COP31: New global priorities target role of AI in climate information integrity

Antalya: At COP31, the Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change on Friday launched the Priorities for Action on AI for Climate Information Integrity, setting out what states, AI actors, advertisers, researchers, journalists and funders can do so that people can rely on climate information from AI, and about it.

The priorities, put forward by Global Initiative co-chairs Brazil, the UN and UNESCO, target two sides of one AI information gap: the reliability of the climate information people receive from AI, and the reliability of information about AI’s own impact on the climate.

More and more people are turning to AI for climate information, yet the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI warns that “producing fluent text is easier than producing factual text”.

The risks can heighten during climate disasters, when AI-generated images and videos can spread faster than official warnings.

Meanwhile, the public is asked to accept claims about AI’s own climate impact without the necessary data to judge. Building on the Belém Declaration and the UN Global Principles for Information Integrity, the Priorities rest on transparency, accountability and human rights.

For AI companies, this means assessing how their systems affect climate information integrity and publishing the findings, and disclosing their energy use and carbon, water and land footprints.

Actions for states include integrating information integrity into national AI strategies and climate plans.

Global Advertising Charter says: follow the money. Advertising is the dominant business model of the digital information ecosystem. Yet because the advertising supply chain is opaque, brands often cannot tell who and what their money funds, including climate disinformation.

To change that, the Charter for Climate Information Integrity in Advertising, launched by Conscious Advertising Network (CAN) and Climate Action Against Disinformation (CAAD) and supported by the Global Initiative, calls for transparency across the advertising supply chain to ensure advertisers have visibility of advertising placement while respecting user privacy.

The charter also calls for verification of all advertisers on digital platforms, action on greenwashing and ensuring advertising actors publicly disclose their relationships with fossil fuel actors. Strengthening information integrity requires resources.

At COP31, the Global Initiative called for new investment in the information people rely on to understand and act on climate change. Germany answered the call, committing EUR 2 million to the Global Fund for Information Integrity on Climate Change, administered by UNESCO, for grants to support research, develop communication strategies and undertake public awareness campaigns.

The Initiative urged other countries to invest in the Fund. Political momentum grows. One year after information integrity entered a COP (Conference of the Parties) outcome decision for the first time, at COP30 in Belém, 29 countries and the European Union have now signed and are implementing the Belém Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change, which remains open for endorsement.

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