<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5cdf1c42021b4c2023277d57-1822/geoengineering-cover.jpg" border="0" alt="geoengineering cover" data-mce-source="Shutterstock" /><p class="source"><span>Shutterstock</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/geoengineering-how-to-reverse-climate-change-2019-4">Geoengineering</a> is the process of artificially altering Earth's natural cycles. Such technologies are increasingly being discussed as potential ways to address climate change.</li><li>Putting mirrors in space, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-stop-gobal-warming-plan-carbon-capture-2018-10">capturing carbon dioxide</a> from the air, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/controlling-weather-in-future-2018-5">seeding clouds</a> with particles are all ways of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-sets-aside-millions-to-control-the-rain-2016-7">manipulating weather</a> or the atmosphere.</li><li>But some scientists and politicians worry that a single nation could initiate a geoengineering project and damage the planet for the rest of us, which could even <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/andrew-yang-thinks-geoengineering-could-lead-to-war-2019-4">lead to war</a>.</li><li>Other experts think leveraging this technology this could be the only way to limit Earth's warming.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>Earth's temperatures are on track to blow past the objectives set in the Paris climate agreement. Last year was the fourth warmest on record for surface temperatures and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oceans-warming-faster-than-we-thought-2019-1">the hottest ever for oceans</a>.</p><p><a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/">A recent report</a> from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) found that nations around the globe must implement "rapid and far-reaching" changes in energy sources, infrastructure, industry, and transportation to avoid catastrophic consequences of climate change.</p><p>But some researchers are looking into another way to address dangerous warming: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/geoengineering-atmosphere-clouds-harvard-2018-4">hacking the climate</a><span>.</span></p><p><span>The technical term for this is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/geoengineering-how-to-reverse-climate-change-2019-4">geoengineering</a>, and the technology generally involves either capturing carbon dioxide from the air and storing it, or manipulating the atmosphere to help cool the Earth.</span></p><p><span><em><strong>Read More:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/geoengineering-how-to-reverse-climate-change-2019-4" data-analytics-position="16">We're altering the climate so severely that we'll soon face apocalyptic consequences. Here are 11 last-ditch ways we could hack the planet to reverse that trend.</a></em></span></p><p><span>The risk is that the effects of geoengineering in one corner of the world could lead to unintended consequences in another. </span></p><p><span>"The atmosphere has no walls," Andrea Flossmann, a weather-modification expert with <a href="https://public.wmo.int/en/resources/bulletin/seeding-change-weather-modification-globally">the World Meteorological Organization</a>, said in a bulletin. "What you add may not have the desired effect in your vicinity, but by being transported along might have undesired effects elsewhere."</span></p><p><span>So if a rogue nation were to start a geoengineering project without international oversight or buy-in, some experts worry <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/andrew-yang-thinks-geoengineering-could-lead-to-war-2019-4">the unintended consequences could lead to war</a>.</span></p><h2><span>Geoengineering might be necessary, but it comes with geopolitical risks</span></h2><p>To limit the Earth's temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels - the Paris climate agreement's most ambitious goal - emissions of heat-trapping gas like carbon dioxide have to drop by 45% from 2010 levels in the next decade or so, according to the IPCC. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ipcc-climate-change-report-why-2-degree-warming-is-dangerous-2018-10">If that doesn't happen</a>, dry regions would be much more likely to experience severe drought, and areas prone to heat waves or hurricanes would get more of those disasters, too. Most coral reefs would die, and melting Arctic ice would cause sea levels to rise dramatically. These changes could trigger huge migrations of people and mass extinctions of animals.</p><p>But so far, the required emissions reductions are not happening. Worldwide carbon emissions from fossil fuels rose by 1.6% in 2017 and 2.7% last year, <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2018/12/new-global-co2-emissions-numbers-are-they-re-not-good">according to the World Resources Institute</a>.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d0017016fc9202e4d7adad5-2131/rtx16arj.jpg" border="0" alt="Coal Plant" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Stringer " /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Stringer </span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>"Climate change is getting worse," Ted Parson, an environmental law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, told Business Insider, "which is why it's necessary to talk about geoengineering right now."</p><p>Geoengineering can take many forms, some of which exist already. C<span>limeworks, a company that sucks carbon dioxide out of the air, </span><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/negative-emissions-carbon-capture-plant-climeworks-2017-10">opened its first commercial plant in Switzerland in 2017</a>. A <span>New York-based start-up, <a href="https://globalthermostat.com/a-unique-capture-process/">Global Thermostat</a>, uses carbon sponges to absorb CO2 directly from the atmosphere or smokestacks.</span></p><p>A more ambitious and untested option, though, is solar geoengineering, which would involve scattering sulfur particles as aerosols in the sky in order to reflect more sunlight back into space. This approach <span>has yet to be tested, but <a href="https://geoengineering.environment.harvard.edu/geoengineering">Harvard University's solar geoengineering research program</a> is currently researching how to disperse clouds of sulfur particles via <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/geoengineering-atmosphere-clouds-harvard-2018-4">small, steerable balloons</a>.</span></p><p><span> </span><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-01606-0">Most models predict</a><span> that the effects of a project like this would be felt differently around the globe, and consequences could arise even in spots far from the rollout location. That means that if a country tries out this kind of geoengineering, its neighbors would almost certainly feel the effects - as could nations on the far side of the world.</span></p><p><span>"[Solar geoengineering] has geopolitical ramifications, unlike carbon capture," Juan Moreno-Cruz, an associate professor at the University of Waterloo who studies geoengineering, told Business Insider. </span></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/52ff3e325afbd3ab138b456d-800/california-solar-plant-greeted-with-fanfare-doubts-about-future.jpg" border="0" alt="Heliostats reflect sunlight onto boilers in towers during the grand opening of the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in the Mojave Desert near the California-Nevada border February 13, 2014. REUTERS/Steve Marcus" data-mce-source="Reuters/Steve Marcus" data-mce-caption="Heliostats reflect sunlight onto boilers in towers during the grand opening of the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in the Mojave Desert near the California-Nevada border." /><p class="source"><span>Reuters/Steve Marcus</span></p><p class="caption">Heliostats reflect sunlight onto boilers in towers during the grand opening of the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in the Mojave Desert near the California-Nevada border.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>For example, aerosol injections deployed in the southern hemisphere could impact ocean temperatures and wind speeds, leading to more hurricanes in the northern hemisphere. </p><p>In a worst-case scenario, this kind of geoengineering could leave Earth's atmospheric chemistry irreversibly altered. </p><p>"The side effects may be almost as bad as the disease you're trying to cure," author and environmental activist Bill McKibben <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/geoengineering-how-to-reverse-climate-change-2019-4#one-technology-that-manipulates-the-clouds-is-already-in-use-today-it-doesnt-really-address-climate-change-but-it-does-allow-us-to-make-it-rain-when-and-where-we-want-12">previously told Business Insider</a>. </p><h2>A 'rogue nation' could hack the climate single-handedly</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d01192d6fc9205d454d7195-2400/gettyimages-532102977.jpg" border="0" alt="stratocumulus clouds" style="color: #000000;" data-mce-source="Stocktrek Images/Getty Images" data-mce-caption="A large presence of stratocumulus clouds above the northwestern Pacific Ocean." /><p class="source"><span>Stocktrek Images/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">A large presence of stratocumulus clouds above the northwestern Pacific Ocean.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Alan Robock, an environmental <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> professor at Rutgers and an expert on geoengineering,<span> </span><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/geoengineering-atmosphere-clouds-harvard-2018-4">previously told Business Insider</a> that he's "<span>got a list of 27 reasons" we shouldn't attempt any large-scale planet hacking.</span></p><p>One major risk is that a reprobate country or even a private company could pull the trigger on an atmospheric-transformation project that affects the entire world.<span style="background-color: #ffff00;"></span></p><p><span>"There's always first movers, certain countries driving things," </span><span>David Keith, a professor of engineering and applied sciences at Harvard University, told Business Insider.</span></p><p>This is already happening on a smaller scale: Chinese, Russian, and US governments employ a form of atmospheric manipulation called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-sets-aside-millions-to-control-the-rain-2016-7">cloud seeding</a>, in which silver ions are scattered into the atmosphere to make it rain. Beijing spent millions on such technology ahead of the 2008 Olympics. But this technology only triggers regional weather impacts, according to Parson.</p><p>In a recent debate about geoengineering hosted by <a href="https://www.intelligencesquaredus.org/">Intelligence Squared</a>, Keith said he expects bigger geoengineering initiatives to be very much be on the table for some nations in the future.</p><p>"Some government - maybe China after a monsoon causes the crops to fail, maybe Indonesia after a heat wave kills 100,000 people, maybe the United States after a category 5 hurricane hits [New York City] head-on - will consider it," he said.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d0119766fc9205846697df3-1725/rtx13ly2.jpg" border="0" alt="India nuclear weapons" style="color: #000000;" data-mce-source="Reuters" data-mce-caption="India successfully test-fired for a second time a nuclear-capable missile in 2013." data-link="http://pictures.reuters.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0BXZV2ANNAA&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1920&amp;RH=836#/SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0BXZV2ANNAA&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1920&amp;RH=836&amp;POPUPPN=36&amp;POPUPIID=2C0BF1OL7THOQ" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://pictures.reuters.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0BXZV2ANNAA&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1920&amp;RH=836#/SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0BXZV2ANNAA&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1920&amp;RH=836&amp;POPUPPN=36&amp;POPUPIID=2C0BF1OL7THOQ">Reuters</a></span></p><p class="caption">India test fires a nuclear-capable missile in 2013.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>If there aren't international rules governing the geoengineering process and its consequences, some experts say, conflict could easily emerge.</p><p>"The threat of war never is out of the question," Moreno-Cruz said. </p><p>He added that the nations most likely to attempt geoengineering projects are also nuclear powers, which further complicates the picture.</p><h2>But is geoengineering really that scary?</h2><p>Some scientists like Keith think the threat of war, nuclear or otherwise, is overblown, since independent geoengineering would go against a country like India's self interest.</p><p>"They would want to be able to continue reducing their climate risks, and the best way to do that would be to collaborate with others, not go extremely rogue and then get shut down," he said.</p><p>Plus, he noted, any project that injects particles into atmosphere is finite unless the efforts are continuous - for solar geoengineering to work, planes would need to constantly spread aerosols.</p><p>"There aren't single interventions that change things forever," Parson said. "This isn't like Doctor Evil pulling great big handle in his island lair and that's it."</p><p>Parson is confident that if a single individual or company attempted a geoengineering project, it could easily be brought to a halt.</p><p>"Any megalomaniac, individual entrepreneur is a citizen of some country and their enterprises operate under the legal jurisdiction of that country," he said during the Intelligence Squared debate.</p><p>But although Parson thinks geoengineering might be the only way for the world to meet the Paris agreement goals, he emphasized that it should never be an alternative to cutting emissions. </p><p>"Managing climate change requires multiple strategies. Geoengineering in no way replaces or undoes the urgency of cutting emissions," he said.</p><p>Still, the once-fantastical idea of geoengineering seems to be entering the mainstream. Presidential candidate Andrew Yang is advocating for the technology, and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_ylo=2015&amp;q=solar+geoengineering&amp;hl=en&amp;as_sdt=0,33">5,000 academic papers</a> about the methods and ramifications of solar geoengineering technology have <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_ylo=2015&amp;q=solar+geoengineering&amp;hl=en&amp;as_sdt=0,33">been published since 2015</a>.</p><p>"Regular people, the policy elite, and environmental groups are taking this topic more seriously than 10 years ago," Keith said. "Let's examine it seriously, not put it in the crazy corner and forget about it."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-168-million-dollars-weather-controlling-technology-cloud-seeding-2017-2">China is spending $168 million on weather-controlling technology</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/82hE4JCC-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

A rogue country could take planet-hacking into its own hands to alter the climate - and some experts worry it could lead to war

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a26f0ec3dbef4ae448b9f02-1500/rtx2zzxt.jpg" border="0" alt="power plant emissions mongolia" data-mce-source="REUTERS/B. Rentsendorj" data-mce-caption="Emissions from a power plant chimney rise over Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia January 13, 2017." /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/B. Rentsendorj</span></p><p class="caption">Emissions from a power plant chimney rise over Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia January 13, 2017.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Most scientists agree that we'll need to suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere in order to avoid the worst consequences of<span> </span><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/climate-change">climate change</a>.</li><li>This week, Silicon Valley's largest startup accelerator, Y Combinator, put out a request for startups working on high-tech ways to remove CO2 from the air. </li><li>A recent report <span>National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine suggests the US government should immediately <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-stop-gobal-warming-plan-carbon-capture-2018-10">invest in "negative-emissions technologies"</a> as well.</span></li></ul><p>For decades, scientists told us that the way to avoid a bleak future full of heat waves, intensely strong storms, and widespread coastal flooding was fairly straight-forward: stop putting so much heat-trapping gas into the atmosphere. </p><p>That could be done by making our cars, buildings, and factories more energy efficient and switching from fossil fuels to renewable power sources like wind and solar. </p><p>Not anymore. We waited too long, and now it's too late - we're putting so much heat-trapping gas into the atmosphere that emissions cuts won't be enough. Keeping the Earth's temperature from rising beyond the threshold that scientists consider safe (something we're on track to do within 20 years) now requires sucking out some of the carbon dioxide that we've put into the air. </p><p>That's the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ipcc-climate-change-report-why-2-degree-warming-is-dangerous-2018-10">conclusion of a recent landmark report</a> published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a group of thousands of scientists from around the world. And it means that whoever figures out how to scrub CO2 quickly and cheaply stands to make a lot of money.</p><p>That reality has caught the attention of the largest startup accelerator in Silicon Valley.</p><p>Earlier this week, Y Combinator, which has backed companies like Airbnb and Reddit, put out a <a href="http://carbon.ycombinator.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">request for startups</a> working on technology that can remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5acfd410146e7124008b47ab-916/screen shot 2018-04-12 at 54553 pm.png" border="0" alt="saving-our-world-co2-chart" data-mce-source="Skye Gould/Business Insider" /><p class="source"><span>Skye Gould/Business Insider</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>"It's time to invest and avidly pursue a new wave of technological solutions to this problem - including those that are risky, unproven, even unlikely to work," Y Combinator's website says. </p><p>Y Combinator is looking for startups working on four approaches that they acknowledge "straddle the border between very difficult to <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> fiction" - genetically engineering phytoplankton to turn CO2 into a storage-ready form of carbon, speeding up a natural process in which rocks react with CO2, creating cell-free enzymes that can process carbon, and flooding Earth's deserts to create oases.</p><p>Sam Altman, the president of Y Combinator, <a href="https://blog.ycombinator.com/frontier-carbon-removal-technologies/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">acknowledged that these ideas are "moonshots,"</a> but said that he wants to take an expansive approach to the issue.</p><h2>A plan to build the 'largest infrastructure project ever undertaken'</h2><p>Y Combinator's requests are far more futuristic and unrealized than the current leading methods of capturing carbon from the air. </p><p>Perhaps the most realistic of its four technology ideas is what the accelerator calls "electro-geo-chemistry." The idea is for engineers to speed up the rate at which certain types of rocks naturally bind and react with CO2. (The approach is also sometimes called carbon mineralization or mineral weathering.)</p><p>Another idea involves modifying the genes of microscopic marine plants called phytoplankton in a way that makes them able to convert CO2 into a stable, sequestered form of carbon through photosynthesis. Those CO2-capturing organisms could then be spread throughout the oceans (assuming conditions were favorable enough for them to survive), and the byproduct they make would sink to the ocean floor.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a21d4cd3dbef426008b9a27-1920/imagewall51920x1200-359.jpg" border="0" alt="NASA beautiful earth phytoplankton" style="color: #000000;" data-mce-source="NASA" data-mce-caption="Phytoplankton bloom off western Iceland" /><p class="source"><span>NASA</span></p><p class="caption">Phytoplankton bloom off western Iceland</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>A third idea involves enzymes: tiny proteins in cells that act as catalysts, accelerating chemical reactions that convert one type of molecule into another. Some enzymes can, for example, take carbon dioxide and turn it into other useful organic compounds. Y Combinator's idea is to create enzyme systems that can turn carbon into useful byproducts without having to be inside a living organism's cells. </p><p>Finally, Y Combinator is calling on startups that could create millions of small oases in Earth's deserts, each about 1 square kilometer in size. Those waters could house CO2-sucking phytoplankton. The oases would also serve as freshwater for nearby humans and habitats for plants and trees that could take in CO2.</p><p>"Creating 4.5 million oases that are 1 km2 would allow us to sequester more than current global emissions (41+ gigatonnes of CO2 per year), while only requiring the equivalent of half the landmass of the Sahara desert," Y Combinator's request says. (Half the land of the Sahara is about 1.7 million square miles.)</p><p>But it also acknowledges that "this would be the largest infrastructure project ever undertaken."</p><p>All of these concepts are still just that: hypothetical ideas. None have been robustly tested outside a lab, and there few (if any) companies working on them publicly.</p><p>"These ideas press on the limit of what's possible, and we're not sure which side of that line they're on," Y Combinator's request says.</p><h2>Embracing negative-emissions technologies</h2><p>But Y Combinator might be onto something. The <a href="http://nas-sites.org/dels/studies/cdr/">National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NAS)</a> published a report this week on so-called "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-stop-gobal-warming-plan-carbon-capture-2018-10">negative-emissions technologies.</a>" The authors found that simple, existing carbon-removal strategies (like reforesting cleared land) could never capture enough carbon to stop Earth's temperature from rising. </p><p>In the past, some environmentalists have been hesitant to fully support more high-tech carbon-capture technologies, since they're expensive solutions that don't yet exist at the scale necessary to make a difference. Plus, some critics have suggested that negative-emissions technologies could serve a justification for continuing to emit the greenhouse gases that got us into this situation in the first place.</p><p>But given the IPCC's recent evaluation, it's becoming clear that both emissions cuts and carbon-sucking technologies are now essential. And that need has energized the tech sector like few green-tech opportunities have before, according to Kate Gordon, a fellow at <a href="https://energypolicy.columbia.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Columbia's Center on Global Energy Policy</a>.</p><p>"The tech community is actually excited about this space, and particularly excited about the cool ways people are taking carbon and turning it into products," Gordon told Business Insider. "We didn't see that kind of interest in the tech sector for a long time, except for EVs [electric vehicles], I would say. It's sort of similar to that kind of commitment."</p><h2>But government investment is still crucial</h2><p>There are quite a few private companies already working on carbon-capture technology, though not on any of the approaches that Y Combinator is proposing. In Switzerland, Climeworks has developed a technology that draws air into a plant, then captures the CO2 via a filter. And in Canada, <a href="http://carbonengineering.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Carbon Engineering</a> has a facility that captures carbon dioxide from the air; the company also focuses on recycling that CO2 into liquid transportation fuel. </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59319cbeb74af41f008b6027-1024/climeworks2.jpg" border="0" alt="climeworks2" data-mce-source="Climeworks" /><p class="source"><span>Climeworks</span></p><p class="caption">Climeworks launched its third plant last month.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>But the NAS report says that in order to develop negative-emissions technologies fast enough and make them cost-effective, the US federal government has to invest immediately. </p><p>"When you see commercial clean-energy technologies that have been deployed pretty broadly, like solar and wind, government has been a part of it since early stage [research and development] all the way through demonstration,"  <span>Erin Burns, a senior policy advisor at the think tank <a href="https://www.thirdway.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Third Way</a>, told Business Insider.</span> "I don't think that's different for a technology like direct air capture."</p><p>"The private sector does look to the federal government for certain signals, and I think they have a really important role to play," Burns said. </p><p>Beyond helping to stabilize the climate and prevent future disasters, the NAS report says, investing in these technologies would help the US economically, since there will be even greater need for carbon capture in the future. The first countries and companies to develop scalable, cost-effective carbon-removal technology will benefit as demand for that intellectual property rises.</p><p>"This is where markets are going. This is the new set of technologies that people are starting to pay attention to," Gordon said. "Otherwise we'll be buying it from somebody else, because someone's going to do it."</p><p>That is likely part of Y Combinator's motivation for requesting startups that are working on these ideas. The accelerator said it's also open to funding non-profit research as part of its approach. </p><p>"This is a big, ambitious, problem area, and we're looking forward to meeting the founders, scientists, philanthropists, and many others who are taking it on head first," Y Combinator's request says.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ucla-scientists-carbon-dioxide-concrete-2016-3">Scientists have figured out how to turn carbon dioxide into concrete</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/fL7hKf0s-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

Silicon Valley's largest accelerator is looking for carbon-sucking technologies - including one that could become 'the largest infrastructure project ever'

