Fast Track to Net Zero: How to Become Part of the Solution

Fast Track to Net Zero: How to Become Part of the Solution PDF

Author: Andre Canelhas

Publisher: Netz

Published: 2021-11-19

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 9781399902601

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This book intends to untangle the Climate Change discussion, keeping it unbiased, factual, scientific, and, above all, unpoliticized. In Paris in December 2015, all members of the United Nations agreed to hold temperature increases below 2°C and as close as possible to 1.5°C. Probably the best we can hope for now is holding increases globally to less than 2.0°C. This could be achieved if the world moves decisively towards zero net emissions by 2050. To absorb the impact of the raised temperatures the UK and other countries will have to spend billions to mitigate impacts. The intention is shedding light on climate change and Net-Zero target strategies. Europe has this summer of 2021 a new European Climate Law. It aims at transforming political promises into a binding legal obligation and send a strong political signal to Europe's partners and businesses. It will write Europe's climate neutrality target for 2050 into law and propose the path to get there. It will give European citizens and businesses the predictability, transparency, and accountability they need for this collective transformation. Opportunities for new business roles will open. Through the European Climate Law, the European Commission proposes a legally binding target of Net-Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The EU Institutions and the Member States are bound to take the necessary measures to meet the EU and national levels. How to use the opportunity? After Covid19, can we recover and improve prosperity? Before the pandemic, sustainability was rising in importance. However, the most devastating event suddenly materialized. The magnitude and impacts of the crisis Covid19 created and its consequences will be a heavy burden in the coming years. Can the world afford to pay attention to climate change and the broader sustainability plan at this time? The idea with the book is that there is no option. We need to embrace the strategy to achieve Net-Zero by 2050 to overcome both the pandemic crisis and achieve carbon neutrality as soon as possible. Massive action and opportunities will be available in most areas of the economy. Delaying further the Net-Zero actions is huge gambling waiting for a crisis that will dwarf Covid19 as a mild event. Climate change is a different type of enemy. The climate events are already accumulating strength in a phenomenal built-up with gradual and cumulative power to deploy multiple attacks with undefendable blows. The pandemic could have a dynamic response measured in weeks, months, and years where actions produce results in weeks. The climate events' time scale has its answer and continued strength creating a fight to last for years, decades and centuries. The impacts in an already fragile economy are unbearable.

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster PDF

Author: Bill Gates

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2021-02-16

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 0385546149

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#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical—and accessible—plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe. Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide to certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal. He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. Drawing on his understanding of innovation and what it takes to get new ideas into the market, he describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions, where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively, where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete, practical plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions—suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers, and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise. As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but if we follow the plan he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.

Drawdown

Drawdown PDF

Author: Paul Hawken

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2017-04-18

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 1524704652

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• New York Times bestseller • The 100 most substantive solutions to reverse global warming, based on meticulous research by leading scientists and policymakers around the world “At this point in time, the Drawdown book is exactly what is needed; a credible, conservative solution-by-solution narrative that we can do it. Reading it is an effective inoculation against the widespread perception of doom that humanity cannot and will not solve the climate crisis. Reported by-effects include increased determination and a sense of grounded hope.” —Per Espen Stoknes, Author, What We Think About When We Try Not To Think About Global Warming “There’s been no real way for ordinary people to get an understanding of what they can do and what impact it can have. There remains no single, comprehensive, reliable compendium of carbon-reduction solutions across sectors. At least until now. . . . The public is hungry for this kind of practical wisdom.” —David Roberts, Vox “This is the ideal environmental sciences textbook—only it is too interesting and inspiring to be called a textbook.” —Peter Kareiva, Director of the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, UCLA In the face of widespread fear and apathy, an international coalition of researchers, professionals, and scientists have come together to offer a set of realistic and bold solutions to climate change. One hundred techniques and practices are described here—some are well known; some you may have never heard of. They range from clean energy to educating girls in lower-income countries to land use practices that pull carbon out of the air. The solutions exist, are economically viable, and communities throughout the world are currently enacting them with skill and determination. If deployed collectively on a global scale over the next thirty years, they represent a credible path forward, not just to slow the earth’s warming but to reach drawdown, that point in time when greenhouse gases in the atmosphere peak and begin to decline. These measures promise cascading benefits to human health, security, prosperity, and well-being—giving us every reason to see this planetary crisis as an opportunity to create a just and livable world.

