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How smart technology is helping make sustainable living a reality

Apr 19, 2024

On Innovation news network Lucy Han of ABB takes us inside a new ‘smart community’ near the Swedish capital of Stockholm, an example of how new advances in energy management and people-focused technology are helping residents directly manage their carbon footprint – while enjoying the very best of modern community living. It’s all about How smart technology is helping make sustainable living a reality.

© shutterstock/metamorworks

How smart technology is helping make sustainable living a reality

By Lucy Han

18 April 2024

Reducing energy costs is now a leading concern for European residents. Modern dwellers also want better carbon credentials combined with smart technology and home solutions that offer ease of use, access, and control so they can enjoy the very best of energy-smart, high-tech living.

As industrial systems are being digitalised and decarbonised as part of the global clean energy transition, so are residential buildings being transformed. This ushers in a new era of connected communities populated by eco-savvy residents who want to maximise their use of self-generated energy and lead more meaningful lives through engagement with smart technology.

A new nexus of forces is in play here: a shift in the balance of power between the top-down organisation of resources associated with ‘smart cities’ and the bottom-up action from the new generation of ‘smart communities’ popping up worldwide (particularly in Europe). These movements intersect, creating a vision for the energy-efficient communities of the future.

Sustainability, cost-effectiveness, and comfort come at a cost, however. The demands on domestic infrastructure—from heat pumps and electric vehicles to 5G—are escalating, transforming consumer decision-making and consumption habits. Tracking and sharing energy data effectively is a priority.

In this article, we will discuss how the ability to generate and share energy is enabling communities to lower their carbon footprint and energy cost; how everything from washing machines to energy and security systems can now be monitored and controlled via a single mobile app; and how a smart community outside Stockholm is providing a blueprint for clean, collaborative, integrated living.

Sustainable living at the touch of a button

Regarding the future of connected living, COVID-19 effectively condensed decades of social and behavioural change into just a few months. For example, touch-free interfaces for enhanced hygiene began to be integrated into office buildings. At the same time, space management, intelligent lighting and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) solutions will all help improve employee comfort and productivity in a post-pandemic world.

These smart devices can also help homeowners reduce their energy bills, satisfy residents’ demand for flexibility and autonomy, and, critically, reduce the overall carbon footprint of buildings, which, with their high-power demand, account for around 40% of global energy consumption.

A pioneering new project in Sweden featuring ABB Smart Buildings, Samsung SmartThings, and other partners is part of a growing trend of industry organisations collaborating to develop and deploy innovative energy management, energy consumption, and carbon emissions reduction technologies. At the same time, a holistic, user-friendly smart home system boosts comfort and ease of use.

The homes at Brobyholm will be the first buildings in the world to access a single holistic smart home solution, with all products and devices – including the ABB-free@home® smart home system, ABB’s energy distribution and management technology – all connected with Samsung’s SmartThings platform.

All property assets, down to appliances and energy generation, are managed with Internet of Things (IoT) installation, with apps integrated into Brobyholm’s property management platform for holistic management at the community level. Based on the Matter industry standard, energy, motion, and door and window devices are controlled via the Samsung SmartThings app. ABB’s Matter-based Eve devices, which include energy sockets, door and window contacts, and motion sensors, can also be controlled via SmartThings.

The first-of-a-kind integrated system is designed to give residents the flexibility and autonomy they crave by covering every need: security, media, lighting, blinds, door entry, electricity outlets, energy, appliances, heating, ventilation, HVAC, sensors, cameras, TV, and energy management. Using insights derived from the various connected devices on their phones, a new breed of residents can manage their total energy usage—everything from turning off lights remotely to electric vehicle (EV) charging and load management.

Using a separate dashboard, the property operator can even run appliance diagnostics and efficiency maintenance by monitoring and controlling existing appliances in an emergency and informing residents about new devices installed in the unit for added maintenance and operation efficiency.

Brobyholm: a design for life

While we used to think of smart technology only in terms of individual homes, the pace of adoption among multi-dwelling, tower and multi-villa developments is gathering pace. At the new housing development in Brobyholm, the project partners have responded by expanding their vision for smart living from single flats or single house levels to include whole properties and the wider community.

That vision is bold: carbon-free living within a generation in a new ‘exurb’ featuring 500 (eventually reaching 2,000) predominantly single-family homes, where residents are empowered to make energy and carbon savings via enhanced access to fully connected smart home technology.

To maximise potential, ABB’s InSite energy management system monitors and controls the main electrical assets, including photo voltaic (PV) generation, EV charging, and gas and water, to optimise home energy flows. In addition to the data collected from each household, forecast PV production, grid tariffs and consumption patterns are considered to balance the grid across the entire community through virtual energy sharing – significantly reducing costs for the families living there.

Based on energy data, the InSite energy management system manages loads to maximise the use of self-generated energy. For example, residents’ water tanks can be heated when there is surplus energy generated by solar panels—when solar power is low, devices will run in energy-saving mode. EVs located in designated mobility zones and equipped with ABB Terra AC charger technology can be used for energy optimisation and flexibility via ‘vehicle-to-everything’ technology.

Additionally, as all consumers and producers are connected under one easy-to-use platform, excess power can be sold on the flexibility market, generating income for all the inhabitants in Brobyholm.

The smart homes of the future

To accelerate the transition to net zero, we must consider issues like industry standardisation and regulatory certainty and the accessibility of technology, innovation, financing, and industry skills. The Net Zero Home project in Brobyholm and similar efforts help flesh this out in real time.

Brobyholm is a glimpse into the future of housing and sustainable living. It is made possible thanks to open technology, the adoption of industry standards, and vendors working together to innovate. Through this type of partnership and collaboration, it is possible to leverage cutting-edge technology and innovations that enhance people’s lives and reduce their reliance on precious global resources.

As the world’s demand for electricity grows, Brobyholm is an inspiring example of future-proofing and new thinking – from both project partners and energy consumers – and another exciting step forward in ABB’s ambition to create flexible, future-forward tech solutions.

Lucy Han

ABB Smart Buildings

Website: https://new.abb.com/buildings/smarter-building

Green cement production is scaling up

Apr 18, 2024

Above Image is for illustration – credit: Carbon Footprint of Building Materials (Green Building Calculator)

Green cement production is scaling up – and it could cut the carbon footprint of construction

By Jamie Goggins, University of Galway

Aside from water, concrete is the most-used material in the world, with about 14 billion cubic metres being used every year. Of that, 40% of that is used to build places for people to live.

If you were to pour that amount of concrete to make a paving slab ten centimetres thick, it would cover all of England and about half of Wales. In the US, the same amount would cover the state of New York.

But concrete production releases carbon dioxide (CO₂), one of the greenhouse gases that drives climate change. About 90% of emissions associated with concrete come from the production of Portland cement – this fine grey powder, the part that binds concrete ingredients together, was named after its resemblence to stone from the Isle of Portland, Dorset. Portland cement accounts for 7%-8% of the world’s direct CO₂ emissions.

Production of a more sustainable and cost-effective low-carbon cement, often nicknamed “green” cement, is scaling up. A new plant next to an existing cement plant in Redding, California, will produce about 15,000 tonnes of low-carbon cement every year. This could be used to make about 50,000 cubic metres of concrete, which is less than 0.0004% of the world’s concrete production.

At Redding, materials technology company Fortera turns CO₂ captured during conventional cement production into ready-to-use green cement, a form of calcium carbonate. This could reduce carbon emissions of cement by 70% on a tonne-for-tonne basis, according to Fortera.

A concrete issue

People have been using concrete for more than 2,000 years, by blending gravel, sand, cement, water and, sometimes, synthetic chemicals. It’s used to create everything from paths and bridges to buildings and pipes.

Currently, the EU uses more than two tonnes of concrete per person per year – 325kg of that is cement. That’s equivalent to the amount of food the average European person eats in five months.

Cement production is an energy-intensive process and the greenhouse gas emissions are hard to cut. When limestone is heated in a kiln, often fuelled by coal, nearly half that limestone is lost as CO₂ emissions.

This happens because limestone (calcium carbonate) breaks down in heat to form clinker, a mix of calcium oxide and CO₂. For every tonne of ordinary Portland cement made, 0.6-0.9 tonnes of CO₂ are released into the atmosphere.

So many industries rely on this material. The main challenge facing the cement industry is reducing CO₂ emissions at the same time as meeting global demand.

So as well as developing new technologies, low-carbon cement production must be established on a global scale to meet infrastructural needs required of economically developing nations.

Low-carbon alternatives

Other ways to reduce the carbon footprint of concrete include using fly ash (a by-product from burning coal in power plants) or slag (a by-product from steel production) to partially replace Portland cement.

However, sources of these materials will reduce as other industries decarbonise. Over time, less iron ore will be used to produce steel as more steel is produced from recycling existing steel, so there’ll be less available slag.

Current strategies for decarbonising cement and concrete rely heavily on using carbon capture and storage technology to capture unavoidable process emissions from cement plants.

So low-carbon cement production doesn’t have to involve replacing every cement production plant in operation. Low-carbon cement facilities can be retrofitted to capture CO₂ emissions released from manufacturing conventional cement. Plants can also use that captured CO₂ within the cement that they are producing or as a product for the food and chemical industries.

In Norway, Heidelberg Materials are building an industrial-scale carbon capture and storage plant at a cement facility that could capture and store an estimated 400,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year – that’s half the existing plant’s emissions.

However, this technology has a high investment cost for cement producers. Captured CO₂ can be stored underground, but this requires specific geological characteristics that aren’t guaranteed at cement production sites.

Greenhouse gas emissions in the cement sector are regulated by the EU’s emissions trading system. This was established to make polluters pay for their greenhouse gas emissions, reduce emissions and generate revenues to finance the green transition.

This legislation has not significantly reduced carbon emissions in the cement sector over the past decade, according to the International Energy Agency, mainly due to free emissions allowances being granted to cement manufacturers.

Despite sustained healthy profits in the cement industry, there hasn’t been enough investment in the widespread uptake of cleaner technologies and the sustainable use of materials. Greater financial incentives could help whereby companies have to pay for emissions associated with the production of cement.

As a design engineer, I appreciate that material choice and good design play a major role in the sustainability credentials of construction. Before low-carbon cement technology becomes more widespread, engineers, designers and builders can use construction materials more efficiently and choose products with lower embodied carbon – that’s carbon emissions released during the life cycle of building materials, from extraction through to disposal.

This approach could easily save 20% in embodied emissions associated with new building design.

Some governments could move towards only permitting the use of low-carbon cement. In Ireland, the Climate Action Plan 2024 requires that low-carbon construction methods and low-carbon cement are specified where possible for government-procured or government-supported construction projects.

Could all cement in the future be low-carbon or “green”? How “low-carbon” is defined will play a very important part in how this is translated into practice in the industry.

Retrofitting technology to large-scale existing cement production plants will prove that it’s technically possible to produce low-carbon cement efficiently at scale. With the right incentives in place by governments and the construction sector, almost all cement produced around the world could be low-carbon.

Jamie Goggins, Professor of Civil Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, University of Galway

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Official Development Assistance: Flows increase again

Apr 17, 2024

Official development assistance () is defined as government aid designed to promote the economic development and welfare of developing countries. Loans and credits for military purposes are excluded. And the Flows increase again as reported today by Mahmoud Mamart in El Watan-DZ.

Official Development Assistance: Flows increase again

Official Development assistance provided by donors in 2023 reached a new high of $223.7 billion, up from $211 billion recorded in 2022, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said in a statement. According to preliminary data from this international organization, supplier countries have increased aid flows to Ukraine and sent more humanitarian aid to developing countries.

