washington – only nine years after the signing of the paris agreement — a landmark treaty promoting international cooperation to combat climate change  — global carbon emissions are out of line with paris’ global warming targets, the international monetary fund (imf) reported in a staff climate notes report this month. 

the imf report calculated that greenhouse gas emissions must be cut by 25% to meet a 2 degrees target or 50% to reach 1.5 degrees. currently, national targets would result in only a 12% drop in emissions. 

they prescribed urgent action to avoid an “emissions cliff edge,” which would make limiting global warming to only 1.5 degrees celsius, and even 2 degrees celsius, unattainable by 2030. 

“we’re in the greatest transition since the last industrial revolution,” said simon stiell, executive secretary of the united nations framework convention on climate change, at an imf climate panel in washington, d.c., wednesday. 

the paris agreement target

at the 21st conference of the parties to the un framework convention on climate change (cop21) in 2015, the paris agreement set a target of ideally 1.5 degrees celsius and “well below” 2 degrees celsius, beginning in november 2016. 

environmental economist and stanford professor charles kolstad, who was not present at the imf panel on wednesday, said it was not surprising that current national contributions were not aligned with the target warming rates. he added that, while the 2 degrees target is helpful in measuring progress, it was a political agreement, rather than a scientific goal. 

“it’s a helpful goal to have,” he said. “just because they didn’t meet the goal doesn’t mean it didn’t serve its purposes.”

“if we don’t achieve 50% by 2030, we’re going to see what we call a ‘climate cliff,’” imf deputy managing director bo li said at the imf panel. “we’d have to do dramatic reduction in the next 30 years after 2030, and that might be unbearable for the global economy.”

the panel focused on “mitigation,” or strategies to lessen the destructive impact of climate change. stanford professor rob jackson, who was not present at the panel, said mitigation is essential to “stave off the worst damages of climate change.”  

mitigation through carbon pricing

one of the mitigation strategies presented by the report was setting a carbon price of $85 per tonne, which would align emissions with the 2 degrees celsius target. in order to reach the 1.5 degrees celsius target, the price would have to be much higher. 

carbon pricing is a strategy that attaches a financial cost to carbon emissions, passing on part of the burden of emissions to polluters and consumers. currently, the imf reports the global carbon price to be only $5 per tonne. 

some u.s. states have adopted emission permit programs to indirectly raise carbon prices. climate policies, such as subsidies, can also impact carbon pricing, kolstad said. still, there is no comprehensive federal or international carbon pricing program. 

“carbon pollution is essentially free in the u.s.,” jackson said. 

during the panel, li suggested that large economies should take the lead on negotiating an international carbon pricing floor, adding that carbon pricing is critical to climate mitigation policy. 

the need for international collaboration

he also noted that climate action demands international cooperation, referencing last year’s sunnylands statement, in which the u.s. and china reaffirmed their commitment to working jointly against the climate crisis. 

“climate change is such an existential threat to humanity that we believe, and we hope, that countries can put aside their differences and collaborate,” li said. “we can collaborate on many fronts, including carbon pricing, including climate finance.”

the imf report also provides emissions targets aligned with the paris goals for 2030, averaging the reductions between countries based on their per-capita income. this design would provide for a more equitable distribution of climate responsibility, placing more of the burden on richer countries. 

during the panel, li highlighted how countries with lower levels of pollution are often most affected by climate change, such as island countries in the pacific and caribbean. he added that, even within countries, certain groups will be more disadvantaged by the transition to reduce emissions and urged domestic policymakers to support the affected groups.

next month, almost 200 countries are expected to attend cop29 in baku, azerbaijan. nicknamed the “finance cop,” the conference will center on funding climate solutions. 

cop29 hopes to renew ambition surrounding climate action and increase financial support for developing countries hoping to transition to cleaner energy, mukhtar babayev, cop29 president-designate said at the imf panel. 

at cop29, countries may also present updated national contributions, or emissions strategies. per the paris agreement, these are due by early 2025.

climate change is threatening people globally, but it also presents business opportunities through innovation and sustainability, said bea perez, global chief communications, sustainability, and strategic partnerships officer at coca-cola.

perez addressed hundreds of global influencers and upcoming mba entrepreneurs at northwestern university’s kellogg climate conference this spring. perez and other corporate leaders advocated for sustainability during the impending climate crisis linked to rising temperatures, economic instability, weather disasters and water insecurity. 

the conference drew on expertise from the energy, transportation, agriculture, food, finance and other sectors to leverage solutions, such as the generating enough electricity and parts to transition to electric fleets for corporate shipping and mass transit. 

an anticipated $1.3 trillion in investment will be needed to innovate and curb climate pain points companies have inflamed in recent years, turning the spotlight on the sustainability leaders globally. 

perez focused on coca-cola’s recent sustainability efforts and errors at the conference hosted by the kellogg school of management and northwestern’s paula m. trienens institute of sustainability and energy. 

evaluating big business’s responsibility to mitigate climate change

kellogg brought corporate leaders from companies including exxon-mobil, invenergy, and general motors under one roof to educate and prepare future business leaders to prioritize sustainability and innovation. 

there’s two things everybody should understand about climate — where do greenhouse gasses come from and how are industries and companies following through on climate mitigation goals, said meghan busse, associate professor of strategy at the kellogg school of management. 

perez combined the outlook for commercial profitability and sustainability to evaluate what roles the fortune 500 company plays in prioritizing the climate as a key strategy in decisions, not just an offshoot program. 

her theme was accountability — owning up to coca-cola’s mistakes and reimagining the company’s more recent role in mitigating climate change. some steps included changing bottle design and water conservation. 

