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The embodied carbon of materials is a hard concept to sell — and an even harder one to define and measure. But one thing is certain: this unseen footprint needs to fall
By 2050, global cities could produce 3.88 billion tonnes of waste every single year — unless we do something about it. Can the circular economy save us from drowning in our own wastefulness?
The modern world has left a legacy of polluted land and wasted materials, but the science of remediation is developing rapidly, and helping to unlock hidden value. Could yesterday’s trash be tomorrow’s treasure?
Humankind’s most useful invention has become its biggest problem, and one that just won’t go away. What can we do about plastic?
Waste has always had a disproportionate impact on low-income communities, but social and environmental goals don’t always align neatly. How can we clean up past mistakes, and create a fairer future?
Decarbonization will mean doing everything differently. Policymakers and planners can use this momentum to unblock the potential of lagging regions
The zero-carbon economy will create new industrial heartlands — but sustainable growth depends on many other factors, too
Reusing heritage buildings avoids unnecessary carbon emissions and preserves the fabric of our towns and cities. We just need to reimagine them for a net-zero future
The green transition will require a massive increase in the supply of critical minerals. Urban policymakers need to understand cities’ extractive footprint — and the impact of their choices, says Kevin Beauchamp
Timber buildings sequester and store carbon — until they’re demolished. So why don’t we design them for a second life, asks Thomas Musson
There is no shortage of promising solutions for reaching net-zero, but there are no easy answers either
We can’t build a net-zero world without using steel and concrete, and these industries are relying on the same limited pool of green resources as many others to decarbonize. In this series, The Possible explores the tough choices ahead
As things stand, almost all decarbonization roads eventually lead to CCUS technology. But there are currently fewer than 30 plants operational worldwide. So how do we get from here to net-zero?
We could — and should — grow more trees. But that won’t be anywhere near enough to avert the climate crisis. We need to look further than nature-based offsets, and perhaps more closely at forests themselves
Hydrogen could help many of the world’s most carbon-intensive processes to reach net-zero — just as long as we can decarbonize the production of hydrogen itself
There’s no getting round it: to decarbonize the world’s power supply, we are going to have to “spend” a lot of carbon in the process. But there are ways we can reduce the size of the bill
The production of cement and steel requires huge amounts of energy. We can’t do without them, but can they ever be zero-carbon?
Attribution science is giving us new ways to drive action on carbon emissions, and to support communities to adapt. L Delta Merner at the Union of Concerned Scientists explains how it’s changing the game
Aviation experts Mattias Frithiof and Gaël Le Bris on the wider benefits of greener flying
Construction’s cautious approach to new products is undermining its net-zero aspirations before we’ve really begun, writes David Glover
Costa Rica’s decarbonization plan could make it US$41 billion better off by 2050 — even if other countries do nothing, says Adrien Vogt-Schilb
Net zero should bring wider ecological benefits, writes Tom Butterworth — but if we’re not careful, it could exacerbate another global crisis
Three engineers offer solutions to a developer’s challenge
The process of defining and calculating embodied carbon is complex, occasionally contradictory and constantly evolving
We need to completely rethink the way we use structural materials, argues Cambridge engineering expert Julian Allwood
Can there be good, sustainable reasons to specify cement-based structures?
Extinction Rebellion are right to be angry. But unless they know exactly what they want, they’re doomed to fail, says Susan Krumdieck
Carbon emissions don’t respect corporate boundaries, says Kealy Herman
Let’s think of the energy transition as a mission to save the Earth. It’s an impossible situation, writes Susan Krumdieck, but drastic times call for unlikely heroes
Do the two climate-change disciplines need to talk to each other more?
In a circular economy, how could we design a completely recyclable building?
Carbon-neutral alternative uses no Portland cement at all
Knowing the future is the easy part. The real challenge is changing course, writes Susan Krumdieck