May 16 2021
As an issue that threatens the entire global populace and could have irreversibly damaging repercussions, climate change is undoubtedly the biggest challenge facing the world today. Industry is responsible for a significant proportion of the greenhouse gas emissions which have contributed to the problem, which is why it’s imperative that all those operating in the sector – from the biggest multinationals to the smallest start-ups – take their carbon capture obligations seriously.
It’s no longer enough for industrial facilities to simply curb the amount of carbon they produce. Concentrations of the harmful gas have reached such a concerning level that companies must now also actively capture carbon at the point of emission and, if possible, also extract it from the air to reduce concentrations to an acceptable level. Governments around the world are being encouraged to introduce carbon capture targets to achieve exactly that outcome.
May 16 2021
Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS for short, are a group of manmade chemicals which are notorious for the amount of time they are able to persist in the natural environment and their ability to bypass wastewater filtration processes. For this reason, they are sometimes referred to as “forever chemicals” and their propensity to accumulate in the atmosphere – as well as infiltrate even the furthest reaches of the planet – is a cause for concern among the scientific and healthcare communities.
That’s due to the fact that several studies have pointed to concerning links between elevated concentrations of PFAS in the human body and a raft of health complications, including cancer. So which products contain PFAS? How do you become exposed to them? And what is being done to curb their pervasive influence?
May 13 2021
According to the latest figures compiled by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the industrial sector is responsible for more carbon emissions than both transportation and energy, accounting for approximately 30% of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Understandably, industry is expected to make significant contributions towards cleaning up its act.
That will involve reducing the amount of carbon that the sector emits, but will also necessitate the removal of CO2 that is already present in our atmosphere. That’s due to the fact that the current concentrations of carbon in the environment are unsustainably high if the planet is to attain the objectives agreed upon at the 2015 Paris Summit of limiting global warming to a maximum of 2°C.
Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances – more commonly known as PFAS – are a group of more than 4,700 manmade chemicals that are used for a wide variety of different purposes in a range of industries. Click to read more.
May 13 2021
Perhaps more commonly referred to as “forever chemicals”, perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of synthetic compounds that earned their moniker due to their ability to persist in the environment for a considerable length of time. Totalling some 4,700 manmade chemicals, PFAS are being monitored with some trepidation by the scientific community, which is concerned by their longevity and mobility – and by their potential health implications for the human body.
Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) is one such “forever chemical”. It is a fluorinated organic compound which was initially developed for industrial purposes in the 1940s, but has since been phased out of production and circulation in most western countries due to fears over the detrimental impacts it may incur at high accumulations. PFOS is just one of thousands of PFAS chemicals, though much more is known about PFOS than almost all other compounds in the