Want to cut greenhouse gas emissions? Look to digital technologies

Tackling climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity. Over the next decade, the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) – particularly 5G, the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) – will provide essential tools for increasing efficiency in the economy and preparing for a post-fossil fuel society. Last year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change delivered its special report on the effects of global warming of 1.5 C and above. The report clearly lays out the difference between 1.5 C and 2 C warming and emphasizes the urgent need to avoid crossing tipping points in Earth's life support systems. To give us a chance to limit global warming to this level, global greenhouse gas emissions must peak by 2020 and then fall by half every decade, corresponding to 7% annual reductions as a global average.