Claudia Sheinbaum and the AI Climate Imperative: Why Mexico's President Is Uniquely Positioned to Lead the Global South

The world faces a narrowing window for shaping AI's relationship to climate and development. Between now and 2027, decisions made about artificial intelligence deployment in the Global South will largely determine whether AI becomes a tool for inclusive, sustainable development—or a vector for accelerating extraction and emissions across the world's poorest regions. There is one leader whose scientific credibility, hemispheric position, and governance experience positions her uniquely to seize this moment: Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum.

We propose that President Sheinbaum assume leadership of a newly constituted Global South Climate Solutions Commission within the AI Middle Way Coalition—a body that would identify, define, and propose AI applications where climate solutions are most urgently needed across Africa, South Asia, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. This is not an advisory role. This is a leadership position that would reshape how the Global South approaches AI development in the decade ahead.

Why This Moment, Why This Leader

Sheinbaum arrives at the Mexican presidency with credentials that no other Global South leader currently possesses in combination. She is a climate scientist with a PhD in energy engineering and a track record of applied environmental work—not a politician who adopted climate rhetoric. She is a 2007 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, awarded specifically for her IPCC contributions on climate change mitigation. She governs a middle-income nation that bridges the Global North and South, with direct stakes in both Chinese and American AI development. She is the first female president of Mexico and commands respect across Latin America and the African diaspora. And she has just begun a six-year term, giving her the temporal bandwidth to champion a multi-year initiative.

But there is a deeper reason Sheinbaum is the right person for this role: she understands, viscerally, the collision between development imperatives and climate constraints. As Mexico City's mayor, she managed a megacity of 9 million people facing air quality crises, water scarcity, and inequality—the exact conditions faced by most Global South urban centers. She knows the political weight of choosing between immediate poverty reduction and long-term environmental sustainability. She knows it's not a false choice, but requires different infrastructure, governance, and technology pathways than those the Global North took.

That is precisely the insight AI governance for the Global South requires.

The Problem: AI Without Direction

Artificial intelligence is coming to the Global South. The question is not whether, but how. Currently, that trajectory is set by default: AI systems designed in the US and China, optimized for wealthy-market consumption patterns, deployed through corporations and authoritarian states seeking either profit or control. The result, if uninterrupted, will be catastrophic on two fronts.

First, it will replicate the carbon-intensive development model. If 2.1 billion people in the lower-middle class gain access to AI-enabled consumption patterns without concurrent green infrastructure, energy grids powered by renewables, and governance structures that price carbon and resource use appropriately, the emissions outcome is predetermined. We will have enabled four billion people to consume at middle-class levels on fossil fuel infrastructure. The climate math does not work.

Second, it will deepen inequality and extraction. Without deliberate design toward different outcomes, AI deployment in the Global South will follow the path of previous technologies: concentration of benefits in a few nodes, resource extraction flowing outward, and political sovereignty attenuated by dependence on external AI systems and expertise.

There is an alternative. It requires identifying, now, the specific climate and development problems where AI solutions are actually needed in the Global South—not where corporations want to sell AI, but where climate science and development evidence say solutions are urgent. It requires designing those solutions for local deployment, local benefit, and local environmental constraints. It requires governance frameworks that ensure the Global South retains agency in that process.

That alternative is not spontaneous. It requires leadership, vision, and the kind of scientific credibility that can move governments. It requires someone who can speak to both climate scientists and development ministers, to both tech entrepreneurs and indigenous communities. It requires someone who understands energy systems deeply enough to know where AI can genuinely help—and where it would just waste electricity.

That person is Claudia Sheinbaum.

The Commission: Scope and Mission

We propose the establishment of a Global South Climate Solutions Commission, nested within the AI Middle Way Coalition framework, with President Sheinbaum as Chair. The Commission would operate over an 18-24 month horizon (2026-2027), with the following mandate:

Diagnostic phase: Conduct a comprehensive assessment across regions (Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Latin America) to identify the most critical climate-related development challenges where AI solutions could meaningfully contribute. This is not theoretical; this is field-based research working with national governments, scientific institutions, and communities.

Problem definition: For each identified challenge, the Commission would specify: What is the exact problem? What does success look like? What is the current technological baseline? Where would AI add genuine value versus creating new dependencies?

Solution architecture: Design AI applications that are:

• Appropriate to local technical capacity and infrastructure

• Powered by renewable energy or existing grids

• Owned and governed locally, not by external corporations

• Integrated with existing knowledge systems (indigenous, scientific, practical)

• Measurable against climate and equity outcomes

Policy framework: Propose governance structures that ensure Global South nations retain decision-making authority over AI deployment for climate solutions—what gets built, who benefits, how it's controlled.

Implementation pathway: Identify funding mechanisms, technical partnerships, and institutional arrangements to move from proposal to deployment.

Where Sheinbaum's Expertise Becomes Critical

Consider the specific domains where solutions are most urgent:

Energy systems optimization. The Global South faces a brutal choice: expand energy access to lift people out of poverty, or constrain energy growth to meet climate targets. AI can help optimize this by enabling smart grids, improving renewable energy forecasting and integration, and reducing waste in distribution systems. Sheinbaum's PhD work on energy systems and her experience managing Mexico City's energy challenges positions her uniquely to specify what problems need solving and what bad solutions look like.

Agricultural adaptation. Climate change is already reshaping agricultural productivity across Africa and Asia, while 800 million people depend on smallholder farming. AI can help through precision agriculture, water optimization, pest prediction, and crop selection—but only if designed for farmers without smartphones, in regions without reliable electricity. Sheinbaum's science background and her understanding of Mexico's agricultural complexity give her credibility in this space.

Urban climate resilience. Most Global South population growth happens in cities, many already facing water stress, heat, flooding, and air quality crises. AI can help with water system optimization, heat early warning, flood prediction, and urban planning. Sheinbaum's direct experience as Mexico City's mayor—managing the second-largest city in the Western Hemisphere—gives her credibility no other global leader currently possesses.

Industrial emissions reduction. Manufacturing in the Global South happens with older, less efficient technologies than the North. AI can help optimize cement production, steel manufacturing, chemical processing. Sheinbaum's technical background allows her to engage credibly with industrial partners in a way political appointees cannot.

Deforestation and land-use. Satellite data combined with AI can identify deforestation in real time and correlate it with economic drivers. This is politically sensitive and technically complex. It requires someone who can navigate both scientific rigor and the political reality of nations where extraction funds governments.

In each domain, Sheinbaum brings not just credibility but specific expertise. She is not a generalist who adopted climate language. She is a scientist who has spent decades thinking about these problems.

Timing and Stakes

The January 15, 2026 launch of the AI Middle Way Coalition at Chulalongkorn University is the natural moment to announce this Commission and invite Sheinbaum's leadership. The timing serves multiple purposes:

It signals that the Coalition is serious about climate integration—not an afterthought, but central to the governance framework. It elevates the Coalition's profile through Sheinbaum's participation. It gives the Global South a visible, credible leader championing an alternative development pathway. It positions Mexico as the intellectual hub for Global South AI governance, which serves both Sheinbaum's hemispheric interests and the Coalition's mission.

The 2025-2027 window is not rhetorical—it is real. Within this period, major AI deployment decisions will be made in key nations. Energy infrastructure investments will be locked in. Regulatory frameworks will be established. Once those decisions are made, they are sticky. Reversing them is vastly more difficult than shaping them at the outset.

Sheinbaum has the bandwidth for this. She is six months into her presidency—past the acute transition period, but still within the window where she can add major initiatives to her agenda. She has shown interest in international partnerships and climate leadership. She has the scientific credibility to engage globally without the skepticism that often greets politicians on climate.

The Invitation

This is not a request for Sheinbaum to give speeches or lend her name. This is an invitation to lead a substantive, high-stakes initiative that would occupy meaningful time and intellectual energy over the next 18-24 months, with concrete outputs that could reshape how the Global South relates to AI development.

For Sheinbaum, the benefits are substantial: it positions Mexico as the intellectual capital for Global South AI governance; it builds hemispheric leadership in a domain that will matter increasingly for development; it allows her to act on her climate commitments in a concrete, strategic way; and it creates a legacy initiative that extends beyond her presidency.

For the Global South, the benefit is profound: a credible, scientifically grounded framework for ensuring that AI serves climate solutions and equitable development, rather than replicating the extraction and carbon-intensity that characterized the 20th century.

For the AI Middle Way Coalition, Sheinbaum's leadership transforms it from an interesting governance experiment into a force that could actually reshape the development pathway for billions of people.

The moment is now. The person is clear.

It is time to invite President Claudia Sheinbaum to lead.