The facts are sobering. Average global temperature at ground level has already risen more than 1.2°C just between 1880 and 2020. (German Source: German Federal Environment Agency). If the average temperature rises by more than 1.5 to 2.0 degrees C, we have to expect heat, drought, storms and floods to make large portions of the world uninhabitable – and there are enough harbingers of that change even now. We humans are causing the climate crisis, by releasing too much carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. If we keep doing business as usual, we have only another six or seven years until we reach the 1.5-degree limit (as estimated by the Mercator Research Institute). Not a good outlook for the younger generation and beyond.
“No question, we need to act,” says Peter Körte, Head of the Siemens Technology research unit. “But acting to protect the climate doesn’t mean we have to go back to the living standards of the pre-industrial age. Or that we have to destroy all our economic systems. We still have a chance to become climate-neutral, yet maintain a high standard of living, if we consistently focus our business and technical developments now on protecting the climate – if we’re able to combine lots of technologies in site-specific ways, so that the climate, construction, industrial and social needs, and performance are coordinated in the best possible ways”.
Crucial roles in the transformation to protect the climate will be played not just by technologies like power generation and energy storage, but especially also by solutions that let us deal more efficiently and more prudently with our resources. Like processes that orchestrate distributed power generators and consumers in an energy grid for the best possible performance. Or methods for drawing accurate conclusions from gigabytes of sensor data. But for solutions like those, we need expert know-how in technologies like the IoT, the digital twin and artificial intelligence – meaning the typical tools of a digitalization company like Siemens.
Siemens takes the climate crisis seriously – and incidentally, has also committed to becoming climate-neutral itself by 2030. One component that has been added to its activities is now the Tech for Sustainability innovation campaign, aimed to appeal to Siemens innovators and experimenters – both inside and outside the company. “We are eager to work with genius minds from across the globe on our joint mission – Sustainability. Tech for Sustainability tackles real world sustainability challenges and engages our customers and suppliers, but also students, researchers and startups to propose real solutions to shape the future along with Siemens”, explains Julian Boha from Siemens Technology. “It is our aim to provide clear actions that bring us closer to a truly sustainable world through technology with purpose. We as Siemens are looking forward to learn more about your ideas and how we can best support you in bringing your ideas to life. Participate, win prizes, connect with experts and change the world towards the better by choosing one of our seven challenges on the Innovation Ecosystem. We won’t be able to save the world with this new ecosystem by itself, but it’s one out of many components that can help shape the climate transformation to sustainability”.
Aenne Barnard July 2021
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