September 22, 2023
The world's first climate chatbot has been switched on this morning, after research group Data-Driven EnviroLab (DDL) and technology start-up Arboretica unveiled ChatNetZero on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly this morning. According to its founders, ChatNetZero is the first chatbot powered by large language models (LLMs) - the machine learning technology which powers popular chatbots like ChatGPT - that focuses on net zero policy and climate action They said is could act as a fact-checking and 'anti-greenwashing' tool, and was able to answer questions about climate and net zero commitments around the world. DDL said that unlike generic LLMs which draw from all publicly-available information on the internet, ChatNetZero is trained on the Net Zero Tracker (NZT) database, which brings together company and government climate commitments, plus analytical reports written by the NZT consortium and the United Nations' High-Level Expert Group on the Net Zero Commitments of Non-State Entities. With information on more than 4,000 corporate, national, and local government entities and their decarbonisation goals, the Net Zero Tracker is updated on an ongoing basis, which according to DDL makes it the largest ‘living' database of climate commitments from the world's largest companies, national, and subnational governments. "As the window for climate action narrows, the decarbonisation goals of the world's largest polluters are falling under an ever-brighter spotlight, held up by their stakeholders - from investors, to employees, citizens and journalists," said Dr. Angel Hsu, director of DDL. "Some of their questions concern whether entities' targets are ambitious enough to deliver the rapid emission cuts that science demands. While other stakeholders, especially regulators, want to know which company targets are designed merely to misdirect and mislead, instead of representing a real commitment to tackle the company's fair share of emissions." Hsu stressed that now more than ever the public, governments, and businesses need access to "credible" information on decarbonisation efforts so as to decipher "who is doing what and doing it in a robust and meaningful way". "That's where ChatNetZero comes in," she added. "By providing a gateway to the world's largest living database on the integrity of net zero commitments, we hope to increase transparency and, in turn, boost ambition and real action." According to DDL, ChatNetZero can accurately answer questions about climate and net zero commitments from nearly 200 countries, including every region in the largest 25 emitting nations, from California to Guangdong, as well as every city with more than 500,000 inhabitants, and the largest publicly listed companies in the world by revenue. As an example, DDL said its chatbot can answer questions such as: "Tell me about the targets of Amazon and Walmart, and do they cover Scope 3 emissions?", and "Are offsets a credible way to reach net-zero emissions?", or "Can a fossil fuel company set a credible net-zero target?". DDL explained that ChatNetZero responds to prompts and provides answers that draw from Net Zero Tracker data and its accompanying reports, including guidelines from the UN's High-Level Expert Group on Net Zero Accountability which was released last November. Equipped with these analytical insights, DDL said ChatNetZero will be able to answer these and a "myriad" of other questions to help expand understanding of the net zero transition. Speaking at the ChatNetZero launch today at the Climate Action Data 2.0: Accountability Showcase at New York Climate Week, Arboretica co-founder James Zhang, said: "We have developed an anti-hallucination algorithm and citation model so that ChatNetZero generates high-quality, accurate responses. "Existing generic LLMs have a high probability of providing false information. We built ChatNetZero to be scientifically robust, giving users confidence in the veracity of its responses and ability to reference the precise source material for every response."