The latest Climate Change Chronicles from the PLM Green Global Alliance provides a quick-to-scan summary of news during October 2023 from around the world about the changing climate and its impact on people and the planet.
I am often asked if the distressing news about climate change does not depress me. Not at all. As someone who was educated as an engineer (like many of our PLM Green followers and contributors) I am energized by analyzing problems, confronting challenges, and collaborating on solutions. I hope our readers working in PLM are equally motivated as achieving sustainability will require all of our professional contributions.
Our good news quiz question of the month: what European capital announced a ban on all gasoline powered vehicles in their city center by 2025? Read on to find out and learn what else might have been missed in your own news feeds.
(For more good news and uplifting discussions about the use of PLM-enabling technologies in creating a sustainable low-carbon circular economy, join the PLM Green LinkedIn Group.)
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.
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 Groupfor community discussion.
This month’s Climate Change Chronicles from the PLM Green Global Alliance provides a quick-to-scan summary of news from around the world during December 2022 about the changing climate and its impact on people and the planet.
Our good news question of the month: what laboratory announced a breakthrough in nuclear fusion energy? Read on to find out and learn what else might have been missed in your own news feeds.
The latest Climate Change news digest, prepared for followers of the PLM Green Global Alliance, summarizes the most substantial news from around the world during the month of November 2022 about the changing climate and progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
This month’s good news question: what US state announced a ban on the use of fossil fuel plants to power crypto-mining operations? Read on to find out.
The latest Climate Change Chronicles news digest, prepared for followers of the PLM Green Global Alliance, summarizes substantial news from around the world during the month of August, 2022 about the worsening climate and progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
This month’s good news question: what is the name of the recently passed legislation in the US that supporters say will help the country meet its 40% reduction in emissions target by 2030? Read on to find out while joining others in bearing witness to the growing impact of global warming on people and the planet.
Experienced Product Lifecycle Management professionals, consultants, and solution providers all know that the biggest obstacle to implementing a PLM strategy is not in technology or software, but in business organizational cultures that resist critical self-examination and change, despite being confronted by inconvenient facts which threaten their performance or even survival.
Sound familiar to the hesitation and denial surrounding climate change that slows our global transition to a net-zero economy?
PLM consultants also tell their clients that every product manufacturer or process producer executes some form of PLM, whether they are consciously aware of it or not. The lack of a PLM business strategy, implementation plan, or supporting software solution is in fact one, albeit negligent, form of PLM.
Even when the “M” in this case is also for mismanagement.
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.
The latest Climate Change News Digest, prepared for followers of the PLM Green Global Alliance, summarizes news from around the world about the changing climate and progress in decarbonizing the global economy. Our good news question of the month: what percentage of US power came from renewable sources in the first quarter of the year? 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 news digest on the Intersection of PLM & Sustainability.
“Decarbonizing the Atmosphere: Opportunities and Cautions” is a comprehensive article written for engineering professionals in the Spring 2022 issue of The Bent magazine from the Tau Beta Pi engineering professional society.
The article summarizes the massive scope of the technical challenge to stop emitting new greenhouse gasses, like C02 and methane, into the atmosphere, and the likelihood we will have to remove and sequester what we have already emitted.
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.
The latest Climate Change News Digest for April 2022, prepared for followers of the PLM Green Global Alliance LinkedIn Group, summarizes in one place 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 petroleum organization agreed that a price or tax on carbon was a good idea? Read on to find out and learn what you might have missed during a month with a lot of news, much of it good.
The latest Climate Change News Digest for March 2022, prepared for followers of the PLM Green Global Alliance, summarizes recent news about the changing climate and efforts to decarbonize the global economy. While GHG emissions and climate trends remain alarming, as evidenced in the latest IPCC assessment, there is encouraging progress being made in green technologies, public awareness, and most importantly the political will to act. Our good news question of the month: what political body agreed to impose cross-border carbon tariffs on trade? Read on to find out.
“Human-induced climate change, including more frequent and intense extreme events, has caused widespread adverse impacts and related losses and damages to nature and people, beyond natural climate variability. Some development and adaptation efforts have reduced vulnerability. Across sectors and regions the most vulnerable people and systems are observed to be disproportionately affected. The rise in weather and climate extremes has led to some irreversible impacts as natural and human systems are pushed beyond their ability to adapt (high confidence).
Vulnerability of ecosystems and people to climate change differs substantially among and within regions (very high confidence), driven by patterns of intersecting socio-economic development, unsustainable ocean and land use, inequity, marginalization, historical and ongoing patterns of inequity such as colonialism, and governance (high confidence). Approximately 3.3 to 3.6 billion people live in contexts that are highly vulnerable to climate change (high confidence). A high proportion of species is vulnerable to climate change (high confidence). Human and ecosystem vulnerability are interdependent (high confidence). Current unsustainable development patterns are increasing exposure of ecosystems and people to climate hazards (high confidence).
