The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has been developing an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for Development Policy and Programme that includes creating regional AI policy guidance to consider its role in sustainability and climate action.

Dr. Carla Barnett, CARICOM Secretary-General, spoke of the AI policy thrust on Wednesday, 13 November, during a Leaders’ Summit of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) on Climate Change at the Twenty-Ninth Meeting of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 29) underway in Baku, Azerbaijan.

In her remarks which focused on AI and its role in enhancing climate action, the Secretary-General outlined how the technology is being used on multiple fronts, such as improving the ability to predict and prepare for extreme weather events like hurricanes and wildfires by analysing massive climate datasets. She noted that AI can also help monitor and protect ecosystems by tracking shoreline change, loss of territory, and deforestation with unprecedented speed and accuracy.

She underscored that it is crucial to develop and use AI responsibly.

“We know the mischief that AI can be programmed to do. We have already, for decades, have been fighting misinformation and climate skepticism. A strategy to counter this climate misinformation may be timely.

In her remarks, the Secretary-General reiterated the need for urgency in accessing finance.

“But the riddle that must be solved with a much greater sense of urgency, is the access to finance on affordable and appropriate terms to make it possible to do all we need to do to build resilience to climate change, including the deployment of AI.

Listen to the Secretary-General’s remarks: