Frontier Technologies for Climate Action and Resilience: Connecting Data, Trust and Incentives

Frontier technologies are creating new opportunities to strengthen climate action and resilience across Asia and the Pacific. Geospatial technologies and Earth observation are improving the monitoring of environmental change and climate-related risks. Artificial intelligence is expanding the capacity to analyse complex datasets, while distributed ledger technologies, interoperable digital infrastructure and digital platforms are being applied to improve transparency, traceability and participation in environmental initiatives. Emerging approaches such as digital tokens are also being explored to create new incentives for climate and environmental action.

These technologies are often discussed individually. In practice, however, climate challenges are not technology-specific, and different technologies address different functions and problems. Their effectiveness depends not only on technical capabilities, but also on data quality, institutional arrangements, regulatory frameworks, user participation and integration with existing systems. For policymakers, therefore, the key question is not simply which frontier technology should be adopted but where a particular technology can add value, what conditions are required for it to work and where its limitations remain.

The side event discussed practical applications of frontier technologies across four areas: environmental observation and analysis; data transparency and trust; participation and traceability; and digital incentives for environmental action. These areas are not intended as stages of a single technology architecture. Rather, they provide a common lens for comparing different approaches and understanding how technologies are being applied to specific climate and environmental challenges.

Drawing on operational experiences from Asia and the Pacific, the session highlighted lessons on implementation, institutional and regulatory requirements, and pathways for adoption and scale-up, with particular attention to their relevance for developing countries in the region.