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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Satellites can locate the sources of <keyword id="12459827" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="methane" source="Orion">methane</keyword> plumes, the second-largest climate pollutant. </li><li>Remote sensing and AI make it possible to identify and fix methane leaks faster.</li></ul>Over five years, California's largest natural-gas utility received a handful of critical alerts about methane escaping from its infrastructure. The leaks might have gone undetected for much longer.The warnings to Southern California Gas Company came from state regulators, who between 2016 and 2021 worked with NASA to identify large methane plumes from the oil-and-gas, agriculture, and waste industries using airplanes carrying high-resolution remote sensors.Within days, Southern California Gas Company confirmed the leaks and fixed the pipelines. The utility also replaced a valve at a compressor station within a few months, limiting the amount of damaging methane that entered the atmosphere. By the end of next year, the remote sensors will hitch a ride into space on two satellites as part of a new era of global-climate accountability. Satellites can now pinpoint and quantify methane leaks almost anywhere and, within days, computers can calculate the amount of emissions escaping with artificial intelligence.This allows companies to fix leaks faster and — just as importantly — exposes countries and companies that scientists suspect underreport their emissions. Curbing methane is <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/05/1091402" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">one of the quickest ways to slow global warming</a>, because while it has 80 times the warming power of <keyword id="13400319" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="carbon-dioxide" source="Orion">carbon dioxide</keyword>, methane only lasts in the atmosphere for about a decade. Carbon dioxide endures for centuries.But detecting potent methane is much more challenging. Leaks are unpredictable and finding them still typically involves expensive field studies with aircraft and handheld infrared cameras that make the colorless gas visible. That approach only offers a snapshot in time."In the last decade, satellites have mainly been used to quantify emissions at a large scale. That's important, but the other key is timely, actionable data so operators can find and fix leaks and verify that they stay fixed. That's a huge change," Riley Duren, the CEO of Carbon Mapper — which is managing the launch — said.The nonprofit is an outgrowth of the California Methane Survey, which Duren initiated while at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, California. The <a href="https://carbonmapper.org/methane-remote-sensing-results-in-voluntary-reduction-of-over-one-million-tons-co2e-by-california-companies/">research project recently announced it prevented</a> 48,000 metric tons of methane from entering the atmosphere from oil, gas, landfills and manure pits — the equivalent of taking nearly 260,000 cars off the road. That figure could more than double once more follow-up flights verify actions companies have taken. For its part, SoCalGas <a href="https://newsroom.socalgas.com/press-release/socalgas-surpasses-californias-2025-methane-emissions-reduction-goals-nears-2030-goal">said it had reduced</a> so-called fugitive-methane emissions by 37% since 2015, mainly due to more frequent aerial and ground-based monitoring and a steep decline in venting gas during maintenance and repairs.Deanna Haines, the environmental-sustainability and planning senior manager for SoCalGas, said airplanes map about two-thirds of the utility's 100,000 miles of pipeline over the course of a year. A <keyword id="11897864" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="satellite" source="Orion">satellite</keyword>, however, can catch leaks that happen between those surveys. "A satellite can take three, four snapshots a day so you're going to find things much quicker and have more confidence in the data," Haines said, adding that SoCalGas will continue to work with Carbon Mapper once the nonprofit launches its satellites. "Any extra set of eyes and helping identify larger leaks is really important."This plan offers a glimpse into the potential of Carbon Mapper once fully deployed. The company isn't alone. The Canadian emissions-monitoring company <a href="https://www.ghgsat.com/en/">GHGSat</a>, as of May, <a href="https://www.ghgsat.com/en/newsroom/greenhouse-gas-monitoring-from-space-ghgsat-launches-three-new-satellites-with-spacex/">had six satellites the size of microwaves orbiting the Earth</a>, with four more planned by the end of 2023. Oil <a href="https://www.ghgsat.com/en/newsroom/ghgsat-announces-research-project-to-demonstrate-satellite-based-measurement-of-methane-emissions-from-offshore-sources/">majors</a> such as Shell, Chevron, and TotalEnergies have hired GHGSat to reduce leaks and research methane emissions at sea, where nearly 30% of oil and gas production takes place. In recent years, GHGSat has also identified "super-emitter" events and notified operators, most <a href="https://www.ghgsat.com/en/newsroom/russian-mine-produces-biggest-methane-leak-ever-seen-by-ghgsat">recently from the largest coal mine in Russia</a>. The Environmental Defense Fund will also launch its own satellite next year. MethaneSAT will capture broader regions that account for more than 80% of the world's oil and gas production. It is an extension of <a href="https://www.edf.org/climate/methane-research-series-16-studies">the nonprofit's years-long research project</a> that found methane emissions from the US natural-gas supply chain were 60% higher than government estimates. Mark Brownstein, the EDF's senior vice president of energy, said MethaneSAT can detect more diffused sources of the gas that satellites such as those from the European Space Agency might miss. A computer program can automatically analyze the data in a matter of days instead of months.Scientists <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abj4351">have already been using data</a> from satellites <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1908712116">to identify and measure methane leaks</a> and reveal that the problem is more widespread than they had previously thought, but the research can take a long time. "Timely data is important," Brownstein said. "The idea is to inform in a way that leads to action." Brownstein added that MethaneSAT and the growing constellation of satellites are akin to a photographer with different camera lenses. Combined, they can help track how countries and companies are performing on goals to reduce emissions. More than 100 countries signed the Global Methane Pledge last year during the United Nations' Climate Change Conference. Signatories agreed to cut methane emissions by 30% by the end of the decade, though some of the biggest emitters including China, India, and Russia have yet to sign. The UN is <a href="https://www.unep.org/explore-topics/energy/what-we-do/methane">aggregating methane emissions</a> from satellites and other sources into a global database, starting with the energy industry, making it possible to track who's keeping their promises and who's falling behind.

