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The vast boreal <keyword id="55528" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="forests" source="Orion">forests</keyword> of the Northern Hemisphere stretch from Scandinavia through Siberia, Alaska and Canada. They cover a tenth of the world's land but hold one-third of the land's <keyword id="66463" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Carbon" source="Orion">carbon</keyword>, stored mainly in organic-rich soils and in trees. Now, a new study in the journal Science provides further evidence that emissions from <keyword id="394841" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="wildfires" source="Orion">wildfires</keyword> in high northern latitudes are already increasing at an alarming rate. In these forests, the cold climate and often waterlogged ground means fallen tree bark, needles and other dead organic matter takes a long time to decompose. This has allowed the soils to accumulate carbon over thousands of years after the ice sheets retreated at the end of the last ice age. Since then, these ecosystems have mainly been shaped by wildfires ignited by lightning. These fires release some of the carbon stored in trees and in the upper layer of soil back into the atmosphere. The release of soil carbon is hugely significant. It means a boreal forest fire will release 10 to 20 times more carbon compared to a similarly sized fire in other ecosystems where fires consume mainly vegetation and where the soil itself does not contain enough carbon to burn. However, these boreal forests might burn only once a century, sometimes even less often than that. This is much longer than in most other fire-prone ecosystems, and the extra carbon stored in soils and trees in the long period between fires normally exceeds the losses from fires. For the past 6,000 or so years this delicate relationship between carbon uptake and release was quite stable and boreal forests served as a globally important carbon sink. But global heating, which is particularly pronounced in the Northern Hemisphere's high latitudes, is threatening the balance. Soaring temperatures have lengthened the fire season and increased the frequency and severity of wildfires and there is growing evidence that as the interval between fires shortens, more carbon is being released from organic soils in boreal forests than the ecosystems can reabsorb. Satellites can spot gas emitted by wildfires That's where the latest study in Science comes in. The researchers, mostly based in China, used satellite observations of <keyword id="41285" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="wildfire" source="Orion">wildfire</keyword> smoke plumes to look for carbon monoxide, which is invisible to the naked eye but shows up at certain infrared wavelengths. Carbon monoxide isn't itself a greenhouse gas, but if you know how much of it there is, you can infer the amount of carbon dioxide in wildfire smoke as well. This contrasts with the more conventional methods employed by current wildfire emission models. These also use satellites, but record active fires or burned areas simply by comparing before and after images. They then factor in a range of assumptions on how much vegetation would typically have been consumed and how much carbon is emitted per area of different types of vegetation and soil burned. While this new carbon monoxide method has its own uncertainties, it provides independent and more direct estimates of wildfire emissions. It also has potential to give us a more detailed understanding of the differences in wildfire <keyword id="6375918" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="carbon-emissions" source="Orion">carbon emissions</keyword> between different ecosystems. A dramatic increase The new study showed a significant increase in emissions from boreal fires over the past two decades. Things were particularly dramatic in 2021, when they comprised a record 23% of global vegetation wildfire emissions, more than twice their contribution in a more typical year. If this trend continues, the boreal forest may very soon become the dominant source of global emissions from biomass burning, overtaking the notorious tropical peatland fires (such as those in Indonesia in 2015) in terms of global significance and adding further to the "fire–carbon-climate warming" feedback. The 2021 fire season was made particularly extreme by simultaneously hot and dry conditions both in North America and northern Europe and Asia. If such weather patterns do become more frequent, leading to more fires in the boreal region, these forests may reach a "wildfire tipping point". A study examining the extreme fires of 2014 in boreal north-west Canada demonstrated that some areas were already turning from carbon sinks into net emitters. This new study covering the entire boreal biome suggests this ecosystem as a whole – from Siberia to Canada – is rapidly approaching this tipping point.

World's largest forest ecosystem turns net-emitter from carbon sink due to extreme wildfires

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Millions of credits for greenhouse-gas emissions are connected to new <keyword id="11893898" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="crypto" source="Orion">crypto</keyword> tokens, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reviews/out?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Fcryptocurrency-traders-move-into-carbon-markets-11641826402%3Fmod%3Dmarkets_lead_pos11">The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. </a></li><li>The credits are traded on unregulated <keyword id="11893875" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="markets" source="Orion">markets</keyword>, with prices dependent upon activity in <keyword id="12346217" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="carbon" source="Orion">carbon</keyword> removal. </li><li>But more than 17 million carbon credits are now tied to tokens called BCT and are worth about $95 million. </li></ul>Millions of credits for greenhouse-gas emissions are now connected to new <keyword id="11895317" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="cryptocurrencies" source="Orion">cryptocurrencies</keyword>, according to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reviews/out?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Fcryptocurrency-traders-move-into-carbon-markets-11641826402%3Fmod%3Dmarkets_lead_pos11">a report by The Wall Street Journal</a>, with the fast-growing market attracting DeFi projects and investors like billionaire <keyword id="11930436" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="mark-cuban" source="Orion">Mark Cuban</keyword>. Proponents say crypto can bring more transparency to carbon credits, which stem from projects such as establishing renewable-energy farms. Many companies buy them to compensate for their emissions. But while the projects receive third-party certification, the credits are traded on unregulated markets. Among market participants, WSJ highlighted Toucan, a decentralized finance project that lets users who own carbon credits link them to digital tokens called BCT, which went live in October. BCT stands for Base Carbon Tonne and the tokens can be traded on cryptocurrency exchanges. More than 17 million carbon credits have been tied to BCT tokens, the WSJ said. And the tokens traded for as much as $5.59 on Monday, <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/toucan-protocol-base-carbon-tonne">according to CoinGecko,</a> representing a value of roughly $95 million on crypto exchanges. Toucan told WSJ it's working to overhaul the voluntary carbon market in part by providing real-time pricing information and a public record of trades to track who can take credit for funding projects to improve the climate. The report noted that trading in BCT has been driven by Klima, a separate crypto asset run by KlimaDAO. The decentralized autonomous organization allows people to buy Klima tokens, which are traded on cryptocurrency exchanges, with BCT tokens. The DAO then keeps the BCT tokens in its treasury, removing them from circulation. More than 14 million BCT tokens have followed this route and can't be used for <keyword id="12300360" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="carbon-offsets" source="Orion">carbon offsets</keyword>.The WSJ reported that the mostly anonymous developers of Klima say their tokens also help the climate by reducing the availability of carbon credits and pushing up their prices. In turn, that should make carbon-offsetting projects more profitable and spur further creation of initiatives that benefit the climate. But skeptics told the WSJ that Klima could actually reduce transparency in carbon markets.For its part, the Toucan non-profit told the newspaper while the creators of KlimaDAO are anonymous, "their actions are fully transparent," and said Klima has put millions of dollars into projects to improve the climate. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said he owns Klima tokens, but declined to say how many or whether he has profited, the report said. "While the anonymity wasn't optimal and it's a bit of a learning experience, if it works, the environmental impact could be consequential," Cuban told WSJ.The credits have been virtually tied to newly created cryptocurrency tokens and , with some market participants saying the technology creates incentives for projects aimed at aiding the climate, according to WSJ's report published Monday. The massive amount of energy used in mining <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/btc-usd">bitcoin</a> has cast a poor environmental reputation upon cryptocurrencies.

A market for crypto carbon offsets is reportedly booming, and its drawing DeFi entrepreneurs and big investors like Mark Cuban

<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/better-capitalism"></a><ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="6355629" type="DEFINITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="google">Google</keyword> says it has offset all of its historical <keyword id="6375918" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="carbon-emissions">carbon emissions</keyword>.</li><li><keyword id="164502" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Sundar-Pichai">Sundar Pichai</keyword>, Google’s chief executive, said the tech giant is aiming to run all of its business on carbon-free energy by 2030.</li><li>Google’s commitments to carbon-free energy will create 12,000 jobs by 2025, he said.</li></ul>Google announced Monday that it has offset all its historical carbon emmissions, claiming to be the first major company to do so.The tech giant's CEO Sundar Pichai says it has offset all the carbon it has ever produced since it first launched in 1998. In <a href="https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/sustainability/our-third-decade-climate-action-realizing-carbon-free-future">a blog post on Monday</a>, he said Google is aiming to run all of its campuses and data centers entirely on carbon-free energy by 2030, which is the company's "biggest sustainability moonshot yet."Pichai said that the multinational internet firm will pair wind with solar power sources, increase battery storage, and use artificial intelligence to optimize its electricity demand and forecasting. These measures will create 12,000 jobs by 2025, he said.Google's other sustainability commitments include helping 500 cities across the world reduce annual carbon emissions by a total of 1 gigaton by 2030, as well as investing in manufacturing regions to enable 5 gigawatts of new carbon-free energy.Google's efforts to reduce and eliminate its carbon footprint echo those of other large <keyword id="6355118" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="technology">technology</keyword> companies. <a href="https://www.apple.com/uk/newsroom/2020/07/apple-commits-to-be-100-percent-carbon-neutral-for-its-supply-chain-and-products-by-2030/">Apple</a> and <a href="https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2020/01/16/microsoft-will-be-carbon-negative-by-2030/">Microsoft</a> have set targets to become <keyword id="1044624" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="carbon-neutral">carbon neutral</keyword> by 2030, and <a href="https://sustainability.aboutamazon.com/">Amazon</a> is aiming for 2040.

