[digital.global] im Dialog

In Nigeria, Parliamentary State Secretary Bärbel Kofler met with female founders of digital companies and representatives of the Lagos State Employment Agency. At the NitHub innovation centre of the University of Lagos, Kofler discussed with the participants how the creativity of the centre could be better used to modernise and digitally transform existing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and promote start-ups.

In discussions with the young female entrepreneurs, it also became clear that better access to financing instruments for expanding their companies is necessary for women’s entrepreneurial success. The Digital Transformation Centre Nigeria is co-financed by the BMZ and the EU: It supports innovation centres in several regions and offers training on digitalisation and business start-ups for young adults, young people and women.

Read more about the joint trip to Nigeria by Federal Minister Svenja Schulze and Parliamentary State Secretary Dr Bärbel Kofler:

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Artificial intelligence (AI) – how can it help with climate change adaptation without widening the digital divide? How do international cooperation and partnerships contribute to leveraging the potential of AI for climate solutions, especially in least developed countries (LDCs) and small island states?
These questions were discussed on December 09 by a high-level panel hosted by UNFCCC Senior Director Daniele Violetti and Director-General of the COP Presidency Majid Al-Suwadi, with the participation of the Head of the US President’s Climate Office Ali Zaidi and digital policy experts Omar Sultan Al Olama (UAE), Fatou Binetou Ndiaye (Senegal) and Shantal Munro-Knight (Barbados).

The potential for climate protection predominated in the discussion, but it also became clear that a digital policy framework is needed to realise the potential and limit the risks. And both the least developed countries and developed countries benefit from international cooperation and collaboration. State Secretary Fatou Binetou Ndiaye showed how Senegal, with the support of the Data Economy Initiative of GIZ and BMZ is developing a digital policy framework to reconcile its priorities for sustainable development, innovation and digital sovereignty. The basis for tapping the potential of data and AI for climate protection.

In her introduction to specific AI-based climate solutions, GIZ Managing Director Ingrid Hoven emphasised the relevance of a European, human-centric approach: the use of AI for climate protection also requires the sustainable use of AI. This includes an ecologically sustainable, ethical and fair design of AI through open and transparent AI models, data bases and green data infrastructure.

Examples from the work of the BMZ’s FAIR Forward initiative showed how such an approach can contribute to climate change adaptation and mitigation.

The deforestation of tropical forests, such as in Indonesia, which play a crucial role in carbon storage, contributes significantly to climate change. AI-based analysis of satellite data, with the involvement of local communities, helps to identify and protect forests with a lot of carbon. Another pilot project in Kenya combines satellite and weather data with locally collected data from smallholder farmers and feeds this into an AI-based early warning system for predicting and monitoring crop yields.

What both projects have in common is that they involve local communities in the development of AI models and create open-source solutions that enable scaling and adaptation to other contexts.

Based on these and other examples of AI climate innovations, the UNFCCC Technology Mechanism Initiative on Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Climate Action #AI4ClimateAction launched its AI Innovation Grand Challenge as a climate innovation competition to promote new AI applications for climate mitigation and adaptation measures in developing countries.

Speakers:

• Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary, UNFCCC
• Daniele Violetti, Senior Director, United Nations Climate Change Secretariat
• Majid Al-Suwadi, Director-General and Special representative of COP28 Presidency,United Arab Emirates
• E. Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, United Arab Emirates
• Fatou Binetou Ndiaye, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Communications, Telecommunications and the Digital Economy, Senegal
• Shantal Munro-Knight, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Barbados
• Ali Zaidi, Assistant to the President and National Climate Advisor, United States of Amercia
• Ingrid Hoven, Managing Director, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
• Gauri Singh, Deputy Director-General, International Renewable Energy Agency
• Yana Gevorgyan, Secretariat Director, Group on Earth Observations
• Sherif Tawfik, Chief Sustainability Commercial Officer, Microsoft
• Kate Kallot, Chief Executive Officer, Amini Corp.
• Stig Svenningsen, Chair, UNFCCC Technology Executive Committee
• Erwin Rose, Chair, Advisory Board of the Climate Technology Centre and Network
• Bill Wright, Chair and Founder, Enterprise Neurosystem

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A COP28 side event of the European Commission

Digital innovation is of great importance for climate protection. How digital innovations can be used and scaled for the green transformation was the focus of the two side events with European partners of a #TeamEurope initiative for the twin transition. Through the “Digital and Green” working group of the EU’s Digital for Development (D4D) Hub, European member states and the European Commission are joining forces to promote the green digital transformation to combat the climate crisis in the Global South.

