How AI and satellites can help cut emissions One Earth Initiative

Why are coal plants in the U.S. and Europe closing at an accelerating rate, while in Asia, coal consumption went up and helped fuel an overall 1.7% year-on-year increase in global carbon emissions? Part of the reason coal continues to grow in countries like China and India is that in these areas, unlike in the U.S., emissions data can be shoddy or hard to acquire. Without accurate information it is harder to hold facilities accountable and keep them in line with meeting emission reduction targets. To address this situation, we are partnering with WattTime and the World Resources Institute (WRI), to launch a new project which will use satellite imagery to quantify carbon emissions from every major power plant across the world. This effort is being funded as one of 20 projects in the Google AI Impact Challenge.