Google has offset all the carbon it has ever produced, says CEO Sundar Pichai

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A market in which companies pay timber owners not to cut down trees is budding in the US, according to a report in <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-carbon-market-pays-southern-pine-growers-not-to-cut-11618911180?mod=itp_wsj&amp;ru=yahooahoo">The Wall Street Journal.</a></li><li>Companies pay land owners to not cut, and then document the saved carbon emissions by purchasing a carbon offset.</li><li>Microsoft and Royal Dutch Shell PLC have purchased <keyword id="1690954" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="carbon-offsets">carbon offsets</keyword>.</li></ul>A new market in carbon offsets where companies pay timber owners not to cut down trees is budding in the US, according to a report from <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-carbon-market-pays-southern-pine-growers-not-to-cut-11618911180?mod=itp_wsj&amp;ru=yahooahoo">The Wall Street Journal. </a>Companies are looking for ways to become more climate-friendly as asset managers and investors seek to prioritize environmental, social, and corporate governance (<keyword id="77363" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="ESG">ESG</keyword>) metrics.One way for a company to show investors their pollution-reduction efforts is by paying timberland owners to not cut down their trees, and documenting the saved carbon emissions with tradable assets called carbon offsets. As reported by the Journal, companies like Microsoft Corp and Royal Dutch Shell PLC have purchased carbon offsets from <keyword id="11137177" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="silviaterra">SilviaTerra</keyword>, a marketplace for forest carbon payments. In the trade, the corporations pay the landowners not to cut trees by purchasing a carbon offset, and then subtract emissions from their carbon ledgers. Timberland owners get paid as long as their trees remain standing. Timber owners may also be able to make more money by not cutting and trading carbon offsets than by cutting their trees and selling the wood to pulp mills.

A new market in 'carbon offsets' is blossoming, drawing huge companies who pay timber owners not to cut down trees

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The world's biggest carbon-capture plant - which sucks <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/how-to-stop-gobal-warming-plan-carbon-capture-2018-10">carbon dioxide out of the air</a> - just opened.</li><li>A UN report says <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/geoengineering-how-to-reverse-climate-change-2019-4">carbon capture</a> technology is necessary if the world wants to be carbon neutral by 2050.</li><li>But many experts think the tech is too expensive and not scalable in the next few decades.</li></ul>Framed by a backdrop of volcanoes, a semi-circle of gigantic fans in Iceland are sucking in air, super-heating it, then filtering out the carbon dioxide.This carbon capture and storage facility, named Orca, turned on two weeks ago after <a href="https://climeworks.com/news/climeworks-makes-large-scale-carbon-dioxide-removal-a-reality">more than 18 months</a> of construction. The fans are embedded in shipping container-sized boxes, and once the carbon dioxide is separated, it gets mixed with water then travels through snaking, fat tubes deep underground, where the carbon cools and solidifies.Through this process, Orca can trap and sequester 4,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year - making it the largest facility of its kind in the world (though there are currently only two running)."Think of it like a vacuum cleaner for the atmosphere," Julio Friedmann, an energy policy researcher at Columbia University who attended the plant's ribbon-cutting ceremony, told Insider. "Nothing else can do what this tech does."According to the latest <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/still-time-to-address-climate-change-ipcc-scientists-report-2021-8">report</a> from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on <keyword id="11896311" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="climate-change" source="Orion">Climate Change</keyword> (IPCC), carbon capture and storage is a necessary part of our best-case climate scenarios. But currently, facilities like Orca only negate a sliver of global emissions.Climate scientist Peter Kalmus has done the math: "If it works, in one year it will capture three seconds worth of humanity's CO2 emissions," <a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateHuman/status/1435820395907588104?s=20">he wrote on Twitter</a>.Put another way, Kalmus told Insider, "at any given moment, it will capture one 10-millionth of humanity's current emissions.""It's remarkable to me it is being considered as part of those plans," he said of the IPCC report.<h2>'Probably the most expensive solution'</h2><h2><div type="image" title="carbon capture plant texas" height="3024" width="4032" msid="86507677" hostid="261"></div></h2>The Orca facility works differently than the carbon-capture technologies built into some power plants, steel mills, and industrial facilities. Those collect the carbon produced in the manufacturing process before it enters the air. It can then be converted into materials like concrete or stored underground.More than 20 facilities worldwide currently do this, most of which are <a href="https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2019/09/27/carbon-capture-technology/">in the US</a>. But that simply prevents more carbon from accumulating in the atmosphere. Orca, by contrast, is an attempt to deal with the greenhouse gas that's already up there.This technology, known as direct air capture, is in its infancy. The Swiss company <keyword id="12174310" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="climeworks" source="Orion">Climeworks</keyword>, which built Orca, has the only operational game in town; its other plant is in Switzerland. Before that, the technology had only been used on a small scale in spacecraft and submarines.Two other plants are in planning phases: The Canadian company <a href="https://carbonengineering.com/news-updates/uks-first-large-scale-dac-facility/">Carbon Engineering</a>, which is backed by Bill Gates, started designing a similar facility in <a href="https://carbonengineering.com/news-updates/uks-first-large-scale-dac-facility/">northeastern Scotland</a> three months ago. It also plans to start construction on a a plant in Texas <a href="https://carbonengineering.com/news-updates/new-development-company-1pointfive-formed/">next year</a>. Each of those facilities could remove up to <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/the-dream-of-co2-air-capture-edges-toward-reality">25 times more carbon per year</a> than Orca.<div type="image" title="climeworks carbon capture plant switzerland" height="1908" width="2526" msid="86507678" hostid="261"></div>But as with many emerging technologies, direct air capture is expensive. Christoph Gebald, Climeworks' co-founder, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/s/climate-solutions/2021/09/08/co2-capture-plan-iceland-climeworks/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWJpZCI6IjM5MTg0MDYwIiwicmVhc29uIjoiZ2lmdCIsIm5iZiI6MTYzMTIwOTQ1NSwiaXNzIjoic3Vic2NyaXB0aW9ucyIsImV4cCI6MTYzMjQxOTA1NSwiaWF0IjoxNjMxMjA5NDU1LCJqdGkiOiJlZjNjNTk4NS03ZTZiLTRmMTgtYjIzNi02N2YxM2IxZTE5YmIiLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL3d3dy53YXNoaW5ndG9ucG9zdC5jb20vY2xpbWF0ZS1zb2x1dGlvbnMvMjAyMS8wOS8wOC9jbzItY2FwdHVyZS1wbGFuLWljZWxhbmQtY2xpbWV3b3Jrcy8ifQ.dhXJLfEKgbFKqGDRDcwAEH3NT5ShBg4PCkYstoFEhy4">told the Washington Post</a> that it costs at least $600 to capture one metric ton of carbon dioxide, since super-heating the air takes a lot of energy.That cost would need to drop to one-fourth its current level to <a href="https://www.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/CO2_Abatement_cost_comparison.pdf">bring it in line</a> with technologies like wind and solar in terms of their <a href="https://www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/research/report/levelized-cost-carbon-abatement-improved-cost-assessment-methodology-net-zero-emissions-world">carbon abatement</a> - the degree to which they reduce emissions. To sell carbon commercially - like to beverage companies making fizzy drinks - the price would have to get even lower, probably <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.iecr.0c04839">between $65 and $110</a> per metric ton.Friedmann thinks a drop to below $200 is likely by 2030, and a drop to $100 two decades after that. By that point, he said, the market for carbon removal market - companies paying to abate their emissions - will have grown significantly.But even at that $100 price, removing all of humanity's annual <keyword id="11949068" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="carbon-emissions" source="Orion">carbon emissions</keyword> would cost more than $5 trillion per year, according to Gates' book, "How to Avoid a Climate Disaster." That would require 50,000 Orca plants."It's probably the most expensive solution," Gates wrote.<div type="image" title="Icebergs near Ilulissat, Greenland. Climate change is having a profound effect in Greenland with glaciers and the Greenland ice cap retreating." height="5092" width="8389" msid="86507679" hostid="261"></div>There's also the question of timing. The IPCC report says that without capturing significant amounts of carbon over the next 30 years, it will be impossible to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-ipcc-report-temperature-rise-20-years-15-degrees-2021-8">get humanity to net-zero emissions by 2050</a> - and, consequently, to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.But Mathew Barlow, a climate scientist at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, said three decades isn't enough for the technology to be deployed widely."There's no possible way for it to scale up on that timescale," Barlow, who contributed to the IPCC report, told Insider. "We're at the point where you need to get the tech off the shelves, not be building it out."<h2>'Fossil-fuel companies love carbon capture'</h2>Plants like Orca do, however, out-perform their natural counterparts - trees. "The Orca facility does the work of 200,000 trees in 1,000 times less space," Friedmann said.What's more, once a facility like this stores its carbon, it's locked away. If trees burn, the carbon they've absorbed gets released. <div type="image" title="Reforestation in Leiria Portugal 2018" height="2000" width="3000" msid="86507680" hostid="261"></div>But trees capture carbon at a much lower cost of <a href="https://www.wri.org/insights/direct-air-capture-resource-considerations-and-costs-carbon-removal">$50 per metric ton</a>.Kalmus thinks carbon capture ultimately distracts the world from other solutions that would make a bigger dent in emissions, like investment in renewables and regulations targeting the fossil-fuel industry."Fossil-fuel companies love carbon capture because it really does let them off the hook," he said.Friedmann, though, thinks it's possible to expand carbon-capture infrastructure enough to make a difference. If the Senate's infrastructure bill passes in the House, it would allocate <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/the-dream-of-co2-air-capture-edges-toward-reality" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$3.5 billion</a> toward direct air capture facilities in the US. Elon Musk also announced this year that he's funding <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-100-million-prize-carbon-capture-technology-contest-2021-1">a $100 million carbon-capture contest</a>."We now know that we can do it," Friedmann said. "Now we're just haggling over price and literally asking how much we're willing to pay to save the Earth."

The world's biggest carbon-removal plant just opened. In a year, it'll negate just 3 seconds' worth of global emissions.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Investment firm Oak Hill Advisors is looking for 1 million acres of forestland to sell as <keyword id="12300360" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="carbon-offsets" source="Orion">carbon offsets</keyword>. </li><li>The firm, which has $52 billion in assets under management, teamed up with Bluesource to do so.</li></ul>Investment firm Oak Hill Advisors, which has $52 billion in assets under management, is hunting for a million acres of forest land to buy and sell, as the market for carbon offsets blooms. In a $500 million joint venture with corporate climate advisor Bluesource, Oak Hill plans to purchase woodlands in North America that would otherwise be used for timber and sell them as carbon offsets, the companies said in a <a href="https://www.bluesource.com/news/sustainable-forest-co/">press release Tuesday</a>. Companies are vying for ways to reduce their carbon footprint, and one way to do that is with carbon offsets, in which firms take credit for preserving trees that absorb carbon in the air, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/esg-investing-carbon-offset-market-pays-landowners-tree-emission-environment-2021-4">Insider reported previously</a>.<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/msft-stock">Microsoft</a> and <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/bp-stock">BP</a> are among businesses buying up these tradeable assets to prove to investors they're working toward their climate goals, said the Wall Street Journal, which <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reviews/out?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Fwall-street-firm-makes-wager-on-carbon-offset-forests-11633983717%3Fmod%3Dmarkets_lead_pos4">first reported the story</a>. The carbon credit market was worth $300 million in 2018, and one analyst estimated it could be worth $100 billion by the end of the decade, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-06-02/carbon-offsets-new-100-billion-market-faces-disputes-over-trading-rules?sref=BWbpWjRm">Bloomberg reported in June</a>. The concept of carbon offsets is a controversial one for many reasons, one of which is that some say companies shouldn't be able to purchase them in lieu of lowering their own emissions, the Journal reported. In the new partnership, Bluesource and Oak Hill Advisors will select land based on the increased benefits to the climate and revenues from carbon offsets, the release said."This represents the beginning of an expansive opportunity to repurpose forest investments that otherwise would strictly consider revenue from timber harvests," the companies said. Bluesource Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer Bill Townsend said the idea behind the partnership is to put capital alongside the company's carbon knowledge to help address "the global challenges we face."Adam Kertzner, portfolio manager and senior partner at Oak Hill Advisors, said he's excited about the positive environmental impact and the "highly attractive investment attributes.""This joint venture is an opportunity to accelerate the evolution of sustainable <keyword id="12215593" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="forestry" source="Orion">forestry</keyword> and the ongoing development of the carbon credit <keyword id="11893875" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="markets" source="Orion">markets</keyword>," he said.

A $52 billion asset manager is hunting for a million acres of forestland to tap the market for carbon offsets

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="85953" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ernst-Young">Ernst &amp; Young</keyword> aims to be carbon negative this year, cut <keyword id="40976" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="emissions">emissions</keyword> by 40%, and be net zero in 2025.</li><li>Steve Varl<keyword id="267073" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="EY">ey</keyword>, EY chief sustainability officer, told Insider he was inspired by Microsoft's strategy.</li><li>The company plans on removing more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than it emits through seven key goals.</li></ul>Accounting giant Ernst &amp; Young announced Monday plans to become carbon negative in 2021, "net zero" in 2025 and cut its total emissions by 40% with seven key commitments.The London-headquartered firm achieved its goal of becoming <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2099613560172109">carbon neutral in 2020</a>, but after reviewing the science and talking to the company's <keyword id="6361617" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="climate-change">climate change</keyword> experts, it became clear that being <keyword id="1044624" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="carbon-neutral">carbon neutral</keyword> wasn't enough.Steve Varley, EY's chief sustainability officer who was appointed in July 2020, told Insider the company emitted 1.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2019. The travel restrictions brought on by the coronavirus crisis has meant these emissions have fallen to 769,ooo tonnes, but Varley said EY's commitment is "regardless" of the impact of the pandemic. "Our commitment is to remove more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than we emit every year, forever," he said.Varley said he was inspired by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-climate-change-carbon-negative-plan-2020-1">Microsoft becoming carbon negative</a> in January 2020. "That's been on our minds and part of the inspiration for EY also declaring that we become carbon negative.""Wouldn't it be fantastic if society recognized that business is a positive driver rather than a negative contributor" to the environment, he said.Here are the seven ways in which EY plan to become carbon negative this year.<h3>Cut down on business travel emissions</h3>EY's first commitment is to reduce travel emissions produced by the business by 35% by 2025. That includes employees or clients travelling by plane, train or bus.Of the 1.1 million tonnes of carbon emitted by EY in the financial year of 2019, three quarters (76%) of those emissions came from air travel. Since the pandemic struck in March, this amount has reduced as less people are travelling.While the pandemic won't last forever, Varley said EY expects employees to continue to use technology such as Microsoft Teams to communicate which will ultimately reduce the need to travel. The company is also investing in collaboration technologies to help achieve this goal, he said. Many EY clients have made similar commitments to reduce their <keyword id="6375918" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="carbon-emissions">carbon emissions</keyword>, Varley said, who believes there will be teamwork between both parties to make sure they cut down together. <h3>Reduce overall office electricity usage</h3>Another commitment EY has made is lowering the electricity usage in its offices and procuring 100% renewable energy for the remaining needs of the company. This will help EY become a member of the <a href="https://www.there100.org/">RE100</a>, a group of organizations worldwide committed to renewable electricity, by 2025, the company said.Given that coronavirus has forced many employees to work from home, this may seem quite easy to reduce. But Varley said the commitment includes calculating how much carbon EY employees, like himself, are emitting from home working."The future we see is a mixed economy of working," said Varley, who said staff and clients have been working in a range of places including home, offices, and client's sites.<h3>Structure electricity supply contracts</h3>EY also want to sign more contracts with electricity suppliers so any electricity they don't use can go straight back into the national grid.Varley said it has a multi year deal with <a href="https://www.lightsourcebp.com/uk/">Lightsource bp</a>, a subsidiary of BP, which will provide the professional services organization with renewable electricity. The deal involves EY buying more electricity than it needs from Lightsource bp, and the electricity it doesn't use is put back into the national grid for others to use as renewable electricity, Varley said.<h3>Provide employees with tools that calculate how much carbon they're emitting</h3>In order for employees to take matters into their own hands, EY are providing them with a modelling tool which will work out how much carbon they're emitting whilst working.The tool will work similar to another tool that EY uses to calculate the financial budget on a project, according to Varley. It will show you how you can achieve the same result but with a lower footprint, he said.<h3>Plant trees and use technologies to remove carbon from the atmosphere</h3>One of the projects EY has invested in as part of its strategy to cut down on carbon is helping to protect five million trees in the Amazonia rainforest through an organization called <a href="https://www.southpole.com/">South Pole</a>.EY plans to use more nature-based solutions and carbon-reducing technologies to offset more carbon than it emits every year.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/salary-of-consultants-accountants-big-4-deloitte-kpmg-ey-pwc-2020-7?r=kd-sub">'Big 4' salaries, revealed: How much Deloitte, KPMG, EY, and PwC accountants and consultants make, from entry level to executive roles</a><h3>Invest in services to help EY clients decarbonize their company</h3>Varley said EY is accelerating its investment in the company's <a href="https://www.ey.com/en_uk/climate-change-sustainability-services">Climate Change and Sustainability Service</a> (CCASS) practice, which helps clients and companies identify and understand how to be more sustainable.The accounting firm is also planning to invest in its tax practice, Varley said, as it's increasingly likely that many countries will introduce or strengthen carbon taxes.EY is also part of the "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prince-of-wales-unveils-new-bofa-backed-sustainability-charter-2021-1">Terra Carta</a>" - a charter unveiled by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales on January 10, which gives businesses a roadmap to a more sustainable future.<h3>Ensure EY suppliers set science-based targets</h3>EY will require 75% of its suppliers to set <a href="https://sciencebasedtargets.org/">science-based targets</a>, which help businesses reduce emissions in line with the Paris Agreement goals, by no later than 2025. Having a science-based target means that companies will reduce their emissions at a quicker pace to make sure they're not warming the planet up, according to Varley. "I wouldn't be surprised that in subsequent years we don't increase that 75% to 100%," Varley said. "We realise that we have a role to play systemically because we're a big global organisation of making sure our supplier also live our values and don't contribute to the warming of the planet."Not enough [companies] have gone carbon negative in their announcement, according to Varley. "There's an opportunity to get a science-based target, to become net zero and to remove more carbon from the atmosphere than they emit."

EY says it will be 'carbon negative' by the end of the year - here's its 7-point plan for getting there

Yesterday, <keyword id="66463" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Carbon">carbon</keyword> dioxide levels in Earth's atmosphere reached a major milestone: a daily average above 400 parts per million. The new high — the highest in human history — was recorded at two separate stations — one in Hawaii and the other in San Diego, California.
That number — expressed in parts per million — means that out of a million molecules of "air," about 400 are molecules of carbon dioxide. The measurement at the Mauna Loa, Hawaii air sampling station, which has been tracking carbon dioxide levels since the 1950s, was 400.03 on May 9. Last year at this time, the level was at 396.81. Ten years ago it was 378.50.
<div class="image-container" style="width:620px"><div class="image"></div>NOAADaily and weekly carbon dioxide means at NOAA's Mauna Loa observatory. </div>
These levels are higher than humanity has ever seen. Higher than they have been for at least the last 3 million years.
"We are creating a prehistoric climate in which human societies will face huge and potentially catastrophic risks," Bob Ward of the London School of Economics and Political <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">Science</keyword>, <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hQ9u14E6c69jxBJhIO0772V3jbIA?docId=CNG.c66aa3d5bd793128f7c8f3da314a73d9.11">told the AFP</a>. "Only by urgently reducing global emissions will we be able to bring carbon dioxide levels down and avoid the full consequences of [global warming]."
Since the beginning of humanity, up until about 200 years ago, the atmosphere held steady at 275 ppm of carbon dioxide. Along with the industrial revolution came carbon dioxide being pumped into the air, causing a steady and unyielding increase of the green house gas.
As we plucked carbon out of the ground as coal, then burnt it as fuel and released that carbon into the air as carbon dioxide, we've steadily increased the carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere.
Carbon dioxide is called a greenhouse gas because it locks in heat. This is really important, because without greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, our planet would be a lifeless, icy rock. But, when we accumulate too much of these gasses the planet heats up, which, when done in a short amount of time, leads to drastic changes in the <keyword id="6356826" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="environment">environment</keyword> — changes that plants and animals can't keep up with.
"There is no precedent in Earth's history for such an abrupt increase in greenhouse gas concentrations," Michael Mann, of Penn State University, <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hQ9u14E6c69jxBJhIO0772V3jbIA?docId=CNG.c66aa3d5bd793128f7c8f3da314a73d9.11">told the AFP</a>. "While living things can adapt to slow changes that took place over tens of millions of years, there is no reason to believe that they — and we — can adapt to changes that are a million years faster than the natural background rates of change."
The level of carbon dioxide in the air will dip again over the summer, because levels fluctuate during the year — peaking in May and dropping to its minimum levels (last year that was around 390 ppm) in October — after plants spend the summer sucking 10 billion tons of carbon from the air. But, these levels have been increasing about two parts per million every year, so soon the time will come when there is no longer a day with a carbon dioxide reading under 400.
The milestone is symbolic, but it's also a scary number. <a href="http://350.org/about/science">According to 350.org</a>, the safe level of carbon dioxide to have in the atmosphere is 350 ppm:
Unless we are able to rapidly return to below 350 ppm this century, we risk reaching tipping points and irreversible impacts such as the melting of the Greenland ice sheet and major methane releases from increased permafrost melt.
"The last time we're confident that CO2 was sustained at these levels is more than 10 million years ago, during the middle of the Miocene period," climate scientist <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/10/atmospheric-co2-concentrations_n_3253757.html">Michael Mann told The Huffington Post</a>. "This was a time when global temperatures were substantially warmer than today, and there was very little ice around anywhere on the planet."
Governments have set our official targets at a maximum of 450 ppm carbon dioxide in the air. 
Ralph Keeling, a climate researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/11/science/earth/carbon-dioxide-level-passes-long-feared-milestone.html?hp&amp;_r=0">told The New York Times</a> he estimates we will reach that level in "well under" 25 years.

There's Now More Carbon Dioxide In Earth's Atmosphere Than At Any Other Time In Human History

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A new study estimated that carbon dioxide emissions from 3.5 Americans in their lifetimes could kill a person. </li><li>By 2100, 83 million people are projected to die if the global temperature continues rising at its current rate.</li><li>This is the first study of its kind to count deaths related to rising temperatures caused by <keyword id="6375918" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="carbon-emissions">carbon emissions</keyword>. </li></ul>In the first study of its kind to calculate the mortality cost of carbon, it's estimated that carbon emissions from 3.5 Americans in their lifetime could lead to the death of one person due to rising global temperatures.Using 2020 as a baseline, the study - published Thursday in<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-24487-w#Sec2"> the scientific journal Nature</a> - calculated that adding 4,434 metric tons of carbon dioxide to the environment leads to one death globally.This amount is equivalent to how much emissions 3.5 average Americans produce in a lifetime, wrote author Daniel Bressler, a researcher from Columbia University's Earth Institute. The same amount of carbon dioxide is also equivalent to the emissions 146.2 Nigerians produce in a lifetime.Bressler found that global warming would lead to an additional 83 million heat-related deaths over the next 80 years. As <a href="https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2021/07/30/625111.htm">Insurance Journal</a> noted, his calculations "don't include the number of people who might die from rising seas, superstorms, crop failures or changing disease patterns affected by atmospheric warming."According to the <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/SR15_FAQ_Low_Res.pdf">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</a>, the earth has increased in temperature about 1 degree Celsius since the pre-industrial era. Bressler calculated that the earth will experience a warming of 4.1 degrees Celsius by 2100. Bressler's projection of global temperatures is far above the goal set out by the <a href="https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement#:~:text=The%20Paris%20Agreement%20is%20a,compared%20to%20pre%2Dindustrial%20levels.">Paris Climate Agreement</a> signed in 2016, which aims to limit global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) - in line with pre-industrial levels. Based on estimates by the <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/SR15_FAQ_Low_Res.pdf">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</a>, however, the planet is expected to warm 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2040. Bressler went further to say that removing emissions a year from a single coal-fired power plant in the United States alone could save 904 lives. According to Bressler's calculations, a coal power plant produces about 4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide a year. Using William D. Nordhaus's <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/114/7/1518">Social Cost of Carbon</a> model, which measures the monetary cost of carbon emissions - Bressler also found that the cost of a metric ton of carbon is now $258, seven times more than the model's estimate of $37.Bressler noted in the study that his data reinforces the need for governments and corporations to create change via policy."People shouldn't take their per-person mortality emissions too personally," he wrote.

You Searched For "Carbon" and got 9 results

World's largest forest ecosystem turns net-emitter from carbon sink due to extreme wildfires

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A market for crypto carbon offsets is reportedly booming, and its drawing DeFi entrepreneurs and big investors like Mark Cuban

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Google has offset all the carbon it has ever produced, says CEO Sundar Pichai

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A new market in 'carbon offsets' is blossoming, drawing huge companies who pay timber owners not to cut down trees

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The world's biggest carbon-removal plant just opened. In a year, it'll negate just 3 seconds' worth of global emissions.

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A $52 billion asset manager is hunting for a million acres of forestland to tap the market for carbon offsets

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EY says it will be 'carbon negative' by the end of the year - here's its 7-point plan for getting there

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There's Now More Carbon Dioxide In Earth's Atmosphere Than At Any Other Time In Human History

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Increase in carbon emissions could lead to the deaths of 83 million more people in the next 80 years, new study says

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