Internet, software, applications, and datasets are some of the many contributions that technological progress and innovation has made to sustainable development. As a support mechanism to local governments and stakeholders and to foster innovation as a way to drive sustainability, ICLEI Europe and Google.org developed an Action Fund, which granted €2M to non-profit institutions using data to drive environmental action.
The ICLEI Action Fund finances data-driven projects in six European cities: Nantes, Copenhagen, Berlin, Hamburg, Oldham, and Birmingham. All of the projects financed use data from private and public sources to reduce pollution, energy consumption and greenhouse gases emissions. In Nantes and Copenhagen, both projects have one common goal: to improve air quality and increase citizens’ health and welfare.
According to a 2017 survey, les français et l’environnement’, 30% of all French citizens perceive air quality in the country as being poor, with 72% identifying road traffic as the source of pollutants. Comparatively, only 61% and 25% respectively identified industrial sites and agriculture as being sources of pollution. Moreover, research conducted by the French national health agency in 2016 found that air pollution resulted in 48,000 premature deaths per year. In order to tackle this problem, Nantes-based non-profit Air Pays de La Loire set up the Aireal project.
Recent Comments