By Chris Arsenault, Corporate Knights Kingston has become a burgeoning hub of start-ups processing and recycling critical minerals for the North American market in a challenge to China’s EV supply chain dominance. Inside a sprawling warehouse in Kingston, Ontario, a forklift beeps past huge cardboard boxes full of discarded electric …
Will the climate transition be a battle of materials?
By Ulrich von Lampe As things stand today, global demand for cobalt and lithium for e-car batteries will increase almost 20-fold by 2050. By then, the development of a fossil-free power supply will require a lot of copper, aluminum and iron, and the respective demand is likely to roughly double. …
As reservoirs go dry, Mexico City and Bogotá are staring down ‘Day Zero’
By Jake Bittle, Grist In Mexico City, more and more residents are watching their taps go dry for hours a day. Even when water does flow, it often comes out dark brown and smells noxious. A former political leader is asking the public to “prioritize essential actions for survival” as the city’s …
Ingenious Trick Cuts Cargo Ship Carbon Emissions by 17 Percent
By Frank Landymore, Futurism Just ‘one simple trick’ that actually works! The behemoth cargo ships that serve as the lifeblood of our global economy have an enormous environmental toll; the maritime shipping industry released more than a billion tons of CO2 in 2018. But researchers at a project called the “Blue …
How Europe reduced its greenhouse gas emissions last year
By Kate Abnett, Reuters BRUSSELS, May 16 (Reuters) – The European Union’s greenhouse gas emissions fell by 5% last year, official data published this week showed, continuing a trend of declining emissions in Europe. WHY IT’S IMPORTANT Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, where climate change is already worsening droughts, wildfires …
To aid the green energy transition, we need to modernize our grid infrastructure
By Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT), The Hill While it’s true that some things get better with age, the United States’ aging transmission infrastructure is not one of them. Updated transmission infrastructure is crucial to reducing emissions and ensuring dependable electricity service. Congress has passed green energy laws to help make …
Which technologies will enable a cleaner steel industry?
By Daniel Boero Vargas and Mandy Chan, Freethink Decarbonizing the steel industry is a crucial challenge to overcome if the world is going to meet its climate goals. Steel production contributes around 11% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, making it one of the heaviest polluting industries and a heavy-emitting …
Their batteries hurt the environment, but EVs still beat gas cars. Here’s why
By Camila Domonoske, NPR Electric vehicles are sometimes called “zero-emission vehicles.” But the batteries that go into them are not zero-emission at all. In fact, making those batteries takes a lot of (mostly-not-clean) energy and hurts the environment in other ways, a fact that’s become common knowledge after widespread media coverage. Does that environmental damage cancel …
Natural disasters are scaring property insurers away. States are trying to help
Fast Company Months after a catastrophic fire burned more than 2,200 homes in Hawaii, some property owners are getting more bad news—their property insurance won’t be renewed because their insurance company has deemed the risk too high. It’s a problem that has played out in states across the U.S. as climate change and increasing development has …
Will alternative seafood sink or swim?
By Alex Robinson, Corporate Knights Canadian faux fish and seafood startups are hoping to serve ocean-friendly food for a growing planet. When Chris Bryson sees a problem, he has a lot of trouble looking away. In the early days of the pandemic, when pet adoptions were on the rise, he …