Potential losses up to 70% higher than previously estimated

The research team developed a new methodology that uses detailed information about the location and characteristics of a company’s physical assets, such as factories, equipment and natural resources. This approach provides a more accurate picture of climate risks than methods that use proxy data, which often assume that all of a company’s assets are located at its headquarters. “When we compared our results with those using proxy data, we found that the potential losses from climate risks could be up to 70% higher than previously thought,” says Stefano Battiston. “This underscores the critical need for more granular data in risk assessments.”

Preparing for the worst: The role of extreme events

The authors also point to the importance of considering “tail risk” in climate assessments. Tail risk refers to the possibility of extreme events that, while rare, can have catastrophic impacts. “Many assessments focus on average impacts. Our research shows that the potential losses from extreme events can be up to 98% higher than these averages suggest,” says Stefano Battiston. “Failure to account for these possibilities can leave businesses and investors dangerously unprepared.”

More funding for climate adaptation

The study’s findings have significant implications for climate policy, business strategy, and investment decisions. The researchers emphasize that more accurate risk assessments are crucial for developing effective climate adaptation strategies and determining appropriate levels of climate-related insurance and funding. “Our work shows that we may be seriously underestimating the financial resources needed for climate adaptation,” concludes Stefano Battiston.

At water depths greater than 3,000 meters, the remote-controlled submersible vehicle MARUM-QUEST took samples from the newly discovered hydrothermal field. Named after Jøtul, a giant in Nordic mythology, the field is located on the 500-kilometer-long Knipovich Ridge. The ridge lies within the triangle formed by Greenland, Norway and Svalbard on the boundary of the North American and European tectonic plates. This kind of plate boundary, where two plates move apart, is called a spreading ridge. The Jøtul Field is located on an extremely slow spreading ridge with a growth rate of the plates of less than two centimeters per year. Because very little is known about hydrothermal activity on slow spreading ridges, the expedition focused on obtaining an overview of the escaping fluids, as well as the size and composition of active and inactive smokers in the field.

“The Jøtul Field is a discovery of scientific interest not only because of its location in the ocean but also due to its climate significance, which was revealed by our detection of very high concentrations of methane in the fluid samples, among other things,” reports Gerhard Bohrmann. Methane emissions from hydrothermal vents indicate a vigorous interaction of magma with sediments. On its journey through the water column, a large proportion of the methane is converted into carbon dioxide, which increases the concentration of CO₂ in the ocean and contributes to acidification, but it also has an impact on climate when it interacts with the atmosphere. The amount of methane from the Jøtul Field that eventually escapes directly into the atmosphere, where it then acts as a greenhouse gas, still needs to be studied in more detail. There is also little known about the organisms living chemosynthetically in the Jøtul Field. In the darkness of the deep ocean, where photosynthesis cannot occur, hydrothermal fluids form the basis for chemosynthesis, which is employed by very specific organisms in symbiosis with bacteria.

In order to significantly expand on the somewhat sparse information available on the Jøtul Field, a new expedition of the MARIA S. MERIAN will start in late summer of this year under the leadership of Gerhard Bohrmann. The focus of the expedition is the exploration and sampling of as yet unknown areas of the Jøtul Field. With extensive data from the Jøtul Field it will be possible to make comparisons with the few already known hydrothermal fields in the Arctic province, such as the Aurora Field and Loki’s Castle.

In a collaborative study between the University of Helsinki and the EU Joint Research Centre, researchers for the first time, have modelled the future distribution of brown seaweeds and seagrasses at the global scale. They predict that by 2100 climate change will drive a substantial redistribution of both groups globally: Their local diversity will decline by 3-4% on average and their current distribution will shrink by 5-6%. More notably, the preferred habitat for both brown seaweeds and seagrasses will undergo a substantial global reduction (78-96%) and will shift among marine regions, with potential expansions into Arctic and Antarctic regions.

“We find it alarming that coastal areas worldwide will become dramatically less hospitable for habitat-forming macrophytes, as this might have severe and widespread impacts on coastal ecosystem functioning at the global scale. Interestingly, while global percentual declines in diversity show similar trends for seagrasses and brown macroalgae, the regional patterns are strikingly different between the two groups.” says Federica Manca the lead author of the study from the University of Helsinki.

Why should we care about seaweeds and seagrasses?

Brown seaweeds and seagrasses provide important ecological and socio-economic services in coastal areas worldwide: they support coastal biodiversity and fisheries, ensure coastal protection, participate in ocean nutrient recycling, contribute to carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation.

As climate change is severely threatening macrophyte habitats and the services they provide, we urgently need to understand how both brown seaweeds and seagrasses will respond to changing climatic conditions in the coming decades.

