PLANET Labs PBC, a leading provider of daily data and insights about Earth, and Microsoft Corp. announced an expanded partnership to apply artificial intelligence (AI) technology and satellite data to support African climate adaptation projects. This technology collaboration is in support of Microsoft’s recently-announced first global expansion of its AI for Good Labs into Nairobi, Kenya and Cairo, Egypt and the establishment of a corresponding AI Innovation Council with local partners and nonprofits. Through this programme, Africa-based data scientists will have access to Planet satellite imagery from across the African continent to inform projects, as nominated by the AI Innovation Council, that have a specific focus on early warning systems and climate adaptation – the process of adjusting to current or expected effects of climate change.
This initiative marks Planet’s third collaboration with Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab this year. Previous projects include the Global Renewables Watch (GRW) and the kickstart to the partnership – a robust building damage assessment at the outset of the Russo-Ukrainian War.
‘Two things that our Planet and Microsoft teams share in common is a very strong bias to action and to do the most good at the best scale,’ said Andrew Zolli, Chief Impact Officer of Planet. ‘Once we were able to see how impactful combining AI and satellite data could be, not just technically, but how impactful it can be when in the right hands, we immediately began to think about the complex problems we could go after – humanitarian aid, climate change, food and energy insecurity, etc.’
Global Renewables Watch
The two companies, in conjunction with The Nature Conservancy, today announced on Energy Day at the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), that interested users can now sign up for private previews of the Global Renewables Watch (GRW), a first-of-its-kind living atlas intended to map and measure all utility-scale solar and wind installations on Earth using artificial intelligence (AI) and satellite imagery, allowing users to evaluate clean energy transition progress and track trends over time.
The GRW team also unveiled the complete mapping of solar and wind installations of Kenya, Brazil and Egypt, joining the renewable energy sites mapped in Germany and India that were announced during GRW’s launch in September 2022. Private preview signup is available at: https://www.globalrenewableswatch.org/