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Fuel cell vehicles using green hydrogen as fuel can contribute to the mitigation of climate change. The increasing utilization of those vehicles creates the need for cost efficient hydrogen refueling stations. This study investigates how to build the most cost efficient refueling stations to fuel small fleet sizes of 2, 4, 8, 16 and 32 fuel cell busses. A detailed physical model of a hydrogen refueling station was built to determine the necessary hydrogen storage size as well as energy demand for compression and precooling of hydrogen. These results are used to determine the refueling costs for different station configurations that vary the number of storage banks, their volume and compressor capacity. It was found that increasing the number of storage banks will decrease the necessary total station storage volume as well as energy demand for compression and precooling. However, the benefit of adding storage banks decreases with each additional bank. Hence the cost for piping and instrumentation to add banks starts to outweigh the benefits when too many banks are used. Investigating the influence of the compressor mass flow found that when fueling fleets of 2 or 4 busses the lowest cost can be reached by using a compressor with the minimal mass flow necessary to refill all storage banks within 24 h. For fleets of 8, 16 and 32 busses, using the compressor with the maximum investigated mass flow of 54 kg/h leads to the lowest costs. • Designing the most cost efficient refueling stations to fuel small bus fleets. • New approach to minimize hydrogen fueling costs using a thermodynamic refueling model. • It is cost efficient to use a minimum of 4 cascade storage banks when fueling busses. • A high mass flow compressor is cost efficient for fleet sizes above 4 busses. • Energy demand for compression makes up a significant share of refueling costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate and economic policy are closely correlated with energy consumption. This study investigates the bi-directional causality between renewable (REC) and non-renewable energy consumption (NEC) and policy uncertainties. The time-varying bootstrap rolling window causality test considers structural changes and parameter instability. The results show that the causality between REC and climate policy uncertainty (CPU) is both negative and positive, which mainly stems from the attitudes of authorities towards climate change. If the Administration is positive for climate change mitigation, the correlation between REC and CPU is positive; otherwise, it is negative. The nexus between NEC and CPU is mainly positive, except during global financial crisis periods. This reflects that climate policies are affected by financial crises due to financial constraints. For comparison, we further analyse the dynamic correlation between energy consumption and economic policy uncertainty (EPU). EPU has a significant negative impact on REC in most subperiods, while it has a positive impact on NEC. This can be explained by the fact that non-renewable energy is cheap and convenient to use during economic downturns. Moreover, crude oil has strategic reserve value, especially in the turmoil periods. Regarding policy implications, harmonious and coherent climate and economic policies are important for energy transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emission mitigation and climate change adaptation in urban communities are urgent. There is enormous potential to improve the GHG inventory at the community level. This research aims to develop a community-scale GHG emission inventory and improve its accuracy and consistency through a bottom-up approach. This study covers direct and indirect emissions categorized into three scopes and selects the Honjo Waseda community in Japan as a case study community. Energy consumption from different sectors (the residential and commercial, transport, and waste management sectors) is evaluated and calculated through Residential Energy Estimation based on the Daily Activities (REEDA) database, National Census, and first-hand field data. The outcome revealed that the residential and commercial sector emissions rank highest in the total GHG emissions of the community, with a value of 39 %. Translated into the scope concept, the emissions under scopes 2 and 3 account for 39 % and 61 %, respectively. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis of the implementation of green technologies to reduce GHG emissions is also conducted. Mechanical biological treatment (MBT) implementation could yield the largest emission reduction (18 %–22 %), followed by implementing electric vehicles, ultralightweight vehicles, photovoltaic systems, and ground heat utilization. [Display omitted] • GHG emission mitigation and climate change adaptation of urban communities are urgent. • Evaluate GHG emission at community level from scope 1–3 through a bottom-up approach. • Develop models for evaluating emissions from residential and commercial transport, and waste management sectors. • Propose scenarios and evaluate sensitivity analysis on green technologies implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel enhanced PV index was developed to enhance PV pixel representation. • China's total PV power station area in 2020 was estimated as 2635.64 km2. • China's PV power generation in 2020 was calculated to be 238.65 TWh. • This power amount is equivalent to reducing carbon emissions by 149.63 million tons. • Evaluation results favor Sustainable Development Goals and carbon neutrality. Global photovoltaic (PV) installed capacity and power generation are increasingly growing due to climate change mitigation efforts, suggesting the necessity of accurately determining the spatial distribution of PV power stations and scientifically evaluating their carbon reduction benefits. Considering the costs associated with data acquisition and processing, the most cost-effective choice is still high-accuracy mapping of large-scale PV power stations based on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform by combining effective features with machine learning algorithms. Moreover, how to analyze the carbon source effects between PV energy and traditional fossil fuels at the national scale and comprehensively evaluate the carbon reduction benefits of existing PV energy facilities is still worth exploring. To address these issues, this study proposed a novel enhanced PV index (EPVI) for mapping PV power stations across China, and the mapping results were further applied for the evaluation of carbon reduction benefits. Results show that EPVI can not only highlight the salience of PV pixels but can also effectively suppress the confusion of non-PV pixels to improve mapping accuracy. In 2020, the total area of China's PV power stations was estimated as 2635.64 km2, achieving an overall accuracy of 0.9756 and a Kappa coefficient of 0.9394. Based on the mapping results, the PV power generation was calculated to be 238.65 TWh, which is equivalent to reducing coal consumption by 72.77 million tons and carbon emissions by 149.63 million tons. The PV carbon reduction contribution rate was shown to have an obvious regional difference, with a large rate in the western area and a small rate in the eastern area. The results can contribute to clean energy utilization and management to achieve low-carbon goals, facilitating the global consensus on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and carbon neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This editorial summarizes the papers selected for publication in the Special Issue on Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in Power and Energy Systems (CMAP). After a rigorous review of 86 submitted manuscripts, 23 papers were accepted for publication. These accepted papers cover various aspects of climate change mitigation and adaptation and are classified as follows: boosting renewable energy efficiency (two papers), climate resilience strategies (four papers), decarbonization strategies (four papers), renewable energy integration (five papers), policies, incentives, and science communications (four papers), and the role of energy markets (four papers). The Guest Editorial Board is optimistic that this Special Issue will serve as a rich resource, offering invaluable insights to propel future research and advancements in climate change mitigation and adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon emissions elimination in the rapid urbanization areas contributes to regional sustainable development and global climate change mitigation. With the target of carbon neutrality, the global top-class Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Urban Agglomeration which confronts with the dual pressure of excess carbon emissions and shrink ecological space has increased its carbon reduction coordination cooperation, among which energy consumption carbon emission control and natural resource sink maintenance have been recognized as the key strategy. However, the study on carbon balance prediction is lack and the amount of energy consumption carbon emissions in the future can be offset by the ecological carbon sink is still unknown. To estimate the gap to carbon neutrality, this study proposes a framework for carbon offset analysis and prediction which takes various carbon emission scenarios and the potential of natural resource on carbon reduction into consideration. After the framework conduction in the agglomeration, it is revealed that the regional least carbon emissions of 29.51 Mt mainly derive from the population and economic growth brought by urbanization process, while the carbon sink predicted to be 2552.31 Kt is still far to cover the emissions. With the regional carbon offset rate decline from 0.68% to 0.63%, the ecological carbon sink in Beijing will offset 1.21% of its carbon emission, while the least ecological space keep city Tianjin is predicted to suffer the lowest offset rate of 0.09%. The research results contribute to recognize the key factors on carbon emission control and key areas for carbon maintenance in following years, as well as narrowing the gap to neutrality with both consideration of carbon emission reduction and sink maintenance. [Display omitted] • Framework on energy consumption carbon offset analysis was established. • Regional carbon emissions, sinks and offset rate were predicted. • Drop from 0.68% in 2020 to 0.63% in 2030, the declining offset rate indicates the gap to neutrality is still large. • Implications for each area's carbon emission offset rate improvement were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Climate policy should be diversified to meet the needs of all countries. • The ability of renewable energy to solve the emissions problem is questioned. • The energy efficiency has no statistically significant changes in 2010–2020. • There is a contradiction between Sustainable Development Goals 7 and 13. Improving energy efficiency is considered to be important and cost-effective strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which is crucial in the face of global climate change. This study hypothesizes that there are significant differences in the impact of energy efficiency on economic and energy systems. Using quantile regression method, the impact of economic and energy