Satellites can now find the sources of methane leaks. The tech will reshape global climate accountability.

<ul><li>India has lost over 1.6 million hectares of forests in the last 17 years. </li><li>The total forest cover loss has caused nearly 172 metric tons of carbon emission in India. </li><li>The north-eastern states of India — Nagaland, Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Manipur — account for over half of the total loss.</li></ul>India has reportedly lost over 1.6 million hectares of forests in the last 17 years — from 2001 to 2018 — causing nearly <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/india-s-forest-cover-loss-in-17-years-is-four-times-the-size-of-goa/story-IY2OpSPLA7kRutBy8CXhyN.html">172 metric tons of carbon emission</a>s in India in the given period. According to a recent study pushed out by a global research firm World Resource Institute (WRI) on Thursday, the total forest cover loss during this period is equivalent to four times the geographical size of an Indian state of Goa. According to the Indian government, the vegetation cover taller than five metres accounts for the forest cover. plantation cover can be considered as a forest, if there is a 10% density of tree cover per hectare, it added. Of the total tree cover loss, the north-eastern states of India — Nagaland, Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Manipur — account for over half of the loss, highlighted the report. The forest cover was 12% of India’s geographical area, back in 2000, decreasing to 8.9% in 2010. One of the main reasons for the loss seen in north-eastern states is climate change, which directly affects the quality of forests, according to Ruchika Singh, director at WRI India. The states that have lost the maximum forest cover between 2015 and 2017 include Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana. This is also due to the public and private projects that have been going on in states, including the bullet train project. On the flipside, according to <a href="https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/india-is-losing-its-forests-in-the-name-of-development-no-political-party-is-talking-about-it-365706.html">‘State of the Forest Report,'</a> total <keyword id="2067911" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Forest-cover-in-India">forest cover in India</keyword> is nearly 22% of the country’s geographical area, and has been gradually increasing over these years (2001-2018). “In the last two years forest and tree cover has increased by 1% in India, said Saibal Dasgupta, former director general of FSI. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/indias-plan-for-cleaner-air-ignores-an-important-source-of-pollution/articleshow/68668667.cms">India's plan for cleaner air ignores an important source of pollution</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/gurgaon-is-the-most-polluted-city-in-the-world/articleshow/68267574.cms">India accounts for 7 of the world’s 10 most polluted cities — with Gurugram ranked as the worst: Study</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/pollution-aside-stubble-burning-may-have-cost-india-a-loss-of-2-trillion-study/articleshow/68264811.cms">Pollution aside, stubble burning may have cost India a loss of ₹2 trillion: Study</a>

India lost more than a million hectares of forest cover in 17 years — that’s more than four times the size of Goa

<ul><li><keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="India">India</keyword> wants to quadruple its current <keyword id="173970" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="solar-capacity">solar capacity</keyword> to 100GW by 2022.</li><li>Protectionist duties and low tariffs threaten solar developers, making projects unviable. </li><li>Rooftop solar installation costs are still prohibitive.</li></ul>India’s solar industry has grown at a rapid pace over the past few years with <keyword id="3286175" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Solar-tariffs">solar tariffs</keyword> falling to record lows, even below the prevailing <keyword id="6356966" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="coal">coal</keyword> tariffs. However, a number of hurdles remain that is keeping the industry from booming. India has an ambitious target to increase its solar power base – by 2022, it wants to quadruple its current solar capacity to 100GW. A number of industrial-scale <keyword id="6357019" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="solar-energy">solar energy</keyword> plants have come up in the past few years, and the government-backed solar power company Solar Energy Corp. of India (SECI) and state governments have been auctioning solar energy capacity to various private developers using a bidding process that favours the cheapest tariffs. Here are some of the recent trends that could slow down the solar energy sector in India: Sustainable solar tariffs After a period of setting record low solar tariffs resulting from a “reverse bidding” process, which selects the cheapest bidder, India is now said to be considering a ceiling on solar tariffs – a cap of ₹2.5 ($o.035) and ₹2.68 ($0.038) per unit – for solar power companies that use both domestic and imported equipment, the Mint <a href="https://www.livemint.com/Industry/CC7LKHscZyknUpuDi2GcjL/India-all-set-to-introduce-cap-on-solar-power-tariffs.html">reported </a>earlier this week. At that ceiling level, however, the tariff amount is still lesser than what was set during many auctions which many developers say may be too low for these projects to be viable. At the same time, if the tariff amount exceeds a certain threshold – ₹3 per unit – then the developers <a href="http://www.atimes.com/article/import-duties-may-leave-indias-solar-industry-in-the-dark/">face the risk</a> that state power supply distribution companies wouldn’t buy power from them, leaving these plants unsustainable. Protectionist duties India imports over 90% of solar equipment including cells and modules from overseas, mainly from China and Malaysia. Last month, the Indian government said it would impose a 25% safeguard duty on solar equipment imports to protect domestic manufacturers, which could further put pressure on the razor margins of solar developers. While this duty has temporarily been put on hold following protests from a group of local manufacturers and a court order, <a href="http://www.atimes.com/article/import-duties-may-leave-indias-solar-industry-in-the-dark/">concerns </a>remain about future protectionist measures that could squeeze their margins further. Concerns about quality With steep drop in prices, there are also concerns about the quality of the equipment being deployed, raising questions about future regulation and related costs. The <keyword id="17408" type="DOMAIN" weightage="20" keywordseo="infrastructure">infrastructure</keyword> of many solar plants in India didn’t meet many environmental stress factors and technical standards, according to a <a href="https://www.ptb.de/lac/index.php?eID=tx_nawsecuredl&amp;u=0&amp;file=fileadmin/redakteure/dokumente/Q52_Asia/Bilateral_Projects/India_Solar_Industry/PUBLIC_Pilot_Study_on_Quality_Aspects_of_PV_Power_Plants_in_India_.pdf&amp;t=1564738274&amp;hash=5936e35fbab6f0acade3d86e2f0fcc2db8244dff">study </a>conducted by PI Berlin, a German consulting firm. According to the firm, rigorous requirements during the tender process that ask for certifies failure-free installation and durable products should become a must. “Competitive reverse auctions that push down bid prices to extremely low levels, is a scenario where cutting corners in regards to quality may become a common practice,” said the PI report. Rooftop solar math India also has a target of increasing its rooftop solar capacity to 40,000 megawatt (MW) by 2022 similar to trends in many European countries. But, here too, prohibitive costs of solar equipment have kept many residential property owners from switching to rooftop solar despite a government subsidy on solar equipment and the potential for earnings by selling excess generates power back to the grid. Meanwhile, coal continues to serve a third of India’s power generation but increasingly many coal power plants are running into difficulties because of commercial disputes, according to a report by HSBC, which added that in the long term, <keyword id="34553" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="renewable-energy">renewable energy</keyword> sector should see strong growth. "We think the economics will continue to shift in favour of lower carbon power in India, especially as it promotes solar," the <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/solar-power">report</a> added.

If India’s solar energy is cheaper than coal, why isn’t the industry thriving?

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The first US industrial carbon capture plant just opened, according to the New York Times.</li><li>It grabs carbon from the air and traps it in concrete or sends it into the ground. </li></ul>California is now home to a new weapon in the war against climate change.On Thursday, Heirloom Carbon Technologies opened its facility in Tracy, CA. The company said it's the first commercial plant in the US to pull carbon from the air, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/09/climate/direct-air-capture-carbon.html?smid=nytcore-android-share">New York Times</a> reported.As it stands now, the plant is capable of sucking 1,000 tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere per year, which is roughly equal to the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/car-free-reduce-carbon-footprint-cost-2023-7">exhaust released</a> from 200 cars, the Times reported.That means current operations are relatively small, but the company has plans to expand. Shashank Samala told the Times that they want to get to millions of tons per year by building more factories like this.<h2>Grabbing carbon like a sponge</h2><div type="image" title="A man looks up, off screen, with sheets in the background." height="5760" width="8640" msid="105105460" hostid="261" sizebytes="1110820"></div>Heirloom uses <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-government-launches-largest-ever-carbon-removal-initiative-2023-8">direct air capture technology</a>, which essentially means that its product is able to suck free carbon dioxide out of the air, according to its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.heirloomcarbon.com/">website</a>.The company does this by "using limestone like a sponge." The facility processes <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-limestone-kilns-are-slowly-killing-entire-families-in-pakistan">limestone</a>, removing the carbon dioxide from it, which turns it into a fine white powder, called calcium oxide.Water is then added to the calcium oxide, and the resulting mixture is spread out on metal trays exposed to the open air, where it absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and turns back into limestone, per the Times.The facility can then use the limestone it just produced to start the process again, "like repeatedly wringing a sponge," according to Heirloom's website. The captured carbon dioxide gets packed into concrete or injected into the ground, where Heirloom said it's held permanently.This whole process is powered by renewable energy, and the company has publicly pledged to not accept investments from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/exxon-buying-denbury-carbon-capture-business-2023-7">oil and gas companies</a>, the NYT reported.<h2>Why they made this tech in the first place</h2>Excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere traps heat and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/carbon-dioxide-removal-air-sky-machine-climate-change-climeworks-2023-1">warms the planet</a>. If we keep adding carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, experts say we're headed to a future with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-change-sea-level-rise-roads-highways-economy-solutions-resiliency-2023-2">higher sea levels</a>, more <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lahaina-maui-wildfire-what-went-wrong-climate-colonialism-2023-8">frequent natural disasters</a>, and fewer healthy human lives.A recent report from the World Wildlife Fund and Boston Consulting Group found that if we continue using fossil fuels at current rates, there'll be the equivalent of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/green-energy-transition-saves-millions-years-healthy-human-life-2023-11">211 million years of human life lost</a> or lived with disability in the year 2050, alone.So it's crucial to reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses we're releasing. By removing some of the carbon dioxide we've already released, it could help us halt climate change even sooner."The science is clear: Cutting back carbon emissions through renewable energy alone won't stop the damage from climate change," Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, told the Times. "Direct air capture technology is a game-changing tool that gives us a shot at removing the carbon pollution."<h2>Carbon capture is not a cure for climate change</h2>Using carbon capture alone won't be a cure-all for our climate woes. To avoid a hotter future, we need to rapidly reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, according to the WWF report.Further, some experts are wary of carbon capture, like climate scientist Peter Kalmus.Kalmus <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/carbon-capture-storage-expensive-climate-change-2021-9">told Insider in 2021</a> that pollutive companies might promote investments in carbon capture to distract the public from the amount of fossil fuels they're actively releasing into the air. This mirrors a popular sentiment about <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fund-carbon-removal-corporates-avoid-bad-credits-2023-2">carbon offsets</a>."Fossil-fuel companies love carbon capture because it really does let them off the hook," he said.

