Environment & Sustainability

"Carbon majors," like big oil and gas companies, have long been the focus of efforts to curb climate change and stem rising temperatures. And yet, while energy giants like Exxon and Shell have drawn fire for their roles in warming the planet, the corporate meat and dairy industries have largely avoided scrutiny.

Geoengineering technologies are not yet deployable globally, but support for them is advancing fast, thanks to backing by powerful advocates eager to start experiments. But no silver bullet for climate change exists, and we must not abandon proven methods for the sake of a promise that one will be found.

Als US Präsident Donald Trump am 1. Juni den Ausstieg der USA aus dem Pariser Klimaabkommen verkündete, bestätigte er damit die schlimmsten Befürchtungen von Umweltschützern auf der ganzen Welt. Auch Israels grüne Bewegung hatte sich schon vor Trumps jüngster Ankündigung besorgt über Äußerungen des US Präsidenten gezeigt, in denen er die wissenschaftlichen Grundlagen des Klimawandels anzweifelte und die Förderung der fossilen Brennstoffindustrie versprach. Um ein Zeichen für den Klimaschutz und gegen die Politik des amtierenden US Präsidenten zu setzen, riefen deshalb mehr als ein Dutzend israelischer Umweltorganisationen zu einem Protestmarsch anlässlich des Earth Day 2017 auf.

With states, cities, and citizens willing to double down and move ahead with climate commitments, the global community can still count on many Americans’ willingness to act responsibly in support of global climate actions, even if their White House is not. Unfortunately, such activism will not make up for the failure of the Trump administration to make good on its international climate finance obligation.

Plastic pollution is a defining problem of the Anthropocene. It is, after all, a global scourge that is entirely of our making – and entirely within our power to solve as well.

The food that we eat plays a big role in the search for solutions to climate change. Agriculture is one of the major contributors of greenhouse gases. But the way we farm our land can also be a big part of the solution.  

March 23rd was the last in a series of 14 day-long sessions billed as "stage one" of the year long Galilee Climate Fellows Program envisioned and implemented by the Town Association (TAEQ) and HBS partner The Heschel Center for Sustainability; in and of itself, a Jewish-Arab cooperation. Launched just a few short months ago, when nobody yet knew what fruits this enigmatic name of a program would bring.  

Emission trading systems aim to put a price on carbon, to save emissions where it is cheapest and benefit the global climate. But the approach has failed so far. In the EU, the price for carbon has dropped to a low, so producers can easily continue polluting. And they are actually making huge profits from the permits they receive.

Can governments and industry be put on trial in climate cases, to ensure the rights of the most vulnerable and future generations? The livelihoods of hundreds of millions could be threatened by unprecedented storms, droughts, floods, and sea-level rise.