UNESCO has placed sustainable artificial intelligence at the center of global policy debate, calling for stronger international cooperation to ensure AI development supports climate action without creating new environmental pressures. The call was made during the Adopt AI Summit held in Paris, where UNESCO highlighted the growing tension between AI’s expanding resource footprint and its potential to accelerate climate solutions.

The discussion took place at the AI for the Planet Mainstage inside the Grand Palais, where UNESCO convened a high-level panel titled “Greening AI and Greening with AI: From Climate Footprint to Climate Action.” The session brought together voices from government, industry, and the United Nations system to examine how AI can be governed and deployed more responsibly in the context of climate and environmental challenges.

Linking AI Resource Use with Climate Outcomes

Moderated by Guilherme Canela, Director for Digital Inclusion and Digital Transformation at UNESCO, the panel focused on a shared dilemma. While AI is increasingly used to support climate mitigation, adaptation, and environmental decision-making, it is also driving higher demand for energy, water, and computing infrastructure. Speakers emphasized that treating AI’s environmental footprint and its climate benefits as separate issues risks undermining long-term impact.

Panelists argued that the future value of AI in climate action will depend on how efficiently systems are designed and deployed. Applications such as climate modelling, environmental monitoring, and early warning systems already demonstrate AI’s potential, but only if resource intensity is addressed alongside performance and scale.

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Public Policy and Frugal AI Approaches

From a public sector perspective, Hélène Costa de Beauregard, Project Director at the French Ministry of Ecological Transition, outlined France’s approach to promoting frugal AI. She explained how policy frameworks, public funding, and procurement rules can be used to steer AI development toward more efficient and less resource-intensive solutions, particularly within government-supported projects.

Abou Amani, Director of Hydrology at UNESCO, highlighted the growing role of AI in water management and climate science, including early warning systems for extreme events. He stressed the importance of ensuring that energy-efficient AI remains accessible in low-resource settings, warning that sustainability gains risk being unevenly distributed if efficiency standards are not paired with capacity building. He pointed to UNESCO’s ongoing work on green and energy-efficient AI, including policy guidance and support for governments adopting resource-conscious AI tools for climate and water applications.

Industry Perspectives on Practical Deployment

From the private sector, Paul Pelissier, Global Sustainability Principal at SAP EMEA, discussed how companies can improve the efficiency of AI systems while embedding them into day-to-day sustainability management. He noted that organizations are increasingly looking for AI solutions that deliver operational value alongside measurable environmental benefits, rather than treating sustainability as a separate digital initiative.

Across the discussion, participants agreed that no single actor can resolve the environmental implications of AI alone. Coordinated action between governments, businesses, international organizations, and academia was repeatedly identified as essential to turning shared ambitions into durable outcomes.

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From Dialogue to Practical Application

Alongside the panel, UNESCO hosted a dedicated booth at the summit to showcase its work on AI across sectors. The exhibition highlighted initiatives on green AI and sustainable digital transformation, the organization’s Data Governance Toolkit, and its Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence. It also presented applied AI use cases from UNESCO’s work in the natural sciences.

The space was designed to encourage informal dialogue among policymakers, private sector practitioners, researchers, and civil society groups. Conversations focused on the gap between high-level frameworks and everyday implementation challenges, including data limitations, infrastructure constraints, and organizational resistance to change. Despite these barriers, participants noted growing interest in green AI solutions, particularly where efficiency gains translate into cost savings.

The summit followed COP30 in Belém and took place amid wider international discussions on AI and sustainability, including ahead of the India AI Impact Summit scheduled for February 2026. UNESCO reaffirmed its commitment to advancing responsible and sustainable AI, emphasizing continued cooperation and knowledge sharing as essential to aligning digital innovation with global climate and development goals.

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