Planet Earth is marvelously constructed of biological, geological, climatological, hydrological, and oceanic elements. Today, however, anthropological, or human, intervention is threatening to irreversibly sicken the delicately balanced terrestrial system.
To mitigate this threat, many Earth watchers believe that a global monitoring network is needed to assess the condition of the “Earth-body,” much as a human being in a hospital is hooked up to an array of digital monitoring devices.
Today, there is no such Earth-wide digital monitoring system to help “patient planet” get better. But efforts are now underway by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Coalition for Digital Environmental Sustainability (CODES), the latter having been co-founded in 2021 by UNEP and a variety of international environmental organizations.
Enter artificial intelligence (AI), which can be defined as computer systems or algorithms that can imitate the human ability to analyze data and make inferences and decisions. AI is fed by digitized data. All interactions in the world—whether related to business, government, science, sports, entertainment, or personal (social media)—are becoming ever more digitalized. This means that—once all environment-related data can be collected and funneled through AI-based analytics—a system can be created to monitor all of Earth’s vital signs—at once and in real time.
Once all environment-related data can be collected and funneled through AI-based analytics—a system can be created to monitor all of Earth’s vital signs—at once and in real time.
Despite the concerns about the increasing energy consumption of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and AI infrastructures as well as the potential for in-built biases of data flows, “[t]here’s a lot of opportunities out there,” says David Jensen, coordinator of the Digital Transformation subprogram at UNEP, “but harnessing [them] will require unprecedented collaboration between public sector, private sector, civil society, and [subject matter experts]—everybody is going to have to collaborate to come together.” Jensen is also UNEP’s point man at CODES and one of the two chief authors of the CODES Action Plan for a Sustainable Planet in the Digital Age.
World Environment Situation Room
CODES and its associated UNEP program, the World Environment Situation Room (WESR), envision the vast array of platforms, apps, and algorithms in the world’s sprawling digital economy adopting a built-in orientation toward environmental-health sustainability.
WESR, launched in 2022, is much like the White House Situation Room, where senior White House officials gather in emergencies to analyze complex unfolding threats and decide how to address them. By contrast, WESR uses AI’s capabilities to crunch multifaceted climate datasets. The agency’s goal, through collecting and analyzing data from the leading Earth observation platforms, is to create a picture of Earth’s health in real time—from atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) to glacier mass, deforestation, and sea-level rise.
WESR’s goal is, through collecting and analyzing data from the leading Earth observation platforms, to create a picture of Earth’s health in real time.
“WESR is being developed to become a user-friendly, demand-driven platform that leverages data into government offices, classrooms, mayor’s offices, and boardrooms,” Jensen says in an article on the UNEP website. “It provides credible, trustworthy, and independent data to inform decisions and drive transparency. Over time, the goal is for WESR to become like a mission control center for Planet Earth, where all our vital environmental indicators can be seamlessly monitored to drive actions.”
Jensen, pointing to what he calls the “five hard problems” of climate action, is confident that solutions can be found through sustainability-driven digital transformation.
Monitoring at the Global Level
The first of these problems is monitoring and modeling environmental systems and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at the global level. For example, to hold themselves accountable to the goals of the Paris Agreement, countries decided to create a global stocktaking process, which “is a two-year process that happens every five years.” However, to properly guide global environmental action, this really should be done annually or, better yet quarterly—a monumental task that can be handled by AI.
Some examples of progress in this direction are Climate Trace and IQAir. Climate Trace is a digital analytics tool that is plugged into a global network of satellites and sensors. It tracks daily CO2 emissions. IQAir is a Swiss company that, together with UNEP, has built an international web of 80,000 air-quality sensors. The firm’s public dashboards, accessible online, can warn citizens about air pollution threats.
Achieving Full Supply Chain Transparency
The second hard problem, also a task for AI, is achieving full supply chain transparency, from procuring materials to manufacturing, advertising, and disposal or reuse. Moreover, there should be disclosure of every step’s impact on the environment, whether a benefit or a detriment. One company that is moving strongly in this direction is the German multinational software firm SAP SE. They have created what is known as enterprise resource planning software that now is part of 87% of all world commerce. SAP is poised to develop this sort of worldwide supply chain transparency, disclosing the details to the public, perhaps through a QR code for each product or service.
“[AI] can help calculate the [environmental] footprint of products across their full life cycles and supply chains,” Jensen says, “and enable businesses and consumers to make the most informed and effective decisions. … This kind of data is essential for sustainable digital nudging on e-commerce platforms, such as Amazon.com, Shopify, or Alibaba.”
“The use of information and communications technology, which is what feeds AI, can lead to 20% less production of CO2 from the transportation, manufacturing, agriculture, housing, and energy sectors.”
The third hard problem is all about automating and optimizing sustainability decisions. According to Global e-Sustainability Initiative’s SMARTer2030 report from 2015 , the use of information and communications technology, which is what feeds AI, can lead to 20% less production of CO2 from the transportation, manufacturing, agriculture, housing, and energy sectors. The development of “smart cities” is a notable example, where homes, vehicles, factories, farms, and the grid are digitally connected to use energy in the most efficient way.
Developing Environmental Governance
The fourth conundrum is how to develop environmental governance processes driven by citizen participation. An example in this direction is the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), which has mobilized more than 1 million people to observe fauna and flora around the globe and provide notes to GBIF on various species’ occurrence. AI analyzes and keeps track of all the input. This type of environmental crowdsourcing could be harnessed to get otherwise hard-to-obtain large amounts of information on many other ecological variables.
Eco-conscious Consumption
The fifth problem is enabling consumers to select green products and lifestyles. Amazon, for example, now stamps various products with seals of approval in 34 different climate-friendly categories, giving eco-conscious shoppers a guide to desirable purchases. And Alipay, the huge Chinese payment platform, with 1.3 billion connected consumers, is using incentives and gamification to encourage participation in reducing CO2-producing behaviors.
After all is said and done, Jensen exudes optimism that these five mammoth hurdles can be overcome through the use of digital innovations to accelerate worldwide sustainable development.
*Robert R. Selle is a freelance writer with a background in biochemistry and ecology who lives in Bowie, Maryland.