Climate Change AI Summer School 2024
The Climate Change AI Summer School took place from June to August 2024 and included two distinct programs: a virtual program and a selective in-person program.
Registrations and applications are now closed, but details of each program can be found below. To access the content from the Virtual Summer School, scroll down to the “Virtual Program Schedule” section or visit CCAI’s YouTube channel. If you’re interested in participating in the next iteration of the In-Person Summer School, sign up here to be notified when more information is available.
Virtual Summer School
The virtual program provided an opportunity to learn about different applications of artificial intelligence (AI) for climate action from expert researchers and practitioners, and develop expertise to make an impact in this space via lectures and hands-on tutorials. The content of the program was geared towards those that have some prior engagement with topics in either climate change-relevant areas or AI, and are looking to learn more about the intersection of these fields.
Dates and Registration
- Dates: Between June 20-August 5, 2024
Virtual Program Structure
The CCAI Summer School was a standalone online program that ran for 7 weeks from June 20-August 5, 2024. The format of the program was designed to facilitate live, asynchronous, and self-paced participation. Each week, the program featured approximately 4 hours of lecture content, as well as coding tutorials. The lectures took place live via Zoom following the schedule outlined below. In addition to this content, social and networking opportunities were also available throughout the program for the registered participants.
The schedule below contains the links to the recordings of the lectures, as well as the links to the tutorials and the tutorial walkthroughs. These recordings are also accessible through CCAI’s YouTube channel.
The content of the program was geared towards those that have some prior engagement with topics in either a climate change-relevant area or AI, and was inclusive to participants from across sectors (e.g., academia, the private sector, the public sector, and students).
The lectures covered applications of AI in different climate-related fields (spanning areas such as energy, land use, climate science, economics, and policy), as well as related topics such as AI ethics, regulation, and environmental footprint. Through hands-on tutorials, participants practiced working on solutions across these application areas. The tutorials, walkthroughs, and program schedule can be found below.
Virtual Program Schedule
Day 1 - Introduction to Climate Change and AI - June 20, 2024
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| Lectures | |
| 3-4 PM UTC |
Tackling Climate Change with Machine Learning
View Recording
Details: (click to expand)Speakers:
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| 4-5 PM UTC |
Introduction to Machine Learning
View Recording
Details: (click to expand)Speaker: Rasika Bhalerao - CCAI, Northeastern University |
| Asynchronous recording |
Introduction to Climate Change
View Recording
Details: (click to expand)Speaker: Kamal Kapadia - Terra.do |
Day 2 - AI for Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use - June 24, 2024 View Recording
| Time | Event | |
|---|---|---|
| Lectures | ||
| 5-6 PM UTC |
AI for Agriculture
Details: (click to expand)Speaker:
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| 6-7 PM UTC |
AI for Forestry
Details: (click to expand)
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| Tutorials | ||
Land Use and Land Cover Classification using Pytorch
View Tutorial
View Tutorial Walkthrough
Details: (click to expand)Tutorial Author: Isabelle Tingzon - CCAI, World Bank/GFDRR |
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Day 3 - AI for Biodiversity and Ecosystems - June 26, 2024 View Recording
| Time | Event | |
|---|---|---|
| Lectures | ||
| 6-7 PM UTC |
AI for Wildlife Conservation
Details: (click to expand)Speaker: Devis Tuia - École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) |
|
| 7-8 PM UTC |
AI for Conservation Decisions
Details: (click to expand)Speaker: Lily Xu - University of Oxford, Columbia University |
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| Tutorials | ||
Agile Modeling for Bioacoustic Monitoring
View Tutorial
View Tutorial Walkthrough
Details: (click to expand)Tutorial Authors:
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Day 4 - AI for Social Sciences, Economics and Policy, Part I - June 28, 2024 View Recording
| Time | Event | |
|---|---|---|
| Lectures | ||
| 2-3 PM UTC |
Climate Innovation Policy
Details: (click to expand)Speaker: Alice Lépissier - Green Finance AI |
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| Tutorials | ||
NLP Models for Climate Policy Analysis
View Tutorial
View Tutorial Walkthrough
Details: (click to expand)Tutorial Authors:
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Day 5 - AI for Climate Science - July 2, 2024 View Recording
| Time | Event | |
|---|---|---|
| Lectures | ||
| 4-5 PM UTC |
AI for Climate Science