characteristics on energy-related greenhouse gas emissions in 120 countries over the period 2010–2020 is investigated. Detailed analyses are conducted by dividing the countries into 12 groups based on gross national income per capita (Atlas method) and the share of resource rents in gross domestic product. A macro-level system of indicators for assessing energy efficiency is proposed, which can be linked to the economic and energy characteristics of the systems: National Energy Efficiency, Energy Intensity Ratio, Primary Energy Production Efficiency, Industrial Sector Energy Efficiency, Share of Low Carbon Energy, Population Energy Efficiency. The findings show that (1) global energy efficiency has remained largely unchanged over the decade; (2) there are differences in energy efficiency between fossil fuel producing and non-fossil fuel producing countries; (3) the factors that have an inverse effect on emissions in fossil fuels dependent countries include industrial energy efficiency and population energy efficiency, which are far from exhausting their potential; (4) despite the recognized importance of energy efficiency, its impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions globally has been unnoticeable. The study highlights that Sustainable Development Goals 7 and 13 on energy affordability and emission reductions are conflicting and require harmonization of mechanisms to achieve them, such as balancing climate change mitigation investments, identifying the potential for energy efficiency improvements across economy or improving energy saving practices. The overall conclusion suggests that there is an urgent need to review current decarbonization and energy efficiency initiatives, given the lack of significant global progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions or improving energy efficiency between 2010 and 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the pursuit of sustainable development, accurate renewable energy demand forecasting holds great significance for climate change mitigation and promoting sustainability. However, renewable energy forecasting has been consistently challenged by seasonality and nonlinearity. Identifying the periodic and nonlinear characteristics concealed within renewable energy sources accurately is still an unexplored problem. Consequently, an innovative nonlinear discrete seasonal grey model is proposed for renewable energy forecasting, which incorporates seasonal dummy variables and a power exponent term for handling the seasonality and nonlinear patterns in time series. Furthermore, an intelligent algorithm matching framework is proposed to augment the flexibility of the newly developed model. For practical purposes, the new methodology is contrasted against a range of benchmarks encompassing statistical, machine-learning, and traditional grey models in forecasting the quarterly total renewable energy consumption in the United States. The proposed model exhibits over 27% improvement rates over its counterparts, achieving the most superior predictive accuracies of 1.45%, 39.27, and 0.79 in MAPEP , RMSEP , and MASEP metrics, respectively. Furthermore, the probability density and sample size analyses are conducted to validate the robustness of the new model, confirming its adaptability and stability towards algorithm randomness and historical information volume. Consequently, the novel model is employed to forecast the short-to-long-terms renewable energy consumption in the U.S., showcasing an upward trend and seasonal fluctuations of the consumption for the forthcoming 24 quarters from 2023Q4 to 2029Q3. These insights can offer valuable implications to the stakeholders such as energy suppliers, utility managers, and policy advocates, highlighting actionable strategies for optimizing renewable energy consumption forecasting and aiding sustainable development initiatives. • An innovative nonlinear discrete seasonal grey model is proposed for renewable energy forecasting. • The optimum algorithm matching the novel model is determined from five alternatives. • The Monte Carlo Simulation and parameter sensitivity analysis advance the robustness. • PSO with the optimal parameter group has been selected for searching coefficients. • The new model possesses higher accuracy and robustness than various competitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The motivation of this study stems from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals on clean and responsible energy consumption, climate change mitigation and sustainable economic growth (UN-SDGs-7, 11, 12 and 13). The present study examines the impact of institutional quality on CO 2 emissions in the presence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) framework using data on CO 2 emissions and the six dimensions of institutional quality from the World Governance Indicators (WGI). The current study focuses on selected 30 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries over the annual period from 2000 to 2021. The EKC hypothesis revealed CO 2 emissions are substantially reduced by corruption control, regulatory quality, and the rule of law. Findings from the Dumitrescu and Hurlin causality test showed a one-way causality running from CO 2 emissions to industrialization. Similar uni-directional causality is observed between economic growth, and energy consumption. On the other hand, we observed a two-way causality flow from CO 2 emissions to population growth and all indices of institutional quality over the investigated period. These findings indicate that government agencies should efficiently implement acceptable strategies for pollution control and enact public benefit environmental regulations in the form of a healthier climate for the entire population. • We examined the impact of institutional quality on CO 2 emissions in the presence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) framework. • 30 Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries are selected for empirical investigation. • We reveal that CO 2 emissions are substantially reduced by corruption control, regulatory quality, and the rule of law. • Meanwhile, one-way causality runs from CO 2 emissions to industrialization. • A two-way causality flow from CO 2 emissions to population growth and all indices of institutional quality are reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Woody biomass energy makes up a large share of renewable energy consumption in the EU, and the largest share in countries like Denmark. However, little is known about how the public perceive it. This paper presents the results of a questionnaire-based survey of the public in Denmark focusing on attitudes toward woody biomass for energy. The main findings are that, while more people favor than oppose it, a large proportion are undecided about the use of woody biomass. The survey also revealed a lack of knowledge about this energy source. A Best-Worst Scaling methodology revealed that Danes prioritize environmental sustainability concerns – namely biodiversity loss, the hindering of the development of other renewable energy sources and the climate change mitigation potential of woody biomass – over societal and/or economic ones when it comes to the promotion of woody biomass. Finally, it was found that concern about climate change, belief in the mitigation potential of woody biomass, and being younger explained the formation of positive attitudes toward woody biomass. Policy makers aiming to take public concerns into account in discussions about Denmark's energy future should focus more on minimizing the negative environmental impacts associated with woody biomass rather than on its economic benefits. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid growth of industrial production signifies its CO 2 footprint and climate impact, highlighting the demand for efficient and energy-saving production scheduling. Generally, a single production job comprises multiple operations on various machines. Existing studies estimate job energy consumption from a broader perspective, often disregarding the detailed scheduling of operations. This simplification may result in inaccurate evaluations of energy consumption and savings, as energy consumption can differ significantly among operations, with each requiring specific levels of energy on various machines. Proposing a new scheduling framework to replace the classical strategy is challenging yet necessary due to these variations. This study aims to investigate the multiobjective flexible job-shop scheduling problem by considering operation-dependent energy consumption and to improve the accuracy and thoroughness of the energy-consumption evaluation framework. First, a core metamodel for energy assessment is established and a mathematical model is introduced to minimize the manufacturing span and total energy consumption. Subsequently, a dynamic diffusion weight adjustment for a multiobjective evolutionary algorithm based on decomposition (MOEA/D-DDWA) is proposed. Operation-dependent energy consumption and processing quality are discussed, and a superior unified energy-saving strategy is designed to facilitate the selection of the processing-speed range, balancing energy consumption and saving. Finally, numerical experiments are conducted based on datasets of various scales, demonstrating that the core metamodel for energy assessment can achieve significant energy savings. Compared with other classical multiobjective optimization algorithms, the MOEA/D-DDWA is more energy efficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Proposal of a method to construct typical generic block models using local datasets. • Urban form influences strategy of solar technology in low-carbon scenario. • Solar cooling contributes to carbon reduction in subtropical areas. • Technology and morphology design can overcome the high-density constraints. The use of solar energy in an urban context is essential for low-carbon urban development and global climate change mitigation. In this paper, the application of multiple solar energy techniques, namely, photovoltaic (PV), photothermal (PT), and photothermal-driven cooling (PC) techniques, in tropical Macau was investigated. Based on the typological method, sixty generic block typologies were formulated. A parametric workflow was constructed to facilitate block modelling and simulate energy consumption and solar radiation. The optimal technique strategy for each typology was identified under a low-carbon scenario. The energy and environmental performance levels of the blocks were evaluated by calculating and comparing the solar potentials, load matching conditions, primary energy consumption levels, and carbon dioxide emissions. The results indicated that the PT technique should be preferred for blocks with high floor area ratio (FAR) values, while the PV technique should be prioritized for blocks with low FAR values under the low-carbon scenario. Moreover, the PC technique is necessary in subtropical areas to reduce carbon emissions. In addition, it is suggested that solar energy should be adopted in blocks with high site coverage ratio (SC) and low surface area-to-volume ratio (SAV) values, as well as blocks with low FAR values. Regarding blocks constrained by high-density urban development, appropriate decisions on technology and morphological design