While previous studies have modelled the future distribution of these habitat-forming macrophytes focusing on regional or local scales only and on a limited number of species. In contrastthis study is the first to provide a comprehensive view of the effects climate change on more than 200 species of brown seasweeds and seagrasses at the global scale.

The results show that the redistribution of these habitat-forming marine macrophytes will be geographically heterogeneous, and highlights the regions where the loss of macrophyte diversity and habitat will be most severe, such as the Pacific coast of South America for brown seaweeds, and the coast of Australia for seagrasses. Additionally, researchers identified macrophyte species that will be more severely affected by climate change, like the Atlantic seaweed Laminaria digitata. The findings can help identify target areas and species for conservation, potentially buffering the impact of climate change.

Surprisingly, and contrary to our expectations, our models did not predict severe losses of brown seaweed or seagrass diversity in the tropics but rather at intermediate and high latitudes, such as along the Atlantic coasts of Europe and in the Baltic Sea. This indicatshat end-of-century climatic conditions in these regions might exceed the tolerance limits of resident macrophyte species. The Baltic Sea is at the forefront in the rate at which climate change is influencing the ecosystem.

“Combined with a legacy of multiple other disturbances (such as eutrophication) and low species diversity with only a few brown aseaweeds and seagrasses, the Baltic Sea is exceptionally vulnerable to these predicted changes.” says Alf Norkko, professor at the Tvärminne Zoological Station, University of Helsinki.

“Another surprising — and alarming — result is the dramatic loss of highly suitable habitat for both macroalgae and seagrasses globally: Coastal areas worldwide will become substantially less hospitable for habitat-forming macrophytes,” adds Dr. Mar Cabeza from the Global Change and Conservation Group at the University of Helsinki.

The disappearance of these habitat-forming macrophytes can trigger cascading effects on other species, compromising the integrity of entire ecosystems and undermining ecological and socio-economic services important to human society. Thus, forecasting changes in the distribution of habitat-forming species is crucial to raise awareness of climate change impacts and foster conservation efforts accordingly.

“Our findings confirm, once again, that climate change might have profound impacts on ecosystems, promoting rapid and, most often, detrimental changes to the diversity and resilience of natural communities. In fact, habitat-forming macrophytes support biodiversity through an exceptional diversity of ecological interactions. Hence, their projected loss and redistribution might lead to unpredictable cascading effects, most likely resulting in the local extinction of many associated species.,” says Giovanni Strona from the EU Joint Research Centre.

“This event, and events like it, are the best analogs we have in Earth’s past for what is to come in the next decades and centuries,” said Michael A. Kipp, an earth and climate science assistant professor at Duke University. Kipp co-authored a study published June 24 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that measures oxygen loss in oceans leading to the extinction of marine species 183 million years ago.

During the Jurassic Period, when marine reptiles like ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs thrived, volcanic activity in modern South Africa released an estimated 20,500 gigatons of carbon dioxide (CO2) over 500,000 years. This heated the oceans, causing them to lose oxygen.

The result was the suffocation and mass extinction of marine species.

“It’s an analog, but not a perfect one, to predict what will happen to future oxygen loss in oceans from human-made carbon emissions, and the impact that loss will have on marine ecosystems and biodiversity,” said co-author Mariano Remirez, an assistant research professor at George Mason University.

Studying limestone sediment that carries chemicals dating back to the time of the volcanic outburst, researchers were able to estimate the change in oxygen levels in ancient oceans. At one point, oxygen was completely depleted in up to 8% of the ancient global seafloor, an area roughly three times the size of the United States.

Since the Industrial Revolution began in the 18th and 19th centuries, human activity has released CO2 emissions equivalent to 12% of what was released during the Jurassic volcanism.

But Kipp said that today’s rapid rate of atmospheric CO2 release is unprecedented in history, making it hard to predict when another mass extinction might occur or how severe it might be.

“We just don’t have anything this severe,” Kipp said. “We go to the most rapid CO2-emitting events we can in history, and they’re still not rapid enough to be a perfect comparison to what we’re going through today. We’re perturbing the system faster than ever before.”

“We have at least quantified the marine oxygen loss during this event, which will help constrain our predictions of what will happen in the future,” Kipp said.

Most people recognize that wine corks are special. You pop them from the bottle, and that small cylinder of natural material seems too good to toss in the trash. But you can recycle cork, and a new cork recycling program, ReCORK accepts corks through a network of public collection partners across North America.

ReCORK turns corks into a remarkable new material developed through years of research and development: ReCORK Recycled Cork. This material bends, flexes and cushions just like a synthetic foam, but with a tiny fraction of the environmental impact of the foams we see so often that are made from petrochemicals. You can find the nearest ReCORK location to you by visiting recork.com/locations

Inspired by a 75 year old natural cork floor.