Details: (click to expand)Speaker: Kai Jeggle - CCAI, ETH Zürich |
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| 5-6 PM UTC |
AI for Weather
Details: (click to expand)Speaker: Peetak Mitra - Excarta |
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| Tutorials | ||
Forecasting the El Niño/Southern Oscillation with Machine Learning
View Tutorial
View Tutorial Walkthrough
Details: (click to expand)Tutorial Authors:
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Day 6 - AI for Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification - July 5, 2024 View Recording
| Time | Event | |
|---|---|---|
| Lectures | ||
| 10-11 AM UTC |
AI for Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification of Corporate GHG Emissions
Details: (click to expand)Speaker: Kasia Tokarska de los Santos - Carbon Pool |
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| Tutorials | ||
Estimating Coal Power Plant Operation From Satellite Images with Computer Vision
View Tutorial
View Tutorial Walkthrough
Details: (click to expand)Tutorial Authors:
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Day 7 - AI for Social Sciences, Economics and Policy, Part II - July 16, 2024 View Recording
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| Lecture | |
| 10-11 PM UTC |
Empirical Estimation of the Influence of Weather and Climate on Socio-economic Outcomes
Details: (click to expand)Speaker: Jonathan Proctor |
Day 8 - Ethics, Impacts, and Regulation of AI - July 18, 2024 View Recording
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| Lectures | |
| 9-10 AM UTC |
Ethics of AI
Details: (click to expand)Speaker: Angella Ndaka - Centre for African Epistemic Justice |
| 10-11 AM UTC |
Regulation of AI
Details: (click to expand)Speaker: Philipp Hacker - European University Viadrina Frankfurt |
Day 9 - AI for Buildings and Cities - July 19, 2024 View Recording
| Time | Event | |
|---|---|---|
| Lectures | ||
| 11 AM-12 PM UTC |
Role of Data and AI for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in Cities
Details: (click to expand)Speaker: Angel Hsu |
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| 12-1PM UTC |
AI for Buildings and Cities
Details: (click to expand)Speaker: Filip Biljecki |
|
| Tutorials | ||
Building Load Forecasting with Machine Learning
View Tutorial
View Tutorial Walkthrough
Details: (click to expand)Tutorial Author: Marcus Voss - CCAI, Birds on Mars |
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CityLearn Tutorial
View Tutorial
View Tutorial Walkthrough
Details: (click to expand)Tutorial Authors:
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Building Control with RL using BOPTEST
View Tutorial
View Tutorial Walkthrough
Details: (click to expand)Tutorial Author: Javier Arroyo |
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Day 10 - GHG Impact Assessment of AI - July 22, 2024 View Recording
| Time | Event | |
|---|---|---|
| Lectures | ||
| 4-5 PM UTC |
GHG Impact Assessment of AI
Details: (click to expand)Speakers:
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| 5-6 PM UTC |
Responsible AI and Sustainability
Details: (click to expand)Speakers:
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| Tutorials | ||
Reducing your Climate Impact when Training ML Models
View Tutorial
View Tutorial Walkthrough
Details: (click to expand)Tutorial Author: Mel Hanna - CCAI, Stable Auto |
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Day 11 - AI for Energy Systems - July 29, 2024 View Recording
| Time | Event | |
|---|---|---|
| Lectures | ||
| 7-9 PM UTC |
AI for Power & Energy Systems
Details: (click to expand)Speakers:
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| Tutorials | ||
AI for Optimal Power Flow
View Tutorial
Details: (click to expand)Tutorial Authors:
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Day 12 - AI for Transportation - July 31, 2024 View Recording
| Time | Event | |
|---|---|---|
| Lectures | ||
| 11 AM-1 PM UTC |
AI for Transportation
Details: (click to expand)Speakers:
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| Tutorials | ||
Predicting Mobility Demand from Urban Features
View Tutorial
View Tutorial Walkthrough
Details: (click to expand)Tutorial Authors:
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Day 13 - Climate, Health, and AI - August 5, 2024 View Recording
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| Lectures | |
| 9-11 AM UTC |
Climate, Health, and AI
Details: (click to expand)Speaker: Sara Khalid |
In-Person Summer School
The in-person program aimed to prepare participants to become leaders in tackling major climate problems using AI, via collaborative projects, hands-on mentorship, technical training, and leadership workshops. The in-person program was geared towards individuals with prior backgrounds in AI and/or a climate change-related field, across career stages.
If you’re interested in hearing about the 2024 in-person program, and the projects that the participants developed, stay tuned for an upcoming blog post on the program. Sign up here to be notified when applications are open for the next iteration of the In-Person Summer School.
In-Person Program
- Dates: August 12-16, 2024
- Location: Mila - Quebec AI Institute, Montreal, Canada
- Application link:
<https://share.hsforms.com/17ttt0XiNS7ayW-OLLECCoAquu4v> - Application deadline:
April 14, 2024, 23:59 AOE (Anywhere on Earth, UTC-12)
In-Person Program Structure
Participants of the in-person program had the opportunity to work together in interdisciplinary teams to develop projects using AI to address important climate change-relevant challenges. Throughout the development of each project, mentors with expertise on the topic of the project provided guidance and feedback. At the end of the program, each team presented their projects in front of their peers and a panel of experts from different sectors.
Training sessions were delivered with the aim of enhancing participants’ ability to impactfully and responsibly shape their projects, and to assume leadership positions in the broader climate change and AI space. These trainings were led by experts from various backgrounds across industry and academia, and included topics such as shaping and communicating pathways to impact, ethics and responsible AI, working effectively in interdisciplinary teams, and effective communication.
In-Person Program Training Sessions and Talks
- Keynote: Sasha Luccioni - CCAI, Hugging Face
- Pathway to Impact: David Rolnick - CCAI, McGill University
- Responsible AI: Shalaleh Rismani - McGill University, Mila
- Working Effectively in Interdisciplinary Teams:
- Moderator: Lynn Kaack - CCAI, Hertie School
- Panelists:
- Ruth Schmidt - GIZ
- Josée Poirier - Mila
- Konstantin Klemmer - CCAI
- Effective Communication: Jesse Dunietz
Interested in participating in the next iteration of the In-Person Summer School? Sign up here to be notified when applications open.
Sponsors
Flagship Funder
Gold Sponsor
Silver Sponsor
Hosting Partner
Organizers
On behalf of Climate Change AI:
Amanda Sessim Parisenti (Climate Change AI)
Elena Fillola Mayoral (University of Bristol)
Erick Kapp (Climate Change AI)
Millie Chapman (National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis)
Umangi Jain (University of Toronto)
Yazid Salahudeen Mikail (Ahmadu Bello University)
Frequently Asked Questions
Virtual Summer School FAQs
Q: How do I access the virtual program?
A: All of the virtual program content including lecture recording, tutorials, and tutorial walkthroughs can be found in the Schedule section above as well as on CCAI’s YouTube channel.
Q: Will there be recordings?
A: Recordings of all lectures and tutorial walkthroughs are available on CCAI’s YouTube channel.
Q: What topics were covered in the virtual program?
A: The virtual program provided an overview of how artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can be used to address climate change. Through lectures and tutorials, participants learned how AI/ML are employed across different climate-relevant fields/sectors, discussed important considerations for framing/scoping problems, and gained hands-on practice applying AI/ML to climate-relevant problems.
Q: Are there prerequisites for the virtual program?
A: Modules were presented at varying levels of technical depth. For some of the modules, substantial knowledge about AI/ML, Python programming, or both was assumed. For other modules, only minimal prerequisite knowledge about AI/ML, Python programming, or both was assumed.
Q: Did CCAI provide certificates of attendance for the program?
A: Yes, CCAI provided certificates of attendance for all registered participants that complete at least 8, out of 12, lecture feedback forms prior to the deadline.
Q: My question isn’t answered above. What should I do?
A: If you have a question not answered in the FAQs, please email summerschool+virtual@climatechange.ai. Due to the large number of inquiries, we may not be able to reply to all emails.
In-Person Summer School FAQs
Q: What was the date and location of the in-person program?
A: The In-Person Summer School was held from August 12-16, 2024 at Mila - Quebec AI Institute in Montreal, Canada.
Q: Who was eligible to apply for the in-person program?
A: Anyone over 18 years of age was eligible to apply.
Q: What was the application deadline for the in-person program?
A: The deadline to apply was April 14, 2024 23:59 AoE (Anywhere on Earth).
Q: Was there an application fee for the in-person program?
A: No! All applicants who filled out the application form were considered.
Q: Were food, lodging, travel, and/or visa application costs be covered for accepted applicants?
A: Accepted applicants had the opportunity to apply for financial assistance to cover participation cost.
Q: My question isn’t answered above. What should I do?
A: If you have a question not answered in the FAQs, please email summerschool+inperson@climatechange.ai. Due to the large number of inquiries, we may not be able to reply to all emails.