2023 to guide its sustainability initiatives. The committee met four times in 2024 under the oversight of CFO Beth Gaspich. In 2025 the Board of Directors updated the Internal Audit Committee's charter to include ESG oversight renaming it the Internal Audit and ESG Committee.

NiCE also improved its standing with ESG rating agencies, seeing an upgrade from AA to AAA by MSCI and an eight-point rise in its EcoVadis score to 60, which earned it a bronze medal.

Looking ahead, NiCE has set environmental targets for 2025-2027, including:

• a 10% increase in waste recycling rates at major sites
• a 10% increase in electric vehicle adoption in Pune and Israel
• a 10% increase in cloud spending relative to hardware spending

NiCE is also expanding its water consumption monitoring, which now covers 55% of its office floor area, up from 37% in 2023. Total consumption reached 16,639 cubic metres. The central question for NiCE's environmental strategy remains whether these initiatives can effectively counteract the energy demands of its growing AI operations.

"Looking ahead, we will remain focused on making a measurable and lasting impact," says Scott.

Scott adds: "Through ethical business practices, inclusive growth, climate-related initiatives and innovation that put people first."