As deadly extreme weather sweeps the world, with temperatures peaking in the hottest summer on record and carbon pollution levels rising, Britain’s Prince William and wealthy entrepreneurs Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg are calling out the world’s warming zone Comes a certain level of hope.
That comes in the form of innovation, creativity and technology, the trio and others said at the summit on Tuesday at the luxury Plaza Hotel. They have announced the finalists for William’s third annual Earth Challenge Prize, which offers five prizes totaling £1 million ($1.2 million) to companies and groups that come up with new ways to save the planet.
“We have to stay optimistic and hopeful because it’s the biggest driver of change, the biggest driver of innovation,” William told a group of powerful people during a morning jog in New York. York Central Park.
While it’s important to maintain a degree of realistic pessimism about the Earth’s climate, the heir to the British throne said he wants people to believe “there is hope; there is hope.” Some people are doing incredible things that will have a huge impact on our future. “
William’s summit highlighted 15 different finalists from around the world, including work to reduce London’s air pollution from car tires, reducing livestock methane emissions through a new seaweed feedstock and using DNA technology to create more sustainable textile dyes effort.
Different visions for the future
Days after street protesters, many of whom were under 30 years old, talked about a future that was being robbed, speakers at the Earthshot Summit saw a different world developing, largely because of changes in technology.
“There are a lot of climate exaggerations,” Gates said. He is the founder of Microsoft and now a philanthropist. “Climate is not the end of the planet. So the planet will be fine.”
Gates said the world would miss the agreed goal of limiting future temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial temperatures, but would also not reach 3 degrees Celsius. Not a climate scientist.
Gates cited one reason to think the situation wouldn’t be as bad as it once seemed: Since 2015, and until last year, the world had been engaged in a “massive” innovation boom to curb climate change.
Gates promoted one of last year’s winners, who attempted to speed up natural processes 100,000 times by using rock-like resources to safely store carbon dioxide absorbed from the atmosphere. If the company can get the price of CO2 storage down to $50 per ton, then it “will bring in this additional tool to reduce temperature rises.”
Avoid investment heat sink cases
Later, at the same hotel, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen addressed a more practical financial issue — how strong companies can make so-called net-zero investments, which do not fund industries and companies that emit heat-trapping gases .
“The climate crisis is driving massive economic transformation,” Yellen said.
She introduced a series of best practices for these financial institutions to implement their net zero commitments, called “ Net Zero Financing and Investment Principles”. These include encouraging banks and other institutions to provide financing to clients seeking to decarbonize highly polluting industries and invest in clean energy projects. A handout said some financial institutions could supplement emissions reductions through voluntary purchases of carbon credits.
The goal, she said, is to recognize “the importance of credible net zero commitments and encourage financial institutions to take a consistent approach to implementation.”
Yellen also announced that a group of philanthropic organizations, including the Bezos Earth Fund and Bloomberg Philanthropies, will commit $340 million to help financial institutions “formulate and implement strong, voluntary net zero commitments.”
David Arkoush, director of Public Citizen’s climate program, said in a statement that the Treasury Department’s new pledge “has significant flaws.”
“Offsetting is a loophole big enough to drive most carbon pollution,” he said.
Prince William then traveled to Ground Zero, where he visited firefighters from FDNY Station 10, which was the first station to arrive at the World Trade Center site after the 9/11 attacks. He then greeted dozens of people lined up behind metal barricades across the street. The prince shook hands and spoke briefly.
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Hussein reported from Washington. Bobby Caina Calvan is from New York.
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