Driving Climate Solutions with Technology and Finance

Technology and innovation are key drivers in the fight against climate change. However, developing and implementing new solutions requires significant financial resources and collaboration across sectors. In this blog post, the CLP's Climate Tech and Finance Cluster explores the intersection of technology, finance, and climate action. We delve into the challenges and opportunities in this space, highlighting innovative solutions and initiatives that are paving the way for a more sustainable future.

This blog post features four sections that explore the diverse ways in which technology and finance are being leveraged to address climate change. We examine the challenges and opportunities in areas such as generative AI, carbon markets, and wildlife conservation. First, we delve into the role of generative AI in driving climate solutions, from precision agriculture to sustainable materials synthesis. Next, we explore the African carbon credit market, highlighting its potential to drive sustainable development and climate action, as well as the challenges it faces, such as fragmentation and high costs for small businesses. Third, we share the story of the wolverine and how conservationists are using technology, such as GPS tracking collars and camera traps, to protect this threatened species. And finally we explore the journey of an HKS student leading tech-driven solutions at Harvard. Through these diverse perspectives, we aim to shed light on the critical role that technology, finance, and social connection play in shaping a more sustainable future.

The Carbon Market in Africa - Opportunities and Challenges
By Stephane Ndayishimiye

Carbon markets are trading systems where entities buy and sell carbon credits. Companies or people can buy these credits to make up for the harmful gasses they release into the air. They buy credits from others who have worked to lessen the same gasses. [1] The African carbon credit market, while burgeoning with potential, is currently underutilized, tapping into just 2% of its full potential. [2] This nascent market is experiencing a demand that far exceeds supply, highlighting a significant opportunity for African project developers. Despite this, the market faces fragmentation, with a limited number of developers and a focus on a narrow range of project types. The challenges are further compounded for small businesses, which grapple with high costs, scalability issues, and a lengthy, cumbersome process for carbon credit registration and verification.

African carbon credits offer a unique opportunity due to their potential to deliver not only carbon offsetting but also substantial social and environmental co-benefits. This is increasingly recognized in the voluntary carbon markets (VCM), where Africa's growth has slightly outpaced global trends. However, the path to market participation is fraught with obstacles, including regulatory complexity, methodological inapplicability for African contexts, and significant upfront costs. For example the carbon credit registration and commercialization process can cost from USD 100k to 200k. [3] Potentially eligible assets are also often fragmented, for instance, 80% of agricultural projects on the continent consist of farms under 5 acres. [4]

To overcome these barriers, innovative solutions such as pre-financing, aggregation, and the use of technology platforms are emerging, providing a lifeline for smaller developers. These initiatives aim to reduce costs, streamline processes, and enhance market access. For instance, small to medium companies on the continent have increasing access to pre-financing products to complete carbon market registration, such products are provided by global carbon market financiers like South Pole. Similarly, new technology platforms like London-based 4R Digital are set to make it easier to match project developers with potential buyers, thereby lowering the logistical and financial hurdles associated with carbon credit registration. [5] This review of existing initiatives suggests innovation is mostly available through Africa operations of foreign-based entrepreneurs rather than the emergence of homegrown solutions.

In conclusion, while the African carbon credit market presents an unprecedented opportunity for sustainable development and climate action, significant challenges remain. Addressing these challenges requires a concerted effort from all stakeholders, including developers, financiers, and policy makers, to create a more inclusive, accessible, and efficient market. Through innovative solutions and partnerships, Africa can unlock the full potential of its carbon credit market, contributing to global climate goals and local development objectives.
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[1] UNDP, What are carbon markets and why are they important?, Accessed September 2022
[2] EEP Africa, Nordic Development Fund, Carbon Credits Market Access for Smaller-Scale Clean Energy Projects, 2023
[3] EEP Africa, Nordic Development Fund, Carbon Credits Market Access for Smaller-Scale Clean Energy Projects, 2023
[4] Africa Carbon Markets Initiative, Harnessing Carbon Markets for Africa, 2022
[5] EEP Africa, Nordic Development Fund, Carbon Credits Market Access for Smaller-Scale Clean Energy Projects, 2023

Wolverine travels over alpine terrain. Photograph by Hans Veth.

