My highlights and learnings from COP29

Last month, COP29 took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, with a primary focus on scaling up climate finance—exploring strategies to support lower-income countries in transitioning to zero-carbon economies and assisting vulnerable communities in adapting to the impacts of climate change. QEPrize Ambassador Nooshin Pourkamali attended the conference and shared their insights from the event.

As part of the Global Young Greens initiative, I had the privilege of contributing to COP29, where groundbreaking steps were taken to align digitalisation with climate action. This year’s conference marked a pivotal moment in addressing the intersection of technology and sustainability.

I hosted three sessions at the climate conference, two in a space set up by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD)—a regional organisation in East Africa—and one organised by the Institut de la Francophonie pour Sustainable Development (IFDD), which focuses on promoting sustainable practices in French-speaking countries. One of the sessions I led was called "Financing Our Future: Unlocking Finances for Youth-Led Projects," where I moderated discussions on how to secure funding for environmental initiatives led by young people. In these sessions, I facilitated conversations on topics such as the intersection of climate change and health, financing youth-led projects, climate finance, and collaboration on best practices for strengthening youth influence in updating Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Additionally, I took part in negotiations on the AI footprint and digitalisation of sustainability, United Nations development goals, and climate change, including the potential of artificial intelligence to accelerate renewable energy adoption.

Beyond these events, I seized opportunities to engage with policymakers, interview exhibitors, and explore innovative digital solutions in the Green Zone. These interactions provided me with valuable insights from the global climate landscape, deepening my academic and personal commitment to advancing sustainable practices.

This year, for the first time, COP featured a dedicated Digitalisation Day. Major stakeholders came to the conference to promote the adoption of digitalisation and minimising tech’s use of resources. Telecom and IT companies joined government officials and international organisations in discussions around the COP29 Declaration on Green Digital Action. Companies participating included Alibaba, Cisco, Fujitsu, Google, Huawei, Nokia, Orange, SAP, ServiceNow and ZTE.

The Green Digital Action Declaration is a pledge to reduce digitalisation’s environmental footprint while maximising its role in data-driven decisions and resilient communications infrastructure for climate action, acknowledging the dilemma that digitalisation, though vital for combating climate change, also contributes to the problem. Massive use of technology, like AI, leads to more carbon emissions, and consumption of energy and water. This Declaration received endorsements from 1,000 governments, organisations and private sector companies.

According to International Energy Agency (IEA) electricity consumption from data centres, AI and cryptocurrencies could double by 2026. Right now, statistics and numbers show AI is a relatively small part of the global data centre electricity use, but it has faced growth with good pace too.

According to Jenny Sandahl, the Sustainability Director of Ericsson, public data on energy use and greenhouse gas emissions were evaluated in the sector for the upcoming Ericsson Mobility Report. They found that electricity use has increased by approximately 6% since 2020 while greenhouse gas emissions have decreased. Justin Keeble, Managing Director for Global Sustainability at Google Cloud, Subho Mukherjee, Vice President and Global Head of Sustainability at Nokia, and representatives from Telefónica presented reports and plans showcasing their active engagement in fostering cross-industry collaboration and strengthening partnerships between public and private sectors for sustainable solutions.

The discussions and commitments at COP29 reflect a critical turning point for integrating digitalisation into climate action. While the path ahead is complex, the collaborative spirit of the event and the innovative solutions presented signal hope for a sustainable, digitally transformed future. Personally, I hope we will witness more science and digital innovations and optimisations in the next COPs as well as other environmental and policy forums and events.

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