NetNewsLedger - How can artificial intelligence help fight climate change?

BRUSSELS – (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – As climate change intensifies the devastation from storms, wildfires and droughts, artificial intelligence (AI) and digital tools are increasingly being seen as a way to predict and limit its impacts. Governments, tech firms and investors are showing growing interest in machine-based learning systems that use algorithms to identify patterns in data sets and make predictions, recommendations or decisions in real or virtual settings. In June, the Rise Fund, an impact investing arm of private equity firm TPG, invested $100 million in a data and AI-driven "nowcasting" system devised by Kentucky-based startup Climavision to predict weather patterns with granular accuracy. And an intergovernmental roadmap on AI's role in fighting global warming is due to launch at November's COP26 climate summit in Scotland. But AI can also be highly energy-intensive and environmentally damaging, say critics who warn that the tech could be a costly distraction from more effective ways of tackling climate change.