How 3-D Printing Could Decrease Carbon Emissions. Or Maybe Increase Them.
How 3-D Printing Could Decrease Carbon Emissions. Or Maybe Increase Them.
Jason Bordoff
One of the most exciting areas of advanced manufacturing is 3-D printing. While it has been around for many years to produce crude prototypes, 3-D printing is now being used to make everything from jet engines and complex machine parts to bridges and buildings, artificial limbs and biomedical tissue. One company is even producing 3-D printing machines for use by NASA in space to avoid costly space flights to supply the International Space Station. It is still too early to determine the full potential of 3-D printing, but the technology is advancing quickly.
The industrial sector accounts for a fifth of global carbon emissions, and thus the hype around 3-D printing has also focused on its potential sustainability benefits. 3-D printing has the potential to make a meaningful dent in global oil demand and related emissions, for example. Policy efforts to reduce oil use tend to focus on passenger cars, but the freight transport sector—by rail, marine or truck—is one of the largest and fastest growing sources of oil demand, accounting for about a quarter of world oil use. Imagine a world where rather than making consumer and industrial goods at large manufacturing hubs in countries like China and then transporting those goods around the world, businesses could make the parts they need on site or consumers could “print” at home or at a local shop the merchandise they might otherwise order from Amazon.
Global Preventive Diplomacy Initiative Launched in New York Ahead of UNGA 80
New York, NY — The Global Preventive Diplomacy Initiative (GPDI) was launched at an exclusive event organized by the Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development (CIRSD) on the top floor of New York’s iconic MetLife Building, bringing together diplomats, philanthropists, business leaders, academics, and thought leaders for a conversation on the future of conflict prevention and international cooperation. The launch came just days before the opening of the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, which annually brings together heads of state and government for the High-Level General Debate — making New York the world’s diplomatic capital.
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Eighty years after its founding, the UN finds itself at a critical juncture. Its purpose is on trial, and its mission urgently requires recalibration. The world it inherited from the scorches of the Second World War no longer exists, yet many of the organisation’s practices remain rooted in a bygone era – out of sync with today’s realities and detached from those it was created to serve.
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CIRSD President Vuk Jeremić to SINA Finance: Multilateralism Will Evolve, Not Disappear
Below is the full text of the interview:
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