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When you think about sources of carbon emissions, you’re probably thinking of things like power generation, automobiles, heavy industry and things like that. But Big Tech companies also make a significant contribution to the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. To find out how much, Electronics Hub combed through the environmental reports of 100 of the world’s largest tech companies, then ranked them from highest to lowest.
Some of the things they found: Samsung emits more carbon than any other tech company, and of the “Big Five” tech companies (Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft), Amazon is the biggest polluter. Amazon produced over 16 million tons of CO2 in 2021 – almost 20 times the carbon footprint of Microsoft, which polluted the least of the 5. Despite this, Microsoft’s carbon footprint is still fairly large — at almost 870,000 tons, it’s about as big a polluter as Rhode Island’s population.
You can read the full report here.
The Great Reading
AMIR COHEN/REUTERS/ALAMY
With labor and climate challenges, farmers are turning to robotic beehives, tractors and fruit pickers
Startups aim to solve major problems facing agriculture, including labor and water shortages, climate-related headaches and declining bee populations, by using artificial intelligence, autonomous driving technology and robotics.
Read more here.
discoveries and innovations
Almost half California Emerged from drought conditions, though the state is not yet fully clear on water management, according to a new drought monitor map released Thursday morning.
That’s what a group of Swedish researchers found in a recent study children and young people in Stockholm showed improved lung capacity since the early 2000s, when air pollution in that city started to decrease.
Sustainability deals of the week
green buildings: Climate technology startup BlocPower announced it has raised $150 million in equity and debt financing this week. The capital wants to expand its building electrification and heat pump installation programs.
Cardboard based cleaning: Cleancult, which develops cleaning products that use recyclable packaging instead of single-use plastics, announced it has struck a deal with Walmart to make its products available in the retail giant’s over 3,000 stores.
At the horizon
In the US and thinking about moving to a new state? One thing to consider is how climate change might affect this region in the future before taking any action. That’s where a new website and app developed in partnership by AT&T, FEMA, and Argonne National Lab comes in. The website processes data to determine risk factors for different parts of the company.
What else we’re reading this week
Why It’s Time to Officially Break EV Range Fear (Ars Technica)
Heat pumps are selling like hotcakes on America’s oil-rich frontier (Wired)
Japan’s largest steelmaker plans $700 million “Green Steel” project (Bloomberg)
Green transport update
Tesla
Elon Musk built the Tesla brand and his image over the last 17 years as a wannabe climate hero dedicated to solving the carbon pollution crisis with bold plans. He deserves plenty of credit for kickstarting the modern EV market, although his record is mixed when it comes to delivering every aspect of the “master plans” he’s been promoting since 2006. This week, he unveiled “Masterplan 3” at the company’s investor day with no shortage of big ideas for how Tesla can dominate the cleantech space. Investors really hoped he would share details about new products — particularly an expected low-cost electric vehicle. That didn’t happen.
The great history of transport
Getty
The EU’s plan to end sales of internal combustion engine cars is running into trouble
A key part of Europe’s Green Deal – the EU’s plan to become carbon neutral by 2050 – is in danger of being derailed. Germany’s finance and transport ministers this week called for internal combustion engine vehicles to be exempted from the EU’s plan to end sales of new internal combustion engine cars and vans from 2035. The Italian government is also largely opposed to the scheme, and Poland and Hungary have also signaled their opposition to the plan.
Read more here.
More green transport news
The insistence on electric cars in the EU exposes the auto industry to an existential threat
Luminar aims to bring lidar, first developed for AVs, into millions of regular cars
EV Battery Swapper Ample Receives Significant Grant
The e-bike battery collection and recycling program was started by the British Bicycle Federation
Cars aren’t banned in 15-minute cities, nor will bugs be lunch
These are the 12 “greenest” cars in the US for 2023
Here are the 12 greenest vehicles in the US for 2023
Zero partners with giant design to create a custom sci-fi SR-X electric motorcycle
Waymo’s robotaxi fleet in Los Angeles will be completely driverless
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