The urgency of the climate crisis is undeniable. Europe is now the fastest warming continent globally. The impact of this is increasing temperatures, extreme weather events, and rising sea levels, which pose a significant threat to human health, ecosystems, and economies.
AI is a powerful tool, which could be used to combat these challenges. Its exceptional ability to process vast amounts of data and identify patterns, as well as optimise the use of resources, makes it a game-changer for sustainability solutions.
Across the Nordics, businesses and organisations are increasingly using AI in three areas of work — information, optimisation, and prediction — to reduce their environmental impact and become more responsible stewards of the planet.
Maps: AI improves efficiency through organising large volumes of information
AI excels at processing and making sense of huge amounts of information. This capability is invaluable for climate adaptation strategies.
The simplest example I can give is fuel-efficient routing with Google Maps. It uses algorithms to analyse all available driving routes, as well as live information like traffic jams, to suggest the most fuel-efficient journey, reducing emissions and fuel costs.
It is estimated to have helped enable more than 2.9 million metric tons of GHG emissions reductions since the feature launched in late 2021 to the end of 2023 — that’s equivalent to taking approximately 650,000 fuel-based cars off the road for a year.
Einride: AI optimises freight for CO2 reduction
There are plenty of companies using AI’s ability to process vast amounts of data to optimise resource consumption. Einride is a Swedish unicorn, transforming the freight industry by providing digital, electric, and autonomous freight technology.
“We want to turn the latest technologies in the digital space into a completely new type of transport service,” says Oscar Söderlund, chief architect at Einride. “If we take a step back and think about what fundamental technologies we have available today – how would we set up a transport network; how would we set up important responsibilities and how things work – you’d come up with a very different network.”
“We get data from our customers — the shippers — on what their transport demands are and what their transport networks look like now, and historically. We keep data about the assets that we have available: the electric trucks, the chargers, the trailers — everything.”
By doing this, Einride can feed all of this data into its AI powered systems, and optimise an end-to-end freight solution for each of its customers, which is better for the company, the customer, and the climate. By doing this, they can perfect the route, the type of vehicle, and the load, all based on data to ensure each company has the proper setup for its freight needs.
Ingrid Capacity: AI predictive modelling to create a more sustainable grid
AI can go beyond simply adapting to a changing climate; it can help mitigate the root causes. That's why Swedish energy tech company Ingrid Capacity uses AI's power of predictive modelling.
Sweden’s power demand is projected to surge by approximately 150% by 2045. “This increase is driven by digitisation, the emergence of new industries, the electrification of traditional sectors (such as steel, mining, and cement production), and the volatility due to intermittent renewable energy sources,” explains Pontus Thorsson, data team lead at Ingrid Capacity.
Ingrid Capacity has used Vertex AI to create proof-of-concept models to forecast energy consumption and maximise the efficiency of energy storage batteries. By generating thousands of potential scenarios, Ingrid Capacity ensures that it can account for, and have energy storage for, every conceivable future situation.
On average, Ingrid Capacity has achieved 30% improvement in forecasting using AI and is now rolling out machine learning capabilities across all their locations.
The road ahead
AI is not a silver bullet, but it is a powerful tool in combating climate change. By harnessing the potential of AI, businesses, organisations, and individuals can all play a role in building a more sustainable future.
If you’re interested in seeing how AI can support a path to a more resilient and sustainable business, these are the first steps on your journey:
- Identify your biggest challenges. For example, is it energy use in manufacturing, regulatory compliance, or fuel consumption in transport?
- Look at what is already out there — like Google Maps for fleet routing and Earth Engine for geospatial data analysis — and see if you can utilise existing technologies rather than create your own.
- Leverage data and AI to accelerate action, improved decision making and business resilience.
Remember that every step towards being more sustainable as a business, is a step towards the future we want to see.
