Ministers, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen
We are living in a time of global crisis. A crisis that goes far beyond the pandemic. A crisis that will have longer and wider-ranging consequences than COVID-19. I am, of course, referring to the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste.
This year, we have seen the impacts of this crisis across the globe, most visibly from climate change – which the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently warned us is intensifying rapidly. West Asia faces the same problems, with the additional risk that the triple planetary crisis will very likely increase conflict and migration.
West Asia can expect a 20 per cent decrease in rainfall over the next 50 years – a huge problem for a region that is already water scarce. For example, Jordan provides 155 cubic metres of water per person per year, including to over 700,00 refugees. 1,000 cubic metres per capita per year is already water scarce. Air pollution and dust storms are a persistent and growing problem. Almost 90 per cent of the region’s waste goes to landfill. Urban expansion, intensive agriculture and the cultivation of marginal land are all contributing to biodiversity decline.
Human technology has played a large part in bringing this crisis upon us. Our fossil fuel-driven machines, our mechanization, our chemicals and pesticides. We need to turn more towards natural solutions. Find our way back to harmony with the planet. But technology still has its place. It has, after all, improved our lives in hundreds of different ways. And, if used correctly, technology can help to bring us back from the brink by supporting global and regional processes on the environment. Only, however, if we embrace digital technologies that work for people, that work for inclusion, that work for poverty reduction, and that work for the planet.
Friends,
National and private leaders from the West Asia region have committed to reducing emissions and investing in a new energy economy. For example, the Saudi Green Initiative aims at 50 per cent renewables in the Kingdom’s energy mix by 2030, more protected areas and ten billion new trees.
Such commitments can be advanced and met through digital technologies, as advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), analytics and cloud computing allows us to back and track change through data-driven decision making.
AI alone has over 80 different applications for the environment. These include transforming traditional sectors and systems to address climate change, protect biodiversity and bolster human well-being. Meanwhile, global cooperation in response to COVID-19 has demonstrated the potential of Open Science – the unprecedented sharing of ideas and data, accelerated by digital technologies.
The West Asia Region is increasingly embracing the digital transformation for a nature-positive economy.
The UAE has developed a strategy and indeed set up a Ministry for AI. Saudi Arabia has established the Data and AI Authority and organized the Global AI Summit in 2020. Jordan has made enormous strides in building digital infrastructure to accelerate its move toward a digital economy. Bahrain is building a national data lake, the region’s first country-level data repository, covering 73 government entities. Countries are to be congratulated. But we have only just begun to tap the full potential of digital technologies.
Earlier this month the UN Secretary-General outlined a bold vision for our common agenda – articulating how we can move forward to solving the triple planetary crisis using data, using digital technologies, using innovation, and using foresight.
So, please allow me to suggest four areas of focus that can help accelerate environmental sustainability through digital technologies and the “whole of society” transformations that are required.
One, digital technologies can help to paint true picture of the sustainability of our supply chains and risks to our economies.
As companies develop net-zero plans, accurate and real-time datasets can allow us to plan and hold each other accountable. Full transparency is a necessary pre-condition to sustainability. We can use digital technologies such as earth observation and AI to generate environmental intelligence about key risks to our economies and supply chains. Data and analytics about the state of the environment must be impossible to ignore or hide. Presently, less than 60 per cent of environmental indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals can be measured globally – we must plug this hole.
Two, we can use digital technologies to align capital with sustainability.
As digital transformation spreads to all corners of global financial markets, it will become easier, cheaper and more seamless to integrate environmental and climate considerations into costing models, risk assessments and due diligence. This will help the financial sector to step up in the transition to low-carbon portfolios and compare the environment, social and governance (ESG) performance of different companies and sectors. And it will help to fight against greenwashing by bringing transparency – benefiting people, companies and the planet in the long-run.
Three, we can use digital technologies to influence consumer choices on sustainability.
Yes, government guardrails and policies are important, but at the end of the day, two-thirds of emissions are linked to private households. And two billion consumers are now on e-commerce platforms. We can use digital platforms and algorithms to help make sustainability the preferred choice.
Four, we can use digital technologies to promote equity and equality.
Half of the world’s population, most of them women, remain without internet. At least a third of the world’s schoolchildren are unable to access remote learning during school closures. This is unacceptable. If we can close this gap, we can provide opportunities to many who lack them – and also help to educate people on how to live in harmony with the planet.
Friends,
Digitalization is fundamentally changing the world. But this conference shows that West Asia is ready for this change. The region can now inspire actions and investments that use digital public goods and technologies to advance climate, nature and pollution goals. They can build partnerships with public and private sector actors. And we must look beyond borders and regions to get the job done.
As the UN Secretary-General has made clear, the world needs more, and better, multilateralism. It needs solidarity. It needs to understand that no community, country or region can solve its problems alone.
Digital technology has brought us together, no matter where we are in the world. It can be a force to create even greater cooperation and solve the many challenges we face. But, like every tool we build, it is wielded by humans. By us. And so it is down to us to use this technology wisely and create a better future for everyone, everywhere.
Thank you.
