When one of the world’s biggest companies uses big data and location intelligence to predict how climate change will affect its business for the next 30 years, the signal is clear: climate risk is real, and businesses must adapt. WGIC Member Esri showcases how geospatial technology is in the middle of it. “It’s not just AT&T—I’m seeing this more and more in all kinds of industries where companies are saying, ‘If this is the reality, then let’s prepare for it, let’s deal with it.’ ” says Antoine Diffloth, Director of Data Insights in the Chief Data Office at AT&T.”
Esri’s Chief Marketing Officer Marianna Kantor and Director Global Business Development Jeffrey Peters published a 2000-plus word article on AT&T, one of Esri’s clients. AT&T is the world’s largest telecom company by market cap. Kantor and Peters show how the company focuses on doing their part to mitigate climate damage even as they take steps to adapt their business to its impacts.
A pioneering public-private collaboration between the telecom giant and the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory points to the power of data and location intelligence to shed light on both climate risk and business adaptation. Drawing on the data-gathering and supercomputing power of the leading national lab and the visual and analytic capabilities of geographic information system (GIS) technology, AT&T developed a climate analysis tool capable of identifying the areas of its network most at risk in the US Southeast.