scholarly journals The AI gambit: leveraging artificial intelligence to combat climate change—opportunities, challenges, and recommendations

AI & Society ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josh Cowls ◽  
Andreas Tsamados ◽  
Mariarosaria Taddeo ◽  
Luciano Floridi
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Winning Strategy ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Training Data ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Ethical Challenges

AbstractIn this article, we analyse the role that artificial intelligence (AI) could play, and is playing, to combat global climate change. We identify two crucial opportunities that AI offers in this domain: it can help improve and expand current understanding of climate change, and it can contribute to combatting the climate crisis effectively. However, the development of AI also raises two sets of problems when considering climate change: the possible exacerbation of social and ethical challenges already associated with AI, and the contribution to climate change of the greenhouse gases emitted by training data and computation-intensive AI systems. We assess the carbon footprint of AI research, and the factors that influence AI’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in this domain. We find that the carbon footprint of AI research may be significant and highlight the need for more evidence concerning the trade-off between the GHG emissions generated by AI research and the energy and resource efficiency gains that AI can offer. In light of our analysis, we argue that leveraging the opportunities offered by AI for global climate change whilst limiting its risks is a gambit which requires responsive, evidence-based, and effective governance to become a winning strategy. We conclude by identifying the European Union as being especially well-placed to play a leading role in this policy response and provide 13 recommendations that are designed to identify and harness the opportunities of AI for combatting climate change, while reducing its impact on the environment.

On the Ethics of International Religious/Spiritual Gatherings and Academic Conferencing in the Era of Global Warming: A Case Study of the Parliament of The World’s Religions Melbourne 2009 - Part 1

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-195
Author(s):  
Almut Beringer ◽  
Steven Douglas
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Ecological Impacts ◽  
Peak Oil ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Academic Events ◽  
Special Responsibility

Global climate change and its impacts have ethical dimensions, for instance carbon footprint equity concerns. World issues, including the state of the ecosphere and biodiver­sity, regularly see political leaders, NGOs, business representatives, religious/spiritual orga­nizations, academics, and others engage in international aviation-dependent meetings to address critical challenges facing humanity and the planet. Yet, climate scientists and advocates call for an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 to cap the increase in global temperatures to 2ºC. Aviation emissions resulting from international meetings raise questions that are not silenced by GHG emissions offsetting. The era of climate change and ‘peak oil’ poses ethical challenges for holding international in-person religious and academic events, especially when the events propound an environmentalist concern and when aviation use is assumed. This paper raises ques­tions regarding the ecological impacts of large international events and focuses the ‘inconvenient truths’ associated with international aviation in the era of global warming. The Parliament of the World’s Religions, the largest multifaith gathering in the world, serves as a case study. The paper emphasizes the view that faith-based/faith-inspired organizations have a special responsibility for leadership in policy and praxis on the moral imperatives of sustainability, sustainable development and climate justice.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Calculation Methodology in Thermal Power Plants: Case Study of Iran and Comparison With Canada

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farshid Zabihian ◽  
Alan S. Fung
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Electricity Generation ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Thermal Power ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Thermal Power Plants

Nowadays, the global climate change has been a worldwide concern and the greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions are considered as the primary cause of that. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) divided countries into two groups: Annex I Parties and Non-Annex I Parties. Since Iran and all other countries in the Middle East are among Non-Annex I Parties, they are not required to submit annual GHG inventory report. However, the global climate change is a worldwide phenomenon so Middle Eastern countries should be involved and it is necessary to prepare such a report at least unofficially. In this paper the terminology and the methods to calculate GHG emissions will first be explained and then GHG emissions estimates for the Iranian power plants will be presented. Finally the results will be compared with GHG emissions from the Canadian electricity generation sector. The results for the Iranian power plants show that in 2005 greenhouse gas intensity for steam power plants, gas turbines and combined cycle power plants were 617, 773, and 462 g CO2eq/kWh, respectively with the overall intensity of 610 g CO2eq/kWh for all thermal power plants. This GHG intensity is directly depend on efficiency of power plants. Whereas, in 2004 GHG intensity for electricity generation sector in Canada for different fuels were as follows: Coal 1010, refined petroleum products 640, and natural gas 523 g CO2eq/kWh, which are comparable with same data for Iran. For average GHG intensity in the whole electricity generation sector the difference is much higher: Canada 222 vs. Iran 610g CO2eq/kWh. The reason is that in Canada a considerable portion of electricity is generated by hydro-electric and nuclear power plants in which they do not emit significant amount of GHG emissions. The average GHG intensity in electricity generation sector in Iran between 1995 and 2005 experienced 13% reduction. While in Canada at the same period of time there was 21% increase. However, the results demonstrate that still there are great potentials for GHG emissions reduction in Iran’s electricity generation sector.

Accrediting Greenhouse Gas Credits for Marketing: The Saugus Experience

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis Ferraro
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Industrial Processes ◽  
Msw Management ◽  
Ghg Reduction

The potential for global climate change due to the release of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is being debated both nationally and internationally. While many options for reducing GHG emissions are being evaluated, MSW management presents potential options for reductions and has links to other sectors (e.g., energy, industrial processes, forestry, transportation) with further GHG reduction opportunities.

SADC’s response to climate change – the role of harmonised law and policy on mitigation in the energy sector

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Barnard
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Energy Sector ◽  
Literature Study ◽  
Member States ◽  
Law And Policy

The negligible levels of energy-related GHG emissions attributable to the Southern African sub-region translates into the sub-region contributing relatively little towards global climate change. Notwithstanding, the member states comprising the Southern African Development Community (SADC) are among the most vulnerable to the trans boundary effects of global climate change. Existing SADC climate change policy documents highlight the important role of the energy sector in climate change mitigation. Furthermore, various international, African Union and SADC legal instruments stress the crucial role of harmonised law and policy as climate change adaptive measure. It is the central hypothesis of this paper that harmonised sub-regional law and policy aimed at regulating SADC member states’ mitigation efforts in the energy sector is a crucial climate change adaptive strategy. This hypothesis is based on the mandates for the formulation of a SADC climate change action plan and for mitigation in the energy sector. These mandates are contained in the texts of the SADC-CNGO Climate Change Agenda, 2012 and the Southern Africa Sub - Regional Framework on Climate Change, 2010 respectively. It is the main aim of this paper to investigate recent developments in the formulation of harmonised SADC law and policy on climate change in general and law and policy pertaining to mitigation in the energy sector specifically. In achieving the stated aim, themes to be investigated by means of a literature study are those of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions and global climate change and harmonised sub-regional policy on mitigation in the energy sector as adaptive measure in the SADC.

scholarly journals Adverse consequences of economic policy in combating global climate change in the Czech Republic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zdeněk Pikhart ◽  
Šárka Pikhartová ◽  
Pavel Procházka
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Significant Risk ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Environmental Taxes ◽  
Economic Welfare ◽  
Kuznets Curve ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Output Analysis

AbstractThe main aim of the article is to identify unintended consequences of economic policies to combat climate change, in the short and long run, using the example of the Czech economy. The short term impacts are assessed by world input-output analysis in order to capture direct and indirect channels affecting the Czech automotive industry. Optimistic, realistic and pessimistic scenarios of decrease in demand for cars due to the imposition of environmental taxes in the European Union and the rest of the world are presented. The results show adverse impacts on Czech gross domestic product from 1.6 to 4.9 percentage points. The economy is expected to change its structure and reallocate factors of production to an alternative use, but there is a risk of suboptimal allocation, which might reveal losses from less efficient allocation of labor and capital. Therefore, the analysis of the relationship between economic welfare and the quality of the environment is conducted. Data on the Czech economy confirm the hypothesis of an environmental Kuznets curve and point to unintended consequences of overly ambitious policies to mitigate global climate change. If economic welfare excessively declines, there would be a significant risk of undermining people's will to invest into environmental protection.

scholarly journals THE ROLE OF IPCC ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN AGRICULTURE

2017 ◽  
pp. 173-180
Author(s):  
Mahesh Patel ◽  
J.G. Rangiya ◽  
K.J Patel
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Sea Water ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Warming World

Recognizing the pressing global problem of climate change, the IPCC was formed in 1988 as an apex source to holistically address the issue. It strives to critically congregate best scientific, technical and socio-economic data on global climate change to produce various papers and reports which become standard works of reference (UNEP, 2004). IPCC has contributed extensively to unleash the mitigation potential from the perspective of agriculture, correlating it with climate change policy, environmental quality and ultimately, sustainable development (Working group II, 2007). Agriculture lands form 40- 50% of the earth’s land surface and contribute to 10-12% of the Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In this sector, by improved crop, soil, water, livestock and water management, the mitigation of climate change can be approached in a cost-effective way than other sectors. Hence this paper dwells into the significant role of IPCC to progress towards sustainable development in agriculture sector. It would discuss about how agriculture management activities would decrease GHG emissions and increase carbon sequestration (Technical group V, 2002). In the warming world, precipitation is skewed, sea level is rising, glaciers are melting, acidic levels in oceans are rising and dissolved oxygen in sea water is declining (IPCC, 2014). Hence major river floods are likely, which is a threat to the food production. This paper would highlight the need to limit effects of climate change to achieve sustainable development as the focus, and would further discuss social equity and poverty eradication. It would explore adaptation and mitigation methods to enumerate short and long-term goals to combat climate change from reinvented livestock and crop systems, beneficial land use changes, improved fertilizers and advanced technological perspectives (IPCC, 1990). It would enforce the learnings from IPCC’s contributions enumerating how agriculture must have a high synergy with sustainable development to address global climate change.

scholarly journals The Digital Sublime: Orientation Strategies for a Vertiginous World

2021 ◽  
pp. 226-243
Author(s):  
Alejandra López Gabrielidis ◽  
Toni Navarro
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Philosophy Of Art ◽  
Art And Design ◽  
Digital Infrastructure ◽  
The Sublime

This article addresses the increasing levels of complexity and abstraction that digital technologies produce, which generate a feeling of amazement nowadays similar to what the philosophy of art and aesthetics deemed the experience of the sublime. Through the idea of the “digital sublime”, we aim to find ways to find direction in this vertiginous world. Our intention is to research the extent to which art and design can function as mediators of scales that translate the digital sublime into concrete images that are more digestible, as well as easy to understand and perceive. We believe this is one of the challenges that these disciplines must face in our era governed by extra-human scales, both technological (the cloud, artificial intelligence, 5G, etc.) and geological (the Anthropocene and global climate change). With this in mind, we will analyse the work of several artists whose careers reflect their commitment to these issues. If we, and our bodies, are constantly translated into data, can art and design reverse meaning and make our data transform into bodies in such a way as to produce an aesthetic (sensible) experience of them? Can this help us to understand digital infrastructure and its materiality in a more intuitive and approachable way so that a body can imagine and/or visualise it? Can these actions encourage the production of collective emancipation strategies that allow us to be active agents when reconfiguring the governance and algorithmic regulations imposed on us?

Quantification of Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions From California Self-Generation Incentive Program Projects

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaiysha Khursheed ◽  
George Simons ◽  
Brad Souza ◽  
Jennifer Barnes
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Internal Combustion Engines ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emission ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Renewable Fuels ◽  
Incentive Program ◽  
The U.S

Over the past few decades, interest in the effects of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on global climate change has peaked. Increasing temperatures worldwide have been blamed for numerous negative impacts on agriculture, weather, forestry, marine ecosystems, and human health. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that the primary GHG emitted in the U.S. is carbon dioxide (CO2), most of which stems from fossil fuel combustion [1]. In fact, CO2 represents approximately 85% of all GHG emissions nationwide. The other primary GHGs include nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4), ozone (O3), and fluorinated gases. Since the energy sector is responsible for a majority of the GHGs released into the atmosphere, policies that address their mitigation through the production of electricity using renewable fuels and distributed generation are of significant interest. Use of renewable fuels and clean technologies to meet energy demand instead of relying on traditional electrical grid systems is expected to result in fewer CO2 and CH4 emissions, hence reducing global climate change impacts. Technologies considered cleaner include photovoltaics, wind turbines, and combined heat and power (CHP) devices using microturbines or internal combustion engines. The Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) in California [2] provides incentives for the installation of these technologies under certain circumstances. This paper assesses the GHG emission impacts from California’s SGIP during the 2005 program year by estimating the reductions in CO2 and CH4 released when SGIP projects are in operation. Our analysis focuses on these emissions since these are the two GHGs characteristic of SGIP projects. Results of this analysis show that emissions of GHGs are reduced due to the SGIP. This is because projects operating under this program reduce reliance on electricity generated by conventional power plants and encourage the use of renewable fuels, such as captured waste heat and methane.

scholarly journals Energy and Climate Policy—An Evaluation of Global Climate Change Expenditure 2011–2018

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 4839 ◽  
Author(s):  
Coilín ÓhAiseadha ◽  
Gerré Quinn ◽  
Ronan Connolly ◽  
Michael Connolly ◽  
Willie Soon
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Climate Policy ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
World Energy

Concern for climate change is one of the drivers of new, transitional energy policies oriented towards economic growth and energy security, along with reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and preservation of biodiversity. Since 2010, the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) has been publishing annual Global Landscape of Climate Finance reports. According to these reports, US$3660 billion has been spent on global climate change projects over the period 2011–2018. Fifty-five percent of this expenditure has gone to wind and solar energy. According to world energy reports, the contribution of wind and solar to world energy consumption has increased from 0.5% to 3% over this period. Meanwhile, coal, oil, and gas continue to supply 85% of the world’s energy consumption, with hydroelectricity and nuclear providing most of the remainder. With this in mind, we consider the potential engineering challenges and environmental and socioeconomic impacts of the main energy sources (old and new). We find that the literature raises many concerns about the engineering feasibility as well as environmental impacts of wind and solar. However, none of the current or proposed energy sources is a “panacea”. Rather, each technology has pros and cons, and policy-makers should be aware of the cons as well as the pros when making energy policy decisions. We urge policy-makers to identify which priorities are most important to them, and which priorities they are prepared to compromise on.

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