“don’t you think we have a responsibility as a business to manage those resources [water and carbon] and do better?” perez said.

taking accountability

by reducing the amount of carbon used to produce a singular coca cola product by 25%, perez said the company found a loophole when they first tried to focus on sustainability. 

their per unit carbon usage was down, but since business was growing, it let coca-cola grow their carbon emissions in “absolute terms,” perez said. 

“we made a mistake,” perez said. “and so just as any smart business group would do… we had to reset the plan.”

in other words, coca-cola needed to establish new targets that held all aspects of their business accountable in lowering their carbon emissions – and not just their production line. 

perez also recognized the role fortune 500 companies play in restoring resources like water. 

“you can’t have a conversation about climate, unless you talk about water,” perez said.  

coca-cola established three goals hoping to restore all the water they use for production globally: using 100% regenerative water across 175 facilities facing “high water stress,” improving 60 watersheds’ health, and returning two trillion liters of water to communities. 

in 2021, coca-cola introduced regenerative water as a metric for achieving their sustainability goals. the concept includes reducing, reusing, recycling and replenishing water to communities for nature and other stakeholders to use, according to their 2021 sustainability report. 

perez’s talk put more responsibility on corporations to work on climate change mitigation, rather than falling on the consumer. 

“water is a human right… a lot of places in developed countries don’t have water regulation. if you go into emerging markets, they typically do. and so how do you make sure there’s [a] great water policy in place for people and for society?”

emphasizing community

perez said that between 2018 to 2022, there were only 18 days, on average, between every billion-dollar disaster, compared to 82 days in the 1980s. 

coca-cola shifted its value proposition from getting communities to spend money on their products to investing back into the communities where resources are acquired from.

“if you don’t have strong communities, you don’t have businesses,” perez said. 

“water still will always be number one, but it cuts in many slices… some people say, ‘we saw you met your target five years ahead of schedule, so what are you doing today?’” perez said. 

she said coca-cola is now working to replenish 100% of the water it uses. 

room for improvement

despite getting ahead of their target, coca-cola falls short compared to the company’s leading food and beverage competitor: pepsico.

pepsico used 1.4 liters of water per liter of beverage product produced, according to their water stewardship approach, which is 0.39 liters less than of coca-cola’s usage in their latest business and sustainability report. 

perez also spoke about the importance of independent auditing for environmental, social and governmental reporting. 

“imagine if it were just coca-cola saying, ‘hey, we did this,’” perez said. “do you think you would believe me? this is a little bit like a conflict of interest, right?” 

esg reporting involves publicly disclosing information about environmental, social and governmental business operations, according to the corporate governance institute. 

coca-cola made the switch to sustainability report auditing through ernst and young, a multinational professional services company, in 2015. 

coca-cola was one of the first in the pack, since only 2% of fortune 500 companies started esg reporting back then, perez said. 

perez urged audience members to look up coca-cola’s business and sustainability reports, which replaced the reports that were originally only geared towards quantifying how well the company was reaching sustainability targets.   

the transition came after coca-cola realized it was sending “unintended signals” that they had two separate reports, perez said. 

“it would look as if it [sustainability] wasn’t important to our business,” perez said. “frankly, you saw throughout those charts how important it [sustainability] is to our business].”

a data-informed approach

coca-cola incorporates a next-generation data platform to track and manage progress against esg metrics and has abided by the sustainability accounting standards board standards since 2020, according to their 2021 reporting frameworks and sustainable development goals. 

the company focuses on water leadership, packaging, climate, sustainable agriculture and communities in their esg report, according to their 2022 business and sustainability report. 

“we integrated the data,” perez said. “we made sure that we have the same standard that we have in our financial reporting as we have in here — [the esg report].”

currently, companies are only required to report scope 1 and scope 2 criteria, which involve reporting greenhouse gas emissions from sources an organization directly owns and from indirect energy sources the company has purchased, according to the securities and exchange commission. 

scope 3, emissions that the company does not produce by itself and are not from the companies’ assets, and water consumption reporting are still not required by the sec.

navigating the future of esg reporting

currently, coca-cola’s reporting has been voluntary in the u.s., so accountability hasn’t come at a penalty cost, yet. 

but what happens when the sec enforces mandatory esg reporting?

on march 6, the sec adopted rules to “enhance and standardize climate-related disclosures by public companies,” according to the sec’s enhancement and standardization of climate-related disclosures for investors. 

while declaring water-usage was proposed as an inclusion  for the final rule, it was ultimately axed to simplify requirements and prevent putting a “topical focus” on any one climate-related disclosure, according to the disclosure. 

coca-cola has already begun anticipating the sec’s future moves towards making sustainability reporting mandatory.  

 perez said she tells her team to consider how much voluntary reporting they’re doing that could impact mandatory reporting in the future. 

“if you report work you’re really not doing, with the sec rules, you’re going to have personal fines to executives, criminal penalties potentially. so the stakes are higher,” perez said. 

evanston, il – a team of northwestern university climate scientists teleport back in time with naturally preserved records they extract as cylindrical cores of lake sediment.

the sediment layers in the cores open the way to time travel through climate changes over the past 20,000 years. third-year ph.d. students bailey nash and aidan burdick analyze cellulose and carbonate materials, respectively, found in sediment over time to better understand how we can prepare for accelerating human-caused climate change now and moving forward.

after carefully extracting the sediment cores from lakes in greenland and the midwestern united states, the team brings them back to professor yarrow axford’s quaternary sediment laboratory on campus for the laborious analysis.

“this research is very iterative,” burdick said. “you do one thing, you learn something from it, you move on to the next, and eventually, you build a body of knowledge over time.”

burdick focuses his research on the midwest, looking at sediment deposits from lakes around the region. by building a record of illinois’s hydroclimate, his research will help serve illinois and midwest city officials by improving water resource management, among other applications.

“we can already see clear evidence of way more sediment being deposited after europeans arrived [in illinois], probably because of agriculture and things like that,” burdick said. “i’m using this core to try to understand lake chemistry in the context of carbonate materials. we can use the chemical variations in the minerals to see how the local hydroclimate has changed over time.”

while burdick is focused on the midwest and great lakes, nash noted that much of the team’s work takes them to the arctic, specifically in south greenland where deglaciation began around 15,000 years ago driven by rising air temperatures. this upcoming summer, nash will be visiting the community of narsaq to conduct her research.

“one of the primary questions that i’m trying to address through my ph.d. work is how arctic lakes respond [to climate change], especially in regard to their lake levels,” nash said. “so, did lake levels rise or fall during periods of past warmth? and what does that mean for arctic communities that rely on these similar arctic lakes today as a municipal water source?”

after extracting cellulose from ancient plant matter in the sediment, nash uses a mass spectrometer to analyze cellulose isotopes over time. cellulose is the most abundant biopolymer on earth, and the isotopic signature of cellulose that gets preserved in geologic materials can serve as a record of differing past climate conditions.

“these isotopic compositions can say a lot about whether lake level was higher or lower in the past,” nash said, “or if the environment was warmer or colder than it is today — those pieces of the climate story.”

it’s not well understood whether lake levels in the arctic will rise or fall in a warming world, but the risk of lakes either flooding or drying up is a climate concern across the world. thus, nash feels this must be investigated. because their work takes place on indigenous land, nash also emphasized the focus their group has on community engagement and performing scientific research respectfully and ethically.

“these communities have a very complicated relationship with western science in general and the people that we represent when we come back,” nash said, “so it really takes time and open-mindedness entering these communities and building trust, honestly, and laying the foundation of mutual respect and understanding.”

in a field dominated by men, nash gravitated towards axford’s lab not only because of her specialization on arctic paleoclimate research but specifically after reading axford’s science article titled ‘thanks to the glass ceiling breakers,’ outlining her experiences as a woman in stem.

“today, i’m living my dream,” axford wrote in her 2016 article, “and yet, despite how far science has come… i have lost track of how many times i’ve met a colleague for the first time and been told, ‘i’ve read your papers. i thought you were a man!’”

“i was just blown away by everything she had to say [in the article],” nash said. “i thought she seemed like such an incredibly strong glass ceiling-breaking scientist… the arctic is the most rapidly warming region on the planet today, which poses a very immediate concern for climate scientists. i was very compelled by the argument that studying past and current arctic climate change impacts can help us better understand and prepare for current and future climate change impacts globally.”

thick winter socks: check. thermal underwear: check. non-perishable food: check. bear spray: check. industrial-sized pipe: check. bailey nash’s packing list for her upcoming trip looks a little different as she pursues her travels as a climate science detective. 

nash, a third-year ph.d. candidate in northwestern university’s department of earth and planetary sciences, will travel to southern greenland this summer with a team of other researchers to collect sediment cores from lake beds that offer a window into the past of climate cues.

“basically what we do is show up to the lake, fill this big raft, float into the middle of the lake, shove what’s essentially a plumbing pipe down into the bottom of the lake, and then we pull it up,” nash said.

the research team returns to professor yarrow axford’s quaternary sediment laboratory on campus where nash works with axford, her ph.d. adviser, to understand climate change by analyzing components in the mud samples accrued over thousands of years.

students in axford’s lab operate under a paleolimnology focus, according to nash, which is the study of lakes throughout the past. nash said the goal is to use the story of lakes changing over time to paint a bigger picture of how the earth’s climate has changed.

other student researchers in axford’s lab seek a similar goal from sediment cores extracted much closer to home. aidan burdick, also a third-year ph.d. student in the department of earth and planetary sciences, gathers sediment cores from lakes in the midwest. burdick gestured to a long half-tube of sediment from crystal lake, illinois, on the table in front of him as he described its revelations about the past climate record.

“this core represents about 1,200 years of time,” burdick said. “we use a technique called radiocarbon dating” to follow the trail of time.

burdick said radiocarbon dating helps them determine the age of the layers in their sediment cores because it is based on a type of carbon isotope that decays over a set period of time once organic matter such as moss has died. he pointed to the layers on the core that marked when the europeans settlers pioneered in illinois.

a bulk of the lab’s work — both in the arctic and in the midwest — centers around how knowledge of the past can help scientists understand current and future changes associated with climate change, said nash. the sediment core displayed in the lab reveals evidence of settlement, according to burdick, which points toward human effects on climate change.

the team analyzes the organic matter and other components in the sediment cores by using a long, flat piece of technology called the geotek multi-sensor core logger, according to burdick. the equipment uses a flat bed to move the core through the logger while a camera takes high-resolution images of the sediment core and logs what is found at the various layers. burdick said it also measures the amount of magnetic material in the sediment, gives numerical values for the varying mud coloration and detects different types of ions and atoms found in the core such as calcium and aluminum.

“we can just put the core on, program it, leave it overnight, and then come in and have a ton of data we can use to help characterize our cores,” burdick said. “it’s pretty cool.”

nash acknowledged that climate research is an ongoing process undertaken by scientists worldwide, and her work in axford’s lab is merely one aspect of the collaborative effort toward understanding the changing environment. she said she entered graduate school starry-eyed and ready to change the world, and she is now recognizing their records are a nuanced drop in the bucket of broader research seeking to answer her biggest questions.

“those individual drops aren’t going to be reflective of the whole truth,” she said. “we’re really pulling together different elements of what already exists, what’s currently being done, and incorporating it into our story and trying the best we can to build that story.”

“leading the charge,” the theme of an april 10 kellogg climate conference at northwestern university, brought together an all-stars cast including leaders from coca-cola, gm energy, start-ups, academics and conservation groups to redefine business strategy in a changing climate.

the mission? counter climate change and find new profit pipelines there as well.

a standing-room-only crowd of business executives, experts, and students explored company examples of innovative and cost-effective climate change mitigation at the all-day conference sponsored by the kellogg school of management’s energy and sustainability club and the trienens institute for sustainability and energy at northwestern.  

meghan busse, associate professor of strategy at the kellogg school of management kicked off the conference with what she called, “a greenhouse emissions breakdown,” in other words, a lively lowdown on the challenges ahead.

according to busse, in the u.s, one-fourth of gas emissions come from electricity generation, one-fourth from transportation, one-fourth from industrial processes, and one-fourth covering both agriculture and buildings. the conference program covered all these sectors and how each one is providing new solutions and innovative technology to decrease emissions.

“our goal of the day is to leave you all feeling armed to become climate capable leaders where you are willing to ask questions and start thinking about no matter what your job is, how does climate plan into my strategy?” said busse.

the incentive to act for companies is linked to the impact on their pockets. climate change is expected to cost u.s. businesses over $1.3 trillion in the next three years. such high stakes have pushed industries around the world to seek massive technological and business transformations. but experts say that refusing to invest is climate solutions will cost even more in losses due to rising costs, resource uncertainties, extreme weather damage, and other factors.

speakers at kellogg conference emphasize solutions

keynote speakers included business leaders across the board to share the specifics their companies have implemented to prioritize sustainability as a core component of strategic decision-making. coca-cola is the number one plastic polluter in the world, according to coke’s executive vp bea perez who took center stage her talk on “navigating sustainability and profitability.” she focused on the importance of accountability, transparency and support from top corporate leaders for a company to move toward sustainability. she asked the audience to envision the size of 120,000 olympic size swimming pools, the pyramid of giza and every single volcano in the world to show the massive amounts of waste that the coca-cola company generates. she emphasized solutions.

businesses and consumers should examine a company’s business and sustainability reports to see if sustainability strategy is embedded into the finances of the company, she said. without that commitment, the measures are irrelevant, said perez, global chief communication, sustainability and strategic partnerships officer at coca-cola.

according to the coca-cola company’s 2022 business & sustainability report, the company aims to “make 100% of our packaging recyclable globally by 2025— and use at least 50% recycled material in our packaging by 2030.” perez explained how water, packaging, and climate goals are interconnected and that by creating a circular economy for packaging, they can lower their carbon footprint.

