Climate Week 2023 - Taking on the Global Energy Challenge Using AI and Data

As the effects of climate change become increasingly evident and urgent, more organizations are working in earnest to improve their environmental practices. However, we’re seeing data success in sustainability is currently the exception, not the rule. If we are collectively so urgent, what is creating this gap between sustainability data and action?

That is what we’ll be discussing throughout Climate Week, which takes place alongside the United Nations General Council, September 17-24 in New York. I’m excited to be involved in various sessions throughout the week. What I’ll be most focused on is getting the key message across that data, analytics, and AI can play a central role in creating the change we need, fast.

Integrating credible and innovative steps into day-to-day operations is essential to any organization wanting to make serious progress on their climate efforts. Data and AI can play vital roles in defining those steps, helping everyone align on focus areas, and showing measurable progress that fuels consistent behavior changes for lasting positive impact.

From my perspective, in most cases we know the data is already available in an organization. What’s missing is a way to easily unlock it to blend with other important data sets for analytics that shows the whole picture. We’re also seeing that many organizations are still cobbling together data in spreadsheets instead of taking advantage of the remarkable opportunities offered by modern AI and analytics platforms. This means almost all reporting is backward-looking, when what’s urgently needed is in-the-moment, actionable insights for immediate impact. And unfortunately, sustainability efforts are often siloed in a sustainability team and not incorporated into daily operations across the larger enterprise.

Sustainability is not mutually exclusive with profitability and growth. In fact, leading organizations understand that they can leverage environmental goals to catalyze business success. Companies can and should be building sustainability metrics into their analyses of business operations, enabling them to make cross-functional, real-time decisions that boost sustainability and social progress while increasing profitability.

In addition to the United Nations events, we’ll also be hosting a dedicated session at our New York offices with our partner Climate Vault. “Take on the Global Energy Challenge: Leveraging AI and Data to Achieve Your Climate Goals” will focus on the overall market challenges and will include real-world examples of how organizations can make meaningful progress on climate goals today through data.

For those unfamiliar with Climate Vault, their mission is to give organizations and people an opportunity to credibly fight climate change. By leveraging the power of government-regulated compliance markets to immediately reduce CO₂ and supporting innovation in carbon dioxide removal (CDR), Climate Vault is the first integrated solution of its kind. Their goal is to reduce ten million tons of CO₂ by 2025 by working with organizations like Qlik to tackle their carbon footprint.

Dr. Michael Greenstone, Co-founder of Climate Vault and former White House Economic Adviser for President Obama, will join me in helping attendees learn more about the Global Energy Challenge and the risks and opportunities it poses for organizations.

The event will take place on September 21 from 3-5 p.m. EST at the Qlik offices in the Empire State Building in New York City. Click here to learn more or apply to attend!

Climate Week provides a great opportunity to discover how to close the sustainability goal gap through data and AI.