For the second year in a row, Global Heat Reduction (GHR) has been named a finalist for the Keeling Curve Prize, one of the most prestigious recognitions in climate innovation, awarded by Climate Curve to organizations advancing breakthrough solutions this decade.

GHR was selected in the Finance category for its work developing the Heatprint, powered by Total Climate Accounting: a new approach to measuring climate impact that better tracks all heat drivers and helps identify the most effective actions for faster climate, community, and ecosystem benefits.

The recognition reflects a core conviction driving GHR’s work: that today’s climate decisions are still being guided by metrics that weren’t built for decision-making. A tonne of CO₂e is a reporting output, not a measure of real-world business risk or climate ROI. GHR is bringing decision intelligence to climate finance, measuring what actually matters so capital flows where it can have the greatest impact.

GHR joins an exceptional group of 2026 finalists spanning carbon sinks, clean energy, transport, and social innovation, all working to accelerate climate solutions within this critical decade.

Learn more about the 2026 Keeling Curve Prize finalists →

Although it warms the atmosphere 10,000s of times faster than CO₂, black carbon remains underappreciated as a climate change driver. Here are the crucial facts. 

1. Black carbon is a byproduct of burning fossil fuels 
   Black carbon, also known as soot, consists of tiny particles, about 1/100th the width of a human hair in size, that form when fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas are burned incompletely. Among its sources are the exhaust pipes of trucks and other diesel-powered vehicles, industrial facilities like power plants, steel mills and brick kilns, and wood-burning cooking stoves. 
    
2. Black carbon drives climate change 
   Black carbon is a climate-forcing agent, meaning it contributes to global warming. When black carbon is emitted, the microscopic particles become suspended in the atmosphere. Because they are dark in color, they absorb energy from the sun. They radiate that energy back into the atmosphere in the form of heat.  
    
3. Black carbon outmuscles CO₂ – by a lot 
   As a driver of global warming, black carbon is up to 52,000 times more potent than carbon dioxide. That’s why, along with methane, HFCs and tropospheric ozone, it’s one of the “Big Four” non-CO₂ climate pollutants that are responsible for 45% of all manmade global warming. 
    
4. It stays around for just a few days…
   As opposed to CO₂, which lingers for centuries, black carbon doesn’t become “well-mixed” in the atmosphere. It falls back down to the surface or is washed out of the air by rain within five days. That’s why we call it a “short-lived climate pollutant.”  
    
5. …But we emit it every single day 
   No-one should be misled by the term “short-lived.” Since we emit black carbon in vast quantities every day, it’s a permanent problem. In 2019, the world emitted almost 6 million metric tons of black carbon. Totals have been decreasing slowly, but they remain stubbornly high, mainly in Asia, Africa and Latin America. 
    
6. Black carbon contributes to melting snow- and ice caps 
   When black carbon comes down from the atmosphere, it can settle on snow and ice, light-colored surfaces that reflect the sun’s heat back into space. Covered in black carbon, which absorbs heat, they begin to melt away, exposing darker rock and soil surfaces, which absorb even more heat. In this manner, black carbon pollution lowers the Earth’s albedo (its reflectivity), driving a vicious cycle of heat and melting.   
    
7. It can destroy your health 
   Because they are about 1/100th the width of a human hair, black carbon particles penetrate deep into the lungs. Black carbon is associated with a host of diseases including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart attacks, strokes, and various pregnancy-related issues. It is a significant factor in the 8 million annual global deaths associated with air pollution caused by fossil fuel use. This is one of the reasons why the fights against climate change and air pollution are so closely interlinked.  
    
8. If we stopped emitting black carbon today… 
   Black carbon only stays aloft for a few days. That means that if we could zero out its emissions today, the return on investment would be immediate. Black carbon particles would be out of the atmosphere by next week, no longer trapping heat and causing people to get sick. All the more reason to step up our efforts to curb emissions, starting today.

Find out what you can do to assess or offset your own black carbon emissions. 

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Global Heat Reduction

To stabilize our climate, we need to preserve the Earth’s albedo – its overall heat reflectivity. Here’s how that works:

Every moment of every day, 173,000 terawatts of energy reach Earth from the sun. That’s about 10,000 times more than humanity’s total energy use. But not all that energy stays on Earth. About a third (31 percent) is reflected into space immediately. 

The Earth’s reflectivity is also known as its albedo; and it plays an important role in regulating our climate.

To keep the planet cool, make it lighter 

Every surface has its own albedo value. The lighter-colored a surface is, the more heat it reflects and the higher its albedo. 

High-albedo surfaces: 

• Snow and ice: Reflect up to 90% of sunlight
• Clouds: Reflect 30-80% of solar energy
• Deserts: Light-colored sands have moderate albedo

Low-albedo surfaces: 

• Forests: Dark green absorbs sunlight, with an albedo of 10-20%
• Oceans: Deep blue absorbs even more sunlight, reflecting only about 6-10%
• Cities: Asphalt and concrete trap almost all heat – their albedo is as low as 5%

It’s a people problem 

When it comes to climate, the basic rule is simple:

the more dark surfaces, the more heat the planet retains. Things get more complicated when you mix in the human factor. 

• As we emit carbon dioxide and other climate change drivers including methane, black carbon and HFCs, we cause global warming. 
• More heat in the atmosphere causes more ice and snow to melt, which exposes more low-albedo surfaces such as rock, soil, and seawater. 
• These darker surfaces absorb heat, causing more snow and ice to melt. This causes a feedback loop of rising heat, melting and more heat. 

Other human drivers of albedo changes include:  

• Deforestation: Cutting down forests lowers albedo. 
• Urbanization: Asphalt, concrete and other dark materials used in the built environment absorb more heat, leading to the so-called urban heat island effect. 
• Pollution: Soot and dust darken surfaces and can cause snow and ice to melt. 

So, what can we do? 

Preserving and even taking steps to increase the planet’s albedo are an important component of the fight against climate change. These steps can help:  

Lowering emissions 

The sooner we reduce excess atmospheric heat, the more ice and snow we’ll stop from melting. 

Protecting ice and snow 

Other steps to preserve our most reflective surfaces include limiting the use of ice breakers and lowering air pollution to eliminate heat-absorbing dark deposits. 

Preserving ecosystem 

We’ve already seen that replacing deserts with darker farms, roads, industry, and residential buildings lowers the Earth’s albedo. But did you know that higher ocean temperatures lead to the loss of phytoplankton, whose metabolic gases promote the formation of clouds? Maintaining these ecosystems helps preserve the Earth’s albedo.  

Increasing Earth’s reflectivity 

The use of lighter-colored and reflective construction materials helps counteract the urban heat island effect and contributes modestly to albedo protection. Trees and plants reflect more heat than asphalt and create shade that protects people from heat.   

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Global Heat Reduction

What if we could slow down the excess heat that is fueling more frequent and violent Atlantic hurricanes? It’s not as crazy as you may think.  

September 2024’s Hurricane Helene was one of the largest ever seen in the Gulf of Mexico, unleashing winds upwards of tropical storm force (39 mph and up) across more than 400 miles, and devastating communities as far inland as North Carolina. It’s just one example of how mounting atmospheric heat is supercharging the hurricane season.

What’s going on: As the climate warms, so do the oceans’ surface waters, since they absorb most of the heat trapped in the atmosphere. According to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the oceans’ top layers have warmed by 1.5° C since 1901.ⁱ

Why does this matter? Because hurricanes draw their energy from warm ocean waters. The warmer the water, the more energy available for storms to form and intensify.  

Hurricanes can form when sea surface temperatures are above 26.5°C (80°F). As global warming pushes ocean temperatures beyond this threshold over larger areas and for longer periods, we’re essentially expanding the “hurricane nursery.”

What it means: Hurricane seasons are getting longer, and storms are getting bigger, more frequent, and costlier. 

• The intensity, frequency, and duration of North Atlantic hurricanes, as well as the frequency of the strongest hurricanes (Category 4 and 5), have all increased since the early 1980s, says the U.S. government’s National Climate Assessment.
• A 2023 Rowan University study found that hurricane intensification rates – the amount of strength a storm can gather in a given number of hours – were 28.7 percent greater in 2001-2020 than in 1970-1990.
• As of August 2023, the U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported that of all the billion-dollar-plus weather disasters since 1980, hurricanes were the costliest, clocking in at an average of $22.8 billion per event and $1.3 trillion combined. They also killed more people than any other weather event, with almost 7,000 dead in the same time frame.

What we can do: We will have to invest in building resilience. For instance, we can strengthen infrastructure with coastal ecosystem restoration projects, elevated buildings, better drainage, and electric microgrids. Evacuation plans, pre-positioned emergency supplies and clear communication can help protect communities.  

But there is only so much that investing in resilience can accomplish. Addressing the symptoms does not fix the underlying cause of ever-strengthening hurricane seasons.  

What if we could address the root cause, rising air and water temperatures in the near term?

About near-term heat reduction: The newest climate science shows that it is possible to lower the excess heat that is driving extreme weather phenomena like hurricanes run amuck. 

• In the long run, reducing CO2 emissions to net zero is the best way to lower the atmosphere’s temperature. But that takes time – decades at best.
• In the short run, roughly half of manmade global warming is not caused by CO2, but by powerful climate super pollutants, including methane, black carbon, and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). Because they are short-lived (methane and HFCs dissipate within 10-20 years, black carbon in just days), rapid, large-scale emissions cuts would begin to yield results within years, not decades.  
• Climate super pollutant cuts can also make up for the effects of reductions in emissions of sulfate and nitrate aerosols by oceangoing ships. These sulfates cool the atmosphere because they scatter and reflect sunlight, but they have been phased out because they are detrimental to human health and the environment.
• Meanwhile, we can take actions to protect the oceans’ albedo (their heat reflectivity). For instance, smart routing of sea traffic and reducing the use of icebreakers can help maintain highly reflective polar ice that plays a key part if regulating the oceans’ temperatures.
• Protecting marine ecosystems can help maintain phytoplankton populations. This is important for ocean albedo, because phytoplankton metabolism releases gases that promote cloud formation, and clouds reflect the sun’s heat into space.    

Bottom line: There is no silver bullet. We can’t just “turn down the heat” on hurricanes. But we are not powerless, and it doesn’t have to take decades. With every tenth of a degree of avoided global warming, we can save lives and avoid massive amounts of economic damage and human suffering.    

Learn more about the science of heat reduction. 

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Global Heat Reduction

Between hurricanes, droughts, floods, and other calamities, climate change is a multipronged risk for business leaders. Now, it’s time to think about the risks of raw heat.  

Barely a week goes by without a record heatwave somewhere in the world. According to the World Economic Forum, mounting heat can result in economic losses of $1.7 to 3.1 trillion per year. It’s well past time to take heat very seriously as a business risk.

Here are the 8 hottest issues:   

1. Increased operational costs 
   Higher temperatures lead to increased energy consumption for cooling. This drives up costs, impacts profitability and strains financial resources, especially for energy-intensive industries. 
2. Supply chain disruptions 
   Excess heat can affect transportation infrastructure like roads, railways, and shipping routes. It can also impact production and raw material availability, leading to delays and increased costs. 
3. Workforce productivity decline
   High temperatures can reduce productivity and increase absenteeism due to heat-related illnesses. This leads to higher healthcare expenses, legal liabilities, and decreased morale. 
4. Damage to physical assets 
   Excessive heat can cause damage to infrastructure and equipment. Buildings, machinery, and technology systems may need more frequent replacements or upgrades.
5. Impacts on agricultural output and the food supply 
   For businesses dependent on agricultural products, excess heat can negatively affect crop yields and livestock health, leading to increased costs and potential shortages in supply.
6. Insurance and liability costs 
   Increased heat risk can lead to higher insurance premiums and greater liability exposures. Businesses may face higher premiums and financial losses from underinsured events.
7. Regulatory and compliance challenges 
   Businesses may face stricter regulations related to emissions and energy usage. Adapting to new regulations can be costly and time-consuming, potentially affecting competitiveness. 
8. Reputational risk and brand damage
   Businesses may face public scrutiny and reputational damage if they are perceived as not doing enough to mitigate climate change. This can affect customer loyalty and investor confidence. 

Bottom line: heat-related risks are real and growing fast. It’s time to get serious about mitigation. No company can stop mounting heat by itself, but working with the Global Heat Reduction Initiative, corporations and governments can target and slash emissions of climate super pollutants like methane, black carbon, and HFCs that cause roughly half of all warming and can be 1,000s of times stronger than carbon dioxide. 

Here’s how:

• Registry: Support powerful near-term heat mitigation projects and purchase credits that reduce super pollutants and CO2 on your path to net zero.  
• Footprinting: Learn your operations’ heat impact with the most comprehensive climate footprint available and make smarter, more cost-effective decisions to reduce it.
• Advisory: Work with us to develop heat impact assessments for new and existing projects and facilities, optimize your climate investments, and integrate near-term heat reduction into your climate strategy.  

Contact us to learn how we can support your business.  

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Global Heat Reduction

In the face of an escalating climate crisis, businesses and corporations hold serious power to mobilize robust climate action across all sectors of the global economy. But what is the most strategic, evidence-based way for businesses to have the greatest, positive impact? Enter the Global Heat Reduction Initiative (GHR), a pioneering effort poised to fill the critical gap in climate action by targeting super pollutants — potent, yet often overlooked, contributors to global warming. 

In this blog, the GHR team unpacks the latest progress on super pollutant science — plus, why it’s critical to target super pollutants in any organization’s climate action plan and investment portfolio. We also get into some specific ways to reduce business risk, make better mitigation investments, and get credit for the work you’re already doing by measuring and managing all drivers of global warming. 

What are climate ‘super pollutants’?

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is the most widely understood greenhouse gas and the single largest driver of our planet’s warming. This means we’re never going to solve the problem of climate change without confronting CO₂. But there are many other significant pollutants that occur along a dynamic spectrum of greenhouse gases and climate disruptors, each with a wide range of heat-trapping capacities.

Collectively referred to as “super pollutants,” these lesser-known climate drivers— methane, black carbon, low-level ozone, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and nitrous oxide, to name a few — are responsible for approximately half of the planet’s warming to date. And just like CO₂, these super pollutants result from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas — but most importantly, they are far more potent in their heat-trapping strengths than CO₂ in the critical near term (10-30-year time scale).  

So, while reducing CO₂ from our atmosphere will bring about truly substantial benefits 50-100 years from now, reducing the prevalence of super pollutants in our atmosphere will bring about substantial benefits now. 

Super pollutants are the missing link in targeted climate action

The complex interplay between climate change, air pollution, and super pollutants is the field of study Dr. Drew Shindell, leading U.S. climate scientist and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Panel to the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, has dedicated his career to understanding and communicating.  

In a 2019 study published in Nature, Dr. Shindell demonstrates how reducing short lived climate forcing pollutants (SCLPs), such as black carbon, methane, and HFCs, from our atmosphere can dramatically start to bend the planet’s average temperature curve downwards — in both the near term as well as the long term.