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/534a6c3469bedd7e4f03e743-960-640/1392079_565153516867030_996632848_n.jpg" border="0" alt="ipcc" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/IPCCNews/photos/pb.165091923539860.-2207520000.1397386226./565153516867030/?type=3&amp;theater">IPCC</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div>BERLIN (AP) - The U.N.'s expert panel on climate change on Sunday highlighted the disconnect between international goals to fight global warming and what is being done to attain them.</p>
<p>Emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases must drop by 40-70 percent by 2050 to keep the global temperature rise below the 2-degree C (3.6-degree F) cap set in U.N. climate talks, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said.</p>
<p>The opposite is happening now. On average global emissions rose by 1 gigaton a year between 2000 and 2010, outpacing growth in previous decades to reach "unprecedented levels" despite some efforts to contain them, the IPCC said.</p>
<p>"There is a clear message from <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword>: To avoid dangerous interference with the climate system, we need to move away from business as usual," said Ottmar Edenhofer, one of three co-chairs of the IPCC working group looking at ways to fight climate change.</p>
<p>The panel didn't get into who should do what in the 33-page summary meant to serve as a scientific guide to governments negotiating a new climate agreement, which is supposed to be adopted next year.</p>
<p>Leaked drafts of that document showed the biggest reason for the rising emissions is the higher energy needs resulting from population growth and expanding economies in the developing world, mainly in China and other large countries. However, diagrams that illustrated that were deleted by governments in the final version that was adopted at a weeklong IPCC session in Berlin.</p>
<p>"The problem for the governments was that they felt that these different perspectives can cause harm for them because they can be made at different scales responsible for the emissions," Edenhofer told The Associated Press.</p>
<p>The graphics divided the world into four categories - low, lower-middle, upper-middle and high income countries. Participants in the closed-door session said many developing countries objected to using such income categories.</p>
<p>In U.N. climate negotiations only two categories are used - developed and developing countries. The former want to scrap that firewall, saying China and other fast-growing economies can't be compared to the least developed nations and must face stricter emissions cuts, while most developing countries want to keep it. It's a major sticking point in the U.N. talks, and it spilled over into the IPCC session, participants said.</p>
<p>Diego Pacheco, the head of Bolivia's delegation in Berlin, said developing countries worried that graphs with four income groups in the authoritative IPCC document would open the door for industrialized countries - whom they see as historically responsible for climate change - to reframe the discussion on how to share the burden of climate action.</p>
<p>"This is the first step for developed countries of avoiding responsibilities and saying all countries have to assume the responsibility for climate change," he told AP.</p>
<p>Counting all emissions since the industrialized revolution in the 18th century, the U.S. is the top carbon polluter. China's current emissions are greater than those of the U.S. and rising quickly. China's historical emissions are expected to overtake those of the U.S. in the next decade.</p>
<p>There is plenty of material analyzing emissions from those and other perspectives in a larger scientific report that the IPCC will release this week, but it was kept out of the summary for policy-makers.</p>
<p>Oswaldo Lucon, a Brazilian scientist involved in the report, regretted that the diagrams were taken out, saying they are relevant to the "big picture." He said China, India, Brazil and Saudi Arabia were among the countries opposing using them in the summary.</p>
<p>Underlying the arguments "was a whole history of discussions on who was going to foot the bill of environmental damage," Lucon said.</p>
<p>Another IPCC report, released last month, warned that flooding, droughts and other climate impacts could have devastating effects on economies, agriculture and human health, particularly in developing countries.</p>
<p>Global temperatures have already risen about 0.8 C since record-keeping started in the 19th century. The IPCC said the goal of keeping the warming below 2 C by 2100 would require a significant shift in the energy system, away from oil and coal, which generate the highest emissions. That would mean a near-quadrupling of energy from zero- or low-carbon sources such as solar and wind power.</p>
<p>U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called it a global economic opportunity.</p>
<p>"So many of the technologies that will help us fight climate change are far cheaper, more readily available, and better performing than they were when the last IPCC assessment was released less than a decade ago," Kerry said Sunday.</p>
<p>Turning to the costs of that transition, IPCC projected that it would reduce consumption growth would only be about 0.06 percentage points per year, adding that that didn't take into account the economic benefits of reduced climate change.</p>
<p>"The cost is not something that's going to bring about a major disruption of economic systems. It's well within our reach," IPCC chief Rajendra Pachauri told AP. Delaying climate action would make it more costly, he added.</p>
<p>Current pledges by governments in U.N. climate talks to reduce or curb emissions by 2020 are setting the world on a path of 3 degrees C (5.4 F) of warming, the IPCC said. U.N. climate chief Christiana Figueres, who is leading those talks, urged countries to raise their collective ambition.</p>
<p>"The only safe path forward is to arrive at a carbon neutral world in the second half of this century," Figueres said.</p>
<p>To meet the 2-degree target the world may have deploy new technologies to suck CO2 out of the air, the IPCC said. The most advanced right now is so-called bioenergy with carbon capture and storage. That means growing crops that absorb CO2, then burning them for energy, while capturing the CO2 emissions. The CO2 is then stored deep underground, resulting in a net removal of CO2 from the atmosphere.</p>
<p>"We have the technologies," said U.S. scientist Leon Clark, one of the authors of the report. "But we really have no sense of what it would take to deploy them at scale."</p>
<p>____</p>
<p>Karl Ritter can be reached at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/karl_ritter">www.twitter.com/karl_ritter</a></p>
<div class="nc_footer">
<p>Copyright (2014) Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.</p>
</div>
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We're Probably Doomed On Climate Because Developed Countries Can't Stop Sniping At Each Other Over Graphics In A Report

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c2a7b37bd77300abe4d9b06-2048/2018-10-16t000000z2142488053rc172b2865e0rtrmadp3germany-merkel-gates.jpg" border="0" alt="Bill Gates World Health Summit" data-mce-source="Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters" data-mce-caption="Microsoft Founder Bill Gates attends the 10th World Health Summit 2018 event in Berlin, Germany, October 16, 2018." /><p class="source"><span>Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Microsoft Founder Bill Gates attends the 10th World Health Summit 2018 event in Berlin, Germany, October 16, 2018.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/bill-gates">Bill Gates</a> published a blog post in which he reflected on the last 12 months and shared his thoughts about the year to come. </li><li>In the post, Gates said he believes the US must spend more on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/nuclear-energy">nuclear energy</a> research in order to regain its global leadership leadership in that area.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/bill-gates"></a> Burning fossil fuels causes global temperatures to rise. Renewable energy sources don't emit the same heat-trapping gases, but Gates said breakthroughs in solar and wind energy won't be enough.</li><li>Gates and other billionaires lead a fund called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-jeff-bezos-breakthrough-energy-ventures-investments-2018-9">Breakthrough Energy Ventures</a> that invests in startups focusing on clean energy.</li></ul><p>Bill Gates is urging the United States to invest in nuclear power research.</p><p>In his annual <a href="https://www.gatesnotes.com/About-Bill-Gates/Year-in-Review-2018">year-in-review Gates Notes blog post</a>, Gates noted that, despite the consequences of climate change that people face around the globe, "global emissions of greenhouse gases went up in 2018."</p><p><span>Because burning fossil fuels (oil, coal, and natural gas) <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-stop-gobal-warming-plan-carbon-capture-2018-10">releases carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases</a> into the atmosphere, Gates wrote that we need <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/renewable-energy-microgrids-wind-solar-2018-4">breakthroughs in clean energy</a> in order to curb the rise of global temperatures. Generating energy from sunlight and wind does not emit CO2; the same goes for nuclear energy.</span></p><p>"The world needs to be working on lots of solutions to stop climate change," Gates wrote. "Advanced nuclear is one, and I hope to persuade US leaders to get into the game."</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ipcc-climate-change-report-why-2-degree-warming-is-dangerous-2018-10">According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</a>, the world will face catastrophic effects of climate change if global temperatures climb to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. We are on track to hit that 1.5-degree threshold by 2040, though the IPCC said a huge shift in global energy and economic systems could still reverse the trend.</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ipcc-climate-change-report-why-2-degree-warming-is-dangerous-2018-10">The scariest parts of the new climate change report: The goals the world set are inadequate, and the track we're on is disastrous</a></em></p><p>Solar and wind energy are <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/solar-power-cost-decrease-2018-5">becoming much cheaper</a> - which Gates said he was "glad to see" - but he wrote that these energy sources alone are not enough. That's because solar and wind energy are not viable when the sun doesn't shine or the wind doesn't blow. Nuclear power, on the other hand, is available 24 hours a day.</p><p>This is not the first time Gates has sought to improve the world's energy options. Gates, along with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and other billionaires, leads a fund called Breakthrough Energy Ventures that invests in startups that focus on renewable energy. In 2018, the group announced the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-jeff-bezos-breakthrough-energy-ventures-investments-2018-9">first companies to get that funding</a>.</p><p>"The companies we chose are run by brilliant people and show a lot of promise for taking innovative clean-energy ideas out of the lab and getting them to market," Gates wrote in his end-of-year note.</p><p>As far as nuclear power is concerned, Gates said he is confident that further innovation can eliminate concerns about the risk of accidents.</p><p>"The United States is uniquely suited to create these advances with its world-class scientists, entrepreneurs, and investment capital," he wrote. "Unfortunately, America is no longer the global leader on nuclear energy that it was 50 years ago. To regain this position, it will need to commit new funding, update regulations, and show investors that it's serious."</p><p>As an example of a promising approach to nuclear energy, Gates pointed to the company <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/terrapower">TerraPower</a> that he started 10 years ago. TerraPower is working on creating a traveling-wave reactor, which Gates said is safe, produces minimal waste, and can't be used in nuclear weapon production.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5be5f4e266be506888511d8a-2311/webpnet-resizeimage.jpg" border="0" alt="TerraPower" style="color: #000000;" data-mce-source="TerraPower" /><p class="source"><span>TerraPower</span></p><p class="caption">A TerraPower facility.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>TerraPower was trying to building a pilot project in China, Gates wrote, but recent moves by the Trump administration have "made that unlikely."</p><p>Gates said there may be a chance for the project to move forward in the US. But regardless, he plans to continue drawing more attention to energy issues in 2019.</p><p>"Next year I will speak out more about how the US needs to regain its leading role in nuclear power research," Gates wrote.</p><ul class="read-more-links"><li><strong>Read more about nuclear energy:</strong></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-terrapower-molten-salt-nuclear-reactor-2018-10" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">A Bill Gates-backed energy company is developing what could be a game-changing nuclear reactor</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-nuclear-power-demise-shown-4-charts-2018-8">The demise of US nuclear power in 4 charts</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/thorium-molten-salt-reactors-sorensen-lftr-2017-2">A forgotten war technology could safely power Earth for millions of years. Here's why we aren't using it.</a></li></ul>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-east-experimental-advanced-superconducting-tokamak-nuclear-fusion-reactor-100-million-degrees-2018-12">China made an artificial star that's 6 times as hot as the sun, and it could be the future of energy</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/zHpyLi0q-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

Bill Gates says the US has lost its global leadership in nuclear power, and needs to 'get in the game'

