5 innovations helping the world adapt to climate change
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04 JUL 2024
Significant resources have been invested in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as governments worldwide push for cleaner energy, the protection of carbon-absorbing forests and the use of cutting-edge technologies like carbon capture.
While these efforts are crucial in mitigating emissions, the scientific evidence is stark and the message clear: the impacts of climate change are now unavoidable. Record-shattering heatwaves, devastating floods and raging wildfires have become the new normal, threatening lives, infrastructure and economies globally, while increasing in intensity, frequency and duration.
Adaptation: a necessity, not a defeat
Efforts to curtail emissions remain imperative to slow the pace of global warming, but the harsh reality is that climate change is here – and it’s hitting the vulnerable hardest. Developing nations and marginalized communities, particularly in the Global South, are stranded on this battle’s frontline, often lacking the resources and infrastructure needed to cope. For them, adaptation is an absolute necessity.
Adapting to climate change is not admitting defeat; it is acknowledging this new normal and taking immediate action. Global collaboration and funding are required to build resilience to our changing climate where it is needed most. By balancing mitigation and adaptation, we can empower communities and vital ecosystems to cope with the present, while charting a better path into the future.
The good news is that a wave of innovation is providing fresh impetus to adaptation efforts.
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Five innovations to counter climate change now
Artificial intelligence
AI, hailed as one of the most important technological advances of our time, is making its presence felt across sectors, and its transformational potential is already being applied to the complex challenges of the climate crisis.
AI-driven models analyze reams of real-time data, identifying patterns that evade the human eye, translating rich information into better forecasting of severe weather. This allows for early evacuation and targeted aid, evidenced by the UN-backed IKI Project in Africa, which is using AI technology to predict weather patterns so communities and authorities across Burundi, Chad and Sudan can both prepare and adapt.
It is also helping to identify gaps in vulnerable supply chains and optimizing water management in both drought and flood-prone areas, including smart-sewer systems that avert flooding during heavy rainfall.
AI is also revolutionizing productivity, cutting time-consuming tasks like mapping the size and location of icebergs in a fraction of a second as scientists seek more precise monitoring of sea levels in polar regions. It is being used to chart detailed maps of ocean litter to bolster efficient, targeted clean-up operations.
Drones
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have emerged as a game-changer in disaster response and risk assessment. By providing quick, high-resolution imagery of flood-affected regions, for example, emergency services and authorities can map out the extent of flood damage, assess short-term infrastructure problems, and identify longer-term vulnerabilities.
In the aftermath of a disaster, their flexibility allows for improved search-and-rescue as they can be deployed rapidly, equipped with cameras to spot stranded communities; and, in some instances, they have allowed rescue services to digitally map out optimized “escape” routes.
They have proved an invaluable tool in environmental monitoring, particularly in vulnerable low-lying coastal areas. In Portugal – one of Europe’s hardest-hit countries by forest fires – drones are used to assist with wildfire surveillance in high-risk, hard-to-reach areas, as well as directly combatting potential blazes by dousing them with water before they escalate beyond control.
Virtual / augmented reality
Through the digital enhancement of our surroundings, we have a powerful ally in planning and preparation. For example, VR simulations can totally immerse users in projected disaster scenarios. In a practical sense, this enables safe visualization of immediate risks and subsequent solutions. But they also take the role of a powerful and visceral educational tool about the real-world impact of climate change on vulnerable communities.
Initiatives like the World Economic Forum’s Climate Tipping Points Hub are also using these immersive environments to display the cascading nature of climate change through disappearing arctic sea ice and rising sea levels.
Nature-based solutions
Innovation need not be limited to technology, and nature-based solutions have been around for millennia – indeed, Indigenous peoples and local communities have harnessed the power of Earth’s ecosystems for generations.
But in recent years, the term has gained more prominence and awareness as innovative initiatives have looked to effectively leverage the power of nature to address our world’s modern-day challenges.
Take the World Wildlife Fund’s Mangroves for Community and Climate project, for example. Mangroves feature complex root systems and act as natural buffers against storm surges, flooding and erosion, while also providing habitats for wildlife and carbon storage. The initiative aims to protect and restore these crucial ecosystems, while safeguarding vulnerable coastal communities.