Accelerating Decarbonization of the U.S. Energy System

Accelerating Decarbonization of the U.S. Energy System PDF

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher:

Published: 2021-12-02

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 9780309682923

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The world is transforming its energy system from one dominated by fossil fuel combustion to one with net-zero emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the primary anthropogenic greenhouse gas. This energy transition is critical to mitigating climate change, protecting human health, and revitalizing the U.S. economy. To help policymakers, businesses, communities, and the public better understand what a net-zero transition would mean for the United States, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine convened a committee of experts to investigate how the U.S. could best decarbonize its transportation, electricity, buildings, and industrial sectors. This report, Accelerating Decarbonization of the United States Energy System, identifies key technological and socio-economic goals that must be achieved to put the United States on the path to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The report presents a policy blueprint outlining critical near-term actions for the first decade (2021-2030) of this 30-year effort, including ways to support communities that will be most impacted by the transition.

Speed & Scale

Speed & Scale PDF

Author: John Doerr

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2021-11-09

Total Pages: 449

ISBN-13: 0593420489

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“If you care about climate change, John Doerr’s new book, Speed & Scale, offers concrete steps that we can all take to make a difference.” - Barack Obama With clear-eyed realism and an engineer’s precision, Doerr lays out the practical actions, global ambitions, and economic investments we need to avert climate catastrophe. Guided by real-world solutions, Speed & Scale features unprecedented, firsthand accounts from climate leaders such as Laurene Powell Jobs, Christiana Figueres, Al Gore, Mary Barra, John Kerry, and dozens of other intrepid policymakers, innovators, and scientists. In Speed & Scale, Doerr presents a compelling 10-step plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050–the global goal we need to reach to ensure a livable Earth for generations to come. From electrifying our energy grid to fixing our global food supply chain to capturing carbon from the air, Speed & Scale contains practical solutions for policymakers and entrepreneurs alike. As the world confronts an urgent climate crisis, Doerr reminds us that it is also the greatest economic opportunity of our lifetimes. Whether you’re a climate scientist or someone striving to make a difference in your local community, this book will help you to activate the sustainable solutions the world urgently needs. Praise for Speed & Scale: “Everybody should get Speed & Scale by John Doerr.” - Meryl Streep “A practical guide for participation in decarbonizing the global economy, a task as challenging as it is urgent.” - Christiana Figueres

Making Climate Policy Work

Making Climate Policy Work PDF

Author: Danny Cullenward

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2020-10-07

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 1509544941

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For decades, the world’s governments have struggled to move from talk to action on climate. Many now hope that growing public concern will lead to greater policy ambition, but the most widely promoted strategy to address the climate crisis – the use of market-based programs – hasn’t been working and isn’t ready to scale. Danny Cullenward and David Victor show how the politics of creating and maintaining market-based policies render them ineffective nearly everywhere they have been applied. Reforms can help around the margins, but markets’ problems are structural and won’t disappear with increasing demand for climate solutions. Facing that reality requires relying more heavily on smart regulation and industrial policy – government-led strategies – to catalyze the transformation that markets promise, but rarely deliver.

