Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for the Earth

The report explores how AI can be harnessed to solve environmental crises while warning of unintended risks. It identifies key 'game changers' like smart agriculture and distributed energy grids, and provides recommendations for governments, companies, and investors to ensure AI is developed responsibly and aligned with sustainability goals.

• The report identifies six critical environmental challenges requiring transformative action: climate change, biodiversity and conservation, healthy oceans, water security, clean air, and weather and disaster resilience.
• AI is described as the "electricity" of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, with the capacity to permeate all industries and enable humans to develop intelligence not yet reached.
• The report outlines several 'emerging AI game changers' that could disrupt current environmental management, including autonomous connected electric vehicles, distributed energy grids, smart agriculture, and a community disaster-response data platform.
• AI can transform weather and climate science through 'Climate Informatics,' which uses machine learning to improve the performance and accessibility of models, potentially reducing the reliance on energy-intensive supercomputers.
• The 'Earth Bank of Codes' (EBC), being developed via the Amazon Third Way initiative, aims to use AI and blockchain to register nature's assets and ensure the fair sharing of benefits with indigenous and traditional communities.
• Future 'further-off' AI game changers for the 2030s include a real-time digital geospatial dashboard of the Earth, fully autonomous farming, and the use of quantum computing to solve natural problems that classical binary computers cannot model.
• The report warns of significant risks if AI is left unguided, including performance risks (black box opaqueness), security risks (hacking and autonomous weaponry), control risks (unexpected machine-centered feedback), and ethical risks (value alignment).
• To ensure 'responsible AI,' the report recommends that companies establish board-level AI advisory units and that governments implement 'algorithmic assurance' to evaluate the robustness of high-risk models.

APA

World Economic Forum (2018). Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for the Earth. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/Harnessing_Artificial_Intelligence_for_the_Earth_report_2018.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for the Earth. 2018. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/Harnessing_Artificial_Intelligence_for_the_Earth_report_2018.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for the Earth |date=January 2018 |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/Harnessing_Artificial_Intelligence_for_the_Earth_report_2018.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2018harnessing, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for the Earth}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2018}, month = jan, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/Harnessing_Artificial_Intelligence_for_the_Earth_report_2018.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }