A Stunning New Material May Shrink Humanity’s Carbon Footprint

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Fight Against Climate Change

Introduction

• Humans produce roughly 35 billion tons of CO₂, and while the world can reliably soak up half that amount, it‘s clear the planet needs help to combat anthropogenic climate change.
• A new solution from Scotland’s Heriot-Watt University is a porous material formed in a ‘cage of cages’ structure that can capture carbon dioxide and sulfur hexafluoride faster than trees.
• Developing new materials while planting trees, lowering emissions, and pursuing various carbon capture technologies can help keep the world from undergoing catastrophic increases in temperature.

Natural Carbon Sinks and the Need for Solutions

For millions of years, natural carbon sinks like terrestrial forests and ocean ecosystems have kept the Earth’s atmosphere in a happy balance—then humans came along and mucked everything up. Now, scientists are racing to find ways to clean up the anthropogenic mess we have created over the past two centuries and maintain a planet that’s habitable for future Homo sapiens.

The methods for fixing this problem are as varied as the climate threats we face. One idea is adding baking soda to concrete to help absorb carbon. Another is spreading ultra-fine concrete across agriculture fields to the same effect (while also improving crop yields). Some companies manufacture massive machinery designed to suck up carbon while others focus on creating 2D-structures that can trap greenhouse gases before they escape from factories across the world.

New Solution: Porous “Cage of Cages” Material

Now, a new solution by Scotland’s Heriot-Watt University—in partnership with a variety of U.K. universities, as well as the China University of Science and Technology—has created a material that researchers described as a porous “cage of cages,” meticulously designed to capture both carbon dioxide and an even more potent greenhouse gas, sulfur hexafluoride. Using computer modeling to accurately predict how these molecules would form into this nesting doll of cages structure, the researchers created this material from oxygen, nitrogen, and fluorine to help sequester carbon faster than Earth’s natural, tree-based process. The paper was published last week in the journal Nature Synthesis.

The Role of AI in Carbon Capture Solutions

Using AI to find carbon capture solutions is a relatively nascent technique. Earlier this year, research from scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory revealed how an AI model could create 120,000 metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) in just 30 minutes. This identified good carbon absorbers from “billions and billions of possibilities,” according to the researchers.

The Urgency of Taking Action

Scientists at MIT estimate that humans produce roughly 35 billion tons of CO₂ every year, and that the Earth soaks up about half of it. To help fight against climate change, we need to suck up the other half—and whether it’s planting trees, altering concrete, or creating next-gen “cage of cages” materials, we need to do it quickly.

“Planting trees is a very effective way to absorb carbon, but it’s very slow,” said Marc Little, a co-author of the study. “So we need a human intervention—like human-made molecules—to capture greenhouse gases efficiently from the environment more quickly.”

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

• SDG 13: Climate Action

The article discusses the need to combat anthropogenic climate change and find ways to clean up the mess created by human activities. This aligns with SDG 13, which aims to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

• Target 13.2: Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies, and planning.
• Target 13.3: Improve education, awareness-raising, and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction, and early warning.
• Target 13.5: Implement the commitment undertaken by developed-country parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to a goal of mobilizing jointly $100 billion annually by 2020 from all sources to address the needs of developing countries in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation and fully operationalize the Green Climate Fund through its capitalization as soon as possible.

The article emphasizes the need for new materials, carbon capture technologies, and human interventions to address climate change. These actions align with the targets mentioned above, which focus on integrating climate change measures into policies, improving education and awareness, and mobilizing financial resources for climate action.

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

• Indicator 13.2.1: Number of countries that have communicated the establishment or operationalization of an integrated policy/strategy/plan which increases their ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change, and foster climate resilience and low greenhouse gas emissions development in a manner that does not threaten food production.
• Indicator 13.3.1: Number of countries that have integrated mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction, and early warning into primary, secondary, and tertiary curricula.
• Indicator 13.5.1: Mobilized amount of United States dollars per year starting from 2020 accountable towards the $100 billion commitment.

The article does not explicitly mention these indicators, but the actions discussed in the article, such as developing new materials, implementing carbon capture technologies, and mobilizing resources, can contribute to progress towards these indicators.

Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

Copyright: Dive into this article, curated with care by SDG Investors Inc. Our advanced AI technology searches through vast amounts of data to spotlight how we are all moving forward with the Sustainable Development Goals. While we own the rights to this content, we invite you to share it to help spread knowledge and spark action on the SDGs.

Fuente: popularmechanics.com

Join us, as fellow seekers of change, on a transformative journey at https://sdgtalks.ai/welcome, where you can become a member and actively contribute to shaping a brighter future.