How do we REALLY tackle climate change? The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recommends 25 actions across five sectors to help us meet our climate goals—and we need biotechnology to do them.
By focusing on actions across five sectors—agriculture, energy, infrastructure, buildings, and transportation—we can tackle 90% of emissions and improve human and environmental health, says the OECD.
And biotech plays a key role in almost all of them—here’s how.
Agriculture actions include…
1. Improve productivity sustainably through innovation, to lower emissions and feed a growing population. Technology like carbon capture and no-till farming can reduce farm emissions, while gene editing can make crops more resilient and nutritious.
4. Include agriculture in national climate mitigation strategies. For example, BIO has called for legislation that would support America’s farmers, ranchers, and foresters who want to adopt innovative practices that combat climate change.
5. Inform consumers and producers about food choices and how to reduce food waste. Where to start? Innovature has more about how biotechnology can improve our food, reduce waste, and save the planet.
Energy and transportation actions include…
11. Drive investments in green energy development, deployment, and infrastructure.
12. Phase out coal and tap the potential of new sources of energy generation.
21. Scale up research, production, and use of zero-emission fuels.
As we said in a new policy briefing paper, liquid biofuels can reduce transportation air pollution. Supporting the production and deployment of sustainable fuels is essential to significantly reducing emissions in transportation while also creating quality jobs across rural America.
And when it comes to industry, we need to…
16. Scale up research and development to create new low-carbon industrial processes.
17. Lead the way for other economic sectors in shifting from linear to circular resource efficiency.
Innovations like bioplastics and biobased manufacturing can reduce the emissions of industrial and common household products.
See the whole list.
Learn how we can fight climate change with biotechnology innovation.
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