Panel 7

Green AI Summit 2025: Panel 7 - AI for Global Sustainable Development: Technology, Policy, and Impact

Session Date: April 26, 2025 Location: Boston University Duan Family Center for Computing & Data Sciences

Overview:

Concluding the thematic discussions on Day 2, the final panel broadened the perspective to address how artificial intelligence can tackle global sustainability challenges, emphasizing real-world applications and impacts beyond developed nations. Moderated by Professor Suchi Gopal of Boston University, this session featured a diverse group including academics, community organizers, investment bankers, and youth leaders, exploring the intersection of AI technology, policy, and its potential to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Key Discussion Points:

The panel examined AI's role in global sustainability through various lenses:

• Smart Cities & Urban Sustainability: Hasan Farooqi discussed AI's application in urban environments, citing Boston's use of AI (via Google's Project Greenlight) to optimize traffic light timing, significantly reducing congestion and associated emissions. He also highlighted the potential for AI in managing building energy demand to avoid reliance on dirty "peaker" power plants, while noting the regulatory challenge for cities whose data centers (and their emissions) often lie outside their jurisdictional boundaries.

• Environmental Justice & Community Impact: Nathan Phillips emphasized the ethical dimensions, pointing out that polluting infrastructure like peaker plants often disproportionately affects marginalized and environmental justice communities. He criticized the lack of community and ratepayer input in grid management decisions and highlighted the need for greater transparency and tools like demand response to empower residents and mitigate localized pollution.

• Green Finance & China's Perspective: Ke Zhao provided insights into China's rapid development in green energy and AI, driven by a national strategy shift and intense market competition. He discussed the significant growth of green finance, including diverse green bonds and specialized funds (like joint ventures with MNCs), which incentivize companies to adopt sustainable technologies and help bridge information asymmetries. China's large scale in talent and applications provides a unique landscape for iterating green and AI technologies quickly.

• Youth Engagement & Global Accessibility: Rakib Anam passionately spoke about the critical role of youth in driving sustainable development and challenging the status quo. He shared the story of Climate Cardinals, demonstrating how youth-led initiatives can leverage AI (in their case, for culturally relevant, accessible translation of climate information) to empower communities globally, particularly in the Global South where information access is often limited by language barriers. He stressed the importance of accessibility and enabling local communities to build their own AI solutions rather than having solutions imposed externally.

• Education & Convergence: The need for better education and integration across disciplines was a recurring theme. Professor Gopal referenced empowering youth in Belize with drone technology, showcasing their innate ability to leverage data for local environmental monitoring when given the tools. The panel implicitly supported the idea of a "convergent science" approach to train future generations capable of navigating the complexities of AI, sustainability, policy, and social impact.

Panelists:

• Suchi Gopal (Moderator): Professor, Earth and Environment, Boston University

• Nathan Phillips: Professor, Earth and Environment, Boston University

• Hessann Farooqi: Executive Director, the Boston Climate Action Network (BCAN)

• Ke Zhao: Managing Director, Investment Banking Department, China International Capital Corporation Limited (CICC)

• Rakib Anam: UNA Youth Group Chairman, United Nations & Founding Director, Climate Cardinals

This final panel provided a powerful reminder that sustainable AI development is not merely a technical challenge but a global imperative intertwined with equity, accessibility, policy, finance, and empowering diverse communities, especially youth, to shape a sustainable future.