Page 5 - Frontier Technologies to Protect the Environment and Tackle Climate Change

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ii

Legal Notice ii

Disclaimer ii

Abbreviations and Unit Symbols 1

Executive summary 5

Forewords 7
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) 7
UN Environment 8
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) 9
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 10
United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) 11
United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) 12
United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) 13
UN Women 15
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) 16

1. Introduction 17

2. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 18

3. Climate change and SDG 13 20

4. The role of frontier technologies in addressing climate change 30
a. Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help reduce air pollution, reduce hydrological risk, and
environmentally consciously manage e-waste 32
Reducing air pollution through AI 34
Quantum computing and AI 39
Natural risk reduction using AI 39
Waste optimization using AI 40
The limitations of AI 43
b. Internet of Things (IoT) for smart energy infrastructure management to help reduce
carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions 44
c. 5G for smart water supply management to help reduce water loss and inefficiencies
49
d. Clean energy technology for renewable electricity generation to help reduce fossil
fuel consumption 56
e. Digital twin for disaster risk planning to help increase environmental resilience 64
f. Robotics for monitoring underwater climate change impacts and the observation of
marine life to help protect biodiversity 68
g. Space 2.0 Technologies for precise monitoring of ice sheets and ice caps to help
accurately predict sea level rise and global weather patterns 74
h. Digitalization and Big Data for leapfrogging traditional pathways to help increase
agricultural efficiency and food security 77

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