Rebuilding Trust: Climate and Environmental Information in the Age of AI

Monday 19 January 2026 13:00-14:30 CET

ENERGY ROOM

To tackle the triple climate-biodiversity-pollution crisis, businesses and societies need to understand it. How can we leverage both artificial and human intelligence to rebuild trust in science? This session brings together perspectives from science, technology, trade, operations, media, and businesses.

As climate and environmental crises accelerate, access to reliable information has become a critical public good, and a foundation for long-term decision-making. But science failed to communicate: the complexities of scientific methods have made information mostly inaccessible. Advances in AI are reshaping how information and disinformation are produced, amplified, and challenged — creating distrust, but also new opportunities.

This session will examine how AI is transforming the information ecosystem and breaking silos, from scientific data to public communication, risk management, and decision-making. It will explore the challenges posed by disinformation, fragmented narratives, and declining trust, as well as their implications for societies, businesses, and security.

We need a place of trust where knowledge can be translated into actionable bits for sectors who need it as a foundation for action. Today, AI under human judgement gives us an opportunity to build this place of trust; and revivify a spirit of dialogue. Come build this place of trust together, with science, human judgment, institutional credibility, transparency… and nature at the core.

Moderated by Brigitte Perrin, Founder, Earth Info Hub

with:

General Luca Baione, Expert in Climate and Security, former WMO permanent representative, Italy
Tawfik Jelassi, Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, UNESCO
Markus Leippold, Professor, Department of Banking and Finance, University of Zurich and part-time research scientist, Google DeepMind,
Gilles Marchand, Founder, Legitima and former Director General of SSR – the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation;
Axel Mazolo, Director, Geneva AI Governance Institute