Some good news about climate change, for a change. Last year, CDP, formerly called the “Carbon Disclosure Project," took a look at how — and if — high-environment-impact businesses were responding to the 2016 Paris Climate agreement. The companies' initial actions were a bit disappointing, with many companies not responding or not having plans in motion for meeting the Paris accord's climate goals. Taking a second look this year, however, CDP found the picture is changing, as more companies are mapping out a low-carbon future. While some politicians continue to stubbornly ignore climate change, businesses are, nonetheless, getting down to work.
The CDP is a major source of company carbon emission data for more than 800 investors managing assets of over $100 trillion. It tracks corporations' environmental behavior, including their transparency, philosophies, and actions. The non-profit organization also measures companies' efforts to protect water and forests. Over 6,200 companies disclose environmental data to the CDP.
The first encouraging sign in this year's CDP findings is that 58% of the high-impact combines responded to CDP's requests for information. These companies frepresent the entire global economy, weighted towards higher carbon emitters and big companies. Together they account for 47% of market capitalization and 12% of total greenhouse gas emissions.
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Even more positive is the number of companies now joining CDP's A List, 112 companies whose environmental leadership earns them CDP's highest score. Many are familiar names, such as Unilever, L'Oréal, Owens-Corning, Fujitsu, Nissan, and Ford.
According to information provided by CDP to Big Think:
(CDP)
Working to protect the climate is changing how these companies do business altogether. Again, numbers from CDP:
Some of the Companies Leading the Climate-Change Charge
Unilever (Scores A in carbon emissions, water use, and forest protection)
Unilever, the Dutch-British consumer goods company, has a multi-faceted approach to combatting climate change. It's committed to the 100% use of renewable energy across all of its operations by 2030. The company set a target of reducing per-production-tonne CO2 emissions by 40% of 2008 levels by 2020, and it's already reduced emissions by 43%. Unilever also endeavors to engage its customers in protecting the environment, with new products that, for example, reduce water or energy use. Unilever's complex supply chain depends on agricultural raw materials, and is therefore especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change, so its environmental efforts are in part motivated by a desire to future-proof its materials supply.
L'Oréal (Scores A in carbon emissions, water use, and forest protection)
French cosmetics company L'Oréal has committed to “zero deforestation" by 2020, and already sources 100% of its palm oil derivatives via Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil certification and helped develop Sustainable Palm Oil and Traceability (SPOT), a tool for evaluating the environmental and social performance of the company's products. The company also leverages the Global Forest Watch Tool to track deforestation risks down its supply chain — L'Oréal can trace back 91% of raw materials to the refinery level and 74% of raw materials to the palm oil-mills level. L'Oréal supports 500 small farmers in Sabah, Malaysia, as a source for certified sustainable palm oil. They're now working in Indonesia to gain access to an additional 30% of the palm oil derivatives they use.
Owens-Corning (Scores A in carbon emissions)
U.S. insulation, roofing, and fiberglass composites company Owens-Corning set itself a target to reduce greenhouse-gas intensity by 20% in 2020. To meet it, the company had to invent new blowing agent blends for use in manufacturing, resulting in less emissions intensity and more sustainable insulation products. They hit their 20% target six years early. The company has now upped that target to 50%. Owens-Corning has also implanted sweeping operational changes and is developing a residential builders' guide for building net-zero homes.
Fujitsu (Scores A in carbon emissions)
Information and communication technology (ICT) company Fujitsu has achieved its emissions target while simultaneously bringing to market more energy-efficient products — their goal is to achieve top energy efficiency in 50% of all new products they make. In May 2017, they launched their Climate and Energy Vision program to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Nissan (Scores A in water use)
Japanese carmaker Nissan was one of the first companies to consider and begin mitigating its environmental impact, setting a goal way back in 2006 of reducing CO2 emissions from “well-to-wheel" by 70% of 2000 levels by 2050. It has since increased that target to 90%, and is now the leader in mass-market electric vehicles.
Ford Motor Company (Scores A in water use)
U.S. car company Ford, has undertaken a range of programs to reduce its footprint. Its 2014 Partnership for a Cleaner Environment (PACE), inaugurated a system between Ford and its Tier 1 suppliers for reporting their water use and adopting water saving initiatives in multi-year phases. Suppliers are encouraged to learn from each other, establishing best practices, and implementing PACE across their own supplier networks.
Dare to Hope
The heartening word that companies are taking climate change seriously is reinforced by other entities, as well, says the CDP: The city of San Diego, for example, is taking an highly pro-active stance against climate change: It plans to halve its carbon footprint and convert to 100% renewables by 2035, and is already engaging with energy and technology partners to plan for this goal and make life better, and more sustainable, for its citizens. Says Cody Hooven, the city's chief sustainability officer,"“It's about the future of our city and building a city that people want to live in."
