Earthshot Prize

The Earthshot Prize is an ambitious and prestigious effort organized by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to incentivize change and help repair our planet over the next ten years. Taking inspiration from President John F. Kennedy’s Moonshot, which united millions of people around an organising goal to put man on the moon, and catalyzed the development of new technology in the 1960s, The Earthshot Prize is centered around five ‘Earthshots’ – simple but ambitious goals for our planet which, if achieved by 2030, will improve life for us all, for generations to come.

Five, one million-pound prizes will be awarded each year for the next ten years, providing at least 50 solutions to the world’s greatest environmental problems by 2030. The Royal Highnesses hope to convene the environmental world with funders, businesses and individuals to maximise impact and take solutions to scale, to celebrate the people and places driving change; and to inspire people all over the world to work together to repair the planet.

The Earthshot Prize is being sponsored by The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge but is planned to become its own entity by the end of 2021. Go to "Earthshot Prize" to learn more.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Brilliant thinkers, Carbon emissions, Climate change, Climate innovation fund, LINKS, Solving climate

December 4, 2019

2019 CO2 Emissions Break Records

Scientific American reported that global carbon emissions will hit an all-time high in 2019, eclipsing the record set in 2018. According to a report from the Global Carbon Project, an international research consortium that is tracking greenhouse gases, emissions from industrial activities and the burning of fossil fuels will pump an estimated 36.8 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. And total carbon emissions from all human activities, including agriculture and land use, will likely cap off at about 43.1 billion tons.

The Global Carbon Project’s estimate reflects a 0.6% increase in the world’s fossil fuel emissions for 2019, representing their “preliminary” estimate, so the number is not final. However, despite the jump from 2018, this number is a conservative estimate reflecting a lower growth rate for emissions than seen in previous years. It is not clear if the slowing growth of emissions will continue in the long term. Other recent short-term trends have sparked temporary optimism, only to quickly reverse themselves.

Between 2014 and 2016, global carbon emissions remained mostly flat, raising hopes the world’s carbon output may have peaked for good. But emissions began to rise again in 2017 and have continued growing through 2019.

Read more at Scientific American, "CO2 Emissions Will Break Another Record in 2019."

Published by Nucleation Capital in Carbon emissions, Climate change, Climate mayhem, Extreme weather, History Timeline, LINKS, Solving climate

November 26, 2019

UN Environment Programme: Emissions Gap Report 2019

Each year for the last decade, the UN Environment Programme’s Emissions Gap Report has compared where greenhouse gas emissions are headed, against where they should be to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Each year, the report has found that the world is not doing enough. Emissions have only risen, hitting a new high of 55.3 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2018. The UNEP Emissions Gap Report 2019 finds that even if all unconditional Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement are implemented, we are still on course for a 3.2°C temperature rise.
Read more about our emissions challenge at UN Environment Programme: "Emissions Gap Report 2019."

Published by Nucleation Capital in Carbon emissions, Climate change, Climate policy, Future of Energy, LINKS

October 29, 2019

All Pathways to 1.5°C Limit Include Nuclear

Hoesung Lee, Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), delivered an address on the opening day of the International Conference on Climate Change and the Role of Nuclear Power, held in Vienna in the second week of October. 2019. He will review the findings of the report released a year ago by the IPCC, which featured four model pathways for limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, the threshold at which most experts believe the worst impacts from climate change can still be avoided. All four model pathways included increases in nuclear power generation by 2050, ranging between 59% and 501%.

To support the low-carbon energy transformation needed to achieve climate change goals, the conference focused on opportunities and challenges for nuclear power development. To this end, organizers brought together representatives of low-carbon energy sectors, international organizations and national experts.

IAEA Acting Director General Cornel Feruta opened the conference. Other prominent speakers included Liu Zhenmin, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs; William D. Magwood, IV, Director-General of the NEA ; Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency; LI Yong, Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization; and senior officials and scientists from 75 countries including Argentina, China, Egypt, France, India, Mongolia, Morocco, the Russian Federation and the United States of America.

“Nuclear power has long made a major contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and currently produces one-third of the world’s low carbon electricity while also supporting sustainable development and fulfilling growing energy demands,” said IAEA Deputy Director General Mikhail Chudakov, Head of the Department of Nuclear Energy. “We are honoured that Dr. Hoesung Lee, one of the world’s leading scientific voices on climate change, is bringing his expertise to this first-of-a-kind conference.”

Read more at the International Atomic Energy Agency, "IPCC Head to Speak at International Conference on Climate Change and the Role of Nuclear Power," by Jeffrey Donovan, August 29, 2019.

Published by Nucleation Capital in 100% Renewables, Advanced Nuclear, Carbon emissions, Climate change, Climate policy, Environmental support for nuclear, Future of Energy, History Timeline, LINKS, Politicians supporting nuclear, Scientific debate, Solving climate

May 6, 2019

Ocasio-Cortez’ Green New Deal Leaves the Door Open to Nuclear

Green New Deal sponsor Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez still has an “open mind” on nuclear energy. “I don’t take a strong anti- or pro-position on it,” the New York Democrat said about nuclear energy in an interview in mid-2019.

While Ocasio-Cortez has an "open mind" on nuclear energy, she differentiates between the decades-old plants in the United States and more advanced technologies under development. Her Green New Deal resolution, which calls for “clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy” to meet 100 percent of U.S. power needs in the next 10 years, “leaves the door open on nuclear so that we can have that conversation,” she said.

Ocasio-Cortez, alongside many other progressive lawmakers and environmental groups, is pushing for an expedited U.S. energy transition, showed that she retains an open mind towards getting answers to the typically controversial questions over whether the technology will improve and whether the markets would adopt future generations of nuclear power.

Passing the Green New Deal resolution, she said, “is what will allow us to have these substantive conversations.”

Read more at Morning Consult, "Ocasio-Cortez: Green New Deal ‘Leaves the Door Open’ on Nuclear."

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