Dr Paul Van Driessche MBE was invited by Imperial College London to attend the Georgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet Debate on Monday 29 June 2026. The debate brought together Members of the UK Parliament, senior policymakers, academics, and industry leaders to explore how artificial intelligence can be harnessed to address some of the most pressing environmental challenges of our time. With COP17 in Armenia approaching, the discussion is both timely and urgent.

The debate was kindly sponsored by The Rt Hon Jack Rankin MP.

Speakers:

Prof. Anjali Goswami FRS, Government Chief Scientific Adviser and Director General, Science, Data and Analysis, DEFRA

Prof. David Obura, Chair of the UN Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

Dr Henry Lee, CEO, Cultivarium, USA, pioneering the use of AI to engineer the biosphere

Prof. Alessandra Russo, Director of Imperial's School of Convergence Science in Human and Artificial Intelligence.