Some of the most at-risk nations rely heavily on agriculture and see their livelihoods threatened by severe weather. Innovative approaches to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change on food systems are constantly being developed. These include creating drought-resistant strains of rice, maize and cowpea, while researchers at the University of Sheffield have been exploring the bioengineering of rice to require less water from the outset. Additionally in this space, resilience is being developed through pikobodies, genetically engineered immune proteins that are fused with plants to provide an adaptive immune system that fights against disease and pathogens.
Circular and innovative infrastructure
Designers and developers are rethinking how our infrastructure is built to better adapt to today’s climate challenges. Solutions that encompass resilience in the face of extreme weather, in the shape of permeable pavements and roads to manage stormwater runoff during heavy rainfall and reduce the risk of flooding. Or living green roofs and walls that help mitigate the urban heat island effect and work to keep cities cooler during heatwaves.
Beyond resilience, there is a growing focus on circularity in urban design. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s work on designing circular cities emphasizes the reuse of construction and demolition materials. Urban mining programs are deployed to extract valuable materials from end-of-life products and waste, while buildings are increasingly designed with disassembly and future adaptability in mind.
Overcoming obstacles
These are tangible, real-life examples of adaptation in action today, offering cause for optimism. However, effectively implementing these innovations and sustaining that effort requires significant financial resources. Developing countries alone require USD 3.3 trillion between 2022 and 2035 in adaptation finance. Yet current spending levels fall short of this, with only USD 840 billion projected to flow at this level.
To bridge this gap and safeguard lives and livelihoods amid escalating climate change, political resolve, focused funding and a balanced approach to mitigation and adaptation must be realized. Cutting-edge technologies and natural ingenuity pave the way to resilience and protection for vulnerable communities. It is our collective responsibility to create a sustainable world for future generations.
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04 SEP 2024
Cooling our world is warming our planet. Here’s how we can turn down the heat.
As global temperatures climb, we are ramping up our use of air conditioning. The trouble is, the machines cooling our spaces are significant contributors to global warming. The UAE is rising to the challenge, combining ancient wisdom with avant-garde thinking.
Summer 2024 has brought unprecedented global heat, and new records are being set as the mercury rises. As more of us rely on air conditioning to help keep our homes, offices and public spaces comfortable, our contribution to global warming is rising, too: air conditioning causes around 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Enter sustainable cooling. The UN and the International Energy Agency estimate that climate-friendly cooling could help us avoid up to 460 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions over the next four decades. That’s equivalent to more than ten times India’s current annual GHG emissions.
Cooling our lives without warming our planet
Sustainable cooling encompasses a variety of measures we can take right now to help limit the impact of growing global demand for space cooling. These include improving the efficiency of existing cooling systems, innovation to develop more sustainable cooling technologies and measures that lower ambient temperatures in buildings and urban environments.
Crucially, our response to this challenge must be twofold: as well as upgrading and reimagining the infrastructure which enables today’s cooling systems, we have an opportunity to reduce the need for cooling by designing and building cooler environments in the first place.
Reimagining age-old techniques
The Middle East can draw on a long tradition of ‘passive’ architecture and design techniques which can significantly reduce heat. Rather than fighting the elements by deploying elaborate technologies to counter sweltering temperatures with artificial cold, this approach takes advantage of local conditions. The aim is to work in harmony with the existing environment to reduce the temperature of buildings, without the need for power. In the UAE, techniques include shading devices, double glazing and positioning buildings to channel natural ventilation. Buildings can also be designed with higher thermal mass, so they self-regulate by absorbing daytime heat and releasing it at night. Outside, green roofing, evaporative cooling using water features, and the application of light color coatings have all stood the test of time - and the elements.
In Abu Dhabi, for instance, traditional techniques are being reimagined for today’s needs. The sustainable urban community of Masdar City boasts a modern spin on an ancient wind tower or barjeel, which captures the prevailing wind, channeling it down past cooling mist jets into a central courtyard below. The structure, which designers say can reduce the temperature by 5 degrees celsius at street level, is built with metallic, open sides, to help visitors understand the passive design. Just a few steps away, this time-honored Middle Eastern technique also helps keep Siemens employees cool at the tech company’s innovative regional headquarters.
Elsewhere in Masdar City, the striking Al Bahr Towers combine traditional mashrabiya-style shading with 21st-century technology. The towers are adorned with over 1,000 computerized hexagonal shades which can move and adjust throughout the day, providing shade when the sun is at its strongest.
Efficiency and innovation
The Middle East is also pioneering innovative ways to future-proof buildings, rolling out new approaches to sustainable cooling. Among these, Tabreed operates 89 district cooling plants across the UAE and GCC, using chilled water from centralized energy plants to cool whole neighborhoods via underground pipes. The company is also developing ground-breaking geothermal energy which currently meets 10% of Masdar City's cooling needs. Geothermal cooling, which harnesses energy from beneath the Earth’s surface, reduces energy needs by up to 70% compared with traditional air conditioners.
AI is another tool in the race to make cooling sustainable, with companies like Hyperganic combining algorithmic engineering with industrial 3D printing and engineering to iterate at scale. Partnering with Abu Dhabi-based Strata Manufacturing, Hyperganic has created heat exchangers with radically different structures that could lead to residential air conditioning units that consume 10% of the energy that a conventional device uses.
Progress is being made to reduce leakage rates from traditional air conditioning units, mainly through better design and installation practices. In the UAE, Mubadala Investment Company’s aerospace unit Strata has teamed up with European partners to develop the world’s most energy-efficient residential air-conditioning system in the Emirates.
The hunt is also on to find more climate-friendly solutions than hydroflourocarbons (HFCs), including hydrocarbon refrigerants and ammonia. In keeping with international commitments, the UAE plans to freeze the consumption and production of HFCs in 2028. When coupled with enhanced energy-efficiency measures, these can help reduce both direct emissions from refrigerant leakages and indirect emissions from the energy used to power cooling units.
Sustainable cooling on the climate agenda
As hosts of the COP28 climate conference in 2023, the UAE placed sustainable cooling firmly on the agenda. Chief among outcomes was the Global Cooling Pledge, which saw 60 countries commit to reducing the climate impact of the cooling sector. Spearheaded by the Cool Coalition, a global network dedicated to more climate-friendly cooling, the pledge aims to reduce cooling related emissions by 68% by 2050 and to increase the global average efficiency of new air conditioners by 50% by 2030 at the latest.
Described by the IEA as one of the most critical energy issues of our time, cooling is growing increasingly prominent within the climate change conversation. The shift to more sustainable cooling for our warming world is a formidable challenge. While the planet heats up, we need to ensure we’re not throwing fuel on the fire of global warming while we try to cool down.
By merging ancient wisdom with cutting-edge innovation, we can reduce our reliance on energy-intensive cooling systems and work with the planet to create cooler environments. The Middle East, with its rich history of passive cooling techniques and ambitious climate goals, is uniquely positioned to lead this shift. But only through concerted global efforts to improve cooling efficiency, develop climate-friendly alternatives and prioritize sustainable urban planning can we hope to escape this vicious cycle and ensure a habitable planet for generations to come.
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15 AUG 2024
The future of water
Covering most of the planet’s surface, water is seemingly one of the most abundant substances on earth. But today, many communities and countries are facing a usable water crisis.
While millions of people worldwide use hundreds of litres of water a day, around 3.6 billion people – almost half of humanity – survives without access to safe, clean water.
More than an inconvenience, access to clean water is essential for human health, growth, wellbeing and safety, so much so that it has been recognized as a human right. A lack of it can be devastating: 1 million people die each year from lack of access to clean water and sanitation, and every two minutes a child dies from a water-borne disease. Women and girls are particularly affected when clean water is in short supply, often tasked with hauling water over long distances for communities, taking them away from education and exposing them to violent attacks or environmental threats.
Without intervention, the next few decades could make this a reality for more and more people worldwide.
