Does AI help or hinder the climate crisis?

Information

While artificial intelligence promises to tackle the climate emergency, the paradox exists in how to build a future in which AI benefits society without simultaneously causing irreparable environmental damage. The gap between our perception of a virtual, low-impact digital world and its very real material footprint is becoming more obvious. From high-energy, high-water, or land-intensive data centres to the mining of critical minerals to power AI infrastructure or AI technology’s ability to boost efficiency and innovation in environmentally harmful industries like gas and oil, who is legislating to balance the AI benefits with the environmental impact and how?

Panellists:

Steph Wright is the CEO with Our AI Collective. She has a diverse background ranging from astrophysics to genomics in academia, film and TV, and the third sector. A leader in, and an advocate for, ethical, inclusive and responsible AI, she was instrumental in the development and delivery of Scotland’s first national AI strategy. Steph was recognised as one of the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics and named in the 2025 Digital Leaders list of the 100 most influential AI voices in the UK.

Professor E Marian Scott is Professor of Statistics at the University of Glasgow. She has more than 200 publications developing and applying statistical and data science methods to quantitative trans-disciplinary sciences, at the science-policy interface, including in the environmental and sustainability sciences, in quantitative archaeology and in veterinary sciences. In recent years, her focus has been on freshwater water systems, air pollution and health. She was awarded the Lord Kelvin Medal of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2024.

Robert Moran is a data-driven strategist, a futurist and novelist. He is a Partner at the Brunswick Group in Washington DC and serves a wide array of corporate clients, often in special situations, crisis, and issues management. He began his career in political polling and consulting and has written two novels – Lincoln 2.0 and Big Alien Movie.