Pre-Cop29 summit in Abu Dhabi will focus on AI's role in combating climate change

A crucial gathering in Abu Dhabi ahead of Cop29 in Azerbaijan will seek to focus minds on how artificial intelligence can help in the fight against climate change.

Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Cop28 President, said November's event in the UAE capital will tackle the contradiction between AI’s “thirst for electricity” and its “potential to reduce emissions”.

Writing on global commentary website Project Syndicate on Wednesday, Dr Al Jaber said the meeting – to be attended by business leaders, policymakers, investors and representatives from civil society – aims to discuss what that could look like in practice.

The “change makers majlis” will take place almost a year after Cop28 began in the UAE and just before Cop29 begins in Azerbaijan on November 11.

Cop28 ended on December 13 last year with a historic agreement known as the UAE Consensus in which close to 200 countries agreed to transition away from fossil fuels in global energy systems along with a huge expansion of clean energy.

A majlis was also held during the climate talks to galvanise countries to speed up progress. Days later the landmark deal was agreed.

The UAE and Azerbaijan, along with Cop30 host, Brazil, have also established a "troika" that seeks to maintain momentum between Cops.

“The key to the agreement’s success was inclusivity: no one was excluded, no industry was sidelined and no solution was off the table,” wrote Dr Al Jaber, who is also the UAE's Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and special envoy for climate change.

“As we move to implementation, the world must leave no stone unturned to accelerate progress. Specifically, that means embracing artificial intelligence, which promises to have a far-reaching, transformational impact on the energy transition and is projected to add $7 trillion to global gross domestic product over the next 10 years,” he wrote.

AI's potential to help against climate change

In the piece, Dr Al Jaber said it was “difficult to overstate the potential of AI in the fight against climate change” as it can redesign industrial processes, boost transport systems, enhance energy efficiency and minimise emissions.

But the “flipside” was its “insatiable energy consumption, which is putting additional stress on an already-stretched power system”. He said emissions from the largest AI firms had increased by about 30 per cent since 2019, while by 2030 demand for power from data centres could grow by 160 per cent.

“These new operations could consume as much electricity as Canada, implying a doubling of carbon dioxide emissions. Bridging this gap will be difficult, as no single energy source is currently capable of meeting such a huge leap in demand,” he wrote.

So resolving the “contradiction between AI’s thirst for electricity and its potential to reduce emissions” will require technology and energy firms to co-operate in new and creative ways, he wrote.

“To that end, I am convening a ‘change makers majlis’ – a majlis being a traditional gathering that encourages the exchange of diverse perspectives – in Abu Dhabi in November to discuss AI and the energy transition.”

He highlighted areas of optimism for AI such as Adnoc’s deployment of “predictive maintenance and machine-learning tools” to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to a million tonnes in just one year.

He also pointed to how AI was transforming agriculture, another energy-intensive sector, by enhancing crop yields and minimising water use by as much as 40 per cent.

Dr Al Jaber also spoke of how technology companies were starting to collaborate with energy companies to address these new challenges such as the deal between Microsoft and Brookfield to develop 10.5 gigawatts of renewable capacity by 2030 and Masdar’s intent to quadruple its capacity to 100 gigawatts by 2030

“There is also increased investment in nuclear-powered data centres, although these will take decades to build,” he said.

“In the interim, up to 200 billion cubic metres of natural gas – the least carbon-intensive fossil fuel – per year will be needed, as will significant investment in global grid infrastructure to cope with increased demand.”

More details about the majlis are expected in the coming months but Dr Al Jaber said the goal was to bring people together to address the issue.

“Given our commitment to sustainable development and our emergence as an AI leader – with investment platforms like MGX, infrastructure developers like G42, and the region’s largest and fastest-growing large language model, Falcon – we are keen to bring all relevant stakeholders together on an issue of profound importance to all humanity,” wrote Dr Al Jaber.

“By building a bridge between energy and AI, we can help realise the UAE Consensus and, in doing so, take advantage of the greatest economic opportunity since the First Industrial Revolution.”