Pick your challenge.

Artificial intelligence and digital technologies are rapidly changing how we live, work and make decisions. The challenge is to ensure that these technologies also help us build a more sustainable future.

AI can help us understand complex environmental problems, identify patterns that humans may not easily see, predict risks and make better use of limited resources. Combined with data, digital platforms and automation, it can create new ways to reduce emissions, protect natural resources and make sustainable choices easier.

The challenge is to explore how AI and other digital solutions can create measurable positive impact for people and the planet. This could mean using AI to improve energy efficiency, reduce food or material waste, understand climate risks, optimize transportation or strengthen circular economy solutions. It could involve tools that help businesses measure and reduce their environmental footprint, or applications that give individuals better information about the impact of their everyday choices.

Solutions could also use AI to analyze environmental data, detect changes in ecosystems, improve resource management or make sustainability information more accessible and actionable. Teams are encouraged to think beyond AI alone and explore combinations of technologies, including open data, cloud solutions, digital platforms, machine learning and green software.

At the same time, technology itself has an environmental footprint. Strong solutions should therefore consider not only what technology can achieve, but how it can be designed and used responsibly and efficiently.

The goal is not to use AI simply because it is available. The goal is to identify a real sustainability challenge and demonstrate how AI or another digital technology can help solve it in a way that is practical, scalable and impactful.

Our physical and digital worlds are becoming increasingly connected. Sensors, mobile networks, IoT devices, 5G and intelligent infrastructure can give us real-time information about what is happening around us — creating powerful opportunities to use resources more efficiently and reduce environmental impact.

Many sustainability challenges are ultimately challenges of visibility. We cannot reduce what we cannot see, measure or understand. Energy may be wasted because consumption is not monitored closely enough. Water can be lost before leaks are detected. Food can spoil somewhere between production and consumption. Machines can consume unnecessary energy, while transportation systems can operate inefficiently because they lack real-time information. Connectivity can help change this.

The challenge is to explore how connected technologies can make the physical world smarter and more sustainable. Solutions could focus on agriculture, cities, buildings, transportation, manufacturing, logistics, energy, water or other areas where better information can lead to better decisions.

IoT sensors could monitor environmental conditions, resource use or infrastructure in real time. Connected systems could help farmers use water and fertilizers more efficiently, enable factories to reduce energy consumption or help logistics operators optimize routes and reduce emissions. Smart infrastructure could help cities respond dynamically to traffic, energy demand, waste or changing environmental conditions.

Connectivity can also help bring sustainability solutions to places where infrastructure, resources or information are limited. Teams are encouraged to think about accessibility, affordability and scalability, particularly when designing solutions for communities or regions where advanced technology is not always readily available.

The strongest ideas will connect data from the physical world with meaningful action. The question is not simply what we can connect, but what becomes possible once people, machines and infrastructure can communicate intelligently.

The United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals provide a shared blueprint for creating a more sustainable, inclusive and prosperous world. But achieving them cannot be the responsibility of governments, companies or international organizations alone. Lasting change also depends on people.

Communities understand many of their own challenges better than anyone else. They experience the realities of issues such as waste, water scarcity, transportation, inequality, food security, education and climate change every day. Yet citizens often lack the tools, information, networks or opportunities needed to turn that knowledge into action.

The challenge is to explore how technology and innovation can empower people to become active participants in sustainable development.

Solutions could help citizens understand sustainability challenges in their own communities, contribute local knowledge and data, collaborate on solutions or take practical action. They might connect volunteers with local initiatives, enable communities to report environmental problems, encourage more sustainable behaviors or help people participate in decisions that affect their neighborhoods.

Teams could also explore ways to connect people who face similar challenges, allowing ideas and solutions developed in one community to be shared and adapted elsewhere. Digital platforms, mobile applications, citizen science, crowdsourcing, gamification and community networks could all play a role.

But technology should support communities rather than replace them. Successful solutions should consider trust, inclusion and accessibility and ensure that people with different backgrounds, abilities and levels of digital access can participate.

The goal is to move people from being passive recipients of sustainability initiatives to becoming active creators of change — transforming the Global Goals from global ambitions into meaningful action in communities around the world.