The key to unlocking the benefits of new agricultural technologies is to develop food systems where the waste products from one step become valuable inputs in another.
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The world is facing one of the century’s biggest challenges: How to nutritiously feed the growing population, address climate change and not destroy the ecosystems on which we all depend for life.
Surplus corn piled outside a farmer’s co-op storage facility in Paoli, Colorado.
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The US has required motor fuels to contain 10% biofuels since 2005. As this program nears a key milestone in 2022, farm advocates want to expand it while critics want to pare it back or repeal it.
A coal mine in Alberta. Canada has adopted a carbon neutral target for 2050. It represents a major change Canada’s approach to reducing GHG emissions.
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The goal of carbon neutrality changes everything. Canada can no longer limit itself to solutions that partially reduce emissions here and there. The chosen solution must be zero emissions.
For more than 20 years, Canada has repeatedly missed its targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It is the only G7 country whose emissions have increased since 2010.
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Universities are vital hubs of research and teaching on climate change and, as big organisations, produce significant emissions themselves. They should therefore lead action to limit climate change.
Energy efficiency and electrification should lead the effort to decarbonise society, not hydrogen.
Methane bubbles form in a pit digester on a dairy farm as bacteria break down cow manure. The methane can be collected and used as an energy source.
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Alex Lenferna, University of Washington; Ilona M. Otto, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, and Jonathan Donges, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
Social tipping interventions have the potential to pave the way for rapid change and avert climate change.
The Drax biomass plant in Yorkshire is the first in the world to pioneer carbon capture and some specialists see it as it has a bright future. But hold the rosy headlines.
Enviva’s wood pellet plant in Ahoskie, NC.
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Deriving fuel from trees costs more than wind and solar power and it emits more carbon than coal. There are many heated debates about this kind of energy, known as forest or woody biomass.
Cities all over the world are facing growing challenges to provide clean, reliable water. And many of the fixes, such as desalination plants, have a huge carbon footprint.
New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, seen here with Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull during this month’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting, has moved climate change onto the new government’s priority list.
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As part of its 100-day priority plan, New Zealand’s new government has pledged to set a target of carbon neutrality by 2050, which means phasing out fossil fuels and products that burn them.
Australia will need more sources of zero-emissions energy if it is to stay on track for carbon-neutrality by 2050.
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A new analysis by ClimateWorks Australia says that the electricity sector needs to do far more to cut its carbon emissions than will be delivered by current policies.
The University of California intends to be carbon-neutral by 2025 by implementing existing technologies and focusing on public education. Is this a model for decarbonizing at large scale?
Adjunct Assistant Professor and a founder of the Laboratory for Environmental Narrative Strategies in the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles