Climate experts discuss carbon capture technology and its role in fighting climate change. The Global Tipping Points report warns of critical thresholds. Deadly rainfall in East Africa has intensified due to climate change. The oldest fossilized mosquito reveals male blood-sucking traits. The podcast explores abating fossil fuel use, tipping points, extreme flooding in East Africa, and the evolution of mosquitoes.
A low carbon capture and storage (CCS) approach is more cost-effective compared to a high CCS approach, saving approximately a trillion dollars per year.
Preventing tipping points in the Earth system is crucial for avoiding irreversible changes to ecosystems and the climate, emphasizing the need to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius and rapidly decrease CO2 emissions.
Deep dives
The Economics of Abatement and Net Zero
The podcast discusses the economics of abatement and the concept of achieving net zero carbon emissions. It highlights the debate surrounding the use of carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a countermeasure and the costs associated with it. The report from the Oxford Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment suggests that a low CCS approach, where carbon capture and storage is used for about half of the emission reduction, is cheaper by approximately a trillion dollars per year compared to a high CCS approach. However, it emphasizes the need for rapid mitigation efforts and a focus on renewable energy and energy efficiency as more cost-effective pathways to achieving a clean future.
Tipping Points in the Earth System
The podcast explores the concept of tipping points in the Earth system, referring to fundamental transformations in climate or biosphere components that could occur if certain thresholds are exceeded. The discussion highlights the importance of preventing these tipping processes to avoid irreversible changes to ecosystems and the climate. The report emphasizes the need to focus on keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius and to rapidly decrease CO2 emissions. It also highlights the potential impacts on governance, including the need to reassess adaptation strategies and address issues such as loss and damage and migration pressures.
Climate Change and Extreme Weather in East Africa
The podcast addresses the impacts of climate change in East Africa, specifically focusing on recent extreme weather events such as drought and flooding. It discusses the connection between climate change and the intensity of rainfall, which has led to devastating flooding in the region. The analysis reveals the risks of exceeding tipping points in the Earth system and underscores the urgency of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to prevent further climate-related disasters. The report highlights the need for proactive measures, such as fossil fuel phase-out and investment in carbon dioxide removal technologies, as well as improved governance for adaptation, loss and damage, and migration.
The burning of fossil fuels releases the greenhouse gas CO2. Many countries at COP28 have expressed an interest in using carbon capture technology to permanently capture and store this CO2. Climate and energy expert Dr Richard Black tells us more about this technology and how helpful it is in the fight against climate change.
Sticking with COP28, Dr Manjana Milkoreit, from the University of Oslo, contributed to this week’s Global Tipping Points report, which revealed the Earth could be racing toward a set of critical thresholds that will put the Earth into a new state.
Dr Joyce Kimutai is also at COP28. Originally from Kenya, she’s the lead author of a new paper from World Weather Attribution. The paper found that climate change has made deadly rainfall in East Africa up to two times more intense.
And finally, this week Professor Dany Azar published a paper in Current Biology that not only identified the oldest fossilised mosquito, but also found that it was a male with blood-sucking mouthparts – a trait only seen in female mosquitoes today.
Presenter: Roland Pease
Producer: Alice Lipscombe-Southwell
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
(Image: TBC. Credit: TBC / Getty Images)
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