Mountain glaciers are melting at an accelerating rate.
How do we know? 📐
Scientists have been making field measurements of glaciers like this one since the 1960s, as well as using aerial and satellite imagery to track the size of glaciers.
In 2022, a survey of 37 mountain glaciers across the globe found that 34 of those glaciers had lost mass. Scientists found that, on average, glaciers lost more than 3 feet (one meter) of ice thickness that year, and that ice loss from mountain glaciers globally has been accelerating over time.
Even in the far north and in a wet climate, Norway’s Ålfotbreen glacier, pictured above, is rapidly diminishing. This glacier had grown as recently as the 1990s, but has been shrinking since then due to more frequent and intense heat waves.
Video description:
A short video that fades back and forth between two satellite images. Both images show the same glacier, in August 2003 and September 2022. In the 2022 image, the glacier is smaller. Both images were taken during summers where significant melting occurred and in both cases the glacial ice is slightly gray or brown, because the previous winter’s snow had largely melted off the glacier.
The landscape consists of light brown mountains with layered rock ledges. Dark green forests cover the lower slopes and foothills.
#NASA #climatechange #Earth #glaciers
Progress towards sustainable construction is uneven yet gathering momentum. The UK government has launched Great British Energy, aimed at publicly owned clean energy generation. While not construction-specific, its success by 2030 could transform the carbon footprint of construction by providing a cleaner grid. A stable low-carbon energy supply underpins sustainable building design and supports net zero whole life carbon ambitions across the built environment.
In the United States, financial close on Massachusetts’ largest battery energy storage project promises better grid stability for low carbon design. Enhanced storage capacity creates more reliable access to renewable electricity, improving whole life carbon assessment outcomes for housing and commercial development. This shift towards energy-efficient buildings demonstrates how infrastructure investment feeds directly into sustainable architecture and sustainable building practices worldwide.
Macquarie’s US$350 million investment in solar and storage via Nexamp reinforces the integration of renewable building materials and decentralised clean energy into urban development. Sourcing electricity from localised systems allows eco-design for buildings to achieve measurable carbon footprint reduction. For large-scale projects, life cycle cost thinking in construction is increasingly impossible without accounting for such infrastructure, linked directly to lifecycle assessment and future BREEAM v7 updates.
Hydrostor has attracted major funding for compressed air energy storage, providing long-duration capacity essential for decarbonising the built environment. This kind of resilience directly supports sustainable construction by ensuring clean energy availability through both build and operational phases. It also complements whole life carbon strategies, reducing reliance on fossil fuels while supporting environmental sustainability in construction and measurable building lifecycle performance.
On resilience, Flood Risk America has developed an automatic flood gate that eliminates the need for manual intervention. This technology represents circular construction strategies in disaster adaptation, ensuring eco-friendly construction can withstand climate extremes. As urban areas pursue sustainable urban development, such measures demonstrate how resource efficiency in construction can align with climate resilience.
Warnings from the Environmental Services Association highlight the hidden risks in electrification. Battery disposal fires, costing billions annually, underline the environmental impact of construction supply chains beyond embodied carbon in materials and end-of-life reuse in construction. Safe disposal and sustainable material specification are critical to maintaining environmental product declarations (EPDs) credibility, reinforcing the broader shift toward circular economy in construction.
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