What is Planetary Health?
AI is rapidly reshaping economies, decision-making, and daily life, offering enormous potential while posing significant social and environmental risks.
We are entering a Hybrid Tipping Zone, where the rapid mainstreaming of artificial intelligence (AI) and the global race for technological supremacy collide with human agency and planetary limits.
— Cornelia C. Walther, PhD, Chair of the AI & Innovation Working Group
Despite the potential to boost global GDP by up to 14% by 2030, the unchecked expansion of AI poses significant risks to Planetary Health. Our growing digital dependency, the erosion of decision-making autonomy, and widening ecological imbalance are pushing humanity toward the edges of planetary boundaries. This shift threatens all of Earth’s life support systems.
20% of the growth in global electricity could be consumed by digital technologies by 2030
The environmental cost of AI is mounting: digital technologies may consume more than 20% of the growth in global electricity by 2030, and fewer than 1 in 3 AI initiatives include social or environmental impact assessments.
ProSocial AI acts as a counter-catalyst: a design and governance approach that seeks to ensures technology serves both people and the planet. The 4T Framework—Tailored, Trained, Tested, Targeted—guides AI systems to be context-relevant, inclusively trained, transparently validated, and purpose-driven. This approach is anchored in Hybrid Intelligence, leveraging the complementarity of Natural and Artificial intelligences, and grounded in Double Literacy, which integrates human literacy (self, society, sustainability) with algorithmic literacy (data, design, decision-making). ProSocial AI has the potential to harness technology to benefit both people and planet, ensuring these systems are working to mitigate rather than exacerbate environmental decline.
Want to help shape the future of technology for planetary wellbeing? Join the Planetary Health Roadmap’s AI Working Group by contacting corneliacwalther@gmail.com.
Collaboration and Partnerships Technology and Innovation
Technology and Innovation
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Technology and Innovation
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Air Pollution Waste Management
Scientists have developed a groundbreaking way to turn air pollution into plastic, a process that could help clean the air, cut down on waste, and provide new raw materials without relying on dirty fuels.
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Technology and Innovation Planetary Health Frameworks
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Nature-Based Solutions (NBS)
Researchers surveyed citizens across the Mediterranean to identify the socio-psychological and demographic factors influencing public support for adopting Nature-Based Solutions in climate adaptation. Findings show that attitudes, norms, environmental awareness, and socio-demographics significantly shape pro-environmental intentions.
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Climate Change Health and Care Systems
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Chemical Pollution Technology and Innovation
Experts explore sustainable alternatives to chemical pesticides, emphasizing the role of soil microorganisms, nanotechnology, and biosensors in reducing environmental and human health impacts.
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