DECEMBER 2021CIOAPPLICATIONSEUROPE.COM8IN MYOPINIONCan digitalisation and AI accelerate the energy transition?DAN JEAVONS, GENERAL MANAGER FOR DATA SCIENCE, SHELLWe now know that the energy system will need to change substantially in the coming decades. But what role will digital technology and AI play? And how do we get there faster?I believe that the next 10 years will be shaped by two mega trends ­the energy transition and digitalisation.The world faces an urgent challenge. How does it tackle climate change and move to a net-zero emissions energy system while also meeting the growing demand for energy? Fifty-one billion tonnes of greenhouse gas are added to the atmosphere each year. Climate science is clear that in order to stabilise climate change, CO2 emissions need to fall to zero by 2050.Digital technologies can make it possible to design and operate entirely new energy systems at the device, plant and regional scales ­ transforming the way we manage the carbon footprint of industrial processes; digital technologies can provide the tools and mechanisms for optimising the energy efficiency of operations and enabling the sharing economy; they can enable more accurate greenhouse gas emissions tracking and transparent reporting across supply chains and can also enable more effective monitoring of carbon offsets. I believe the next wave of digital technology will be even more disruptive than what we have seen so far:· Sensor based technology is generating vast data sets which can now be processed in real-time using the Dan Jeavons
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