could help to overcome constraints and realize low-carbon community targets. This study could provide suggestions for urban planners and building designers in the application of the urban solar potential at the early stages of urban design or urban regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to unveil the heterogeneous impacts of import product diversification and institutional factors for achieving energy efficiency in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. In doing so, the study employs robust econometric techniques such as Fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) co-integration, pooled Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS), pool mean group regressions, fixed effects, and random effects for panel data from 1990 to 2015 for selected OECD countries. The detailed empirical outcomes suggest that import product diversification is conducive to reducing the energy and carbon intensity (improvement in energy efficiency) in OECD countries. The empirical conclusions provide various guidelines to achieve cleaner and greener growth and align with various Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 7: Affordable and clean energy, SDG 9: Industry, innovation, and infrastructure, and SDG 13: Climate action) of OECD countries. The paper elaborates fruitful policy suggestions regarding the diversification of imports and energy use-carbon emission-nexus for the OECD member nations. Based on the findings, policymakers and environmental scientists should strengthen the trade-energy and import portfolio policies to attain energy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demand for electricity is expected to increase significantly in the coming decades, one reason being the ongoing decarbonization process of the power and the transportation sectors, in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and thus alleviate climate change. Photovoltaics that harvest solar energy, coupled with energy storage systems are addressing these challenges effectively. In the current study, the simulated energy winnings from typical photovoltaic-battery (PV-BAT) configurations were economically evaluated, under equal technical and site-specific meteorological conditions. Furthermore, their capital, replacement, operation, and maintenance costs were inquired and the average unit cost of electricity per kWh was estimated based on specific energy cost estimation methods and a Monte-Carlo analysis addressing uncertain meteorological risk factors. The cost of electrical energy production in Greece was examined for six scenarios with varying battery technologies and module topologies. Calculated costs ranged from 0.17 to 0.24 €/kWh indicating a significant downward trend in the unit cost of electricity generated by PV-BAT systems. These findings indicate the need for further investigation into how the integration and utilization of such systems can be optimized. The proposed methodology is developed in line with the circular economy action plan which requires increased system efficiency, storage and renewable energy use. • Techno-economic assessment of six different PV-Battery scenarios. • A methodology was developed in line with the circular economy action plan. • Meteorological conditions used as risk factors, affecting energy generation. • Low Price-performance ratio for PV systems backed by lithium-ion batteries. • LCOE for all examined scenarios ranged from 0.17 to 0.24 €/kWh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing energy consumption and emissions from freight transport plays an important role in climate change mitigation. However, there remains a need for enhanced policy making and research to explore decarbonization of freight transport. This research establishes a freight transport model to simulate transport demand, energy consumption and emissions, and applies the model to Ireland with scenarios running out to 2050. This model provides advanced technological details in freight transport modelling, responses of transport demand to economic changes, and behavioural responses in the representation of competition between transport technologies. The results show a strong growth of land freight transport demand in Ireland resulting from economic growth (GDP) despite increasing carbon taxes. The new EU CO 2 emission performance standards on light and heavy-duty vehicles have the potential to effectively slow down the growth of energy consumption from 2015 to 2050 but possible technical barriers need to be evaluated to ensure full compliance. In the short term, carbon taxation (or higher fuel prices) may have a greater impact but the effect of emission performance standards will be realised in the longer term as the vehicle stock is replaced with new technology vehicles. Notably, adoption of biofuel and alternative freight vehicles are expected to bring additional reductions in future energy consumption and emissions. For a low carbon future for freight transport, integrated efforts are needed to develop a comprehensive policy agenda (technology specific standards and pricing mechanisms) and promote low or zero emission vehicles technologies, especially for heavy goods vehicles. • Curtailing emissions from freight transport plays a crucial role in climate change mitigation. • Our model incorporates detailed freight transport profiles and behavioural parameters. • Carbon tax results in modest reductions in freight energy consumption and CO 2 emissions. • CO 2 emission performance standard is potentially effective, but with uncertainties. • Freight demand shift between travel options is less elastic to price signals than passenger demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a lack of empirical analysis of macro-level energy policy through a gender lens, and there exists a research gap in tools for such analysis. This paper proposes a novel empirical approach to explore the gender dimension of the language used in energy policy documents such as the National Energy and Climate Action Plans (NECPs) of European Union (EU) member states. We first review the literature to identify existing approaches that analyse the energy/gender nexus. We then describe how we adapt Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques to quantify the degree to which the language used in the NECPs is male or female associated. Our work shows the gap in suitable tools. We demonstrate using NLP that all EU NECPs tend to use more male associated language than female. In a ranking of EU member states, the Portuguese NECP demonstrated the most bias, while the Slovenian demonstrated the least. Our work provides novel insights using NLP to understand the genderised use of language, and contributes a methodology to conduct empirical analysis of energy policy documents. [Display omitted] • Review of methods used in energy/gender nexus analysis. • Empirical approach to analyse energy/gender concepts in the Global North. • Measurement of a gender dimension (bias) of the language used in European Union National Energy and Climate Plans. • Identification of Energy Domain NLP training corpora and vocabulary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy consumption is a crucial aspect of global sustainability efforts, particularly in light of climate change mitigation and the pursuit of energy security. Technological innovation can play a pivotal role in driving the advancement and adoption of renewable energy. However, geopolitical risks can exert profound influences on the landscape of renewable energy deployment, posing challenges to energy security and the transition to a sustainable energy future. This study contributes to the existing literature by providing new empirical evidence on how geopolitical risk, along with technological innovation, environmental taxes, and environmental degradation affect renewable energy consumption in G7 countries. The findings indicate that geopolitical risks exert a negative influence on renewable energy consumption in G7 countries, whereas environmental degradation, technological advancements, and environmental taxes have positive effects. The results further indicate that at different quantile levels, the impact of each variable on renewable energy consumption has heterogeneous characteristics. Panel Grager causality results revealed a one-way causal relationship between environmental taxes and renewable energy consumption, while other variables have a two-way causal relationship with renewable energy consumption. Based on the results, the study suggests design policies to address geopolitical tension, increased funding for research and development to drive technological innovation, and supportive regulatory frameworks that incentivize renewable energy investment and innovation to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7). • Explored the determinants of renewable energy consumption in G7 countries. • Advanced panel data estimation methods are employed. • Geopolitical risk negatively affects renewable energy consumption. • Technological innovation and taxes promote renewable energy consumption. • Designed a policy framework to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 7. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy efficiency measures are a key element in the fight against climate change. However, their effectiveness is threatened by so-called rebound effects—behavioral changes that lead to increased use and thus to lower-than-expected absolute savings. The moral licensing bias might cause rebound effects on the individual level: When people implement energy efficiency measures, they may feel that they have done something good for the climate and thus license themselves to less climate-friendly behavior later on. We test this prediction with three pre-registered experiments (total n = 2315). While our manipulated efficiency does increase the feeling of having done something good for the climate, no negative effects emerge on subsequent climate-friendly behavior—contrary to the predictions derived from the moral licensing literature. Climate-friendly behavior is thus not hampered by prior energy efficiency behavior; rather, demographics (women and older people act in a more climate-friendly manner) and environmental attitude determine it. Our results imply that the literature suggesting moral licensing is probably not transferable to the field of energy efficiency, and thus moral licensing may not lead to rebound effects in this context. We discuss possible explanations, implications for climate policy making, and needs for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