in their 2022 business & sustainability report, coke claimed that 90% of its packaging is recyclable, 15% of plastic bottles made with polyethylene terephthalate (pet) are recycled, and that 61% of packaging (is) collected for recycling. coke’s innovation of a 100% plant-based bottle prototype is a key component to helping them achieve their sustainability goals. “if you don’t have strong communities, you can’t have strong businesses,” said perez.

infrastructure challenges

at the scaling the energy transition panel, key challenges focused on infrastructure development. shashank sane, a kellogg alum, and evp at transmission invenergy, said that supply chain delays are making it challenging for businesses to amplify the grid system. projects may take up to a decade from supply chain to completion and a major challenge that business owners face is the lack of policy and government support for funding.

at a global scale this sets the u.s behind. for comparison, germany which backed up by government policy, is capable of placing massive national orders for supplies, while business owners in the u.s are limited by their procurement resources. consequently, the lack of infrastructure affects other sectors like the transportation sector.

companies such as nexteramobility which focuses on developing, constructing, and operating power projects to produce electricity are restricted in mass capacity by the infrastructure of grid placements. however, even with the use of a massive electric plant to compensate for fuel, yann kulp, director business development, fleet electrification advisory, argued that having one major source of emissions is better than having millions of sources of emissions, making the carbon capture in one place more manageable.

insight into regenerative farming

the panel seeds of change: cultivating a sustainable future in food and agriculture introduced ancient processes and cutting-edge initiatives as change-makers. sonali lamba, co-founder and executive director of the soil inventory project, brought to light how regenerative farming practices could be a greater part of the solution for fighting climate change and restoring our soils through farming.

regenerative farming, as lamba explained, roots back to indigenous practices. this kind of farming focuses on supporting local farmers and even funding their businesses to incentivize healthier farming practices that avoid pesticides, other chemical and erosion-causing practices that harm both earth and our health.

“why not pay people to do things the right way,” said meera bhat, global director of equitable conservation for the nature conservancy.

this year’s kellogg climate conference brought together an audience of about 300 business leaders and mba students, each with different perspectives on how to decrease their carbon footprint in their business sector. regardless of their business strategy, attendees shared kellogg’s mission that day to educate, strategize and mobilize, for the sake of change.

doris alvarez is a graduate student at northwestern university’s medill school of journalism. 

washington – when dr. lisa patel was working on a project for the environmental protection agency in 2005, she visited a children’s hospital for asthma in mumbai, india. after seeing the main parts of the center, she was surprised when the coordinators took her to a nearby gymnasium that had been converted to a children’s asthma ward. it was filled with even more children who were receiving care.

seeing an entire gymnasium full of child asthmatics struggling to breathe was moving for dr. patel, the executive director of the medical society 2022年世界杯亚洲预选赛结果 on climate and health. but the global climate crisis became much more personal when the california wildfires reached her own children almost a decade later.

“that’s when it became very concrete to me that no child should be breathing in this absolutely foul pollution that’s ruining their health,” she said.

according to a report by the harvard t.h. chan school of public health, children face disproportionate ill effects as a result of climate change, largely because they are actively developing both mentally and physically.

children are affected by both “indoor air” and their surrounding climate, executive director of the children’s environmental health network nsedu obot witherspoon said at a moms clean air force (mcaf) event about children’s health in the face of the climate crisis on feb. 8.

according to witherspoon, “indoor air” is impacted by a number of products including cleaners, toys, pesticides and other human-made items children encounter. “climate” encompasses air quality, water quality, pollution, natural disasters and any additional environmental factors. 

while everyone is impacted by these types of exposure, children are more likely to be negatively impacted.

“their airways are smaller. they have developing immune systems,” dr. patel said. “so things like nox or pm2.5 irritate the lung lining and put children at higher risk for respiratory illnesses.”

nox, also known as nitrogen oxides, are “a group of highly reactive gasses, including nitrogen dioxide, nitrous acid, and nitric acid,” according to the arizona department of environmental quality (adeq). similarly, the adeq classifies pm2.5 as “the smallest, most harmful particulate pollution.” pm2.5 is a combination of nitrogen oxides and other harmful substances.

in the u.s., 49% of parents say climate change has affected their decision about having more children, according to a recent study conducted by morning consult on behalf of the technology company, hp. 

moreover, the study concluded that 91% of parents globally are worried about the climate crisis and have changed their purchasing habits as a result.

“i studied climate change in college and at the time, it felt like a calling, and it felt like something that i wanted to do,” dr. patel said. “but i think when i had my kids, it no longer felt like a choice. it felt like something that i had to do.”

even so, parents have little control over what substances their children come into contact with. with more than 12 million children under the age of five in the united states in some form of nonparental care, witherspoon said the industry lacks sufficient regulations, focusing on these “critical windows of exposure.”

prevention through policy

existing health and safety policy surrounding child care is largely centered around the prevention of the spread of infectious diseases and violence, though there are also climate-related regulations to highlight.

the national resource center for health and safety in child care and early education is the most prevalent organization setting health and safety standards for child care facilities. their resources give providers national and state standards to follow.

one national standard largely influenced by the clean air act stated that providers must check the air quality index before determining if it is safe for children to play outside. there are also established protocols surrounding natural disasters to keep facilities prepared to protect children in the event of an emergency.  

states can establish their own rules for child care providers too. for example, a 2018 california law required licensed child care centers to test their water for lead by 2023. 

after results found shocking levels of the poisonous substance in the water supplies, rep. katie porter (d-calif.) said california children’s lead exposure was alarming.

“one in four california child care centers has dangerously high levels of lead in their drinking water,” porter said. “children are our future, and we owe it to every american to protect all kids’ safety and well-being.”

in remarks made in pittsburgh on feb. 20, vice president kamala harris promised to eliminate all lead pipes in the united states, recognizing the impact that lead has on children’s health.

the biden-harris lead pipe and paint action plan “includes over 15 new actions from more than 10 federal agencies that ensure the federal government is marshalling every resource to make rapid progress towards replacing all lead pipes in the next decade.”

“when children drink toxic water through lead pipes, it has an impact on their learning ability, on their health,” harris said. “and for too long, this has been the case, that communities have been crying out for support to get rid of these lead pipes.”

there are also environmental justice concerns around the quality of drinking water, which porter alluded to in her remarks.

“many of the worst facilities for lead levels are in low-income areas or communities of color,” she said.

according to witherspoon, the child care industry is a space where environmental injustice is heightened because the profession is largely dominated by women, including women of color and women of childbearing age. she said there is a dual benefit of reducing the environmental hazards and limiting the negative health effects for both children and their care providers. 

exposure to plastic

another concern for children’s environmental health is exposure to plastics. judith enck is the founder and president of beyond plastics and a former epa regional administrator. her work focuses on the dangers of plastic pollution. at the mcaf event in early february, she cited how plastic emissions are replacing those originally produced by the coal industry.

“plastics is plan b for the fossil fuels industry,” she said. “all of us have microplastics in our bodies.”

microplastics are a particular danger because they are being found in a variety of organs, from livers to placentas. according to a study by a peer reviewed journal titled birth defects research, exposure to microplastics as a newborn “is linked to the development of multiple illnesses in adulthood.”

yet exposure can also occur before a child is born, “which may have the potential to cause harmful effects later in life,” according to a recent study by environment international.

while action has been taken against the rise of plastics, enck said she is still working toward more change.

in december, the epa decided that vinyl chloride, which has been a known carcinogen for about 50 years, will be among five chemicals that will begin the risk evaluation prioritization process under the toxic substances control act, enck said. “but that’s the beginning of a ten-year journey to ban vinyl chloride,” she added.

the mental health toll of the climate crisis

research shows that children’s mental wellness is also affected by the climate crisis.

“there’s actually some emerging data that early exposure to air pollution places children at higher risk for anxiety and depression,” dr. patel said.

dr. lise van susteren, a medical doctor and general and forensic psychiatrist, indicated the youth population is paying a mental toll for the climate crisis.

“the extreme weather events they face not only bring – acutely – fear, anger, sorrow, etc. but over time, what happens is they become dispirited, even demoralized and feel potentially a feeling of abandonment and betrayal by their government,” dr. van susteren said.

while the public might differ over which initiatives to support, two-thirds of americans agree that the government should be doing more to solve the climate crisis, according to a 2020 study conducted by the pew research center. this support extends across partisan lines.

dr. van susteren said there should be more psychiatrists who specialize in climate mental health. this support could help improve the morale of a younger generation that feels a widening gap between themselves and their government.

at the mcaf event, she said it is important to consider a child’s particular age, behavior and the context in which they live before talking to them about climate change. supporting a child’s mental well-being is not a “one size fits all approach.” 

while some kids need more transparency, others need protection, dr. van susteren said. it is up to those supporting the children to assess what they need based on existing factors.

dr. van susteren said adults should also be aware of their own mental well-being. she wants people who are struggling mentally with the climate crisis to “recognize that it’s really our collective effort – individually counted, it’s just like votes on election day – but this is what ends up changing the course of our history.”

dr. patel said she feels a particular responsibility to protect her own children.

“i brought them into this world. and so it’s incumbent on me to make sure that this is a world worthy of them,” she said.

the united states experiences major natural disasters about five times more frequently than it did in the 1980s, sen. tom carper, d-del. said in a senate hearing on wednesday. this statement cited a national climate assessment released by the biden administration on tuesday.

“adjusting for inflation, in the 1980s, the united states experienced a $1 billion disaster every four months, on average,” carper said. “today, there is one every three weeks.”

this finding set the tone for the senate environment and public works committee hearing by underscoring the importance of slashing greenhouse gas pollution from industries. whether it was about cement, steel or timber, senators raised concerns about what decarbonizing industries could mean for the economy of their home states, and the country, with the backdrop of a looming climate crisis.

