Anya Waite (second from left) highlights the critical role of the ocean in regulating our climate, and the need to invest in observing oceans that store more than 90 per cent of all carbon, at COP27’s Earth Information Day event.
(The Global Ocean Observing System)
COP27’s agreement on observing the oceans sets a strong foundation for policymakers to invest in internationally linked observation that will help countries better monitor these carbon sinks.
We could sink more carbon in the ocean to fight climate change, but should we?
Eric Lafforgue/Art in All of Us/Corbis via Getty Images
While carbon dioxide removal from the air is not a replacement for emissions reductions, it can supplement these efforts. Experts are continually researching the best ways to do this.
Plan to cut emissions quickly, use offsets sparingly and set broader goals for improving society.
One ‘mechanical tree’ is about 1,000 times faster at removing carbon dioxide from air than a natural tree. The first is to start operating in Arizona in 2022.
Illustration via Arizona State University
Frank Jotzo, Australian National University and Mark Howden, Australian National University
The world is moving away fossil fuels, and there’s nothing Australia can do about it. Racing to dig up and sell whatever fossil fuels we can before the timer stops is not a future-proof strategy.
Prominent academics, including a former IPCC chair, round on governments worldwide for using the concept of net zero emissions to ‘greenwash’ their lack of commitment to solving global warming.
Manufacturing minerals is an expanding field of study. Making more of them could help alleviate various pressures faced by our growing population. But how are they made, and where can they be used?
If only it were that easy.
Olivier Le Moal/Shutterstock
Wil Burns, American University School of International Service and Greg H. Rau, University of California, Santa Cruz
Adding industrial chemicals and natural alkaline minerals could slow climate change, but like other geoengineering proposals, it comes with many complex technical and legal challenges.
Pep Canadell, CSIRO; Corinne Le Quéré, University of East Anglia; Glen Peters, Center for International Climate and Environment Research - Oslo; Robbie Andrew, Center for International Climate and Environment Research - Oslo, and Rob Jackson, Stanford University
For the second year in a row global greenhouse emissions from fossil fuels have risen, putting 2018 on course to set a new record, according to an annual audit from the Global Carbon Project.