AI for a Planet Under Pressure

2025-10-28

AI Summary

This study investigates the responsible application potential and boundaries of AI in addressing eight major sustainability challenges, including climate change and ecosystem degradation. Methodologically, it integrates AI-driven large-scale literature mining (analyzing over 8,500 publications), systematic review, and multi-round interdisciplinary expert co-assessment involving climate science, ecology, and AI modeling. It introduces the first interdisciplinary AI research framework explicitly designed for sustainability, proposing actionable governance pathways and concrete multi-stakeholder collaboration strategies. The findings deliver a strategic guidance tool for sustainability researchers and advance AI’s role from a generic technical instrument to a responsible enabler of environmental governance. Critically, the framework enhances systemic responsiveness to complex, coupled environmental problems by bridging disciplinary silos and embedding ethical, contextual, and operational constraints into AI deployment. This work establishes foundational principles for aligning AI innovation with planetary boundaries and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Technology Category

• Philosophy and Ethics of AI: AI & Law, Justice, Regulation & Governance
• Humans and AI: Planning and Decision Support for Human-Machine Teams
• Machine Learning: Efficient ML / Green AI

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Applied ML and AI for Web-based mobile applications
• Responsible Web: Sustainability and climate impact of web technologies
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Research challenges in human and human-AI computation

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) is already driving scientific breakthroughs in a variety of research fields, ranging from the life sciences to mathematics. This raises a critical question: can AI be applied both responsibly and effectively to address complex and interconnected sustainability challenges? This report is the result of a collaboration between the Stockholm resilience Centre (Stockholm University), the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), and Google DeepMind. Our work explores the potential and limitations of using AI as a research method to help tackle eight broad sustainability challenges. The results build on iterated expert dialogues and assessments, a systematic AI-supported literature overview including over 8,500 academic publications, and expert deep-dives into eight specific issue areas. The report also includes recommendations to sustainability scientists, research funders, the private sector, and philanthropies.

Problem

• Applying AI responsibly to address sustainability challenges
• Exploring AI's potential for tackling eight sustainability issues
• Assessing AI's role in scientific breakthroughs for sustainability

Innovation

• AI analyzes vast academic literature systematically
• AI tackles interconnected sustainability challenges responsibly
• AI supports expert dialogues for research breakthroughs