Calling for a Digital Service for the Planet.

In collaboration with more than 40 climate-, water- and conservation-focused data tech businesses, investors and non-profits, we shared a concept piece with White House offices, calling for the creation of a federal Digital Service for the Planet.

Read the full memo or executive summary.

The undersigned businesses and organizations call on the administration to adopt three changes:

Create a Digital Service for the Planet.
The composition of the team required to deliver on technology issues critical to the environment is specialized. The Digital Service for the Planet could be established and funded as a distinct part of the U.S. Digital Service, or as a stand-alone office within the Executive Office of the President.

Expand funding for digital infrastructure improvements and technology acquisition.
Task the Office of Management and Budget (or the newly created Digital Service for the Planet) with evaluating conservation technology investments across US Department of Agriculture, Department of Interior, Environmental Protection Agency, the Army Corps of Engineers, and National Marine Fisheries Service to develop coordinated recommendations for budget, software as a service, technology partnerships and staffing for technology in the FY23 budget.

Ensure that Chief Information, Technology, and Data Officers in federal environmental agencies are responsive to mission outcomes and empowered to lead change.
Chief Information, Technology, and Data Officers share responsibilities for innovations on data and technology. However, they are often focused on administrative areas (such as finance and human resources) of agency work when innovations are urgently needed to inform mission strategies and monitor outcomes. To make the progress we need, these leaders need to be empowered to adopt and integrate technology to support those outcomes, and to foster collaboration on common digital infrastructure needs.