Researchers report the development of a viable flash
JH-based process to
recover rare-earth elements used in modern electronics
from industrial wastes with practical potential to reduce environmental/health impacts from
mining, waste-generation and imports if it can be scaled up.[14][15]
NASA publishes its latest Sea Level Rise Technical Report, an update of the 2017 edition, which includes projections for
sea-level rise through to the year
2150. The agency warns that sea levels may rise as much over the next 30 years as during the previous 100.[18][19]
UN researchers publish a comprehensive study about climate change impacted
wildfires with projections (e.g. a 31–57% increase of extreme wildfires by 2100) and information about impacts and countermeasures.[26][27]
The
IPCC releases the second part of its
Sixth Assessment Report on
climate change. It shows that any further delay in concerted global action would mean missing the rapidly closing window to secure human wellbeing and the planet's health against cascading impacts.[30][31]
Researchers report that, on average, the elderly played "a
leading role in driving up GHG emissions in the past decade and
are on the way to becoming the largest contributor" due to factors such as
demographic transition, low informed concern about climate change and high expenditures on carbon-intensive products like energy which is used i.a. for heating rooms and private transport.[40][41]
[climate change]
March 10
Analysis, Assessment, Proposal
A study estimates that "
relocating current croplands to [environmentally]
optimal locations, whilst allowing ecosystems in then-abandoned areas to
regenerate, could simultaneously decrease the current carbon, biodiversity, and irrigation water footprint of global crop production by 71%, 87%, and 100%", with relocation only within national borders also having substantial potential.[42][43]
[food system]
March 16
Analysis, Observation
Researchers report that over 80% of the growth of
methane emissions during 2010–2019 was caused by tropical terrestrial emissions.[44][45]
[methane emissions]
March 21
Observation, Analysis
Before formal publication of the 'Global Carbon Budget 2021'
preprint,[46] scientists report, based on Carbon Monitor[47] data, that after
COVID-19-pandemic-caused record-level declines in 2020, global CO2 emissions rebounded sharply by 4.8% in 2021, indicating that at the current trajectory, the 1.5 °C
carbon budget would be used up within 9.5 years with a two-thirds likelihood.[48]
[climate change]
March 24
Review
Scientists review the biophysical mechanisms by which forests influence climate, showing that beyond 50°N large scale deforestation leads to a net global cooling, that tropical
deforestation leads to substantial warmingfrom non-CO2-impacts, and that as well as how standing tropical forests help cool the average global temperature by more than 1 °C.[49][50]