The socioeconomic effects of climate change are highly ambiguous and diverse and vary depending on space and time. To mitigate the threats posed by climate change, the world needs to articulate means, ends, and mechanisms for advocating and developing innovative technology.
The transition toward net zero requires significant societal, industrial, government, and corporate changes. Businesses are increasingly pivoting to technological innovations to fulfill net zero emission targets as digital technologies show the potential to deliver sustained solutions to many seemingly unmanageable societal issues related to climate change.
Digital technology can also play a vital role in improving resilience to global warming-related natural hazards, reducing emissions, and enhancing the ability of humans to take the required actions to realize net zero. It can help automate and immensely enhance the efficiency of manufacturing, industrial, and agricultural processes. Using AI-based systems across industries can reduce at least four percent of global emissions in the coming years.
The convergence of the digital and net zero imperatives has begun to gain traction within the academic literature, where academicians focus on the role of digital technologies through a positive contribution lens. However, a reflective perspective also recognizes the negative aspects of the rapid adoption of technology.
Businesses are coming up with innovations, including carbon capture, storage, and utilization technologies, to reduce CO2 emissions. They aim to capture CO2 produced in power plants and industrial processes and transport these emissions to offshore storage sites several kilometers underneath the seat through pipelines. The CO2 sequestered in secure areas deep under the sea would not contribute to the greenhouse effect and can, in turn, be synthesized into new fuels or energy sources for transportation and power systems in the future.
However, the scale of the Earth’s crisis is far more substantial than can be resolved by the selective decarburization of a low number of businesses. Climate change in its entirety must be addressed comprehensively by adopting a socio-technical stance with the collaboration of the private and public sectors. When anchored rightly, innovation technology drives vital adaptation projects that could facilitate the damning impact of climate change.
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