AI Doesn’t Need to Be a Climate Villain

Artificial intelligence can be an energy-hungry, slop-creating, bomb-targeting nightmare. But it can also be a powerful tool for good — in the right hands. For one, it has the potential to revolutionize what we know about companies’ climate risks and their impact on the environment. That’s increasingly rare and precious information at a time when policymakers are turning their back on compulsory disclosures.

“Mandatory sustainability reporting” was briefly one of the hottest concepts in climate policy. The idea was that investors cared about companies’ contribution to and risks from climate change and other environmental concerns, in addition to their financial returns. But that data wasn’t readily available, making it hard to figure out where the safe havens and green leaders were. So, some businesses starting appeasing investors by publishing so-called sustainability reports, which, mostly free from standards and regulation, often became greenwashing tools.