COP28 now sees tech companies' role in global climate action: report

The industry was recognised as a key player in climate change during the recent COP28 meeting.

The recent COP28 has underscored the vital role tech companies will play in addressing the climate crisis, GlobalData reported.

This was particularly demonstrated by the partnership between the United Nations and Microsoft as well as Telefonica’s accelerated environmental goals.

The UN-Microsoft collaboration seeks to create an artificial intelligence-powered platform and global climate data hub to measure and analyse global progress in cutting down emissions.

Meanwhile, Telefonica announced plans to expedite its environmental goals. The company now aims to reduce operating emissions by 90% and value chain emissions by 56% to 2030.

“It is encouraging that COP 28 is bringing parties together from governments and industries to map long-term opportunities to address the climate crisis. At the same time, the tech sector continues to innovate independently,”  Robert Pritchard, Principal Enterprise Technology and Services Analyst at GlobalData, said.

During COP28 the UN Climate Change Technology Executive Committee with non-profit open-source AI community, Neurosystem, launched the AI Innovation Grand Challenge to identify and support the development of AI-powered solutions.

“The combination of the inevitably slow process of getting 190 countries to agree on policies and methodologies to address the climate crisis combined with the stated commitment of tech sector companies to improve their own performance and help customers to act more sustainably is good news for the planet,” Pritchard also said.

“By COP 29, GlobalData expects many such further developments from the tech sector as it continues to lead in addressing global environmental challenges.”