BCS North London branch in association with London Central branch.
Watch the video
Synopsis
How you can use tech to help global sustainability. Remember ‘Disruptive technologies, the future - and you?’ by Dalim Basu?
Have you heard about the Global Sustainability Goals for our world in the 2020s identified by the UN? Do you know the World Economic Forum (WEF) ‘Unlocking Technology for the Global Goals’ report of January 2020?
Do you know that tech is important for 10 of these 17 global goals? One year on, where are we now with the global goals? How can you help?
Ben will look at how we can use emerging technologies to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing people and the planet. Bringing to life real world examples and case studies of how Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain, the Internet of Things (IoT) and Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) can help in areas ranging from healthcare to our oceans, to forests, and broader climate change.
COVID-19 has made many Sustainable Development Goals much harder. But the pandemic has accelerated digitisation and the uptake of technology in many countries and regions, and these incredibly powerful digital tools need to be harnessed, more than ever, to realise and accelerate a sustainable recovery, and post COVID-19 world.
There are also risks and unintended consequences associated with technology, and the need for everyone to engage with our tech-enabled future, so that the world we shape in the 2020s is diverse and inclusive and less digitally divided than now.
About the speaker
Ben Combes, Assistant Director, PwC
Ben Combes is an Assistant Director at PwC and a Senior Economist in the Sustainability & Climate Change team. He is co-founder of PwC UK’s Innovation & Sustainability practice, working on tech for good projects, including AI for Earth with Microsoft and 4IR for the Global Goals with the World Economic Forum. He is also an expert adviser to PwC UK’s Net Zero leadership team and works with clients on climate tech and their net zero transformation strategies.
Outside PwC, Ben is an Advisory Board Member to the UK Parliament's All-Party Parliamentary Climate Change Group, a member of techUK’s Climate Strategy and Resilience Council, and a Visiting Senior Fellow of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics.
Ben holds an MA (Hons) in Economics from the University of Edinburgh and an MSc in Environmental and Resource Economics from University College London.
Our events are for adults aged 16 years and over.
This event is brought to you by: BCS North London branch and BCS London Central branch