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5b9c15d90ce5f594208b51c2-2063/webpnet-resizeimage 93.jpg" border="0" alt="Hurricane Florence beach sand" data-mce-source="Chuck Burton/AP" /><p class="source"><span>Chuck Burton/AP</span></p><p class="caption">Bags of sand after Hurricane Florence.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>Sand is becoming more scarce because people are using more of it for building materials and exports.</strong></li><li><strong>With sea levels rising over time, sand plays a greater role in curbing damage from floods and erosion.</strong></li><li><strong>Governments and agencies should create global regulations we doesn't use up more sand than the Earth can naturally create.</strong></li><li>Regulating sand could lead to more economic and environmental stability.</li></ul><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sand may be the scarce resource that's key to economic development in the 21</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">st</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> century. Just as fluctuations in oil prices shaped the economic prospects of nations in the 20</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">th</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> century, sand could do the same now - with increased prices triggering economic losses and valleys leading to economic booms.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As bizarre as it may seem, careful management of sand is an essential part of global economic development and sustained growth. Without swift action, the impacts of this looming crisis will be felt imminently, especially with the effects of climate change on the rapidly urbanizing world.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Now the </span><a href="http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2015/12/edwards.htm"><span style="font-weight: 400;">second most used natural resource</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> behind water, sand is the primary component in concrete, glass, and other building materials. High demand for sand in Vietnam, where the commodity is used in both domestic production and as an export, could cause the country to </span><a href="http://theconversation.com/the-world-is-facing-a-global-sand-crisis-83557"><span style="font-weight: 400;">run out</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> as early as 2020, according to the country's Ministry of Construction. And Vietnam is not alone. Global consumption of sand is quickly outpacing nature's ability to make more.</span></p><p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Read more: </span><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/swiss-philanthropist-hansjoerg-wyss-spending-1-billion-on-conservation-2019-1">A Swiss philanthropist has donated $1 billion to save the Earth's wild lands and waters from destruction. Here's where the money is going.</a></em></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5550f708eab8ea2e48915edc-2296/grains-sand-beach.jpg" border="0" alt="grains sand beach" data-mce-source="Flickr / Capture Queen" data-link="https://www.flickr.com/photos/uaeincredible/62455070/" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/uaeincredible/62455070/">Flickr / Capture Queen</a></span></p><p class="caption">Global sea levels could rise as high as one meter by 2100, according to experts at the IPCC.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The United Nations estimates that </span><a href="https://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">two-thirds</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> of the world's population will live in cities by 2050. Constructing infrastructure for this influx of new city-dwellers will spike global demand for sand. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">China, which built 90,000 miles of roads in 2013, used </span><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/world-running-out-sand-resources-concrete-2018-6"><span style="font-weight: 400;">more concrete</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> between 2011 and 2013 than the United States used in the entire 20</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">th</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> century. The country may be the poster child for breakneck urban development. Other cities in Asia, Africa, and Latin America are also growing rapidly. Without better resource management, there may not be enough sand to go around, and construction won't be the only industry affected.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In addition, the usefulness of sand will only increase as the effects of climate change intensify. The International Panel on Climate Change projects that sea levels will rise nearly </span><a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/unfccc/cop19/3_gregory13sbsta.pdf"><span style="font-weight: 400;">one meter</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> by 2100. What is one of the most effective tools for curbing the impacts of rising sea levels? You guessed it: sand.</span></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c3918f5bd7730155e54aec5-1714/2017-04-06t120000z430799172rc18fb28b910rtrmadp3france.jpg" border="0" alt="sand dune france" data-mce-source="Regis Duvignau/Reuters" data-mce-caption="A general view shows sea walls on the beach that protect sand dunes from erosion along the Atlantic Ocean coast in Anglet, southwestern France, April 6, 2017." /><p class="source"><span>Regis Duvignau/Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">A general view shows sea walls on the beach that protect sand dunes from erosion along the Atlantic Ocean coast in Anglet, southwestern France, April 6, 2017.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Flooding is worse when sand is removed from riverbeds and coastlines. The devastation from Hurricane Harvey in 2017, which included more than </span><a href="https://coast.noaa.gov/states/fast-facts/hurricane-costs.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">$125 billion</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in flood damage, was even more destructive because of </span><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/world-running-out-sand-resources-concrete-2018-6"><span style="font-weight: 400;">sand mining</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in the San Jacinto River. As this practice continues, coastal communities that were once able to stave off the impact of rising sea levels will become more vulnerable.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Despite the clear threat to global economic and environmental well-being, there is little national legislation regulating sand use. Coordinated international action also is essentially non-existent. Going forward, the international community must act to minimize the damage from an imminent sand shortage.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Firstly, Governments, the private sector, and other actors must invest more heavily in research and development to identify more sustainable alternatives for common building materials. Creating alternatives to concrete will help address sand shortages, as well as cut emissions from concrete production, which accounts for nearly </span><a href="https://www.cnn.com/style/article/concrete-alternatives-future-building/index.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">5% of global carbon dioxide emissions</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c391662bd773025cc5c8c21-1778/2017-09-28t062452z386459255rc18f5454900rtrmadp3usa-environment.jpg" border="0" alt="white sand dune" data-mce-source="Darren Ornitz/Reuters" data-mce-caption="White sand dunes are seen in White Sands National Monument park, known for its rare white sand dunes made of gypsum minerals, near Alamogordo, New Mexico, September 27, 2017." /><p class="source"><span>Darren Ornitz/Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">White sand dunes are seen in White Sands National Monument park, known for its rare white sand dunes made of gypsum minerals, near Alamogordo, New Mexico, September 27, 2017.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Second, governments and international institutions should develop global agreements to regulation sand use and extraction. A useful first step may include the creation of a global working group, hosted by an appropriate international institution, that'll bring together crucial governments and private actors to coordinate more meaningfully on sand regulation. Doing so would place this issue more squarely on the global policy agenda and encourage responsible behavior. UN Water provides a useful example of how such a working group could function.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Third, governments must commit to gathering better information about sand mining and extraction to better combat its illicit trade. Without better information, it's difficult to estimate the size of the challenge and design effective solutions. Illicit sand trade is already big business - especially in </span><a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/sand-mining-govt-officials-involved-in-illegal-trade-says-nitish/articleshow/59992648.cms"><span style="font-weight: 400;">India</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> - and rooting out such activities will contribute to more effective management.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c39178daebf421daf71183d-2400/rtx33h6e.jpg" border="0" alt="sand" data-mce-source="Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters" data-mce-caption="Sand is dredged from the sea at &amp;quotColombo Port City&quot; construction site in Colombo, Sri Lanka." /><p class="source"><span>Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Sand is dredged from the sea at "Colombo Port City" construction site in Colombo, Sri Lanka.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Finally, more information should be shared with the public, whether it be from governments, international institutions, or concerned civil society groups. An informed, active public has repeatedly been proven to be an essential catalyst in global environmental action on and resource management issues. Without public attention, governments and the private sector will likely be slow to act before a real crisis emerges.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">For all the </span><a href="http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170615-why-hydro-politics-will-shape-the-21st-century"><span style="font-weight: 400;">discussion</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> about water scarcity triggering conflict and collapsing economies, relatively little public debate has focused on sand and its role in global economic prospects. Achieving sustainable growth in the 21</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">st</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> century requires governments, businesses, and other actors to build strategies and systems for managing this increasingly scarce resource. We must all rise to the challenge of protecting this commodity, which many people may still think is ubiquitous. Nothing less than global economic prosperity is at stake.</span></p><ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more on the environment:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fatberg-clogs-uk-sewer-again-2019-1" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">A fatberg longer than the Leaning Tower of Pisa is clogging another UK sewer</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-border-wall-could-hurt-the-environment-2019-1" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">Trump's $5 billion border wall plan could wreak environmental havoc, causing rivers to flood and animals to become 'zombie species'</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/super-pothos-ivy-can-remove-air-pollutants-from-your-home-2019-1" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">Researchers say they've developed a 'super' house plant that can remove air pollutants from your home</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-17-countries-that-have-done-most-to-curb-global-warming-since-2017-2018-12" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">These are the 17 countries that have done the most to limit global warming since 2017</a></li></ul><p><span><em>Visit</em><a href="https://www.thisisinsider.com/"><em> INSIDER's homepage</em></a><em> for more.</em></span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sleep-expert-explains-snooze-alarms-are-terrible-2017-11">The worst thing people do to wake up in the morning, according to a sleep scientist</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/2fsjBH3U-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

A global sand shortage could cause damaging effects to our urban world

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/52f8d4c46bb3f735281190fb-1200-800/468067727.jpg" border="0" alt="Britain flooding" /><p class="source"><span>Matt Cardy/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">A car sits on flood water on a flooded property at Burrowbridge on the Somerset Levels on February 9, 2014 near Bridgwater, England.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Mass migration. Regional conflict. Dire food shortages. A shrinking global GDP.</p>
<p>While not slated to be released until March 29 (one day after Darren Aronfsky's apolalyptic Bible epic, <em>Noah, </em>hits theaters), a draft of the forthcoming report on the impact of global warming by the UN's Interngovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) leaked on Tuesday to the UK's <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/official-prophecy-of-doom-global-warming-will-cause-widespread-conflict-displace-millions-of-people-and-devastate-the-global-economy-9198171.html" target="_blank">Independent</a>. </p>
<p>The analysis, which is the second of three working group reports, focuses on the likely impacts of alterations in the earth's climate brought about by carbon emissions. It synthesizes the data from thousands of peer-reviewed scientific studies. </p>
<p>Among its conclusions: </p>
<ul>
<li>Median crop yields will fall by 2% per decade for the remainder of the century, even as demand increases, setting the stage for rising food prices</li>
<li>Hundreds of millions of people will be displaced by rising sea levels, particular in Asia</li>
<li>The global economy will shrink by between .2 and 2 percent</li>
<li>Violent conflict from civil war, ethnic rivalries and protests will increase</li>
<li>Territorial disputes due to shifting national boundaries will become more frequent</li>
<li>Dry and subtropical regions will experience fresh-water shortages, leading to heightened risk for extinction of various species and conflict over water resources</li>
</ul>
<p><span style="line-height: 22.5px;">The good news? The third IPCC working group report, focused on mitigation strategies, is due to be released a few weeks later. </span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 22.5px;">More tips on dealing with catastrophic flooding are below: </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> </span></p>
<p><iframe width="853" height="480" frameborder="0" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/_OSaJE2rqxU"></iframe></p>

LEAKED: Climate Report Predicts Shrinking GDP, Food Shortages, And A Rise In Violent Warfare Around The World

