And we're back!
With this part, I want to focus on the positives from 2023 - mainly, the many innovations and improvements that governments and scientists have managed to implement over the past year. Enjoy!
Human Innovation
As previously mentioned, sales of electric vehicles have increased greatly, making up almost 18 percent of vehicles sold across the entire world in 2023 at highest point of sales. Every day, electric vehicles save 1.8 million barrels of oil from being consumed by transportation. By 2035, experts predict that number will exceed 12 million.
Investment in other forms of clean energy has also reached an all-time high with Global investments increasing by over 500 billion dollars more than in 2022. In the USA, over 200 thousand new clean energy jobs were created and almost 50 thousand new clean manufacturing jobs. (Clean manufacturing is a production system that utilizes eco-friendly practices to minimize negative environmental impacts).
In several states in the USA, laws were enacted that strongly encouraged more energy-efficient heating, a step in the transition away from coal burning. In China, large investments in wind and solar power were made resulting in their clean power generation being larger than that of fossil fuel energy. And across the EU and USA, investments in ‘clean hydrogen’ – hydrogen created without fossil fuels – are starting to take hold.
In terms of carbon reduction, the number of companies like Climeworks are growing rapidly. 44.01 (which yes, is an actual company name) and 1point8 (another real company name) are working on taking carbon from the atmosphere by creating artificial sinks (a sink is something that removes carbon from the atmosphere – a tree, for example) by trapping carbon in minerals and biomass. Climeworks has announced major partnerships with JPMorgan Chase & Co. and has begun expansion across the USA, Kenya, and Canada.
At COP28, the world’s largest climate conference, many oil companies announced their intention to cut methane emissions (methane is a major greenhouse gas) by more than 80 percent by the end of the decade and have agreed to add international monitoring committees to hold them accountable and ensure that they uphold their promises. Though politic actions– especially those on an international level – are a slow process, we are starting to see some meaningful changes being implemented
And that’s it! 2023 was a significant year for our climate, with news both good and bad. Let me know what you think and if there’s anything that you thought should have been included. A lot of things happened all across the world; I was only able to touch on some of them. If any of the above topics interest you, I highly encourage you to research them for yourself. I’d love to hear what you have to say.