The record-breaking and destructive forest fires of the summer of 2023 made headlines. But how did they affect the millions of lakes in the burned catchment areas?
Afforestation is one way to offset greenhouse gas emissions. Yet it is not always easy to navigate the different types of projects or methods available, and the possibility of greenwashing is ever-present.
(Shutterstock)
Offsetting greenhouse gas emissions can be an effective tool for limiting global warming. But many offset projects fail to meet their GHG reduction targets.
Blue carbon is stored in mangroves, seagrass and sediments. Discussions at the UN Ocean Decade conference reiterate the importance of preserving existing sea floor habitats, before it’s too late.
Water from the Mackenzie River, seen from a satellite, carries silt and nutrients from land to the Arctic Ocean.
Jesse Allen/NASA Earth Observatory
Underground thermal networks have the potential to revolutionize how Canadians heat their homes while helping to reduce carbon emissions.
Flares burn at the Shell Norco Manufacturing Complex in 2021, in Norco, La. Plants like this produce not only greenhouse gas emissions, but also excess heat.
(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Human societies produce huge amounts of excess heat. Turning it into electricity could play a key role in achieving a net-zero society.
Peat is a natural carbon sink but is often found in house plants and other retail products, particularly within the food and farming industry.
New Africa/Shutterstock
Over two billion years from now, Earth will no longer be able to sustain life. A new study looks at how much life has ever existed and what this means for the discovery of new life-supporting planets.
A wildfire burns a section of forest in the Grande Prairie district of Alberta.
(Government of Alberta Fire Service/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
Current greenhouse gas inventories in Canada only consider “managed” lands. This must change before we can truly understand the scale of Canada’s carbon emissions.
The deal is a global aspiration, not a legally binding agreement. But it should end the idea that burning carbon – in Australia and elsewhere – can continue on a significant scale beyond 2050.
COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber, centre, attends a plenary session at the COP28 UN Climate Summit, Dec. 8, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Al-Jaber is an oil executive whose statements on fossil-fuel phase outs have proved controversial.
(AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Does the science support the need for a fossil fuel phase out to reach 1.5 C? The answer depends on whether we believe that carbon capture and removal technologies can be deployed safely at scale.
New Zealand’s new government has vowed to explore ‘blue carbon’ options for removing atmospheric CO₂ to meet net zero goals. But first we need a national strategy for this developing field of science.
Drought has affected river levels in the River Negro in Brazil’s Amazonas state.
Andre Coelho/EPA
Brazil’s rainforest is a massive carbon store, so its severe drought could be a tipping point for the global climate. Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast.
People walk through the COP28 UN Climate Summit on Dec. 6, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
(AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
Carbon capture and sequestration can play a role in limiting warming but the nuances of its application are far more complicated than just planting trees. Getting it wrong could make warming worse.
Steel production in an electric arc furnace.
Norenko Andrey/Shutterstock
Tackling the climate crisis starts with breaking our addiction to fuel. A task complicated by fuels essential role in both promoting and threatening global human security.
Dans un monde aux ressources finies, les effets des activités humaines sur l’environnement hypothèquent gravement le futur des générations à venir.
Unsplash
Climate action should be framed not as a sacrifice but as an investment that can generate economic savings and improve human and ecosystem health today.
Planting trees to offset carbon is meaningless if the trees are lost to fire. A new way of understanding carbon storage based on both time and quantity stored is required to fully utilize carbon storage in climate change mitigation strategies.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Tracking both the amount of carbon and the time that it remains stored is key to unlocking the potential of nature-based carbon storage as a climate mitigation strategy.
Géochronologue et paléoclimatologue, chargé de recherches CNRS - Centre de recherches pétrographiques et géochimiques (Nancy) et Laboratoire de glaciologie (Bruxelles), Université de Lorraine