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AI & Sustainability

Abstract illustration of neural networks and AI (iStock)

Shaping the Future of AI, for People and the Planet

Artificial intelligence has the potential to transform how the world responds to climate change and sustainability challenges, but only if it is developed and deployed responsibly.

Cornell Atkinson advances a two-pronged approach to AI & Sustainability: building more sustainable AI systems while applying AI to accelerate climate solutions. By bringing together interdisciplinary research with trusted partnerships across industry, government, nonprofits, and philanthropy, we aim to translate AI innovation into real-world impact.

Research Focus Areas

Our AI & Sustainability research spans the interconnected systems shaping a sustainable future – from the technologies and computing systems that power AI to the climate, energy, food, and natural systems it can help transform. Each focus area draws on Cornell’s strengths and reflects our commitment to developing AI responsibly while applying it to real-world sustainability challenges.

Explore our Research Areas and recently-funded projects below:

Sustainable AI: Understanding and Reducing AI’s Environmental Impacts

Improving the efficiency, governance, and environmental footprint of AI systems and the infrastructure that runs them.

Racks of data center processors with CPU fans in forefront
Designing a Curtailment Credit Market: Leveraging Data Center Development to Incentivize Grid-Wide Decarbonization and Affordability
2026 | Innovation for Impact Fund
High-tech data center with server racks (iStock)
The Green Choice: Enabling Sustainable Generative AI through Flexible System Co-Design
2025 | 2030 Fast Grants
Data center engineer using laptop in server farm cloud
Energy-efficient Communication for AI Using Optical Network Fabrics
2024 | 2030 Fast Grants

Climate Adaptation & Resilience: Helping Communities Prepare for a Changing Climate

AI strengthening forecasting, risk assessment, and decision support for communities facing a changing climate.

Construction exhaust floating across busy Manhattan street, with buses and taxis
AI-Enhanced Differentiable Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for Urban Airflow Modeling and Pollution Source Inference
2026 | Innovation for Impact Fund
Woman from Borana tribe walking with her child in southern Ethiopia, Africa. The Borana Oromo are a pastoralist tribe living in southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya.
Leveraging AI and Forecast Models for Anticipatory Action Response Analysis To Reduce Acute Child Malnutrition
2026 | Innovation for Impact Fund
View of the solar canopy on top of Cornell Tech's Bloomberg Center, with the East River in the background (iStock)
Resilience Scanner: Leveraging AI to Accelerate Global Adoption of Municipal Climate Adaptation Technologies
2025 | 2030 Fast Grants
Weather balloon launched by Sarah Dean's students in July 2025 (captured from video)
Low-Cost Active Climate Monitoring with Underactuated Agents
2025 | 2030 Fast Grants

Climate Mitigation & Decarbonization: Accelerating the Transition to a Low-carbon Economy

AI improving energy systems, materials discovery, and behavior change to accelerate decarbonization.

Electric cars charging in a parking garage
Harnessing the Power of Electrified Transportation Systems as Virtual Power Plants Through AI-driven Learning, Optimization, and Control
2025 | Innovation for Impact Fund
The Cornell University Borehole Observatory, located on a Cornell-owned lot near Palm Road near campus. (Cornell University)
AI-aided Drilling for Deep Geothermal Development
2025 | Academic Venture Fund
Research working with John Marohn pulls a perovskite crystal from its protective casing. (Ryan Young/Cornell University)
AI-Enabled Synthesis of Bespoke Unconventional Solar-cell Materials
2025 | 2030 Fast Grants
Senior man interacting with an ai chatbot on a laptop computer (iStock)
Motivating Climate Action Using Human-AI Dialogues
2025 | 2030 Fast Grants

Nature & Biodiversity: Protecting Ecosystems Through Intelligent Monitoring and Management

AI-enabled new approaches to monitoring biodiversity, managing natural resources, and understanding environmental change across landscapes and ecosystems.

Sunset in Mondulkiri Project forest, Saen Monorom (Mondulkiri), Cambodia (iStock)
Harnessing AI to Strengthen Nature’s Defense Against Climate Change: Forest Integrity in Cambodia
2025 | 2030 Fast Grants
Boreas Ponds in the Adirondacks on a glassy lake with Mount Marcy and the high peaks in the background (iStock)
AI-Enabled Robotic eDNA Sampling of Waterways
2025 | 2030 Fast Grants
Small dam of a hydro power plant on a river in a river gorge
Modernizing Existing Dams to Meet Energy and Environmental Objectives in the Western Balkans
2025 | Innovation for Impact Fund

Built Environment & Circular Economy: Rethinking How We Build, Use, and Reuse Resources

AI supporting smarter construction, circular materials management, and efficient supply chains across the built environment.

A construction 3D printer gantry is helping to build a Houston home that will be the first multistory 3D-printed structure in the U.S., also incorporating wood framing in a new hybrid design. (Lok/Zivkovic)
AI-Powered Confidence in Additive Construction
2025 | 2030 Fast Grants
from the Catherine Commons Deconstruction Project in Collegetown, Ithaca, NY. (Photo by Joe McGranahan / Circular Construction Lab, 2022)
AR3-Lumber: AI-powered Reprocessing, Regrading, and Recertification of Salvage Lumber
2025 | Academic Venture Fund
Chef emptying vegetable scraps into a composting bin
Using Artificial Intelligence for Reducing Food Waste in Commercial Kitchens
2024 | 2030 Climate Solutions Fund
Building-level heat mapping of city blocks
Integrating Policy, Finance, and Hyperlocal Building Energy Modeling
2023 | Innovation for Impact Fund

Powered by Partnerships

At the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability, we convene researchers with external partners –  industry, public agencies, NGOs, and communities – to ensure AI innovations address real-world sustainability challenges. These collaborations help move promising research beyond the laboratory and into policy, practice, and implementation.

Within Cornell, our work on AI & Sustainability is closely aligned with the Cornell AI Initiative. The Cornell AI Initiative drives the university’s foundational AI research and strategy, while Cornell Atkinson serves as a flagship application domain where AI is translated into sustainability solutions and impact.

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