The COP27, which took place on Saturday, November 6, 2022, and Microsoft, Planet Labs PBC, and The Nature Conservancy have all collaborated on a global renewables watch (GRW). The most recent resource will be a "first-of-its-kind living atlas" designed to map and measure solar and wind installations with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) and satellite imagery.
The Renewable Energy Review Committee (GRW) will be a publicly available renewable energy atlas, which will allow users to review the process of clean energy transitions and monitor trends over time. In addition, it will demonstrate the renewable energy capacity of countries, aid in understanding that capacity, and identify patterns in the future.
Juan Lavista Ferres, the managing director of Microsoft and the Chief Data Scientist, commented on the role the Global Renewables Watch will play, declaring:
To make responsible environmental decisions, the world must have access to data, and the Global Renewables Watch will serve as a crucial tool for understanding humanity''s progress toward satisfying the Paris Climate Agreement and reaching the Sustainable Development Goal 7 in order to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy.
Microsoft''s AI and platform capabilities, Planet''s underlying satellite imagery, and The Nature Conservancy''s overlaying of the subject-matter expertise will assist in the joint project.
The CEO of The Nature Conservancy, Jennifer Morris, talked about the GRW as a tool to assist researchers and policymakers, stating that:
This year''s theme is getting things done; to do this, we must go from promises to progress. Global Renewables Watch, a result of Microsoft''s collaboration with The Nature Conservancy and Planet, is exactly the kind of action we need to see. This will be a publicly accessible resource to assist researchers and policymakers understand current capacities and gaps, so that decision-makers can scale much-needed renewable energy resources in a responsible and nature-friendly manner.
Alongside the initial mapping of solar and wind energy installations in Germany and India, and solar installations in Brazil and Egypt completed, the alliance will continue mapping other countries while increasing awareness of the resource.
Last year, Microsoft was one of the first countries to coordinate the COP26 in Glasgow. The tech giant has stated that the first comprehensive global inventory would be completed by 2023. For more information about the GRW''s data and findings, please visit the dedicated webpage here.