And in another article for CarbonBrief penned by Dr. Shindell and colleagues, they explain that “cutting emissions of super pollutants is one of the most effective ways to ‘keep 1.5C alive’ in the near-term, while protecting health and avoiding tipping points that could cause irreversible shifts in the Earth system.”

Specifically, that means a “yes, and” approach to robust climate action: Yes to reducing carbon dioxide for long term benefits and yes to targeting super pollutants to diminish heat in the near term.  

In a recent webinar with the GHR team, Dr. Shindell emphasizes these points: “The only possibility to stay below two degrees [Celsius of average global temperature increase] at this point is to combine decarbonization with targeted cuts in the non-CO₂ pollutants — because these really are such an important part of the story.”

What do super pollutants have to do with business?

Business leaders will be the first to say that they cannot manage what they cannot measure, so understanding greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants, how to reduce them, and how to leverage the benefits of these reductions offer major advantages to organizations of all sizes.  

Essentially, businesses will miss their climate targets if they do not take super pollutants into account. Case in point: Global climate targets remain elusive for even the most organized and innovative of businesses. In 2024, Accenture’s Destination Net Zero analysis reported that 84% of the world’s largest companies are not on track to reach net zero by 2050. Further analyses reported in KPMG’s 2024 United States CEO Outlook showed only 54% of CEOs are confident that their organizations will meet their 2030 net zero goals. Such statistics demonstrate that businesses need a much more strategic and targeted approach to climate action.

Beyond the possible reality of missed net zero targets — and inevitable exacerbation of social, environmental, and economic harms associated with those misses — businesses will continue to face increased costs resulting from the impacts of extreme heat.  

Recently the World Economic Forum (WEF) stated: “Extreme heat and other climate hazards are expected to cause between $560–610 billion in annual fixed asset losses for listed companies by 2035, with telecommunications, utilities, and energy companies most vulnerable.”  

In addition to the private sector absorbing many of the economic costs associated with excessive heat, we already see other negative impacts such as compromised agricultural commodities, increased risk in supply chains, diminished air quality, weakened workforce, and increased regulatory risk — all of which have a devastating cumulative effect on businesses of all sizes and in every location around the globe. 

Policy momentum targets super pollutants

Recent policy developments have significantly advanced the momentum for reducing methane and other super pollutants from our atmosphere. The Global Methane Pledge, launched at COP26, has garnered commitments from over 150 countries to reduce methane emissions by 30% by the end of this decade.  

Additionally, the United States, China, and others have organized a summit to address industrial nitrous oxide and other super pollutant emissions. Likewise, major policies in the U.S. have introduced economic incentives for methane capture, aligning financial interests with environmental goals. Together, these efforts reflect a growing recognition of the urgent need to target super pollutants and integrate comprehensive climate strategies. 

Total Climate Accounting™ helps businesses maximize strategic climate action  

Launched in September 2024, the Global Heat Reduction Initiative brings advanced climate accounting metrics to help companies and other decision makers identify mitigation strategies that can most rapidly and responsibly reduce excess trapped heat in the atmosphere. For businesses looking to reach their net zero goals, GHR offers a powerful and practical solution — and that solution, at a high level, is Total Climate Accounting™.  

Total Climate Accounting™ offers a new lens for strategic climate action by measuring all climate drivers — not just CO₂ — over any timeframe. Most significantly, this approach goes beyond the standard CO₂e calculated over 100 years by accounting for the fast-acting heat impacts of super pollutants. Methane, for example, can persist in our atmosphere for 10-12 years and, during its time in the atmosphere, it boasts a warming potency that is up to 150 times that of CO₂. Black carbon, on the other hand, may only persist in the atmosphere for 4-12 days but, while it’s there, it packs a whopping warming potency of 52,000 times that of CO₂.  

In other words, Total Climate Accounting™ provides verified heat impacts over timeframes that matter — not just 100 years, but also the next 10, 20, 30 years and beyond — along with quantified community health benefits. This means that companies can make the most of strategic climate mitigation investments, such as offsetting and insetting, decarbonizing scopes 1-3, and reaching beyond the value chain.