The first US commercial plant has started to pull carbon from the air. It's able to suck out 1,000 tons annually and plans to expand.

<div type="image" title="One Planet Banner Test" height="138" width="1100" msid="101402909" hostid="261" sizebytes="5076"></div>Do you remember your very first cellphone?Where is it now? Maybe you passed it on to a friend, traded it in for an upgrade, or sold it. Maybe it's still lurking somewhere in your home, abandoned in a drawer.It takes a lot of resources to make a smartphone. It's estimated that the production of a typical smartphone uses around <a href="https://www.twosides.info/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/mind-your-step-report-76803.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">12,760 liters of water,</a> which is equivalent to around 160 bathtubs full of water. The manufacturing process is energy-intensive, too, with the production of an average smartphone emitting 60 kilograms of carbon dioxide, <a href="https://green-alliance.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Design_for_a_circular_economy.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to Green Alliance</a>, an independent think tank focused on environmental policy. It's not just smartphone manufacturing that has a big environmental impact. <a href="https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">According to the Environmental Protection Agency,</a> manufacturing is the third-largest contributor to US greenhouse-gas emissions, after transportation and electric power. The sector also accounts for 25% of the nation's energy consumption.More often than not, the products we consume have been made from newly extracted materials. The amount of resources that we extract has <a href="https://www.circularity-gap.world/global" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more than tripled since 1970</a>, with global material consumption totaling <a href="https://www.circularity-gap.world/2020" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more than 100 billion tons every year.</a> But while consumption rates have shot up, recycling rates have remained low. Just <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/22/worlds-consumption-of-materials-hits-record-100bn-tonnes-a-year" target="_blank" rel="noopener">8.6% of the materials that we consume each year are recycled.</a><h2>Could a circular economy make a difference?</h2>Some industry leaders think there's a solution for cutting down on waste and reducing greenhouse-gas emissions at the same time: the circular economy. Try to visualize it. Right now, we have a linear system. We extract materials, make them into products, use the products, and then dispose of them. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a charity committed to creating a circular economy, calls this a <a href="https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/topics/circular-economy-introduction/overview" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"take-make-waste" system</a>. Think back to your first cellphone: It's probably at the "waste" stage right now.The idea of a circular economy is to take that "straight line" system and turn it into a closed loop. The basic idea is to keep materials in the loop for as long as possible. Imagine if components from your first cellphone were extracted and used in your current one, or if it was easy to upgrade and repair your first cellphone so you could still use it today.<a href="https://www.circularity-gap.world/global" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Research by the Circularity Gap Reporting Initiative</a> found that only 7.2% of the global economy is currently circular.There are several ways to create a circular economy. It starts with designing products that last as long as possible and are easy to repair. Once a product can no longer be repaired, it can be remanufactured — which is when you disassemble a product and make a new version of the product with used parts. Recycling — when materials are repurposed into a new product and put back together again — is the final step. When you recycle, you are using waste as a resource.Alice Bodreau, the partnership lead at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, said that there are three pillars of a circular-economy strategy: developing products that don't create waste and pollution, circulating the materials that you put on the market, and regenerating nature.Anne Velenturf, a senior research fellow at the University of Leeds, told Insider that adopting a circular economy does not mean that consumers lose out. "Research has shown that we can all still live a good-quality life when resources are better shared across society," she said.<h2>Waste is a resource</h2>Recycling doesn't just tackle our waste problem; it helps to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. That's because recycled materials skip a large part of the energy-intensive extraction and manufacturing process. The production of recycled steel, for instance, requires <a href="https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/completing-the-picture" target="_blank" rel="noopener">10% to 15% of the energy required to produce new steel.</a>The issue, though, is that not everything is easy to recycle. Think about the phone or computer that you're reading this article on. It's made up of lots of different materials and minerals.This problem is something that Peter Afiuny was thinking about when he cofounded the magnet-manufacturing company <a href="https://noveon.co" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Noveon</a>. "In the late '80s and early '90s, all of the stuff that we were consuming as a society started to become more complex in its product, in terms of the components that are used," Afiuny told Insider. "The waste industry didn't really catch up to how to extract the more critical components."Afiuny, who had previously worked in the recycling industry, wanted to find an efficient way to "surgically extract" components that would otherwise be discarded.Cue the creation of Noveon, a company that manufactures rare-earth magnets from recycled materials. According