Denmark occupies a seat in the vanguard of efforts to fulfill carbon emission reduction goals of the Paris Agreement, with DONG Energy -- co-owned by the Danish government, Goldman Sachs and shareholders -- building massive arrays of offshore wind turbines. While expansion across the EU remains a challenge because of a still-underdeveloped grid capacity, DONG's efforts show how Denmark's use of free-market demand and public-private collaboration provides an affordable, environmentally- sustainable option.

Carbon farming is a method that focuses on sequestering atmospheric carbon on agricultural land. While farms around the world already do it, it's not anywhere near the scale necessary to avert climate catastrophe. But paired with aggressive emissions reduction, the practice could not only mitigate global warming, but also help the most impoverished communities.