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Climate change represents one of the most pressing societal and scientific challenges of our time. While much of the current research on climate change focuses on future prediction, some of the strongest signals of warming can already be seen in Arctic and alpine areas, where temperatures are rising faster than the global average, and in the oceans, where the combination of rising temperatures and acidification due to increased CO2 concentrations has had catastrophic consequences for sensitive marine organisms inhabiting coral reefs. The scientific papers highlighted as part of this anniversary issue represent some of the most impactful advances in our understanding of the consequences of anthropogenic climate change. Here, we reflect on the legacy of these papers from the biotic perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research has indicated high economic and environmental costs of human paper usage. Technologies have been developed to reduce consumers' paper use behavior, including mechanical dispensers that institute a delay between opportunities to obtain each consecutive unit. However, there is no empirical evidence that these dispensers or delays reduce paper use. In Experiment 1, implementing a delay between paper-unit deliveries using mechanical dispensers in a university café resulted in a significant decrease in units per person, material per person, and cost per person, compared to free-access dispensers. In Experiment 2, a relatively long delay was more effective than a short delay in reducing paper consumption in a laboratory experiment using mechanical dispensers. These results indicate that delays could be used to decrease paper use in many contexts on a larger scale. More research is necessary to determine the underlying behavioral mechanisms responsible for the observed reduction and the cost–benefit relationship under different circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tick-borne diseases are a public health issue. To predict vector tick abundance and activity, it is necessary to understand the driving factors for these variables. In this study, the activity of Ixodes ricinus was investigated in forest and meadow habitats in Germany with a focus on abiotic factors. Ixodes ricinus adults, nymphs and larvae were caught by flagging over a period of 2 years. Microclimatic and weather conditions were recorded at the collection sites. Statistical models were applied to describe correlations between abiotic factors and tick activity in univariable and multivariable analyses. Tick activity was observed in a broad range of air temperature between 3 and 28 °C, and air humidity varied between 35 and 95%. In general, tick activity of nymphs and larvae was higher in forest habitats than that in meadows. With the exception of a single specimen of Dermacentor reticulatus, all ticks were Ixodes ricinus, most of them nymphs (63.2% in 2009 and 75.2% in 2010). For the latter, a negative binomial mixed-effects model fitted best to the observed parameters. The modelling results showed an activity optimum between 20 and 23 °C for air temperature and between 13 and 15 °C for ground temperature. In univariable analyses, the collection site, month, season, ground and air temperature were significant factors for the number of ticks caught and for all life stages. In the multivariable analysis, temperature, season and habitat turned out to be key drivers. Ixodes ricinus positive for RNA of tick-borne encephalitis virus was only found at a single sampling site. The results of this study can be used in risk assessments and to parameterise predictive models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the creation, development, and dissemination of prefabricated concrete rural houses in Jiangsu Province in East China from 1961 to the 1980s, an example of the technological transition provoked by the depletion of forest and timber in China. Through archival research, fieldwork and interviews, the paper examines the two waves of design and dissemination of prefabricated concrete rural houses between 1961 and 1965 and their subsequent 'vernacularisation' in the 1970s and the 1980s. This research provides a twofold insight into the current scholarly debates surrounding built heritage and global climate change. On one hand, it addresses a historical context of concrete overuse in contemporary China, a matter of critical importance in relation to carbon emissions and global climate change. On the other hand, it offers a counter-argument to today's call for reintroducing timber structures in many places, as evidenced by the case of East China, where the widespread use of materials like concrete was primarily a consequence of the ecological crisis following decades of deforestation and timber resource depletion. In addition, the 'vernacularisation' of concrete structures manifested by this case still provides lessons for today's efforts to popularise more eco-friendly construction materials and technologies, especially in rural areas, and the prefabricated concrete houses possess potential heritage values as trackers of ecological changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abandoned underground mines appear to be very sensitive to the variations in their environment. Due to seasonal environmental changes often related to climate and resulting in changes in the water table and hygrometry, the pillars are often subjected to cyclic variations of saturation. This could affect the short- and long-term stability of these abandoned structures. In this paper, a preliminary study on the behaviour of Château-Landon chalk has been carried out. Samples were extracted from pillars of the abandoned Royer chalk mine (Château-Landon, France). The mechanical behaviour of this chalk was then investigated by performing conventional hydrostatic, triaxial compression, and creep tests under drained conditions at different water saturation degrees and confining pressures. The obtained results show up fundamental aspects of this chalk behaviour. Its high sensitivity to water and confining pressure are described, and a water saturation-induced plastic deformation is analysed. The results presented in this paper provide some key mechanisms that can be used in the framework of back analysis and expertise in underground chalk mines, as well as the data required for the development of a specific constitutive model. Highlights: Compression tests were performed on the Château-Landon chalk at different water saturation degrees (10%, 40%, 60%, 90%, 100%) and confining pressures (0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 3 Mpa). An analysis of the creep behaviour of this material at a partial and total saturated state was shown. The variation of mechanical properties with water saturation degree and confining pressure was analysed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over 90% of Australia's surfaced roads are unbound pavements with sprayed seals. However, achieving complete impermeability with these seals is challenging, leading to some moisture exchange between pavement layers and the environment. As moisture fluctuations influenced by climatic factors significantly affect the structural performance of particularly unbound granular layers, there is a pressing need to enhance Australian pavement design by incorporating climatic effects to meet better pavement performance. Hence, the current study numerically evaluates the degree of moisture saturation ( S r) variations of pavement layers under different Australian climates. This paper reveals how ambient climate impacts the moisture variations of pavement layers based on the results of 126 numerical simulations performed. Results indicated that the annual rainfall is not an appropriate parameter to decide the service moisture condition of the UGM layer, but the ratio between annual rainfall and annual pan evaporation ( P PE ) combined with the saturated permeability of the seal ( K s) is found to be a better indicator. More importantly, this study develops a novel empirical model to predict the service moisture condition of the UGM layers aiming to advance the current Australian pavement design guide. Furthermore, a correlation between pavement moisture and a widely used climatic index, Thornthwaite Moisture Index (TMI ) is presented in this study. Furthermore, this paper proposes a novel approach to integrating climatic factors into the current Australian pavement design of unbound pavements with thin seals. This study enhances understanding of the complex relationship between climate and pavement moisture by taking a multi-dimensional approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the connection between climate change and energy security in Europe and provides empirical evidence that these issues are the two faces of the same coin. Using a panel of 39 European countries during the period 1980–2020, the empirical analysis presented in this paper indicates that increasing the share of nuclear, renewables, and other nonhydrocarbon energy and improving energy efficiency could lead to a significant reduction in carbon emissions and improve energy security throughout Europe. Accordingly, policies and reforms aimed at shifting away from hydrocarbons and increasing energy efficiency in distribution and consumption are key to mitigating climate change, reducing energy dependence, and minimizing exposure to energy price volatility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

V.M. Fedorov has published comments regarding my paper on the new astronomical theory of climate change developed by us and the appendix to it. In this paper, I disagree with his objections and briefly substantiate my disagreement. The new theory is based on solving problems of the evolution of orbital and rotational motions of the Earth under the influence of the Sun, planets, and the Moon. All components of the theory have been published, and the methods, programs, and calculation data are freely available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of a global crisis around climate change, children continue to be largely excluded from environmental conversations. In order to change this, there has been an increased effort to produce children's media that educates young readers about the origins, effects, and possible solutions to climate change. These environmental texts for children can contribute to the ecopedagogical project and provide children with the information and the language that are necessary to become conscious ecocitizens. This paper analyzes how children's non-fiction books from the Netherlands enable young readers to develop socio-political agency regarding climate change and position themselves within discussions about this topic. A potential trap for children's environmental literature lies in its tendency to simplify the complex issue of climate change and to offer potential ways for fighting climate change which are not accessible to all young readers. Therefore, the paper pays specific attention to the processes of inclusion and exclusion that are used in these books. The analysis is structured around Greta Gaard's critical model for inclusive ecopedagogical texts, based on recognizing and dismantling alienation, hierarchy, and ultimately domination. The study finds that the books selected use contrasting techniques that alienate the reader from the already abstract concept of climate change. They encourage the reader to see themselves as possible "eco heroes" and propose different strategies for contributing to help the direct victims of climate change who are frequently positioned as distanced from the intended young reader. Nature is largely represented as a passive entity, which can play no role in restoring ecological balance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Six planetary boundaries have already been exceeded, including climate change, loss of biodiversity, chemical pollution, and land-system change. The health research sector contributes to the environmental crisis we are facing, though to a lesser extent than healthcare or agriculture sectors. It could take steps to reduce its environmental impact but generally has not done so, even as the planetary emergency worsens. So far, the normative case for why the health research sector should rectify that failure has not been made. This paper argues strong philosophical grounds, derived from theories of health and social justice, exist to support the claim that the sector has a duty to avoid or minimise causing or contributing to ecological harms that threaten human health or worsen health inequity. The paper next develops ideas about the duty’s content, explaining why it should entail more than reducing carbon emissions, and considers what limits might be placed on the duty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peatlands cover only 3–4% of the Earth's surface, but they store nearly 30% of global soil carbon stock. This significant carbon store is under threat as peatlands continue to be degraded at alarming rates around the world. It has prompted countries worldwide to establish regulations to conserve and reduce emissions from this carbon rich ecosystem. For example, the EU has implemented new rules that mandate sustainable management of peatlands, critical to reaching the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. However, a lack of information on the extent and condition of peatlands has hindered the development of national policies and restoration efforts. This paper reviews the current state of knowledge on mapping and monitoring peatlands from field sites to the globe and identifies areas where further research is needed. It presents an overview of the different methodologies used to map peatlands in nine countries, which vary in definition of peat soil and peatland, mapping coverage, and mapping detail. Whereas mapping peatlands across the world with only one approach is hardly possible, the paper highlights the need for more consistent approaches within regions having comparable peatland types and climates to inform their protection and urgent restoration. The review further summarises various approaches used for monitoring peatland conditions and functions. These include monitoring at the plot scale for degree of humification and stoichiometric ratio, and proximal sensing such as gamma radiometrics and electromagnetic induction at the field to landscape scale for mapping peat thickness and identifying hotspots for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Remote sensing techniques with passive and active sensors at regional to national scale can help in monitoring subsidence rate, water table, peat moisture, landslides, and GHG emissions. Although the use of water table depth as a proxy for interannual GHG emissions from peatlands has been well established, there is no single remote sensing method or data product yet that has been verified beyond local or regional scales. Broader land-use change and fire monitoring at a global scale may further assist national GHG inventory reporting. Monitoring of peatland conditions to evaluate the success of individual restoration schemes still requires field work to assess local proxies combined with remote sensing and modeling. Long-term monitoring is necessary to draw valid conclusions on revegetation outcomes and associated GHG emissions in rewetted peatlands, as their dynamics are not fully understood at the site level. Monitoring vegetation development and hydrology of restored peatlands is needed as a proxy to assess the return of water and changes in nutrient cycling and biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper begins with a recognition that questions of climate change, environmental degradation, and our relations to the natural world are increasingly significant and requiring of a response not only as philosophers of education but also as citizens of the planet. As such the paper explores five of the key journals in philosophy of education in order to identify the extent, range, and content of current discussions related to the environment. It then organizes and summaries the articles that were located while seeking to identify the extent, possibilities, and limitations of current discussions relating to the environment in the philosophy of education community. The hope is that ultimately this work is an invitation to anyone, regardless of tradition, orientation, and expertise, to contribute to the expansion and deepening of both theory and practice in the face of this most serious of challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the impacts of climate change intensify globally, scholars and policymakers are increasingly interested in determining the factors that lead to the success or failure of climate adaptation strategies. This paper investigates the well-being outcomes of ex-pastoralists in northern Kenya who have migrated to towns in response to severe droughts. Focusing on Marsabit Town, the study employs a comparative design with primary survey data to analyze the well-being outcomes resulting from migration as an adaptation strategy. We contrast two heterogeneous groups of former pastoralists: a "settled group" that was already residing in Marsabit Town before ending their pastoral activities and a "migrant group" that relocated to Marsabit Town at the time of abandoning pastoralism. Our analysis reveals significant differences in well-being outcomes between these groups, with the migrant group often experiencing deterioration in their well-being levels. Key predictors of poorer well-being outcomes include the loss of all livestock, informal housing, and failure to transition into agricultural work, which often results in dependence on casual labor. Additionally, many migrants continue to experience poor subjective well-being—referring to their personal satisfaction with the quality of life—years after their livelihood transition. These insights offer a nuanced understanding of the well-being outcomes of migration-as-adaptation among heterogeneous groups of ex-pastoralists and underscore the need for customized livelihood support strategies for the most at-risk populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The planned relocation of communities away from areas of climate-related risk has emerged as a critical strategy to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Empirical examples from around the world show, however, that such relocations often lead to poor outcomes for affected communities. To address this challenge, and contribute to developing guidelines for just and sustainable relocation processes, this paper calls attention to three fundamental tensions in planned relocation processes: (1) conceptualizations of risk and habitability; (2) community consultation and ownership; and (3) siloed policy frameworks and funding mechanisms. Drawing on the collective experience of 29 researchers, policymakers and practitioners from around the world working on planned relocations in the context of a changing climate, we provide strategies for collectively and collaboratively acknowledging and navigating these tensions among actors at all levels, to foster more equitable and sustainable relocation processes and outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine toxins produced by marine organisms threaten human health and impose a heavy public health burden on coastal countries. Lately, there has been an emergence of marine toxins in regions that were previously unaffected, and it is believed that climate change may be a significant factor. This paper systematically summarizes the impact of climate change on the risk of marine toxins in terms of changes in seawater conditions. From our findings, climate change can cause ocean warming, acidification, stratification, and sea-level rise. These climatic events can alter the surface temperature, salinity, pH, and nutrient conditions of seawater, which may promote the growth of various algae and bacteria, facilitating the production of marine toxins. On the other hand, climate change may expand the living ranges of marine organisms (such as algae, bacteria, and fish), thereby exacerbating the production and spread of marine toxins. In addition, the sources, distribution, and toxicity of ciguatoxin, tetrodotoxin, cyclic imines, and microcystin were described to improve public awareness of these emerging marine toxins. Looking ahead, developing interdisciplinary cooperation, strengthening monitoring of emerging marine toxins, and exploring more novel approaches are essential to better address the risks of marine toxins posed by climate change. Altogether, the interrelationships between climate, marine ecology, and marine toxins were analyzed in this study, providing a theoretical basis for preventing and managing future health risks from marine toxins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the use of Greek mythology in current ecological discourse. In Classical Studies, specifically in Classical Tradition studies, the ecocritical revision of Greco-Latin texts and their survival is still in its infancy. The ecological question is usually approached as a reconstruction of notions and uses of nature, with little reference to the contemporary philosophical and cultural discourse that revolves around the cultural causes of the climate crisis, its historical paradoxes, and its future projections. This has led to a situation in which ancient mythology, especially Greek mythology, is used by ecological discourse representatives for argumentative, explanatory, or informative purposes without the required textual criticism and scientific rigor. This paper insists on the need to critically review the ecological readings of Greek mythology to avoid contradictions, paradoxes, or biased interpretations that could weaken the ecocritical debate. Specifically, two predominant tendencies are analyzed: the argumentative use of myth (e.g., in the case of the adamantine chains of Prometheus or the use of Platonic myths) and its resemanticization for a specific discursive purpose (e.g., the reductionist interpretations of Gaia and Medusa) in authors such as Timothy Morton, Jane Bennett, Ursula Heise, or Donna Haraway. The results show that the treatment of Greek myths in the ecological discourse is often subordinated to argumentative needs, avoiding alternative mythographic sources that relativize what has been exposed or venturing into biased interpretations that can lead to undesired contradictions concerning the postulates of the ecological discourse itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we present the GDL Vulnerability Index (GVI), a new composite index to monitor and analyse the human components of vulnerability to climate change, natural disasters, and other kinds of shocks, for societies and geographic areas across the globe. The GVI is a simple and flexible index designed for use by experts as well as non-experts in the climate field, including researchers, (local) politicians, NGO's, journalists, advocacy groups and grassroot movements. The GVI is based on an additive formula that summarizes the essence of seven socioeconomic dimensions of vulnerability into a single number. This formula approach sets this index apart from other existing indices. Any person who knows the values of the underlying indicators can compute the vulnerability score of an area by filling in these values in the GVI formula. Validity tests show that the data-driven GVI measures the vulnerability dimensions coping capacity, adaptive capacity and susceptibility as well as major expert-based indices. This offers great prospects for use in situations where no other vulnerability information is available. Here we explain the construction of the GVI, test its validity and present GVI values for (almost) all countries of the world and for major global regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper concerns a discrete diffusive predator–prey system involving two competing predators and one prey in a shifting habitat induced by the climate change. By assuming that both predators can increase when the prey is at the maximal capacity and the prey can still survive under optimal climatic conditions when these two predators have their maximal densities, we investigate the existence and non-existence for different types of forced traveling waves which describe the conversion from the state of a saturated aboriginal prey with two invading alien predators, an aboriginal co-existent predator–prey with an invading alien predator, and the coexistence of three species to the extinction state, respectively. The existence of supercritical and critical forced waves is showed by applying Schauder's fixed point theorem on various invariant cones via constructing different types of generalized super- and sub-solutions while the non-existence of subcritical forced waves is obtained by contradiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change disproportionately impacts coastal residents in the United States. Existing studies document institutional efforts to adapt to sea level rise through projects like seawalls, beach nourishment, and property acquisitions to protect communities from rising seas. Such studies capture institutional adaptations, but do not include ad hoc adaptations by homeowners impacted by climate change. How are homeowners adapting to climate hazards? This paper analyzes ethnographic and interview data from 100 households in two coastal counties in North Carolina, a state with one of the most climate vulnerable shorelines in the country. This analysis of homeowner response considers ad hoc adaptations along the North Carolina coast. Results show that homeowners recognize climate hazards and regularly adapt on their own within the context of institutionally maintained flood protection infrastructure and transportation access to the places where they live. Residents are aware of and attempt to access support for home adaptations when programs or funds are available to them after disasters and do so with varying levels of success, though the more pervasive adaptations to chronic stress are not supported by government programs or insurance mechanisms. Ad hoc adaptations may provide short-term protection from climate hazards but have questionable long-term efficacy as sea levels rise and storm strength and frequency increases. Leaving communities and households to adapt on their own as chronic climate hazards outpace institutional response exacerbates existing inequalities by relying on residents with different levels of resources and agency to adapt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue aims to display the breadth and depth of qualitative studies of the environment. In terms of breadth, the work here demonstrates that sociology should have a capacious definition of the environment and treat it with the same scrutiny as other folk concepts. Doing so—with the caveat that individual studies need to carefully operationalize 'the environment'—reveals how a sociology of the environment has great deal to contribute to our understandings of community, culture, and inequality. In terms of depth, these articles develop new theoretical and empirical areas for environmental sociology, expanding the subfield internationally and bringing it up to date in terms of its relevance for understanding our current moment of pandemic, global warming, and nature fetishization. The outstanding papers collected in this special issue provide manifold lessons, connect to other sociological subfields, and, together, generate a sense of urgency for more qualitative studies of the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global climate change and the collection of environmental protection taxes are accelerating the green transformation of thermal power enterprises. This study selected Chinese thermal power listed companies as samples and used a dynamic three-stage (operational, green transformation, and market performance) network DEA model to evaluate their transformation efficiency and corporate performance. This paper incorporates targeted indicators such as ESG (environment, society, governance) and stock prices into the model and conducts a comparative study on the basis of macro policies and the geographical location of the enterprise. A comparative analysis was conducted on the efficiency of enterprises before and after the adjustment of the environmental tax burden, using the environmental tax burden as an exogenous variable. Thus, the following conclusions can be drawn: there is a certain positive correlation between the collaborative efficiency of the two links of thermal power enterprises and the economic development of their respective regions. Moreover, the green transformation efficiency of most thermal power enterprises is superior to the market performance efficiency. The environmental tax burden mainly improves the overall efficiency of thermal power enterprises by improving their operational efficiency and efficiency in the green transformation stage without affecting market performance. To further improve efficiency, thermal power enterprises should actively communicate with stakeholders to strive for more financial relief. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pangani is a historic coastal Swahili town situated at the mouth of the Pangani River, which empties its waters into the Indian ocean. Archaeologists have traced the origins of this town back to the seventh century through evidence from material cultures found in this area. Despite its historical importance and archaeological interest, Pangani faces substantial conservation and management challenges, primarily due to low awareness levels among its local community. These residents are largely unaware of the town's historical value and of the impact of factors such as climate change, stone quarrying, wave erosion, and development pressures, so effective conservation plans are lacking. In finding the best practices for managing and conserving this historic town, a critical question remains as to how to rescue the town's significance and value from these challenges. This paper proposes a gazettement approach for managing and conserving Pangani, emphasising a bottom-up approach that involves local communities and other stakeholders in the conservation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on climate anxiety is rapidly growing, with ongoing exploration of population prevalence, contributing factors, and mitigation strategies that transform anxiety into helpful action. What remains unclear is whether and how to delineate climate anxiety from mental ill health. A limited conceptualization of climate anxiety restricts efforts to identify and support those adversely affected. This paper draws on psychological and existential theories to propose a theoretical model of climate anxiety and coping, extending previous conceptualizations. The model theorizes that climate change evokes an existential conflict that manifests affectively as climate anxiety (and other emotional experiences), wherein cognitive and behavioral coping processes are activated. These processes fall on a continuum of adaptivity, depending on functional impact. Responses might range from meaningful engagement with activities that address climate change to maladaptive strategies that negatively impact personal, social, and occupational functioning. Applications of this model in research and practice are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper celebrates Professor Yongqi GAO's significant achievement in the field of interdisciplinary studies within the context of his final research project Arctic Climate Predictions: Pathways to Resilient Sustainable Societies - ARCPATH (https://www.svs.is/en/projects/finished-projects/arcpath). The disciplines represented in the project are related to climatology, anthropology, marine biology, economics, and the broad spectrum of social-ecological studies. Team members were drawn from the Nordic countries, Russia, China, the United States, and Canada. The project was transdisciplinary as well as interdisciplinary as it included collaboration with local knowledge holders. ARCPATH made significant contributions to Arctic research through an improved understanding of the mechanisms that drive climate variability in the Arctic. In tandem with this research, a combination of historical investigations and social, economic, and marine biological fieldwork was carried out for the project study areas of Iceland, Greenland, Norway, and the surrounding seas, with a focus on the joint use of ocean and sea-ice data as well as social-ecological drivers. ARCPATH was able to provide an improved framework for predicting the near-term variation of Arctic climate on spatial scales relevant to society, as well as evaluating possible related changes in socioeconomic realms. In summary, through the integration of information from several different disciplines and research approaches, ARCPATH served to create new and valuable knowledge on crucial issues, thus providing new pathways to action for Arctic communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The healthcare system plays a pivotal role in environmental sustainability, and the operating room (OR) significantly contributes to its overall carbon footprint. In response to this critical challenge, leading medical societies, government bodies, regulatory agencies, and industry stakeholders are taking measures to address healthcare sustainability and its impact on climate change. Healthcare now represents almost 20% of the US national economy and 8.5% of US carbon emissions. Internationally, healthcare represents 5% of global carbon emissions. US Healthcare is an outlier in both per capita cost, and per capita greenhouse gas emission, with almost twice per capita emissions compared to every other country in the world. Methods: The Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) and the European Association for Endoscopic Surgery (EAES) established the Sustainability in Surgical Practice joint task force in 2023. This collaborative effort aims to actively promote education, mitigation, and innovation, steering surgical practices toward a more sustainable future. Results: Several key initiatives have included a survey of members' knowledge and awareness, a scoping review of terminology, metrics, and initiatives, and deep engagement of key stakeholders. Discussion: This position paper serves as a Call to Action, proposing a series of actions to catalyze and accelerate the surgical sustainability leadership needed to respond effectively to climate change, and to lead the societal transformation towards health that our times demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forests are crucial for supporting various ecosystem functions and biodiversity, but they are vulnerable to global change drivers such as climate change and land use change. The special issue "How belowground biodiversity affects ecosystem functions of forests" explores the relationship between belowground biodiversity and ecosystem functions in forests. The papers in the special issue cover topics such as the potential drivers of soil microbial biodiversity, the effects of belowground biodiversity on multiple ecosystem functions, and the implications for future research. The findings highlight the importance of belowground biodiversity in maintaining ecosystem functions and provide insights for forest management and biodiversity conservation. [Extracted from the article]

Rubber plantations are among the most important in the world's tropical regions. They play a positive role in carbon sequestration and in delaying climate change, supplying strategic resources of natural rubber (NR), and aiding in poverty alleviation and rural revitalisation. This paper reviews six methods of research on carbon sinks in rubber plantations: the biomass inventory method, the biomass conversion factor continuous function method, the trade potential of carbon sinks method, the calculation method for carbon storage of rubber latex, the eddy covariance method, and the remote sensing image model method. This study clarifies the carbon sink assessment and enhancement model for rubber plantations and describes the composition of the carbon pool, which includes the aboveground and belowground vegetation biomass carbon pools, litter carbon pool, latex carbon pool, and soil carbon pool. It also examines influencing factors such as tree age, global climate change, and human disturbance, as well as improvement pathways including afforestation, fertilisation, irrigation, and tapping, and evaluation methods like field surveys, positional observations, remote sensing monitoring, and model simulation. Research on carbon sequestration in rubber plantations faces challenges, including the unclear dynamics of carbon sources and sequestration, uncertain spatial and temporal patterns, and the long-term lack of accurate monitoring of carbon sinks and technologies for increasing sinks and reducing emissions. Future research should focus on the methodology of rubber plantation carbon