Climate Threat Global Challenges

 

Drones to Warn When Climate Reaches Threshold

An armada of drones, cosmic rays, patterns in plankton blooms linked to AI and the most detailed computer models to date are to form a warning system for so-called climate thresholds, writes the Guardian.

According to researchers, there are at least 16 thresholds, but this project focuses on two: the Greenland ice sheet and a collapse of the Gulf Stream.

The British investment of the equivalent of 1.1 billion kronor is a lot of money in a research context, writes the newspaper.

At the same time, the sums are small compared to "the cost of the consequences of going over one or both thresholds," says Professor Tim Lenton, who leads one of the projects in the initiative.

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Climate & environment
Advanced plastic sorting can bring major climate benefits

Agneta Elmegård

Updated 11.45 | Published 11.14

          

Studies show that advanced plastic sorting can reduce climate impact. Photo: Ivl/Swedish             Environmental Institute

More accurate sorting by plastic type can provide more life cycles for plastic and more effective climate benefits.

         

          Best in plastic in the world – but too few Swedes recycle

          2:06

The results of a survey conducted by IVL Swedish Environmental Institute, Swedish Plastic Recycling and the Terra research institute show that the more advanced sorting of plastic that is used, the lower the climate impact can be.

– With better sorting where different types of plastic are sorted out separately, the plastic can be recycled into new packaging or other products without unnecessary quality losses. The material can then be recycled several times. This reduces both the need for primary raw materials and incineration, comments Emma Moberg, researcher and LCA expert at IVL, in a press release.

In the comparison between three ways of handling plastic waste, the climate impact was found to be greatest in the case without recycling. Low-quality recycling was found to have a slightly lower climate impact. However, the climate benefit was significantly greater in the case of advanced sorting and high-quality recycling.

Lower emissions with more careful sorting

“The longer we can maintain the quality of the plastic in the life cycle through advanced sorting, the lower emissions we can have in the system,” says Tomas Ekvall at the research and consulting company TERRA, lead author of the study.

The regulations that Sweden has today when it comes to recycling plastic favor material recycling over incineration, but do not take into account the benefits of circular models, the researchers say.

Klimathotet • Globala utmaningarna

Drönare ska varna när klimatet når tröskelpunkt

En armada av drönare, kosmisk strålning, mönster i planktonblomning kopplat till AI och de just nu mest detaljerade datamodellerna ska bilda ett varningssystem för så kallade tröskelpunkter för klimatet, skriver Guardian.

Enligt forskare finns minst 16 tröskelpunkter men det här projektet riktar in sig på två: Grönlands inlandsis och en kollaps för Golfströmmen.

Den brittisk satsningen på motsvarande 1,1 miljarder kronor är mycket pengar i forskningssammanhang, skriver tidningen.

Samtidigt är summorna små jämfört med ”kostnaden för konsekvenserna av att gå över en eller båda tröskelpunkterna”, säger professor Tim Lenton som leder ett av projekten i satsningen.