Background information

The world faces many challenges especially those relating to protecting the environment. Many urban areas are increasingly turning towards solutions for improved and efficient sustainable mobility, automated process for waste treatment, improved sanitation, renewable energies, cheaper drinking water supply with higher quality, monitoring natural disasters/hazards, and better mechanisms for food production and food security. 

Many sectors have an opportunity to use ICTs to spearhead solutions, by providing solutions to resolve real-world problems, promoting novel possibilities in environmental management and supporting action in the face of climate change. For example, the Internet of Things (IoT) offers great potential with its variety of tools to structure and to analyse the massive amounts of data already existing and generated by sensors and the connectivity among different devices. 

Recognizing these challenges and opportunities, many stakeholders are actively studying how to move towards new policies, business models and products to capture the value of Big Data in different areas. Technological changes such as AI, cloud computing, and IoT have the potential to accelerate climate action.

The aim of this workshop was to bring together actors from the sectors involved in the development of frontier ICTs such as Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the context of climate action. Participants discussed the role of these new ICTs and how they could be applied to climate change adaptation, mitigation and monitoring.