ACADEMIA Letters Climate Change Adaptation: ICTs and Big Tech to the Rescue? Bernard Arogyaswamy Climate change has been described as an existential crisis, one that, in the absence of decisive action, is likely to have catastrophic consequences in the decades to come. For instance, if the rise in average global temperature exceeds 1.5 o C, , global mean sea levels are projected to rise by an average of 0.5 meters, the number of invasive species and shifts in the habitats of many insects, plants and land and marine living creatures is likely to be further exacerbated, and threats to health, food and water supplies will multiply (Cockburn, 2018; McKibben, 2019). The actions proposed at the national level to minimize the carbon emissions responsible for warming typically emphasize mitigation strategies, such as a rapid increase in the use of renewable energy, electrifcation of transportation, making buildings more energy efcient, modifying supply chains and manufacturing processes, and so on (Mallapaty, 2020; H. Res. 109, 2019; Europa, 2019). Numerous frms have also adopted carbon neutrality goals sig- naling their desire to contribute to a more sustainable future. Laudable as these national and corporate intentions are, the time frame envisioned for their achievement stretches over the next few decades. Making the (rather optimistic) assumption that emissions decline along a straight line from around 40 gigatons of CO2 per year now to zero in 2050, a total of 600 gi- gatons of CO2 would have been added by that time further exacerbating the ongoing climate crisis (Wallace-Wells, 2019; Ortiz and Kelly, 2019). Realistically, since mitigation eforts will take decades to moderate climate change, na- tions, regions and communities need to learn to adapt so as to be better positioned to face extreme climate events of increased frequency, intensity, and interconnectedness. This paper address approaches to adaptation and, in particular, the role Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) might play in adaptation strategies. Academia Letters, April 2021 Corresponding Author: Bernard Arogyaswamy, arogyas@lemoyne.edu Citation: Arogyaswamy, B. (2021). Climate Change Adaptation: ICTs and Big Tech to the Rescue? Academia Letters, Article 212. 1 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0