Data science and artificial intelligence (AI) are two of our most powerful assets in addressing the climate crisis, according to findings from a new white paper by The Alan Turing Institute’s AI for science and government (ASG) programme published today (Friday 24 March 2023).
But the paper’s authors say that the use of data science and AI are currently under-recognised and under-explored in climate science research.
They suggest four key recommendations for how data science and AI can be better harnessed to tackle climate change:
- Apply cutting-edge data science and AI to environmental decision-making.
- Foster a community of AI specialists, environmental researchers and stakeholders across domains and sectors.
- Build robust digital pipelines to allow researchers to share, store and analyse the vast amounts of data being collected about the environment.
- Develop digital twins to model and understand the systems that will help us to decarbonise our society.
The authors hope that these recommendations will provide researchers and funders with a roadmap for future climate science research. The recommendations are based on findings from projects in the ‘Environment and sustainability’ theme within the ASG programme, developed in partnership with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
The ASG projects profiled in the paper (which is released as the Turing announces environment and sustainability as one of the grand challenges in its new strategy) demonstrate the diversity of environmental research at the Turing. They encompass software for automatic plankton classification, a framework for forecasting Arctic sea ice change, a model for simulating the health impacts of extreme heat, and a digital twin that is being used to optimise the world’s first underground farm.
Dr Scott Hosking, one of the authors and a Senior Research Fellow at the Turing, said: “Data science and AI are essential tools in helping us to understand, mitigate and adapt to the climate emergency. If used in the right way, they can offer huge societal benefit. We believe that collaboration across sectors and domains is crucial to ensure that research outputs are ready to use in real-world situations.”
Professor Ben MacArthur, Director of the ASG programme, said: “The climate crisis is arguably one of the biggest threats facing humanity. This paper provides a clear pathway for harnessing the potential of data science and AI to help safeguard the future of the planet. It also demonstrates the crucial role that the ASG programme has had in breaking boundaries between environmental research and data science and AI.”
Read the paper:
Tackling climate change with data science and AI
Top image: Marcel Poncu
