Special Session on
Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Systems and Climate Solutions
Aim and Scope
The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) presents significant opportunities to address complex sustainability challenges across sectors such as energy, transportation, urban development, and environmental management. At the same time, sustainability transitions require data-driven insights, predictive capabilities, and intelligent decision-support systems to effectively manage resources, reduce environmental impacts, and improve system resilience. The intersection of sustainability and artificial intelligence therefore represents an emerging interdisciplinary research area with the potential to transform how sustainable systems are designed, monitored, and optimized. The aim of this special session is to bring together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers working at the intersection of AI, data science, and sustainability to discuss innovative approaches for advancing sustainable development. The session seeks to highlight how AI-enabled tools and methodologies can support more efficient resource management, climate mitigation and adaptation strategies, sustainable infrastructure planning, and environmental monitoring.
The objectives of this session include:
- Exploring the role of artificial intelligence and machine learning in addressing sustainability challenges and climate resilience.
- Showcasing interdisciplinary research that integrates sustainability science with data analytics and intelligent systems.
- Facilitating discussions on the opportunities, limitations, and ethical considerations of using AI for sustainability.
- Identifying emerging research directions that can accelerate the transition toward sustainable and resilient systems.
This special session welcomes theoretical, methodological, and applied research contributions that demonstrate the potential of AI to support sustainable development goals.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- AI applications in energy systems and renewable energy integration
- Intelligent transportation and sustainable mobility
- AI for climate modelling and environmental monitoring
- Smart cities and sustainable urban systems
- Resource optimization and circular economy
- Sustainability analytics and decision-support systems
- AI for water and environmental resource management
- Ethical and governance issues in AI for sustainability
Paper Submission
Potential authors may submit their manuscripts for presentation consideration through ICETCI 2026 submission system electronically at https://edas.info/N34670 , following the conference guidelines. All submissions will go through peer review process. To submit your paper to this special session, you have to choose our special session title on the submission page.
Important Dates
| Last Date for Paper Submission | Mar 20, 2026 Apr 05, 2026 |
| Final Notification of Review Outcomes | Jun 15, 2026 |
| Submission of Final Paper | Jun 30, 2025 |
Organizers
Dr. Sonam Sahu, Assistant Professor, Centre for Sustainability, Mahindra University, India, is a Climate Action Planner with 10 years of experience in urban climate policy analysis and technical expertise in estimating emissions. During her Ph.D., she researched on localizing the Paris Agreement and designed a multi-criteria scoring tool to support city-level climate targets. She has vast experience in developing Scope 1, 2, and 3 GHG emissions inventory, and developing emissions targets and intervention actions. Before joining Mahindra University, Sonam worked in research institutes and environmental consultancy in USA. Her research focuses on cities and climate action planning, air pollution, and climate mitigation and adaptation.
Email: sonam.sahu@mahindrauniversity.edu.in
Dr. Balasubramanian Sambasivam is an Assistant Professor at the Centre for Sustainability, Mahindra University. He earned his Ph.D. in Energy and Sustainability from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Before joining Mahindra University, Dr. Balasubramanian held postdoctoral research positions at the University of Texas at Austin, USA, where he worked in the Operations Research and Industrial Engineering and Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering departments. He also served as a postdoctoral fellow at the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research focuses on planning and developing innovative solutions to combat climate change and achieve net-zero emissions, particularly in the energy and transport sectors.
Email: balasubramanian.sambasivam@mahindrauniversity.edu.in
Dr. Surekha Tetali has been an Assistant Professor at the Center for Sustainability at Mahindra University since January 2024. With over 15 years of experience in researching sustainability within the built environment, she is dedicated to advancing knowledge and practices in this field. She holds a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA. Her research focuses on the interactions between urban heat and the built environment, utilizing advanced analytical techniques and computational models. Her work encompasses various topics, including cool roofs, Urban Heat Islands, building performance modeling, and urban micro-climate analysis. She is actively involved in projects that aim to develop sustainable and resilient built-environments through innovative design and technology. Additionally, she collaborates with interdisciplinary teams to identify climate change challenges and enhance the environmental sustainability of urban areas.
Email: surekha.tetali@mahindrauniversity.edu.in
Mr. Ashok Vardhan Adipudi is an Assistant Professor at the Centre for Sustainability, Mahindra University. He is currently concluding his Ph.D. research in Global Environmental Governance within the PROBLEMSHIFTING project at Utrecht University. Ashok obtained his LLB (Hons.) from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, and his B.Tech. (Hons.) from the Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore. Ashok’s research interests include network structures and optimisation in global environmental governance, complexity and law, and institutional interplay in multi-level governance structures.