ReCORK was founded in 2008 by footwear company SOLE, which has been making aftermarket insoles for shoes since they launched in 2001. The company was founded to offer customers pain relief and injury prevention through an affordable alternative to prescription orthotics. In the mid 2000’s, founder Mike Baker became determined to ensure that the brand had a positive impact not just on the lives of their customers, but on the planet too.

It was during this time that Baker spent a weekend away at a beachfront cottage with family friends. Over the weekend he was inspired by the cork floor of the cottage. It felt great underfoot, insulated against the cold, and was in remarkable condition, 75 years after the cottage had been built. Baker started looking into cork with more interest, and what he learned inspired him even further.

The incredible sustainability of natural cork.

Cork is harvested from the bark of cork oak trees, every 9 to 12 years without ever cutting a tree down. Harvesting the bark regularly actually extends the lifespan of the tree from around 75 years to more than 200 years. The harvest also stimulates the tree to increase its carbon consumption by up to 5X (source).

Cork trees are harvested by hand in a skilled trade passed down over generations. These cork farmers grow and safeguard the trees, which in turn provides crucial habitat for numerous endangered species. The cork industry is a fantastic example of traditional sustainable land use.

Having learned this about cork, Baker and the SOLE team became determined to utilize this incredible material in their footwear products.  They launched ReCORK to collect and recycle used natural wine corks, extending the useful life of a valuable material that was going to waste. In the years since, ReCORK has collected more than 132 million corks for recycling.

Recycled cork in footwear and beyond.

The footwear industry accounts for 700,000,000 kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions per year, making up 1.4% of all global climate impacts. A large portion of this is thanks to carbon-intensive fossil fuel-based foams in the midsoles of so many sneakers. Cork can replace that foam and has many characteristics aside from sustainability that make it perfect for use in SOLE’s orthopedic insoles and footwear. It’s naturally lightweight, insulating, antimicrobial, rot-resistant and shock-absorbing.

Using cork in footwear isn’t new. There’s an established precedent for creating cork composite materials that increase durability to an extent. These materials traditionally use ground cork among synthetic binders and flexing agents like latex. For the most part, they will use relatively small proportions of cork (often far less than 50%). ReCORK Recycled Cork is overwhelmingly still cork: more than 75%.

SOLE uses recycled cork in lines of insoles and sandals, but for all its strengths, natural cork has one major limitation: it is brittle, snapping under stress. Footwear naturally undergoes a lot of dynamic forces, making the brittleness of cork a serious obstacle to its possible applications. To truly unlock cork’s potential for use in footwear, this brittleness needed to be overcome. They also degrade when exposed to water regularly.

It was this need that led the ReCORK R&D team to innovate a completely new way of working with cork. Their recycling process grinds down the cork and recombines it using a patented technique to create a unique new material. ReCORK Recycled Cork bends, flexes and rebounds. It’s lightweight and cushioning. It offers all the functional strengths of synthetic foams like PU and EVA. It’s also impervious to water.

The material made its debut earlier this year in SOLE’s latest offering, the Jasper Chukka. While footwear has been the initial focus, the possible applications for ReCORK Recycled Cork are almost limitless. ReCORK hopes to maximize their positive impact by replacing synthetic foams in consumer products across various industries.

Recycle corks to help ReCORK set a new standard for sustainable materials.

Find your local cork drop-off point and bring them your natural corks! No drop-off points in your community? Any organization can sign up to be a Public Collection Partner, collecting corks and shipping them to ReCORK. Suggest to your local liquor store or grocer that they sign up, or sign up your office building.

You can also suggest to your local bar or restaurant that they sign up to be a Private Collection Partner. These partners don’t collect from the public, but send ReCORK the natural corks they use during their regular business.

About the Author

Paul Maughan-Brown is the words guy, the press releases and product descriptions guy, the blog posts and banner-mantras guy at SOLE.

The research, published todayin Environmental Science & Technology journal, provides one of the most comprehensive looks at the chemical composition of so-called biosolids across the country and is the first step toward identifying common chemical contaminants that may need government regulation. The findings could help the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency prioritize which organic compounds to investigate further, the researchers said.

“We’ve been relatively in the dark when it comes to possible organic hazards in biosolids, and we need to know if there are any smoking guns that we’re unaware of,” said Carsten Prasse, an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering who studies environmental contaminants. “Regulators need to know what these types of fertilizers are made of to determine how they can be responsibly used.”

Using analytical chemistry techniques capable of identifying thousands of chemicals, Prasse and his team screened 16 samples of biosolids from wastewater treatment facilities in nine U.S. and three Canadian cities. Samples contained traces of pharmaceuticals, industrial chemicals, and a variety of fragrances. Among them were bisphenol A (BPA), commonly found in plastics, and carbamazepine, a drug used to treat epilepsy and bipolar disorder.

