Industry experts emphasised the importance of digital technology in tackling numerous challenges related to climate change. They discussed connectivity, IoT, and big data as driving forces behind the current global efforts to tackle climate change.
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The GSMA’s head of Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation, Kimberly Brown, stated that mobile technology is uniquely placed to provide the tools that enable society to adapt to various climate changes.
During the panel discussion, Vanessa Gray, head of emergency telecoms and environment at the ITU concurred that technology can further assist in providing data on waste management, air quality, and resource consumption.
Elena Gil Lizasoain, global director of product and business operations of Telefonica IoT and Big Data explained that technology has already had a positive impact on sustainability efforts.
Furthermore, she gave the example of agriculture, pointing out the benefits of machine learning, AI, and big data around analysis of soil, weather, and water, which had increased the efficiency of farming. However, she feels that scaling the technology would pose as the key challenge.
“The only way this can scale is if we are able to do something that is sustainable, so need some ramp up funds to make sure we can have everything in place”.
