How Big Tech impacts the climate emergency – Routes to accountability

Big Tech’s climate impacts take some unpicking. The companies proclaim their commitments to the environment but fall short when it comes to action. Their platforms for public discourse and access to information are jeopardised by failures to combat climate disinformation and hate speech. They sell ad space to polluting industries and invest in false climate solutions. How do we measure their full environmental record, and build accountability for dealing with the climate emergency? This event offers answers, from an accounting of the tech sector’s wider environmental footprint to methods for debunking disinformation online and reforming a broken business model. Our speakers, from the worlds of climate science and activism, will describe ways of responding to online harassment and denialism, and the challenges these pose to public participation. We will share results from recent investigations into the sector’s hidden costs to the climate, including inequities in the companies’ abilities to enforce their own policies across different countries and languages. The session will also explore ways to better engage tech platforms to advance climate action.