“Because there are so many compounds in biosolids, the question we had was how do we triage? How do we find the chemicals that are widespread and could potentially be problematic, that the EPA and other scientists would need to investigate before proposing regulations,” Prasse said.

The researchers then created lists of the chemicals found in each sample and compared them to compounds that popped up in multiple places across the country. They identified 92 compounds that were present in 80% or more of the samples.

The researchers then cross-referenced those 92 compounds against the EPA’s CompTox Chemical Dashboard — a database that details the properties, hazards, and potential risks of thousands of chemicals. The dashboard helped the team identify which chemicals were most likely to pose threats to human health or the environment.

“We’re not saying that these compounds pose a risk right now, because we haven’t done a formal risk assessment,” said Matthew Newmeyer, a research associate at the Bloomberg School of Public Health and first author on the paper. “We’re saying that these have a potential to be problematic and we need more information in order to make sure these biosolids are safe.”

Using biosolids can be beneficial, the researchers said. They are rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and other nutrients that help plants grow. They require less energy to make than synthetic alternatives. And wastewater facilities can sell biosolids to generate revenue to offset treatment costs and reduce waste sent to landfills or incinerators.

More than half of the 3.76 million tons of biosolids produced in the United States in 2022 fertilized agricultural lands, golf courses, and other landscaped areas, according to the EPA. While direct contact with biosolids is likely limited to occupational exposures, the broader population could be exposed to contaminants absorbed by crops grown in such fertilizers, the researchers said.

The team plans to measure the identified compounds in the biosolids and vegetables grown in biosolid-amended soil to determine if their concentration levels warrant concern. The researchers are also investigating risks to farmers, landscapers, and composters who work with biosolids.

New research, published today in Environment International proves for the first time that a wide range of PFAS (perfluoroalkyl substances) — chemicals which do not break down in nature — can permeate the skin barrier and reach the body’s bloodstream.

PFAS are used widely in industries and consumer products from school uniforms to personal care products because of their water and stain repellent properties. While some substances have been banned by government regulation, others are still widely used and their toxic effects have not yet been fully investigated.

PFAS are already known to enter the body through other routes, for example being breathed in or ingested via food or drinking water, and they are known to cause adverse health effects such as a lowered immune response to vaccination, impaired liver function and decreased birth weight.

It has commonly been thought that PFAS are unable to breach the skin barrier, although recent studies have shown links between the use of personal care products and PFAS concentrations in human blood and breast milk. The new study is the most comprehensive assessment yet undertaken of the absorption of PFAS into human skin and confirms that most of them can enter the body via this route.

Lead author of the study, Dr Oddný Ragnarsdóttir carried out the research while studying for her PhD at the University of Birmingham. She explained: “The ability of these chemicals to be absorbed through skin has previously been dismissed because the molecules are ionised. The electrical charge that gives them the ability to repel water and stains was thought to also make them incapable of crossing the skin membrane.

“Our research shows that this theory does not always hold true and that, in fact, uptake through the skin could be a significant source of exposure to these harmful chemicals.”

The researchers investigated 17 different PFAS. The compounds selected were among those most widely used, and most widely studied for their toxic effects and other ways through which humans might be exposed to them. Most significantly, they correspond to chemicals regulated by the EU’s Drinking Water Directive.

In their experiments the team used 3D human skin equivalent models — multilayered laboratory grown tissues that mimic the properties of normal human skin, meaning the study could be carried out without using any animals. They applied samples of each chemical to measure what proportions were absorbed, unabsorbed, or retained within the models.

Of the 17 PFAS tested, the team found 15 substances showed substantial dermal absorption — at least 5% of the exposure dose. At the exposure doses examined, absorption into the bloodstream of the most regulated PFAS (perfluoro octanoic acid (PFOA)) was 13.5% with a further 38% of the applied dose retained within the skin for potential longer-term uptake into the circulation.

The amount absorbed seemed to correlate with the length of the carbon chain within the molecule. Substances with longer carbon chains showed lower levels of absorption, while compounds with shorter chains that were introduced to replace longer carbon chain PFAS like PFOA, were more easily absorbed. Absorption of perfluoro pentanoic acid for example was four times that of PFOA at 59%.

Study co-author, Dr Mohamed Abdallah, said “our study provides first insight into significance of the dermal route as pathway of exposure to a wide range of forever chemicals. Given the large number of existing PFAS, it is important that future studies aim to assess the risk of broad ranges of these toxic chemicals, rather than focusing on one chemical at a time.”

Study co-author, Professor Stuart Harrad, of the University of Birmingham’s School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, added: “This study helps us to understand how important exposure to these chemicals via the skin might be and also which chemical structures might be most easily absorbed. This is important because we see a shift in industry towards chemicals with shorter chain lengths because these are believed to be less toxic — however the trade-off might be that we absorb more of them, so we need to know more about the risks involved.”