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Microsoft introduces 'Planetary Computer' as part of sustainability goals

Vendor follows up ‘carbon-negative’ goals with massive machine learning project

Microsoft has unveiled its ‘Planetary Computer' as the next stage in its sustainability initiative.

The project is an expansion on the vendor's current AI For Earth initiative, which sees environmental organisations around the world use artificial intelligence to create solutions to environmental challenges.

The ‘Planetary Computer' will use machine learning to aggregate environmental data from around the world, and allow users access to trillions of data points, with information searched by geographic location rather than keyword.

Microsoft president Brad Smith gave specific examples of how the platform will work in a blog post, stating that it will provide searchable satellite imagery, machine learning tools and user-contributed data about forest boundaries, as well as leveraging predictive models to estimate global carbon stocks and inform decisions about land use that impacts the ability to address climate change.

The tech giant is expanding its partnership with Esri, a geographical information systems software specialist, for the project. The two parties had already been working together as part of the AI for Earth scheme.

Microsoft also committed to "use its voice" on ecosystem policies and established its "land footprint goal", to protect more land than it uses by 2025, through acquisition, national park creation, conservation easement and community-led conservation.

"Maintaining nature for the benefit of current and future generations is one of humanity's greatest challenges. Deploying technology to support this global effort is one of ours," Smith wrote in a blog.

"It should be as easy for anyone in the world to search the state of the planet as it is to search the internet for driving directions or dining options.

"We must use the architecture of the information age - data, compute, algorithms, application programming interfaces and end-user applications - to accelerate a more environmentally sustainable future.

"We will combine this with new work to enable partners and customers to use the resulting output to enhance environmental decision-making in their organisational activities."