X – https://twitter.com/OECDdev/status/1749427947847766317

The 1.8% increase in real terms in 2023 is the latest in a series of annual increases in official development assistance (ODA), provided by members of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC), the statement released this week added. This is the fifth year in a row that ODA has reached a record level. The total amount of aid for 2023 is up by a third compared to 2019 levels, reflecting the additional aid provided since the following crises of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.

In 2023, ODA increased in 14 of the 31 DAC member countries, and decreased in 17 countries, some due to lower refugee costs and others due to lower lending. ODA provided by the European Union institutions, which are also members of the DAC, has also increased.

Aid to Ukraine increased by 9% in 2023 to $20 billion, including $3.2 billion in humanitarian aid. In 2023, ODA also increased to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with preliminary estimates showing a 12% increase from 2022 to $1.4 billion. Of this total, $758 million was allocated to humanitarian assistance, which increased by 91% compared to 2022. Globally, humanitarian aid increased by 4.8% in 2023 to $25.9 billion. ODA used to cover the costs of hosting refugees in donor countries fell by 6.2% in 2023 to $31 billion.

Helping the most vulnerable

“Official development assistance (ODA) remains an important, stable and reliable source of external financing for developing countries. Donor countries have provided a record level of international assistance for the fifth consecutive year, maintaining their support for long-term development priorities while helping countries around the world meet short-term needs related to shocks and external pressures,” said OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann.

“With slowing growth and rising debt servicing, developing countries face new fiscal pressures and a growing risk of debt distress. Long-term structural challenges exacerbate these pressures, such as climate change and widening economic and social disparities. We must therefore remain focused and determined to help the most vulnerable achieve their economic development and growth goals.” In a similar vein, Carsten Staur, Chair of the OECD-DAC, said that in the future, “donors will need to step up their support to the poorest and most vulnerable countries, particularly the least developed and sub-Saharan African countries. We need to focus more on efforts to help partner countries fight extreme poverty and climate change.”

According to preliminary data from the OECD, bilateral aid flows from DAC members to the group of least developed countries (LDCs) amounted to $37 billion, an increase of 3% in real terms in 2023 compared to 2022, when they recorded a decline of 6.2%. Mahmoud MamartDevelopment assistance provided by official donors in 2023 reached a new high of $223.7 billion, up from $211 billion recorded in 2022, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said in a statement. According to preliminary data from this international organization, supplier countries have increased aid flows to Ukraine and sent more humanitarian aid to developing countries.

The 1.8% increase in real terms in 2023 is the latest in a series of annual increases in official development assistance (ODA), provided by members of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC), the statement released this week added. And this is the fifth year in a row that ODA has reached a record level. The total amount of aid for 2023 is up by a third compared to 2019 levels, reflecting the additional aid provided since the following crises of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.

Accounting for 0.37% of the combined gross national income (GNI) of DAC donors for the second year in a row, total ODA remains below the UN’s long-standing target of 0.7% ODA relative to GNI. Among DAC members, five countries – Germany, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway and Sweden – exceeded the UN target of 0.7% of GNI for ODA in 2023. The main providers of aid by volume were the United States, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and France. In 2023, ODA increased in 14 of the 31 DAC member countries, and decreased in 17 countries, some due to lower refugee costs and others due to lower lending. ODA provided by the European Union institutions, which are also members of the DAC, has also increased.

Helping the most vulnerable

How the Design Industry Is Navigating the Sustainability Surge

Apr 17, 2024

The importance of innovation and intellectual property for the construction industry would be the ultimate demonstration of How the Design Industry Is Navigating the Sustainability Surge .

The image above is for illustration – credit LinkedIn

How the Design Industry Is Navigating the Sustainability Surge

Discover new ThinkLab research that suggests sustainable design is hitting its stride.

By: Erica Waayenberg

16 April 2024

More than ever, clients seek designs that prioritize health and sustainability. This growing demand is not just a trend; it’s a paradigm shift that reflects broader societal awareness of how our surroundings affect our well-being and the planet. A recent study by McKinsey & Company and NielsenIQ highlights this shift, revealing that 78 percent of U.S. consumers say that a sustainable lifestyle is important to them.

