The government has announced a new AI programme designed to help the UK reduce its carbon emissions.

The £1.5 million ‘AI for Decarbonisation Programme’ is part of the £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio.

The scheme will be made up of separate streams for grant funding, which will be launched in two initial stages.

The first stream, worth up to £500,000, will be spent on co-funding a virtual centre of excellence on AI innovation and decarbonisation through to March 2025.

The second stream, worth up to £1 million, will fund innovation projects aimed at furthering the development of AI technologies to support decarbonisation.

The government said that later next year it plans to open up further funding to support priority areas in AI innovation identified by the virtual centre of excellence as being critical for achieving net-zero.

“The UK is one of the world’s most advanced AI economies, and AI technology is already having a transformative impact on our economy and society. But there is tremendous potential to do more,” said science minister George Freeman. “The AI for Decarbonisation programme offers an exciting opportunity to leverage and develop the UK’s outstanding expertise in the field.”

Freeman continued: “Putting this rapidly-evolving technology into action will enable us to save energy costs for businesses and households, create high-value, skilled jobs, and kickstart millions of pounds of private investment while supporting our net zero targets.”

The move comes as the prime minister announces the UK will establish what he describes as “one of the world’s most attractive visa regimes” for entrepreneurs and highly skilled people.
Addressing the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) conference in Birmingham, Rishi Sunak said that one of the areas the government is keen on focussing on is artificial intelligence (AI).

He told delegates that the UK “cannot allow the world’s top AI talent to be drawn to America or China”.

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