Making materials like cement, plastic, glass, and steel creates a lot of emissions. In an opinion piece, Bill Gates argues any climate plan needs to grapple with these hard-to-decarbonize industries.

The American energy sector is increasingly moving away from coal and other big emitters, while transportation's emissions continue to grow. Many plans have been written about lowering emissions from coal and oil, but what about steel?
Microsoft Co-Founder Bill Gates argues that the difficulty of decarbonizing the manufacture of materials like steel will be a crucial issue to tackle to fight climate change. "Making steel and other materials—such as cement, plastic, glass, aluminum, and paper—is the third biggest contributor of greenhouse gases, behind agriculture and making electricity. It’s responsible for a fifth of all emissions,” Gates argues in his website Gates Notes.
While it may be possible to reduce our dependence on some materials, they are used for good reasons. "Steel—cheap, strong, and infinitely recyclable—also goes into shingles, household appliances, canned goods, and computers. Concrete—rust-resistant, rot-proof, and non-flammable—can be made dense enough to absorb radiation or light enough to float on water," Gates writes. Gates argues that many strategies will be needed to tackle the issue, including fuel switching (many of these industries use coal), electrification, and carbon capture.
FULL STORY: Here’s a question you should ask about every climate change plan

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly
Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

In Urban Planning, AI Prompting Could be the New Design Thinking
Creativity has long been key to great urban design. What if we see AI as our new creative partner?

Making Shared Micromobility More Inclusive
Cities and shared mobility system operators can do more to include people with disabilities in planning and operations, per a new report.

Car Designs Make it Harder to See Pedestrians
Blind spots created by thicker pillars built to withstand rollover crashes are creating dangerous conditions for people outside vehicles.

Cal Fire Chatbot Fails to Answer Basic Questions
An AI chatbot designed to provide information about wildfires can’t answer questions about evacuation orders, among other problems.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Appalachian Highlands Housing Partners
Gallatin County Department of Planning & Community Development
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie