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By measuring your greenhouse gas emissions and by reducing them accordingly you can be the change you want to see as of today
The planet has entered a state of emergency with unprecedented risk of damage to humanity and the environment. Global warming and the collapse of biodiversity are having fatal consequences on an exponential scale. Urgent action is needed at all levels – everywhere and now – to confront the threat.
Imagine a world where climate action for zero emissions is the natural course of action for everyone, entity or individual. 2050Today is about measuring our greenhouse gas emissions and reducing them accordingly to bring about the change we want today.
United by this vision, 60 institutions in international Geneva have decided to take action to confront the challenge of climate change by implementing 2050Today. Permanent Missions, international organisations and civil society entities have committed to measure and reduce their emissions while confirming their willingness to cooperate together for effective, inclusive and sustainable climate action.
Joining or supporting 2050Today means participating in a coalition of entities resolutely committed to reducing emissions and concerned about acting in accordance with a sustainable planet for future generations.
Tiny proportion of world’s land surface hosts carbon-rich forests and peatlands that would not recover before 2050 if lost
Source : The Guardian
November 29, 2021
Researchers argue that the shift to carbon-free energy is gaining momentum, largely because of economic benefits.
Source : Inside Climate News
November 25, 2021
As the impacts of climate change add up, economists are trying to figure out what the true cost of a tonne of carbon really is.
Source : BBC Future
November 19, 2021
October 2021 was Earth’s fourth-warmest October since global record-keeping began in 1880, 0.89 degree Celsius (1.60°F) above the 20th-century average, NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information,
Source : Yale Climate Connections
November 19, 2021
Geneva, 25 October 2021 (WMO) – The abundance of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere once again reached a new record last year, with the annual rate of increase above the 2011-2020 average. That trend has continued in 2021, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Greenhouse Gas Bulletin.
Source : World Meteorological Organization
October 25, 2021
Climate intervention is laden with risk, but researchers are gingerly exploring the options.
Source : Yale Climate Connections
October 8, 2021
Even a planned facility 10 times larger would have almost no impact on the 33 billion tons of carbon to be emitted this year.
Source : Inside Climate News
September 9, 2021
A new report finds that up to 85 percent of threatened animal and plant species have had their habitat damaged by mining, agriculture or logging.
Source : Inside Climate News
September 6, 2021
The concentration of greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere hit their highest level ever recorded in 2020, while the year was overall the warmest on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) annual review.
Source : The Hill
August 27, 2021
Hybrit sends steel made with hydrogen production process to Volvo, which plans to use it in prototype vehicles and components
Source : The Guardian
August 23, 2021
As the world warms, these Earth systems are changing : SEA, ICE, LAND.
Could further warming make them spiral out of contraol ?
Source : Grist
August 6, 2021
Cutting emissions more urgent than ever, say scientists, with forest producing more than a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide a year
Source : The Guardian
July 15, 2021
To keep global warming below 1.5°, we must at all costs avoid depleting our carbon budget. All organisations must therefore reduce their emissions as much as possible – and as soon as possible – in order to comply with the IPCC special report’s warning to limit global warming to 1.5°C. At current emissions levels, this budget will be exhausted within a few years and well before 2030. Every moment is counting and the countdown is not stopping. So the time to act is today.
The MCC Carbon Clock shows how much CO2 can be released into the atmosphere to limit global warming to a maximum of 1.5°C and 2°C, respectively. Once the remaining time has elapsed these thresholds will be exceeded. With just a few clicks, you can compare the estimates for both temperature targets and see how much time is left in each scenario.
The world total carbon footprint in 2019 due to human emissions was around 37 gigatons of CO2 eq. These huge emissions are the accumulation of many and many … billions of big and small emissions that are the result of life styles and consumption.
To reach net zero emissions by 2050, the individual carbon footprint should not exceed 700 kg/ year of CO2 eq.
For the time being, the average individual footprint in Switzerland is 14 t CO2 eq. It means, we should divide our carbon footprint by 20. Let’s start and take up the challenge today.
Here is the carbon footprint of some everyday life aspects, be it the production of goods or the consumption of services (average values):
160 g can be compared to the weight a banana. It means that for each km by car we send a CO2 banana in the atmosphere …
Just imagine how it would be if these bananas were left on the roads
| Sources | Co2 Equivalent kg |
|---|---|
| One car | 4000 - 7000 |
| One personal computer | 165 |
| One smartphone | 33 |
| One e-mail | 0.020 |
| One kg of office paper | 1.2 |
| One Plastic bottle (33 cl.) | 0.070 |
| Vegetarian meal | 1.7 |
| Non-vegetarian meal | 3.6 |
| Coffee (1cup) | 0.113 |
| Green Electricity (kWh) | 0.007 |
| 1 km by petrol car | 0.160 |
| 1 km by train (in Switzerland) | 0.007 |
The carbon footprint is only one part of the impact of human beings on planet Earth. To get a glimpse of our global impact, take a look at the graphic below.
We should also keep in mind how quickly our impact has grown. The Earth, our only available habitat, appeared some 4.5 billion years ago. The ancestors of human beings first appeared less than 10 million years ago.
In other words, if you were to compress the entire history of the Earth into 24 hours, the first Homo sapiens would only arrive in the last few seconds and the advent of agriculture would only be a blink of an eye before midnight.
To have a closer look, follow Living in the Age of Humans, a series of stories that examine the impacts of human presence on Earth.
Major environmental-change categories expressed as a percentage relative to intact baseline. Red indicates percentage of category damaged, lost or otherwise affected; blue indicates percentage intact, remaining or unaffected. Frontiers in Conservation Science
