幸运飞行艇官方开奖记录查询 COP27: 'Only data and digital skills will save the planet'

World leaders can ramble on all they like about their plans to tackle climate change at this week’s COP27 but to truly achieve net zero they must put an army of data scientists and broader digital skills at the centre of all their activities.

That is the rallying cry from the professional body for information technology, BCS The Chartered Institute for IT, as prime ministers and presidents from countries large and small gather at the 27th United Nations Climate Change conference in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

The industry body’s group CEO Rashik Parmar said: “World leaders must understand we can only achieve net zero with the help of digital technologies and – crucially – scientists, engineers and managers with the right skills.

“We need a global talent pool of data science professionals to help us understand what the data is saying, supported by universal data standards that build trust and confidence.”

Parmer’s call for action follows UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s commitment to spend a further £65.5m on the clean energy innovation facility which provides grants to researchers and scientists in developing countries working on clean technologies.

Sunak insisted that investing in green infrastructure is morally the right thing to do to tackle what UN Secretary General António Guterres has warned is the “highway to climate hell” because of increasing greenhouse gas emissions and rising global temperatures.

A BCS survey of technology professionals before COP26 found that nearly two-thirds (64%) believed the workforce lacked the digital skills to achieve net zero; while a similar proportion (61%) were not confident digital technologies were being used effectively in the fight against climate change.

The BCS has also cited a Royal Society 2020 report, “Digital technology, and the planet: Harnessing Computing”, which stated: “To achieve net zero nearly a third of the 50% carbon emissions reductions the UK needs to make by 2030 could be achieved through existing digital technology.”

Parmar concluded: “All organisations need people with the digital skills to commission, build and manage carbon accounting and carbon removal systems and embed them into everyday business practice.”

The advertising and marketing industry is due to present an update on its climate change progress at the Ad Net Zero Global Summit which will take place online on November 9 and 10, alongside COP27.

The Ad Net Zero programme was launched in the UK in November 2020 by the Advertising Association, ISBA and the IPA, and counts over 100 advertisers, agencies, commercial media owners and production companies in its membership.

In June this year, the bosses of many of the world’s largest advertisers and trade bodies pledged to follow the UK industry’s lead on the environment and will roll out the Ad Net Zero programme internationally to major markets.

Marketing agency groups Dentsu International, Havas, Interpublic Group, Omnicom, Publicis Groupe and WPP, along with Unilever, Google, Meta, and Sky have already signed up.