Unique among climate mitigation strategies, GHR translates well-known science into action that unlocks the true power of the private sector to make a significant impact on climate. Specifically, Total Climate Accounting™ is applied in three ways: 

1) Total Climate Footprint™

2) Heat Reduction Credits and Projects

3) Advisory and Partnerships

Total Climate Footprint™ includes everything offered by a conventional carbon footprint — plus data to drive more strategic investments and greater impact. It covers not just CO₂ and other greenhouse gases, but also all major super pollutants, Earth’s reflectivity, and heat reduction impacts over any timeframe.  

With the GHR Registry and Heat Reduction Investments in the voluntary carbon market coming in 2025, GHR emphasizes the importance of Heat Reduction Credits, which act as a bridge connecting present-day climate needs with future visions for net zero emissions across all sectors of business and society. This form of climate investment offers additional information, empowering companies with the ability to calculate the impact of their credits over any timeframe, not just the standard 100 years. Companies will be able to see the impact they’re making over five-, 10-, 20-, and 30-year timelines, which are absolutely vital to achieving maximum net zero progress.

The GHR approach maximizes your climate impact for every dollar spent by offering three primary benefits to businesses. By driving climate outcomes now — without losing the long-term goal of CO₂ reduction — GHR provides increased return on investment. Plus, with a strategic focus on near-term horizons, businesses choosing GHR can work within corporate planning timeframes. Finally, GHR offers credit for the progress you’re already making but not yet measuring — for example, if you’re electrifying your fleets or transitioning to renewable energy sources, you’ll be eligible to earn credit for black carbon reductions.

And while conventional climate accounting has provided valuable information about GHG levels and reductions, carbon markets and carbon accounting — used worldwide to drive climate action — have systematically undervalued or completely overlooked both the heat-trapping potency of super pollutants and the societal benefits embedded in the act of urgently reducing them from our atmosphere.  

This means businesses and governments have essentially been operating with only half the data they need to make informed decisions about climate action. GHR aims to disrupt the climate mitigation status quo with measurable, data-driven efficacy.

Looking Ahead

As the impacts of climate change intensify, the latest science is clear: addressing carbon dioxide is necessary but not sufficient. By targeting super pollutants such as methane, black carbon, nitrous oxide, and hydrofluorocarbons, organizations can support urgent and strategic climate action. This approach provides additional time for adaptation by reducing the rate at which our planet warms during the next several decades until the full benefits of decarbonization are realized.  

Most importantly, the scientific consensus also emphasizes that reducing super pollutants from our atmosphere is essential to offering relief to those already suffering from the extreme and multi-faceted impacts of climate change. Attacking super pollutants is our strongest lever in the near term, while reducing our reliance on fossil fuels will realize the massive benefits of decreasing our overall CO₂ footprint over the long term.

For a more in-depth discussion of these topics and the Global Heat Reduction Initiative, be sure to watch our webinar replay, featuring Dr. Drew Shindell of Duke University and Kiff Gallagher, Executive Director of GHR.  

Have more questions? Get in touch with us today. 

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Global Heat Reduction

In March 2025, over 100 experts from more than 40 countries gathered in Bilbao, Spain, for the first lead author meeting of the 2027 IPCC Methodology Report on Short-Lived Climate Forcers (SLCFs). This pivotal meeting marks a milestone towards establishing a standardized approach to measuring and managing super pollutants, such as black carbon and low-level ozone. These pollutants are known for their potent impact on global warming and air quality, making their accurate measurement crucial for effective climate action.

Imagine pollutants that can warm the planet faster than carbon dioxide but disappear from the atmosphere in a matter of days to years. That’s the reality of super pollutants. Experts at the IPCC meeting stressed the urgent need to tackle these pollutants to make a real dent in climate change. According to a recent Forbes article, cutting super pollutants can slow the rate of warming and improve air quality almost immediately. It’s like hitting the brakes on a speeding car—quick and effective. 

Black carbon, a major super pollutant, is the second largest man-made contributor to global warming. The Clean Air Fund emphasizes that tackling black carbon is crucial, as it contributes to millions of premature deaths each year. This highlights the urgent need for integrated measures to address both climate change and air pollution, paving the way for a healthier and more sustainable future. 

The Climate and Clean Air Conference 2025, held in Brasília, Brazil, brought together global leaders to accelerate action on super pollutants ahead of COP30. New initiatives included UNEP’s updated Global Strategy to promote low-sulfur fuels and clean diesel fleets, and a CCAC report on black soldier fly technology to cut methane from organic waste. Subnational governments reaffirmed their commitment to tackling super pollutants, with several cities joining the Lowering Organic Waste Methane (LOW-M) initiative.

Countries are also starting to take notice. More and more nations are including super pollutants in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). By addressing super pollutants, they can help close the global emissions gap and keep the planet’s temperature rise within 1.5°C. The benefits go beyond climate—reducing super pollutants can improve food security, health, and equity, making it a win-win for everyone.

Focusing on super pollutants offers a promising new frontier, and it’s getting worldwide attention. Supporting initiatives and policies aimed at reducing super pollutants can lead to significant progress towards a sustainable and healthier future. 

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SCS Global Services created Total Climate Accountingᵀᴹ to enable companies, cities and organizations to help slow the rate of warming now by measuring and managing climate super pollutants. We offer two powerful tools:  

• Total Climate Footprintᵀᴹ: Everything you get from your carbon footprint, plus additional heat reduction data over target-aligned timeframes (2030, 2040, 2050…) to drive more strategic investments and greater impact. Learn more.  
• GHR Registry Projects and Credits: This registry offers super pollutant credits (“super tons”) that each represent 1 tCO₂e plus specific, verified atmospheric heat reduction data measured over any timeframe (e.g. 5, 15, 25 years). Learn more.  

With Total Climate Accountingᵀᴹ, organizations can take a proactive approach to climate action, addressing both long-term and short-term pollutants on their path to net zero.  

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Global Heat Reduction

This content was originally published at BusinessGreen.

With heatwaves, drought and wildfires intensifying worldwide, companies adopting a heat-focused, total climate accounting approach can reduce risk and boost their market leadership potential, writes Kiff Gallagher from the Global Heat Reduction Initiative

Earlier this summer, extreme heat led the headlines once again. From the Northeast US to southern Europe to India, heat domes and waves are affecting health and community well-being, as well as policy and businesses.

Disrupting supply chains, affecting productivity, and spurring crop losses, extreme heat is already presenting major risks and costs to national and global markets. In the US alone, heat-related economic losses already exceed $100bn annually.

Left unchecked, these losses are projected to grow dramatically: By 2035, heat could drive $2.4tr in annual productivity losses and $445bn in annual fixed-asset losses for publicly listed companies. Planetary warming will result in an income reduction of 19 per cent globally by mid-century. Climate tipping points pose significant and underestimated risks to financial systems, holding the potential to trigger sudden, systemic blows that reach across asset classes and global markets.

These serious and current financial risks present a clear imperative for businesses to address heat in the near term. Yet, many climate strategies currently focus on longer-term decarbonization goals, looking at 2040 or beyond, inadvertently overlooking the other 50 per cent of warming: super pollutants. These near-term heat levers could slow warming and protect their businesses today. The risk tomorrow is greater than the risk a year from now, and each year of delay compounds financial exposure, increasing the cost of adaptation and heightening the likelihood of systemic shocks.

To manage this risk, companies must take a portfolio approach to climate action, investing in a holistic approach to climate accounting, one that addresses both carbon dioxide and those near-term heat drivers like super pollutants and albedo (the planet’s reflectivity).  

