CITIC researcher Verónica Bolón heads a pioneering study that uses Artificial Intelligence as a solution to environmental challenges   

Women researchers play a leading role in the University of A Coruña’s Information and Communication Technologies Research Centre, a member of the CIGUS Network. More than 30% of its research staff are women, a far higher figure than the ICT sector average, where the percentage of female employment stands at around 20% and the proportion of female computer engineering students is just 15%.    

One of these women is Verónica Bolón, a specialist in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and head of a pioneering study for the development of AI-based technological solutions for the most pressing environmental challenges.  

“Our goal”, explained the CITIC researcher, “is to apply green algorithms, which are also intelligent in terms of their design, and the search for answers to specific environmental challenges, to fields such as energy and resource efficiency, decarbonisation and the circular economy”.

Artificial intelligence allows better data analysis and decision-making, which translates into more effective monitoring of trends and impacts on the environment, thereby contributing to goals such as reducing energy and resource consumption and driving decarbonisation. However, despite Artificial Intelligence’s immense potential for providing solutions to these challenges, we must not lose sight of the threats it poses, such as the high energy cost its construction requires and concerns about issues such as the potential electricity consumption ICTs will demand by 2030. “In this context, green algorithms,  which are closely related to concepts such as the smart city or cloud, will be aimed at improving sustainability and ensuring that the carbon emissions of the internet, and in particular of AI, are as low as possible”, Verónica Bolón explained.  The aim of the project is therefore to identify alternatives capable of reducing the environmental impact of algorithms through a number of strategies such as adapting them to use fewer bits or shortening their training process, a process that requires significant energy consumption.

Spain’s National Green Algorithms Plan is included in Spain’s Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, 2026 Digital Agenda and the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, which aims to promote the development of AI. It will lay the foundations for the creation of an ecosystem of excellence that hosts scientific research and innovation, the development of skills and talent, the deployment of data platforms and technological infrastructures, integration into the economic fabric, promoting its use in the public sector and creating an ethical and regulatory framework.

In this sense, the principal objective of the future Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Artificial Intelligence (AESIA), which will be based in A Coruña, is to regulate the ethical aspects associated with the use of AI in various sectors. Our project,” explained Verónica Bolón, “fits in perfectly with Agency guidelines by ensuring that AI is as non-aggressive as possible towards its environment”, a watchdog aim for the responsible use of AI.