Global Climate News

India has organized India Energy Week 2025 (IEW’25) from February 11-14 in New Delhi, focusing on decarbonization, energy equity, and low-carbon economies. The event featured 70+ CEOs from major energy companies, 20+ foreign energy ministers, and discussions on clean power pathways, grid-scale energy storage, and methane mitigation. IEW’25 also highlighted India’s advancements in renewable energy and technologies like green ammonia and hydrogen production.

The Nordea Economic Outlook report discusses the impact of the green and digital transition on inflation, noting that it may lead to higher inflation due to new taxes and increased demand for certain minerals. The report also mentions the potential for AI to boost productivity in the long term, but highlights challenges like retraining the workforce. The report analyzes the resilience of Nordic economies to monetary tightening and the global economic downturn.

The article discusses the growth of ESG data services and ratings in financial markets, driven by the European Commission’s Action Plan on Sustainable Finance. It highlights the increasing investment in ESG data services, the need for harmonization of concepts and methodologies, and the importance of improving data availability and quality. The article also points out inherent biases in ESG ratings and suggests best practices for corporations in working with ESG ratings and data.

Dr Christine Chow, PhD, CEO of Tracker Group, has 25+ years of experience in investment management, research & consulting, focusing on technology, governance, and sustainability. She's a board member of the ICGN, an honorary advisor to the AFRC Hong Kong, and holds various academic positions. Her work significantly contributes to sustainable finance and responsible investment.

India’s Department of Biotechnology (DBT) held a webinar on "Biomanufacturing for Climate Resilient Agriculture," focusing on sustainable biomanufacturing solutions for agriculture under the BioE3 Policy. The webinar included discussions on leveraging bioresources, sustainable practices, and technologies like synthetic biology and AI/ML to improve plant productivity and create bio-based solutions for climate-resilient agriculture.

The UK government aims to become a global leader in AI by 2030, boosting its data center capacity twentyfold and establishing AI growth zones with relaxed planning permissions for new data centers. An AI Energy Council will explore renewable energy sources for AI. The government also announced a consultation on regulating copyrighted content for AI model training.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has recommended policy solutions to address the impacts of megatrends, including climate change, on labor markets in Asia and the Pacific. These solutions focus on creating a jobs-centered approach to megatrends, strengthening capacity to anticipate changing labor demand, understanding the distributional impacts of megatrends on people and jobs, and adapting to an era of uncertainty.

The UK government announced a plan to unleash artificial intelligence across the UK, including initiatives to create AI Growth Zones, build a new supercomputer, and boost AI adoption in public and private sectors. The plan includes £14 billion investment from three tech companies (Vantage Data Centres, Nscale, and Kyndryl) and aims to create 13,250 jobs. A key focus is on sustainable energy for powering AI ambitions, with Culham, Oxfordshire, selected as the site for the first AI Growth Zone, leveraging the UK’s Atomic Energy Authority’s expertise in fusion energy.

Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Youth 4 Sustainability (Y4S) Hub, a Masdar initiative, participated in Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2025 (ADSW 2025) from January 14-16 at ADNEC. The program focused on youth innovation in sustainability, STEM skills, and utilizing AI for climate solutions.

India's Viksit Bharat Young Leaders Dialogue focused on sustainable future with sessions on sustainable farming, and steering India towards a sustainable future. Experts from various fields shared their insights, and the event highlighted youth-focused initiatives in education, skill development, and entrepreneurship.

India faces challenges in meeting the energy demands of its AI infrastructure. By 2030, AI infrastructure could consume 100-200 terawatt-hours annually. Scaling up renewable energy is crucial, but challenges remain. Modernizing India’s power grid is necessary to ensure consistent energy supplies for data centers.

Researchers have developed a new method to estimate Earth’s effective radiative forcing using artificial intelligence and observational data. The method combines observations of surface temperature and radiative imbalance to predict a forcing trend of 0.72 ± 0.20 Wm^{-2} per decade for 2001–2023. This independent assessment can be updated with new observations.

The MCJ newsletter discussed climate change adaptation, featuring Kathryn Bakos from the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation and Seyed Madaeni from Verse, a clean energy procurement software company. It also highlighted a YouTube video from Google on wildfire prediction and listed several climate-related job openings.

US-based SkySpecs has developed a new metric for automated rotor imbalance monitoring in wind turbines using high-frequency SCADA data. This allows for earlier identification of potential issues and improved operational decisions. The method involves spectral analysis of high-frequency rotor speed signals, focusing on the 1p component to assess imbalance. The metric is calculated at 10-minute intervals for compatibility with existing data.

dClimate's newsletter summarizes news on carbon markets, climate risk management, and climate data. MSCI reported $1.4B in retired carbon credits in 2024. Insurance is seen as key to restoring credibility in carbon markets. Arbol uses AI-driven parametric insurance to address climate-induced coverage gaps. California requires insurers to offer coverage in wildfire zones. A new high-resolution dataset for global grasslands has been released. The WMO operationalized WIS 2.0, a global information system for Earth data.

The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen established fourteen Project Groups to deliver on political priorities. One of the Project Groups focuses on Clean Industrial Deal and is jointly chaired by three Commissioners. Other Project Groups cover Artificial Intelligence, External Action, Skills, Jobs and Social Rights, and other crucial areas.

India and Scotland discussed cooperation in green energy, IT, AI, and other sectors. The Indian Parliament's use of AI and technology has enhanced productivity. India's New Education Policy may open avenues for Scottish universities.

The UK launched the Global Clean Power Alliance, bringing twelve countries together to accelerate clean energy deployment and green job creation. The UK also committed to increasing its defence spending to 2.5% of GDP and pledged continued military aid to Ukraine (\"3 billion a year\"). Further, the UK is developing legislation for a new sanctions regime targeting irregular migration, and is reforming the FCDO to better connect its work to domestic priorities.

India and the USA, represented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and NASDA, respectively, held discussions to strengthen collaboration in key areas of agriculture, including Climate-Smart Agriculture, Voluntary Carbon Credit Initiatives, and Precision Agriculture using AI. The meeting also covered Cold Chain Management, Crop Insurance, and Capacity Building.

Generative AI is changing enterprise procurement by enabling the discovery and connection with diverse suppliers, facilitating seamless sharing of supplier profiles, and accelerating the onboarding process. It analyzes supplier performance, market conditions, and cost variables to recommend the best-fit suppliers, also evaluating risks and ESG compliance. This helps create fairer and more competitive supplier ecosystems, promoting supplier diversity and sustainability.