New Google.org grant funds Centre research on AI-powered climate risk tool

Extreme weather events accelerate around the globe. On average, a disaster related to a weather, climate, or water hazard has occurred daily over the last half-century, with an average death toll of 115 people, causing US$ 202 million in losses every day, according to a study from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Decision-makers across all sectors and scales need advanced tools to prioritize effective climate adaptation and resilience investments, especially to protect the most vulnerable.

Urban climate risks

A new tool, ClimateIQ, will help cities to better visualise and anticipate climate risks and plan accordingly using adequate mitigation strategies.

The development of ClimateIQ is led by former Centre researcher Timon McPhearson at The New School’s Urban Systems Lab, also a senior research fellow at the Beijer Institute, and a team of scientists and designers.

Within the collaboration, Centre researchers Victor Galaz and Stefan Daume (both also affiliated with the Beijer Institute) will contribute to the project’s strategic research focus and responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) together with stakeholders.

“Climate change, the erosion of resilience, and social vulnerabilities pose serious challenges to the well-being of urban communities all over the world. We are excited to explore to what extent responsible uses of AI can augment risk analyses, and help communities innovate and build resilience to a more turbulent climate future," says Victor Galaz.

Global partnership

The ClimateIQ tool will be tested and validated together with the City of New York, one of the project's partners. The team will also work closely with additional city partners including Phoenix, Berlin, Barcelona, Melbourne and several other cities to ensure the AI engine learns from, and works for, cities and towns in diverse climate conditions, geographies, and urban development contexts.

ClimateIQ’s team brings together a diverse group from the public and private sectors, including partnerships with ClimaSens, an innovative climate tech start-up based in Melbourne, experts from the Beijer Institute, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, and the Virginia Climate Center at George Mason University.

This stage of the development of ClimateIQ is funded through Google.org’s Impact Challenge on Climate Innovation, a commitment from the tech company’s philanthropy to fund six big projects that accelerate technological advances in climate information and action.