sequestration projects, the dynamics of carbon sequestration, and the spatial allocation pattern of carbon sequestration in rubber plantations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wetland ecosystems have become one of the long-term solutions for mitigating global climate change due to their strong carbon sequestration potential. However, the key carbon cycle processes in wetland ecosystems still lack a systematic summary. In the context of wetland protection and restoration, there is still a lack of consensus on the technical pathways to realize carbon sink multiplication in wetland ecosystems. In this paper, the key processes of carbon cycle, such as photosynthetic carbon uptake, microbial carbon decomposition and carbon deposition and burial, are sorted out and summarized in four major wetland types, namely, swamp and peat wetlands, river and riparian wetlands, lake and lakeshore wetlands, and estuarine and coastal wetlands. Based on the key processes of carbon cycle, three technological pathways for carbon sink multiplication are proposed, including, vegetation carbon sequestration and sink enhancement technology, soil carbon emission reduction technology and carbon deposition and burial technology. The key technologies under each pathway are further refined. And the carbon sink effects of the carbon sink technologies in different wetland types are qualitatively described. Also, wetland protection and restoration methods in corresponding regions are given in the light of the regional characteristics of wetlands in China. This will provide a scientific basis for the strategy of doubling the carbon sinks of China's wetland ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the radiation budget and its temporal variability over Poland. The data analysis is based on the MERRA-2 reanalysis for the years 1980–2020. During the last four decades, the enhancement of climate warming has been observed, which coincides with the changes in the radiation budget. Positive and statistically significant trends at the top of the atmosphere (TOA; 0.7 ± 0.2 W/m2/10 year) and on the Earth's surface (1.5 ± 0.2 W/m2/10 year) radiation budget (net downward flux) are mainly a consequence of changes in the amount of aerosol and greenhouse gases (GHG). According to MERRA-2, the AOD during this period decreased by − 0.19 (at 550 nm), which is 87% of the long-term (1980–2021) mean value (0.22). The reduction of AOD is due mainly to the decline of non-absorbing sulfate particles, which leads to a reduction of single-scattering albedo (SSA) by − 0.008 per decade and Angstrom exponent (AE) by − 0.06 per decade (both trends statistically significant). On the other hand, the GHG concentration increased by 4.9%/10 year and 3%/10 year, respectively, for CO2 and CH4. The total column of water vapor increased (1.3%/10 year), while ozone decreased (− 1%/10 year). Despite the fact that cloud cover and cloud optical depth (COD) decreased (− 1.8%/10 year and − 1.0%/10 year), the impact of cloud on temporal variability radiation budget is small. It can be explained by nearly compensated shortwave (SW) cooling and longwave (LW) heating effects. During the analysis period, near-surface air temperature increased by 2.0 °C. The estimated increase in SW net surface radiation (7.9 W/m2) leads to climate warming by 0.8 °C, which is a consequence mainly of the reduction of aerosol (0.4 °C) and cloud cover (0.2 °C). The impact of the change of SW radiation on air temperature is more pronounced during the warm season, while during the cold, air temperature change is controlled mainly by the variability of air mass advection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper employs an innovative event study methodology to demonstrate the impact of climate change on the NASDAQ index from the unique perspective of extreme weather events. This is achieved through the application of the event study methodology to a total of 526 biological, climatic, geological, hydrological, and meteorological disasters of climate change occurring in the U.S. during the period of 2000–2019. The results of the study demonstrate that: ① it can be generally observed that the five dimensions of climate change have a significant impact on stock returns. ② Empirical evidence indicates that the impact of different climate change dimensions on the return rate of stocks from NASDAQ stocks varies. In contrast, the biological and hydrological dimensions have a significantly negative impact on the return rate of stocks from the NASDAQ index, while the climate dimension has a significantly positive impact on the return rate of stocks from the NASDAQ index. ③ From the perspective of time, the impact of the five dimensions of climate change on the stock yield exhibits certain non-linear characteristics. This can be observed in the phenomenon of shock reversal, which occurs before and after the event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AI chatbots such as ChatGPT help people produce texts. According to media reporting, these texts are also used for educational purposes. Thus, AI influences people's knowledge and perception of current issues. This paper examines the narrative of ChatGPT's stories on climate change. Our explorative analysis reveals that ChatGPT's stories on climate change show a relatively uniform structure and similar content. Generally, the narrative is in line with scientific knowledge on climate change; the stories convey no significant misinformation. However, specific topics in current debates on global warming are conspicuously missing. According to the ChatGPT narrative, humans as a species are responsible for climate change and specific economic activities or actors associated with carbon emissions play no role. Analogously, the social structuration of vulnerability to climate impacts and issues of climate justice are hardly addressed. ChatGPT's narrative consists of de-politicized stories that are highly optimistic about technological progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Ethiopia, large-scale agricultural investment (LAI) is promoted to foster adaptation to climate change among smallholder farmers by improving farming conditions and productivity. However, little has been known about this condition so far. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to study the implications of LAI for the capacity for climate change adaptation among smallholder farmers, based on a study conducted in Merti district in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia. An asset-based approach was used to measure the adaptive capacity of smallholders, via data collected from a household survey, undertaken among smallholder households who had, or had not, benefited, from LAI, and supported by key informant interviews and focus group discussions. Descriptive and inferential statistics and qualitative thematic analysis methods were used to analyze the data. The study found that the adaptive capacity of smallholder households was improved under the influence of LAI. LAI motivated and prompted farmers to use technologies that fostered climate change adaption, including the use of irrigation, improved crop varieties, chemical fertilizer, and engagement in alternative sources of income, which improved their food security status. But this technology and knowledge transfer mainly occurred through observation (learning by doing), not by capacity-building. However, both group of smallholders (within and without contact with the LAI) received similar benefits through government rural extension services. Therefore, the paper concludes that scaling up these technologies and alternative income sources could enhance the adaptive capacity of smallholders, but that LAIs should contribute actual technical and financial support as part of benefit-sharing or corporate responsibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climatic and geographic factors characterizing local conditions, as well as the ecological state of the external environment, have a direct effect on human health, morbidity, and life expectancy. The paper considers the basic concepts of medical ecology, a pathogenetic role of environmental atmospheric pollution in the development of environmentally induced and environmentally dependent diseases associated with exposure to meteorological factors. In addition to the major hygienic risk factors affecting the public health (a level of air, water, and soil pollution), the levels of acoustic and electromagnetic background, the type of human nutrition, architectural and planning conditions of human life are of significant importance. Global climate warming causes numerous environmental changes, primarily an increase in surface air temperature, which in turn entails global changes in weather conditions that lead to various weather anomalies. Human health is directly dependent on environmental conditions and a degree of adaptation to them. The paper highlights the issues of diagnosing environmentally induced diseases and measures to counteract their spread. Based on the system diagnosis using physiological indicators of human health and the integration of the adaptation and nosological approaches, a hardware-software complex has been developed and introduced into medical practice. Corrective technologies of regenerative