Artificial Intelligence Under the UNFCCC: Existing Work and Emerging Questions

6. AI has featured only to a limited extent in UNFCCC negotiations to date. The first references to AI appeared in decisions adopted at the 28^th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP28) and 5^th Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA5), through which Parties recognized the launch of the AI for Climate Action Initiative and requested its implementation through the TM.⁸UNFCCC, Outcomes of the first global stocktake, Decision 1/CP.28; UNFCCC, Enhancing climate technology development and transfer, Decision 14/CMA.5.

7. When AI has arisen in UNFCCC discussions, it has largely reflected familiar debates surrounding climate technologies more broadly. These discussions have focused on how developing countries, particularly least developed countries (LDCs) and small island developing states (SIDS), can access infrastructure, technical expertise, and the finance needed to benefit from AI-enabled climate solutions. Related concerns include technology transfer, capacity building, and equitable access, as well as the risk that unequal adoption of AI could reinforce existing technological and development divides.

8. These themes are reflected in the work of the AI for Climate Action Initiative. The initiative explicitly focuses on developing countries, particularly LDCs and SIDS. It addresses how developing countries can access the data, infrastructure, skills, and finance required to benefit from AI. It also is expected to address concerns that unequal access to AI could reinforce existing technological and development divides.

9. Through the initiative, the TEC has developed recommendations on issues including early warning systems, energy efficiency, data security, open data, Indigenous knowledge, technology transfer, and gender-responsive approaches.⁹UNFCCC, Draft text: Matters related to technology development and transfer: Joint annual report of the TEC and CTCN, Annex I: Key messages and recommendations of the Technology Executive Committee for the Conference of the Parties, ¶¶ 1-14, (November 13, 2025), https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/TEC_CTCN_JAR_cop30.pdf. The initiative continues to explore both opportunities for AI to support climate action and the challenges associated with its deployment.

10. Importantly, these recommendations were developed by the TEC and were not negotiated by Parties. Early drafts of negotiated outcomes on the joint annual reports of the TEC and CTCN included elements of the recommendations, including calls to promote the use of open source AI for climate mitigation and adaptation, promote supportive policies and local trainings to utilize AI for greenhouse gas emissions removals, strengthen international cooperation to maximize AI’s potential in climate strategies, establish governance approaches that enable AI-driven decision-making, reduce the energy consumption and carbon footprint of AI, address gender bias in AI systems, bridge the digital divide by investing in infrastructure development and capacity-building initiatives in developing countries, invest in AI research, integrate local knowledge in AI systems, ensure gender responsive approaches to AI development, and develop robust data governance to address privacy, security, and ethical concerns.¹⁰UNFCCC, Draft text: Matters related to technology development and transfer: Joint annual report of the TEC and CTCN, Annex I: Key messages and recommendations of the Technology Executive Committee for the Conference of the Parties, ¶¶ 1-14, (November 13, 2025), https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/TEC_CTCN_JAR_cop30.pdf.

11. Specific references were ultimately removed and replaced with more general language that welcome TEC knowledge products.¹¹UNFCCC, Joint annual report of the TEC and CTCN: Draft conclusions (June 18 2026), https://docs.unfccc.int/documents/10000223. This suggests there is currently limited political appetite among Parties to negotiate detailed outcomes related to AI. A broader question is whether AI will remain a technical issue or evolve into a more political topic within the UNFCCC.

12. In October 2026, the TEC will host an AI for Climate Action Forum in Cambodia to explore how responsible AI can support climate mitigation and adaptation action.¹²UNFCCC, “AI for Climate Action Forum” accessed September 16, 2026, https://unfccc.int/ttclear/tec/aica_forum2026#.