Viewpoint: By failing to endorse carbon-cutting biotechnology innovations, Glasgow climate summit missed ‘low hanging fruit’ – Genetic Literacy…

Although verdicts vary, and some progresswas clearly made, the climate changeconsensusemerging among scientists post-Glasgow is thatthe world continueson a path toexceedthe threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius identified in Paris in 2015 to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.But there is a course, so far too much neglected, that could magnify the tangibleprogress against carbon emissionseveryone wants:embracingbiotechnologyinnovation.

Strangely, Glasgow was marked by thealmost complete absenceof any discussion ofagriculture, which is widely charged withcontributing 20 to 30 percentof the greenhouse gas emissions driving global climate change. This is an unfortunate omission as advances in genetics over just the past decade have given uspowerfultoolsto tailor precisely the metabolisms of plants and animals. Living organisms are major sources and sinks for atmospheric carbon, so researchers are developing ways toapply genetic toolsto reduce emissions andincreasecarbon capture and sequestration.

Biotechnology cannot solve the whole climate problem on its own, but unlike nuclear fusion, which has been 30 years off for the last 50 years, bioengineered innovations havealready transformedagriculture, and gene-edited improvements are rapidly expanding those successes. The first research programs have alreadytweaked photosynthesisto deliver productivity increases of 20 to 40 percent in greenhouse tests that are now being scaled up and broadened. Doubling agricultural productivity by 2050 is well within reach.

The methane that cows and other ruminant animals produce is a significant contributor to global warming, but while U.S. herds have doubled their productivity in the past half-century, they have done so witholder technologies. Dairy farmers are now poised to apply the new technologies toacceleratefurther changes and achievecarbon neutralityin a generation or less.

Another huge opportunity is food waste, which accounts for roughly half of agricultural emissions. Gene editing isreducing wasteby extending the shelf life of fruits and vegetables while also enhancing nutritional value and quality.

Meanwhile, bioengineering and gene editing are increasingbiofuel crop yieldsby producing larger harvests and improving microbial digestion of cellulose. This is a welcome boon for the emissions-heavy transportation sector.

Myriad human activitiescontributeto non-biogenic greenhouse gas emissionsfrom lighting, warming, and cooling buildings to producing cement and steelso simply cutting agricultural emissions obviously will not be enough. But bioengineering and gene editing are also being applied in other ways that can help offset some of the difference, such as enhancing the ability of grasses, trees, crops, and algae to capture and sequester carbon at the required scale.

John Kerry, President Bidens Special Envoy for climate,recently said, The measure of success at Glasgow is we will have the largest, most significant increase in ambition [on cutting emissions] by more countries than everyone ever imagined possible. A much larger group of people are stepping up. He went on to note, There is a massive amount of money and energy going to bringing these [clean technologies] up to scale. That is necessary, but not sufficient. Governments also must take steps to unchain and liberate the innovative potential of these new technologies.

COP26 missed a chance to make a giant step forward bygalvanizing governmentsto take specific steps to capitalize on biotechnology innovation. Thefirst priorityshould beeliminatingunscientific regulatory burdens and barriers thathinderthe development of safe gene-edited products forno reasonother than unfounded fearmongering. Governments also shouldincrease their investmentsin and coordination of research and development (R&D) priorities such as advancing CRISPR tools, enhancing photosynthesis, and improving methods to measure and increase soil carbon. Finally, they should expand incentives that will spur rapid adoption of novel gene-edited technologies in the marketplace.

As the financial think tank Carbon Trackerhas noted, Mitigating climate change is no longer an expensive collective action problem; it is a technology revolution with enormous wealth-generating andredistributive potential. The solutions are within our grasp. It istimeto make the policy changes needed to capitalize on them.

Val Giddings is a senior fellow at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF). Giddings received his Ph.D. in genetics and evolutionary biology from the University of Hawaii in 1980. Val can be found on Twitter@prometheusgreen

This article was originally posted at theInformation Technology & Innovation Foundationand is reposted here with permission. Follow ITIF on Twitter@ITIFdc

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Viewpoint: By failing to endorse carbon-cutting biotechnology innovations, Glasgow climate summit missed 'low hanging fruit' - Genetic Literacy...