Five Ways AI is Helping Address Environmental Risks. Right Now.

Recently my team was part of an inspiring CSIRO Climate and AI Roadshow held in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, which brought together the best minds in the country to share innovative ways to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss.

Our team was invited to share Toustone’s learnings and experience applying AI technologies to enable effective ESG data management as we run one of the most complex sustainability reporting and predictive analytics systems in Australia. (Below is a shot from the Brisbane event.)

After sharing what we know (including some home truths which I will share some other time) in the data management and prediction space, some of the bigger picture discussions about the role of AI and climate were particularly fruitful and dare I say it, allowed us to walk away with some hope.

This hope, and use of technology to address climate challenges, is the basis of my article today. I want to share several innovations I’ve come across in AI technology that are showing solid promise for assisting us in tackling humanity’s biggest challenge yet, climate change and biodiversity loss.

These include:

Iceberg Tracking: AI technologies are being employed to monitor and analyse iceberg movements, providing crucial data on melting patterns. Actually, AI has been trained to measure changes in icebergs 10,000 times faster than a human could do it! This helps scientists understand and predict the impacts of climate change on sea levels more accurately. (Learn More: The European Space Agency)

Climate Forecasting: AI is significantly improving climate forecasts via enhanced machine learning models. These models, for example, allow for more accurate predictions of extreme weather events, enabling better preparedness and mitigation strategies. (Learn More: ScienceDaily)

Monitoring Deforestation: AI, combined with satellite imagery, is used to monitor deforestation and its impacts on carbon storage. This technology helps in creating detailed maps and data sets, which inform reforestation and conservation efforts. (Learn More: World Economic Forum)

Waste Management: AI is being used to optimise waste recycling processes. For instance, AI systems can now efficiently sort and identify recyclable materials, reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills, which in turn decreases methane emissions. Waste is a big producer of methane so it is essential the data of waste streams is accurate and automated, to aid in resource recovery and divert food waste/organic waste to appropriate composting facilities. A recent study also found that using artificial intelligence in waste logistics can reduce transportation distance by up to 36.8%, cost savings by up to 13.35%, and time savings by up to 28.22%. Artificial intelligence allows for identifying and sorting waste with an accuracy ranging from 72.8 to 99.95%. (Learn More: National Library of Medicine)

Cleaning Oceans: AI-powered systems are being developed to detect and map ocean plastic pollution. These systems enable more efficient clean-up operations, helping to reduce the environmental and climate impact of plastic waste. (Learn More: Neilis Global)

AI allows for enhanced data analysis whereby vast amounts of climate data quickly and accurately help to identify patterns and predicting future climate trends. Trends that are likely to impact and influence the decisions we make as leaders.

While there has been some environmental criticism AI itself, particularly that training generative AI models is energy and water intensive​​​. However, large cloud providers are actively addressing these concerns through innovative solutions. For example, Google is committed to climate-conscious data center cooling (see image below), implementing responsible water use practices such as recycling systems and running their data centers on renewable energy sources. Regular environmental audits and public reporting of energy and water use are also key measures to ensure AI becomes a tool for environmental protection.

(Source: Google’s ‘Our commitment to climate-conscious data center cooling’ article – LINK)

So by and large, the above mentioned AI advancements demonstrate the growing role of AI in developing solutions quickly and efficiently to address the multifaceted challenges posed by climate change and biodiversity loss.

At Toustone, we’ve been using AI to solve business problems for our clients for several years now. We are often told we are ahead of the curve when it comes to technological advancements. And sure enough, this is often the case, for at the CSIRO event we spoke at the #1 issue the folk who attended the roadshow was: Data! Getting that data foundation right. In fact this slide struck home with many, in all 3 cities – Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney:

Data is the very foundation of AI. Without data, using AI to help us meet business goals, or address global sustainability challenges is simply not possible.

We need to walk before we run. And we pride ourselves at helping Ausralian leaders do both with our sustainability suite. We get you walking, jogging, and then running.

Please be sure to contact me, or my team at Toustone, if you would like to know more about how you can harness AI advanced analytics to get on top of your carbon footprint or for a stress-free solution to meet the Australian Government incoming climate disclosure mandates.