medicine that are used for ecologically dependent pathologies are described. Their application in the process of the complex sanatorium and resort treatment is most effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vulnerability to climate change is a complex, multi-dimensional construct influenced by multiple interacting factors. Several methods and approaches have been developed over the past three decades, yet there are no standard methods for assessing vulnerability (Connelly et al. in State of the art report (4) vulnerability assessment: definitions, indicators and existing assessment methods (issue 4), 2015). The vulnerability assessment studies differ in conceptualization, methodology, sectors affected, exposure to specific hazards, regional factors, and the scale of impact. Assessment of climate vulnerability and identification of indicators to measure it are significant problems. This paper provides a comprehensive and systematic review of indicator-based vulnerability assessment studies from 1990 to 2020. We analyse 84 studies to understand various aspects of vulnerability assessment—concept and approach, dimensions and indicators, and assessment methods. Though multi-dimensional assessments represent the overall vulnerability of an area, only 29.8% of the studies assessed more than one dimension. Analysis shows that 68.8% (75 of 109) of the identified indicators belong to the socioeconomic dimension. Socioeconomic vulnerability is the most assessed, and environmental vulnerability is the least assessed dimension, possibly attributed to ease of data availability. Due to the lack of methodological differences, there has been confusion associated with index-based and indicator-based studies in the literature (Ramieri et al. in Methods for assessing coastal vulnerability to climate change. ETC CCA Tech Paper 1/2011 (issue January), 2011. 10.13140/RG.2.1.1906.9840). Therefore, we develop a taxonomy of the existing vulnerability assessment methods based on their methodological approach. To avoid ambiguity, we denote all methods that employ indicators as indicator-based vulnerability assessment methods and classify them into index-based, clustering-based, and GIS-based methods. Finally, we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each vulnerability assessment method and the open challenges in this research area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nature-Based Solutions concepts and practices are being used worldwide as part of attempts to address societal challenges but have also been criticised for not dealing with deeper transformations needed to face urgent issues including biodiversity loss, climate change and inclusion. In this paper, we explore how an inclusive, integrated and long-sighted approach, emphasising a more radical integration of nature within cities, might support the transformations needed to endure major contemporary challenges. Addressing important emerging critiques of Nature-Based Solutions, we consider the potential of a more incisive form of Nature-Based Thinking (NBT) in cities, based on more holistic perspectives. The paper draws on a reflective and iterative research process that engaged both the research and practice communities through a symposium and a series of futures workshops that together explored the potential of NBT to develop future nature-cities relations in Europe and Latin America. The results of the reflective process suggest that notions of nature with people—not for people— new organisational structures, and the intention and capacity to apply long-term perspectives, are needed when planning for NBS interventions aimed at sustainable urban development. This includes developing a cultural-structural change based on new and inclusive understandings of human–nature relations, and novel governance paradigms that allow cross-sectoral coordination and engagement of local stakeholders beyond formal organisational structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atmospheric extreme events cause severe damage to human societies and ecosystems. The frequency and intensity of extremes and other associated events are continuously increasing due to climate change and global warming. The accurate prediction, characterization, and attribution of atmospheric extreme events is, therefore, a key research field in which many groups are currently working by applying different methodologies and computational tools. Machine learning and deep learning methods have arisen in the last years as powerful techniques to tackle many of the problems related to atmospheric extreme events. This paper reviews machine learning and deep learning approaches applied to the analysis, characterization, prediction, and attribution of the most important atmospheric extremes. A summary of the most used machine learning and deep learning techniques in this area, and a comprehensive critical review of literature related to ML in EEs, are provided. The critical literature review has been extended to extreme events related to rainfall and floods, heatwaves and extreme temperatures, droughts, severe weather events and fog, and low-visibility episodes. A case study focused on the analysis of extreme atmospheric temperature prediction with ML and DL techniques is also presented in the paper. Conclusions, perspectives, and outlooks on the field are finally drawn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of the influence of human activities and climate change on groundwater is an important basis for formulating groundwater management policies. However, the relationship between climate change, human activities and groundwater system is complex, and the research on the response of groundwater to changing environment is in the initial stage. In this paper, the interactions between groundwater water cycle and climate change and human activities are analyzed, based on climate change data and hydrogeological information from the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The MODFLOW model was used to develop a numerical model of shallow groundwater movement in Zhongmu County, Henan province, and to predict the response of groundwater levels to climate change and human activities in three cases from 2016 to 2050. The results show that under the current scenario, the groundwater level will decrease at an average annual rate of 4.24 cm/A from 2016 to 2050. Under the climate change scenario, the precipitation increased by an average of 5.01%, the annual evaporation increased by an average of 17.84% and the annual temperature increased by an average of 1.29 °C from 2016 to 2050 under the three emission cases of RCP2.6, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, under the climate change–autonomous human activities scenario, when water conservation and South–North Water Transfer Project water supply are implemented simultaneously, the water table will decrease by an average of 5.58 CMA per year under the direct impact scenario and by an average of 4.44 CMA per year under the indirect impact scenario, the water table dropped by 3.21 cm/A. The changing environment will have an important effect on groundwater circulation, and appropriate measures must be taken to deal with the continuous decline of groundwater level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the robustness of the "natalist bias" of pollution control in de la Croix and Gosseries (J Environ Econ Manage 63:271–287, 2012), according to which taxing emissions encourage agents to shift from production to procreation, further deteriorating the environment and gradually impoverishing the next generations. We relax the assumptions that human capital does not depend on environmental quality and that society does not allocate resources to pollution control. Using a similar Overlapping Generations (OLG) growth model, our findings indicate that taxation does not necessarily encourage agents to permanently shift away from production because living under better environmental conditions enhances productivity through human capital formation. As the government increases the emissions price, agents reduce consumption and education spending, hurting output in the short term. However, in the long run, the reduction in emissions that follows taxation more than compensates for the initial adverse effects, provided that the sensitivity of human capital accumulation to environmental degradation is strong enough. Furthermore, as we increase the coefficient capturing such pollution externality, a Neimark–Sacker bifurcation occurs, making the system compatible with persistent endogenous fluctuations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability in cotton production is inevitable because producing more cotton means more employment, economic acceleration, and industrial expansion. India, China, the United States, Brazil, and Pakistan contribute 74% of worldwide cotton production. Pakistan is contributing only 5%, despite the high potential of cotton. The average yield of cotton in Pakistan is stagnant at 570.99 kg hm−2, whereas it entails the highest cost of production among all other crops. The yield obtained in Pakistan is less than the potential, profitability is drastically lessening, and farmers are abandoning cotton for alternative kharif crops. Some traditional quantitative