Climate Change AI at COP31

Events

About

Climate Change AI (CCAI) empowers a global community of innovators, practitioners, and decision-makers to accelerate responsible climate action through the use of AI, by addressing critical gaps in expertise, education, coordination, and research-to-deployment infrastructure. CCAI is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and is run by a small team of staff alongside a dedicated team of 30 volunteers hailing from five continents and bringing significant breadth and depth of expertise on both AI and climate change.

Measuring climate impact of AI/digital solutions

Monday, November 16, 2026, 12:00-13:00 (GMT+3, TRT Time) - UNFCCC Global Innovation Hub Pavilion, Blue Zone, COP31

Digital transformation, and increasingly artificial intelligence, is reshaping energy, industry, mobility, buildings, agriculture and other sectors central to the climate transition. When designed, used and governed properly, digital technologies can help optimise energy and resource use, integrate renewables, improve circularity and enable new low-carbon business models. At the same time, the growing footprint of AI and digital infrastructure must itself be addressed. The challenge is therefore to deploy AI with purpose, make the green and digital transitions mutually reinforcing, and demonstrate their net climate benefits.

The first part of the session will examine what is needed to achieve this synergy in practice. It will discuss how climate, digital and industrial policies can be better aligned and what actions are needed. In particular, it will consider how data, standards, skills, investment and international cooperation can accelerate digital solutions that deliver measurable climate benefits while limiting rebound effects and other unintended impacts.

The second part will move from strategy to evidence through the European Green Digital Coalition (EGDC). The EGDC has developed a science-based approach to assessing the net carbon impact of digital solutions, comparing their own footprint with the emissions reductions they enable in other sectors. Evidence from real-life use cases will be presented. The cases will illustrate how credible impact assessment can support more robust climate claims, strengthen the case for climate and sustainable finance, and improve policy, investment and procurement decisions.

The session will conclude with reflections on how COP31 can help move from parallel green and digital agendas towards an integrated approach in which AI and digitalisation contribute to climate implementation, while their own environmental footprint is managed and transparently assessed.

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Launch of the Artificial Intelligence Climate Institute

Monday, November 16, 2026, 15:15-16:15 (GMT+3, TRT Time) - Global Mutirão Auditorium, Brazilian Pavilion, Blue Zone, COP31

The Artificial Intelligence Climate Institute (AICI) is an inter-institutional initiative resulting from cooperation among the National Telecommunications Agency of Brazil (Anatel), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Originally announced during COP30 in Belém (Brazil), AICI will be officially launched during COP31 in Antalya (Türkiye). The central objective of AICI is to promote the ethical, inclusive, efficient, and sustainable use of artificial intelligence solutions to combat climate change through education, skills development, and knowledge transfer to developing countries.

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