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5ce85d2411e2050384306268-1777/amazon%20employees%20protest.jpg" border="0" alt="Amazon employees protest" data-mce-source="Amazon Employees for Climate Justice"><p class="source"><span>Amazon Employees for Climate Justice</span></p><p class="caption">Amazon employees at a press conference after the 2019 annual shareholder's meeting.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Earlier this week, Amazon employees submitted a shareholder proposal and held a press conference calling for the company&#xa0;to become a leader in sustainability by vowing to quickly reduce its carbon footprint in line with recommendations by climate scientists.</li><li>They also want their company to ditch the unit that sells cloud computing services to oil and gas companies.</li><li>Their efforts seem to be having an impact, as Amazon has finally promised to share its carbon-footprint data and to reduce the impact of its massive shipping operations.</li><li>But one leader of the employee protest explains that thousands of employees don't think Amazon is doing all it can, and haven't given up the fight.&#xa0;</li><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></strong></li></ul><p>Back in February, a group of Amazon's tech workers were openly circulating the draft of a letter they planned to publish on the internet. The letter was pushing their employer, one of the largest tech companies in the world, to turn itself into an example on how to fight climate change.</p><p>They wanted the company to develop a plan to stop using fossil fuels. They also wanted it to stop going after customers in the oil and gas industries. Amazon Web Services has an entire unit dedicated to serving this market. This push by employees, who were publicly signing their name to the letter, was a politically gutsy move at Amazon, a company known for its fanatically pro-customer culture.</p><p>But they did, and one of the employees involved tells Business Insider that the group, and the nearly 7,700 employees who signed it, stand by that idea.</p><p>"Given the scale and urgency of the climate crises, we can't be helping to extract and expand fossil fuel," Rajit Iftikhar, a software developer for Amazon and one of the employees involved in this push, told Business Insider.&#xa0;</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5ce85efb11e20503821aa083-1077/jeff%20bezos%20amazon.png" border="0" alt="Jeff Bezos Amazon" data-mce-source="YouTube/Amazon News" data-mce-caption="Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos answers employees questions about sustainability projects" data-link="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwsO238zoEQ&amp;feature=youtu.be"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwsO238zoEQ&amp;feature=youtu.be">YouTube/Amazon News</a></span></p><p class="caption">Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos answers employees questions about sustainability projects</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p>While Iftikhar acknowledges that oil and gas industry are also <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/06/04/big-oil-is-investing-billions-in-renewable-energy.aspx">some of the biggest R&amp;D investors</a> in alternative, sustainable energy, he doesn't think that outweighs their negative climate contributions.</p><p>"These are the companies who, for years, funded denialism and have actively perverted more action on climate change," he said, referring to <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/global-warming/climate-deniers/koch-industries/">donations by oil companies</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/01/10/how-fossil-fuel-industry-got-media-think-climate-change-was-debatable/?utm_term=.4c4de4b1b722">other efforts to call the impact of climate change into question.</a></p><p>"At the end of the day, Amazon has decided before not to do business with certain customers. This is why Amazon chooses not to sell guns," Iftikhar said.</p><p>And they further asked that Amazon, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-system-automatically-fires-warehouse-workers-time-off-task-2019-4">which has come under fire for some of its labor practices</a>, to agree not to penalize workers, particularly hourly workers, who missed work due to extreme weather - experts expect that as climate change worsens, environmental disasters like the California wildfires or floods in Bangladesh will only prove more disruptive and dangerous to human life.</p><p>Instead, the employees wanted the company to commit to doing everything in its considerable power to adopt the guidelines of the 2018 <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</a>.</p><p>The IPCC has warned of the catastrophic consequences if global warming increasing by another 1.5 degrees Celsius and has developed a list of <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/SR15_Chapter4_Low_Res.pdf">recommendations to prevent this. </a>Among those recommendations: Stop using fossil fuels, and do it as quickly as possible.</p><h2>A big promise from Amazon</h2><p>The group of employees, who also own stock in the company, decided to take their issues straight to Amazon shareholders.&#xa0; They crafted a more modest shareholder proposal asking the company to create climate disaster plans and to publicly report on efforts to stop using fossil fuels.</p><p>Their shareholder proposal didn't get the support of the board - and, as often happens in that situation, fails to pass.&#xa0;</p><p>But the open letter, with its bigger demands, resontated with many inside the company.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5ce85fb511e205037c69d8c6-2000/amazon%20employees%20at%20shareholders%20meeting.jpg" border="0" alt="Amazon Employees at shareholders meeting.JPG" data-mce-source="Amazon Employees For Climate Justice" data-mce-caption="50 Amazon employees raise their hands to ask Jeff Bezos about Amazon's sustainability projects during the 2019 shareholders meeting."><p class="source"><span>Amazon Employees For Climate Justice</span></p><p class="caption">50 Amazon employees raise their hands to ask Jeff Bezos about Amazon's sustainability projects during the 2019 shareholders meeting.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div>In fact, back in February, a couple of days after the letter began circulating internally, Amazon announced a new initiative called Shipment Zero. This is a project to offset the ecological impact that Amazon's enormous shipping processes have on the environment, aiming for 50% of all of Amazon's shipments to be 100% offset in a decade.&#xa0;<p>It also <a href="https://blog.aboutamazon.com/sustainability/delivering-shipment-zero-a-vision-for-net-zero-carbon-shipments">for the first time</a> promised to release a report sometime later this year on Amazon's company-wide carbon footprint and how it is doing on these initiatives.</p><p>The group thinks their efforts encouraged Amazon to make that announcement when it did.</p><p>"We think its very likely they announced Shipment Zero as a result of seeing how much energy there was from the employees behind the letter," Iftikhar told us.</p><p>As part of their shareholder proposal process, the group of employees had two meetings with Amazon officials, involving both Amazon legal and Amazon's Sustainability Team.&#xa0;</p><p>The company often meets with those shareholders working on putting forth proposals, especially if the shareholders have clout, and tries to negotiate something both sides can live with without the need for it to go any further.&#xa0;</p><p>In this case, Iftikhar recalls, the Amazon representatives asked if the employees were willing to withdraw their proposal because it announced adopted Shipment Zero.</p><p>The answer was no.</p><p>"I<span>t wasn't antagonistic," Iftikhar recalls. "But we did not see eye-to-eye on whether Amazon had not done enough."</span></p><p><span>The employees also fired up a Twitter account and held a press conference after the shareholder's meeting and have vowed to continue to lobbying their company.</span></p><h2><span>What Amazon is doing</span></h2><p><span>Despite the backing of nearly 8,000 employees, they haven't yet heard another thing about the proposal from senior management, or from the Sustainability team. Nor has their boss, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, met with them or agreed to do so in the future, Iftikhar said.</span></p><p>As <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-not-in-room-amazon-employee-climate-change-proposal-2019-5">we previously reported</a>, at the meeting, Bezos didn't come on stage - even when they asked him to - to hear one of the employees introduce their shareholder proposal.</p><p>During the Q&amp;A section, when 50 employees backing the proposal raised their hands, he did take two questions from among them. They weren't happy with his answers, and felt that he dodged the question.</p><p>In his answer, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwsO238zoEQ&amp;feature=youtu.be">Bezos explained</a> why their request to become a completely zero-carbon company at the speed recommended by the latest climate science reports was a difficult problem to solve. (Watch a video of his full explanation below.) Bezos also listed several things that Amazon is doing to lessen its pollution footprint, and generally make itself greener - including the Shipment Zero plans, multiple wind farms built by Amazon, and the solar panels it has installed on some of its warehouses.&#xa0;</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5ce861e811e205045d6495c7-867/amazon%20wind%20farm.jpeg" border="0" alt="Amazon wind farm" data-mce-source="Amazon"><p class="source"><span>Amazon</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div>Other projects Amazon is doing, according to its Sustainability Team's website, includes signing the Sustainable Fuel Buyers' Principles, a pledge put forward by a group of fuel buyers pushing the transportation industry toward sustainable options.<p>In Europe, the company is also using contract service providers for a low-pollution fleet of 130 electric and natural gas vans and cars.&#xa0;</p><p>So Amazon hasn't been completely oblivious to its own ecological impact, although you could argue that its efforts aren't comprehensive.</p><p>130 vehicles is a mere drop in the bucket, given the <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2018/09/05/amazon-quadruples-order-vans-new-delivery-fleet-now-20-000/1204619002/">number of Amazon delivery</a> vehicles on the road.</p><p>There also seems to be a gap in accountability: although Amazon promised to publish information, it didn't agree to send information to well-known watchdogs that track such things, like <a href="https://www.cdp.net/en/responses/658?back_to=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdp.net%2Fen%2Fresponses%3Futf8%3D%25E2%259C%2593%26queries%255Bname%255D%3DAmazon.com%2BInc&amp;queries%5Bname%5D=Amazon.com+Inc">the </a><span><a href="https://www.cdp.net/en/responses/658?back_to=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdp.net%2Fen%2Fresponses%3Futf8%3D%25E2%259C%2593%26queries%255Bname%255D%3DAmazon.com%2BInc&amp;queries%5Bname%5D=Amazon.com+Inc">Carbon Disclosure Project,</a> a non-profit organization that collects annual data from other major companies including Google.&#xa0;</span></p><p>"Employees want to be proud to work for a sustainable company, and to get to net zero emission. Again, that's why we need a company wide goal," <span>Iftikhar said. "F</span><span>or us, it's an ongoing process. T</span><span>hey can choose to adopt the resolution at anytime. A</span><span>&#xa0;lot of employees are behind it. We are not going anywhere and will continue to push."</span></p><p><span>Amazon would not comment on if the leadership team will meet again with the employees in the future. A spokesperson did give us a statement that listed many of the things Amazon is doing on sustainability, reiterating the company's promise to share information on its company-wide carbon footprint.</span></p><h3>Here's Jeff Bezos answering Amazon employee questions at the annual shareholder's meeting:</h3><p>&#xa0;</p><h3>Here's the company's statement in full:</h3><p style="padding-left: 40px;">"Earlier this year, we announced that we will share our company-wide carbon footprint, along with related goals and programs. We also announced Shipment Zero, our vision to make all Amazon shipments net zero carbon, with 50% of all shipments net zero by 2030. Amazon's sustainability team is using a science-based approach to develop data and strategies to ensure a rigorous approach to our sustainability work.</p><p style="padding-left: 40px;">"We have launched several major and impactful programs and are working hard to integrate this approach fully across Amazon. Our dedication to ensuring that our customers understand how we are addressing environmental issues has been unwavering - we look forward to launching more work and sharing more this year.</p><p style="padding-left: 40px;">"We have a long history of commitment to sustainability through innovative programs such as <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Frustration-Free-Packaging/b?ie=UTF8&amp;node=5521637011">Frustration Free Packaging</a>, <a href="https://www.aboutamazon.com/sustainability/packaging">Ship in Own Container,</a> our n<a href="https://blog.aboutamazon.com/sustainability/sustainability-by-the-numbers">etwork of solar and wind farm</a>s, solar on our fulfillment center rooftops, investments in the circular economy with the <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181015006009/en/Amazon-Invests-10-Million-Closed-Loop-Fund">Closed Loop Fund</a>, and numerous other initiatives happening every day by teams across Amazon.</p><p style="padding-left: 40px;">"In operations alone, we have over 200 scientists, engineers, and product designers dedicated exclusively to inventing new ways to leverage our scale for the good of customers and the planet. We have a long term commitment to powering our global infrastructure using 100% renewable energy."</p><p class="tagline"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/5-biggest-questions-around-amazons-new-grocery-chain?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=ctgr_bii&amp;itm_term=ctgr_leadgen&amp;itm_content=ecommerce&amp;itm_campaign=5-biggest-questions-around-amazons-new-grocery-chain"><img src="https://static.businessinsider.com/image/5cb6282197953a0882285b95" alt="Exclusive FREE Report: The 5 Biggest Questions Around Amazon's Grocery Chain by Business Insider Intelligence" border="0" style="width: 100% !important" /></a></p><div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/vwsO238zoEQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gary-shilling-legendary-economist-trade-war-outlook-says-us-will-win-2018-10">WATCH: The legendary economist who predicted the housing crisis says the US will win the trade war</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/xUxxJSS6-xjRU7l6Z.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

