IEEE continues to lift its visibility as a trusted voice on mitigating the consequences of local weather change. Final yr Saifur Rahman, the 2023 IEEE president, represented the group in a number of classes on the U.N. Local weather Change Convention (COP29). Representatives from greater than 200 international locations attended the November occasion, held in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Rahman, an influence knowledgeable, is a professor {of electrical} and pc engineering at Virginia Tech. In Baku he mentioned IEEE’s efforts together with serving to to develop applied sciences that assist mitigate local weather change, instructing sustainable applied sciences to younger engineers in growing international locations, and publishing unbiased info.
Then in December, IEEE and the Worldwide Telecommunication Union held a symposium on attaining local weather resilience. Rahman was the occasion’s basic chair. Along with high-level representatives from U.N. companies, there have been representatives from different IEEE teams together with the Energy & Power Society, the Requirements Affiliation, Younger Professionals, and the group’s Europe workplace.
The occasion was held at ITU’s headquarters in Geneva on 12 and 13 December. Individuals included engineers, trade consultants, policymakers, researchers, and requirements improvement organizations. Discussions have been held round 4 key areas: analysis, know-how, and requirements; coverage, regulation and implementation; schooling and abilities improvement; and finance, commerce, and improvement.
IEEE’s local weather motion actions at COP29
IEEE can serve humanity by selling clean-tech options for local weather sustainability, Rahman declared in his COP29 presentation.
“Pragmatic and accessible technical options are urgently wanted to handle local weather change,” he stated. “As engineers and technologists, we’re uniquely positioned to supply technical options and provide a impartial area for dialogue and motion.”
He highlighted a number of IEEE sources together with the Local weather Change web site, which homes all of the group’s sources. The IEEE Xplore Digital Library’s local weather change assortment accommodates publications, convention proceedings, technical requirements, and different analysis supplies. The newest analysis and upcoming conferences are within the IEEE Expertise Middle for Local weather.
Rahman identified IEEE Requirements Affiliation Trade Connections packages on inexperienced hydrogen, marine carbon dioxide elimination, and low-carbon constructing electrical know-how.
He reiterated six possible options for decarbonization in industrialized and rising economies that he first promoted at COP27 in 2022 to facilitate the worldwide shift towards renewable power. The options contain decreasing electrical energy utilization; making coal crops extra environment friendly; utilizing hydrogen, carbon seize, and storage applied sciences; selling the usage of renewables; putting in new varieties of nuclear reactors; and inspiring cross-border energy transfers.
Rahman attended a number of COP29 facet occasions:
The In direction of a Expertise Pledge for Tripling Renewables session lined methods to extend electrical energy capability by 2030. A talented workforce is required to attain the purpose, Rahman identified, so it can require an funding in schooling and coaching. He stated he believes international locations should look outdoors their borders to seek out skilled technologists to assist design, set up, and preserve renewable power tasks. IEEE may help allow data switch and workforce improvement, he famous.
The Bridging Finance and Expertise occasion targeted on funding local weather motion. Cash alone gained’t remedy the problem, nevertheless, Rahman stated, with no viable technical plan. He stated IEEE’s position is to assist facilitate investments in carbon-reduction applied sciences by selling energy-efficient techniques and renewable power tasks.
“Pragmatic and accessible technical options are urgently wanted to handle local weather change. As engineers and technologists, we’re uniquely positioned to supply technical options and provide a impartial area for dialogue and motion.” —2023 IEEE President Saifur Rahman
Within the Creating Inexperienced Expertise for Younger Professionals session, he spoke about the necessity to prepare younger engineers in growing international locations on renewable power and sustainable applied sciences. He pointed to the IEEE Younger Professionals Local weather and Sustainability Process Drive, launched in 2023 to encourage the subsequent era to steer initiatives and develop potential options. An article revealed by The Institute discusses a number of of the duty power’s latest actions.
The Intergenerational Dialog for Shaping Future Local weather Landscapes session lined managing long-term atmospheric carbon dioxide, constructing a worldwide local weather threat community, and aligning carbon pricing globally.
Rahman once more pointed to IEEE’s 30,000 younger professionals from 190 international locations. He inspired the viewers to make the most of them to assist unfold the phrase about how know-how may help tackle local weather change.
Worldwide Telecommunication Union Secretary-Common Doreen Bogdan-Martin and 2023 IEEE President Saifur Rahman have been panelists at a U.N. symposium discussing applied sciences that may assist mitigate local weather change. D. Woldu/ITU
“IEEE has a really sturdy local weather change program,” he stated. “We write papers, however we [also] wish to be certain folks on the bottom profit from our work. IEEE has sections in over 140 international locations. They embrace engineers, IT professionals, and even businesspeople. I’m pleading with you to make use of us for the good thing about the local people.”
IEEE-ITU strategic alternatives
In Rahman’s opening remarks, he pressured a bottom-up strategy to know-how that helps top-down coverage frameworks, making certain that IEEE’s greater than 486,000 members—he calls its human applied sciences—can contribute to options.
James E. Matthews III, president of the IEEE Requirements Affiliation, pressured that technical requirements are the inspiration for scalable local weather options. He stated the agility of organizations corresponding to IEEE SA in growing tips for brand new applied sciences together with synthetic intelligence and inexperienced tech options has resulted of their speedy adoption.
In discussing how the position of mental property, particularly patents, may help obtain the U.N. Sustainable Growth Targets, IEEE Fellow Claudio Canizares known as for a shift from remoted and proprietary work to extra collaborative options. {The electrical} and pc engineering professor on the College of Waterloo, in Ontario, Canada, defined how IEEE might play an important position.
One other matter of debate was the necessity to educate and prepare folks on implementing climate-resistant applied sciences. Sneha Satish Hegde, an IEEE member, highlighted how the IEEE Younger Professionals Local weather and Sustainability Process Drive offers mentorship and coaching. Hegde, a scientific researcher, is the duty power’s partnership lead. The duty power held a panel session throughout final yr’s Local weather Week NYC, which ran from 22 to 29 September to coincide with the U.N. Summit of the Future. Local weather-change consultants from organizations and authorities companies around the globe highlighted the intersection of know-how, coverage, and citizen engagement.
How IEEE can help
A abstract of the IEEE-ITU symposium outlines methods IEEE can proceed to take a lead position in local weather resilience by increasing partnerships, standardizing options, strengthening the repository of knowledge, selling round economies, advancing sustainable practices, and bridging the digital divide.
The abstract concludes that by discovering extra companions, creating and strengthening requirements, and fostering capacity-building, IEEE might catalyze systemic change, contributing to a extra resilient future.
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