Digitalisation

The Application Lab for Artificial Intelligence and Big Data (AI Lab) at the German Environment Agency leverages methods of AI and Big Data for environmental and sustainability applications. As an innovation space for the environmental sector, it focuses on the added value of AI for both people and the environment and conducts research on the sustainable use of AI and Big Data applications.

The Coalition for Digital Environmental Sustainability (CODES) aims to help reorient and prioritize the application of digital technologies to meet the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and address the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution and waste.

How can the immense potential of digitalisation be tapped for the benefit of all without consuming excessive resources and energy? These and other questions were discussed by over 150 international experts with the support of the German Environment Agency (UBA) at the virtual conference of the Coalition for Digital Environmental Sustainability (CODES) on 30 June and 1 July 2021.

UBA together with UNDP, UNEP, Future Earth, ISC, ITU and Kenya is championing the Coalition for Digital Environment Sustainability – CODES, which brings together science community, governmental institutions, UN Bodies, tech companies, and civil society.

Personalised advertisement, instant delivery, virtual shopping assistants and contactless payment show that consumption and digitalisation have become closely linked. A new report from the German Environment Agency (UBA) says it is not yet known whether this link will lead to greater pollution. The current analysis is that digitalisation offers good opportunities to use resources more efficiently.