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The European Union (EU) has consistently held a prominent global position in climate governance. This paper compiles 152 climate neutrality policies issued by the European Commission (EU Commission) and employs a systematic analytical framework including "Vertical Policy Hierarchy - Horizontal Policy Path – Systematic Policy instruments" to conduct an in-depth analysis of the EU's climate neutrality policy system. This study produces several findings as follows: First, the EU's climate neutrality policy hierarchy is characterized by a structure comprising "Long-Term Planning – Specific Measures - Financial Support". Second, the EU's policy formulation process for climate neutrality emphasizes the integration of a multi-party engagement mechanism involving "Nongovernmental Level - Regional Level - National Level - Transnational Level - Supranational Level", while extensively employing a "framework-content" policy-making methodology. Third, the EU's climate neutrality governance is guided by the dual objectives of achieving a "Cleaner Energy Structure" and "Recover Ecological Environment" pursuing a broad-ranging and multi-tiered policy pathway towards climate neutrality. Fourth, the EU leverages a combined approach of mandatory measures and guiding policies to propel the climate neutrality governance process, aspiring to achieve breakthroughs in new energy technology innovation through climate neutrality governance, thereby solidifying its international standing. Moreover, this study provides an outlook on the future of the EU's climate neutrality policy governance, positing that the EU's emphasis on climate neutrality governance will remain undiminished, with a heightened focus on guiding policies and an emphasis on the roles of enterprises and the public in advancing the realization of climate neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Healthcare organisations have a significant carbon footprint due to their substantial energy consumption and waste generation. The existing literature has mostly focused on examining the isolated impact of specific green organisational practices on individual dimensions of environmental performance. Hence, policy makers and practitioners still lack a holistic view of how combinations of green organisational practices can mitigate the impact on climate change of healthcare organisations. Drawing on the practice-based view (PBV) of strategy, the study first examines the extent to which the adoption of imitable, individual green organisational practices impacts on the whole climate change mitigation performance of publicly owned hospitals. Second, it explores possible combinations of green organisational practices that can lead to high levels of climate change mitigation performance. Focusing on the illustrative case of publicly owned acute care hospitals in the English National Health Service and employing a two-stage Data Envelopment Analysis and a fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), the analysis shows that the adoption of the practice of green energy procurement can, in isolation, positively lead to high climate change mitigation outcomes. Moreover, high performance levels can be achieved through multiple configurations of green organisational practices. Therefore, the findings suggest that the effectiveness of green organisational practices on climate change mitigation performance of hospitals depends on how practices are combined, rather than on their single effects, and indicate the presence of a complementary as well as a substitution effect between practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon neutrality strategies have a significant role in climate mitigation efforts. As global concerns regarding climate change continue to increase, achieving carbon neutrality has emerged as a paramount objective for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and limiting the adverse impacts of anthropogenic activities on the environment. This research investigates a wide range of scholarly works to conduct an in-depth analysis and synthesis of the relevant information about carbon neutrality strategies. The review introduces carbon neutrality principles and terminologies, highlighting their importance in climate mitigation. It then proceeds to explore the wide range of strategies employed across different sectors and industries, investigating their effectiveness, scalability, and potential challenges. A multidimensional analysis contrasts the United States Nationally Determined Contributions pathway 2023, China's Nationally Determined contributions 2023, and the EU Directive 2023/2413, assessing their economic, environmental, political, and social impacts. The study evaluates strategies' effectiveness, scalability, and innovation for transitioning to a sustainable, low-carbon future. It fills a gap by analyzing global approaches across the US, China, and the EU, which account for about 50% of the world's total GHG emissions. It evaluates the novel application of diverse strategies, from renewable energy transitions to innovative policy measures, highlighting their potential to mitigate climate change effectively. By providing a multidimensional analysis of these strategies' impacts, the research not only enhances understanding of effective carbon neutrality tactics but also underscores the importance of international cooperation in realizing a sustainable, low-carbon future. • Identifies and analyzes carbon neutrality strategies, emphasizing the need for diverse US, Chinese, and EU approaches. • Evaluate renewable energy, carbon capture, and policy tools for carbon reduction effectiveness, scalability, and innovation. • Highlights the study's novelty in synthesizing current knowledge on carbon neutrality, addressing a significant research gap. • Concludes with strategic ideas for international collaboration and policy development for low-carbon futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crop residue burning is a common practice in many parts of the world that causes air pollution and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Regenerative practices that return residues to the soil offer a 'no burn' pathway for addressing air pollution while building soil organic carbon (SOC). Nevertheless, GHG emissions in rice-based agricultural systems are complex and difficult to anticipate, particularly in production contexts with highly variable hydrologic conditions. Here we predict long-term net GHG fluxes for four rice residue management strategies in the context of rice-wheat cropping systems in Eastern India: burning, soil incorporation, livestock fodder, and biochar. Estimations were based on a combination of Tier 1, 2, and 3 modelling approaches, including 100-year DNDC