GeSI at COP30: A Summary

November 2025 – This year’s COP30 in Belém placed AI and digital transformation at the centre of global climate action. Across negotiations, thematic dialogues, and high-level forums, one message was clear:

Digital solutions are becoming essential to delivering climate goals with the speed, scale, and transparency that the Paris Agreement requires.

From 10–18 November 2025, GeSI played a prominent role across the COP — organizing or speaking in 18 sessions alongside UN agencies, governments, industry leaders, academia, and digital innovators. These engagements explored how AI-enabled energy systems, smart manufacturing, digital public infrastructure, and zero-carbon campuses are shaping the next phase of global climate implementation. What emerged at COP30 strongly reaffirmed GeSI’s long-standing position: that digital technologies — and particularly AI — are essential levers for accelerating climate action, strengthening resilience, and enabling measurable impact at scale.

The dialogues and commitments made in Belém reflected the core principles of the Digital with Purpose and AI with Purpose initiatives: aligning innovation with global goals, ensuring transparency and measurable outcomes, and deploying digital solutions that deliver real societal and environmental value. COP30’s focus on practical, technology-enabled pathways for implementation showed that the world is moving in the direction GeSI has long advocated — where digital transformation is not a parallel agenda, but a foundational driver of effective climate strategies.

Below is a consolidated overview of GeSI’s most significant contributions and the growing momentum we are driving together.

GeSI at COP30: Key Insights from 18 Hosted Dialogues

Across COP30, GeSI convened and contributed to discussions with UNFCCC, UN Global Compact, UN Global Innovation Hub, IRENA, OECD, UNDP, UNEP, COP30 Presidency, leading universities, and global companies including Google, Tencent, LONGi, GREE, CATL, Tuya, HHSTU, TCP and University of Coimbra. These dialogues spanned a full range of priorities — renewable energy, green manufacturing, digital education, urban resilience, digital public infrastructure, and AI-powered climate solutions. Across all conversations, one principle consistently emerged: digital transformation is becoming the backbone of climate implementation, enabling unprecedented speed, scale, and global coordination.

(From Left to Right: Nan Feng (Tim), Senior Vice-President & Head of APAC, GeSI; Xiaodi Su, Huawei Institute of Strategic Research; Professor Yang Baocheng, President of HHSTU; Nitin Arora, Lead, UN Global Innovation Hub; Luis Neves, CEO, GeSI; Cheng Mingwei, Vice General Manager, Gree Brazil; Yusen Chen, Chief Staff of Alibaba Cloud CEO Office, SVP of Alibaba Cloud; Zhou Yingya, Senior Product Director, Tencent)

(From Left to Right: Francesco La Camera, Director General, IRENA; Luis Neves, CEO, GeSI; Li Zhenguo, Founder, Chief Technology Officer of LONGi)

1. From Platforms to Purpose

Discussions with Google, UNFCCC, IRENA and partners emphasized that digital innovation — from advanced forecasting to smart grids and AI-driven planning — must translate into measurable climate outcomes, not stand-alone technological advancement.

2. Emerging Economies as Digital Climate Leaders

Inputs from LONGi, GREE, Tencent, Tuya, HHSTU, and CATL demonstrated some of the most future-oriented pathways at COP30, reflecting how China and other emerging economies are becoming central to deploying scalable, data-driven climate solutions and shaping a more diverse global leadership landscape.

3. Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for Climate Action

Sessions with UNFCCC, AIIB, IRENA, OECD, UNDP, and the Solar Impulse Foundation highlighted fast-growing momentum for interoperable climate-data systems and AI-supported decision-making. The launch of the United Nations Solutions Hub (UNSH) further reinforced the need for digital infrastructure as a global public good.

4. Skills, Youth & a Just Transition

Through collaboration with HHSTU, the University of Coimbra, Nord Anglia Education, and urban governance partners, GeSI stressed that digital progress must be matched with human capacity, education reform, and inclusive governance to ensure a fair and equitable transition.

Launching the United Nations Solutions Hub: A Global Digital Bridge

(From Left to Right: Zhai Yongping, Senior Advisor at Tencent ; Luis Neves, CEO at GeSI, James Grabert, Director of the Mitigation Division at UNFCCC)

One of COP30’s defining moments was the launch of the United Nations Solutions Hub (UNSH) — co-developed by the UN Climate Change Global Innovation Hub and GeSI, with Tencent as a key technology partner.