studies have unveiled different factors that affect cotton production. However, an in-depth qualitative study has never been conducted in Pakistan to explore the root causes of growing cotton crop failure. Following Moustakas's traditional phenomenological guidelines, this phenomenological study was conducted in the district of Rahim Yar Khan in the core cotton zone of Punjab province. A total of 10 interviews were conducted with purposively selected cotton growers based on a criterion: (i) having more than 10 years of cotton growing experience, (ii) being a cotton grower, and (iii) having at least 10 years of formal schooling. Interviews were conducted face to face on an interview guide. One interview lasted 45–50 min, and responses were recorded and analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. A total of 6 themes emerged from the collected data, including (i) climate change, (ii) varietal problems, (iii) pesticide usage, (iv) sense of institutional services, (v) attitude of farmers and (vi) soil health and environment. These six merging themes contributed to cotton crop failure and yield decline. The deep exploration further summarized that researchers, extensionists, and farmers need to seriously consider variety, sowing time, and the environment to revive cotton crops. The detailed recommendations and policy guidelines are presented in this paper, highlighting the cotton sector's research, development and investment areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tropical storms are among the most devastating natural disasters in the USA. Climate change is projected to make them even more destructive, and the number of people and properties at risk has steadily increased over the past several decades. Migration is often seen by scholars as an adaptation strategy to reduce exposure to future natural disasters. However, studies of migration after tropical storms have led to inconsistent results and have not analyzed post-storm migration from the viewpoint of exposure to future events. This paper adopts an innovative approach to estimate “excess migration” associated with tropical storms using Bayesian hierarchical models, and decomposes migration by risk of exposure to natural disasters of the origin and destination to understand whether migrants move to safer areas or rather riskier ones. Findings indicate that excess migration after tropical storms is rare and generally fails to reduce the number of people at risk of experiencing future natural disasters. Only the most destructive tropical storms are associated with significant excess migration. Finally, findings further suggest that neither the amount of post-disaster assistance nor the socio-demographic characteristics of the affected counties are strongly associated with excess migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wildfires pose a severe threat to the ecosystem and economy, and risk assessment is typically based on fire danger indices such as the McArthur Forest Fire Danger Index (FFDI) used in Australia. Studying the joint tail dependence structure of high-resolution spatial FFDI data is thus crucial for estimating current and future extreme wildfire risk. However, existing likelihood-based inference approaches are computationally prohibitive in high dimensions due to the need to censor observations in the bulk of the distribution. To address this, we construct models for spatial FFDI extremes by leveraging the sparse conditional independence structure of Hüsler–Reiss-type generalized Pareto processes defined on trees. These models allow for a simplified likelihood function that is computationally efficient. Our framework involves a mixture of tree-based multivariate generalized Pareto distributions with randomly generated tree structures, resulting in a flexible model that can capture nonstationary spatial dependence structures. We fit the model to summer FFDI data from different spatial clusters in Mainland Australia and 14 decadal windows between 1999 and 2022 to study local spatiotemporal variability with respect to the magnitude and extent of extreme wildfires. Our proposed method fits the margins and spatial tail dependence structure adequately and is helpful in providing extreme wildfire risk estimates. Our results identify a significant increase in spatially aggregated fire risk across a substantially large portion of Mainland Australia, which raises serious climatic concerns. Supplementary material to this paper is provided online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biodiversity reserves are a crucial in-situ method to conserve biodiversity hotspots as they are sensitive to climate change. The Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve (NDBR) in the western Himalayas is enriched with diverse endemic flora and fauna and endorses the second-highest mountain peak in the world. However, in the recent decade, this region has potentially warmed at an alarming rate. With 36 temperature and precipitation indices from high-resolution 40-year data from ERA5 reanalysis and CHIRPS, this paper assesses the state of warming and extreme climatic events. Apart from the indices, Landsat (NASA/USGS, USA) and QuickSCAT (ISRO, India) were utilized to assess the region's response to climate change. An increase of 0.73ºC in the last decade for minimum, 0.26°C for maximum temperatures was observed, with the highest anomaly of 1.7°C in 2016. The reserve's vegetation pattern has changed with the vegetative region's dispersal towards the north and higher elevations. In the year 2000, the area without any vegetation covered 79% of the total area, which declined to a mere 23.8% in the year 2020, equivalent to a 70% decline in the area. Similarly, the area with very dense region covered only 0.02% of the total area in the year 2000, and in the year 2020, it increased to 109%. Snow cover seems to be worst affected in the region with dense snow cover declining maximum by 2020. From coverage of 12.3% of the total area of the reserves, it was reduced to a mere 0.02%, showing a decline of nearly 100% in the region. Our findings show that although protected areas are meant to be resilient to external anthropogenic intrusions, they are highly susceptible to the intrinsic forces of induced climate change. We suggest that reserve managers enable robust measures to identify the distribution of vulnerable species and introduce new methods to preserve the pristine hotspot region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the major greenhouse gases, CO2 is significantly influencing global climate change. Efficient utilization of CO2 is considered an important approach to address the current environmental and energy challenges. In particular, using CO2 as a raw material for the production of hydrocarbons is an attractive strategy for reducing carbon emissions while ensuring a stable energy supply. In this study, fluorine (F) doped ZnLa layered double hydroxide (F-ZL-LDH) and F-doped ZnCe layered double hydroxide (F-ZC-LDH) were prepared using a hydrothermal synthesis method. The materials' structural composition and morphology were analyzed using X-ray diffractometry (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The research results demonstrate that both catalysts exhibit abundant active sites, high selectivity, and excellent electrocatalytic performance for CO2RR to generate CO, with Faradaic efficiencies reaching 89.29% and 89.87% for F-ZL-LDH and F-ZC-LDH, respectively. The doping of fluorine results in the presence of numerous defects and pore structures on the surfaces of F-ZC-LDH and F-ZL-LDH, increasing the surface active area and enhancing charge transfer rates. Meanwhile, F doping facilitates CO2 adsorption and mass transfer on the electrode surface. Moreover, F doping in the catalysts also restricts the adsorption and desorption of *H during the competing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) process. The effective management and rapid conversion of CO2 to various organic compounds and chemical fuels to facilitate carbon cycle and reduce atmospheric CO2 concentration have become a hot topic in current technological advances worldwide. Among the various electrocatalytic CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) products, carbon monoxide (CO) is the product with the highest kinetic accessibility. In this paper, F-ZL-LDH and F-ZC-LDH composite materials were prepared using a hydrothermal synthesis method. Based on preliminary studies, a molar ratio of M2+:M3+ of 3:1 was determined to provide better catalytic performance,and ammonium fluoride content of 30% of the cation molar ratio of M2+ + M3+. The introduction of fluorine (F) improves the catalytic performance of both materials, with a greater enhancement observed for ZL-LDH. At − 1.3V vs. RHE potential, The research results demonstrate that both catalysts exhibit abundant active sites, high selectivity, and excellent electrocatalytic performance for CO2RR to generate CO, with Faradaic efficiencies reaching 89.29% and 89.87% for F-ZL-LDH and F-ZC-LDH, respectively. the fluorination treatment of ZC-LDH and ZL-LDH catalysts significantly enhances their electrocatalytic activity for the CO2 reduction reaction, particularly for the production of CO. These findings contribute to the development of