simulations across three representative soil hydrologic categories (i.e., dry, median, and wet). Overall, residue burning resulted in total direct GHG fluxes of 2.5, 6.1, and 8.7 Mg CO 2 -e in the dry, median, and wet hydrologic categories, respectively. Relative to emissions from burning (positive values indicate an increase) for the same dry to wet hydrologic categories, soil incorporation resulted in a −0.2, 1.8, or 3.1 Mg CO 2 -e change in emissions whereas use of residues for livestock fodder increased emissions by 2.0, 2.1, or 2.3 Mg CO 2 -e. Biochar reduced emissions relative to burning by 2.9 Mg CO 2 -e in all hydrologic categories. This study showed that the production environment has a controlling effect on methane and, therefore, net GHG balance. For example, wetter sites had 2.8–4.0 times greater CH 4 emissions, on average, than dry sites when rice residues were returned to the soil. To effectively mitigate burning without undermining climate change mitigation goals, our results suggest that geographically-target approaches should be used in the rice-based systems of Eastern India to incentivize the adoption of regenerative 'no burn' residue management practices. • Efforts to build SOC for climate change mitigation, while simultaneously avoiding burning, may have unintended consequences. • Tier 1, 2, and 3 modelling approaches were used to compare no-burn rice residue pathways. • Field hydrology had a dominant effect on methane emissions. • Soil incorporation of residues increased emissions relative to open burning, except in comparatively dry fields. • Biochar is estimated to have the lowest GHG emissions of the evaluated 'no burn' alternatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental risk assessment and management have become critical issues facing global climate change and its multifaceted consequences. The 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 prioritizes a sustainable environment and urgent climate change mitigation. The present study aimed to make accountability of environmental risk through green finance, financial development, policies, and regulations in SAARC countries. Using data from 2005 to 2022, the panel quantile regression (PQR) approach is applied to estimate the long-run coefficients at lower, middle, and upper quantiles. Overall, the study results indicate heterogeneity in the parameters impacting the environmental risk in SAARC. The findings from the PQR unveiled that green finance contributes to mitigating environmental risk in higher quantiles. Financial development contributes to environmental risk in the middle (40th to 60th) and higher quantiles (70th to 90th). It is concluded that the appropriate business regulatory framework reduces environmental risk in higher quantiles, and poor and low-rated policies increase it in the middle, and higher quantiles. Nevertheless, foreign direct investments increase environmental risk in lower and middle quantiles. Overall, there is a heterogeneity in the results; however, the amplitude of their parameters varied substantially. The quantile slope equality (QSE), symmetric quantile (SQ) tests, and fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS), also confirmed the robustness of the results. Finally, the empirical findings of this study have prudent policy implications for the stakeholders concerning environmental risk. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Appropriate watershed management must be implemented as an adaptation and mitigation action for climate change. Therefore, community-based watershed management (CBWM) has been introduced as the best practice for watershed management. This study provides a comprehensive review of the community-based approach as an appropriate option for managing watersheds, which is also helpful in adapting and mitigating climate change, especially in developing countries. In addition, this study systematically summarizes and analyzes the critical success of participatory CBWM activities. Systematic literature network analysis (SLNA) was used to analyze current research trends, gaps, and future research directions. A bibliometric study found that the number of publications on CBWM has increased over the years. Several terms and keywords showed the study's trends, topics, and research gaps. The research began with forest management as part of watershed management, and then shifted to the impact of climate change on watershed management. This study found that community participation in CBWM is influenced by three dimensions: socioeconomic, institutional, and technical factors. To increase participation, these factors should be considered when implementing the CBWM in a region. This study is essential to fill the knowledge gap in watershed management, especially when implementing CBWM as a policy directive on water resources. • Current research trends and gaps of CBWM study are identified using hybrid review. • CBWM is an appropriate option in adapting and mitigating climate changes. • Community participation is an essential part for watershed management program. • Several factors influence the participatory of community in watershed management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rational decision or moral norm factors are often used to explain pro-environmental behavior. However, the types of factors that influence farmers' high-cost production behavior (climate change adaptation and mitigation) have not been explored. In response, this study constructed competitive models from multi-theoretical perspective, including the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Value-Identity-Personal norm (VIP) model, which demonstrated rational decision-making factors and moral norm factors, respectively. We collected data from 912 farmers in the Jiangsu and Shaanxi provinces in China by means of a questionnaire survey and empirically tested the explanatory power of the models via partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings suggested that rational decision factors, including perceived behavioral control and attitudes, are better predictors of farmers' climate change coping behavior than moral norm factors, such as subjective norms. There remained a disconnect between the willingness to mitigate formed via perceived behavioral control and the actual behavior, and farmers who actually adopted mitigative climate-change behaviors still faced difficulties or had no control over the outcome. In addition, the effect of altruistic values on mitigating behavior (which predicts future benefits) was more pronounced. These findings pointed to rationality as the primary driver or motivation of pro-environmental behaviors in agricultural production, whereas the explanatory power of morality remained weak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]