Microsoft AI is a Game-Changer in Reimagining Climate Action

Once a little-known term, artificial Intelligence (AI) is well and truly here to stay. It is continuing to grow as a powerful ally in the fight against climate change, offering unprecedented capabilities to monitor, predict and mitigate environmental issues. 

This covers a whole variety of applications, from preserving ecosystems to optimising resource management, showing that AI is well and truly revolutionising the global approach to sustainability.

“Ecosystems are facing unprecedented threats of loss and degradation globally,” said Amy Luers, Senior Global Director Sustainability at Microsoft. “To prevent these changes, we need to measure and predict the implications, because we cannot manage what we do not measure and we cannot protect what we cannot predict.”

AI: A new approach to climate action

Often seen as a resource available in abundance, the reality is that water is a scarce resource, with lack of access and replenishment a growing concern around the world.

Agriculture consumes about 70% of the world’s freshwater resources. To make the most of this resource and ensure it is not wasted, AI is optimising water management.

With Microsoft, AI is playing a crucial role in addressing this challenge through precision agriculture and smart water management. Project FarmVibes, a collaboration between Microsoft Research and farmers, utilises satellites and sensors to predict water shortages and surpluses.

This technology empowers farmers to conserve water during droughts and collect it efficiently during periods of excess, significantly improving agricultural sustainability.

“Agriculture is also amongst the most impacted by climate change,” Microsoft said. “Farmers depend on predictable weather for their farm management practices, and unexpected weather events — for example, high heat, floods — leaves them unprepared to handle impacts by climate change.  

“By adopting sustainable agricultural practices, including those that can help remove additional carbon from the atmosphere, farmers can also help drive progress to address climate change.

“Through this project, our goal is to enable researchers, practitioners and data scientists to build affordable digital technologies to help farmers estimate the emissions in their farm, with climate adaptation by predicting weather variations, and determine the right management practices that can be profitable and help improve soil health.”

AI’s predictive capabilities

Outside of agriculture, AI is accelerating climate action and amplifying the world’s understanding of natural ecosystems. For example, pollen collected by bees can now be harnessed to provide a unique data set. 

By using AI, information is extracted from each drop of pollen to map local plant life across southern Oregon, USA, which also tracks environmental health in the area.

“Tens of thousands of bees collect as many as four billion tiny samples a year across the Klamath River basin,” Microsoft said. “Studying them closely leads to rediscovery of rare native plants and new species — to help local ecosystems thrive.”

One threat to said ecosystems are wildfires, amplified by drought. AI’s predictive analysis capabilities allow those taking action against natural disasters to stay one step ahead.

Alberta Wildfire, for example, uses an AI-powered tool built by AltaML to make decisions, leveraging machine learning to analyse tens of thousands of data points to predict the next day’s likelihood of fires.

“Wildfires destroy large swathes of natural and human habitats, emitting massive carbon into the atmosphere,” the technology giant added. “Companies like Vibrant Planet are helping prevent disasters like these by monitoring change and supporting real-time scenario planning to build wildfire and climate resilience.”

******

Receive the next edition of ClimateTech Magazine by signing up for its newsletter. 

As part of this portfolio, make sure you check out Sustainability Magazine and also sign up to our global conference series -  Sustainability LIVE. 

Also check out our Sister Brand, Energy Digital. 

******

ClimateTech Digital is a BizClik brand.