Are we going to see a shift in how climate change is measured? In 2015, the historic ParisAgreement introduced a global target of limiting global warming to 1.5°C below pre-industrial levels. Climate experts are now advocating that a different metric — setting a limit for rising sea levels — could encourage more mitigation and climate action, according to National Geographic. “Focusing on temperature hasn’t sufficiently motivated change, which is why last year was the hottest on record,” National Geographic says.

It won’t necessarily shift the goalposts — it’ll just make things more visible + understandable: Sea levels have been rising at a dangerous pace for the past several decades as a warming planet causes glaciers to melt. And while most of these glaciers are far from the majority of earth’s population, their melting has a direct impact on many people’s lives, as rising sea levels put communities at greater risk of flooding or going underwater. Whereas the 1.5°C target is “meaningless” to many average people, communicating the severity of climate change by relying on something more tangible that directly impacts their daily lives could rally support for climate policies, climate experts tell National Geographic.

The impact of melting glaciers is not to be underestimated: Many studies around the world have pointed to an unprecedented rapid decline in glaciers, including Indonesia, Switzerland, China, Nepal, and Bhutan. Their impacts have included endangerment of species, loss of freshwater resources, floods, a further rise in global temperatures, and an increased eating away at coastal cities. Alexandria in Egypt and Basra in Iraq are among the cities primed to bear the brunt of climate-induced sea level shifts.

New technology to turn aluminum waste into greener steel: Aluminum production yields an estimated 180 mn metric tons per year of “red mud” — which is “one of the largest environmentally hazardous waste products,” according to research from the Max Planck Institute for Iron Research (MPIE). The researchers developed a process that extracts high-quality iron from the mud, which can then be used for steel production.

How does it work? The hydrogen plasma-based reduction process melts the mud, converting iron oxide to pure metallic iron. This yields the iron that can be used for steelmaking, while also treating the remaining oxides to make them non-corrosive.

It’s looking promising, but not without its challenges: The process could save an estimated 1.5 bn tons of CO2 if it uses green hydrogen to extract iron from red mud, according to a research group leader at MPIE. The process would also be economically viable and “competitive on the market” if the red mud has 35% iron oxide, according to Technology Networks.

Tags: