Edgar Hertwich - Industrial Ecology Blogs

Disowning a Successful Policy to Pursue Retrograde Actions?

Just five years ago, Europe’s big political families came together under the leadership of the then dominant conservative parties to pursue what is responsible, the phase-out of fossil fuels. Today, a dangerous reversal is underway.

Reducing GHG emissions from global buildings

Demand reduction, circular economy, and substitution offer complementary emission savings A new scenario analysis for the global building stock confirms quicker and deeper emission reductions from combining biogenic building materials, lightweighting, lifetime extension, reuse/recycling, and demand reduction; compared to employing each strategy individually. In a new paper in the

Climate protection and protection against climate change

Despite record summer heat and now record flooding, Austria's media seem to be more concerned about the costs than the benefits of climate protection. For electioneering politicians, climate action appears to be limited to crisis management. Pausing emission reductions, as they suggested before the floods, will bring new,

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EU's climate target within reach thanks to the European Green Deal

Naysayers argue nothing can be done about climate change. Anarchists argue emissions are fault of the economic system. Europe may be about to prove both sides wrong.

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Dagsvik silent on the detection limit of their instrument

The suitability of their method to investigate the presence or absence of global warming has not been demonstrated.

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Climate denial published by Statistics Norway

A discussion paper released by Statistics Norway contains standard talking-points of climate denial and a crude statistical model of selected temperature measurements which is unable to detect anything. Here I show how these points are flawed and point to sources of facts and scientific findings.

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An emergency brake for the climate

To limit global heating to 1.5 degrees, the EU’s Climate Advisors recommend that Europe cuts 90-95% of carbon emissions by 2040 compared to 1990. Fossil fuels should be phased out as quickly as possible.

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Norway's biodiversity footprint is unknown

Edgar Hertwich argues that Øystein Sjølie's critique of a Sintef report on Norway's biodiversity footprints is partially correct and the footprints are unknown.

The Legacy Footprint of Capital

by Ranran Wang and Edgar Hertwich Manufactured capital assets, such as buildings, machinery, and transport equipment, play a pivotal role in driving economic development and human progress. Yet, a common misconception pins greenhouse gas emissions and resource extractions mainly on short-term consumption. New research published in the Proceedings of the

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Green growth now

Summary: Concerned about economic growth, China and India weakened the COP26 Glasgow Climate Pact. Our research suggests decarbonization and growth are independent processes. Delaying one to achieve the other is unnecessary and a wasteful detour. Nobody in the rich world can blame developing countries for wishing to improve their economic

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How dematerialization could cut hard-to-abate emissions by a third, or more

The production of materials causes a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing the use of materials through a more intense utilization of products such as homes or cars, or the construction of lighter and smaller products, will also reduce the energy needed to provide services such as shelter and

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Climate protection and development in the Global South

Nobody is as affected by the damaging forces of climate change as underdeveloped countries, but these countries face a paradox as they try to mitigate their CO2 emissions. Improving the lives of their citizens will increase the demand for energy and materials — which in turn will make climate change worse.

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Less material use = better climate

Material production accounts for close to a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions, but receives little attention compared to energy, meat, or deforestation. In a new report for the International Resource Panel, we show that reducing the use of emissions-intensive materials such as metals and cement in buildings and cars

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Science Cannot Stop Global Warming

With current efforts or those committed to under the Paris agreement, there is absolutely no chance that humanity will limit the warming of the Earth’s surface to an average of 1.5 degrees Celsius. This finding emerges from a special report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

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Metals use tied to economic upswings

Will more expensive metals impede economic growth in the US? As the US government justifies new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports with their military importance, the role of metals in society comes into focus. New research shows that metals are an important ingredient in economic upswings. Conversely, metal use

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Energy efficiency offers win-win for climate, health, and ecosystems

A potential increase in metal consumption emerges as only concern in a broad-based investigation of the clean-energy transition The history of environmental protection is full of unforeseen consequences: taller chimneys only led to pollutants spreading wide and far, and safe refrigerants replacing hydrocarbons turned out to damage the ozone hole.

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How to force down the US climate impact

While Donald Trump withdraws the US from the Paris climate agreement, the world has tools to reduce the US carbon footprint As the world is in shock about Donald Trump’s erratic but not unexpected decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord, reactions range from the

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Does ‘green energy’ have hidden health and environmental costs?

Edgar Hertwich, Yale University; Anders Arvesen, Norwegian University of Science and Technology; Sangwon Suh, University of California, Santa Barbara, and Thomas Gibon, Norwegian University of Science and Technology There are a number of available low-carbon technologies to generate electricity. But are they really better than fossil fuels and nuclear power?

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The Carbon Footprint of Capital

We think of capital, the assets we use in production, as heavy: machines, buildings, infrastructure, trucks and railroads. Being composed mostly of cement and steel, we would expect their production to cause a lot of greenhouse gas emissions. In a new paper, we offer a first detailed analysis of the

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Alternative climate theory in shatters

An alternative theory for climate change based on the influence of cosmic radiation lead to prominent predictions of an imminent cooling of global temperatures. Three years after the book by Fritz Vahrenholt and Sebastian Lüning was a bestseller in Germany and translated into English, its predictions – popular with climate sceptics

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Industrial Ecology – Reflexions

The entire team of PhD students, PostDocs and professors on the steps of the main building, 17 October 2014 In 2003, I moved to Trondheim to become Director of the Industrial Ecology Programme (IndEcol) of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). In 2015, I have moved on to

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Carbon pricing improves economics of energy

The Economics of Energy – What is the cost-effectiveness of energy and climate policies? In a panel debate with key European policy makers hosted by GE and organized by ScienceBusiness; I emphasized the need to more systematically internalize environmental costs, which we have enumerated in recent scientific work. The social and

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We can reach 2°C if we replace polluting technology

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shows that hope is not forsaken: rigorous climate politics locally and nationally has spurred development of new technology sooner than expected. Increased pressure in the pursuit of climate protection is still required to reach the 2°C Target. Carbon Budget: Trillion tons of CO2

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Breathe easier with renewable energy

If we want to limit air pollution and reduce greenhouse gas emissions while meeting unmet demand in developing countries, renewable electricity is a promising option, as our new research shows. By Edgar Hertwich, Thomas Gibon and Anders Arvesen, NTNU The use of fossil energy sources has made it possible for

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What’s new in the IPCC report

After 4 years of intensive work, the fifth assessment report of climate change by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has finally been published. It says that it is urgent to begin reducing emissions, otherwise we will not be able to stay below the articulated limit of two degree