AI & climate adaptation
Dawn · Maha Qasim, Tahreem Fatima ·
AI can convert climate data into actionable decisions.
THIS month in Antalya, artificial intelligence will have its own day at the 31st Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Antalya Pledge on AI asks countries to align the rapid growth of AI with global climate goals by addressing AI’s skyrocketing energy demand. The pledge requires AI companies to disclose their data centres’ energy use and shift to clean energy. The COP31 presidency has described the draft pledge as a “political” commitment on how AI is “designed, procured, powered, deployed, measured and managed” in support of climate action. However, the discussion so far has centred largely on how AI is powered rather than on how it can be leveraged to help vulnerable countries adapt to a warming world.
From extreme weather that left 87.5 million people facing acute food insecurity last year to drought draining Middle Eastern reservoirs and deadly heat in South Asia, climate change is impacting harvests, water availability, health, and livelihoods globally. AI can help communities, governments, farmers, and humanitarian organisations anticipate climate-related risks, protect essential resources, and respond faster to disasters. It can proactively convert climate data into actionable decisions that can save lives and reduce losses from adverse climate events.
AI is already proving valuable for climate adaptation. In India’s Andhra Pradesh, a pilot that sent groundnut farmers AI-based advice on the best time to sow by text message in the local language raised average yields by 30 per cent. In Bihar, communities that received AI-based flood alerts faced 30pc lower medical costs after flooding due to earlier evacuations and timely preventative health measures. In Chile, forest sensors analysed by AI detect wildfires about 12 minutes faster than traditional watchtowers. In each case, AI turned data into timely information that people could act on.