Executive summary
Urgent, sustained, collective action is needed in order to address the global climate emergency. As communities across the world recover from the COVID-19 crisis, efforts to reignite economies should be harnessed to accelerate the shift to a net zero economy and society.
Digital technologies have already transformed the economy. Digital services have revolutionised communications and made it possible for a large part of the economy to continue to function during the pandemic. Data-enabled technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence have also enabled efficiencies and optimisation across sectors. While some of these applications already contribute to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, digital technologies also have an environmental cost which should not be neglected – from the extraction of minerals to the energy use and emissions of the technology.
Under the right conditions, digital technologies could optimise and reduce their own footprint and bring even more transformative changes, triggering a bigger switch beyond optimisation. They can help promote a shift towards low-carbon ways of living and working – enabling individuals to adopt ‘greener’ lifestyles, from how they travel to how they heat their homes. At a systems level, ‘digital twins’ could generate rich data flows enabling a ‘control loop’ for the planet’s emissions which would allow much better planning, monitoring and control of the world’s emissions. Digital twins, combined with artificial intelligence and deployed at a national or planetary scale, will also be important for optimisation and stress testing. Digital technologies like machine learning also provide new tools to society including for scientists, social scientists, and policy makers.
They have an enabling role, for example in underpinning smart machines and, crucially, in advancing research and innovation, where they could help discover brand new solutions to the net zero challenge.
The UK is in a position to drive this change, building on its world-leading research in digital technology and other disciplines, and vibrant tech start-up ecosystems. However, technology alone will not achieve the transition to a low-carbon economy. While digital technologies offer the promise to catalyse change, wider policies – including those on sustainability – will be vital to set a direction towards low-emissions ways of living and working, and to shape technology development to deliver positive outcomes for the planet. The right policies will also be needed to create critical digital infrastructures for net zero, that work for everyone. Action in key areas will help secure the transformation: building a trusted data infrastructure for net zero; optimising our digital carbon footprint; establishing a data-enabled net zero economy; setting research and innovation challenges to digitise the net zero transition.
Digital systems from ground sensors to satellites can generate valuable data, enabling greater emissions monitoring and understanding of climate trends and intervention impacts. This, together with data from across sectors about the inner workings of these sectors, from the mapping of physical assets to business processes, can power data-driven systems and services with the potential to achieve significant emission reductions across the economy – from underpinning the smart control of energy networks, to enabling a switch to ‘as a service’ business models and a circular economy.
There is already a wealth of relevant, existing data which could be used more widely now, provided they are made findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. There may also be a case for the collection and analysis of new data, for example emissions data with greater temporal and spatial definition. Safe and rapid use of data to support the achievement of net zero will require the appropriate data governance and data sharing institutions. Building a reliable and comprehensive data infrastructure should be a priority.
Data-driven systems for net zero must be taken up across society and the economy, and to be trusted they will need to work for everyone. The design and deployment of data-driven systems for net zero should be inclusive and grounded in engagement with all stakeholders and communities affected by their use. These systems should be developed and applied in a way that allows contestation, meaning that it is possible to challenge and verify their output because they are transparent and explainable for example. As a number of these systems are critical digital infrastructure for the planet, they need to be safe, robust and resilient.
A wide range of estimates have been published for the carbon footprint of digital systems themselves, but further work is needed to evaluate the potential climate impact of increasing use of digital technologies. To allow greater monitoring and scrutiny, data about the energy consumption and emissions associated with the whole life cycle of digital technologies should be made widely available. Data centres are increasingly running on clean energy and could further help the uptake of intermittent renewable energy sources, by scheduling computing at times of peak renewable production.
Digital technologies developed and deployed in pursuit of net zero must be energy-proportionate – ie they must bring environmental or societal benefits that outweigh their own emissions.
With the right incentives, applications of digital technologies could bring about new services and business models allowing a shift away from resource consumption and carbon-intensive wealth creation. The transformation towards a data-enabled net zero economy also promises to create many local jobs. To secure a net zero transition that works for all, building digital skills and net zero knowledge at all levels should be a priority.
A number of research and innovation challenges are still to be solved to deliver the potential of digital technologies in achieving a net zero economy and society. These include better integrating energy and digital systems, prototyping data infrastructure, developing trustworthy digital systems, green computing, enabling nature-based and engineering-based mitigation approaches, understanding drivers influencing societal transformation and distributing fairly the cost and benefits of the transition to net zero. Data, in conjunction with technologies such as artificial intelligence and digital twins, should be at the heart of the net zero transition. Achieving the promise of this data-led net zero transition will require an ambitious, collaborative and challenge-led research and innovation effort.