La veille

Amerikaanse scheikundigen hebben een nieuw type van absorberend materiaal gemaakt dat veelbelovend klinkt om koolstofdioxide uit de lucht te filteren en zo de CO2-concentratie in de atmosfeer te doen dalen.

This Research Plan was prepared in response to a requirement in the joint explanatory statement accompanying Division B of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, directing the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), with support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), to provide a research plan for “solar and other rapid climate interventions.”

If Nature were to draw a map of the world, what would it look like? One Earth presents a novel biogeographical framework called Bioregions 2023, which delineates 185 discrete bioregions organized within the world's major biogeographical realms.

We submit that the safe operating space of the planetary boundary of novel entities is exceeded since annual production and releases are increasing at a pace that outstrips the global capacity for assessment and monitoring. The novel entities boundary in the planetary boundaries framework refers to entities that are novel in a geological sense and that could have large-scale impacts that threaten the integrity of Earth system processes. We review the scientific literature relevant to quantifying the boundary for novel entities and highlight plastic pollution as a particular aspect of high concern. An impact pathway from production of novel entities to impacts on Earth system processes is presented.

The UN Conference of the Parties (COP26) for the Framework Convention on Climate Change will be in Glasgow 1-12 November. There is a chance that Boris Johnson, UK Prime Minister and meeting host, might make this COP more effective than prior COPs, as discussed below.

The most important climate talk at the highest political level—since the Paris climate conference in 2015—is set to take place in Glasgow, Scotland this year, from October 31 to November 12. This is the 26th Conference of Parties (COP26) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This is not only the largest global climate summit, but also the largest global event as the sheer existence of the world will depend on the outcome of this year's conference.

Proposals for coordinated climate action at the global level all too easily run into free-rider and fairness problems, leaving many of the most popular policy proposals dead on arrival. But a simple framework that gives all countries similar incentives would overcome these problems.