AI and Climate Action: Challenges and Opportunities

In recent years, the world has witnessed a growing urgency to address the pressing challenges of climate change. As governments, organizations, and individuals strive to take meaningful action, artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a powerful tool in the fight against climate change. Leveraging vast amounts of data and advanced algorithms, AI is revolutionizing the way we tackle environmental issues. 

The findings from the BCG AI Climate Survey reveal that 87% of respondents consider advanced analytics and artificial intelligence as a helpful tool in the fight against climate change today. In addition, 67% of those in the private sector stated that they want governments to do more to support the use of AI in fighting climate change.

One key area where AI can make significant contributions is climate modeling and prediction. Advanced AI a lgorithms can analyze vast datasets from various sources, such as satellites, weather stations, and ocean buoys, to generate highly accurate climate models. These models can provide valuable insights into future climate patterns, helping scientists and policymakers make informed decisions about mitigation and adaptation strategies. For instance, the watsonx.ai model, built from IBM’s collaboration with NASA, is designed to convert satellite data into high-resolution maps of floods, fires, and other landscape changes to reveal our planet’s past and hint at its future.

Source: NASA satellite imagery of Hurricane Ida flooding in 2021

AI also has great potential in optimizing energy efficiency across various sectors. AI-based energy management systems are expected to optimize energy consumption in buildings by analyzing data from sensors and adjusting heating, cooling and lighting systems accordingly. After collecting data for almost 40,000 buildings in the United Kingdom, Kevin Mayer at Stanford University and his colleagues trained and tested an AI to estimate building energy efficiency from widely available and remotely sensed data sources only, namely street view, aerial view, footprint, and satellite-borne land surface temperature (LST) data. Additionally, Engineers at the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM) have developed a new machine learning approach to optimize real-life energy use, such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in buildings. Based on the principle of allowing computers to learn from past experience to continuously improve themselves, this technology can reduce energy consumption in physical systems by 20%. By maximizing energy efficiency, AI-driven solutions can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create a greener world.

Source: The end-to-end deep learning approach by K. Mayer et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2022.120542

While AI's role in climate action is rapidly expanding, it is crucial to address the challenge of aligning people's habits and thought processes with advanced technology. Finding ways to bridge this gap is a key point that deserves attention. According to Forbes, Lambert Hogenhout, Chief Data Analytics, Partnerships and Technology Innovation at the Office for Information and Communications Technology (OICT), states, "The most urgent need in this context is not to have more powerful AI but to become smarter at where and how we use AI. There are so many unexplored opportunities."

As the AI for the Planet Report points out, although AI shows great promise as a way to address climate change, it is just one of many tools available to meet this global challenge. Like any technology, it has limitations and requires effective deployment if it is to achieve the desired results. Further, solving the crisis requires not just technological innovation, but also the will of decision makers to take action and make the necessary changes—supported in part by AI and other emerging technologies.

Reference

1. https://www.bcg.com/publications/2022/how-ai-can-help-climate-change

2. https://web-assets.bcg.com/ff/d7/90b70d9f405fa2b67c8498ed39f3/ai-for-the-planet-bcg-report-july-2022.pdf 

3. https://www.nccs.nasa.gov/news-events/nccs-highlights/acceleratingScience 

4. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306261922017998 

5. https://techhq.com/2020/10/new-ml-method-could-slash-energy-consumption-in-buildings/ 

6. https://www.forbes.com/sites/markminevich/2022/07/08/how-to-fight-climate-change-using-ai/?sh=4731d7492a83

7. https://www.wsj.com/articles/googles-cso-kate-brandt-on-how-ai-can-accelerate-climate-action-8410242c?tpl=sb&mod=hp_lead_pos6

8. https://venturebeat.com/ai/how-ai-and-advanced-computing-can-pull-us-back-from-the-brink-of-accelerated-climate-change/ 

EDITOR’S NOTE: TBG Purpose is a leading Sustainability/ESG partner for corporations, institutions and governments. TBG Purpose provides an integrated set of solutions and enables organizations to meet their Sustainability/ESG objectives in line with global reporting standards and frameworks. Get in touch with our team for a free TruePurpose Sustainability Assessment and get out your TruePurpose Score.