Harvard Innovation Labs. Photograph by Harvard Office for Sustainability.

U.S. Capitol Building. Photograph by Joshua Sukoff.

Finding Your Harvard People through Collaboration and Impact
By Rafael Monge

Coming to Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) to pursue a Mid-Career Master in Public Administration (MC/MPA), I was eager to deepen my understanding of climate change and sustainability solutions. Driven by my experience with managing environmental data for public decision making at the Ministry of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica, I was looking to explore the intersection of technology and climate action at Harvard. While I knew Harvard would be a hub for learning, I was blown away by the sheer number of initiatives, events, and resources dedicated to climate change and technology. It's impossible to capture everything here, but I hope sharing my experience helps you shape your own path.

The Climate Leaders Program, which I joined as part of the 2023-2024 cohort, provided an invaluable network of people who shared my passion, connecting me with fellow students, alumni, and experts at the forefront of climate innovation. The program fostered a strong sense of inspiration and community, highlighted by events like a talk with Carlos Alvarado and Claudia Dobles, the former President and First Lady of Costa Rica, and a memorable visit to Harvard Forest. The Climate Leaders Program emphasized the power of collective action from interdisciplinary perspectives, which I carry forward as I continue my work in the climate space.

Navigating the vast academic landscape at HKS, especially within a one-year program, was a challenge in itself. Choosing from the abundance of courses was no easy task. I chose to pursue the Data and Research Methods track, a STEM-designated pathway for my program, and I focused on the use of data and technology in public policy. My goal was to understand how technological tools, like artificial intelligence, can be leveraged to address complex societal challenges and contribute to building a more equitable and sustainable world.

Beyond the classroom, I engaged myself in a wide array of climate-focused activities. From co-organizing the 10 sessions of the Salata Scholar Seminar Series and the "Lessons from Latin America: Biodiversity and Nature-Based Solutions" panel to co-chairing the 2024 Harvard Climate Leadership Conference, I embraced opportunities to contribute to critical discussions, learn from diverse perspectives, and connect with people driving impactful change for our planet's health. I also attended countless talks, workshops, and conferences at Harvard and MIT, many focused on the intersection of climate, technology and beyond. There is something going on almost every day!

One standout opportunity to explore the world of climate tech was the MIT Energy and Climate Hack-AI-thon. This event brought together students, researchers, and industry professionals to develop AI-powered solutions for climate challenges. Our team pitched a project focused on analyzing how to use LIDAR data from the forests of Arizona to improve forest fire prevention and management while exploring opportunities in gamification and academic training. The Hack-AI-thon provided a hands-on learning experience and encouraged us to dream big. Our team did not win but we got the opportunity to connect with the sponsors from Ironwood Forestry and continue exploring ways to develop our ideas.

In all these efforts, I consistently found fellow Climate Leaders Program members actively engaged – organizing, participating, and leading. It was impressive to see my fellow colleagues thriving in their fields. Learning from them has been a major highlight of the year. Many of the best invitations I received to contribute at Harvard were shared from a fellow climate leader Ujjwal Kumar who invited me to the Hack-AI-Thon, and Elaine Swanson who encouraged me to express myself with this blogpost.

There are many “tribes” here at Harvard and I found mine within CLP. This has been a community that not only significantly impacted my year studying my master’s, but that I’m sure will continue representing one of the most influential networks in my future career as a climate advocate. Together, we can be a powerful force for positive change in the face of the climate crisis. If you are a graduate student at Harvard interested in climate, technology, or anything in between, don’t hesitate to join the Climate Leaders Program. It would be our honor to welcome you.

*April 18, 2024. Group photo at the last 2023-2024 cohort Climate Leaders Program meeting at Harvard University Center for the Environment.*

Generative AI as the Catalyst for Climate Solutions
By Naman Sharma

The recent exponential growth in Generative AI technologies has unlocked a new horizon of possibilities for responsible climate action. Due to its lightning speed in processing vast amounts of structured and unstructured data to identify patterns efficiently, Generative AI offers a promising spectrum of tools that we can use to build and deploy climate solutions. Its ability to demystify the complex scientific knowledge of climate change allows stakeholders across different sectors and geographies to collaborate to develop solutions at both local and global scales. It has ushered in a new era of applications, helping governments, researchers, businesses, and the public create more informed and sophisticated solutions and progress toward their climate goals.

Here are four ways Generative AI is being used to drive innovation to combat climate change:

Precision agriculture

Pendulum Systems is unlocking vital information from complex and lengthy data sources to develop predictive insights for precision agriculture.[i] It has developed a human-in-the-loop approach that instruction-tunes their Large Language Model (LLM) to create structured data from unstructured customers’ machinery files.[ii] The intermediate-output data is used to predict the demands for pesticide, water, and other vital requirements for crops.

2. Predicting climate disasters

Sipremo is using Generative AI to predict the nature and timing of climate disasters for industries such as insurance, energy, and logistics.[iii] Its technology uses data from public, private, national, and international sources to generate weather forecasts and estimate the impact of extreme events.[iv] These insights are helping decision-makers to prepare for emergencies while lowering their negative impact proactively.

3. Democratizing climate communication

ClimateBert is a pre-trained “climate-domain-adapted” LLM designed to address the limitations of analyzing and synthesizing climate-specific text using general-purpose LLMs.[v] The model is trained on climate-related texts from a variety of sources, including research paper abstracts and corporate and general news and reports from companies.[vi] It applications range from understanding complex corporate climate risk disclosures to detecting a company’s greenwashing activities.

4. Synthesizing sustainable materials

One critical application of Google’s DeepMind has been synthesizing new materials for clean and renewable energy and advanced computing. Its graphical networks for material exploration (GNoME) technology led to the development of 700+ new materials by 2023, which are being tested in different labs.[vii] [viii] It uses a Graph Neural Network (GNN) to determine patterns in stable structures of materials, which it uses for minimizing energy in atomic bonds in new materials.[ix]

Generative AI possesses the potential to radically transform our current approaches to fight climate change. However, much of this potential would be realized by building more specialized applications that move beyond the “Assistant AI” stage – where the first three applications lie – to “Engineer AI” – where DeepMind’s GNoME is – to “Scientist AI” – where we will be able to use Generative AI for simulating the societal impact of our interventions.

However, one should also consider that these Generative AI breakthroughs will be subject to leapfrog innovations in energy, materials, and hardware sectors. Which will be needed because Generative AI, at present, is an energy guzzler. With ChatGPT alone consuming energy equivalent to powering 33,000 US households daily.[x] So, it will be critical to use technologies like Generative AI to find solutions to lower their own environmental impact to achieve a truly sustainable future.

Coal plant in Zimbabwe, by Busani Bafana on August 31, 2022. Inter Press Service

Against the Odds: The Plight to Safeguard the Elusive Wolverine
By Joel Rodriguez

As the warmth of summer envelops the contiguous United States, a mere 300 wolverines will embark on a remarkable journey, ascending high elevations, in pursuit of sustaining their population. These elusive, opportunistic feeders are critical to well-balanced habitats. However, the relentless encroachment of agricultural land and premature melting of snowpack have dealt a blow to the wolverines’ population. Wolverines are dancing close to extinction.

I found the wolverine story while building a student venture, Assignment Inc., at the Harvard Innovation Labs (i-Labs). Along with Harvard alumni from HLS, HDS, and HMS, we sought to answer the question:

“How might people—non-experts and experts—work together and foster meaningful outcomes in environmental assignments?”

In December 2023, our i-Labs cohort advisor suggested we investigate the challenges and barriers to environmental action. With ongoing interviews, we surveyed over 100 individuals and organizations. That is when we came across the grassroots organization Rocky Mountain Wild (RMW).

