Rachel Kyte, Dean of the Fletcher School at Tufts University writes on The Conversation website about how things have evolved since COP26. Ms. Kyte should know. Prior to joining Fletcher, Kyte served as special representative of the UN secretary-general and chief executive officer of Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL). She previously was the World Bank Group vice … Continue reading In this increasingly complex world, there is no time to push climate action out into the future
Category: climate change
New EEA report sets out four engaging, plausible and clearly contrasting images of a sustainable Europe in 2050
What could a sustainable Europe look like in 2050? A European Environment Agency (EEA) web report, published this week, presents four ‘imaginaries’, or scenarios, offering strongly contrasting approaches to achieving Europe’s socio-economic and environmental goals. The report is based on co-creative work by the EEA and its network (Eionet). What could a sustainable Europe … Continue reading New EEA report sets out four engaging, plausible and clearly contrasting images of a sustainable Europe in 2050
Read all about it – important new publications
New JRC report – Prosumerism and energy sustainability This report from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre develops a sociotechnical understanding of energy prosumerism to investigate how energy prosumerism can lead to actual reductions of energy and resource demand. The report starts out by explaining what a sociotechnical and broad understanding of prosumerism means. Thereafter, … Continue reading Read all about it – important new publications
What African cities need to do to provide children protection from the impacts of the climate crisis
Rongedzayi Fambasayi, Doctoral Researcher: Faculty of Law, North-West University, South Africa, provides a strong argument why cities need to play a stronger role in protecting children from the effects of climate change in an article on The Conversation website. African cities can do more to protect children from climate change Six in 10 people … Continue reading What African cities need to do to provide children protection from the impacts of the climate crisis
How human heat can best be used to warm buildings
Amin Al-Habaibeh, Professor of Intelligent Engineering Systems at Nottingham Trent University, in an article on The Conversation website, discusses how human body heat can be used to adjust temperatures. He said we can develop “smart buildings” able to adjust their heating based on the number of people in a room and the expected resulting increase … Continue reading How human heat can best be used to warm buildings
New EEA briefing on carbon storage and sequestration potential of Europe’s many land and marine habitats
What is the carbon storage and sequestration potential of Europe’s many land and marine habitats? A first scoping analysis, published recently by the European Environment Agency (EEA), found that forests and wetlands can play an important role in storing carbon but doing so should take account of potential impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services. … Continue reading New EEA briefing on carbon storage and sequestration potential of Europe’s many land and marine habitats
The New Zealand government releases plans to prepare the country for the catastrophic effects of the climate crisis: sea level rise, floods, massive storms and wildfires
Tess McClure writes on The Guardian website about the government’s proposals to prepare the country for more floods, massive storms and wildfires include building away from high-risk areas and protecting cultural sites. New Zealand unveils plan to tackle climate crisis by adapting cities to survive rising seas The New Zealand government has released new … Continue reading The New Zealand government releases plans to prepare the country for the catastrophic effects of the climate crisis: sea level rise, floods, massive storms and wildfires
“At Cop27, it is incumbent upon all states and non-state actors to demonstrate a united world that faces climate change challenges through urgent, ambitious, and transformative agenda”
The latest IPCC report and Ukraine crisis show the urgency of phasing out fossil fuels, investing in renewables and developing sustainable agriculture. Mahmoud Mohieldin, the Egyptian UN Climate Change high-level champion and the UN special envoy on financing the 2030 sustainable development agenda writes on the Climate Change News website about some of his views … Continue reading “At Cop27, it is incumbent upon all states and non-state actors to demonstrate a united world that faces climate change challenges through urgent, ambitious, and transformative agenda”
Japan beefing up its building codes
Zero Energy Homes (ZEH) and Zero Energy Buildings (ZEB) guidelines will be used to enforce the revised building codes according to a news item on the Rethink Tokyo website. They will come into effect after 2025. Energy conservation architecture to be mandatory for Japan real estate from 2025 On April 22nd, the Cabinet of … Continue reading Japan beefing up its building codes
If the world’s energy consumption grows at the pre-COVID rate, technological change alone will not be enough to halve global CO₂ emissions by 2030
Mark Diesendorf, Honorary Associate Professor at UNSW Sydney explains in an article on The Conversation website that we may need to take reducing energy consumption more seriously. Technology alone is not the answer. What are your views? Net zero by 2050 will hit a major timing problem technology can’t solve. We need to talk … Continue reading If the world’s energy consumption grows at the pre-COVID rate, technological change alone will not be enough to halve global CO₂ emissions by 2030
