Regulating AI for Climate and Nature

Regulating AI for Climate and Nature
Cambridge Festival, Green Week at Hughes Hall and Cambridge Climate Week

AI is accelerating fast—but what does that mean for the climate and nature? This panel will explore whether we need new rules to govern AI’s environmental impacts, and if so, what should they look like? Join us for a lively discussion across research, policy, and industry perspectives.

As part of the Cambridge Festival, Green Week at Hughes Hall, and the Cambridge Climate Week, this panel event on Climate Change, AI, and Policy will take place on Wednesday 18 March, 16:00–18:00, followed by a networking reception from 18:00–19:00. The event will open with a keynote from Yu-Ting Kuo, Hughes alumnus and Corporate Vice President at Microsoft, where he leads the company’s Agent AI development. He will also take part in the panel discussion.

Additional speakers include Richard Turner, Professor of Machine Learning in the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge and Research Lead for AI for Weather Prediction at the Alan Turing Institute. The panel will also feature Lindsay Hooper, CEO of the Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership.

The discussion will explore key questions at the intersection of policy, climate, nature and artificial intelligence, drawing on insights from a recent working paper titled Regulating the AI-Climate Nexus, authored by Nick Scott, Manager for Law and Climate Action at the Centre for Climate Engagement.

Panellists will consider how policy and regulatory measures can respond to AI’s environmental impacts, how the policy response can manage environmental risk while seizing AI-related opportunities, and whether this requires specific regulation or integration with existing measures.

With thanks to our event partners Cambridge Zero,
the Conservation Research Institute, the Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership, and the Cambridge Climate Society.