Sponsored by Patagonia, RMW is a Colorado non-profit with over 20 years of conservation experience. [1] They work alongside biologists, geographers, artists, attorneys, ecologists, fundraisers, policy experts, and filmmakers. A multi-disciplinary team that works with limited funding—often pooling volunteer work for conservation efforts. [2,3]

While interviewing Paige Singer, a Conservation Ecologist at RMW, my view on conservation action changed. Initially, I began under the hypothesis that access to more volunteers and technology were confounding variables in countering habitat loss. For example, we drew ideation on how various artificial intelligence methods and gamification might accelerate environmental outcomes. Yet, according to Paige, their organization does not lack access to volunteers or focus-driven technology. Instead, RMW is climbing uphill against access to fundraising, institutional partnerships, and public policy. While technology and volunteers indeed share a relationship with environmental action, this relationship cannot be leveraged without funding—and policies to sustain it.

Consequently, it took over 25 years for grassroots organizations, like RMW, to influence endangered species protection for wolverines. In November 2023, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service classified wolverines as federally protected under the Endangered Species Act. [4] In other words, wolverines now have federal protection against hunting, exporting, and development over habitat.

However, conservation work to protect these elusive creatures is still ongoing. In April, legislators successfully introduced a bipartisan bill (SB24-171) to reintroduce wolverines to Colorado. [5] This bill leverages Colorado’s high-quality alpine habitats, elevating the wolverine population carrying capacity—and will spur genetic diversity. [6,7] According to Megan Mueller, conservation biologist at RMW, they have been working diligently to build support for the bill.

And on May 3rd, lawmakers passed the historic bill. After years of policy work and advocacy, wolverines will have a second chance to begin their trek in Colorado's native alpine habitats. It took 25 years to see movement in wolverine conservation. Social connection is the silken string that runs through humans, habitats, and environmental action. How we leverage it matters. As we seek emerging technology to avoid time sinks in discovery, we must consider the social connections we are fostering—and the partnerships we are forging. [8]
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[1] About | Rocky Mountain Wild. (2016, May 3). Rocky Mountain Wild | Protecting Wild Lands for Wildlife in the Rockies since 1999. https://rockymountainwild.org/about
[2] Meet Rocky Mountain Wild’s dedicated staff. (2016). Rocky Mountain Wild | Protecting Wild Lands for Wildlife in the Rockies since 1999. https://rockymountainwild.org/staff
[3] Meet the members of RMW’s Board of Directors. (2016). Rocky Mountain Wild | Protecting Wild Lands for Wildlife in the Rockies since 1999. https://rockymountainwild.org/board
[4] North American wolverine receives federal protection as a threatened species under the
Endangered Species Act | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. (2023). FWS.gov. https://www.fws.gov/press-release/2023-11/north-american-wolverine-receives-federal-protection-threatened-species-under
[5] Restoration of Wolverines | Colorado General Assembly. (2024). Colorado.gov; Colorado General Assembly. https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb24-171
[6] Carroll, K. A., Hansen, A. J., Inman, R. M., Lawrence, R. L., & Hoegh, A. B. (2020). Testing
landscape resistance layers and modeling connectivity for wolverines in the western United States. Global Ecology and Conservation, 23, e01125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2020.e01125
[7] Mckelvey, K. S., Aubry, K. B., Anderson, N. J., Clevenger, A. P., Copeland, J. P., Heinemeyer, K. S., Inman, R. M., Squires, J. R., Waller, J. S., Pilgrim, K. L., & Schwartz, M. K. (2014). Recovery of wolverines in the Western United States: Recent extirpation and recolonization or range retraction and expansion? The Journal of Wildlife Management, 78(2), 325–334. https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.649
[8] Support Rocky Mountain Wild, Inc. on Colorado Gives 365. (2024). Colorado Gives 365. https://www.coloradogives.org/organization/RMW-co

*The 10 sessions of the Salata Scholar Seminar Series were held during Spring Semester 2024. (Photo my own)*

*March 29, 2024. Organizing team of the Climate Leadership Conference at Harvard Kennedy School. (Photo my own)*

*November 10-12, 2023. MIT Energy and Climate Hack. (Photo my own)*

Harvard Climate LeadersJuly 2, 2024