Industry

Industry

Industrial building in Markthal, Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Year: 2018


Photographer: Victor G. (edited by Frameworks)

Interventions
Technological actions aimed at mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from industrial processes or removing greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere

Interventions

Shelter from the Abu Dhabi heat

Masdar City, Abu Dhabi

Year: 2011


Photographer: Rob Barnes

An increase in GHGs in the atmosphere leads to a greater amount of outgoing infrared radiation from the earth being retained. There are several SRM ideas that seek to compensate for this by reflecting more radiation back to space.
Agriculture landscape with small villages and forests in Baden Würtemberg, Germany

Year: 2014


Photographer: Peter Prokosch

Surface albedo has a significant impact on global climate (Zhang et al. 2022). Plants play an important role in this. Matthews et al. (2003), for example, estimate that the spread of agriculture has led to a global cooling of around 0.17°C, as agricultural crops tend to have a higher albedo than wild vegetation (Monteith and Unsworth 1990).

Paper mill, Sumatra

The forests on the Indonesian island of Sumatra are witnessing some of the fastest rates of deforestation in the world. Over the last decade, dozens of pulp and paper companies have established themselves on the island chopping down trees and setting up palm oil plantations on the cleared land. These changes have far-reaching environmental as well as socio-economic impacts on the island communities that are so dependent on the natural resources and ecosystem services provided by the rainforests.

Year: 2014


Photographer: Peter Prokosch

Black Carbon (BC), also known as soot, is produced through the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomaterials. Apart from its negative health impacts, BC also has significant climate effects because it generally has a lower albedo than its surroundings, which increases the amount of radiation absorbed both when BC is present in the atmosphere and when it is deposited on land (Stjern et al. 2017). Due to the large albedo differences, the effects of BC are especially significant in areas that are normally covered in snow or ice (Hadley and Kirchstetter 2012; Sand et al. 2016; Kang et al. 2020).

Permafrost patterns of tundra soil, Northeast Greenland National Park

Ice wedges grow as the ice-rich frozen ground contracts during the winter and forms open cracks below the surface.

Year: 2015


Photographer: Peter Prokosch

The concentration of GHGs in the atmosphere will have to be stabilized or lowered to mitigate or even reverse current global warming. To achieve this, current GHG emissions need to be reduced. Such mitigation strategies will however take time to deploy, and some emission sources will be difficult to mitigate. Moreover, since current atmospheric levels are already having a major warming effect, negative emission or Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) measures that reduce the amount of GHGs in the atmosphere are an active topic of research.
Old whale bone providing fertile conditions for vascular plants, Antarctic Peninsula

Nutrients which seep out of whale bones fertilize plants, leading to an accumulation of organic matter in the soil.

Year: 2016


Photographer: Peter Prokosch

The concentration of GHGs in the atmosphere will have to be stabilized or lowered to mitigate or even reverse current global warming. To achieve this, current GHG emissions need to be reduced. Such mitigation strategies will however take time to deploy, and some emission sources will be difficult to mitigate. Moreover, since current atmospheric levels are already having a major warming effect, negative emission or Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) measures that reduce the amount of GHGs in the atmosphere are an active topic of research.
Nickel Smelters, Norilsk, Siberia, Russia

Norilsk is located between the West Siberian Plain and Central Siberian Plateau at the foot of the 1,700-meter high Putoran Mountains, on some of the largest nickel deposits on Earth. Consequently, mining and smelting ore are the major industries.


Photographer: GRID-Arendal

Both emission reductions and CDR measures that actively reduce carbon dioxide are essential to reduce the amount of GHGs in the atmosphere and mitigate the effects of climate change. However, some carbon emissions, especially in the industrial and energy sectors, will be difficult to fully decarbonise.
Taymyr Coastline

The Taymyr Autonomous Area occupies 800,000 sq km, an area the size of England, France and the Netherlands combined.

Year: 2015


Photographer: Peter Prokosch

The concentration of GHGs in the atmosphere will have to be stabilized or lowered to mitigate or even reverse current global warming. To achieve this, current GHG emissions need to be reduced. Such mitigation strategies will however take time to deploy, and some emission sources will be difficult to mitigate. Moreover, since current atmospheric levels are already having a major warming effect, negative emission or Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) measures that reduce the amount of GHGs in the atmosphere are an active topic of research.
City of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Abu Dhabi Blue Carbon Demonstration Project

Year: 2014


Photographer: Rob Barnes under licence from AGEDI

An increase in GHGs in the atmosphere leads to a greater amount of outgoing infrared radiation from the earth being retained. There are several ideas to reduce the resulting warming by modifying surface radiation processes.
Alternating layers of limestone and dolomite, Eleonore Bay, Northeast Greenland National Park

Year: 2014


Photographer: Peter Prokosch

Methane is a highly potent greenhouse gas and its reduction is given ever greater priority in international emission reduction policies (see for example https://www.globalmethanepledge.org/). There are many different materials that have been suggested and explored to capture methane (Alonso et al. 2017).

Tree plantation in Canada

Sustainable forest management involves the maintenance and enhancement of forest environments, ensuring longevity of forest ecosystems while allowing the best possible environmental, economic, social and cultural opportunities now and into the future. In Canada, the world’s largest exporter of forest products, harvest rates and strict jurisdictions are set to ensure long term ecosystem sustainability, protecting soil and water resources and 55% of all energy used by the forestry sector is renewable bio-energy.

Year: 2014


Photographer: Lawrence Hislop

The concentration of GHGs in the atmosphere will have to be stabilized or lowered to mitigate or even reverse current global warming. To achieve this, current GHG emissions need to be reduced. Such mitigation strategies will however take time to deploy, and some emission sources will be difficult to mitigate. Moreover, since current atmospheric levels are already having a major warming effect, negative emission or Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) measures that reduce the amount of GHGs in the atmosphere are an active topic of research.
Polar bear looking for whale cadaver under water, Svalbard

More than any other animal, the polar bear, Ursus maritimus, is recognized as the symbol of the Arctic.

Year: 2011


Photographer: Peter Prokosch

The majority of the inorganic carbon on Earth is stored in the oceans. There is a natural carbon exchange between the ocean and the land.