Here's the Future of Big Data and Climate Action

Video Overview: During a panel discussion featuring data experts from Twitter, CIAT, Western Digital, and the World Resources Institute, participants shared their predictions for the future of big data and climate action. A representative from the SDG Action Campaign moderated as the panelists spoke about how synergies between climate science and data science can be leveraged in order to fuel innovations for climate solutions.

Data science is an extremely powerful tool, and enabling innovative new research was a core goal of the Climate Action Challenge(D4CA). Since the challenge provided researchers around the world with meaningful opportunities to use private sector data sets to generate climate solutions, harnessing big data was an important topic of discussion during the Data Innovation: Generating Climate Solutions event. The event was held during the United Nations climate change conference (COP23) in Bonn, Germany.

The Future of Big Data and Climate Action panel included:

This panel discussion provided a forum for data scientists and practitioners to share their perspectives and ideas, all while celebrating the winning projects and encouraging business leaders, data scientists and climate experts to collaborate in order to facilitate this type of work.

Panel moderator Hannah Messenger, a Resource Mobilization Consultant at the SDG Action Campaign, guided a conversation that ranged from successful data-driven innovation for the SDGs to the challenges and silos that remain.

The United Nations Global Pulse, an innovation initiative on big data and data science, and Western Digital recently announced the winners of the Data for Climate Action Challenge (D4CA) at the Data Innovation: Generating Climate Solutions event during the United Nations climate change conference (COP23) in Bonn, Germany.

 An unprecedented open innovation challenge to harness data science and big data from the private sector to fight climate change, D4CA was launched in early 2017 and called on innovators, scientists, and climate experts to use data to accelerate climate solutions.

 Access to large amounts of data – anonymized and aggregated to protect privacy – accelerates the ability to spot connections, gain insight and develop predictive algorithms that can provide more precise direction and decisions. The Data for Climate Action Challenge demonstrates what’s possible when public and private sector organizations partner for social good.

Data Makes Possible has highlighted each of the enriching and inspirational speakers from the event, including the Effective Partnerships to Enable Climate Solutions discussion panel.

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