S4E5: AI, Cloud & Sustainability: Reality vs. Hype

AI is everywhere in sustainability right now — but what’s genuinely changing on the ground, and what’s still hype?

In this episode of Sustainability Forward, hosts Wrishi Sutradhar and Carmine Fiume sit down with Carlos Silva Willson, a global technology and partnerships leader at Microsoft Middle East with prior experience across GE/Baker Hughes and AWS.

Carlos brings a practical, “been-in-the-room” perspective on what AI and cloud can realistically deliver for sustainability — and what leaders should be cautious about as adoption accelerates.

In the conversation, we cover:

• Where AI + cloud are already creating measurable sustainability value (beyond dashboards and buzzwords)

• Why partnerships and ecosystems matter if climate solutions are going to scale

• The hard questions around AI’s footprint: data centres, energy demand, and water use

• How to think about trust, accountability, and credible impact claims

• The changing talent landscape: the skills that will define climate-tech careers in the years ahead

If you work in sustainability, climate-tech, energy, or digital transformation, this episode will help you separate signal from noise — and focus on what’s scalable, credible, and useful.