While sustainability has gradually risen in importance over the past decade, ThinkLab’s research into five specifier personas for the design industry and the ThinkLab U.S. Design Industry Benchmark Report for 2024 also suggests sustainable design is gaining momentum:

• 84 percent of contract architects and designers see the demand for healthy spaces and sustainable products significantly increasing in the next two years.

• The “sustainability-first specifier persona” has doubled since 2022.

• 17 percent of architects and designers say sustainability is a top three deciding factor for product selections, up from 8 percent in 2020.

Benefits of Designing for Holistic Well-Being

Holistic well-being encompasses four perspectives: physical, psychological, behavioral, and intellectual. In the context of architecture and design, this means creating spaces that address all aspects of the self (physical, mental, emotional, social, spiritual) and recognizing their interconnectedness and the impact of the built environment on each of these elements.

A recent study conducted by the McKinsey Health Institute, spanning 30 nations and surveying 30,000 workers, highlights the crucial link between employee job satisfaction and performance, and overall well-being. The research underscores the need for companies to rethink work environments and create spaces that foster the holistic health of their workforce.

To that end, architectural and design firms are increasingly incorporating elements to address mental well-being, such as meditation spaces and quiet zones, mothers’ and wellness rooms, biophilic design, water features, access to outdoor spaces, and ample opportunities for movement from gyms to yoga studios and corridors that double as walking tracks.

Architecture and Design’s Powerful Influence

In the built environment, the adoption of sustainable product selection practices is widespread, and with more than 40 times greater purchasing power than the average consumer (as shown by ThinkLab’s Benchmark Report), the architectural and design community has tremendous influence on the demand for ecofriendly building products. And while a smaller portion of the overall design community, the number of “sustainability-first specifiers” has doubled in the past two years, and more broadly, more specifiers consider sustainability a top product selection criterion (17 percent, up from 8 percent in 2020).

Designers are navigating this landscape with innovative materials, energy-efficient systems, and a commitment to reducing the carbon footprint of their projects. The mutual benefit and connected nature of sustainable and human-centered design support an integrated, holistic approach.

Catalysts for Positive Change

As the threads of health, wellness, and sustainability weave together, the tapestry of the future of design unfolds. While the design considerations are many, addressing physical, mental, and environmental health, the industry is up to the challenge, shaping environments that contribute to the well-being of both people and the planet.

Erica Waayenberg, LEED AP, is head of research and content at ThinkLab, the research division of SANDOW. At ThinkLab we combine SANDOW Media’s incredible reach in the architecture and design community through brands like METROPOLIS with proven market research techniques to uncover relevant trends and opportunities for the design industry. View the ThinkLab U.S. Design Industry Benchmark Report for 2024 and ThinkLab’s 5 Specifier Personas for the Interior Design Industry research at thinklab. design, and join in to explore what’s next at thinklab. design/join-in.

Would you like to comment on this article? Send your thoughts to: comments@metropolismag.com

MENA’s fragmentation opportunity

Apr 16, 2024

In an FDIntelligence Free Zone Focus Opinion article about all MENA’s fragmentation opportunity is assessed to enhance economic ties between neighbouring countries.

Image above for illustration – credit The World Bank

Opinion | MENA’s fragmentation opportunity

Special economic zones are ripe to further supply chain integration in the region

By Mohamed Ibrahim Hafez

Image via Mercury Bloomberg

Mohamed Ibrahim Hafez is a researcher at the Centre for Policy, Citizenship and Society at Nottingham Trent University and a former policy advisor at the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones in Egypt.

In an era marked by unpredictability, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region stands at an important crossroads. Global trade structures are undergoing a dramatic transformation, with value chains fragmenting and geopolitical tensions bringing sharply into focus longstanding vulnerabilities in MENA economies. Against this backdrop, enhancing economic ties between neighbours presents great opportunities. Thanks to its abundant hydrocarbon resources, MENA is deeply interconnected with the global economy, exporting 34% of its gross domestic product (GDP) compared with a global average of 25.5%, according to data compiled by McKinsey. Yet despite shared language, culture and geographical proximity, Mena remains one of the least economically integrated regions in the world. Intraregional trade constitutes only 2.9% of the region’s GDP, significantly lower than the global average of 7.9% and far below the EU’s 22%.

At last year’s World Economic Forum, Ahmed Galal Ismail, CEO of Emirati retail conglomerate Majid Al Futtaim, argued that aligning MENA’s intraregional trade with the global average could unlock an additional $2.5tn in GDP, opening new prospects for private sector regionalisation. These figures indicate that previous free trade initiatives and economic cooperation mechanisms were inefficient to unlock MENA’s full potential. However, its number of special economic zones (SEZs) has surged from 47 in 2009 to more than 200 this year, according to data tracked by the OECD and Adrianople Group. This raises the prospect of using SEZs to create new linkages and regional production networks that would spark intra-regional trade.

Algeria took bold strides in 2022 to amend its investment law and create a legislative framework for SEZs. However, today it remains the sole country in the Mena region without any type of SEZ. In February, it took a big step towards changing this by announcing the implementation of a strategic vision to integrate its oil-based economy with neighbouring nations through the joint development of cross-border infrastructure and the establishment of five transnational SEZs with Tunisia, Libya, Mauritania, Mali and Niger. Since the inception of its Vision 2030 reform agenda, Saudi Arabia has launched four SEZs and is pushing forward with its NEOM mega-project which the government has also classified as a SEZ and which benefits from special investment regulations. The latter, which is poised to cover 26,500 sq km, will span Saudi’s borders with Egypt and Jordan, creating a new path for two-way economic linkages. In addition, after three decades of closed borders between Saudi Arabia and Iraq, the two nations have embarked on a collaborative effort to boost bilateral trade. In 2020 they reopened the Arar land crossing, which laid the groundwork for their joint announcement last November of plans to launch a cross-border economic zone which will include a free trade zone, opening new trade gateways for both economies.

While some countries are individually or bilaterally leveraging SEZs for economic co-operation, a MENA-wide SEZ policy should be developed to maximise and quantify the impact of SEZs in forming regional value chains in the region. A collective effort towards regionalisation, including via SEZs, could help Mena leveraging its collective supply chain strengths, and foster a more resilient and predictable economy…

Two years to save the planet, says UN climate chief

Apr 16, 2024

Two years to save the planet says UN climate chief before adding that Governments, business leaders and development banks must take immediate action to combat climate change or risk far worse climate impacts.

Above image Source: Reuters

Two years to save the planet, says UN climate chief, and other nature and climate stories you need to read this week

By World Economic Forum

16 April 2024

This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum.

Author: Johnny Wood, Writer, Forum Agenda

This weekly round-up contains key nature and climate news from the past week.
Top nature and climate stories: Two years to save the planet, says UN climate chief; Forever chemicals in groundwater exceed safe levels, global study finds; Australia’s Great Barrier Reef experiencing one of its worst ever recorded bleaching events.

1. UN climate chief issues stark warning

The next two years are “essential in saving the planet” warns Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Governments, business leaders and development banks must take immediate action to combat climate change or risk far worse climate impacts, he said.

Stiell called for an increase in climate finance through debt relief, cheaper funds for poorer countries, new streams of international finance and World Bank and International Monetary Fund reforms.

“Every day, finance ministers, CEOs, investors, and climate bankers and development bankers, direct trillions of dollars. It’s time to shift those dollars,” he said.

The climate crisis is moving into uncharted territory, Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies told the BBC.

Global temperature records continue to be broken, month-on-month. Image: Copernicus ECMWF

March 2024 was the hottest ever recorded, reaching 0.73°C above the 1991-2020 March average and exceeding the previous March 2016 high by 0.10°C, according to data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

2. Chemicals in groundwater exceed safe levels, study finds

Levels of PFAS or “forever chemicals” in some of the world’s groundwater sources exceed safe limits, according to a new study.

