New AI Solutions for Energy, Urban Development Launched

At the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP29), IBM  and Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) announced new, publicly available artificial intelligence (AI)-powered solutions to inform more sustainable urban development for cities and communities around the world.

CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All, and Co-Chair of UN-Energy, Damilola Ogunbiyi, said: “At Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), we believe that integrating AI in the energy sector planning and evidence – especially for developing countries will go a long way in designing comprehensive solutions for many of the developmental challenges currently facing the Global South and its people. The Open Building Insights (OBI) Tool, that SEforALL has developed in collaboration with IBM, will help energy planners overcome critical data gap challenges to inform energy access and energy transition interventions, and better deliver results for those most in need.” 

In 2022, IBM began collaborating with SEforALL through the IBM Sustainability Accelerator program. First, IBM worked with the SEforALL team through the IBM Garage, IBM’s  collaborative engagement model. During the IBM Garage phase of the project, the organizations conceptualized and designed two AI solutions and an online platform to create a current and future view of buildings in regions of Africa and India.