This month’s Climate Change Chronicles bears witness to July 2023 going down in history as a tipping point in human awareness of the effects of global warming that can no longer be denied as the planet crosses over into an era of accelerating climate change. Yet, despite all the unsettling news, global carbon emissions are showing signs of slowing due to the work of countless scientists, engineers, activists, policy experts, government agencies and other professionals around the world, including those working to green PLM and NPD.

So many climate records were broken this month that climate scientists began stating the obvious: global warming and climate change is accelerating and has entered into new unprecedented, unchartered territory which the world is ill prepared to handle. Floods, fires, droughts, water shortages, and deadly heat are fueling concurrent crises and disasters across the world as the planet is on track to exceed an increase of over 5 degrees F.

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The latest Climate Change Chronicles from the PLM Green Global Alliance provides a quick-to-scan digest of news, both good and bad, from around the world during May 2023 about the changing climate and its impact on people and the planet.

While there is increasing good news about the race to decarbonize the global economy, I am often asked if all the bad climate news does not distress me into despair.

No, it serves to motivate me further to do more NOW as I sincerely hope it does others.

Like many PLM Green participants, I was educated (long ago) as an aerospace engineer who was motivated by identifying and analyzing problems. And now ending my career as a business consultant concerned about the future of humanity and our planet, I am more motivated to help promote engineering solutions to the most challenging sustainability obstacle our generation has created and leaves behind to others, climate change.

This includes the most important uses of PLM-enabling technologies that PLM professionals will likely ever see in our careers.

Our good news question of the month: what European country announced that 80% of all new car sales last year were electric vehicles? Read on to find out and learn what else might have been missed in your own news feeds.

For additional news about the role of PLM-enabling technologies in creating a more sustainable low-carbon circular economy, subscribe to the PLM & Sustainability Newsletter (soon to be restarted) then join our PLM Green LinkedIn Group for community discussion.

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Climate change is not a short news story that can be told in one post, but is a long narrative that will span decades in which history will judge humanity for what we did and did not do as we individually and collectively bear witness. The latest Climate Change Chronicles news digest, prepared for followers of the PLM Green Global Alliance, summarizes news during just one month from around the world about the changing climate and efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The past month of July 2022 was another month of climate-related suffering – including my own Midwest city of St. Louis which flooded from 10 inches of rain over one night – with abundant scientific evidence that demonstrates the worsening effects of climate change and a warming planet. Despite all the bad news, there was continued progress in the movement to decarbonize industry as we share with the PLM Green LinkedIn Group.

July 2022 Eurasia Heat Wave from NASA

Our good news question of the month: what country has started sending its citizens a quarterly climate carbon dividend rebate from a tax on carbon polluters? Read on to find out and learn what you might have missed in your own climate news feeds during the past month. For news about the role of PLM in creating a more sustainable low-carbon economy, subscribe to our other PLM Green news digest on the Intersection of PLM & Sustainability.

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The latest Climate Change News Digest, prepared for followers of the PLM Green Global Alliance, summarizes the most important monthly news from around the world about the changing climate and progress in decarbonizing the global economy. Our good news question of the month: what is the “First Movers Initiative” announced at the Davos World Economic Forum this year? Read on to find out and learn what you might have missed in your own news feeds during the past month.

CO2 in the atmosphere as measured at Mauna Loa hit another record at 421 ppm. April is the month when C02 is the highest in the Northern Hemisphere. The Keeling Curve shows no sign of slowing down and is expected to blow past 430 then reach 440. The last time levels were this high was over 4 million years ago on a planet that would not have been habitable for humans or the flora and fauna that we now enjoy.

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The latest Climate Change News Digest prepared for followers of the PLM Green Global Alliance summarizes a significant number of news items from October 2021 on the climate crisis and the growing movement to decarbonize the global economy. The good news question of the month: which country announced its intent that all electricity generation will be fossil fuel free by 2035?  Read on to find out.

👍 A global trio of climate research scientists have won the Nobel Prize in Physics this year. The most notable is Dr. Syukuro Manabe who as far back as 1967 developed a model of the link between CO2 in the atmosphere and warming. Yes, we have now had over 50 years of warning from scientists that we failed to take seriously.

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This month’s Climate Change News Digest prepared for followers of the PLM Green Global Alliance summarizes the latest news not just about the changing climate but the growing momentum to decarbonize the global economy. Our good news question of the month: how many international companies have now joined The Carbon Pledge to reduce their GHG emissions to net-zero by 2040? Read on to find out.

The emissions of another powerful greenhouse gas, methane, is getting more visibility from space. Interactive maps made from satellite images clearly show where most of the methane emissions are coming from, especially in Asia and China. The composition of methane in the atmosphere is rising rapidly, but unlike CO2 emissions, its sources have historically been more difficult to identify.

👍 The Biden Administration continues to raise the importance of combating climate change with the announcement of a new pledge to reduce methane gases. In cooperation with the EU the US will work to lower methane emissions by 30% by the end of this decade.

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