The role of AI in tackling climate change

In this discussion, we explored the role of Artificial Intelligence in significantly reducing carbon emissions. As a digital technology, AI solutions are not bound by the same constraints as physical technologies in terms of cost or access, and this gives them the potential for impact at the gigatonne scale. One of the most powerful branches of AI that has seen significant breakthroughs in recent years is Reinforcement Learning.

We discussed the RL framework and how it opens a class of problems in operation and decision support across a range of industries that are major sources of emissions. We will also share results from Carbon Re: an AI spin out from UCL and Cambridge that is deploying AI to reduce emissions from the cement and steel industry which combined account for over 15% of global emissions.