Innovating new ways to mitigate climate change and help agricultural producers respond to its effects will be a key challenge for the information technology sector, according to Emeritus Professor John Weckert from Charles Sturt University (CSU).

Professor Weckert said it was clear that climate change would continue to be an urgent issue for Australian agricultural producers.

"Finding ways to reduce our carbon emissions and develop agricultural techniques to help producers adapt to the effect of climate change will be essential around the world," he said.

"And that need will be even more urgent in Australia's already dry climate than it will be elsewhere."

Professor Weckert was recently conferred the title of Emeritus Professor by CSU  in recognition of more than two decades' work linking the ethical and applied aspects of information communication technology.

Professor Weckert joined CSU's predecessor organisation in Wagga Wagga, the Riverina Murray Institute of Higher Education, as a lecturer in information technology in 1986, and was appointed Professor of Computer Ethics in 2004.

He retired in August 2013 having achieved international recognition for his work in ethics and new technologies, particularly with respect to information and communication technology (ICT) and nanotechnology.

Professor Weckert's dual qualifications in philosophy and ICT allowed him to work throughout his career as part of both the philosophical and ICT professional communities.

Following his retirement, he will continue to be actively involved in the University as part of research projects funded through the European Union and the Australian Research Council (ARC).

"The European Union grant project has another two years to run, and is aimed at developing guidelines for responsible scientific research," he said.

"It's examining how we can maximize the benefit of scientific research and minimise harms.

"The second project is an ARC Linkage Grant examining the ethical issues facing IT professionals in their everyday work.

"These questions of ethics and security are some of the most pressing issues facing the industry today. They are questions of how we give people the benefits of the technology, without exposing them to the sorts of privacy and surveillance breaches that have been front page news around the world."