Project

The Role of AI in Corporate Climate Strategies (CLAIM)

This MSc thesis project aims to explore how companies are using AI in their climate-related strategies, particularly around climate risks and adaptation action.

With increasing scrutiny on corporate climate claims, AI is playing a dual role: it’s being used to support adaptation planning and climate risk assessments, but also to generate ESG reports, sustainability narratives, and digital communications that may not always reflect real-world action.

Possible research questions include:

How are corporations using AI to assess or report on climate risks and adaptation?

  • To what extent does AI support integrity—or contribute to greenwashing—in corporate climate reporting?
  • How can AI be used to detect misleading or exaggerated climate claims?

What are the implications for governance, accountability, and climate-resilient decision-making?

You’ll be able to tailor the project to your interests for example, by focusing on a particular sector (e.g. finance and insurance, agri-food, tech), region, or type of AI application. Methodological approaches may include qualitative analysis of corporate documents, expert interviews, or even NLP-based tools to analyze communications.

We are looking for a MSc student with an interest in climate change, sustainability governance, corporate accountability, and/or digital technologies. A background in environmental policy, public administration, or data science is welcome.

This thesis topic is part of the CLAIM project (Center for Climate Leadership and AI-driven Integrity and Mitigation), more information about the project can be found here: https://datadrivenlab.org/claim/

For further inquiries, please contact Prof. Dr Robbert Biesbroek (robbert.biesbroek@wur.nl).