to Afiuny, postconsumer recycling rates for rare-earth magnetic materials are less than 3%. The traditional "mine-to-magnet" process consists of a lot of energy-intensive and waste-intensive steps and uses potentially dangerous chemicals. "We essentially invented a process that bypassed all of these upstream methods," Afiuny said.Many things need permanent magnets, including products that are essential for the green transition such as electric vehicles and wind turbines."Most of our magnetic materials come from end-of-life channels, so that includes motors, energy systems, medical devices, data-storage devices like hard disk drives," Afiuny said.Afiuny told Insider that he saw Noveon's manufacturing approach as part of a wider shift in the industry. "I think that there is just more generally a trend towards developing regional supply chains, especially as companies are becoming global entities and they're looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint," he said.<h2>Design matters</h2>Bodreau said that there's more to the circular economy than recycling."Recycling is like you have a water leak in your house and you just go and directly mop it up and try to mop everything up before doing anything else," she said. "While the circular economy is about putting the tap off and actually addressing the leak itself, and not just mopping the floor and keeping on mopping the floor forever and ever."One way to "turn the tap off" is through design. Bodreau said it's about "redesigning the way you operate and the way your product is designed that it will never end up as a leak in the world."That's the principle the electronics company <a href="https://www.fairphone.com/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fairphone</a> is putting into practice. Based in Amsterdam, the company manufactures just two types of products: smartphones and headphones. Their smartphones aren't glued shut and are easy to disassemble, which makes them much easier to repair."Seventy-five percent of the emissions connected to a smartphone occur during production," Anna Jopp, Fairphone's press officer, told Insider. "To us, this means that the most efficient way to reduce the emissions caused by smartphones is to produce less phones. And the way to achieve this is to use the phones we already have for as long as possible."If you keep your phone for five years instead of three you could reduce the phone's annual carbon footprint by 31%, Jopp said.Since phone longevity is key, Jopp said Fairfone tries to encourage people to keep their phones as long as possible by making products that are modular by design and easily repairable. "The longer a product is used, the fewer new products we need to manufacture and the less resources we use," she said.<h2>The renewable challenge</h2>The Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimates that there will be <a href="https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/articles/we-need-to-talk-about-renewables-part-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">43 million tons of wind-turbine blade waste by 2050.</a> Meanwhile, the Renewable Energy Agency estimates that there will be up to <a href="https://www.irena.org/publications/2016/Jun/End-of-life-management-Solar-Photovoltaic-Panels" target="_blank" rel="noopener">78 million tons of solar-panel waste</a> by 2050. The renewable-energy industry presents a new challenge for the circular economy, and the UK company ReBlade is trying to get ahead of the game. ReBlade's cofounder Fiona Lindsay told Insider that the team wanted to stop material from wind turbines from going to landfills. While many parts of wind turbines can be recycled, the wind-turbine blades are made from fiberglass, a nonbiodegradable manufactured composite that is extremely difficult to recycle. The company is working on solutions to repurpose wind-turbine blades when they can no longer be used to generate power. Their flagship project uses decommissioned blades to create canopies that provide shelter at electric-vehicle charging points.Lindsay said that the "newness" of the sector was a big obstacle. "Until now, blades have only needed to come down in tiny numbers, perhaps because of damage," she said."In the years ahead, blades will come down in their thousands as whole wind-farm sites are repowered with bigger turbines," she said. "What that means is that the owner-operators of sites don't, as of yet, have standardized approaches to procurement or blade-removal operations.""It takes a tremendous amount of energy and resources to produce the blades in the first place, so we believe reusing them is a better option," Lindsay said.<h2>A 'win-win' solution</h2>Velenturf said that there were many benefits for companies adopting circular-economy principles, including accessing new markets and customers and increasing the security of material supplies, which reduces risks and costs.Policymakers are starting to catch on to circular solutions, too. In June, representatives from 180 countries met in Paris and discussed a global treaty to regulate plastics. Bodreau described the meeting as a "big, big way forward." Meanwhile, New York state's recent <a href="https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-signs-digital-fair-repair-act-law" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Digital Fair Repair Act</a> aims to make it easier for consumers to access the parts and information needed to repair their electronic devices.For Lindsay, the circular approach is a no-brainer. "We have a finite amount of resources so we need to find innovative new ways to reuse resources through second- or even third-life uses after they have been used in their initial applications — a win-win for everybody."This article is part of "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/the-great-transition" rel="">The Great Transition</a>," a series covering the big changes across industries that are leading to a more sustainable future. For more climate-action news, visit Insider's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/one-planet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">One Planet</a> hub.

How the circular economy could solve the smartphone-waste problem — and curb the manufacturing industry's carbon footprint, too

<ul class="summary-list"><li>ChatGPT said its carbon footprint depended on the energy use of its computers and servers.</li><li>The climate impact of AI is a newer area of research, but the effect is likely small.</li></ul>Millions of people, like me, are now using ChatGPT, the artificial-intelligence tool that can write everything from <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-chatbot-openai-chatgpt-layoff-memo-amazon-google-meta-2023-1?_gl=1*1t95lss*_ga*ODEzOTE0NTE0LjE2NTgyNDk0OTk.*_ga_E21CV80ZCZ*MTY3NjA2MDc5MS40NjIuMS4xNjc2MDYwOTk0LjAuMC4w">layoff emails</a> to <a href="https://www.insider.com/okcupid-chatgpt-generated-match-questions-wasnt-great-2023-2">dating profiles</a> to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chatgpt-gave-instructions-for-making-crack-and-smuggling-report-2023-2?_gl=1*1jik3bn*_ga*ODEzOTE0NTE0LjE2NTgyNDk0OTk.*_ga_E21CV80ZCZ*MTY3NjA2MDc5MS40NjIuMS4xNjc2MDYwODE4LjAuMC4w">detailed instructions on how to make cocaine</a>.I haven't asked it to create any of those things, though I did wonder whether ChatGPT could spit out an answer on its environmental toll. Concerns about ChatGPT's carbon footprint, which is likely small at the moment, could rise as more people turn to it for day-to-day search. The chatbot had some 590 million visits in January alone, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/feb/02/chatgpt-100-million-users-open-ai-fastest-growing-app" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to UBS analysts</a> who described it as the fastest-growing consumer app in history.The models underlying ChatGPT that train it how to understand and generate human language require heavy-duty processing power. And the data centers hosting its cloud networks must be kept cool. The energy demands for AI are likely to go up as more people ask it questions like, "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chatgpt-how-to-negotiate-a-raise-job-advice-experts-approved-2023-1">How to negotiate a raise?</a>" For now, a lot of mystery surrounds the carbon footprint of AI, including ChatGPT. The murkiness isn't surprising. It's often difficult to total up a single human's carbon tab. I eat dairy and travel on airplanes occasionally. AI does neither of those — nor does it harbor the green guilt I sometimes feel for my actions. I asked the chatbot what its carbon footprint was, and its answer felt, well, human: It depends."As an AI language model developed by OpenAI, I do not have a physical body or personal actions that generate carbon emissions," ChatGPT wrote. "My carbon footprint would be limited to the energy consumption of the computers and servers used to run me and process requests. The exact carbon footprint would depend on factors such as the energy sources used to power the computers and the efficiency of the data centers."ChatGPT added that OpenAI didn't disclose how many computers and servers were used to run and process requests. It's "likely a large-scale infrastructure consisting of multiple data centers spread across different regions," it wrote. The numbers might change based on demand.And because ChatGPT's most recent <a href="https://www.searchenginejournal.com/openai-chatgpt-update/476116/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data is from 2021</a>, it's unlikely any answer it could give would reflect its recent surge in popularity.<div type="image" title="ChatGPT screenshot" height="1146" width="1532" msid="97916879" hostid="261" sizebytes="105332"></div>Sasha Luccioni, a researcher at the AI startup HuggingFace, wasn't surprised that ChatGPT was vague — the environmental impact of AI is still an emerging area of research.Last year, she coauthored a <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/2211.02001.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> that looked at the life cycle of emissions from HuggingFace's own language model, Bloom. The study, which wasn't peer-reviewed, measured emissions starting from the manufacturing of computer hardware to the energy used to train the model. Those emissions totaled nearly 51 metric tons of carbon dioxide — or about 60 one-way flights between London and New York, according to <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/11/14/1063192/were-getting-a-better-idea-of-ais-true-carbon-footprint/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MIT Technology Review</a>. HuggingFace also tracked electricity use as Bloom fielded hundreds of thousands of queries from users during an 18-day period, and emissions totaled far less than 1 metric ton of carbon dioxide. The emissions associated with Bloom were low compared with language models of similar size. A 2019 <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/1906.02243.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">University of Massachusetts Amherst</a> study of popular language models found in the case of one model, for example, that its training could emit the equivalent of 284,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, or five times the average gas-powered car over its lifetime.If you take a step back, the entire global tech sector accounts for somewhere between <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666389921001884#!" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2% and 4% of greenhouse-gas emissions</a>, and AI is only a slice of that field. The aviation industry similarly accounts for <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/09/aviation-flight-path-to-net-zero-future/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">about 3% of global emissions</a>.That doesn't mean it should be ignored, Luccioni said. "Most AI programs are on the low end of the emissions spectrum," she said. "A select few models seem to be disproportionately polluting, though, so it's important to understand where the sources of carbon are. Then you can at least start setting up guidelines."ChatGPT also told me that OpenAI's goal was to handle an increasing number of requests in an "efficient" and "cost-effective" way, while reducing its environmental impact. Those strategies include optimizing energy use in its data centers, looking to source renewable energy for its operations, and purchasing carbon offsets. <div type="image" title="ChatGPT screenshot" height="886" width="1773" msid="97916880" hostid="261" sizebytes="94044"></div>OpenAI didn't return a request for comment on its environmental goals.The entire exchange left me feeling like I had interviewed a politician because there were few direct answers and I still had a lot of questions, including what the carbon footprint of my query was.

I asked ChatGPT about its carbon footprint, and for now, it's a mystery

<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.

