Energy Monitor reporter Dave Keating (left) speaks with Christina Shim, vice-president and head of strategy at IBM Sustainability Software, at the COP27 summit in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

Could software be the key to fighting climate change? Christina Shim, vice-president and head of strategy at IBM Sustainability Software, told Energy Monitor at the COP27 climate summit in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, that she is pushing for policymakers to set a better framework to recognise the potential of software for climate action or lowering emissions.

“We are coming at this from a technology perspective saying technology is critical to accelerate progress that we need to be making, because we can’t do this manually,” she said. “The technology that we have should be used; it is critical in the fight against climate change.”

For her, success means a policy framework that gets software solutions for climate action mobilised. “For example, a lot of our technology has been used to increase productivity for different companies [by] 20–30%, decrease IT infrastructure costs by 75% or more, and extend the lifetime of critical assets by over 50%,” she says. “All of these different areas are tangible ways you can operationalise what is happening with your facilities [and lower emissions].”

Climate action beyond software at COP27:

Reporter Nour Ghantous and senior writer Dave Keating reported from COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, on behalf of Energy Monitor and our parent company, GlobalData. They provided the data-led analysis you have come to expect from Energy Monitor but also something new: video interviews with business leaders, policymakers and campaigners. We encourage you to browse our coverage of the conference. You can also sign up for our free biweekly newsletter here.

COP27 coverage includes:

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