Last week — as AT&T deployed communication
resources
to support first responders battling wildfires in New Mexico and Arizona
— the company released projections of how climate change will drive future
wildfires, droughts, floods and other natural disasters across the contiguous 48
states at the Aspen Ideas: Climate
conference.
One in three US adults
say
they’ve been personally affected by an extreme weather event in the past two
years. In 2021 alone, the US experienced more than 60 extreme weather and
climate events.
That’s why AT&T has partnered with the US Department of Energy’s Argonne
National Laboratory for several years to develop projections of how climate
change will drive increased natural disasters over the next 30 years.
As Shannon Thomas Carroll — AVP of Global Environmental Sustainability at
AT&T — explained in a recent blog
post, the
telecoms giant started this project to help inform efforts to create a more
resilient network, which is critical for the millions of people who rely on
phone and internet connectivity. AT&T has made significant investments to
increase network resilience; but the unprecedented climate impacts of the last
few years (and, in theory, lessons learned from
PG&E)
have reinforced the need for further action to prepare for the ever
climate-changing environment.
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Thomas explained that AT&T began by modeling inland flooding caused by rainfall,
coastal flooding from hurricanes, and wind events across four southeastern
states. However — since flooding and winds are not the only weather events that
have become more frequent and severe due to climate change; and climate change
is not limited to specific communities, states or regions — the company expanded
its projections to include insights around future wildfires and droughts across
the contiguous 48 states.
In the same way that Redfin’s climate-risk
data
can provide valuable caveats for prospective home buyers, the publicly available
AT&T-Argonne data can also help guide the climate-adaptation efforts of the
people and the communities that AT&T serves. The new datasets are available for
download
here.
AT&T says it will release additional data on coastal and inland flooding and
high-intensity winds for the lower 48 states later this year.
In the meantime, AT&T says its network teams are using information generated
from its Climate Change Analysis Tool (CCAT)
to further improve resilience and better serve its customers. And the company is
also working with external organizations — including Argonne, The National Fish
& Wildlife
Foundation, EcoRise,
the New York Power
Authority and five
universities in the
Southeast
— on resilience projects and further increasing awareness and use of the climate
data.
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Sustainable Brands Staff
Published May 17, 2022 2pm EDT / 11am PDT / 7pm BST / 8pm CEST