#emissions

#emissions

Microplastics are pervasive, found everywhere on Earth, from the Sahara Desert to patches of Arctic sea ice. Yet despite these plastic particles' ubiquity, scientists have struggled to determine exactly how many of them are in our atmosphere. Now a new estimate published in Nature suggests that land sources release about 600 quadrillion (600,000,000,000,000,000) microplastic particles into the atmosphere every year, about 20 times more than the number of particles contributed by oceans (about 26 quadrillion).

As 2025 draws to a close, I find myself reflecting on how dramatically the conversation around IT sustainability has shifted in the past 12 months. This has been a year of transition - not because enterprises have suddenly become experts in sustainable IT, but because they've finally stopped treating it as a peripheral topic. For the first time in my career, sustainability is no longer the "add-on" to IT strategy - it's now a structural pillar shaping procurement, infrastructure planning, lifecycle decisions and

Zipcar, a US-based company which is owned by car rental giant Avis Budget, said it had informed its UK members of the closure and had begun a formal consultation. "As part of this proposal, new bookings in the UK will be suspended beyond 31 December 2025, subject to the outcome of the consultation," Zipcar said. "Zipcar UK will continue to operate as usual during this period," a spokesperson said, adding it recognised the impact the proposal would have on its members, employees and partners.

Under the terms of the 2015 agreement, world leaders pledged to limit the average global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and pursue efforts to cap it at 1.5 degrees. Countries also agreed to renew and communicate their targets every five years. The latest submission deadline was earlier this year, and the pressure is now on for states to announce their latest commitments to moving away from fossil fuels.

Repeated data collection through field campaigns, experiments, and high-performance computing significantly contributes to emissions, necessitating considerable funding and labor from researchers.

xAI has received permits to operate 15 natural gas turbines despite operating additional generators without permits, capable of producing 421 megawatts. Concerns about air pollution and violations of the Clean Air Act have been raised.