This post is written by Bryonie Guthrie, Content and Partnerships Lead, Strategic Intelligence, World Economic Forum.

  • The problem: The climate crisis is upon us and is playing out in an increasingly urgent and interconnected way.
  • Why it matters: Understanding the systemically interconnected nature of global issues allows public servants to get a sense of key developments that may impact their work.
  • The solution: The World Economic Forum’s Strategic Intelligence tool unpacks the complex nature of climate change by combining human intelligence with machine intelligence to draw on a vast bank of knowledge, insights and thought leadership.

Look under any proverbial rock and you will find a climate change article. Often terrifying, and always urgent, the ever-presence of climate disaster reporting means this topic is top of mind for most people, including policymakers and public servants.

It may feel as though we are running on pure adrenaline trying to keep up with the climate crisis – new reports, multiple disasters, unexpected implications, addressing the deniers, aligning the politicians, listening to the scientists, responding to the emergencies – it’s overwhelming. There is, however, a silver lining: everyone is prioritising this problem. The most brilliant minds in the world are directed at solving climate change, mitigating its effects and laying the basis for a climate-friendly future.

As with all global challenges, the climate crisis operates in a complex system and impacts both upstream- and downstream-related issues.

If we were to take a look at the latest International Energy Agency (IEA) report, we see that they have just delivered their largest-ever upward revision of the renewable power forecast. There is, additionally, the news that “the largest geothermal energy producer in the Philippines, has spearheaded a new alliance with corporate giants to achieve carbon neutrality”, and that the 1.5°C global warming limit is still within our grasp if we choose to make changes now.

Green shoots for green energy

Ironically, the IEA forecast comes off the back of another major crisis – the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has “sparked unprecedented momentum for renewables”. In the Philippines, the alliance works because corporations have scanned the horizon carefully and seen the need to reduce their impact on the environment as a priority for their consumer base. Alliance members also know that this is likely to be enforced by regulation.

All of these examples illustrate the deeply interconnected nature of the climate crisis. As with all global challenges, it operates in a complex system and impacts both upstream- and downstream-related issues.

Understanding the systemically interconnected nature of global issues allows public servants to get a sense of key developments that may impact their work. For example, public servants working on climate change might be keen to learn more about the potential of green hydrogen. Or, that scaling the Internet of Things can support data capture, useful for policy research around resource availability and climate change.

Making connections

The World Economic Forum’s Strategic Intelligence Platform is capable of visually capturing these interdependencies by surfacing and visualising knowledge.

As a platform combining human intelligence, sourced through our Expert Network, with machine intelligence that draws from our content partners for knowledge, insights and thought leadership, the platform can play a real and impactful role in unpacking the complex nature of climate change. It has proved itself capable of exactly this in a recent pilot project with a developing-country government where Strategic Intelligence was foundational to research into innovative ideas to address key sustainable development goals.

The tool is available to all public servants and is one of the methods that could be considered for accessing exactly those brilliant minds that are turned towards the problem of climate change. My hope is that understanding the topic through the perspectives of experts, and what others are working on, will help open new areas of enquiry and research for public servants who may be feeling overwhelmed and uninspired in attempting to address this issue. Certainly, it will remind each of us we are not alone – there is a great deal of knowledge (and even partnerships) out there that we can tap into when facing up to the challenge of climate change.

👋 You can create a post like this one! Share your thoughts with a community of public servants. Learn more

(Image Credit: Unsplash)

Make sure to share your own thoughts with the author by leaving a comment below