Artificial intelligence (AI) is present in our lives in many areas, from phones where we can easily access almost any information anywhere in the world to supermarkets where we can shop with a'click'; from banks where we can easily process transactions online to social platforms where we spend most of our time. But, can artificial intelligence make a positive contribution to understanding the problems caused by climate change too, problems gradually turning into a crisis? In fact, AI can help climate researchers find solutions in many areas such as air pollution. An example of this is IBM's Green Horizon Project, which predicts pollution by analyzing environmental data and testing what will happen if pollution is reduced. Likewise, Google has reduced the energy its data centers use by around 15% by employing data from machine learning algorithms.

On Nov 28th 2019, the EU parliament declared a global climate and environmental emergency. They say that all politics is local and across the world climate change seems to be coming home to roost. In the hills around San Francisco the bankrupt PG&E power company pre-emptively shutoff power to homes for several days as it worried that its ageing electrical equipment would act as a match to the parched trees and vegetation. In Europe extreme flooding has been immersing ancient towns in apocalyptic scenes. In Australia it was hard to discern the iconic Sydney Opera House for all the smoke from the raging bush fires.