{"id":12137,"date":"2024-07-10T09:02:39","date_gmt":"2024-07-10T16:02:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/?p=12137"},"modified":"2025-03-12T13:32:51","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T13:32:51","slug":"ai-for-climate-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/eu\/blog\/ai-for-climate-action\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of AI for Climate Action"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As magical as artificial intelligence (AI) feels when it pumps out recommendations, recipes, or works of art in seconds, its greatest trick may be helping humanity build a more sustainable future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experts are still trying to understand the true energy cost of training and deploying AI, but there is no question we must act now to scale this technology responsibly\u279a<\/a> and minimise environmental impacts. The good news is companies like Salesforce are already implementing guidelines\u279a<\/a> to prioritise sustainable and ethical AI development.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How ESG Delivers Business Value<\/strong><\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Discover seven practical use cases for your organisation. \u200b<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\tGet the guide<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t
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While AI presents climate risks, it also has the potential to be a powerful tool to address climate change. Ecopreneurs \u2014 leaders who transform an idea into an environmentally-oriented product, solution, or business \u2014 are building a wide range of AI solutions that are contributing to positive climate outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how can we ensure the environmental benefits of AI outweigh the risks? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Salesforce\u2019s Climate & AI Summit\u279a<\/a>, we brought together researchers, technology leaders, and funders to share what we can do to build and scale sustainable AI models and leverage AI for climate action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Optimise AI for sustainability<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

AI has the potential to help address climate issues that scientists have been grappling with for years. At the same time, businesses deploying AI must be mindful of how the technology can exacerbate carbon emissions, water depletion, and the use of other valuable resources. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every business developing and deploying AI needs a strategy to avoid unintended environmental consequences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sustainability is one of our core company values\u279a<\/a> and a guiding principle\u279a<\/a> for our development and deployment of AI. Salesforce\u2019s blueprint for sustainable AI\u279a<\/a> \u2014 developed in partnership between our AI Research, Sustainability, and Office of Ethical and Humane Use teams \u2014 focuses on three main components: right-sized models, employing efficient hardware, and prioritising low-carbon data centers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n\t\t\t\tMore Sustainable AI Options\t<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Watch the Salesforce Climate & AI Summit<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Salesforce Paves the Way for More Sustainable and Equitable AI\u279a<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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How Salesforce Develops Ethical Generative AI from the Start\u279a<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Unveiling Salesforce\u2019s Blueprint for Sustainable AI: Where Responsibility Meets Innovation<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Right-sized models<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to AI models, bigger isn\u2019t necessarily better. That\u2019s one reason why Salesforce is focused on developing domain-specific models \u2014 small language models\u279a<\/a> trained on particular data sets designed for a specific purpose.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike their general-purpose large language model (LLM) counterparts, smaller models require less data and compute power. That means beyond reducing the environmental impact compared to LLMs, they\u2019re also more affordable to operate, easier to train, and often outperform large language models, according to Salesforce research\u279a<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Efficient hardware<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The energy efficiency of an AI model largely depends on the hardware it\u2019s trained and deployed on. As AI (and power) usage soars, hardware manufacturers are developing equipment that prioritises both better performance and higher efficiency. For example, NVIDIA reports its H200\u279a<\/a> graphics processing units (GPUs) are 50% more efficient than its predecessor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Low-carbon data centers <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Data centers are the physical home of the digital world. They house the hardware, servers, cooling systems, and other infrastructure needed to train and deploy AI models. And, whether it\u2019s for you or an AI model, picking a home comes down to location, location, location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data center emissions vary widely from region to region because they rely on local electric grids for power. The more a given grid uses fossil fuels, the higher the local data center\u2019s emissions will be. This makes it crucial to know where the data centers are that are training and deploying AI. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To help reduce AI model emissions, Salesforce intentionally trained models in low-carbon data centers\u279a<\/a>. These data centers are powered by electricity that emits nearly 70% less carbon than the global average \u2014 the equivalent to savings of 105 tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (tCO2e).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Explore AI for climate action solutions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re not just seeing companies focus on making AI more sustainable; we\u2019re also seeing a surge of innovation to leverage the power of AI for climate action and sustainability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From recycling centers to data centers, today\u2019s ecopreneurs are using AI to power new solutions to address urgent climate challenges. At the Climate & AI Summit, ecopreneurs shared their visions for using AI to advance climate action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ecopreneurs at the Salesforce Climate & AI Summit share how they are using AI for climate action.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

AI-powered recycling robots<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Areeb Malik co-founded Glacier<\/a>, a startup using AI-powered robots to better sort trash at recycling facilities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat AI really unlocks in this space is the data we are dealing with in recycling facilities, which is physical goods \u2013 a plastic bottle, cardboard box, a mail letter,\u201d Malik said. \u201cThose things need to be translated into digital in order to be handled properly, and AI has the capacity to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A single-source of truth for environmental data in Africa<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Kate Kallot, founder and CEO of Amini\u279a<\/a>, a company working to build Africa\u2019s data infrastructure, spoke about how AI is helping collect critical environmental data across the continent.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under Kallot\u2019s leadership, Amini is laying the foundation for data collection that is helping Africa better understand its agricultural landscape and tackle challenges across the continent, like food insecurity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe wanted to build a company from the ground up on the continent to solve complex problems and move an entire population out of poverty \u2014 but then we realised we didn\u2019t have data,\u201d Kallot said. \u201cWhen you think about Africa, the reason why environmental data is the most precious resource is that 60% of our population are farmers… so when you think about building AI solutions for the continent, this is where we decided to focus on enabling others to build solutions.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scalable, climate-aligned digital infrastructure<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Cully Cavness, co-founder and president of Crusoe<\/a>, a climate tech company focused on building more sustainable computing, shared how the business is building a climate-friendly approach to manage AI-driven electricity demand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCrusoe works at the intersection of AI infrastructure and computing infrastructure on one hand, and the energy industry on the other,\u201d Cavness said. \u201cWe\u2019re really in the physical world executing on building data centers that are aligning the future of computing with the future of the climate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Invest to accelerate AI for impact<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The capital and resources need to match the climate problems we are trying to address. We need sustained investment and risk-tolerant capital to develop and scale AI-powered solutions to climate challenges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“People need to realise that we are within striking distance now of actually being okay on climate,\u201d said Gavin McCormick, CEO of WattTime.<\/p>\n\n\n

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“I’m talking about AI identifying essentially win-win solutions that can happen in as fast as 24 hours.” <\/p>\nGavin McCormick<\/cite><\/blockquote>\nCEO, WattTime<\/span>\n