We're entering 2024 with an uncertain and unsettling future. The UK Met Office says, among other things, that the global average tenperature could range between 1.34°C and 1.58°C in 2024, which would set off alarms from the Paris Agreement (2015) in the European Union, making the consequences much harder to control.

Ever wondered why we can't seem to put a stop to this? If there's anything that can fight against it? Are we going to keep going until the world can't take it anymore? Maybe there's no definite answer to these questions. Even though there are approximations of how things will go in the future, each passing day, that forecast could change. However, one of those answers is clear: technology. Technology and the people behind it have been helping combat climate change for many years.

THE CLASSIC STUFF

Even though we've been hearing about renewable energies for about 10 years and they don't seem new anymore, they're still doing a great job. In fact, according to a report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) (2022) presented at COP28 around 30% of the electricity generated worldwide is from renewable sources.

We know how renewable energies work, all that stuff about using nature's energies that are endless and blah, blah, blah… but their technology has come a long way since they were first introduced, significantly reducing generation and distribution costs (although we still need to invest in infrastructure because supply has also increased a lot). This, in turn, helps ordinary people afford to move away from fossil fuels and start their journey with renewable energies. Solar panels, for example, are changing a lot to make it easier for people to switch from fossil fuel to renewable energy. They've made changes like using organic materials to create them, making them flexible so they can fit anywhere, or making them transparent so they can be installed like windows. The first ray of sunlight of the day never felt so good.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain also have a say in this field: the first one is key to analyzing the millions of data collected daily by solar panels or wind turbines and predicting production to improve performance. In addition to recent data, AI can analyze historical data or weather forecasts to optimize existing technology. The main goal of blockchain, on the other hand, is to be used to verify the origin and consumption of such energy. That way, people using them know for sure that the origin is 100% renewable and not mixed with fossil fuels. Although blockchain is a very useful tool for the transparency, accountability, and traceability of greenhouse gases (GHG), it also has its downside: its carbon footprint is very large since creating blocks in the chain (hence the term blockchain) requires a lot of energy.

Greenpeace Greenpeace assures that Spain has enough renewable potential to supply more than 56 times the peninsular electricity demand by 2050. In The Basque Country, however, the use of these energies will need to triple to achieve the goal of being 42% renewable by 2030.

WHAT SOUNDS GOOD

In addition to the classic remedies (which always work), in recent years, technologies have been developed that allow us to analyze and address these climate problems in a way that would have been impossible years ago. NASA, for example, has a program entirely dedicated to climate change:

"People may not necessarily link NASA with climate research and observations. But Earth is also a planet, and NASA is one of the most important players in Earth sciences, with extensive experience in observing our climate, especially from a space perspective. Today, it spends over a billion dollars a year on Earth sciences and has more than a dozen satellites in orbit around the planet observing the ocean, land, ice, atmosphere, and biosphere."

Right here in Biscay, we also have a company that uses space observation to detect and monitor methane, a greenhouse gas that seriously affects global warming: Satlantis. Eider Ocerin, Customer Delivery Director, explains how the mission went:

"Methane is a greenhouse gas up to 80 times more harmful than carbon dioxide. It is closely associated with the gas and oil industry, among others. Recently, international institutions are defining specific regulations to tackle this problem. Satlantis launched a mission last June specifically to detect emissions of this gas and quantify them in order to provide operators and end-users with information on such emissions. In fact, the mission has been recognized as a contributing mission to the Copernicus program of the European Commission."

Hat's off to them.

WHAT CONCERNS US

If GHGs, like the methane we just mentioned, continue at the current pace, Earth and all the people and living beings on it could have a big problem. Why? Because these gases accumulate in Earth's atmosphere and absorb the sun's infrared energy. This causes the temperature of our planet to rise every day, leading to problems like glacier melting, more severe weather phenomena, and species extinction, among many other things.

These gases are generally created by human activity, and therefore, one of the solutions being proposed is smart cities since cities are one of the leading causes of greenhouse gas emissions currently. But… what is a smart city? The RAE explains it:

"It is a city that, through advanced technology and efficient resource management, has as its main objectives to optimize its services and promote sustainable development."

This translates into traffic management, optimization of streetlights, pollution monitoring, and optimization of waste collection, among other things.

Transportation, for example, is one of the big problems with GHG emissions. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says that the transportation sector accounts for almost a quarter of global CO2 emissions related to energy (23%), and land transport represents over 71% of all CO2 emissions related to transport. To address this, efforts are being made to move away from fossil fuels and implement the use of electric transportation or transportation that uses biofuels. Several cities already have electric buses and hydrogen-powered taxis, while electric cars are also gaining ground.

For all these changes and management, the Internet of Things (IoT) is essential. This technology allows us to benefit from connectivity to collect and analyze data that can be useful. This data allows public transportation organizers, for example, to detect patterns to optimize routes or ticket sales. It also ensures that waste collection routes are optimized, that there are streetlights that turn on when people pass by, or that anyone can find out where that free parking space they've been looking for is located.

The World Bank says that today, 56% of the world's population lives in cities, but that this trend will continue to grow, with 7 out of 10 people living in cities by 2050. With all those people moving to urban centers, city management is more important than ever.

WHATEVER

We don't know if we'll be able to turn everything around, but we're trying our hardest, for sure. Even though the future is uncertain and unsettling, according to NEF, if we want to achieve environmental goals, we must avoid austerity measures (which involve reducing public spending) like those seen after the 2008 crisis and dedicate significant socio-economic efforts to solving our environmental problems.

P.S. It would also be great if, instead of just waiting around until someone invents a machine that swallows corrosive gases, dissolves them, and spits out trees, we all pitch in to make the whole process go faster. That's why we'd like to appeal to all those people who have these issues on their minds: keep learning, studying, and working hard to help the planet. And who knows… maybe you'll discover another way to create energy, come up with an innovative machine, or participate in a disruptive project that helps make Earth a place where all beings on this planet can live happily.