“we’re all experiencing climate change now through increasingly devastating extreme weather events throughout our planet,” carper said. “to slow climate change, we need to slash greenhouse gas emissions and one-third of the solution lies in our industrial sector.”

carper said the decarbonization of industries that produce essential products like steel, cement or aluminum, would play a crucial part in reducing america’s greenhouse gas emissions. for carper, meeting climate goals also posed an opportunity for economic advancement. 

the panelists at the hearing represented various approaches to industrial decarbonization, including switching from fossil fuels to clean hydrogen and adopting new cement manufacturing processes.

but not all senators viewed industrial decarbonization as a step towards more opportunity. 

during the hearing, sen. john fetterman, d-pa., expressed concern for the edgar thomson steel works, which he called the last functional steel mill in the western part of his state. 

he shared that in his conversations with united states steel, he questioned their stated initiatives to decarbonize steel. 

“to me, decarbonizing the steel industry would be like having a steakhouse that you don’t have a dead cow [at]. it seems kind of incompatible there,” fetterman said. 

fetterman later said that the edgar thomson plant, which is owned by u.s. steel, was supposed to have a $1.5 billion expansion. according to fetterman, that project was ultimately canceled and u.s. steel instead said it wanted to prioritize decarbonization. fetterman said he’s worried the result will mean fewer good jobs for the people of pennsylvania. 

“facilities, like edgar thomson, might just get chucked,” fetterman said. “and you’re pretending that they’re all gonna get great new jobs and great kinds of things. it’s just not realistic.” 

a panelist at the hearing, leah ellis, the ceo and cofounder of sublime systems, inc., said that her organization, which commercializes a process to make low-carbon cement, signed a partnership agreement focused on high quality jobs with united steelworkers.

ellis wrote in her testimony that the production of novel clean industrial technology can spur jobs for all skill and education levels, although some jobs would require specific training and expertise. 

“a portion of sublime’s advanced manufacturing technology jobs require experience in clean technology concepts and techniques not commonly found in today’s workforce or education curricula, and thus require additional workforce training that some unions are very well positioned to support training, as well as community colleges and public schools,” ellis’ testimony said.

carper emphasized the role of industries that produce essential products in his closing statements.

“by producing materials in cleaner ways, we can reduce emissions throughout supply chains. and, by investing in the industries that are producing lower carbon materials for our buildings, our roads, and electric vehicles, we can help support our clean energy transition,” he said. 

senators expressed bipartisan support tuesday for developing wildlife crossings to encourage migration and conserve wildlife populations. this came on the same day as the release of the fifth national climate assessment detailing the negative impacts of climate change on wildlife in america.

“across the united states, we face a challenge where wildlife is losing the ability to navigate,” said witness chuck bonham, director of california’s department of fish and wildlife. “the reality is that all wildlife needs the ability to move.”

according to the fifth national climate assessment, the effects of climate change and economic development disrupt ecosystems, making wildlife bridges and tunnels even more important as they allow animals greater ability to migrate safely. the report says these connecting corridors help limit collisions between drivers and wildlife, connect wildlife populations, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

“in a scrambled world because of climate disruption, animals and plants face three basic choices. they can adapt, they can die, or they can move,” bonham said. “we as people have the opportunity to give them that movement through our decisions.”

according to the center for large landscape conservation, wildlife crossings can take many forms, including naturalistic bridges and tunnels that allow animals to cross roads and other human infrastructure.

the first large federal movement on wildlife corridors was a 2018 secretarial order by interior secretary ryan zinke, who led the department of interior from 2017-2019. the order directed the department of interior to work with state level agencies to develop wildlife corridors.

when congress passed the bipartisan infrastructure law in 2021, $350 million in federal aid was allocated for projects to build, improve, and research wildlife crossings.

the full senate environment and public works committee will conduct oversight on how the funding has been spent at a future meeting.

at tuesday’s hearing, bonham and sen. alex padilla, d-calif., discussed how wildlife migration issues were put in the national spotlight last year when a mountain lion called p-22, who made his home in griffith park, los angeles, was hit by a commuter. p-22’s story drove the effort to build the $100 million wallis annenberg wildlife crossing over 10 lanes of highway, the largest wildlife crossing project in the world.

that project relied upon private donations to come to fruition, though the state of california also contributed funding in a public-private partnership.

the director of the center for public lands madeleine west and chief game warden of the wyoming game and fish department richard king also gave testimony at the hearing on tuesday.

in their expert testimony, all three witnesses emphasized that wildlife corridors are good for commuters and wildlife. but according to west, the greatest barrier to the success of developing corridors was funding.