We currently are underutilizing these key levers to address warming and mitigate risk. The high-impact, short-lived emissions of super pollutants, like methane, black carbon, and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are causing tens to hundreds to thousands of times more warming than carbon in the near term.

As extreme weather has pushed businesses to rethink their climate strategies, holistic climate approaches that include targeting heat directly can unlock more effective, science-aligned strategies for climate action. This total climate approach offers the fastest path to cooling in the next one, five, 10 and 25 years, allowing us to tangibly improve the near future for communities and businesses.

Some companies have begun investing in heat reduction, recognizing how it can maximize their impact. Google recently made headlines with a massive two new partnerships to mitigate short-lived climate pollutants, eliminating 25,000 tons of methane and HFCs by 2030 – the warming equivalent to eliminating roughly one million tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Extreme heat and warming are already here, driving economic losses and snowballing financial and business risks, and these losses will only compound. To reduce risks now, businesses can lean into a heat-driven approach, considering all the available levers for cooling and climate action.

By adopting a heat-focused, total climate accounting approach, companies reduce system risk while leading the market in defining a more resilient future. This year’s continued extreme heat has made the risks of near-term warming undeniable. Businesses must act now to prevent the losses they’re currently set to incur. 

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Business Green

As global temperatures rise, extreme heatwaves are becoming more and more of a regular occurrence. Here’s what to do to keep yourself and your community safe. 
 

1. Be a good neighbor: The old, the young and the sick are extra vulnerable during heatwaves. Studies show that excess mortality is highest in communities with fewer social connections. Set up a buddy system to check on neighbors and help those who struggle.
2. Home cool home: If you have air conditioning, use it. If you don’t, use fans. Some ceiling fans can be reversed to pull hot air up and out. If you can’t cool your whole home, focus on one or two rooms as your heat refuge.  
3. Low tech for lower temps: Shut the curtains to keep the sun out. Put a bowl of ice cubes in front of a fan to make an improvised air conditioner. Put a wet towel in the freezer and drape it around your neck. Take a cold shower and let your hair stay damp to extend the effect.
4. Pool resources: Immersing your body in water is a great way to cool down. Your local lake, public pool, or splash pad will do the job. Don’t have a place to swim? Stick your head in a public fountain if you must. It’s better to look silly than to end up with heatstroke.
5. The great indoors: If you can’t keep your home cool, go elsewhere. Public libraries, shopping malls, and community centers often serve as cooling locations during extreme heat events. If you have a neighbor or relative who isn’t mobile, offer to take them.  
6. Hydration station: Perspiration is your body’s way to stay cool, but as you sweat, you also lose liquids and minerals. Therefore, drink plenty of water. Don’t wait until you’re thirsty. A cold beer may sound like a good idea, but alcohol can dehydrate you.
7. Shade savvy: Life in the shade is usually 10-15 degrees cooler than in the sun. Embrace it whenever possible. Trees provide natural cooling and improve air quality. Walk on the shady side of the street. If you’re at a park or beach, bring an umbrella or pop-up tent.
8. Wardrobe wisdom: Light-colored garments reflect the sun’s rays. Fabrics like linen and certain synthetics used in sportswear are breathable and wick sweat away from your body. Sunscreen, hats and sunglasses to protect your skin and eyes from harmful UV rays.
9. Smart scheduling: Plan your day to avoid the heat. Do your gardening, jogging, or errands in the early morning or after sunset or skip them altogether. If you must be out during peak heat, take frequent breaks in the shade or indoors.
10. Heat health literacy: Heat exhaustion can manifest as heavy sweating, weakness, cold, pale, and clammy skin. Heatstroke may present with high body temperature, rapid and strong pulse, and unconsciousness. Be prepared to call emergency services. A quick response can save lives.  

Want to help reduce excess atmospheric heat in the near term? Contact GHR. 

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Global Heat Reduction