New “Know the Number” Climate Change Landmark Unveiled in the Heart
of New York City
Deutsche Bank’s Asset Management division (DeAM) today launched the
world’s first scientifically valid, real-time carbon counter, a nearly
70-foot-tall digital billboard displaying the running total of
long-lived greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The counter began
operating in the heart of New York City at 33rd Street and 7th Avenue,
outside Madison Square Garden and Penn Station. Kevin Parker, Global
Head of DeAM and a member of Deutsche Bank’s Group Executive Committee,
switched on the counter at a ceremony this morning.
The Carbon Counter and “Know the Number” campaign is part of a
groundbreaking climate-change awareness and education initiative
sponsored by DB Climate Change Advisors group (DBCCA), DeAM's
institutional climate change investment and research business. The
belief that information catalyzes action underpins the Carbon Counter's
creation. The “Number” on the Carbon Counter is based on measurements
developed by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) that include all long-lived greenhouse gases covered under the
Kyoto and Montreal Protocols (24 gases excluding ozone and aerosols).
“Carbon in the atmosphere has reached an 800,000-year high,” said
Parker. “We can’t see greenhouse gases, so it is easy to forget that
they are accumulating rapidly. It will be a huge task to bring global
emissions under control and my hope is that putting this data in the
public view will spur both governments and markets to move us more
quickly to a low-carbon economy. The science shows that unless this
trend is addressed now there is a growing likelihood of increased
warming and more severe disruptions for economies and societies.”
"The Carbon Counter is a bold new experiment in communicating climate
science to the public,” said Ronald Prinn, Professor of Atmospheric
Science, MIT. “With climate change in the news around the world, it is
useful to have an up-to-date estimate of a single integrating number
expressing the trends in the long-lived greenhouse gases contributing to
that change. This number can help convey how fast these greenhouse gases
are increasing, and the progress, or lack thereof, in slowing the rate
of increase. The number on the Counter is based on global measurements.
It shows the total estimated tonnage of these gases expressed as their
equivalent amounts of carbon dioxide, with seasonal and other natural
cyclical variations removed to more clearly reveal the underlying long
term trends driven by human and other activity.