efficient catalysts for CO2 electrochemical reduction and hold promise for advancing the field of CO2 utilization and renewable energy conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tropical cyclones have resulted in casualties and economic losses in the areas surrounding the Bay of Bengal (BoB). Thus, a comprehensive investigation of these tropical cyclones holds vital implications for disaster preparedness and mitigation. This paper compares the occurrence of storms in the last two decades, i.e., 2002–2011 and 2012–2021, and results reveal that such storms exhibited predominantly a northwesterly track towards the northwestern BoB, with a severer intensity but equal total storm frequencies. Over the past decade, a southeast-northwest pathway (SNP) was identified, demonstrating a higher incidence of severe tropical cyclones (STC, with lifetime maximum intensity ≥ 64 knots) over the BoB. Further analysis of the changes in the environmental conditions between these two decades indicates that a southeasterly anomaly in the steering flow contributed to the formation of the SNP. During the same period, the more favorable oceanic conditions during the last decade, including higher sea surface temperatures, a greater upper ocean heat content, a thicker warm water layer, and a thicker barrier layer beneath the SNP, favored the development of these storms by providing more heat energy to the storms. The atmospheric conditions, including increased air-sea heat fluxes, moisture, and instability within the lower troposphere, as well as reduced vertical wind shear, facilitated the development of convection within these storm systems. These favorable conditions improved the potential for storm development into STCs and elevated the risk of the northwestern BoB being impacted by more destructive storms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Timely and accurate agricultural drought monitoring and drought-driven mechanism analysis in karst basins in the context of global warming are highly important for drought disaster monitoring and sustainable ecological development in a basin. In this study, based on MODIS data, meteorological and topographic data and land use data from 2001 to 2020, we used the Sen slope, the Mann–Kendall test and a geographic detector to explore the driving mechanisms of agricultural drought caused by climate change and human activities in the karst basin of southern China from 2001 to 2020. The results showed that (1) the spatial distribution of the TVDI in the karst basin in southern China has obvious regional characteristics, showing a decreasing trend from west to east. (2) According to the interannual trend of drought, the degree of drought in the South China karst basin exhibited a weakening trend over the last 20 years, with the most severe drought occurring in 2003. Regarding the seasonal change in the TVDI, drought in spring, summer and autumn exhibited a decreasing trend, while that in winter exhibited an increasing trend, and the drought intensity decreased in the following order: spring (0.58) > autumn (0.53) > summer (0.5) > winter (0.48). (3) Single-factor detection the results showed that rainfall, temperature and elevation were the main factors driving aridification in the study area; multifactor coupling (mean) drove drought in descending order: rainfall (q = 0.424) > temperature (q = 0.340) > elevation (q = 0.219) > land use (q = 0.188) > population density (q = 0.061) > slope (q = 0.057). Therefore, revealing the mechanism of agricultural drought in karst basins through the study of this paper has important theoretical significance and provides technical guidance for drought relief in karst areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In northern regions, the long-term serviceability of infrastructure founded on frozen ground is adversely affected by climate warming. Rates of change in temperature, which are not identical spatially and temporally, can remarkably dictate the magnitude and evolution of permafrost degradation. Investigating such impacts requires a non-isothermal rate-dependent geomechanical constitutive model for ice-contained geomaterials. In this paper, a critical-state thermo-elasto-viscoplastic (TEVP) constitutive model is developed for modeling time- and temperature-dependent behavior of frozen soils using the concepts of thermo-elasticity and thermo-viscoplasticity. Solid phase stress (defined as the excess of total stress over fluid pressure), in addition to the cryogenic suction, are considered as the two independent stress state variables to establish the model. The proposed model is able to satisfactorily capture the rate-dependent behavior of frozen soils observed in the experimental tests reported in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has focused on the threat of global warming-induced climate change to modern human civilization. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a primary greenhouse gas that causes global warming. Current efforts have focused on using CO2 as a raw source for producing value-added chemicals. Among the different CO2 conversion processes, the Sabatier process, also known as "CO2 methanation," is an effective approach, particularly if H2 is generated by renewable energy sources. In this process, methane (CH4) and water (H2O) are produced from CO2 and H2 using different transition-metal-based catalysts. Although numerous studies have been conducted to assess the significance of CO2 methanation, quantitative analysis of the publication trends in this research field is still lacking. This review presents the global research landscape of CO2 methanation over the last 20 years (2000–2022). The Web of Science (WoS) database was used to extract 1657 publications, and the VOSviewer software was used for bibliometric investigations. Bibliometric analysis revealed that 77.53% of the papers were published within the past 5 years (2018–2022). The International journal of hydrogen energy is leading journal publishing research articles about CO2 methanation followed by Applied Catalysis B. This study conducted a statistical analysis on the influence of leading countries, institutions, journals, authors, and top keywords in the field of CO2 methanation. Additionally, future research directions and findings of the most cited publications are discussed. Because the CO2 methanation reaction requires a highly stable and active catalyst, a brief introduction and major challenges of these catalysts are also reviewed. We hope that bibliometric findings will help scholars to understand this field of research more effectively and comprehensively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of transition risk on a firm's low-carbon production. As the world is facing global climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has set the idealized carbon-neutral scenario around 2050. In the meantime, many carbon reduction scenarios, known as Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) have been proposed in the literature for different production sectors in a more comprehensive socio-economic context. We consider, on the one hand, a firm that aims to optimize its emission level under the double objectives of maximizing its production profit and respecting the emission mitigation scenarios. Solving the penalized optimization problem provides the optimal emission according to a given SSP benchmark. On the other hand, such transitions affect the firm's credit risk. We model the default time by using the structural default approach. We are particularly concerned with how, by following different SSPs scenarios, the adopted strategies may influence the firm's default probability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought is a natural phenomenon that occurred in Central Europe in the past, but it is becoming a more serious problem due to the changes in its occurrence and intensity related to climate change. The main aim of this paper was to determine changes in air temperature and precipitation amounts in Slovakia from 1931 to 2020 and to identify changes in drought occurrence and intensity using the Standardised Precipitation and Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI). Cluster analysis was used to determine regions with similar drought occurrences. For each of the identified five clusters, drought characteristics were determined and compared between two reference periods 1961–1990 and 1991–2020. While a decrease in the number of months with SPEI-1 below − 1 was observed in autumn, spring and summer months showed a drying tendency. Overall, we can say that we observed a shift in drought occurrence from autumn and winter months to spring and summer months. This is an important finding for the agriculture or forestry because it affects work management and planning. The clearest tendency in drought events was observed in the western part of Slovakia covering areas with agriculturally intensive land use. Besides prolonging drought events, there was also a higher accumulated deficit for each event. The increase in drought intensity was not spatially consistent over the cluster area, mostly reaching a slight decline of about − 0.1 to − 0.3, which means slight intensification of drought periods in 1991–2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]