Researchers analyzed 45,000 data points from different world regions over a 20-year time span.

The first-of-its-kind study published in the Nature Geoscience journal, found levels of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) – to use their scientific name – in global source water samples exceeded the limits advised by the US Environmental Protection Agency and Health Canada.

These human-made chemicals are commonly used in industry and found in household products, including non-stick frying pans, cosmetics, insecticides and food packaging.

Once ingested or in the environment they don’t degrade, hence the label forever chemicals.

Research has linked PFAS chemicals to environmental harm and human health issues like cancer, but more analysis is needed to realise the extent of the threat they pose.

“We already knew that PFAS is pervasive in the environment, but I was surprised to find out the large fraction of source waters that are above drinking water advisory recommendations,” said Denis O’Carroll, senior author of the research and engineering professor at the University of New South Wales.

“We’re talking above 5%, and it goes over 50% in some cases,” he said.

However, Professor O’Carroll notes the study analyzed source water bodies and not tap drinking water, which goes through a treatment process designed to filter bacteria and chemicals, so should be safe to drink.

3. News in brief: Other top nature and climate stories this week

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is experiencing one of its worst-ever recorded bleaching events, according to marine biologists. Aerial surveys show the 2,300 kilometre reef system is suffering its fifth mass bleaching within the past eight years, The Guardian reports.

Discover

What’s the World Economic Forum doing about the ocean?

Our ocean covers 70% of the world’s surface and accounts for 80% of the planet’s biodiversity. We can’t have a healthy future without a healthy ocean – but it’s more vulnerable than ever because of climate change and pollution.

Tackling the grave threats to our ocean means working with leaders across sectors, from business to government to academia.

The World Economic Forum, in collaboration with the World Resources Institute, convenes the Friends of Ocean Action, a coalition of leaders working together to protect the seas. From a programme with the Indonesian government to cut plastic waste entering the sea to a global plan to track illegal fishing, the Friends are pushing for new solutions.

Climate change is an inextricable part of the threat to our oceans, with rising temperatures and acidification disrupting fragile ecosystems. The Forum runs a number of initiatives to support the shift to a low-carbon economy, including hosting the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders, who have cut emissions in their companies by 9%.

Is your organization interested in working with the World Economic Forum? Find out more here.

A rare, blind, palm-sized mole that lives almost entirely underground has been photographed in a remote area of the Australian outback, the BBC reports. Sightings of the elusive creatures occur on average only a few times each decade.

The Al Massira reservoir in Morocco is drying up due to six consecutive years of drought and climate change, satellite images show. This vital waterway is the country’s second-largest dam, which supplies water to a number of major cities.

The 2024 European Tree of The Year contest has been won by a Polish beech tree rooted in a park in the University of Wroclaw’s botanical gardens. Known as Heart of the Garden, it’s the third tree from Poland to win the award.

AI and big data are helping conservationists analyze the full annual lifecycle of bird species across continents, harvesting “unlimited” data to help prioritize bird habitats and combat the impact of biodiversity loss.

Extreme flooding has hit Russia’s Orenburg region and parts of Kazakhstan, as the Ural river, which rises in the Ural mountains and flows through Kazakhstan to the Caspian Sea, breached embankment dams.

4. More on the nature and climate crisis on Agenda

As environmental concerns climb higher up the agenda, global businesses are well-placed to make financial commitments to conserve forests and help mitigate the climate crisis. Here’s how.

“It’s now cheaper to save the world that destroy it” says Akshat Rathi, the author of Climate Capitalism and senior climate reporter for Bloomberg. Here he speaks to Radio Davos about how the profit motive is moving the dial.

Is climate inaction a violation of human rights? A recent ruling by the European Court of Human Rights found that Switzerland failed to act “in time and in an appropriate way” to safeguard people from the climate crisis.

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How smart technology is helping make sustainable living a reality

How smart technology is helping make sustainable living a reality