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

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Sanchali Pal is the founder and CEO of Joro, a climate-impact app that launched in April 2020.</li><li>Joro offers personalized climate-solution tools, including an automated carbon-emissions tracker.</li></ul>In 2012, Sanchali Pal was the manager of a dining hall at Princeton University when she got an idea. A senior economics student at the time, Pal had just watched the documentary "Food, Inc." and spoke to her team about ordering more plant-based meals and reconsidering the overall volume of food orders.Her goal was to monitor and reduce the carbon impact of the dining hall, which fed about 200 students. After she floated the idea, the dining hall cut down its meat servings by 25%, which was the equivalent of taking nearly <a href="https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/greenhouse-gas-emissions-typical-passenger-vehicle" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">50 cars off the road</a>.Pal then applied her idea on a personal level and started tracking her carbon footprint. This evolved into her current venture as the founder and CEO of <a href="https://www.joro.app/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">Joro</a>, an app that tracks users' spending to evaluate their carbon emissions.During the early development of Joro, Pal was pursuing a master's degree in business administration at Harvard Business School, where she graduated in 2018. She and a group of graduate peers at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology started researching carbon accounting. "We were looking at different ways that we could provide real-time carbon data to consumers to make more informed choices," Pal told Insider. This included analyzing data on consumers' utilities, locations, and expenditures. After receiving $1 million in <a href="https://news.crunchbase.com/news/sanchali-pal-joro-something-ventured/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">preseed funding</a>, Pal launched the Joro app in the US in April 2020.<div type="image" title="An image with two phone screens showcasing how to track your carbon footprint on the Joro app" height="2108" width="3649" msid="89163073" hostid="261"></div><h2>Simplifying accountability measures </h2>Pal has previously worked on projects related to sustainable infrastructure, agricultural investments, and emerging markets such as the Philippines, Ethiopia, and India. She learned that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qBFI_lMVPQ" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">increasing awareness</a> of purchasing power and simplifying financial decision-making are requirements for making a service like Joro successful.Joro uses a proprietary emissions data and algorithm service called <a href="https://www.joro.app/joro-blog/how-does-the-joro-carbonizer-work" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">the Carbonizer</a> to automate insights on personal carbon footprint. After registering on the app, users connect their debit or credit cards through which Joro tracks purchases and converts them into kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalents, or CO2e. "That's actually how national-level carbon accounting is done — by looking at flows of capital across different products," Pal said. "If we could apply that methodology to the personal level, then people would have access to real-time data the way that companies or countries do."The app also provides personalized tips for making cleaner spending decisions and encourages users to learn about other climate-focused projects such as <a href="https://www.runningtide.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">Running Tide</a> and <a href="https://nori.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">Nori</a>.<h2><keyword id="11896309" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="sustainability" source="Orion">Sustainability</keyword> in Joro's business model</h2>Pal established a three-pronged business model that focuses on producing emissions data through tracking, changing what consumers buy, and connecting people to meaningful carbon-offset projects that aim to neutralize greenhouse gas emissions. "Those are the three core value propositions, and they each have a clear monetization and impact path," Pal said.The model has generated some of Joro's most notable functional successes to date. Building out the app's core tracking technology has enabled Pal and a team of researchers and academic advisors at Yale University's Center for Industrial Ecology to apply academic analysis to real consumer data. Additionally, Pal said, adding a membership feature called Net Zero has led to a high subscriber-retention rate by allowing users to <a href="https://www.joro.app/how-it-works#portfolio" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">automatically offset</a> their purchases.<div type="image" title="An image with three phone screens showcasing how to track your carbon footprint on the Joro app" height="2108" width="3649" msid="89163074" hostid="261"></div>But there's room for growth. One app feature Pal hopes to develop is the ability to estimate and compare the emissions of similar products at different companies. This, in effect, could prompt businesses to be more sustainable in their operations.Pal also wants to offer more sustainable lifestyle goals that are less daunting to those who are novices in environmentally conscious decision-making. "People might want to start with greening their bank, switching to clean energy at home, or even just walking and biking more," she said. "So we're trying to build in a variety of actions that allow users to start from whatever's easiest and most accessible for them."Users can also follow friends and view leaderboards that show the progress of their Joro peers' sustainability efforts. But Pal, who plans to launch the app in Canada next month, is thinking about even more ways to develop a sense of community among users.<h2>Why accessible accountability matters</h2>The research firm Rhodium Group <a href="https://rhg.com/research/preliminary-us-emissions-2021/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">reported</a> that US greenhouse gas emissions rose by 6.2% last year compared with 2020. Consequently, making climate solutions more clear-cut and accessible is becoming increasingly important. "The personalized accountability mechanisms are what's helpful in creating some motivation or benefit to participating in climate solutions," Pal said.She believes that Joro can help rectify sustainability pitfalls on the corporate level as well. By encouraging users to make cleaner purchasing choices, companies with sustainable products and services reap the benefits — and companies that aren't on board must pivot toward sustainable practices or risk getting left behind. Companies, Pal added, could also integrate accessible climate solutions into employee benefits packages. "It is true that we need climate policy to happen fast to create sweeping change," Pal said. "But, also, people do have power, especially when we take action together. Collective support can be really powerful in accelerating solutions."

This CEO is making climate-solution tools more accessible with an app that tracks and personalizes your carbon footprint

<div type="image" title="Elon Musk looking at his iPhone .JPG" height="1876" width="2502" msid="82616915" hostid="261"></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>On Wednesday, <keyword id="107096" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Tesla">Tesla</keyword> suspended purchases of its cars with <keyword id="6354947" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="bitcoin">bitcoin</keyword>.</li><li>CEO <keyword id="6355315" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="elon-musk">Elon Musk</keyword> cited the environmental impact of mining and trading on <keyword id="6375918" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="carbon-emissions">carbon emissions</keyword>.</li><li>Bitcoin has a growing carbon footprint and could soon become the 5th largest carbon dioxide emitter in the world.</li></ul>Tesla <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-bans-bitcoin-payments-due-to-impact-on-environment-2021-5">suspended vehicle purchases made using bitcoin</a> this week, just three months after announcing plans to accept the cryptocurrency as payment. That might be for the best.CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday cited the environmental impact of bitcoin transactions for the electric automaker's decision to suspend the purchasing option."We are concerned about the rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel," Musk said in a tweet.Musk's decision sparked outrage on social media as #dontbuytesla trended on Twitter and users accused the CEO of market manipulation. "All of a sudden, he's not so keen due to environmental concerns. But why now?" Nigel Green, CEO of the financial advisor deVere Group and a crypto supporter, <a href="https://twitter.com/nigeljgreen/status/1392742757677076482">said</a>. "Those issues surrounding the environmental impact have not come up in the last few months."But Musk's decision may have some weight behind it, especially considering the rise in bitcoin's <keyword id="6357014" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="energy">energy</keyword> consumption in recent years. Tesla's February <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/08/tesla-buys-1point5-billion-in-bitcoin.html">investment of $1.5 billion worth of the cryptocurrency caused a surge in demand</a>, further hiking up its value.Environmentalists have long criticized bitcoin's environmental footprint, and Wall Street analysts seem to agree: Bitcoin mining could erase any gains made by electric vehicles to eliminate carbon emissions.The cryptocurrency's energy consumption is linked to the computer calculations necessary every time a trade is made or a new bitcoin is minted. Thousands of computers connected network race to verify transactions and collect a reward for doing so. These processes rely on large amounts of computing power and electricity, which is often derived from fossil fuels, including coal - as well as the energy necessary to cool large computing arrays. Over the last two years, as bitcoin has rapidly risen in popularity, so too have CO2 emissions from its mining. The cryptocurrency has caused emissions to increase by over 40 million tons, which would be equivalent to adding 8.9 million cars to roads, according to a <a href="https://fortune.com/2021/05/13/musk-bitcoin-mining-bad-planet-heres-how-bad/">report</a> from Bank of America. "We do not find many other human activities that have a higher carbon footprint per dollar of inflow," the analysts said.BofA also found that the currency produces more greenhouse gases than American Airlines (one of the largest airlines in the world), as well as uses more energy than many countries, including Greece. BofA estimated that if bitcoin prices rose to $1 million, the cryptocurrency could become the fifth largest cause of CO2 emissions in the world. After Musk dropped bitcoin as a Tesla purchasing option, the <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/bitcoin-price-tesla-payment-stops-elon-musk-climate-change-environment-2021-5-1030424949">currency plunged as much as 15%</a>, dipping below $50,000 - far from <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/bitcoin-btc-price-profit-taking-india-regulation-record-high-ether-2021-3-1030204745">bitcoin's record high</a>, near $65,000.

Elon Musk is right. Bitcoin could erase Tesla's strides toward a carbon-free future

The blanket of haze over Delhi thickened on Friday morning with the national capital's pollution levels increasing overnight by around 50 points, taking the overall air quality index to 459. A Central Pollution Control Board official said the AQI entered the "severe plus" or "emergency" category late Thursday night, the first time since January this year. If the air quality persists in the "severe plus" category for more than 48 hours, emergency measures such as odd-even car rationing scheme, banning entry of trucks, construction activities and shutting down schools are taken under the Graded Response Action Plan, the official said. The hazardous pollution levels forced a number of people to miss morning walks and other activities. Shubhomoy Sikdar, a Delhi-based journalist, said the pollution levels gave him a throat infection and he had to skip his daily sports session. Amanpreet Singh, a resident of <keyword id="1775695" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Jangpura">Jangpura</keyword>, said he has been avoiding morning and evening walks and preferring to stay indoors. The number of masked faces continued to grow as the city remained shrouded in pungent haze for the fourth consecutive day. At 8.30 am, the capital's overall air quality index stood at 459. It was 410 at 8 pm on Thursday. All the 37 air quality monitoring stations across Delhi recorded the air quality in the severe category on Friday morning. Bawana was the most-polluted area with an AQI of 497, followed by Delhi Technological University (487), Wazirpur (485), Anand Vihar (484) and Vivek Vihar (482). Neighbouring Ghaziabad was the most-polluted city in the country, with the levels of PM2.5 -- tiny particulate matter less than 2.5 microns that can enter deep into the lungs -- reaching as high as 493. Greater <keyword id="18858" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Noida">Noida</keyword> (480), Noida (477), and <keyword id="47896" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Faridabad">Faridabad</keyword> (432) also breathed extremely polluted air. An AQI between 0-50 is considered good , 51-100 satisfactory , 101-200 moderate , 201-300 poor , 301-400 very poor , and 401-500 severe . Above 500 is severe-plus or emergency category. Delhi is impatiently hoping for favourable meteorological conditions to blow away the toxic air, as health experts said the hazardous air pollution has become a serious health concern for about 2 crore residents. "Intake of every 22 micrograms per <keyword id="6805104" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Cubic-metre">cubic metre</keyword> of polluted air is equivalent to smoking a cigarette. So whether the PM2.5 level is 700 or 300 units, the impact is still as bad. People need to take precautions, especially those suffering from asthma, <keyword id="55923" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bronchitis">bronchitis</keyword> or other respiratory illness," said Dr Arvind Kumar, lung surgeon at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital here. Weather experts said increased wind speed due to a fresh western disturbance approaching the northern region would help disperse pollutants faster from Saturday. Parents are a worried lot as health experts say children breathe faster, taking in more pollutants. Many took to Twitter to demand that schools be shut till the situation ameliorates. "We, as parents, request Delhi government to keep all schools (pvt and govt) shut for the time being," Anil Atri, a Delhi resident, posted on the microblogging site. "Whole Delhi air at hazardous levels now. Pollution at its peak. Activate all emergency measures. Close down schools @msisodia (sic)," another resident tweeted. Deputy Chief Minister <keyword id="6354681" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="manish-sisodia">Manish Sisodia</keyword> had on Wednesday said the decision to shut schools would be taken "when the need arises". In November 2017, the government had shut schools for a few days due to the deteriorating air quality. The government, however, started distributing 50 lakh N95 masks, considered one of the good quality masks for tackling smog, among school students in Delhi on Friday morning. Meanwhile, the BCCI said it would carry on with the India-Bangladesh T20 at the Feroz Shah Kotla grounds on Sunday, disregarding concerns raised by environmentalists about the health of players and thousands of spectators. The AQI takes into account five chief pollutants -- particulate matter with a diameter less than 10 micrometres (PM10), PM2.5, <keyword id="36673" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="ozone">ozone</keyword> (O3), <keyword id="142405" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nitrogen-dioxide">nitrogen dioxide</keyword> (NO2) and carbon monoxide (CO). The higher the AQI value, the greater the level of air pollution and health concerns.

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