Global warming, reaching 1.5°C in the near-term, would cause unavoidable increases in multiple climate hazards and present multiple risks to ecosystems and humans (very high confidence). The level of risk will depend on concurrent near-term trends in vulnerability, exposure, level of socioeconomic development and adaptation (high confidence). Near-term actions that limit global warming to close to 1.5°C would substantially reduce projected losses and damages related to climate change in human systems and ecosystems, compared to higher warming levels, but cannot eliminate them all (very high confidence).
Beyond 2040 and depending on the level of global warming, climate change will lead to numerous risks to natural and human systems (high confidence). For 127 identified key risks, assessed mid- and long- term impacts are up to multiple times higher than currently observed (high confidence). The magnitude and rate of climate change and associated risks depend strongly on near-term mitigation and adaptation actions, and projected adverse impacts and related losses and damages escalate with every increment of global warming (very high confidence).
Climate change impacts and risks are becoming increasingly complex and more difficult to manage. Multiple climate hazards will occur simultaneously, and multiple climatic and non-climatic risks will interact, resulting in compounding overall risk and risks cascading across sectors and regions. Some responses to climate change result in new impacts and risks (high confidence).
If global warming transiently exceeds 1.5°C in the coming decades or later (overshoot), then many human and natural systems will face additional severe risks, compared to remaining below 1.5°C (high confidence). Depending on the magnitude and duration of overshoot, some impacts will cause release of additional greenhouse gases (medium confidence) and some will be irreversible, even if global warming is reduced (high confidence).”
The full report may be downloaded from the IPCC website HERE.
A discussion on “Digital Technologies and the Environment: A Synergy for the Future” was held on February 17, 2022 that was promoted by the NGO event organizer Diplo, as:
“Digital technologies can amplify efforts to mitigate climate change and, as such, are becoming part of environmental and digital policies on the national and international levels. Most global policies from international bodies, the EU, the USA, and Germany substantially reflect on the issues related to the nexus of environmental and digital developments. In this discussion, we will look into current developments in the relevant fora, such as the US-EU Trade and Technology Council, and consider the possibilities to deepen cooperation and understanding between the USA, the EU, and Germany on issues related to environment and digital developments.”
A written report was also available that explores the application of digital technologies to address issues of greenhouse gas emissions, rare earths, and e-waste.
“Digital technologies in general collect, process, and analyze large quantities of data to identify issues and possible solutions, provide modelling of future developments, streamline processes, making them less resource dependent – whether on natural resources, human efforts, or finances. Some of the digital technologies are already widely implemented in environmental protection. This is the case in big data analysis and use of artificial intelligence to find sustainable solutions for environmental issues, use of augmented and virtual reality for modelling and education, IoT for smart cities, smart grids, and in traffic regulation. Additionally, decades of experience in space technology are now used in the renewable energy sector. Others, like blockchain, nanotechnology or quantum computing are just starting to be studied on their possible implementation in environmental protection.”
“If we are going to avoid, or even mitigate, the devastating effects of anthropological climate change, then, in the next twenty to thirty years, we’re going to have to almost completely wean ourselves off our reliance on fossil fuels. That means reducing 51 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions to almost zero while providing an acceptable standard of living for 10 billion people. This is the greatest engineering challenge that our species has ever faced and essentially means re-solving every difficult engineering problem that we have overcome in the 250 years since the Industrial Revolution.”
“In the title of this article, I blamed engineers for the climate emergency. After all, Savery, Newcomen and Watt’s inventions unintentionally prised the lid off of the Pandora’s Box of greenhouse gas emissions. This is a deliberately provocative (and rather trite) argument. The Industrial Revolution (like the Neolithic Revolution before it) was an inevitable consequence of human population growth and would have happened eventually, irrespective of the individuals involved. Like most modern engineers, like you and I, they were just trying to improve the world that they lived in.”
In this Digital Engineering commentary, PLM Green Global Alliance contributor and climate change theme moderator Klaus Brettschneider examines the role of PLM in tracking the carbon footprint of products and processes.
The latest Climate Change News Digest for January 2022, prepared for followers of the PLM Green Global Alliance, summarizes recent news about the changing climate, including preliminary data from calendar year 2021. While many of the atmospheric climate trends are still negative, it does not diminish the recent progress in business, social, and political trends where the imperative to address sustainability, climate change, and decarbonization continue to gain momentum. I find much hope in this, as well as recently reading Jane Goodall’s new book “The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times” written with Douglas Abrams.
The PLM Green Global Alliance invites current and future followers to participate in a review and discussion of the new book from esteemed venture capitalist John Doerr, “Speed & Scale: An Action Plan for Solving Our Climate Crisis Now.” Learn more about this very timely book and what others have to say about it at https://speedandscale.com/.
In the book’s opening pages the author warns that the world is not doing nearly enough to reach net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. He is not hesitant to say it is indeed time to panic if that’s what it takes to speed up investments in innovative technologies that can scale to help decarbonize the global economy of over 50 gigatons of emissions each year.
The latest Climate Change News Digest, prepared for followers of the PLM Green Global Alliance, summarizes considerable good news from the UN COP26 conference on the growing urgency of world leaders and business leader to move faster to decarbonize the global economy. The good news question of the month: how many countries have now joined the global pledge to reduce methane emissions? Read on to find out.