At “What’s cooking, Team Europe?” on 4 December, Dr Heike Henn, Head of Division for Climate, Energy and Environment and Commissioner for Climate Policy and Climate Financing at the BMZ, joined members from Estonia, France, Belgium and the European Commission to discuss how green technology innovations in the Global South can be driven forward by Team Europe. The discussion showed that supporting local innovation ecosystems provides crucial impetus for companies to tackle the challenges of climate change. The members of the Twin Transition Joint Initiative have therefore set themselves the goal of scaling local green innovation globally and are currently developing a joint #TeamEurope action focussing on digital green innovation.

Innovators showed how digital and green innovations are already being used to solve local challenges in Africa at the virtual side event “Digitalising Sustainability: DGIx Pan-African Innovators’ Journey” on 5 December. The event, with the participation of Head of Unit for Digitalisation, Noémie Bürkl (BMZ) and the Acting Head of Unit Digitalisation of DG INTPA, Miguel Angel Exposito Verdejo (European Commission), provided insights into the climate challenges in Africa and showed that young people and women are both vulnerable groups and driving forces in climate action.

Holistic waste management, risk prevention for natural disasters, green space development, traceable supply chains or digital ecosystems for small farmers: With the help of digital and green innovations, they are changing their environment and helping to develop local ideas for global challenges. Digital solutions can help close the gap in the implementation of the Paris Agreement. Innovators from the start-ups M-taka, Hesotech, Nyasa Aerial Data & Solutions and AgroSfer are participants in the Digital & Green Innovation Challenge (DGIx), which is supported by the BMZ and the European Commission and organised by the Smart Development Fund (SDF).

Speakers:

• Noémie Bürkl, Head of Unit for Digitalisation at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
• Carla Montesi Director, DG INTPA, European Commission
• Moderation: Maída Hernández, Smart Development Fund (#SDF), GIZ

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At the 28th World Climate Change Conference (COP 28) from 30 November to 12 December in Dubai, eight years after the conclusion of the Paris Climate Change Agreement, a review was carried out for the first time: Where does the global community stand on climate protection?

The planet is currently heading towards a warming of well over 1.5 degrees compared to pre-industrial times. Increasingly at the centre of attention: digital technologies as part of the solution to help mitigateand adapt to climate change. At the same time, digitalisation has a negative impact on the carbon footprint. Shaping the digital transformation in a climate-friendly way and utilising the potential for a green transformation – driving forward the so-called digital and green twin transition – is therefore a top priority.

For the [digital.global] network, the COP 28 starts with a World Bank Pre-Event:

Green Digital Transformation: How to Sustainably Close the Digital Divide and Harness Digital Tools for Climate Action

In the forefront of the conference, the World Bank published its report Green Digital Transformation: How to Sustainably Close the Digital Divide and Harness Digital Tools for Climate Action on 29 November. The report emphasises that the digital transformation can accelerate the implementation of the Paris Agreement. The panel, with the participation of GIZ board member Ingrid Hoven and Alix Jagueneau (GSMA), Cosmos Zavazava (ITU), discussed pilot projects, joint activities and opportunities to further utilise the potential of digital innovations for climate action. One prerequisite: digitalisation must become greener and reduce its emissions. One of the BMZ’s contributions is a guideline for green data centres, which was developed together with international partners such as the World Bank and ITU and has already been implemented in eleven World Bank-financed data centres since its publication at Africa Climate Week in September.

Speakers:

•  Seth Ayers, Senior Program Officer, The World Bank
• Sara Ballan, Senior Digital Development Specialist, The World Bank
• Guangzhe Chen, Vice President, Infrastructure, The World Bank 
• Ingrid-Gabriela Hoven, Managing Director, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH
• Alix Jagueneau, Head ExternalAffairs, GSMA
• Maya Ormazabal Herrero, Director of Environment & Human Rights, Telefonica
• Christine Zhenwei Qiang, Director for Digital Development, The World Bank
• Faisal Iqbal Ratyal, Director General, Ministry of Information Technology and TelecommunicationCosmos Zavazava, Director of Telecom Development Bureau at
  International Telecommunication Union

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