GEP (Generation Expansion Planning) is one of the most complex tasks in which planning is done to find the best possible distinct solutions to install new generating units to meet future load demands. This paper uses the Low Emission Analysis Platform (LEAP) software environment to analyse the GEP for the AP Power sector from 2021 to 2050. In recent years, the AP power sector has faced several issues, such as frequent service cuts due to power shortages. In this paper, five scenarios such as Business As Usual (BAU), Low Demand Growth (LDG), High Demand Growth (HDG), Least Cost Optimization (LCO) and Climate Mitigation Scenarios, have been analysed with environmental, technical, and economic parameters. This study has estimated the total environmental emissions and total cost of all scenarios. At present, Andhra Pradesh has a total installed capacity of 25.4 GW. The best scenarios can be selected based on environmental impact, cost-effectiveness, efficiency, and reliability. The results show that the LDG scenario will be an optimal choice for AP due to the state's economic crisis, and the government should also focus on energy conservation and limit demand growth to 4.5%. While presenting a general GEP, the study presents comprehensive system performance scenarios from which planners can choose. • Making a generation expansion planning • Making a sustainable environment • Presented a good solution for power generation • Analysed the total environmental emissions • Analysed the energy demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the quest for carbon neutrality, the cement industry employs various CO 2 mitigation strategies, including material efficiency, cement plant technologies, and clinker-to-cement ratio reductions. This study reviews the past decade's Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) literature on cement production to assess the feasibility of modeling these strategies. Heating energy is the predominant factor in energy consumption, benefiting from energy efficiency measures. Allocation consistently favors cement in evaluations of secondary fuel-related impacts, leading to significant reductions in energy consumption and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. However, transparency improvements are necessary to clarify the origin and calculation of combustion-related emissions. Challenges arise from limited data availability when assessing grinding energy, especially for high-quality cement aligned with a material efficiency strategy. In our examination of Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS) as Supplementary Cementitious Materials (SCMs), we have observed that production process variations and allocation assumptions significantly influence LCA models, while highlighting the absence of waste availability consideration in current substitution-focused LCA methods for both secondary fuels and SCMs. • Cement functionalities are generally not described and should be based on strength. • Existing models overlook impacts of increased cement quality due to grinding energy. • Allocation method choice affects climate change impacts of slag-blended cement. • Excluding allocation methods, slag recovery shows climate change impacts variability. • Substantial variability is also found for heating energy for clinkerization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animal production faces challenges related to thermal comfort, air quality, and carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions, thereby the need for more efficient and sustainable systems due to climate change. This study examines green roofs and their potential to absorb atmospheric CO 2 and reduce heat load through photosynthesis and evapotranspiration, resulting in decreased energy consumption and increased CO 2 emissions. The maximum CO 2 concentration limit in animal production facilities is 3000 ppm. Depending on the ventilation system used in broiler production facilities, the CO 2 concentration can exceed 2000 ppm. Dark House poultry facilities tend to have higher concentrations reaching up to 777 ppm. In pig farming, the nursery sector has higher concentrations of CO 2 , exceeding 1200 ppm. In dairy farming, the number of milkings, the type of ventilation system and local climatic conditions can affect the CO 2 concentration, reaching values of up to 1401 ppm. C3 plants have a CO 2 saturation point at 800 ppm and C4 plants at 200 ppm. The CO 2 balance in animal production facilities that use a green roof can be done considering the CO 2 produced and the CO 2 absorbed. Green roofs are therefore considered a sustainable solution for animal production. Its implementation enhances air quality in the facilities, supporting the reduction of environmental impacts and mitigation of climate change effects caused by the agroindustry. This investigation underscores the significance of green roofs, emphasizing their environmental, social, and economic benefits, as well as their applicability in animal production. • It is possible to estimate the CO 2 balance in animal production facilities with a green roof. • Green roof can improve air quality in animal production. • Green roof can reduce the thermal stress of the animals in the premises. • Green roof can contribute to the sustainability of animal production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change adaptation and mitigation remain critical to achieving sustainable development while reducing climate vulnerability, particularly among climate-exposed and sensitive regions. Yet, achieving a balance between climate-resilience pathways, high economic productivity, high human development, and energy efficiency appears complex, leading to potential trade-offs. Here, we examine the overarching effect of the diversified energy portfolio, socio-economic drivers, and governance adaptation readiness on Climate change vulnerability across 212 economies. Contrary to the poor conventional panel techniques reported in the existing literature, we employ novel machine learning and dynamic panel estimation techniques that control for chaos, nonlinearity, mutual coupling, and heterogeneity in dynamic systems. The convergent cross-mapping causality technique reveals mutual coupling effects between energy portfolio, governance readiness, socio-economic drivers, and climate change vulnerability. The rapidly increasing population and increasing demand for resources under the business-as-usual society and economic structure that normalizes unsustainable development pathways due to weak governance structures create ineffective climate-resilient policies that lead to unabated emissions with consequences on climate change. The effect of social and governance readiness leads the transformation process to attain sustainable development. Thus, high social and governance readiness spurs climate resilience through climate change adaptation and mitigation to achieve sustainable development. Alternative (renewables) and nuclear energy have displacement effects on fossil fuels, yet, the magnitude of displacement is not large enough to replace future fossil fuel consumption. Conversely, a low-carbon future is still attainable by replacing the fossil energy portfolio with more natural gas and carbon-abatement technologies. Our study demonstrates that energy innovations are useful climate-resilience pathways that lessen climate change vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether an enormous untapped hydropower resource should be utilized domestically by heavily electrifying energy end-uses or should be exported to neighboring countries is often debated in Nepal. This study attempts to bring both policy options together and justifies with evidence the need to integrate end-use electrification and cross-border electricity trade policies in the energy transformation of Nepal. We found out that Nepal will continue to import electricity till 2027 to meet its electricity demand throughout the year though it has already started exporting its surplus electricity during the wet season because of the full availability of run-of-river type hydropower. The run-of-river will continue to dominate Nepal's least-cost generation mix with a two-thirds share resulting in considerable surplus electricity during the high-flow season. Such surplus will exceed one-third of its total energy generation capacity in long-run in all end-use electrification scenarios (low to high). Nepal can use its existing cross-border electricity trade mechanism to sell its surplus electricity and can generate revenue of 67 billion USD in the high electrification scenario, which, combined with savings from fossil fuel import savings, can provide 85 % of total electricity generation investment needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainability paradigm has gained global attention, and the same has been expected from the economies having increasing levels of environmental footprints over the past couple of decades. This research aims to investigate the nexus between clean energy technologies and climate change mitigation among the top ecologically pollutant (TEP) economies during 1996–2020. The research incorporated other drivers of climate change, including energy efficiency, industrialization, and sustainable policies through environmental regulations. The methodological context covers the necessary preliminary tests and the Method of Moment Quantile Regression (MMQR). The preliminary results indicate that TEP economies are interdependent with the heterogenous slope coefficients, stationarity data trends, and cointegrated relationships. The findings from the MMQR unveiled that clean energy technologies tend to mitigate climate change from 0.10th to 0.70th quantiles. Relatedly, energy efficiency reduces the environmental burden across all the quantiles except for the 0.10th one. Conversely, industrialization and economic growth cause an upward shift in climate change among TEP economies across all the quantiles, suggesting a need to shift production-based economies to more service-intensive ones. However, the study found no significant evidence for the nexus between sustainable environmental policies and climate change. The robustness checks also validate the MMQR estimations; however, their parameters' magnitude substantially varied. These outcomes encourage policymakers to implement holistic strategies supporting energy innovation, technologies, and efficiency improvements while controlling the adverse effects of industrialization and traditional growth models. [Display omitted] • Mitigating climate change needs a universal call. • A novel approach, MMQR, has been applied. • Both clean energy technologies and energy efficiency reduce ecological footprints. • Industrialization and economic growth disturb the sustainability paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The industrial sector is characterized by high energy consumption and high carbon emissions. It is of great significance to clarify the determinants of industrial CO 2 emissions for emissions abatement policy making. For this purpose, a comprehensive decomposition framework that can quantify the impacts of both oriented technologies and economic factors on CO 2 emissions is developed. By applying the proposed decomposition framework, this paper investigates the determinants of China's industrial CO 2 emissions. The main findings show that, during the study period, (1) investment scale expansion was the leading factor promoting emissions growth; (2) against our expectations, efforts for energy structure adjustment failed to curb emissions but had marginal promoting effects on emissions growth; (3) energy-oriented and output-oriented technologies were indispensable contributors to emissions mitigation, followed by decreases in investment efficiency, potential energy intensity, and the CO 2 emission coefficient; and (4) energy use efficiency and production efficiency changes usually exerted moderate influences on industrial CO 2 emissions, and their influencing directions were sensitive in different sub-industries and Five-Year Plan periods. In most situations, the inhibiting effects could not counteract the promoting effects. Based on these empirical findings, policy recommendations to further reduce industrial CO 2 emissions are provided. • Empirical analysis was conducted at sub-industries and different FYPs levels. • Investment scale was the leading factor promoting industrial CO 2 emissions. • The technology progress contributed most to emission mitigation. • Driving effects distinctly differed among sub-industries and FYP periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many ports and terminals endeavor to enhance energy efficiency as energy prices have increased through years and climate change mitigation is a key target for the port industry. Stricter environmental regulations are adopted by authorities to limit pollutants and GHG emissions arising from energy consumption. Increasingly, port operational strategies and energy usage patterns are under scrutiny. To ingrain sustainability and environmental protection of ports, the use of innovative technology appears as a critical conduit in achieving a transition from a carbon-intensive port industry (dependent on fossil fuels) to a low-carbon port model by harnessing renewable energy, alternative fuels (e.g. LNG, hydrogen, biofuel), smarter power distribution systems, energy consumption measurement systems. In this context, this paper conducts a systematic literature review to analyze operational strategies (e.g. peak shaving, operations optimization), technology usage (e.g. electrification of equipment, cold-ironing, energy storage systems), renewable energy, alternative fuels and energy management systems (e.g. smart grid with renewable energy) for improving the energy efficiency and environmental performance of ports and terminals. Research gaps and future research directions are identified. Analysis shows that there is a great potential for ports to achieve further energy efficiency and researchers have many impactful research opportunities. • A detailed literature review on energy efficiency in ports and container terminals is conducted. • Operational strategies such as optimization of port operations and peak shaving methods are presented. • Technologies such as electrification of equipment, cold-ironing, energy storage systems, smart grid, microgrid are reviewed. • Renewable energy and clean fuel use in ports are presented. • Methods regarding energy consumption and emission measuring/assessment are detailed for ports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study provides firstly a comprehensive review of studies on measuring the impacts of different biodiesel blends on exhaust emissions characteristics of urban busses under real-world operating conditions. Secondly, this paper discusses the errors that can be made in conducting case studies. Thirdly and finally, it shows lessons learned and provides guidelines to setup case studies, conduct the measurements, perform the statistical analysis and report the results to policy makers and the wider audience. To achieve climate change mitigation targets, using alternative fuels, e.g., biodiesel, hydrogen or electricty (EVs) for the urban fleets requires an in-depth analysis of the impacts under real-world operating conditions. Such experiments are generally very complex as numerous factors could directly or indirectly interfere with the results produced and potentially jeopardize the integrity of the research and the conclusions drawn. Results of the present research show that some vital parameters were ignored by many of the studies performed including the statistical uncertainties, driving cycle uncertainties and fuel uncertainties. Lack of appropriate experimental designs or clear assertions about the level of significance for differences in emissions/fuel consumption between alternative fuels (i.e. biodiesel) and the reference fuel used (i.e., diesel) could be regarded as the main weaknesses. Moreover, many other overarching and very influential factors (e.g., covariates/confounders) can interfere with the research outcomes as these were mostly overlooked by the reviewed studies. A careful and complete experimental design for assessments of alternative fueled vehicles (are critical when conducting real-world operating condition tests. The study findings help to formulate the guidelines for assessing real-world operating condition experiments to achieve the most feasibly and meaningful research outcomes that will have significant implication for local and global policy makers. The guidelines are of use for all types of research studies that want to evaluate the effects of alternative fuels for any transportation fleet. Image 1 • Real-world driving tests on urban buses were examined and discussed. • Key issues were uncertainties related to statistical design, driving cycle, and fuel. • Lack of appropriate experimental design was the main weakness in most studies. • Covariate/confounder factors were mostly overlooked. • Guidelines to perform more complete real-world diving test studies were presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For many years, China has invested effort into achieving resource conservation and environmentally friendly economic development. The measures implemented include promoting technological innovation, market-oriented reform and industrial structure adjustment. But there are open questions: What have the effects of these measures been? Have they helped China achieve win-win development in terms of its resources, environment, and economy? This paper aims to answer these questions by using a newly proposed global three-hierarchy meta-frontier Luenberger index that can quantify the effects of promoting technological innovation, industrial restructuring, etc., on economic growth, energy conservation and emissions reduction. The results show that (1) during 2001–2016, China's energy efficiency, economic efficiency, and emissions efficiency improved, indicating that China's efforts have brought about the win-win development of resources, the environment, and the economy; (2) the implemented measures have heterogeneous effects on economic growth, energy conservation, and emissions reduction. The implemented measures are generally beneficial to energy conservation and emissions reduction but potentially harmful to the economy; (3) the effects of these measures on economic growth, energy conservation and emissions reduction across China's regions and provinces are also quite different, indicating that local provincial governments should have a clear understanding of their own characteristics before implementing the relevant policies and measures. • A global three-hierarchy meta-frontier Luenberger index was proposed for the study. • It can quantify the effects of China's efforts on economy, energy, and emissions. • Results show that China's efforts have brought about a win-win development. • There are the heterogeneities of China's pathways to economic growth, energy conservations and emissions reductions. • The future strategies for China's win-win development should take the heterogeneities into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Curbing the increasing carbon emissions from residential and commercial buildings would be of great importance for achieving China's NDC (Nationally Determined Contributions) target. However, studies on city-level emission pathways and mitigation strategies aiming at building sector are still far from sufficient, especially for regions in Central China. Considering the large potential for further building energy demand increase within this area, this study focuses on Hubei, one of the first batch low-carbon pilot provinces to investigate the possibility of earlier emission peak and reduction potentials by prefecture-level city. When downscaling provincial energy use and emissions estimated from local government plans and academic research, statistical data was applied to exploring the relationship between building energy consumption and socioeconomic variables, then spatial allocation factor could be generated after combining with projections of grid-level GDP and population. Results show that by replacing coal and natural gas (NG) that are currently the main heating & cooking energy sources with more electricity and renewable energy, emissions from the building sector would peak around 2025, which is especially true for three major big cities with higher emission growth rate due to population and urban expansions. Moreover, when considering additional improvement on building energy efficiency, provincial reductions burden would be more evenly distributed among cities. It is implied that by formulating tiered mitigation policies for cities at various economic development levels, including decarbonization of energy structure and improvement of energy efficiency, more cities would peak their emissions from the building sector before 2030. This analytical framework innovatively create a multi-city platform for the simulation of building sector mitigation pathway to facilitate cities' low-carbon development. Image 1 • A spatial downscaling framework was developed for building energy consumption and emission projections on city-level. • Building sector mitigation potential for a low-carbon region with limited supporting data was quantified with this method. • Emission pathway and reduction contribution of the building sectors of multiple cities were estimated. • Electrification and greater renewable energy use in buildings would make emissions peak earlier for more developed cities. • Further building energy efficiency improvement helps increase the mitigation contribution from the less developed cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A novel prototype of water nebulizers was optimized to mitigate the urban climate. • Climate adaptive features were imparted by implementing a fuzzy controller. • Fuzzy and on-off logics were monitored and compared in two different urban settings. • The energy saving touched 70% with ambient conditions very close to neutrality. • The cooling capacity reached −7.5 °C mostly dependent on wind. Abstract Several mature urban climate mitigation technologies have been proposed to date. What mostly hinders their wide implementation is that their efficiency heavily depends on the local microclimatic specificities, since they cannot self-adjust to the environmental changes. This study aims at investigating benefits and impacts of smart logics applied to outdoor cooling, by field testing a web of nebulizers coupled to a bespoke fuzzy controller piloting the pump. The cooling action was tweaked as convenient to maintain comfortable conditions and to avoid energy wastage whenever unneeded. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first application of fuzzy logic to water spraying systems (or to any other controllable urban climate mitigation technology) targeting comfort and energy optimization. The prototype was field monitored in comparison with the conventional on-off control, in two Italian urban contexts (Cfa and Csa climatic zones) over 15 days in the hottest months of the year. The cooling and humidification action was thoroughly characterized by mapping both the horizontal and vertical profiles and by applying advanced Artificial Intelligence techniques to spot the main environmental drivers. The maximum cooling (measured between the sprayed area and an undisturbed reference) touched 7.5 °C and 6.14 °C in the two locations, respectively. The energy saving achieved under fuzzy control versus the temporized control, was spectacularly high in the wetter and windier location with an average of −51.2% and a maximum of −67.5%. The comfort benefit was also substantial: the temperature never deviated from neutrality by more than ±2 °C, whereas with the on–off, this threshold was surpassed between the 14% and the 20% of the time by even more than 5 °C. The results suggest that smartly controlled nebulization is an energy-efficient and comfort-effective strategy to counteract urban overheating. Furthermore, solar-powered solutions are well suited as proved by the preliminary design estimation we included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • 2050 primary energy use can be the same as in 2010 with a 7-fold increase in GDP. • Coal use can peak around 2020, then oil in 2033, and natural gas in 2045. • Non-fossil energy is 28% in 2030, higher than China's Paris Agreement goal of 20%. • Industry CO 2 emissions can peak ∼2020, buildings ∼2029, and transportation ∼2035. • CO 2 emissions can peak in 2025, earlier than China's Paris Agreement goal of 2030. Abstract As part of its Paris Agreement commitment, China pledged to peak carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions around 2030, striving to peak earlier, and to increase the non-fossil share of primary energy to 20% by 2030. Yet by the end of 2017, China emitted 28% of the world's energy-related CO 2 emissions, 76% of which were from coal use. How China can reinvent its energy economy cost-effectively while still achieving its commitments was the focus of a three-year joint research project completed in September 2016. Overall, this analysis found that if China follows a pathway in which it aggressively adopts all cost-effective energy efficiency and CO 2 emission reduction technologies while also aggressively moving away from fossil fuels to renewable and other non-fossil resources, it is possible to not only meet its Paris Agreement Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) commitments, but also to reduce its 2050 CO 2 emissions to a level that is 42% below the country's 2010 CO 2 emissions. While numerous barriers exist that will need to be addressed through effective policies and programs in order to realize these potential energy use and emissions reductions, there are also significant local environmental (e.g., air quality), national and global environmental (e.g., mitigation of climate change), human health, and other unquantified benefits that will be realized if this pathway is pursued in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper presents a new approach to incorporate climate damages in the BAU emissions baselines. The shared socio-economic pathways framework is used to inform country-level changes in the mean surface temperature for the climate projections associated with each scenario. The temperature changes are used to calculate the economic damages using empirical estimates of climate effects on GDP growth. Finally, an energy system model is used under the original socio-economic assumptions and the climate-damaged assumptions, illustrating the indirect effect of climate change in a country-level energy system. Mexico was chosen to exemplify this method. The results show a reduction of energy access and a slow down of technological transition in the energy sector under climate-damaged projections. It is concluded that greenhouse gas mitigation goals should be re-calibrated under cost-benefit analysis that takes into account the damages associated with future climates consistent with the baseline. Thus, the nationally determined contributions that state the emission goals of many countries could be closer to limit the temperature to 1.5 Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Highlights • Climate change impacts on energy systems are assessed via climatically-damaged GDP. • New business as usual scenarios are computed accounting for its associated climates. • Under new BAU, energy production and society's welfare decreases. • Greenhouse gases mitigation goals should be re-calibrated under new BAU. • The recalibration could enable accomplishment of Paris Agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Cities, the core of the global climate change mitigation and strategic low-carbon development, are shelters to more than half of the world population and responsible for three quarters of global energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG). This special volume (SV) provides a platform that promotes multi- and inter- disciplinary analyses and discussions on the climate change mitigation for cities. All papers are divided into four themes, including GHG emission inventory and accounting, climate change and urban sectors, climate change and sustainable development, and strategies and mitigation action plans. First, this SV provides methods for constructing emission inventory from both production and consumption perspectives. These methods are useful to improve the comprehensiveness and accuracy of carbon accounting for international cities. Second, the climate change affects urban sectors from various aspects; simultaneously, GHG emissions caused by activities in urban sectors affect the climate system. This SV focuses on mitigation policies and assessment of energy, transport, construction, and service sectors. Third, climate change mitigation of cities is closely connected to urban sustainable development. This SV explores the relationships between climate change mitigation with urbanization, ecosystems, air pollution, and extreme events. Fourth, climate change mitigation policies can be divided into two categories: quantity-based mechanism (e.g., carbon emission trading) and price-based mechanism (e.g., carbon tax). This SV provides experiences of local climate change mitigation all over the world and proposes the city-to-city cooperation on climate change mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The use of aesthetics for classifying and accepting fresh food for sale and consumption is built into food quality standards and regulations of the European Union. The food distribution sector in Europe and the UK is oligopolistic in nature; a small number of supermarket chains control a large market share. The influence of these ‘multiples’ enables them to impose additional proprietary ‘quality’ criteria. Produce that doesn't meet these standards may be lost from the food supply chain, never seeing a supermarket shelf – it may not get past the supplier, or even leave the farm. Here, for the first time, we estimate the quantity of food loss and waste of fresh fruit and vegetables arising from cosmetic standards in Europe and UK, and its associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We find few direct measurements of such losses, resulting in large uncertainties for key commodities. In the context of these uncertainties, we estimate avoidable FLW from on-farm cosmetic grade-outs of up to 4500 kt yr−1 in the UK and 51,500 kt yr−1 in the European Economic Area (EEA). Our estimates suggest over a third of total farm production is lost for aesthetic reasons, which equates to as much as 970 kt CO 2 e (UK) and 22,500 kt CO 2 e (EEA) of embedded production-phase GHG emissions annually. Examining the issue from the perspective of markets, suppliers, and consumers we establish there is an over-emphasis on superficial qualities (i.e. cosmetic appearance) of fresh produce, which leads to its unnecessary loss and waste. Using an illustrative case study, we provide potential avenues to mitigate these losses and the associated GHG emissions. Highlights • Application of cosmetic standards has resulted in substantial avoidable food losses. • Many actors across the agri-food chain enforce these standards upon farmers. • The embedded emissions of lost sub-optimal food in the EEA is as much as 22.5 Mt CO 2 e yr−1. • Quantity of avoidable on-farm losses remains uncertain due to a lack of coverage. • We propose several avenues to mitigate on-farm food loss and its embedded emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Future projections indicate an expansion for both food and energy demands, which can increase pressure on land use, while there is an urgent global need for climate change mitigation. Bioenergy is foreseen as key option to meet future energy demands and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, however its sustainability depends on locations and regional characteristics. Simultaneously, agricultural production models that co-produce food, feed, and energy offer sustainability synergies and co-benefits, but site-specific sustainability assessments of their large-scale implementation are missing. This study presents a bottom-up approach to assess spatially explicit sustainability aspects of bioenergy-livestock integrated systems (BLI) in Brazil and shed light on their contribution to future energy demands, to climate change mitigation targets, and their impacts on selected ecosystem services, including bioenergy production, climate change mitigation, reduction of food competition, biodiversity conservation, and avoided deforestation. The proposed integration considers livestock intensification and use of biofuels by-products as animal feed supplement, taking advantage of synergies between these two value chains. The expansion of the BLI system in the Center-South region of Brazil produce up to 89 billion liters of ethanol, enough to meet future domestic ethanol demands from multiple shared socioeconomic pathways and generating surpluses for export. This production takes place on 16 million hectares of pastureland within the Sugarcane Agroecological Zoning, excluding the Amazon and Pantanal biomes, and biodiversity hotspots. BLI expansion mitigate up to 250 million tonnes of CO 2 eq and generate 15 billion dollars of profits. The best locations to maximize the selected ecosystem services are west of São Paulo, east of Mato Grosso do Sul, and the south-central region of the states of Goiás. This study may encourage the formulation of enhanced public policies for the integration of bioenergy and livestock value chains and guide a sustainable large-scale deployment of BLI systems. • Bioenergy and livestock integration (BLI): co-production of food, feed and energy. • BLI systems: 89 billion liters of ethanol and 250 million tonnes of CO 2 eq mitigated. • Enough ethanol to meet future Brazilian demands and surplus to be exported. • Biomass expansion only on pastureland inside Sugarcane Agroecological Zoning. • Without land displacement and deforestation of native vegetation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Chemical process intensification can improve the energy efficiency of chemical production. • The intensification of chemical processes reduces the consumption of raw materials and energy. • Chemical process intensification can help reduce the amount of waste and emissions. • The intensification of chemical processes can encourage innovation and the development of cleaner technologies. • Chemical process intensification can improve safety and health in chemical production. The 2030 Agenda is a call to global action to eradicate poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. Process intensification, in this context, refers to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of production and service processes, in order to reduce environmental impact and improve people's quality of life. By optimizing and consolidating various steps within a production process, process intensification aims to achieve higher yields, reduced waste, and lower resource consumption. This approach aligns with the sustainability goals set by the United Nations, including: energy efficiency, waste reduction, resource conservation, emission reduction, circular Economy and sustainable development. Process intensification primarily impacts Goals 7, 9, 12, and 13 of the United Nations' 2023 Sustainability Agenda due to its potential to address key aspects related to energy, industry, sustainable consumption and production, and climate action. This review shows how process intensification directly impacts those Goals of the 2023 Sustainability Agenda by promoting affordable and clean energy, fostering innovation in industry, encouraging responsible consumption and production. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Affecting future urban energy demand will play a significant role in mitigating climate emissions. While the literature has amply focused on the outputs of successful urban climate governance, there has been less focus on the organisational challenge that affecting energy demand will represent. By foregrounding the work practices of civil servants engaging with these issues, this study offers new insights into the possibilities and constraints of affecting energy demand. Inspired by work on social practice theory applied to organisations, it maps the tools, materialities and identity-related dynamics that affect civil servants' work. Empirically, the paper builds on interviews, document analysis and field notes taken in ten Nordic cities. The paper finds that the local agency for governing urban demand is contingent on navigating three tensions: (1) broadening the benefits of climate measures beyond carbon emissions, (2) challenging often politically attractive technologies, and the associated range of actors seen as relevant and (3) clarifying the role and responsibility of municipalities in relation to intervening in citizen's energy demand. By identifying the organisational tensions that civil servants face, the paper helps to understand the challenges encountered in advancing a local climate agenda, and the novel forms of agency that organisations can mobilise. • Taking a social practice lens, this paper studies the tensions met by civil servants in realising demand-side interventions across 10 cities • It reveals three tensions across the tools, materialities and identity-related dynamics that affect civil servants' work. • Amplifying local climate action will require the navigation of these three tensions in the work of civil servants • Ongoing demand reduction will require a widening out in terms of reflexivity, collaboration and political feasibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Petroleum coke, a non-environmentally friendly energy source, is gradually replacing other power fuels in China’s industrial enterprises because of its price advantage. Petroleum coke has high emission factors and thus emits more greenhouse gases (GHGs) and air pollutants than even raw coal. This study first examines the rapid growth of petroleum coke consumption in China since 2010 by industry sector and region and then estimates the petroleum coke-related emissions. We conclude that the total consumption of petroleum coke increased by 18.9% from 2010 to 2016 and that the industry final consumption for burning in boilers increased dramatically (by 158.2%). Petroleum coke-related CO 2 emissions reached 28 million tonnes in 2016, whereas CH 4 and N 2 O emissions totaled 870 and 143 tonnes, respectively. The increased use of petroleum coke will increase the urgency for the development of climate change mitigation and emissions reduction measures in China. We propose several possible policy suggestions for petroleum coke management and emissions control, such as strongly restricting the production and import of high-sulphur petroleum coke, as well as burning petroleum coke to provide power; more power plants and industrial kiln stoves/boilers should be equipped with efficient decontamination systems; the development of advanced industrial processes and the clean utilization of petroleum coke should be encouraged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The iron and steel industry plays an important role in mitigating global climate change. As the largest steel producer and consumer, China bears the primary responsibility for energy savings and CO 2 emission reduction in the iron and steel industry. In this study, taking China as the empirical context, we analyze the effectiveness of the following four strategies on the potential of energy savings and emission reduction: phasing out backward production capacity in accordance with the current major policies, adjusting the production structure to increase electric arc furnace steelmaking, promoting low-carbon technologies, and switching to clean fuels. Under the principle of cost minimization, the mitigation potential of different strategies until 2030 and the technological development paths for reducing energy and CO 2 emissions in China’s iron and steel industry are identified via an established National Energy Technology model. The results show that promoting low-carbon technologies is the most effective strategy for energy savings and emission reduction alongside cost minimization. Compared with existing policies, these strategies could lead to a cumulative reduction of 818.3 MtCO 2 (4.1%) during the period 2015–2030. Therefore, policy makers should provide financial or administrative support to promote the development of specific production and low-carbon technologies such as non-blast furnace iron-making and endless strip production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a promising alternative to fossil fuels, cellulosic biofuel has obtained considerable interest due to its potential for mitigating global climate change and enhancing energy security. However, the widespread adoption of cellulosic biofuel is taking place in a slower pace than expected. One major challenge is that the cellulosic biofuel production is still highly energy-intensive. In fact, the energy contained in cellulosic biofuel is less than the energy required for its production. To address this issue, in this paper, an analytical system-level energy model is proposed to characterize the fundamental relationships between total energy consumption and biofuel production parameters in cellulosic biofuel production systems. Furthermore, an optimization strategy based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is adopted to minimize the energy consumption of cellulosic biofuel production while maintaining the desired biofuel yield. A baseline case is implemented for analyzing energy consumption, and the results show that pretreatment consumes most energy among all processes and the water/biomass ratio is the most significant energy driver. In addition, the optimal solution results in a 21.09% reduction in the total energy consumption compared to the baseline case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities are the major contributors to global carbon dioxide emissions; however, the carbon transfers embodied in cities' domestic and foreign trade have not been fully discussed. As carbon emissions from different domestic and foreign trade partners have not been distinguished, and since China's four municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing) carry an increasingly significant responsibility for carbon reduction in China, a multi-scale and multi-regional carbon emission assessment is applied to identify their emission transfers to and from 26 domestic provinces and 184 foreign economies. The results show that the intensities of the four municipalities are mainly above the international standard (0.14 kg/CNY) but beneath the Chinese average (0.24 kg/CNY). 71.72%, 55.35%, 65.34% and 33.65% of their emissions are imported from other regions. Generally, the four municipalities are net recipients of domestic carbon transfers and suppliers of foreign carbon transfers. Carbon transfers from Hebei to Beijing and Tianjin, Zhejiang to Shanghai, and Sichuan to Chongqing as well as from Beijing and Tianjin to Japan and South Korea and from Shanghai and Chongqing to the United States and Germany are identified in domestic and foreign supply chains. The multi-scale and multi-regional simulation and assessment in this work allows us to identify the carbon emissions not only within a city's boundaries but also via inter- and intra-national trade, providing a solid foundation for the carbon emission assessments of Chinese mega cities from an embodied perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maritime emission regulations set limits for SOx and NOx emissions for health and environmental reasons, and for CO 2, through the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI), with the general aim of mitigating global warming. EEDI verification is performed at the vessel's design speed and design loads, under calm-water conditions. This, although calm seas are the exception in shipping, and that even with calm-water conditions, ships usually operate at lower speeds than their design speed. A major challenge, if greenhouse gases (GHG) reduction targets are to be met through the EEDI, will be to identify EEDI-compliant solutions that reduce energy consumption and GHG emissions under realistic operational conditions, from lying idle at berth in port to when full power is required in critical situations at sea. In view of all the above, we use the Aframax tanker class to illustrate how such an assessment can be performed, and to display the differences in costs and benefits of options, all of which meet the requirements of the EEDI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To mitigate climate change, many studies have been conducted to identify the determinants of CO 2 emissions. However, a consensus has not been reached yet on the issue because past work has often not considered the unobserved individual heterogeneity across countries. Therefore, this study revisits the environment-energy-growth nexus by employing a panel quantile regression to incorporate the effects of renewable energy consumption and technological innovation within the research background of global 30 countries over the period 1980–2014. The advantage of this method is considering the distributional heterogeneity to provide a detailed description of linkage between the CO 2 emissions and driving factors at different emissions levels. The results show that the effects of determinants on CO 2 emissions are heterogeneous. For high-emissions countries, the function of renewable energy consumption is limited in reducing CO 2 emissions due to the smaller proportion of renewable energy use. Moreover, technological innovation greatly affects countries with relatively higher CO 2 emissions. Therefore, one option is to financially support and apply technological innovations to generate renewable energy at lower costs as well as increase energy efficiency. Moreover, transforming the economic growth mode