Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that she is confident that India can become an innovator and implementer of climate change solutions. Speaking at Mumbai Climate Week (MCW) on Wednesday, Clinton also said the world must come together to mitigate the challenges of climate change.
“India can be an innovator and a doer. That’s why I came. I want to be a cheerleader for the efforts that can come from India,” she said.
How India set an example
Clinton also praised the success of an India initiative in which the Clinton Global Initiative teamed up with a local organization to provide insurance to women at the forefront of climate risks.
“We have this product up and running. India is an example. It is a model. So SEWA contracted with Humanity Insured. Humanity Insured provided the product. SEWA collected rupees from women, put it into a fund. Now we have 500,000 policy holders here in India. And India will be a model for the rest of the Global South,” she said of this CGI commitment.
‘The time to act is now’
Such an effort will require collaboration between governments, businesses, non-governmental organizations and others, she said. She also said that it is high time to put words into action.
“We cannot afford to wait any longer. People are feeling the impact now. Climate change will intensify conflicts and dislocations around the world,” she said.
“Trump’s denial of climate change is ideological”
While Clinton emphasized the need for climate action to focus on the Global South, she admitted that the Global North wasn’t faring too well either.
Chiton attacked US President Donald Trump, calling him a climate change denier.
“We need to come together in the global north. Obviously, you all know we have a president who denies climate change. It’s an ideology, it’s not a reality. It’s a denial of the evidence. We can’t wait for political change to come to the US in our own country, let alone the rest of the world,” she said.
“How AI Can Help”
Clinton also pointed out that AI could become a useful tool in the fight against climate change.
“AI can be an incredible tool for solving climate problems. I mean it can really optimize renewable grids, AI can help us with hyperlocal projections around flooding, strengthen the resilience of agriculture,” she said.
“The AI threat is real”
However, she admitted that AI in its current form could do more harm than good.
“This technology consumes huge amounts of energy, water, infrastructure – not to mention that climate and artificial intelligence together are fundamentally reshaping labor markets and migration on a scale we’ve never seen before,” she said.
She suggested that until the world’s largest AI companies figure out the technology’s impact on energy supplies, clean water supplies and labor market issues, development should slow down.
“We’ve even heard from the people who run these big companies that they have no idea what’s going to happen. They don’t know how these technological advances are going to affect humanity. So if the people creating them don’t know, then we have an obligation to say, ‘Let’s slow down and figure out how we’re going to do it,'” she said.