Climate Tech is Next Big Thing in Fighting Climate Change
The Great Resignation has professionals all over the world leaving their jobs to pursue something better — better pay, better benefits or a better opportunity to follow their dreams. Tech professionals are leaving jobs at big companies to use their skills to advance technology at smaller startup companies — many focused on the improving the natural environment.
Big tech companies provide great benefits and pay but aren’t necessarily operating in ways that help solve the climate crisis. While some big tech companies are starting initiatives to protect the planet, climate tech is actively helping to reverse, prevent or monitor climate change. These smaller companies offer professionals the opportunity to directly contribute to the fight against climate change.
What is Climate Tech?
Climate technology is a growing industry that is creating new inventions to help stop or slow down the impact of climate change and to control the irreversible damage that’s already been done. There is a huge opportunity for qualified tech professionals to use their skills to contribute to the fight against climate change.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are anchored together to achieve this mission. We know that controlling climate change is going to require more than just scientists. Technology professionals will play an important role in the climate crisis through other disciplines, such as data analytics, computer science and software engineering. With the influx of qualified professionals using their skills for the good of the planet, we may be well on our way to achieving the SDGs.
Creating Sustainable Technology
Technology professionals can also be instrumental in easing climate change by providing cleaner alternative solutions. Previous technological advances contributed to the problem by emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. As a society, we’ve learned a lot over the past many years about effective methods for helping to eliminate carbon emissions. For example, electric cars, solar panels and windmills are already making their mark on renewable energy.
There is still more to do, which is why technology professionals play a critical role in helping us achieve a more sustainable world. Professionals can help decrease the impact of climate change by creating innovative new technologies, or by advancing existing ones. But to succeed, we need professionals who understand and can analyze large amounts of complex data.
Measuring Climate Change
Using data and models to measure climate change allows us to focus our efforts on the most critical areas as well as analyzing where we are making progress. While the SDGs provide a goal in achieving sustainability, we need models to help us understand the complexities of our climate and effectives of solutions.
To do this, we need technology professionals to create the tools to measure the data as well as analyze it. For example, we can use data that tracks temperature fluctuations of the oceans to help us understand the effects of warming oceans, but also need to develop more sophisticated sensor systems to gather the data.
Climate change has already made impacts on our world that we can’t reverse. But new innovations in technology, problem solving and data can be used to predict that impact and minimize future damage. Overstory, for example, monitors vegetation around the world to find wildfire and power outage risks. By stopping wildfires before they start, we can save trees and protect communities while also preventing the resulting pollution.
Technology professionals using their skills to aid in battle against climate change are going to make an impact. As more and more workers rethink their current employment, it’s encouraging to see so many people focusing their careers on making the world a better place for everyone.