An Amazon employee explains why thousands of workers want the company to stop selling cloud services to oil companies, just like it won't sell guns

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/542af3d369bedd8e24d146a1-1200-924/waves-10.jpg" border="0" alt="waves"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Lang Lang </span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div>It's almost universally agreed now that climate change is caused by humans and it's on track to wreak havoc on the planet.</p>
<p>Scientists release new studies every year (if not every month) demonstrating the effects climate change has already had on the Earth and projecting the damage it will cause in the future. Storms, droughts, floods, famines, and mass extinctions are just a few of the consequences in store for our home if humans don't do something about the problem - and fast.</p>
<p>We've put together these charts, taken from some of these studies, to help you visualize just how real the effects of climate change are. These are just a few of the reasons you should be very, very afraid.</p>
<h2>Nothing is left unscathed<strong>.</strong></h2>
<p>As this chart from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC's) March 2014 <a href="http://ipcc-wg2.gov/AR5/images/uploads/WGIIAR5-TS_FGDall.pdf">working group report</a> shows, climate change will hit everything from the polar ice caps to our bank accounts.</p>
<p>The colorful icons show what kinds of effects have been observed so far around the world, and the little bars next to the icons show how much confidence scientists have that the effects were caused by climate change. In the Arctic and other parts of North America, for example, scientists have high confidence that glaciers, snow, ice, and permafrost are melting due to global warming.</p>
<p>But warming doesn't just impact weather: It changes the environments in which we grow our foods, changes the ecosystems in which the fish we eat live, increases the likelihood of wildfire, erodes the coastlines, and causes drought that robs populations of their water sources.</p>
<h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/53399e0aeab8ea477cf6ac9f-1200-1000/screen shot 2014-03-31 at 12.54.43 pm.png" border="0" alt="global impacts of climate change IPCC"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://ipcc-wg2.gov/AR5/images/uploads/IPCC_WG2AR5_SPM_Approved.pdf">IPCC</a></span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div></h2>
<h2><strong>Coastal cities will be wiped out.</strong></h2>
<p>All over the world, coastal cities are in danger of being wiped out by floods. This chart, <a href="http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/impacts/national-landmarks-at-risk-from-climate-change.html#.VCrQD5Rg7KA">published by the Union of Concerned Scientists</a>, focuses just on the United States, pointing out some of the country's historic landmarks that may be lost to rising sea levels or other extreme weather events.</p>
<p>The Statue of Liberty, Cape Hatteras lighthouse, and the Kennedy Space Center are just a few places that may one day exist only in history books.</p>
<h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/537cc278eab8ea9814dd3583-1200-706/screen shot 2014-05-21 at 11.11.36 am.png" border="0" alt="National Monuments At Risk Climate Change"><p class="source"><span>Union Of Concerned Scientists</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div></h2>
<h2><strong>The increasingly acidic ocean will kill its inhabitants.</strong></h2>
<p>As the ocean absorbs more carbon dioxide, chemical reactions cause the water's pH to fall. This chart from a recent <a href="https://www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/press_releases/documents/1002_GHG_Bulletin.pdf">World Meteorological Organization report</a> shows the ocean's pH over the past 20 years, according to a number of different studies (shown in different colors). The numbers are slightly different for each model, but all show a downward trend in ocean pH.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/540f6692eab8eaf25165a62c-856-740/ocean_chart_3  .png" border="0" alt="Ocean_Chart_3  "><p class="source"><span>World Meteorological Organization  </span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div>An acidifying ocean could spell the demise of all kinds of sea life that are not equipped to thrive under such acidic conditions, and can't adapt and evolve quick enough.</p>
<p>This <a href="http://ipcc-wg2.gov/AR5/images/uploads/WGIIAR5-TS_FGDall.pdf">IPCC chart</a> shows how four kinds of animals are being affected by ocean acidification. As you move from left to right on each graph at the bottom of the chart, pH decreases and the animals experience more negative effects. Acidification is especially harmful to animals like mollusks and corals, which use calcium carbonate to protect their bodies.</p>
<p>As pH drops, so do the levels of the molecules these animals use to produce and maintain their calcium carbonate shells.</p>
<h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5339acffecad04b445c92335-1105-876/screen shot 2014-03-31 at 1.55.42 pm.png" border="0" alt="Change in ocean PH and effect on species number"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://ipcc-wg2.gov/AR5/images/uploads/IPCC_WG2AR5_SPM_Approved.pdf">IPCC</a></span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div>Melting permafrost will pour more carbon into the atmosphere.</h2>
<p>As temperatures rise, permafrost - a layer of permanently frozen soil found in polar regions - will start to melt. When this happen, the ground can become softer or change shape, which can damage buildings and cause trees to lean or topple over.</p>
<p>Permafrost also contains trapped carbon, which is released into the atmosphere as it melts. This chart from <a href="http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1/">IPCC's Fifth Assessment</a>, released last year, shows several projections (shown in different colors) on how permafrost's surface area might decrease throughout the rest of the century. They all show a downward trend.</p>
<p>Currently, permafrost has an area between 12 and 17 million square kilometers. In this chart, the worst-case scenario projects permafrost shrinking down to 2 million square kilometers or less by 2100.</p>
<h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/541ca02a6da811a74cc4959d-1010-711/permafrost_1.png" border="0" alt="Permafrost_1"><p class="source"><span>IPCC</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div></h2>
<h2>Sea ice will melt.</h2>
<p>Another side effect of rising temperatures is melting ice. Numerous studies have shown that ice in the Earth's polar regions is melting, and models show it will continue to do so.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1/">IPCC Fifth Assessment</a> chart below shows different projections (shown by the different lines on the graph) on how Arctic sea ice area is expected to decrease throughout the century, using September - the month in which the most Arctic sea ice has melted each year before refreezing over the winter - as an example. Some of these models predict a totally ice-free September by 2050.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/541ca048ecad041d59662e0b-985-683/sea_ice_1.png" border="0" alt="Sea_Ice_1"><p class="source"><span>IPCC</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div>Less sea ice means less habitat for animals like polar bears, who depend on it for survival, and it also means more water will be melting into the ocean, leading to the next problem on this list.</p>
<h2><strong>Sea levels will rise.</strong></h2>
<p>As sea ice continues to melt, all that excess water will cause sea levels to rise. This spells disaster for coastal areas, which will inevitably flood as the water level creeps up.</p>
<p>This <a href="http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1/">IPCC Fifth Assessment</a> chart shows how much sea level rise scientists expect will be caused by a variety of different factors, including the melting of large ice chunks like the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. The chart also factors in thermal expansion - water's tendency to increase in volume as it gets warmer.</p>
<p>The gray section on the chart shows how much sea levels will rise when all of these factors are lumped together. This projection shows sea levels rising by nearly half a meter (that's 1.5 feet) or more by 2100.</p>
<h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/541cabe96bb3f7f13679747f-1061-794/sea_level_3.png" border="0" alt="Sea_Level_3"><p class="source"><span>IPCC</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div></h2>
<h2><strong>There isn't just one solution.</strong></h2>
<p>Just about every aspect of life contributes to carbon emissions. This chart from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency shows carbon emissions by sector in the United States - the second largest contributor to global carbon emissions. Surpassed only by China, the US pumps the most carbon into the air through the electricity sector, which is followed closely by the transportation sector.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/542ae351ecad04b261c17595-699-642/screen shot 2014-09-30 at 1.03.57 pm.png" border="0" alt="Carbon_Emissions_Sector"><p class="source"><span>US Environmental Protection Agency</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<h2><strong>It's happening faster than you know.</strong></h2>
<p>Climate change is caused by carbon emissions in the atmosphere, and humans are pumping out carbon at an unprecedented rate.</p>
<p>Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere increased at a record-breaking pace last year, <a href="https://www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/press_releases/documents/1002_GHG_Bulletin.pdf">new report shows</a>, with the biggest jump in atmospheric CO2 since scientists first started collecting detailed records in the 1980s.</p>
<p>This chart from the World Meteorological Organization's report&amp; shows how much carbon dioxide emissions have risen each year - the increase from 2012 to 2013 comes in at a whopping 2.9 parts per million of carbon dioxide added in just one year.</p>
<h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/540f3f22eab8eab02c65a62d-809-604/co2_chart_7.png" border="0" alt="CO2_Chart_7"><p class="source"><span>World Meteorological Organization</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div></h2>
<h2><strong>And we're running out of time.</strong></h2>
<p>Most scientists agree that keeping global temperatures within 2 degrees Celsius of their historic levels is our last chance to avoid the most extreme effects of climate change - any warmer, and the earth could launch into a spiral of terrible storms, droughts, fire, famines, and extinctions.</p>
<p>Keeping under 2 degrees was the goal agreed to at the <a href="http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2009/cop15/eng/l07.pdf">2009 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change</a>, but recent research shows we're on track to miss the mark within just a few decades.</p>
<p>This chart, which is part of a <a href="http://www.pwc.co.uk/assets/pdf/low-carbon-economy-index-2014.pdf">report released this month </a>by accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers, shows just how far off we are. It illustrates current rates of "decarbonization" - essentially reducing our use of carbon - compared with the rates needed to keep climate change in check.</p>
<p>At the rate we're going, we're on track to shatter our goal by a hefty 2 C by the end of the century (reaching a total of 4 degrees Celsius increase). In order to avoid such an outcome, we'd have to cut 6.2 percent of our emissions every year for the rest of the century - a monumental task.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54130ea46bb3f78a529d118c-891-604/pwcreport2.png" border="0" alt="PWCReport2"><p class="source"><span>PricewaterhouseCooper</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div>The charts don't lie: Climate change, if left unchecked, will have devastating and irreversible impacts on the planet.</p>
<p>Immediate action is needed to cut emissions and slow global warming, or the Earth - and all of its inhabitants - will suffer the consequences.</p>

