From COP30 to Implementation: Science, AI, and Trust in the Climate Transition
COP30 marked a turning point: the climate agenda has moved decisively from negotiation to delivery. In this implementation decade, the success of climate action will depend not only on finance and technology, but on scientific credibility, public trust, and information integrity.
This session brings together three complementary perspectives shaping the climate transition:
Prof. Carlos Nobre, from Universidade Federal de São Paulo, one of the world’s leading Earth system scientists, Planetary Guardian, will bring the COP30 perspective, framing the planetary boundaries and tipping points that make rapid, coordinated action unavoidable.
Pascal Barollier, Chief External Engagement Officer at GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, will draw lessons from global health and vaccination campaigns, where misinformation has directly undermined public trust, governance, and life-saving interventions.
Daniel Erasmus, from the Club of Rome, Erasmus.AI and ClimateGPT, will bring a perspective of how AI is reshaping knowledge systems, foresight, and decision-making at a planetary scale.
The session will be moderated by Dr. Marcos Oliveira Jr., Research Impact Fellow on AI and Digital Technologies at the Nature & Climate Impact Team - University of Exeter, which will also introduce ClimaVAR, an AI-powered system inspired by football’s Video Assistant Referee, designed to detect climate misinformation and explain decisions transparently and accessibly. As a practical bridge between COP30 outcomes and WEF 2026 discussions, ClimaVAR illustrates how culturally legible AI tools can help safeguard fair play, democratic legitimacy, and ambition in the global climate transition.
Together, the panel will examine how misinformation and fragmented narratives increasingly threaten climate implementation — from nature-based solutions to adaptation, mitigation, and climate finance — and why AI must act as a referee, not a player, in the climate information ecosystem.
The session is organised by The Nature & Climate Impact Team of the University of Exeter and hosted by Arctic Basecamp at Davos.