Global sustainable AI coalition launched

The Coalition for Sustainable Artificial Intelligence has been launched to advance concrete initiatives for making AI beneficial to global environmental goals, with one of its first the IEA’s observatory on energy and AI.

The Coalition was launched at the Paris AI action summit by France in collaboration with the UN Environment Programme and International Telecommunications Union and to date counts over 100 partners from across the globe.

Its aim is to build a global community of stakeholders willing to contribute to initiatives for aligning AI development with global sustainability goals and fostering responsible AI that supports the environmental policies.

The Coalition intends to encourage such AI initiatives and to use a collaborative approach bringing together governments, academia, civil society and the private sector to focus on standardised methods and metrics for measuring AI’s environmental impacts, comprehensive frameworks for reporting and disclosure and prioritisation of research on sustainable AI.

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Among the first initiatives listed is the IEA’s observatory on energy and AI due to launch formally in April as a centralised information platform on AI related energy needs and AI opportunities for the energy sector.

Other initiatives include an inventory of use cases, a global approach to standardisation for AI environmental sustainability, a working group on access to environmental knowledge through GenAI and a listing of resources for decision-makers on the environmental sustainability of AI.

“We know that AI can be a force for climate action and energy efficiency. But we also know AI power-intensive systems are already placing an unsustainable strain on our planet,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres at the Summit.

“So it is crucial to design AI algorithms and infrastructures that consume less energy and integrate AI into smart grids to optimise power use.”

Membership of the Coalition is open to private and public stakeholders that support its shared vision.

Numerous energy sector stakeholders already are joined up, including Aveva, EDF, Engie, Schneider Electric and Veolia among the corporate members and Kraken in the SME category.

Others are categorised in research, NGOs and associations and investors.