is helpful to transfer from non-renewable to renewable sources of energy to meet energy demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK has been one of the few countries that has successfully decoupled final energy consumption from economic growth over the past 15 years. This study investigates the drivers of final energy consumption in the UK productive sectors between 1997 and 2013 using a decomposition analysis that incorporates two novel features. Firstly, it investigates to what extent changes in thermodynamic efficiency have contributed to overall changes in sectoral energy intensities. Secondly, it analyses how much of the structural change in the UK economy is driven by the offshoring of energy-intensive production overseas. The results show that energy intensity reductions are the strongest factor reducing energy consumption. However, only a third of the energy savings from energy intensity reductions can be attributed to reductions in thermodynamic efficiency with reductions in the exergy intensity of production making up the reminder. In addition the majority of energy savings from structural change are a result of offshoring, which constitutes the second biggest factor reducing energy consumption. In recent years the contributions of all decomposition factors have been declining with very little change in energy consumption after 2009. This suggests that a return to the strong reductions in energy consumption observed between 2001 and 2009 in the UK productive sectors should not be taken for granted. Given that further reductions in UK final energy consumption are needed to achieve global targets for climate change mitigation, additional policy interventions are needed. Such policies should adopt a holistic approach, taking into account all sectors in the UK economy as well as the relationship between the structural change in the UK and in the global supply chains delivering the goods and service for consumption and investment in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generation of goods and services are highly dependent on the use of natural resources. Until very recently, there was an implicit belief that the physical expansion of the economic system could be unlimited, as if the planet would have conditions and time enough to recover and continue to supply resources. This belief implies a confidence in an economic system that would provide whatever is necessary for a continuous growing production and consumption. Even believing that technology alone is not enough to solve the current environmental problems, it is certain that it can collaborate to mitigate climate change and to adaptation to changes in the environment. By bringing environmental aspects into discussions, eco-innovations can affect and transform the innovation system in order to create sustainable processes. However, the main challenge towards the transition to a more sustainable, cleaner and more equitable society is to set innovation in a new context, as until very recently it only considered the economic variables. This change means to value the social and environmental dimension of the innovation. In addition to eco-innovation, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is spreading in the industrial environment, offering promising perspectives. LCA is considered a valuable methodology in the environmental sustainability of industry. In this context, the present study addresses LCA and its relationship with the generation of eco-innovations. Drawing on contributions from literature on eco-innovation and LCA, the paper analyses available evidence on this relationship in a context of the transition towards sustainable development. To structure the debate, the paper offers a conceptual approach and an illustrative case on international researchers' and practitioners’ perceptions on the potentially positive relationship between eco-innovation and LCA. The study gathers data in the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection and in Scopus, in order to provide a picture of the distribution of documents retrieved from these databases, dealing with both eco-innovation and LCA topics. The paper concludes that the convergence of the eco-innovation and LCA studies is quite plausible, but at least in its initial phase, the literature that unites both themes is scarcely found in publications in the area of innovation, being more frequent in the area of engineering and management that usually addresses LCA studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the social costs and benefits of potential configurations of electric vehicle deployment, including and excluding vehicle-to-grid. To fully explore the benefits and costs of different electric vehicle pathways, four different scenarios are devised with both today's and 2030 electricity grid in Denmark. These scenarios combine different levels of electric vehicle implementation and communication ability, i.e. smart charging or full bi-directionality, and then paired with different levels of future renewable energy implementation. Then, the societal costs of all scenarios are calculated, including carbon and health externalities to find the least-cost mix of electric vehicles for society. The most cost-effective penetration of electric vehicles in the near future is found to be 27%, increasing to 75% by 2030. This would equate to a $34 billion reduction to societal costs in 2030, a decrease of 30% compared to business as usual. This represents a projected annual savings per vehicle of $1200 in 2030. However, current vehicle capital cost differences, a lack of willingness to pay for electric vehicles, and consumer discount rates are substantial barriers to electric vehicle deployment in Denmark in the near term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the pressing demand of climate change mitigation, the rapid technological development and market adoption of battery electric vehicles are imperative. However, the diverse consumption attitudes and their interactions, which are rarely considered, can significantly affect the adoption potential of battery electric vehicles. On the basis of three years of global positioning system data of 1.6 million people, we estimated the travel and adoption demands of battery electric vehicles in Japan considering diverse consumption attitudes. Under the current construction conditions for public charging systems and charging technologies, the adoption potential of battery electric vehicles may not be as promising as previously expected, and the government still faces great pressure to respond to the market share target. Given the current level of battery technology, technical and policy improvements such as fast charging, reducing the production cost, perfecting the public charging infrastructure, and increasing purchasing subsidies were found to be more effective than improving the battery capacity at increasing the adoption potential of battery electric vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the world moves towards a carbon-free future, cities have been identified as key hubs for change. They have the greatest ability to quickly develop more efficient systems and implement climate change mitigation policies. Moreover, cities will become the destination of a population migration as humanity grows globally to a population of 11 billion. In this case study, we show that the applicability of the Ecological Footprint, an overarching outcome measure of resource consumption, for targeting climate change mitigation in cities. We focus on the carbon Footprint subcomponent of the Ecological Footprint, and further translate and disaggregate the carbon Footprint into detailed classification of individual consumption according to purpose (COICOP) and analyze the Footprint of consumption associated with each of these categories for 15 Canadian cities according to census metropolitan area (CMA), from each province. The Ecological Footprint of CMAs was calculated from the consumption land use matrix (CLUM) of Canada, by scaling results according to the annual national survey of household spending from 2010 to 2015. The expenditure in electricity was also scaled with the carbon intensity factor. Our findings indicate that the carbon Footprint remains the largest contributor of the Ecological Footprint of CMAs. The carbon Footprint associated with housing varied significantly with the source of electricity production. CMAs relying on renewable energy sources have a substantially lower carbon Footprint than those relying on fossil fuel energy. The carbon Footprint associated with the operation of personal transportation was the second largest among all consumption categories. Financial services is the largest share of the carbon Footprint from service consumption. Clothing consumption caused most of the goods’ carbon Footprint. A better understanding of urban planning of Canadian CMAs and promoting local consumption will improve carbon mitigation and long-term sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union launched a set of policies as part of its 2020 climate and energy package aimed at meeting its 20/20/20 headline targets for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. This paper evaluates how successful new-to-the-market climate change mitigation technologies (CCMT) are in helping EU member states (MS) reach these goals and, furthermore, whether there are differences between sectors subject to EU-wide polices. To do so, we relate CCMT patent counts to two specific headline targets: (1) achieving 20% of gross final energy consumption from renewables, and (2) achieving a 20% increase in energy efficiency. Our results provide the first ex-post evaluation of the effectiveness of these technologies for combating climate change. Moreover, our sectoral impact assessment points to significant differences in the way in which these technologies contribute to policy goals across the sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Black carbon mitigation has received increasing attention for its potential contribution to both climate change mitigation and air pollution control. Although different bottom-up models concerned with unit mitigation costs of various technologies allow the assessment of alternative policies for optimized cost-effectiveness, the lack of adequate data often forced many reluctant explicit and implicit assumptions that deviate away from actual situations of rural residential energy consumption in developing countries, where most black carbon emissions occur. To gauge the theory-practice gap in black carbon mitigation – the unit cost differences that lie between what is estimated in the theory and what is practically achieved on the ground – this study conducted an extensive field survey and analysis of nine mitigation technologies in rural China, covering both northern and southern regions with different residential energy consumption patterns. With a special focus on two temporal characteristics of those technologies – lifetimes and annual utilization rates, this study quantitatively measured the unit cost gaps and explain the technical as well as sociopolitical mechanisms behind. Structural and behavioral barriers, which have affected the technologies’ performance, are discussed together with policy implications to narrow those gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]