On July 18th and 19th, Transitions Research, along with New Indian Consumer Initiative (an INDIC initiative) and Climate Bonds, under the aegis of Artificial Intelligence Knowledge Consortium, hosted an in-person event in Goa on ‘Catalysing AI for Climate Action and Finance’.
In the face of escalating climate challenges, AI has emerged as a promising tool for climate action. Not only multilateral forums such as the UNFCCC, but national governments and private sectors are alert to AI’s potential to address myriad climate change challenges. The two-day conference in Goa invited various stakeholders to explore how AI can be enabled to design climate-resilient infrastructure and mobilise finance. Here are some key discussion points from the conference that shaped the conversation:
- AI can enhance understanding of climate risks and optimise green investments by analysing large datasets and predicting future trends. This can help financial actors and institutions better manage emerging risks and channel investments for climate action.
- Ensuring the quality and governance of primary data is crucial for effective climate action and finance strategies. Good data is essential for making accurate predictions and decisions. There is a need for AI to converge and integrate siloed data from different sectors, as this can improve decision-making and address various interconnected issues.
- Satellite data and AI can be used to monitor plant health and predict growth patterns, but challenges include data quality and the need for continuous farmer engagement. There is distrust among end-use stakeholders, such as farmers, to adopt new technologies because of bitter experiences from the past. This relationship building needs to be supported and farmers need to be given agency of the technology that is getting introduced in their lives.
- Farmers need grassroots-level solutions for improving resilience, yields, and income diversification. Training and universal data systems are needed to support these improvements and to integrate technology effectively. We need participatory design and community engagement in developing AI solutions for climate action in agriculture.
- The role of laws and policies in regulating AI and ensuring data protection is critical. There is a debate on whether new laws are necessary or if existing frameworks can be adapted to address AI’s environmental impact and other concerns. Through dialogues and discourses, these legal and policy-related issues need to be ironed out.
- The financial sector must improve its methods for quantifying and tracking climate risks. AI can help in creating transparency and trust in risk investments, as well as refining financial strategies to manage adaptation and loss.
- There is a need for skilling programs to build capacity for optimising AI for climate and finance.
Glimpses from the conference:
