Climate Change Solutions Spring 2019

How do we support climate change solutions with data-driven storytelling?

Until recently, climate change news coverage, research and policy reports spoke of either climate mitigation (the actions needed to reduce human emissions of greenhouse gases), or climate change adaptation (the need to adapt to the negative effects of climate change). We are now witnessing the uptake of a new realm of climate solutions: technical innovations and infrastructural interventions aimed at removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

This new realm of climate change solutions, which are resonating in the special report by the IPCC, in academia, and in the news media, seems to be struggling with one particular feat: a lack of a common language. Each term resonating in the realm has too many connotations. Negative emissions? Too negative for a positive development. Climate positive? Too positive for such an urgent topic. Carbon sequestration? Too specialist. Geo-engineering? Refers mostly to rather obscure sun obfuscation techniques. Another fear may be that of solutionism. If we speak of solutions, does that mean we do not need to change our (polluting and otherwise damaging) behaviour?

This project focuses on the Sustainable Development Goals: