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Artificial intelligence has become a lightning rod in climate debates over concerns about the growing carbon footprint of the data centers powering the technology.

The issue will be in the spotlight at the COP31 climate summit in Turkey next month, with the hosts saying they will push for "climate-responsible AI."

But the discussion over the technology's environmental impact—along with fears that it could pose an existential threat to humanity—has overshadowed its potential as a tool to combat climate change.

AI is being deployed in a broad range of applications, from improving weather forecasts to monitoring industrial emissions and optimizing renewable energy.

Many of these applications are less energy-hungry than general-purpose language models such as OpenAI's ChatGPT or Anthropic's Claude, according to experts.

"Data centers have come in as a challenge... There are genuine concerns about what all of this could mean for the energy system, for the energy sector, for climate," Siddharth Singh, an AI expert at the International Energy Agency (IEA), told AFP.

"At the same time, because (AI) is a tool, it's an opportunity. It really comes down to how it is deployed," Singh said.

AI is already being used to make electricity grids more efficient in complex energy systems, helping operators manage the variability of solar and wind power.

The technology can produce localized forecasts of cloud cover, sunlight and wind, allowing companies to predict renewable output more accurately.

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