As the world’s attention turns to Belém, Brazil, the COP30 climate summit is unfolding against a backdrop of mounting crises: climate change, disinformation, and the societal implications of artificial intelligence. This year’s conference, which began on November 11, 2025, stands out not only for its ambitious climate agenda but also for its unprecedented focus on the role of AI in both combating and complicating the climate emergency. And while global leaders and negotiators debate solutions, stories from the Amazon to Belgium and beyond reveal the tangled web of environmental, economic, and human challenges at stake.
For the first time in COP history, artificial intelligence has been formally integrated as a central theme. According to The Conversation, COP30 President André Aranha Corrêa do Lago and Simon Stiell, executive director of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, have both emphasized AI’s growing importance in addressing climate change. The summit’s opening day saw “science, technology and artificial intelligence” listed as a key theme, heralding initiatives like the Green Digital Action Hub and the AI Climate Institute. These programs aim to help countries—especially in the Global South—design and implement AI-based climate solutions, from digital decarbonization to transparent emissions tracking.
Yet, the enthusiasm for AI is tempered by concerns about its environmental footprint. Data centers powering AI models require vast amounts of electricity, and the mining of critical minerals for digital infrastructure raises further alarms about water use and ecological damage. As Stiell succinctly put it, data centers “need to have electrical power sources if AI is to be aligned with climate action.” The tension between AI’s promise and its pitfalls was a recurring theme in Belém.
AI’s practical applications in climate mitigation were spotlighted by former US Vice President Al Gore, who presented the latest advances of Climate TRACE—a coalition leveraging satellite imagery, remote sensing, and machine learning to pinpoint sources of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. As Gore demonstrated, such tools can empower governments and companies to reduce or eliminate emissions with unprecedented precision. Other AI-driven innovations discussed at COP30 included projects to enhance energy efficiency, conserve water, and boost agricultural productivity. Notably, a team from Laos received the 2025 AI for Climate Action Award for using AI to optimize farming and irrigation—a testament to the technology’s potential in adaptation as well as mitigation.
But technology alone cannot resolve the climate crisis. The human side of the struggle was brought into sharp relief by Christiana Figueres, the Costa Rican diplomat and architect of the 2015 Paris Agreement. Speaking with AFP, Figueres described the emotional toll climate work takes on negotiators and activists, especially younger generations. “Many people, especially young people working on this issue, have started to feel increasingly anxious,” she said, noting that despair has even led some to reconsider having children. To help cope, Figueres has organized meditation retreats for climate negotiators, teaching breathing techniques and resilience strategies. “Meditation helps strengthen personal resilience,” she explained. “Although we are all working toward planetary resilience, it is very difficult to achieve without this personal resilience.” She believes these practices not only support mental health but also make negotiators better listeners and more effective at the bargaining table.
As the summit’s discussions ranged from AI to adaptation, the reality of climate impacts played out far from the conference halls. In Belgium, a landmark lawsuit began on November 19, 2025, pitting Hugues Falys, a farmer from Hainaut, against oil giant TotalEnergies. Supported by NGOs like Greenpeace and the International Federation for Human Rights, Falys is seeking compensation for damage to his farm—damage he attributes directly to climate change-induced extreme weather such as heavy rainfall, droughts, and heatwaves. “Like all farmers, I am on the front line of climate change,” Falys told Euronews Green. “However, climate change is not inevitable. Those responsible must be held accountable.”
The case is the first of its kind in Belgium targeting a multinational company for climate damages. Its timing is striking: just days earlier, TotalEnergies announced a $100 million climate investment at COP30. Yet, as FIDH points out, the company has also confirmed a four percent increase in hydrocarbon production—contradicting the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s call to reduce fossil fuel output to keep warming below 1.5°C. “The solution to the climate crisis requires multinational companies to immediately stop new investments in fossil fuels to curb greenhouse gas emissions,” said Gaëlle Dusepulchre of FIDH. As of November 19, TotalEnergies had not responded to questions about its fossil fuel investments or responsibility for climate damages. A verdict in the case is not expected until early 2026, but the legal battle signals a growing willingness to use the courts to hold major polluters accountable.
Meanwhile, the question of what constitutes genuine sustainability is being tested in Brazil’s own backyard. SLC Agrícola, a major farming company supplying cotton to brands like Nike and Adidas, is using COP30 to burnish its green credentials. CEO Aurelio Pavinato called the summit “a crucial moment to strengthen our global image and consolidate the country as a reference in sustainable production and environmental conservation.” But 700 miles from Belém, traditional communities in Piauí state claim that SLC’s leased cotton and soy fields encroach on their ancestral lands, causing pollution, environmental harm, and aggression. The dispute, chronicled by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, stretches back decades, with court documents alleging that the expansion of Cosmos Farm has led to the loss of local species and contaminated rivers and crops. SLC insists it conducts due diligence and that any disputed land lies outside its leased area, but local prosecutors and community members remain unconvinced.
The Cerrado biome, where the farm is located, has lost about a third of its vegetation in the past 40 years—a stark reminder that agricultural expansion, even when labeled “sustainable,” often comes at a heavy cost. Major global investors, including Vanguard, Blackrock, and State Street, have funneled millions into SLC, sometimes via ESG (environmental, social, and governance) funds meant to promote ethical business practices. But as Xavier Lerin of ShareAction told TBIJ, “Negative impacts on nature and human rights create serious financial, reputational, and legal risks. However, few institutions have robust investment policies for sectors like agriculture and forestry, and many still fail to ensure their investee companies respect the rights of people directly affected by nature destruction.”
Amidst these stories, the role of disinformation looms large. At COP30, climate disinformation and denial were repeatedly cited as obstacles to progress, prompting the announcement of a Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change, endorsed by several countries. AI, in this context, is seen as a double-edged sword: it can help counter falsehoods and increase transparency, but if left unchecked, it could also amplify misinformation and environmental harm.
As COP30 continues, the world watches not just for new agreements, but for signs that technology, industry, and communities can find common ground. The challenge is daunting, but as Figueres observed, “The progress of these [clean] technologies is visible in every sector, in every country. It’s progress that will not stop.” The future, it seems, will be shaped as much by human resilience and accountability as by innovation itself.
