GHG Emissions and Production
While the quantity of GHG related to manufacturing and production pales in comparison to energy production (including transportation), addressing emissions from the production side of things is essential to solving the climate change crisis. As it has been previously mentioned, addressing climate change requires a holistic approach that includes all stakeholders and a determination to make a change in all aspects of our society
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Some production industries to keep in mind include but are not limited to the fashion factory (which represents 4% of global GHG emissions), petrochemicals, and food services among many other industries. One way to do this is by having companies create more durable products such as Patagonia which urges customers to buy only what they need. Furthermore, companies can also develop products that can be recycled/reused more easily by the customer or company themselves. One can look to Li-Cycle which has developed a process to recycle lithium batteries, something that was once not economically viable.
Rethinking What Is Production
While reducing GHG emissions in more traditional production areas, as the world becomes more digitalized it is important to remember that beyond the extractive aspect of technology, the software does have a cost. Often, people only consider the production of the hardware as damaging to the environment but developing software utilizes large amounts of energy not to mention the energy required to maintain and operate such software. Thus, software design/management companies should be mitigating their impact on the environment. Many companies have already done substantial work on this, most notably Google and Microsoft which claims to be carbon neutral and is in the process of becoming carbon negative by 2030. This is an example of how our changing world means [relatively] new sectors also need to be vigilant of their impact on the environment.