6 European cities seek carbon emission-cut with AI

Six European cities – Helsinki, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Paris, Stavanger, and Tallinn – join forces in a new project named AI4Cities.

The project challenges enterprises, researchers and others to develop solutions utilising artificial intelligence (AI) to generate cuts to carbon dioxide emissions, said the City of Helsinki in a press release.

Helsinki emphasises utilisation of data and AI in its digitalisation programme to achieve the city’s climate goals.

The participating cities’ respective programmes to cut carbon dioxide emissions emphasise emissions from transport and housing. Consequently, the AI4Cities Project focuses on emissions generated from transport and traffic as well as the energy consumption by buildings.

“The City of Helsinki’s digitalisation programme lays a major emphasis on the utilisation of data and AI. By utilising data and AI, we can optimise and reduce building energy consumption and steer transport and traffic flows,” said Mikko Rusama, chief digital officer of the City of Helsinki.

The cities participating in the AI4Cities Project have committed themselves to becoming carbon neutral: Copenhagen seeks to reach carbon neutrality by 2025, Helsinki by 2035, Stavanger by 2040, and both Paris and Tallinn by 2050. Amsterdam seeks a 95-per cent cut in carbon emissions by 2050.

The project allocates a total of 4.6 million euros for pre-commercial procurement by the participating cities.

The cities will first prepare their challenges and conduct a market dialogue before public procurement.

A market dialogue is a procedure conducted by the clients, suppliers and end users before the procurement process starts. An international request for tenders for solutions related to energy use and transport will be issued at the end of 2020.