The latest Climate Week NYC took place September 17-24, bringing together international business leaders, political change makers, local decision makers, and representatives from civil society. Run by The Climate Group since 2009, this summit aims to showcase global climate action. And this year’s theme was 'We Can. We Will,’ in line with the international non-profit’s purpose to drive climate action, fast. That’s a purpose and theme that resonates with us at CH4 Global, where our own mission is to make a radical impact on climate now.

So how are we doing around the world when it comes to driving the transition from fossil fuels and accelerating progress? For that insight, we suggest turning to Katharine Hayhoe, Chief Scientist for The Nature Conservancy, former co-director of the Climate Center at Texas Tech University, and author of Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World.

In her LinkedIn post summarizing the event, Katharine highlighted the good news, the not-so-good news, and what we can all do next.

The Highs

According to Katharine, the following is cause for celebration – and we couldn’t agree more:

• A clean energy revolution is imminent. In addition to renewable options becoming increasingly accessible and affordable, countless innovations abound when it comes to energy storage, sustainable agriculture, and transportation.
• President Biden is creating a Climate Corps. Through this green jobs training program, 20,000 young people will be employed to plant trees, build solar panels and wind turbines, help restore wetlands, and implement sustainable agricultural solutions. This dovetails with an existing Climate Corps in California and many more states announcing the launch of their programs.
• Germany pledged 40 million euros to the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund. That means the fund is now operational and can get started on its mission of stopping and reversing global biodiversity lossby decade’s end.
• The Fossil Fuel Fashion campaign was launched. This campaign calls for legislative action to get the fashion industry to decarbonize quickly (namely by moving away from nylon and polyester).

The Lows

The dismal news comes in the form of the first report card – or stocktake – issued this month by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Sadly, when it comes to collective progress since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, we get a bad grade. To meet the accord’s 1.5 degree warming target, we need to reduce carbon emissions 43% by 2030!

The Way Forward

So, where do we go from here? We highly recommend you read Katharine’s post for the list of specific, tactical steps we can all take to help spur social change. One of those is talking about climate risks and climate solutions whenever possible. We agree that knowledge is power and encourage you to visit our resource page for links to a variety of information about climate change challenges and solutions, including our own – Methane TamerTM.

This groundbreaking line of animal feed supplement formulations is based on Asparagopsis seaweed, which is the most effective natural substance for reducing enteric methane by up to 90%. That reduction is vital considering that methane has 80 times more climate warming potential over the next 20 years compared to CO2. And enteric methane emissions from ruminant animals like cattle, sheep, and goats is a normal by-product of their digestive process. When considering the largest sources of methane emissions in the U.S., enteric emissions are second only to gas and oil combined.

Like Katharine, we believe that later is too late. Reduction of enteric methane is a “now” opportunity for policymakers, governments, food producers, and investors who want to address global methane with proven solutions available today. As we continue working hard to get our solution into the hands of food producers and cattle farmers around the globe, we hope you’ll join us and others in doing anything possible to make the biggest climate impact, the soonest.