WASHINGTON (October 27, 2026) - The COP31 Presidency of Türkiye has released the Antalya Artificial Intelligence Pledge, inviting countries and organizations to sign on. The voluntary pledge aims to harness AI’s potential to advance climate action while addressing the environmental impacts of its growing energy and water demands.Below is a statement from Evan Tachovsky, Chief Data and AI Officer, World Resources Institute:’The Antalya AI Pledge elevates both sides of AI’s climate story - balancing AI’s potential to benefit people, nature and climate against the strain its data centers place on electricity, water and communities. It’s clear we need to shift AI’s current trajectory, and this provides a starting point for countries and companies to cooperate on an urgent, globally relevant issue.’As written, the Pledge sets the right direction of travel but lacks the accountability mechanisms to steer countries and tech companies on to a better path. Its support for finance and infrastructure for AI to strengthen climate action - especially in developing countries - is noteworthy if backed with real funds. Yet the Pledge leaves out any commitments to engage communities in data center decisions that affect them, or safeguards to address water and air quality concerns.’Responsibly managing AI requires establishing strong guardrails: powering data centers with clean energy, mandating full disclosure, including of AI companies’ energy and water use and system impacts, requiring companies to pay for their own grid upgrades, and giving local communities a genuine seat at the table from day one. Leading countries and companies could use this moment to go even further, laying out these concrete actions. The pledge’s first stocktake at COP32 offers a chance to move from soft intentions to real accountability.’