Science, Technology, and Public Policy

Kelly Sims Gallagher asserts that politicians' pledges of dramatic long-term reductions should not let them off the hook for their failure to achieve more modest progress in the short term.

There is an urgent need to incorporate the latest science on carbon emissions from permafrost thaw and northern wildfires into international consideration of how much more aggressively societal emissions must be reduced to address the global climate crisis.

The Arctic region is changing rapidly, and the speed of ongoing change makes adaptation extremely challenging. Governments, indigenous peoples, local communities, researchers, and businesses must work together to build resilience to the social-ecological changes that are underway. With that goal in mind, the Arctic Initiative this fall helped launch the Arctic Resilience Forum—a highly successful 10-week international online forum. 

Arctic Innovator Jenna Stark recommends closing the crisis-related collaboration gap in the polar region. Greater communication between emergency response specialists is needed both for the Arctic to weather the current coronavirus crisis and also to prepare for and mitigate future disasters, such as assuring food security for remote communities in the event of a wildlife disease outbreak.

Climate change is opening Arctic sea lanes. With timely investment in green infrastructure, that could mean fewer — not more — emissions. Electrified ports would catalyze the greening of global shipping by supporting electric ships, a technology already benefiting from innovation.

Kaveri Iychettira and Afreen Siddiqi explain why computational modelling is a useful tool, especially when stakes are high and resources are constrained, and detail why developing countries should build capacity for it. 

In this episode of Resources Radio, host Daniel Raimi talks with David Keith, a physics and public policy professor at Harvard University and one of the world's leading experts on solar geoengineering. Keith outlines prominent examples of solar geoengineering technologies in development—from ambitious ideas, such as sending aerosols to the stratosphere, to more operational solutions, like painting roofs white to reflect more sunlight into space. An advocate for research on solar geoengineering, Keith discusses how coalitions among like-minded nations and clearer guidance from policymakers could expand deployment of promising technologies.

Joel Clement describes how the Arctic is transforming into a warmer, wetter, and less predictable climate state, what the consequences are for the Arctic's indigenous inhabitants, and what measures can be taken to build resilience.

David Eaves writes that the most significant lesson coming out of the COVID-19 crisis  is the importance of having a digital strategy and a technological infrastructure in place at both the national and local levels.

In this report, the authors conduct a benchmarking analysis for energy and CO2 emissions intensity of the steel industry among the largest steel-producing countries.