Live from VivaTech 2025
As climate challenges intensify, investment in innovation is surging—with Artificial Intelligence increasingly being seen as an important component of climate solutions.
At VivaTech, Yannick Chaze, Chief Technology Officer at Sweep, and Marie Ekeland (CEO of impact fund 2050) joined a debate to explore how AI can support sustainability goals without compromising them. Their conversation offers a grounded look at what responsible AI really means in the climate space.
Using AI to accelerate climate compliance and data quality
Sweep’s software platform is designed to help businesses meet climate regulations and track their carbon and ESG footprint more precisely. For Yannick Chaze, AI’s value lies in very targeted use cases—especially for collecting and managing data at scale.
“We’re adding very specific features to accelerate the collection, transformation and management of data required for ESG regulation as well as business climate goals,” Yannick said.
He emphasized the importance of keeping human oversight at the center of any AI-powered process:
“I believe it’s important to have very specific features, and not to deploy AI everywhere. We also believe the user should ultimately be in control of the data they’re providing for compliance and reporting.”
With regulatory reporting frameworks like the European Union’s CSRD requiring businesses to report across dozens of complex metrics—many of them qualitative—AI can streamline what used to be time-consuming and error-prone work.
Investing in AI with a net-positive mindset
At VC fund 2050, Marie Ekeland leads investments in companies tackling the most pressing global challenges, with climate being one of the top priorities. Her approach is deeply science-driven and impact-focused.
“We’re actively and deliberately looking for companies that solve something that science has told us needs to be solved.”
She’s clear-eyed about AI’s environmental footprint, including its high energy and water demands. That’s why her fund evaluates both the benefits and the trade-offs of every AI-driven business it backs.
“We realise that AI is energy-consuming, it’s water-consuming. So we need to make sure that the overall impact of the company is positive.”
2050 invests in Sweep, as well as system-level solutions like Climate View, which helps cities implement climate transition plans aligned with IPCC guidelines, with data proving the common essential ingredient for both.
“It’s about seeing the positive impact—and you need data for that,” she said.
Ekeland also pointed to growing interest in nature-based solutions supported by AI, such as coral regeneration or soil carbon capture.
Matching AI tools to real-world problems
Both Marie and Yannick agree: responsible AI use isn’t about applying large language models to every task. It’s about focusing AI where it can make a real difference—and doing so efficiently.
“Some of the new-gen AI tools are super expensive in terms of energy consumption,” Yannick explained. “Our goal is to use the right tools in the right place—to create value and streamline the most difficult tasks.”
In climate tech, that often means managing huge volumes of data at the level of granularity needed to make it actionable. AI helps translate that data into insight—enabling business leaders to make the decisions that will reduce emissions and optimize resources.
Marie added that ‘frugality’ is a guiding principle in assessing long-term viability:
“It’s also about maximizing resources. How can you be more frugal in terms of natural resource input?”
For both investors and product leaders, the message is clear: AI can be a climate solution—but only when applied deliberately, with full awareness of its footprint and potential.