Why You Should Be Afraid Of Climate Change In 10 Charts

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/51cc599f69bedd537100000f-800-600/santacruz-losglaciares-tempano02-1.jpg?maxX=480" border="0" alt="iceberg glacier" width="480" /><p class="source"><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SantaCruz-LosGlaciares-Tempano02.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></p></div><p></p></div>STOCKHOLM (AP) - Scientists can now say with extreme confidence that human activity is the dominant cause of the <keyword id="6366055" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="global-warming">global warming</keyword> observed since the 1950s, a new report by an international scientific group said Friday.</p>
<p>Calling man-made warming "extremely likely," the Intergovernmental Panel on <keyword id="6361617" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Climate-Change">Climate Change</keyword> used the strongest words yet on the issue as it adopted its assessment on the state of the climate system.</p>
<p>In its previous assessment, in 2007, the U.N.-sponsored panel said it was "very likely" that global warming was man-made.</p>
<p>It now says the evidence has grown thanks to more and better observations, a clearer understanding of the climate system and improved models to analyze the impact of rising temperatures.</p>
<p>"Our assessment of the science finds that the atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amount of snow and ice has diminished, the global mean sea level has risen and the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased," said Qin Dahe, co-chair of the working group that wrote the report.</p>
<p>The full 2,000-page report isn't going to be released until Monday, but a summary for policymakers with the key findings was published Friday. It contained few surprises as many of the findings had been leaked in advance.</p>
<p>As expected, the IPCC raised its projections of the rise in sea levels to 10-32 inches (26-82 centimeters) by the end of the century. The previous report predicted a rise of 7-23 inches (18-59 centimeters).</p>
<p>The IPCC assessments are important because they form the scientific basis of U.N. negotiations on a new climate deal. Governments are supposed to finish that agreement in 2015, but it's unclear whether they will commit to the emissions cuts that scientists say will be necessary to keep the temperature below a limit at which the worst effects of climate change can be avoided.</p>
<p>Using four scenarios with different emissions controls, the report projected that global average temperatures would rise by 0.3 to 4.8 degrees C by the end of the century. That's 0.5-8.6 F.</p>
<p>Only the two lower scenarios, which were based on significant cuts in CO2 emissions, came in below the 2-degree C (3.6 F) limit that countries have set as their target in the climate talks to avoid the worst impacts of warming.</p>
<p>At this point, emissions keep rising mainly due to rapid growth in China and other emerging economies. They say rich countries should take the lead on emissions cuts because they've pumped carbon into the atmosphere for longer.</p>
<p>Climate activists said the report should spur governments to action.</p>
<p>"There are few surprises in this report but the increase in the confidence around many observations just validates what we are seeing happening around us," said Samantha Smith, of the World Wildlife Fund.</p>
<p>One of the most controversial subjects in the report was how to deal with a purported slowdown in warming in the past 15 years. Climate skeptics say this "hiatus" casts doubt on the scientific consensus on climate change.</p>
<p>Many governments had objections over how the issue was treated in earlier drafts and some had called for it to be deleted altogether.</p>
<p>In the end, the IPCC made only a brief mention of the issue in the summary for policymakers, stressing that short-term records are sensitive to natural variability and don't in general reflect long-term trends.</p>
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UN Report Uses Its Strongest Language Ever To Say That Humans Are The Cause Of Global Warming

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5b2bec441ae6621a008b537a-2000/rtx3cgky.jpg" border="0" alt="James Hansen" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Brian Snyder" data-mce-caption="Climate change scientist Dr. James Hansen, a finalist for the inaugural Disobedience Award, is honored during &amp;quotDefiance!&quot; at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., July 21, 2017." /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Brian Snyder</span></p><p class="caption">Climate scientist James Hansen is honored at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, July 21, 2017.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>James Hansen, a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/nasa">NASA</a> climate scientist, thrust <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/climate-change">climate change</a> into the public spotlight 30 years ago in front of a Senate committee.</strong></li><li><strong>Hansen says we've failed to address the problem in the three decades since.</strong></li><li><strong>But he's not giving up. Along with his granddaughter, Hansen is a plaintiff in a case that is putting the onus on the federal government to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/kids-suing-government-for-climate-change-2016-11">solve the problem</a>. </strong></li></ul><hr /><p>Thirty years ago today, NASA climate scientist James Hansen gave a Senate committee a dire warning: the Earth's temperature was rising, and humans were to blame.</p><p>"<span>'It is time to stop waffling so much and say that the evidence is pretty strong that the greenhouse effect is here," Hansen <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/24/us/global-warming-has-begun-expert-tells-senate.html">told reporters</a> following his testimony.</span></p><p><span>June 23, 1988 is frequently cited as the first time climate change was thrust into the public spotlight and attributed to human activity. But in the three decades since, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/baby-boomers-millennials-climate-change-generations-2017-7">the problem has only gotten more dire</a>. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which had stayed under 300 parts per million (ppm) for all of recorded history,</span><span> <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/carbon-dioxide-record-human-health-effects-2018-5">exceeded 410 ppm in May</a>. That's the highest concentration in more than 800,000 years. </span></p><p><span>Although Hansen was instrumental in bringing the issue to the public's attention, he still wishes he was wrong - and he says we have failed miserably to combat the existential threat.</span></p><p><span>"All we've done is agree there's a problem," Hansen told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jun/19/james-hansen-nasa-scientist-climate-change-warning">The Guardian</a> in a recent interview. "We haven't acknowledged what is required to solve it."</span></p><p><span></span><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a3872af5124c97d3f90f9ca-800/house-panel-chair-introduces-81-billion-disaster-aid-bill.jpg" border="0" alt="FILE PHOTO: Jesus Rodriguez rescues Gloria Garcia after rain from Hurricane Harvey flooded Pearland, in the outskirts of Houston, Texas, U.S. August 27, 2017.  REUTERS/Adrees Latif/File Photo " data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="FILE PHOTO: Jesus Rodriguez rescues Gloria Garcia after rain from Hurricane Harvey flooded Pearland, in the outskirts of Houston" /><p class="source"><span>Thomson Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Climate change can cause more frequent storms and sea-level rise, leading to flooding.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p>Hansen continued to research climate change for the rest of his career and retired from NASA in 2013. But his work has continued: Last year, he <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/climate-change-will-cost-future-generations-trillions-2017-7">published a report</a> outlining how much it would cost to suck carbon dioxide back out of the atmosphere. His calculations suggest a sobering total of between $8 trillion and $535 trillion over 80 years, depending on how quickly emissions go down.</p><p>He's also now fighting the issue in court. Hansen and his granddaughter, <span>Sophie Kivlehan, are plaintiffs in a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/kids-suing-government-for-climate-change-2016-11">landmark case</a> in which</span> a group of 21 young people are suing the federal government for failing to prevent climate change despite detailed knowledge of the risks it poses.</p><p><span>Hansen's forthcoming book, "</span><span id="productTitle">Sophie's Planet: A Search for Truth About Our Remarkable Home Planet and Its Future," is structured as a series of letters to his granddaughter in which he outlines what needs to be done to combat climate change, down to the wonky details about policies like carbon taxes. </span></p><h2>Our mounting climate crisis</h2><p><span>The <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/baby-boomers-millennials-climate-change-generations-2017-7">greenhouse effect</a> that Hansen referred to in his 1988 testimony is the term for the process in which gases produced from the combustion of fossil fuels for energy production and transportation - like carbon dioxide and methane - are pumped into the atmosphere. The accumulation of those gases traps the sun's heat, preventing it from radiating back out into space. That, in turn, heats up the Earth, causing a cascade of changes to the climate, sea levels, and ecosystems around the world.</span></p><p><span>This process has already led <span style="font-weight: 400;">the planet's temperature to rise nearly 1 degree Celsius, <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/global-temperature/">according to NASA</a>.</span></span><span><span style="font-weight: 400;"></span></span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5acfd410146e7124008b47ab-916/screen shot 2018-04-12 at 54553 pm.png" border="0" alt="saving-our-world-co2-chart" data-mce-source="Skye Gould/Business Insider" /><p class="source"><span>Skye Gould/Business Insider</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p>Global temperatures are currently shattering records. Last year was the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-data-2017-was-second-warmest-year-on-record-2018-1">second hottest year ever recorded</a>, behind only 2016, according to NASA. And the five warmest years on record have all occurred since 2010. </p><p>Recent research has shown that because of this warming, the rate at which ice is melting in Antarctica <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/antarctica-ice-melt-glaciers-ice-shelf-collapse-2018-6">tripled</a> between 2012 and 2017. If greenhouse-gas emissions continue on their current course, sea levels could rise <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/miami-floods-sea-level-rise-solutions-2018-4">by over two feet</a> in the next four decades -  potentially drowning <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-citigroup-flooded-maps-2018-6">coastal</a> <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/san-francisco-bay-area-facebook-yahoo-underwater-by-2100-2018-3">cities</a> around the world. </p><p>Climate change is also probably contributing to the recent spate of wildfires and hurricanes that have ripped through the US. Research shows that warming temperatures increase the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-season-2017-maria-irma-harvey-2017-9">frequency and severity of hurricanes</a>, resulting in more intense storms. And 14 of the 20 largest wildfires in California's history <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ventura-county-la-fires-california-worsening-trend-2017-12">have occurred since 2000</a>, with the average wildfire season lasting two and a half months longer than it did in the early 1970s, according to Climate Nexus. </p><p>A <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/climate-may-be-15-warmer-than-previously-thought-by-2100-2017-12">recent study predicts</a> that global warming by the year 2100 could be up to 15% higher than even the highest projections from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - predictions that formed the basis of the Paris agreement.</p><h2><span>The 'wishful thinking' of Paris </span></h2><p><span>In order to avoid the most damaging effects of climate change, the global Paris climate agreement laid out a plan aimed at keeping Earth's average temperature from increasing more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.</span></p><p><span>But scientists have said the planet is likely to warm far beyond that threshold. Even if all the Paris signatories fulfill their pledges - and that's a big if - global temperatures are still expected to increase 3.2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century, according to a report from <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/paris-agreement-not-on-track-climate-change-2017-12">Climate Tracker</a>, an independent research group. </span></p><p><span>"Promises like <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-paris-agreement-climate-change-2017-6">Paris</a> don't mean much, it's wishful thinking. It's a hoax that governments have played on us since the 1990s," Hansen told the Guardian. </span></p><p><span>President Donald Trump, who champions <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-energy-plan-2016-10">fossil fuels like coal</a>, announced his intention to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-paris-agreement-climate-change-2017-6">pull the US out</a> of the Paris Agreement in June 2017.</span></p><p><span>Instead of global pacts that are hard to enforce, Hansen told <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sophies-Planet-Search-Remarkable-Future/dp/1632868946">The Guardian</a> that one of the best ways to reduce emissions would be to tax companies that emit gases that contribute to global warming, in order to encourage them to shift their business to more <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/exxon-shell-bp-announce-renewable-energy-and-climate-initiatives-2017-12">climate-friendly models</a>. </span></p><p><span>"The solution isn't complicated, it's not rocket <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword>," Hansen "Emissions aren't going to go down if the cost of fossil fuels isn't honest. Economists are very clear on this. We need a steadily increasing fee that is then distributed to the public."</span></p><h2><span>Renewable energy is a bright spot in the fight</span></h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5b214bb61ae6621a008b503e-2000/ap17095712525913.jpg" border="0" alt="solar farm" style="color: #000000;" data-mce-source="AP Photo/John Locher" data-mce-caption="This Aug. 13, 2014, file photo, shows an array of mirrors at the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating site in Primm, Nev" /><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/John Locher</span></p><p class="caption">An array of mirrors at the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating site in Primm, Nevada</p></div><p></p></div></div>The falling cost and quick growth of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/top-25-renewable-energy-companies-thomson-reuters-2017-11">renewable energy</a> is one promising area in the battle against rising temperatures. Energy sources like solar and wind do not create greenhouse gases, and are therefore clean and unlimited.</p><p>The world added more solar capacity than any other type of energy in 2017, outpacing all fossil fuels including coal and natural gas, according to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/solar-growth-outpaces-coal-oil-fossil-fuels-2018-4">a report</a> from the United Nations Environment Programme. </p><p>By 2050, renewable energy like wind and solar is set to provide almost 50% of the planet's energy, according to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/energy-report-suggests-rise-in-renewables-as-coal-declines-2018-6">a recent report</a> from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. <span>Bloomberg NEF expects $11.5 trillion will be invested in the renewable energy market between 2018 and 2050, as the costs of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/solar-power-cost-decrease-2018-5">producing power from renewable sources fall</a>.</span></p><p>In the same time span, coal will decline from providing 38% of the world's energy today, to just 11% 30 years from now. </p><h2><span>Young people are continuing the fight </span></h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/582f2b51ba6eb634008b533d-2048/265811090154293e5465ek.jpg" border="0" alt="Our Children's Trust plaintiffs" style="color: #000000;" data-mce-source="Andrea Willingham/Our Chidren's Trust" /><p class="source"><span>Andrea Willingham/Our Chidren's Trust</span></p><p class="caption">The youth plaintiffs at a courthouse in Eugene, Oregon.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><span>Hansen's granddaughter is now taking up the climate fight. </span></p><p><span>In the landmark court case, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/kids-suing-government-for-climate-change-2016-11">a group of 21 young people argue</a></span> that by failing to prevent climate change despite knowledge of its consequences, the federal government is violating their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.</p><p>The suit, <em>Juliana v. The United States, </em>was filed while President Barack Obama was in office, but his administration didn't settle, so the trial is now expected to start on October 29. </p><p>"<span>Young people are in a position where they have knowledge but they don't know what to do with it, and then it makes them feel hopeless," Aji Piper, one of the young plaintiffs <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/kids-suing-government-for-climate-change-2016-11">previously told Business Insider</a>. "For a lot of people, it gives them hope to see that younger generations are already taking things into their own hands."</span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/coastal-us-cities-underwater-climate-change-new-orleans-charleston-atlantic-city-miami-beach-cience-2017-7">6 major US cities could be underwater within 80 years - here are the disturbing 'after' images</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/07ryFmql-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

A famous scientist first warned Congress about climate change exactly 30 years ago today. James Hansen wishes he'd been wrong.

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/46595774.cms" /> While industrial growth triggered by the first leg of economic liberalisation in early nineties led to a sea change in India’s social fabric over the last couple of decades, <keyword id="31907" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Aviation">aviation</keyword> stands apart as a sector that is capable of fuelling drastic changes in terms of <keyword id="47276" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Economic-growth">economic growth</keyword>.<br />
<br /> In fact, for more than 40 years since independence, Indian aviation was a public sector monopoly, with <keyword id="2573" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Air-India">Air India</keyword> and <keyword id="1446" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="indian-airlines">Indian Airlines</keyword> as the two only operators serving the domestic and international market respectively. Liberalisation changed this for better as air taxi operators were allowed to serve the domestic market. While many private airlines entered and exited, a few players including Jet Airways survived the initial turbulence.<br />
<br />
The government’s decision to deregulate international air traffic in 2004 allowed private Indian carriers to extend their services to international routes. Leveraging positive policy ambience, airlines such as IndiGo and SpiceJet carved a niche for themselves by adopting a low-cost business model.<br />
<br /> A few factors such as foreign direct investment (<keyword id="44528" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="FDI">FDI</keyword>) in domestic airlines, low-cost carriers (LCC), information technology (IT) interventions and a rising need for regional connectivity have pushed the growth in the domestic aviation space.<br />
<br />
These have catapulted the size of Indian aviation to $16 billion, making it one among the top 10 aviation markets in the world and leading to bullish outlook among industry watchers. “The new entrants have now better business models to keep the business sustainable,” says Charles Dhanaraj, professor of Strategy and Global Leadership at IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland.<br />
<br /> In terms of additional passengers per year, India is expected to be among the top five air domestic travel markets globally by 2034, according to the <keyword id="6407098" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="International-Air-Transport-Association">International Air Transport Association</keyword> (IATA).<br />
<br /> Aircraft movements, passengers and freight at Indian airports are expected to grow at 4.2 %, 5.3% and 5%, respectively, for the next five years, according to estimates by <keyword id="54875" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Airports-Authority-of-India">Airports Authority of India</keyword> (AAI). “A major underexploited opportunity is the domestic freight transport.<br />
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There is increasing potential for moving high value goods domestically through air freight where there will be more movement in the coming years,” says Charles.<br />
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<strong>Investment galore </strong><br /> Significant growth in FDI inflows and a slew of government initiatives provided fodder for the sector’s transformation. FDI inflows in air transport during April 2000 to November 2014 stood at $543 million, as per data released by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). Recent investments from private players include IndiGo’s order for 250 A320neo airplanes from Airbus for $25.5 billion; AirAsia’s plans to add 10 more aircraft to its fleet by end of 2015, taking its total fleet to 15 aircraft; <keyword id="137192" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Star-Alliance">Star Alliance</keyword> plans to turn New Delhi’s T3 and Mumbai’s T2 Terminals into hubs; and the pact signed by Vistara, the airline by the Tata Group-Singapore Airlines (SIA) alliance, with SITA for aircraft communications, airline operations and network connectivity. According to Charles, the entry of Vistara and the growing interest of the foreign investors to be part of the growth of Indian aviation will propel the system.<br />
<br />
<strong>Government initiatives</strong><br />
The government, which has been bullish about pushing the sector’s growth, has projected that around 500 airports would be required by 2020. It has already approved the construction of five budget airports to improve regional connectivity and work on them will start from FY15 and launched tourist visa on arrival (TVoA) enabled by electronic travel authorisation (ETA) to 43 countries besides plans to privatise national airline Air India. Also, the Ministry of Civil Aviation also plans to list Airports Authority of India and Pawan Hans on the stock exchanges.<br />
<br />
The private sector is sought to be involved in a big way through the PPP model, with significant state support in terms of financing, concessional land allotment and tax holidays.<br />
<br />
Air Costa is one of the carriers that aim to leverage the expected growth in air transport between tier 2 and 3 cities. “We aim to tap the burgeoning tier II market by stimulating growth through better air connectivity to the tier I cities. Our choice of Embraer aircraft (E170 with 67 seats and E190 with 112 seats) complements this vision. From operating two Embraer aircraft to 4 destinations with 300 employees, we have grown to 4 aircraft serving 9 destinations with close to 750 employees within a year,” says Air Costa CEO Capt. KN Babu.<br />
<br />
<strong>Economy, Trade and Tourism</strong><br />
The aviation sector meets growing transportation needs of consumers—airlines registered in India carry 50 million passengers and 1.1 million tonnes of freight a year to, from and within India; more than 130,000 international flights depart India annually destined for 70 airports in 50 countries; domestically, more than 664,000 flights make 89 million seats available to passengers annually, destined to 73 airports. It also offers better connectivity—for instance, daily, there are 8 flights between Delhi and Dubai and more than 59 flights from Delhi to Bombay.<br /> The sector makes significant contribution to Indian <keyword id="35050" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="gdp">GDP</keyword> and provides millions of jobs.<br />
<br />
Among customers of airlines serving Indian airports, 76 per cent are local residents who get an economic benefit estimated to be worth INR 832 billion annually.<br />
<br />
This is in addition to the long-term benefits to the economy. Through investments and use of advanced technology, the aviation sector generates more gross value added (GVA) per employee than the economy as a whole, raising the overall productivity of the economy.<br />
Benefits are also accrued to the economy through the growth of ground-based infrastructure including airport facilities and the aerospace manufacturing space.<br />
<br />
Air transport lies at the heart of Indian tourism. Through its speed, convenience and affordability, air transport has expanded the possibilities of travel for tourists and business travelers alike, allowing an ever greater number of people to experience diversity of culture.<br />
<br />
Tourism, both for business and leisure purposes, makes a large contribution to the Indian economy, with foreign visitors spending over Rs 548 billion in the Indian economy each year. Around 89% of these visitors arrive by air, which means foreign visitors who travel by air spend approximately Rs 488 billion.<br />
<br />
Considering air freight makes up 34.6% of the value of global trade, aviation also provide a huge fillip to trade in the country.<br />
<br />
<strong>Hampering environment </strong><br />
However, the growth of aviation happens at the cost significant damage to the environment, including contribution to global warming. Aviation contributes to climate change by altering the composition of atmospheric gases. In addition to CO2, emissions from aviation combustion processes comprise NOx, SOx and VOC which pollute the fabric of atmosphere.<br />
<br />
According to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), CO2 emissions will grow 2.8% annually between 2000 and 2050 and are projected to make up 16% of total transportation carbon emissions, pointing to the need for a shift towards solar powered aircrafts in the long run. IPCC also calculates the climate impact of aviation to be 1.96 times that of CO2 impact. In addition to its contribution to climate change, aviation hampers ambient air quality, affecting public health. This is besides the negative environmental impact of noise pollution contributed by the growing number of aircraft.<br />
<br />
Against the background of Modi government’s Land Acquisition Bill, which aims to ease the process of acquisition of land for industrial purposes, land acquisition for the proposed airports too will prove to be a tough nut to crack both politically and economically.<br />
<br />
While the government's decision to allow airlines to import jet fuel will help airlines cut fuel costs by up to 20 per cent, lack of infrastructure at the hands of local airlines to import fuel directly would mean domestic carriers continuing to pay heavy federal and state taxes for buying fuel from domestic oil firms, adding to the debt pile-up of airlines most of which are losing money.<br />
<br />
There are also concerns about supporting infrastructure and taxation. “There is a huge need for up gradation of the airports at tier 2 cities where the major growth should happen, “ says Charles. “There is still scope for improvement in the airport infrastructure. Another concern is over-taxation – central and state taxes on fuel and maintenance as well as service taxes on air tickets are likely to hamper growth,” says Ramesh Lingamaneni, chairman of Air Costa.<br />
<br />
However, the clear silver lining is the expected growth in the number of aircraft as well as domestic and international passengers from India. This projected growth, along with India’s low air traffic density—72 compared with 282 in China and 2,896 in the US—signals a huge untapped potential, considering rising disposable income levels and the burgeoning young population.<br />
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As IATA CEO Tony Tyler put it, the world is focused on Indian aviation – from manufacturers, tourism boards, airlines, global businesses to individual travellers, shippers and businessmen. Consensus among these stakeholders, right policies and focus on quality, cost and passenger interest will transform India to one of the largest aviation markets within a couple of decades.<br />
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<em>Image: thinkstock </em><br />



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An Amazon employee explains why thousands of workers want the company to stop selling cloud services to oil companies, just like it won't sell guns

Julie Bort

Why You Should Be Afraid Of Climate Change In 10 Charts

Chelsea Harvey

UN Report Uses Its Strongest Language Ever To Say That Humans Are The Cause Of Global Warming

Karl Ritter, AP

A famous scientist first warned Congress about climate change exactly 30 years ago today. James Hansen wishes he'd been wrong.

Jeremy Berke

Why India is likely to emerge one of the largest aviation markets

Preetam Kaushik