“it is mostly a money problem,” west said. “we have the foundation of strong leadership at the local and state level, and if they had more resources more good work could be done.” she said that permanent funding should be set to develop wildlife corridor projects, so that agencies do not have to pull from their general funding to fund these wildlife crossings.

sen. cynthia lummis, r-wyo., the ranking republican member in the hearing, and other republican senators in the hearing did not say if they would support permanent funding for wildlife corridors, though lummis praised wildlife corridors and held up the work wyoming has done as a model for success. 

after the hearing, sen. padilla, who chaired the committee, said he was hopeful that congress would allocate more funding for wildlife corridor projects.

“congress can also take a major step forward in improving habitat connectivity by providing authorized funding streams, rather than to force federal agencies to pull funding from their general funds,” padilla said at the end of the hearing. 

“my hope is that after the hearing today, we can take some of the bipartisan momentum around habitat connectivity and come together to move a bipartisan bill that supports voluntary conservation efforts throughout the country,” padilla said.

abandoned coal mines threaten community safety and the environment, but despite bipartisan support, remediation efforts are often stalled by litigation and red tape, senators said at a hearing on nov. 9. 

states must undergo prolonged vetting processes before they can turn previously mined lands into wildlife habitats, commercial areas or other reclamation projects, chairman sen. joe manchin, d-w. va. said at the energy and natural resources committee hearing in washington, d.c.

“these coal communities sacrifice everything to power our nation to greatness and should be able to implement projects that will have positive impacts on the community in a timely manner,” manchin said. “they sure as hell don’t deserve to be strung along by the federal government, tied up in bureaucratic red tape, and forced to wait to put transformative projects into action. it’s absolutely unacceptable.”

acid water saturated with metals and long standing fires beneath the earth threaten entire communities located near abandoned coal mine sites. communities that complain the most about damage from former coal mines are prioritized for restoration projects, according to rob rice, director of the division of land restoration at the west virginia department of environmental protection.

states get new instructions every year on how congressional funding should be used in a restoration project.

“and each year, that guidance document becomes thicker, so there’s more hoops to jump through,” rice said. “the vetting period has increased over subsequent years.”

glenda owens, deputy director of the office of surface mining reclamation and enforcement at the u.s. department of the interior, blamed the lengthy processes on court disputes over approval of coal mine restoration projects.

“we want to make sure that the decisions we make during these environmental reviews will sustain judicial scrutiny,” owens said. “if we don’t adhere to the controlling court decisions, we’re going to risk getting those decisions vacated or having to start all over, which is just going to require additional time.” 

this discussion followed a hearing last week that addressed a similarly slow approval process for carbon capture and storage wells, despite both issues receiving bipartisan support and congressional funding. 

“it’s just very frustrating that things aren’t going out the door. i want to make sure that the government is not impeding this and putting more oversight to the point where their intention is not to let it happen,” manchin said. “that’s what’s scaring me, because everything we’re doing, we’re trying to show that we can produce the fossil [fuel] that’s needed for energy security, better and cleaner with more innovation [and] technology than any other place in the world, but we can’t if the government’s fighting you.”

washington – senators criticized the environmental protection agency for its slow going approval process for wells that store carbon dioxide captured from power plants, industrial facilities and other sources.

the energy and natural resources committee hearing on nov. 2 highlighted how epa regulations are slowing down approvals for carbon storage wells. by capturing and injecting carbon dioxide, the country can reduce the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from using fossil fuels. senators said the backlog could prevent the biden administration from reaching its goal of reducing emissions by about 50% by 2030. 

“i’m very disturbed by the chairman’s chart of 169 applications, no approvals. if the goal is protecting the environment, we’ve gotta get on with it,” sen. angus s. king, jr., i-maine said. “we can’t be delaying and slow-walking the process in order to achieve our climate goals.”

epa principal deputy assistant administrator for the office of water bruno pigott said an injection well application permit takes approximately two years to approve.

“permit applications are technical documents, they contain information about the geology to ensure the area is free of faults and fractures, [information about] the injected co2 plume to know where that co2 goes, and specifics about well construction to make sure it’s operating in a way that works,” pigott said.

states can apply and be approved by the epa for “primacy,” which gives them authority to permit and oversee construction and enforcement of these wells, known as class vi. only two states have gained primacy – north dakota first in 2018, and wyoming following in 2020. sen. bill cassidy, r-la. expressed frustration that louisiana has been waiting for two years.

“louisiana is seeking to get primacy for class vi wells. this is a year overdue. maybe two years overdue, which is just amazing,” cassidy said. “it was intimated we were about to receive [primacy]. we still haven’t received [primacy]. what’s the hold-up?”

the epa received $50 million from congress to help states with the primacy process, according to pigott. chairman sen. joe manchin, d-w.va., said that despite bipartisan support, government funding for carbon capture and storage efforts has “yet to go out the door.”

“i’m disappointed that the talk from the administration seems to be completely out of step with their inaction,” manchin said. “however, i’m optimistic that as more states, including west virginia, louisiana and texas, are granted primacy from the epa to approve class vi wells themselves, the backlog will decline and we will really scale-up carbon capture and sequestration.”