Page 37 - Frontier Technologies to Protect the Environment and Tackle Climate Change

Frontier Technologies to Protect the Environment and Tackle Climate Change

with the UNFCCC Paris Agreement”, and its associated Guidance which was developed together with
GSMA, GESI and SBTi. The standard sets concrete guidelines for ICT industry to reduce GHG emissions
by 45% from 2020 to 2030, aligned with science targets necessary to achieve the Paris Agreement.
In order to fully realize the transformative potential of frontier technologies, ITU has also created the
Focus Group on Environmental Efficiency for Artificial Intelligence and other Emerging Technologies
(FG-AI4EE) to identify the standardization needs to develop a sustainable approach to AI and frontier
technologies. The box below provides further information on this Focus Group.

Focus Group on Environmental Efficiency for Artificial Intelligence and other Emerging
Technologies (FG-AI4EE)

In May 2019, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)’s Study Group 5 on
“Environment, climate change and circular economy” (SG5) took the initiative to create one
of the first global platforms dedicated to studying the standardization needs for adopting a
sustainable approach to frontier technologies. The group recognizes that artificial intelligence,
5G, blockchain, cloud computing, augmented and virtual realties, among other emerging
technologies, play a key role in driving innovative solutions that would tackle some of the
most pressing global challenges including climate change. Yet, the environmental aspect
of developing and operating these technologies have been largely missing in the global
discourse. This is particularly true in the case of blockchain as blockchain-related activities
such as mining have been regarded as one of the most energy intensive activities in the
world. This has posed significant adaptability and scalability challenges that are preventing
blockchain from scaling up effectively and realizing its full potential to drive climate actions.
Hence, this Focus Group provides an open platform for engaging in global dialogues
related to the environmental performance of frontier technologies and to produce result-
oriented deliverables that will provide guidance on how to operate these technologies in an
environmentally conscious manner. Currently, this Focus Group has three distinct working
groups. They are; Working Group 1 on “Requirements of AI and other Emerging Technologies
to Ensure Environmental Efficient”; Working Group 2 on “Assessment and Measurement of
the Environmental Efficiency of AI and Emerging Technologies”; and Working Group 3 on
“Implementation Guidelines of AI and Emerging Technologies for Environmental Efficiency”.
The work of this Focus Group is open to all interested stakeholders and is expected to
contribute significant to the progress towards the SDGs.

The successful applications of eight specific frontier technologies within the context of climate change
& response and environmental protection will be explored in the following sections. Each section
presents an overview of a frontier technology and some specific impacts of climate change that it
can be used to address, followed by a brief city or urban agglomeration case study that highlights the
technology in practice and concludes with key findings or takeaways from that example.

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