Current rapid changes in climate increase the urgency to change energy production and consumption management, to reduce carbon and other green-house gas production. In this context, the French electricity network management company RTE (R{\'e}seau de Transport d'{\'E}lectricit{\'e}) has recently published the results of an extensive study outlining various scenarios for tomorrow's French power management. We propose a challenge that will test the viability of such a scenario. The goal is to control electricity transportation in power networks, while pursuing multiple objectives: balancing production and consumption, minimizing energetic losses, and keeping people and equipment safe and particularly avoiding catastrophic failures. While the importance of the application provides a goal in itself, this challenge also aims to push the state-of-the-art in a branch of Artificial Intelligence (AI) called Reinforcement Learning (RL), which offers new possibilities to tackle control problems. In particular, various aspects of the combination of Deep Learning and RL called Deep Reinforcement Learning remain to be harnessed in this application domain. This challenge belongs to a series started in 2019 under the name "Learning to run a power network" (L2RPN). In this new edition, we introduce new more realistic scenarios proposed by RTE to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, retiring fossil fuel electricity production, increasing proportions of renewable and nuclear energy and introducing batteries. Furthermore, we provide a baseline using state-of-the-art reinforcement learning algorithm to stimulate the future participants.

Huanfeng Shen, Wuhan University ([email protected]), Jane Liu, University of Toronto ([email protected]), Wenping Yuan, Sun Yat-Sen University ([email protected]), Yongguang Zhang, Nanjing University ([email protected]), Holly Croft, University of Sheffield ([email protected]), Xiaobin Guan, Wuhan University ([email protected]). The dramatic increase in anthropogenic carbon emissions over the last five decades has already led to substantial damage to our environment, including increases in extreme weatherevents, loss of biodiversity, and a rise in sea level. Carbon neutrality, i.e., net-zero anthropogenic carbon emissions, is necessary to ensure the sustainable future of human beings, and hundreds of countries have pledged to achieve this goal by mid-century. Remote sensing techniques can acquire frequent observations of the Earth with various temporal and spatial resolutions, and provide substantial information for carbon emission monitoring and carbon cycle modeling. Remote sensing observations not only can be directly applied to retrieve the atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (e.g., CO2, CO, CH4, CFCs, O3, et al.), but also can be employed to investigate the carbon budget of natural ecosystems.

"We call it single bottom-line sustainability, where I look at the single bottom line of all those elements, and I start attaching sustainability to it," Glickman says. "And I start looking at changes of value and then I can build a business case for change." As companies set sustainability goals--to be carbon neutral by 2050, for example--they're tackling complex challenges: regulations change, supply chains are complicated, especially during the current pandemic, and integrating new technologies into legacy systems is almost always a hurdle, technologically and culturally. Glickman suggests an incremental approach--he calls it micro change, embracing the fact that sustainability isn't a one-and-done paradigm shift. "These are things that can be done in a six-week period, eight-week period, that have tangible proof of concepts that can be measured, that can be done at different levels." Looking at current infrastructure investments, particularly in North America and Europe, as well as the increasing interest of stakeholders, the sustainability bar is expected to rise. "For the next three years you will see a lot of investment. You will see countries or businesses that want to be leading because they see an advantage," says Glickman. "Then you will see others have to move along in that direction also." This episode of Business Lab is produced in partnership with Infosys. Laurel: From MIT Technology Review, I'm Laurel Ruma, and this is Business Lab. The show that helps business leaders make sense of new technologies coming out of the lab and into the marketplace. Our topic today is sustainability, but on a global scale, from factories to supply chains to sustainable development goals for all the countries in the world. It's possible to design for sustainability, get a return on investment, and help fight climate change. My guest is Corey Glickman, who is the vice president and head of the sustainability and design business at Infosys. Corey is an expert in strategic design, digital transformation, customer experience strategy, and the use of visualization applied to the development of innovative products, processes, and services.

Japan's major annual electronics show involving more than 300 companies opened Tuesday, with the spotlight on cutting-edge technologies designed to achieve carbon neutrality. As was the case last year, organizers decided to hold the Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies online as a precaution against the coronavirus. The event through Friday, under the theme of "Toward Society 5.0 with the New Normal," is accessible by the public with pre-registration. Rechargeable batteries to store renewable energy and carbon recycling technologies are among exhibited products that may help Japan and other countries reach the goal of net zero carbon emissions in the next several decades. The concept of Society 5.0 to incorporate innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence and robots into society has been promoted by Japanese industries and the government.

Comprehending the enormity of climate change is about as mind-bending as understanding the ultimate effect novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes Covid-19) will have on America and the world. But a free, interactive tool made by artificial intelligence start-up HyperGiant helps put both global crises and their relationship to each other in perspective. The "ACES: A post Covid Emissions Simulator" allows you to adjust pandemic-induced behaviors like the percentage of Americans who are working from home and the reduced amount of air travel to calculate how much carbon dioxide would be eliminated from the atmosphere if those changes were to be made permanent. For instance, if 30% of the workforce is working from home, air traffic is reduced by 50% and people eat 15% less meat, according to the tool that eliminates 18 billion tons of carbon dioxide, which is 38% of the way towards the changes dictated by the Paris climate accord. In 2019, the U.S. officially withdrew from the commission.)