AI expands scope of climate science

The climate crisis is becoming more urgent and more serious, with increasingly extreme events happening more often. Ban Ki-moon, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, cited the example of the current heatwave driving record temperatures in Siberia (Russian Federation), the United States and Canada. Globally, climate change is driving conflict and refugee flows, while growing numbers of species are at risk of extinction as ecosystems collapse, he noted at an AI for Good webinar hosted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on 7 July. Nearly 37 per cent of heat exposure around the world between 1991 and 2018 could be attributed to global warming caused by humans, Ban added, citing research published in Nature. Rising sea levels threaten the existence of many small island developing states, as well as some of world's largest and most important cities, both rich and poor.