Integrating data, generative AI and human expertise to tackle global warming

The Southern States Energy Board uses SAS Viya to analyze and manage vast amounts of geological, regulatory and community sentiment data with speed and precision

Imagine a future where tackling climate change is a tangible reality, not just a concept in a sci-fi film or some distant political promise. Picture a world where every carbon molecule is effectively captured, transported and stored, securing a sustainable planet for future generations. This future is more attainable than you might think, thanks to organizations like the Southern States Energy Board (SSEB).

Originally founded in 1960 to oversee nuclear activities in the southeastern United States, SSEB is a nonprofit interstate compact organization that now addresses all aspects of energy and environmental policy. The work SSEB does is vital as the world strives to address urgent climate challenges. The planet is 1.36° Celsius warmer than preindustrial temperatures – perilously close to the 1.5° Celsius threshold identified in the Paris Agreement as the tipping point for catastrophic environmental damage. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 is essential to averting further global devastation. The path to net-zero won’t be easy, but it is achievable.

For SSEB, carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture and storage (CCS) became a priority in the early 2000s when it launched the Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (SECARB) which would eventually become the Southeast Regional CO₂ Utilization and Storage Acceleration Partnership (SECARB-USA) in 2019. In collaboration with the US Department of Energy and key industry and academic partners across the region, SSEB currently maintains 12 carbon management projects, with more on the horizon.

“Our mission is to improve economic development and the quality of life in the South through innovations in energy and environmental programs, policies and technologies,” says Dr. Ben Wernette, Principal Scientist and Strategic Partnerships Lead at SSEB. “We’re also committed to understanding the benefits and challenges of broadscale carbon management projects.”

Seeing the bigger picture with natural language processing and generative AI

SSEB’s carbon management work is more than CO₂ capture; it’s about integrating data, technology and human expertise to tackle global warming. That’s why SSEB chose SAS Viya to analyze and manage vast amounts of geological, regulatory and community sentiment data with speed and precision. The solution was deployed with SAS Managed Services in the cloud to supplement SSEB’s SAS expertise and ease the hosting burden on a relatively small staff.

Carbon capture projects require deep geological analysis to determine whether a site is suitable for long-term storage. “The data is fascinating,” says Wernette. “Some of the early determinations of whether CO₂ could be safely stored deep within the Earth were based on existing data such as porosity, permeability, reservoir temperature and other factors collected from decades of legacy oil and gas exploration. With SAS Viya, we can aggregate and analyze these data sets, quickly organizing them to identify potential storage sites far more efficiently than traditional screening methods.”

Digging through geological data is only part of the challenge. Public sentiment, regulatory requirements and legislative support are vital to the projects’ success. SSEB found that some communities and organizations were concerned about CO₂ capture projects. To relieve their concerns and ensure that its education and outreach messaging is on target, SSEB turned to SAS to analyze thousands of public comments, such as the 40,000 received in response to the potential transfer of Environmental Protection Agency regulatory oversight of CO₂ injection wells to the state of Louisiana.

To enhance the efficiency of processing public comments, a multimodal strategy was implemented that combines traditional AI with generative AI. A robust approach was developed using SAS Visual Text Analytics alongside a large language model (LLM) to streamline the process by automatically matching unique statements to specific regulatory aspects. Initially, traditional AI serves as a prefilter, organizing the extensive feedback into manageable categories. This foundational step allows generative AI to take over, providing concise summary statements for each category. Human reviewers then fine-tune these summaries, ensuring accuracy and clarity. This integrated approach not only accelerates the analysis of large volumes of comments but also enhances the overall quality of insights, empowering teams to navigate complex regulations more effectively.

Then using data visualization, a standard component of SAS Viya, the team created an easy-to-use dashboard where stakeholders could examine a word cloud of more than 10,000 unique terms the software identified from concrete recommendations from organizations. For the dashboard, generative AI created and included summary statements, which users of the system could verify from the data provided by the text analytics, for each aspect of the regulation.

The interactive capabilities allow users to drill into terms such as “carbon dioxide,” “carbon waste,” “safety” and “unproven carbon capture” to verify the LLM. They also could explore other themes the LLM suggests, including “groundwater contamination,” “sufficient oversight by Louisiana” and “concern over well abandonment.”

“We can evaluate data at a regional, state or municipality level, and we can toggle to and from those levels very quickly,” Wernette explains. “With SAS Viya, our stakeholders have a user-friendly, interactive dashboard with fully traceable insights. They can quickly and easily verify results, which creates a transparent, reliable process they can trust.”

Ultimately, SSEB is in a better position to get accurate, timely information to people who need it.

“Handling thousands of public comments on proposed regulations used to take months, but with advancements in text analytics and generative AI, we can now process and summarize them with incredible speed while ensuring accuracy,” Wernette says.

Building trust with constituents through transparency and responsiveness

Carbon capture and storage isn’t just about reducing emissions – it’s about building a future where industry and the environment can coexist sustainably. But without public support, even the most technically sound projects can fail. This is where SSEB’s partnership with SAS is especially powerful. By using AI to understand and respond to community concerns, SSEB is ensuring its projects have the long-term support they need to succeed.

SSEB’s analysis revealed that many respondents did not understand the benefits of CCS and were skeptical of its safety. “SAS Viya, in conjunction with generative AI, is helping us have more informed, transformative conversations with regulators about topics of concern to their constituents,” Wernette says. “We can confidently provide data that shows what the public’s concerns are and proactively communicate key messaging.”

By using SAS to present the data in digestible formats such as infographics, word clouds and interactive dashboards, SSEB can equip its stakeholders with the necessary data to inform their activities.

As governments move toward integrating AI and generative AI into regulatory processes, maintaining rigor while increasing productivity is essential. Rather than wading through thousands of individual comments, regulators can see – at a glance – their constituents’ concerns and address them directly. This level of transparency and responsiveness is essential for gaining public trust.

The path to net-zero: What’s next?

Achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 is a daunting task, but organizations like SSEB are proving that it’s possible. SSEB is now exploring even more ambitious projects, such as direct air capture (DAC) technologies. DAC systems, which remove CO₂ directly from the atmosphere, represent a potential breakthrough in carbon management. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, natural sinks, such as forests and oceans, absorb only about half of our annual CO₂ emissions – not enough to offset global warming. DAC technologies, along with other carbon management strategies, could bridge the gap.

SSEB also is exploring opportunities to create a CO₂ -centered economy in the southeastern US. “Another interesting discussion is about how to use captured CO₂ to create new materials such as plastics, to cure cement, or create sustainable aviation fuel,” Wernette says. “I’m excited about the opportunities ahead as we work toward a secure and sustainable energy future.”