As generative AI becomes an ever-more essential part of daily life, a critical question and urgent tension emerges: how can it be used to tackle the climate and nature crises without exacerbating them through its own energy demands? For public sector leaders, the challenge is especially sharp: how should they weigh the trade-off between deploying AI for public good and the significant environmental costs that doing so might entail?
This brief is designed to help government leaders and their teams navigate the intersection of AI and climate by surfacing the key questions they need to ask.
The insights it presents come from conversations with peers across government, academia and the private sector, all facing the same complex challenge: how to apply AI in ways that support climate goals without deepening existing risks. It’s a resource to help you and your team explore how AI can support climate goals while mitigating its environmental impact.