In October GSMA Mobile for Development hosted a roundtable on AI innovation for impact and climate action at Mobile 360 Asia Pacific (M360 APAC), GSMA’s regional event for the mobile industry. The session convened a diverse group of organisations, from start-ups to mobile network operators (MNOs) to funders and international development organisations. 

In this blog we discuss how AI is being used to optimise and accelerate climate action in the APAC region, with insights from our roundtable into innovative start-ups, MNO partnerships, the role of climate finance and multi-stakeholder, regional partnerships.  

AI for climate action in APAC contextualised  

Climate technology (climate tech) has become a key component of climate mitigation and resilience initiatives worldwide. Predictive and generative AI tools are now widely adopted in climate tech products and services, presenting an opportunity to optimise and accelerate climate action.  

This is particularly pertinent to the APAC region, home to countries highly vulnerable to climate change. These range from Small Island Developing States (SIDS) battling rising sea-levels, coastal erosion and extreme weather, to lower-middle income nations like Bangladesh and India (but also high-income nations such as Japan and South Korea) facing more frequent severe heatwaves and flooding.  

The region is also home to some of the most innovative AI ecosystems globally. Four Asian markets – China, Singapore, South Korea and India – make it to the top ten list of the Global AI Index, which scores 83 countries on AI capacity based on 122 different indicators.  

Fig. 1: Global AI Index, APAC countries 

Source: Tortoise Media  

The strength of start-ups  

In South Korea, the host country of M360 APAC, 12% of total jobs are highly exposed to AI, and 25% of scaleup start-ups in the country are contributing to advancements in AI, ranging from big data models to computer vision and, natural language processing. This compares to 22% of Silicon Valley scaleups in the US, and 19% in Israel. 

This level of innovation presents an opportunity to leverage AI in climate mitigation and resilience efforts. AI helps gathering, completing and processing climate data, and it improves planning and decision-making. It can also optimise processes, and, at the end user level, it encourages climate-positive behaviours.  

At the roundtable, we heard from South Korean climate tech start-ups like Sesu.Ai, which uses AI to enhance renewable energy projects through predictive maintenance, and i-ESG, which has developed an AI-driven platform enabling organisations to conduct their ESG reporting efficiently. Both start-ups are expanding to other regional markets, including Vietnam, the Philippines and India, and are looking for partnerships. 

The role of MNO partnerships in Climate Action

For MNOs, AI is primarily a business optimisation tool. It helps to detect fraud, improve customer service (e.g. AI chatbots), enhance network management and reduce energy wastage. MNOs, however, have an important role to play in the ecosystem through technology and data driven partnerships. They can also leverage their customer relations to scale innovations.  

At the roundtable, we heard from Philippine MNO Globe Telecom, which is working on innovative climate-related AI use cases such as business continuity planning for disaster response, and air pollution monitoring, a solution developed in partnership with local climate tech start-up uHoo. The AI-based system ensures a healthier workplace by controlling ventilation and air quality but also aids in reducing energy consumption. 

In another example, Indonesian MNO XL Axiata has partnered with local tech companies like AI start-up Nodeflux to bring to the local government of Jakarta an AI-enabled, IoT-based real-time flood monitoring solution. The solution helps mitigate flood risks by using sensors that monitor water levels, rainfall, water flow, and pump operations. It helps the local government to make data-driven flood management decisions.  

Another key asset that MNOs can bring to partnerships is anonymised mobile big data (MBD) on population movement. At the roundtable, we heard from Data Insights for Social & Humanitarian Action (DISHA), a multi-partner initiative of UN Global Pulse, bringing together humanitarian actors, funders, and the private sector to accelerate access to near real-time insights for climate resilience and disaster response. In partnership with Globe Telecom in the Philippines, DISHA uses Mobile Network Data (MND) to help humanitarian organisations identify areas where people might need food or cash assistance following a climate emergency event.  

In these partnerships, MNOs can play a role in scaling up climate tech innovations, and in doing so, in accelerating climate action. Their contribution is especially important in emerging APAC nations, where MNOs play a catalytic role in local tech ecosystems and often bring innovations across the different markets where they operate.  

The importance of climate finance

AI-enabled technologies are capital-intensive, and climate finance partnerships are required at the foundational level to de-risk innovations and cover for investments that are often beyond the reach of local governments and start-ups.  

Climate finance comes from public and private sectors, development banks, and international organisations. The funding gap for climate finance is significant, especially for adaptation initiatives. According to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), adaptation finance was just 8% of global climate finance flows in 2022-2023. This has created a gap of 10 to 18 times the required amount to meet the climate adaptation needs of low- and middle-income nations.  

Beside private sector tech providers, the M360 APAC roundtable saw the participation of key actors in climate finance such as the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and USAID, respectively the largest climate fund and the largest foreign aid governmental donor in the world, and AVPN Limited, the largest network of social investors in Asia. These organisations are increasing their efforts to incorporate AI in their investment strategies.  

GCF has been supporting innovators in APAC, like start-ups and small enterprises, to adopt and develop AI technologies for climate action through its Readiness Programme. USAID, on the other hand, is both integrating AI into its established programmes like the Feed the Future innovation Labs, and embarking on new AI-centric impact initiatives like AI for Development (AI4D).  

Alongside these international actors, as a regional player, AVPN is mobilising capital from foundations, impact funds, corporations and governments to support organisations in leveraging AI to combat climate change via programmes like the APAC Sustainability Seed Fund.  

The need for multi-stakeholder, regional partnerships

While there are significant differences in the regional AI ecosystems and different levels of readiness and adoption among low- and middle- income and high-income APAC nations, our expert roundtable at M360 APAC highlighted the importance of sustaining both public-private and private-private partnerships between implementers and funders of AI-driven innovation that address climate change.  

Greater synergies and knowledge sharing are needed within the region to support sustainable, scalable and impactful solutions that can be taken to different markets.  

As we plan to launch a new initiative to support start-ups implementing AI-driven innovations for impact and climate action, we are looking for examples of use cases in low and middle-income countries. If you would like to share your experience and find out more, please contact [email protected] . 

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The Central Insights Unit is currently funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and supported by the GSMA and its members.