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🗞️ Driving the news: At COP29 in Baku, the first-ever Digitalisation Day highlighted how digital technologies and AI can support climate action while addressing their environmental impacts
• Over 1,000 stakeholders endorsed the COP29 Declaration on Green Digital Action, aiming to accelerate climate efforts and tackle tech-related emissions and e-waste
• The initiative emphasizes balancing innovation with sustainability
🔭 The context: The declaration recognizes the role of technologies like AI and big data in climate monitoring, early warning systems, and emissions reduction
• Despite their benefits, digital tools demand significant energy and water, and data centers produce substantial greenhouse gases and require intensive cooling systems
• This dual challenge was a key focus during the event
🌍 Why it matters for the planet: Harnessing digital solutions is vital for climate adaptation and mitigation, but curbing the environmental costs of the tech sector is equally critical
• Addressing the sector's emissions and waste footprint ensures a sustainable path forward while leveraging its potential to fight climate change
⏭️ What's next: Stakeholders aim to maintain momentum through COP30, focusing on sustainable digital innovation
• Continued collaboration will prioritize reducing emissions from tech production and operations while expanding climate-friendly applications of AI and digital tools
💬 One quote: “We can and must reduce the environmental footprint of digital technologies while leveraging their undeniable potential to tackle the climate crisis,” - Doreen Bogdan-Martin, ITU Secretary-General
📈 One stat: Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 5-10% by 2030, equivalent to the total annual emissions of the European Union
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