Designed as a digital bridge between climate solutions, finance, expertise, and local demand, UNSH consolidates existing efforts while revealing gaps and opportunities. As James Grabert, Director of the Mitigation Division at UNFCCC, noted at the launch, the Hub will connect climate solutions, partners, and implementation needs — helping match innovations with finance, technical expertise, and local demand, and enabling transformative solutions to scale more rapidly and inclusively.

GeSI CEO Luis Neves emphasized that UNSH represents a decisive step toward a shared digital ecosystem for climate implementation — one that will form a core pillar of future Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) efforts and support the Paris Agreement. Powered by AI-enabled matching, intelligent search, and robust digital architecture, UNSH now invites cities, financial institutions, and innovators to join and help shape the next generation of climate solutions.

Launching DEFIA: Building Skills for the Digital Climate Transition

Recognizing the critical role of education, GeSI formally launched the Digital Education for Impact Alliance (DEFIA) at COP30. DEFIA brings together leading experts from global universities and educational institutions — participating not as institutional representatives but as independent contributors — to advance the transformation of learning systems for a digital and climate-resilient future.

(From Left to Right: Prof. Helena Freitas, UNESCO Chair; Prof. Alexandra Aragão, Coimbra University; Patricia Pereira da Silva, Vice Rector, Coimbra University; Professor Yang Baocheng, President of HHSTU)

(From Left to Right: Nan Feng (Tim), Senior Vice-President & Head of APAC, GeSI; Professor Yang Baocheng, President of HHSTU; Luis Neves, CEO, GeSI; Patricia Pereira da Silva, Vice Rector, Coimbra University; Prof. Henrique Madeira, Professor of Computer Science and Director of CISUC, Coimbra University)

The Alliance will:

Publish an Education Transformation Primer to drive system reform
Establish linkages with UNESCO, OECD, SDSN, and other global networks
Develop leadership programmes hosted by member institutions
Advance worldwide outreach through events and workshops

DEFIA strengthens GeSI’s commitment to ensuring that digital transformation is matched with human capacity development, particularly for youth and emerging economies.

Accelerating Global Digital Public Infrastructure: The OPIN Initiative

Another major milestone at COP30 was Brazil’s announcement of the Open Planetary Intelligence Network (OPIN), developed with GeSI, CODES, FIDE, and UN partners. OPIN aims to create the world’s first global Digital Public Infrastructure for climate action, enabling interoperability across climate data, finance mechanisms, early-warning systems, emissions tracking, and policy implementation.

Its vision includes:

Unifying digital and climate transformation on a global agenda
Supporting the Global South with access to technology and expertise
Accelerating deployment of critical digital solutions
Enabling transparency, accountability, and efficiency in implementation

OPIN reflects GeSI’s belief in digital systems as public goods — aligned with our Digital with Purpose and AI with Purpose frameworks.

Quantifying Impact: Advancing the European Green Digital Coalition

As countries move into the implementation phase of the Global Stocktake, credible measurement of digital solutions’ climate impact is essential. Throughout COP30, the European Green Digital Coalition (EGDC) – where GeSI plays a central technical role – was repeatedly referenced as the leading global methodology for assessing the net emissions-reduction impact of digital solutions.

This framework is fast becoming a foundation for:

Climate finance decisions
National digital strategies
Scaling trusted climate-tech solutions

GeSI’s technical leadership reinforces our position as the global reference for evidence-based digital sustainability.

Looking Ahead: COP30 marks a new chapter in GeSI’s global mission — one defined by deeper collaboration, shared digital ecosystems, and system-level transformation.

Across every launch, dialogue, and partnership, GeSI advanced a clear message: technology must be deployed purposefully, responsibly, and transparently to drive real-world climate impact. Governments, companies, youth leaders, and civil society all signaled strong demand for trustworthy, inclusive, and measurable digital transformation. To all partners, members, speakers and supporters, thank you for contributing to this milestone moment.

Together, we are building a future where technology accelerates climate ambition, empowers people, and delivers meaningful change across borders. The journey continues — and GeSI will remain at the forefront.