As the world continues to make attempts at urgently containing the COVID-19 pandemic[1], there is an even more dire issue that needs to be addressed: Climate change.
New research, published in last month's edition of the journal Communications Earth and Environment, found that in 2019, Greenland's ice sheet lost an annual record of 532 billion tonnes of ice[2]. For perspective, between 2003 and 2016, Greenland's ice sheet lost on average about 255 billion tonnes of ice each year.
Further evidence of climate change worsening was seen last week when a large chunk of Greenland's ice cap, estimated to be 110 square kilometres in size, broke off[3] in the far north-east Arctic, the Associated Press reported.
But climate change is no longer a conversation only had among environmental activists. Technology companies and their leaders are getting involved too, with many joining the fight.
This year alone there have been some significant and ambitious plans put forward. Microsoft, for instance, plans to be carbon negative by 2030[4]. The company also has plans to remove all of the carbon it has emitted -- directly and by electrical consumption -- since it was founded in 1975, by the year 2050. Similarly, Google has committed to only using carbon-free energy by 2030[5].
See also: These 10 technologies are most likely to help save planet Earth[6]
Meanwhile, Apple has vowed[7] to be carbon neutral by 2030 and Rio Tinto has committed $1 billion[8] to achieve its goal of getting down to net zero emissions by 2050.
Earlier this year, the richest person on earth, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, also pledged $10 billion[9]