DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

摘要

In September 2020, IBM convened a round table of experts and stakeholders to discuss the potential of data and digital technologies to advance environmental sustainability. More than 25 participants representing government, the private sector, academia, and not-for-profit organizations from around the world attended the event, and explored the opportunities and challenges associated with using data to further environmental objectives. This Comment is adapted from the round table report.Our physical environment is a rich source of data. Rivers flow with it, storms swirl with it, soil teems with it. It can inform our daily lives, our interaction with the natural world, and has direct and indirect implications for our economic activity. In fact, data describing our physical environment, and the information and insight drawn from it, have underpinned all human progress.Data have dramatically changed many realms of human activity, from how sports teams select players to how businesses market their goods and services. We now have the opportunity to bring the environmental realm into the mainstream of the digital age by tapping its bounty of data, making sense of it, and sharing it broadly.