What CDP's 2017 A List report is suggesting is that we may be at the dawn of a new era regarding this overwhelming threat to our survival. Among scientists, the debate abut climate change is long over, and people — and corporations — everywhere are seeing that something must be done to slow down or reverse it. We may be getting there late, but, just maybe, we may finally be getting there.
U.S. Navy ships
The U.S. Navy controls patents for some futuristic and outlandish technologies, some of which, dubbed "the UFO patents," came to light recently. Of particular note are inventions by the somewhat mysterious Dr. Salvatore Cezar Pais, whose tech claims to be able to "engineer reality." His slate of highly-ambitious, borderline sci-fi designs meant for use by the U.S. government range from gravitational wave generators and compact fusion reactors to next-gen hybrid aerospace-underwater crafts with revolutionary propulsion systems, and beyond.
Of course, the existence of patents does not mean these technologies have actually been created, but there is evidence that some demonstrations of operability have been successfully carried out. As investigated and reported by The War Zone, a possible reason why some of the patents may have been taken on by the Navy is that the Chinese military may also be developing similar advanced gadgets.
Among Dr. Pais's patents are designs, approved in 2018, for an aerospace-underwater craft of incredible speed and maneuverability. This cone-shaped vehicle can potentially fly just as well anywhere it may be, whether air, water or space, without leaving any heat signatures. It can achieve this by creating a quantum vacuum around itself with a very dense polarized energy field. This vacuum would allow it to repel any molecule the craft comes in contact with, no matter the medium. Manipulating "quantum field fluctuations in the local vacuum energy state," would help reduce the craft's inertia. The polarized vacuum would dramatically decrease any elemental resistance and lead to "extreme speeds," claims the paper.
Not only that, if the vacuum-creating technology can be engineered, we'd also be able to "engineer the fabric of our reality at the most fundamental level," states the patent. This would lead to major advancements in aerospace propulsion and generating power. Not to mention other reality-changing outcomes that come to mind.
Among Pais's other patents are inventions that stem from similar thinking, outlining pieces of technology necessary to make his creations come to fruition. His paper presented in 2019, titled "Room Temperature Superconducting System for Use on a Hybrid Aerospace Undersea Craft," proposes a system that can achieve superconductivity at room temperatures. This would become "a highly disruptive technology, capable of a total paradigm change in Science and Technology," conveys Pais.
High frequency gravitational wave generator.
Credit: Dr. Salvatore Pais
Another invention devised by Pais is an electromagnetic field generator that could generate "an impenetrable defensive shield to sea and land as well as space-based military and civilian assets." This shield could protect from threats like anti-ship ballistic missiles, cruise missiles that evade radar, coronal mass ejections, military satellites, and even asteroids.
Dr. Pais's ideas center around the phenomenon he dubbed "The Pais Effect". He referred to it in his writings as the "controlled motion of electrically charged matter (from solid to plasma) via accelerated spin and/or accelerated vibration under rapid (yet smooth) acceleration-deceleration-acceleration transients." In less jargon-heavy terms, Pais claims to have figured out how to spin electromagnetic fields in order to contain a fusion reaction – an accomplishment that would lead to a tremendous change in power consumption and an abundance of energy.
According to his bio in a recently published paper on a new Plasma Compression Fusion Device, which could transform energy production, Dr. Pais is a mechanical and aerospace engineer working at the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD), which is headquartered in Patuxent River, Maryland. Holding a Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, Pais was a NASA Research Fellow and worked with Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. His current Department of Defense work involves his "advanced knowledge of theory, analysis, and modern experimental and computational methods in aerodynamics, along with an understanding of air-vehicle and missile design, especially in the domain of hypersonic power plant and vehicle design." He also has expert knowledge of electrooptics, emerging quantum technologies (laser power generation in particular), high-energy electromagnetic field generation, and the "breakthrough field of room temperature superconductivity, as related to advanced field propulsion."
Suffice it to say, with such a list of research credentials that would make Nikola Tesla proud, Dr. Pais seems well-positioned to carry out groundbreaking work.
A craft using an inertial mass reduction device.
Credit: Salvatore Pais
The patents won't necessarily lead to these technologies ever seeing the light of day. The research has its share of detractors and nonbelievers among other scientists, who think the amount of energy required for the fields described by Pais and his ideas on electromagnetic propulsions are well beyond the scope of current tech and are nearly impossible. Yet investigators at The War Zone found comments from Navy officials that indicate the inventions are being looked at seriously enough, and some tests are taking place.
If you'd like to read through Pais's patents yourself, check them out here.
Laser Augmented Turbojet Propulsion System
Credit: Dr. Salvatore Pais
