Earth911 Podcast: Watershed’s Steve Davis on Tracking and Reducing Non-CO2 Emissions

The sustainability community has a carbon fixation, yet non-CO2 emissions, such as methane and nitrous oxide, account for a quarter of annual global greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, water, biodiversity, and many other factors contribute to the environmental damage our economy causes. A more comprehensive view of our impacts is needed to consider solutions to the complex, systemic changes needed to avert global warming catastrophe. Meet Steve Davis, head climate scientist at Watershed, a carbon tracking platform for large organizations, and professor of Earth Systems Science at UC Irvine. Steve’s wide-ranging research has examined the CO2, methane, and other emissions generated by wildfires; the impact of flooding and heat risks in major cities; how airlines can achieve net-zero emissions; and the various natural and technological approaches to removing carbon from the atmosphere.

Steve was a corporate lawyer in Silicon Valley before becoming a leading climate research scientist. He contributed to the energy systems section of the recent UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change AR6 Synthesis Report. He also co-authored the climate mitigation chapter of the soon-to-be-released Fifth National Climate Assessment report from the US Global Change Research Program. To learn more about Steve’s research, visit ess.uci.edu/~sjdavis. Information about the Watershed carbon tracking tool is available at watershed.com.