(Bloomberg) — The European Union is developing a digital clone of the Earth to help monitor and combat the causes of climate change globally.
The European Commission is starting the Destination Earth initiative, supported by an initial investment of 150 million euros ($167 million) until mid-2024, to create a digital simulation of the globe. The idea is that scientists and companies will be able to use it to help monitor and predict the human activity that’s causing temperatures to rise.
“This initiative is a clear example that we cannot fight climate change without digital technologies,” Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s competition chief and chair of the group on a Europe Fit for the Digital Age, said in a statement. “The digital modeling of the Earth will help to predict major environmental degradation with unprecedented reliability.”
Digital and satellite technologies are helping to form the bedrock of monitoring the EU’s progress toward reaching climate neutrality by the middle of the century, as scientists focus on new ways to understand the changing atmosphere. For example, the tools are helping to keep tabs on how much forest is being destroyed or replanted in the region.
The DestinE system will eventually be composed of a cloud-based decision-making platform operated by the European Space Agency, as well as “Digital Twins” that will draw from real-time observations to help monitor and combat natural disasters like flooding and volcanic eruptions.
Farmers and insurers should be able to improve their models at the same time, while helping save lives and reducing property damage.
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