This week’s Current Climate, which every Saturday brings you the latest news about the business of sustainability. Sign up to get it in your inbox every week.
TImothy Archibald for Forbes
Agriculture giant ADM announced that it has signed an agreement with Farmer’s Business Network to expand the availability of FBN’s farm management software, Gradable, to its network of 55,000 growers. A major feature of this software is that it aids farmers into making their growing more sustainable and helps them make crop replacements that lower carbon emissions from the farm while growing something that can be sold at a premium. (My colleague Amy Feldman covered the launch of the Gradable product in 2020.) Since then, the company says that use of its software can lower carbon intensity footprints to 20-30% below average. The software also helps connect farmers with some of the organizations that offer financial incentives for farming more sustainably, which helps to defray costs and boost incomes.
The Big Read
NASA Earth Observatory
Why Is Lake Mead Shrinking? Climate Change Is A Major Reason
Lake Mead is the reservoir created when the technological marvel that is the Hoover Dam was created. Satellite images confirm that the reservoir is at the lowest mark since it was filled in 1937. Here’s why a changing climate is making that happen. Read more here.
Discoveries And Innovations
Researchers in Europe say they have successfully produced synthetic jet fuel using carbon dioxide, solar energy and water, a milestone in the fight to produce sustainable aviation fuels.
Scientists unveiled a proposal to capture and store carbon dioxide in train cars, a solution they cast as a cheaper and less land- and energy-intensive alternative to current carbon capture facilities that many companies use to offset carbon emissions.
Meatable, a Dutch company developing lab-cultured meat, just unveiled its new product: pork sausages. The company aims to produce its meat with a lower environmental footprint than livestock.
Sustainability Deals Of The Week
Quantum computing company IQM raised a $130 million series A2 round led by the World Bank. The funding is aimed at expanding development of ways to use quantum computing to solve climate change related problems.
The Family Forest Impact Foundation issued a $10 million green bond designed to support nature-based carbon credits. The bond is underwritten by Morgan Stanley.
Massachusetts-based Electrified Thermal Solutions raised a $4.5 million seed round to expand production of its “Joule Hive,” which is a drop-in solution for industrial processes that require heat as a replacement for fossil fuels.
On The Horizon
In North America, water managers do a lot of their planning for water use based on snow-related metrics. But new research finds that climate change blurs a lot of these metrics. Not only do rising temperatures mean less snow, they also mean more snow melts in winter. This confluence will make it more challenging for planning water use as the years go by.
What Else We’re Reading This Week
Corporate Carbon Offset Company Accidentally Starts Devastating Wildfire (Vice)
A Green Hydrogen Economy Depends on This Little-Known Machine (Bloomberg)
Supercharged biotech rice yields 40% more grain (Science)
Green Transportation Update
California High Speed Rail Authority
California’s high-speed rail dreams took root decades ago when former Governor Jerry Brown proposed a Japanese-style line connection Los Angeles and San Diego back in 1982. In 2008 the state’s voters approved a $10 billion bond to fund an electric line from San Francisco to Los Angeles that backers estimated said would cost $40 billion and have a fraction of the carbon emissions of car and plane travel. Since then, cost estimates have ballooned to $105 billion–with decades of work ahead to build and fund it. Still, the first 171 miles of the system is finally funded and is well under construction through the state’s Central Valley. There’s a long way to go and critics see a wasteful boondoggle, but it’s a milestone for a project that at one point looked like it might never leave the station.
The Big Transportation Story
SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
USPS To Boost Purchase Of Electric Delivery Vehicles
Environmentalists were irate after the U.S. Postal Service said its plans to overhaul its massive fleet of delivery vehicles only included a relatively tiny number of battery-powered models. It modified those plans this week saying 40% of its new vehicles will be electric, up from just 10% previously. Read more here.
More Green Transportation News
California Bullet Train Gets $4.2 Billion Green Light While Bigger Challenges Loom
Chevrolet Blazer EV Coming In Summer 2023 To Challenge Mach-E, Model Y And Bad Guys
Amazon’s Zoox Says Its Robotaxi Has Met The Highest Crash Safety Standards
ZapBatt Partners With Toshiba To Create Longer Lasting E-Bike Batteries
Hive Batteries From 10 Million Nissan Electric Cars Could Power Whole U.K.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2022/07/23/lake-mead-is-shrinking-usps-goes-electric-and-software-to-make-farmers-green/