With increasing demand from water-intensive industries like agriculture, rising temperatures and shrinking water reserves, there is a real threat that there won’t be enough water for humanity’s needs. It’s a problem that has had experts ringing alarm bells since before 2017.
With access to water so critical, and the problem so pressing, why isn’t water management demanding more global attention? Is anything being done to bring it into wider conversations about sustainability? On today’s trajectory, what’s the future of water?
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The future of water as it stands
Two opposing trends paint a grim picture of the future. While global water use is set to skyrocket, global water supplies are already stressed.
To keep up with demand, experts predict that global water use will rise 20-50% as a result of human-driven climate change and overuse. So much groundwater has been pumped out of the earth that it has tilted the planet’s axis.
Heavy use of water is compounded by mismanagement: without policies, infrastructure and conservation efforts, existing water sources are being polluted, wasted or drained. Worldwide, different challenges in managing water are causing water stress for communities: from outdated infrastructure to conflict to overuse, it’s clear that alongside preserving our existing sources of water, understanding how we use what we have as a global community is just as important.
On this trajectory, developing countries will experience water insecurity over longer periods and with greater intensity, while supplies to major industries become strained. Over the next two decades, the increasing water stress will lead to a rise in related inequality, political instability, growing disease and potential sources of conflict in the most affected nations.
How can we change this trajectory?
Top priorities for cleaner, healthier water
As the global community attempts to address the challenge of building a more sustainable future, the issue of water has garnered more attention. While the subject of water has been historically absent from international sustainability efforts like the Paris Agreement, both COP27 and COP28, held in Dubai in one of the world’s most arid regions, recognized water as a priority.
As governments, institutions and communities examine their relationship with water and their future needs, there is an overall consensus that the battle for water must be fought on all fronts. As a complex issue with multiple causes, it calls for many solutions across government, education, technology and industry, all working in tandem.
Individuals – from ordinary households to decision makers at the helm of major corporations – must gain a better understanding of the impact of water usage and consumption. Awareness campaigns like the USA’s Save Our Water can help change behavior and influence change at the individual level. At the national level, governments can leverage policy to support better understanding and use of water management.
Backed by funding, recent innovations in water management technology have the potential to help restore and manage water. Emerging AI and big data technologies, in particular, hold much promise. A pilot project in the Ramotswa Aquifer between South Africa and Botswana, for example, is harnessing AI to analyze water levels in the drought-prone area, helping identify patterns and inform water management decisions. AI-assisted geospatial analysis is also helping smallholders in Ethiopia to identify shallow well locations, something that promises to significantly improve crop yield and access to drinking water.
While new technologies have the potential to help solve significant challenges, prioritizing cost-effective and culturally compatible solutions remains key. Obstacles like supply chain coordination, training and distribution also need to be overcome for effective implementation. Introducing innovative financial instruments like water credits (akin to carbon credits) could incentivize investment in water-related initiatives and contribute to sustainable water management practices worldwide.
Climate Adaptation and Mitigation
The issue of water is inextricably tied to the wider climate emergency. Meeting the Paris goals by reducing carbon emissions, implementing overall climate mitigation measures and adapting to today’s changes are a key part of addressing the water crisis and building safeguards for the future.
Climate adaptation measures can be integrated into water systems and infrastructure and are essential for building resilience to climate change-induced water scarcity and extreme weather events. This involves implementing strategies such as rainwater harvesting, enhancing water storage capacity, and improving flood management systems to mitigate the impacts of climate change and ensure reliable access to water.
More broadly, general climate mitigation efforts are fundamental for addressing the underlying causes of the global water crisis. By mitigating climate change, we can help stabilize weather patterns, reduce the intensity of droughts and floods, and safeguard water resources for future generations.
Water is a critical resource, and its future is in our hands. To help people access water today and ensure water security for tomorrow, the global community must recognize, invest and mobilize to create better water management practices and safeguard the precious water we have remaining. The task is complex, but vital. We must come together to solve the problems we face for a greener, more sustainable future.
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Game on! How sports can advance climate action
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