Leave No One Behind

Leave No One Behind PDF

Author: Homi Kharas

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Published: 2019-10-29

Total Pages: 335

ISBN-13: 081573784X

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The ambitious 15-year agenda known as the Sustainable Development Goals, adopted in 2015 by all members of the United Nations, contains a pledge that “no one will be left behind.” This book aims to translate that bold global commitment into an action-oriented mindset, focused on supporting specific people in specific places who are facing specific problems. In this volume, experts from Japan, the United States, Canada, and other countries address a range of challenges faced by people across the globe, including women and girls, smallholder farmers, migrants, and those living in extreme poverty. These are many of the people whose lives are at the heart of the aspirations embedded in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. They are the people most in need of such essentials as health care, quality education, decent work, affordable energy, and a clean environment. This book is the result of a collaboration between the Japan International Cooperation Research Institute and the Global Economy and Development program at Brookings. It offers practical ideas for transforming “leave no one behind” from a slogan into effective actions which, if implemented, will make it possible to reach the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. In addition to policymakers in the field of sustainable development, this book will be of interest to academics, activists, and leaders of international organizations and civil society groups who work every day to promote inclusive economic and social progress.

Environmental Engineering for the 21st Century

Environmental Engineering for the 21st Century PDF

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2019-03-08

Total Pages: 125

ISBN-13: 0309476550

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Environmental engineers support the well-being of people and the planet in areas where the two intersect. Over the decades the field has improved countless lives through innovative systems for delivering water, treating waste, and preventing and remediating pollution in air, water, and soil. These achievements are a testament to the multidisciplinary, pragmatic, systems-oriented approach that characterizes environmental engineering. Environmental Engineering for the 21st Century: Addressing Grand Challenges outlines the crucial role for environmental engineers in this period of dramatic growth and change. The report identifies five pressing challenges of the 21st century that environmental engineers are uniquely poised to help advance: sustainably supply food, water, and energy; curb climate change and adapt to its impacts; design a future without pollution and waste; create efficient, healthy, resilient cities; and foster informed decisions and actions.

Net Zero Energy Design

Net Zero Energy Design PDF

Author: Thomas Hootman

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2012-10-15

Total Pages: 464

ISBN-13: 1118018540

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Conveniently organized and packed with robust technical content and clear explanations of key principles Written by an architect who is the director of sustainability at a global architecture firm, Net Zero Energy Design is a practical guide for architects and related construction professionals who want to design and build net zero energy commercial architecture. It offers no-nonsense strategies, step-by-step technical analysis, and valuable examples, in addition to developed case studies. With a focus on application in a variety of building types and scales, the book also develops a broad-based understanding of all the integrated principles involved in achieving net zero energy. This book is an indispensable resource for anyone venturing into net zero energy design, construction, and operation, and it also serves as an excellent resource on a variety of sustainable design topics. Important features include: Organization based upon the commercial building delivery process Robust technical content for use in actual project applications Analysis examples that demonstrate key technical principles Plenty of design data for use as a valuable design resource Abundant and sophisticated information graphics and color illustrations and photographs A distinct design focus on the content that inspires adoption of principles into projects

The World's Greenest Buildings

The World's Greenest Buildings PDF

Author: Jerry Yudelson

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-01-17

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 1136177655

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The World’s Greenest Buildings tackles an audacious task. Among the thousands of green buildings out there, which are the best, and how do we know? Authors Jerry Yudelson and Ulf Meyer examined hundreds of the highest-rated large green buildings from around the world and asked their owners to supply one simple thing: actual performance data, to demonstrate their claims to sustainable operations. This pivotal book presents: an overview of the rating systems and shows "best in class" building performance in North America, Europe, the Middle East, India, China, Australia and the Asia-Pacific region practical examples of best practices for greening both new and existing buildings a practical reference for how green buildings actually perform at the highest level, one that takes you step-by-step through many different design solutions a wealth of exemplary case studies of successful green building projects using actual performance data from which to learn interviews with architects, engineers, building owners and developers and industry experts, to provide added insight into the greening process This guide uncovers some of the pitfalls that lie ahead for sustainable design, and points the way toward much faster progress in the decade ahead.