Wind farm, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. (Photo by plus49/Construction Photography/Avalon/Getty … [+] Images)
26 million people will be pushed into poverty every year by natural and climate-related disasters. To help make a difference, IBM launched the IBM Sustainability Accelerator. This global pro-bono program for social impact leverages IBM technologies such as hybrid cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), and an ecosystem of experts. The goal of the program is to empower both government and non-profit organizations to scale up their efforts to help vulnerable populations affected by environmental threats such as climate change and extreme weather.
A study published in September 2021 by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows that in the US, the most severe harms from climate change fall disproportionately upon underserved communities who are least able to prepare for and recover from heat waves, poor air quality, flooding, and other impacts.
Climate change impacts on African Americans and Blacks are expected to be greater than any other demographic. For example, a two C (3.6F), increase in temperature due to global heating would make it 34% more likely that you currently live in areas where there are the highest projected rises in childhood asthma diagnoses and 40% less likely that you currently live near areas with the greatest projected increases in extreme temperature-related death.
LatinX have high participation rates in weather-exposed industry, such as agriculture and construction, which are particularly vulnerable to extreme temperature. LatinX individuals are 43% less likely to live in areas with the highest projected reduction in labor hours due global warming due to the same two C temperatures.
Globally, disasters related to weather, climate or water hazard caused 2 million deaths and US$ 3.64 trillion in losses between the 1970s and 2019. Research published in 2021 in the Journal Nature Climate Change used machine learning to analyze and map more than 100,000 studies of events that could be linked to global warming. Researchers paired the analysis to a well-established data set on temperature and precipitation shifts that were caused by fossil fuel use, and other sources of carbon emission. Aside from the critical finding that despite existing pledges, the planet is on track to heat up about 2.7 degrees Celsius (4.9 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century, the researchers identified an immense gap in studies. One example is that less than 10,000 studies focused on climate change’s effects on Africa and half as many on South America. Nearly 30,000 papers have been published on climate impacts in North America,
This evidence clearly shows the importance of the IBM Sustainability accelerator for underserved communities. Scalability is essential when dealing with a problem such as climate change.
The IBM Sustainability Accelerator is an initiative that will last two years and will help government and non-profit agencies scale up and accelerate their efforts. IBM will each year select new projects and organizations that make use of technology to address sustainability issues in communities around the world. IBM will be looking at areas such as sustainable agriculture, clean energy, and air pollution. The two-year accelerator program consists of two phases.
- Phase one: Ideation. IBM will work with each company to determine its needs and create a roadmap to design and develop, deploy, and continuously improve the technology to solve specific public problems.
- Phase two: Development and implementation. IBM will assist participants in meeting their community and environmental goals through the use of technologies such as IBM Watson, IBM Cloud and the environmental intelligence suite. This two-year process will be for each participant organization. Each organization will also receive customized tools, scientific expertise, and mentorship.
IBM launched the program and invited non-profit organizations (NPOs) to submit proposals to a public request to proposal (RPF), for the 2022 round, which will be focusing on clean energy. Proposals are due by April 30, 2022, and should be submitted Through the Submission Portal. IBM will announce the final decisions on its initial invitations to Accelerator’s clean-energy cohort by August 31, 2020. Support from Accelerator for clean energy engagements will start in October 2022, and last for up to 2 years.
The Sustainability Accelerator managed a pilot program that concluded in December 2021. It was focused on sustainable agricultural production. The pilot was selected from proposals received through an invitation-only RFP that was shared with partners of IBM. The pilot involved three companies:
- The Nature Conservancy India is building a public information platform to help eliminate crop residue burning in North India in furtherance of their goal to improve agricultural sustainability public health and help reduce climate change impact in India.
- Heifer International is working to equip farmers’ cooperatives in Malawi with weather and crop yield forecasts to help increase their yields and incomes.
- Plan21, helping smallholder farmers in Latin America manage their crops more sustainably while increasing their productivity and income and contributing to consumer awareness to develop more responsible markets.
Tech is making a lot of efforts to positively impact society. In the past two years, there has been an increase in financial support for organizations that make a positive impact on society. This started in the communities where many of the most prominent tech companies are located and then spread to other parts of the world. Although financial support is always appreciated, it has its limitations. It lacks scalability. It doesn’t allow companies to use technology, products, and services to make an impact while showcasing the capabilities of their company. The program creates a multiplier effect between the company that spearheads it and the one receiving it. The IBM Sustainability Accelerator is scalable and can have a long-lasting impact on the organizations involved. It allows IBM to demonstrate how their technology can be used for positive change and, more importantly, how it can help customers who are interested in running more sustainable businesses.
Doing good and doing well is the best way of approaching any social impact initiative. It ensures a long-term commitment. Sustainability is vital for the planet’s future. Accenture says that sustainability will be a $12 billion business per year by 2030. It is important to also consider the opportunities for business growth it offers.
Disclosure: The Heart of Tech, a research and consulting firm, engages in, or has engaged, in research, analysis and advisory services with many tech companies, including the ones mentioned in this column. The author has no equity in any company mentioned here.
