KATE BRANDT
AI IN SUSTAINABILITY
What’ s been discovered is that Australia’ s Great Southern Reef is in crisis. Kelp forests that once thrived now occupy just 5 % of their former range in parts like Tasmania, victims of climate-induced sea temperature rises.
For businesses watching climate adaptation strategies, this is a microcosm of broader challenges: How do you identify resilience in complex systems under stress?
“ Kelp is unlike any other organism on earth,” writes Kate Brandt, Chief Sustainability Officer( CSO) of Google.
“ Some of these seaweed species can grow two feet per day, up to 200 feet total.
“ That rapid growth means less carbon in the atmosphere and fewer pollutants in the ocean.”
Google’ s response, developed through its US $ 1bn Digital Future Initiative, leverages Google Earth Engine and Vertex AI to map over 7,000km ² of kelp canopy.
KATE BRANDT
TITLE: CHIEF SUSTAINABILITY OFFICER
COMPANY: GOOGLE
INDUSTRY: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Kate Brandt leads global sustainability at Google, driving ambitious climate goals, integrating AI for emissions reduction – and steering operations towards net zero by 2030 across products and supply chains.
The AI is identifying heat-resistant kelp strains – varieties that persist despite rising ocean temperatures – by analysing patterns across vast datasets that would take human researchers decades to process manually.
Google is using AI to identify outliers in a stressed system, then using those outliers to inform restoration strategy. It’ s anomaly detection applied to ecology – the same principle that drives fraud detection in finance, predictive maintenance in manufacturing or quality control in supply chains.
The initiative involves collaboration with CSIRO, IMAS, The Nature Conservancy, the Kelp Forest Alliance and the Great Southern Reef Foundation.
“ With the help of Google AI and the spirit of collaboration between all partners, we’ re taking real steps towards restoring these vital kelp forests that previously seemed impossible,” says Professor Craig Johnson, Marine Ecologist and Director at the University of Tasmania’ s Marine and Antarctic Futures Centre.
The efficiency equation Strip away the environmental mission and what these partnerships demonstrate is AI optimising operations in conditions where precision matters and waste is unaffordable.
The Ocean Cleanup’ s predictive modelling proves AI can dramatically reduce operational expenses in unpredictable environments.
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