For decades, economists have been wrestling with how best to weigh the current cost of emissions reductions against costs that will come years or even centuries from now. But a consensus has proved to be elusive, because traditional economic models don’t treat atmospheric carbon like an asset. Project Syndicate
Republicans used the pretense that they cared about fiscal responsibility to engage in de facto economic sabotage as long as a Democrat was in the White House. Then they abandoned the pretense and opened up the spending taps as soon as one of their own was in power. And far from paying a price for their duplicity, they are being politically rewarded. New York Times
UN climate negotiations alone are unlikely to result in the rapid decarbonization that is needed. Now is the time for a new international treaty to get to the root of the problem, by addressing fossil fuel supply—with wealthy nations moving first and fastest. Drawing on the model of the nuclear treaty, a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, like the nuclear treaty before it, would be constructed around three main pillars: non-proliferation, disarmament, and peaceful use. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Together the 22 power plants would emit almost as much carbon dioxide annually as all the passenger cars sold each year in the United States. The construction stands in contrast with Japan’s effort to portray this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo as one of the greenest ever. New York Times
The promise of AI is that it could serve as an extension of our minds and become a meta-solution. In the same way that the telescope revealed the planetary dynamics that inspired new physics, insights from AI could help scientists solve some of the complex challenges facing society today—from superbugs to climate change to inequality. My hope is to build smarter tools that expand humans’ capacity to identify the root causes and potential solutions to core scientific problems. The Economist
A little-known start-up helps law enforcement match photos of unknown people to their online images — and “might lead to a dystopian future or something,” a backer says. New York Times
Stopping emissions requires fundamental innova-tion, rapid diffusion of new technologies, and the reshaping of markets and socioeconomic systems. This requires actions far beyond simply putting a price on carbon or adopting bold emissions goals. A more targeted, hands-on and strategic approach to policymaking is required to reconfigure the tech-nologies, business models, infrastructure and mar-kets in each of the greenhouse gas-emitting eco-nomic sectors. The Energy Transitions Commission
Researchers are taking super-thin layers of materials and stacking them into three-dimensional blocks that have properties distinct from both 2-D and conventional 3-D materials. The craze for 2-D chemistry began in 2004, when two researchers at the University of Manchester used cellophane tape to peel one-atom-thick layers of carbon from chunks of graphite, forming graphene. Graphene is identical to graphite and diamond in composition, but the thinness gives it very different properties: It is flexible, transparent, extremely strong and an exceptional electrical and thermal conductor. New York Times
To grasp the scale of transformation to many communities, The Upshot worked with Tim Wallace and Krishna Karra from Descartes Labs, a geospatial analytics company, using a tool that has itself evolved significantly over this time: satellite imagery. With its growing power and precision, we can see both intimate details — a single home, bulldozed; a tennis court, reinvented — and big patterns that recur across the country. New York Times
The Supreme Court of the Netherlands ordered the government to cut the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent from 1990 levels by the end of 2020. It was the first time a nation has been required by its courts to take action against climate change. New York Times