Reports and publications
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Characterizing vulnerabilities to climate change across the United States
Type: Report
Date: January 31, 2023
Study co-authored by EDF scientists identified and integrated available public health, social, economic, environmental, and climate data in the United States to develop a Climate Vulnerability Index composed of four baseline vulnerabilities (health, social/economic, infrastructure, and environment) and three climate change risks (health, social/economic, extreme events).
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As unprecedented drought torments the American West, Maurice Hall and his team are using science and forging partnerships to create a whole new approach to water management — one that can revitalize rivers and aquifers and share water more equitably.
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This report explains the process by which Texas Groundwater Conservation Districts (GCDs) have executed their statutorily required planning function to arrive at a Desired Future Condition (DFC) and the inextricable link that exists between DFC development and state water planning.
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All future climate scenarios that hold planetary warming close to 1.5 °C by 2050 will require massive cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, supplemented by the use of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) methods to clean up leftover heat-trapping carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.
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Carbon dioxide can be permanently stored under the seabed in geologic reservoirs.
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Marine plants and algae, like phytoplankton, take up CO2 during photosynthesis, and this can increase the ocean’s uptake of atmospheric CO2.
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This booklet from EDF and partners provides a primer on various ocean CDR strategies, summarizing the theory behind each technique, the current state of knowledge of their carbon storage potential and associated costs, technical readiness, and potential environmental and social impacts.
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Ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE), also termed enhanced weathering (EW), aims to alter seawater chemistry, usually by spreading finely ground alkaline minerals like silicates and carbonates in seawater or on coastal lands.
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Macroalgae, or seaweeds, are large, plantlike organisms that grow naturally in the ocean and, like land plants, take up and store carbon via photosynthesis.
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Electricity can be used to remove carbon dioxide from seawater by driving well-understood chemical reactions that either liberate carbon dioxide gas from the seawater for capture and sequestration, or alter seawater’s chemical balances to enable it to store more CO2 than it naturally would.