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The quantitative assessment of the uncertainty components of future climate projections is critical for decision-makers and organizations to establish climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies at regional or local scales. This is the first study in which the changes in the uncertainty components of future temperature and precipitation projections are quantitatively evaluated using multiple regional climate models over East Asia, vulnerable to future climate change. For temperature, internal variability and model uncertainty were the main factors affecting the near-term projections. The scenario uncertainty continued to increase and was estimated to be the dominant factor affecting the uncertainty after the mid-term projections. Although precipitation has the same main uncertainty factors as the temperature in the near-term projections, it considerably differs from temperature because the internal variability notably contributes to the fraction to the total variance, even in the long-term projections. The internal variability of the temperature and precipitation in the near-term projections were predicted to be larger in Korea than that in East Asia. This was confirmed by regional climate models as well as previous studies using global climate models as to the importance of internal variability at smaller regional scales during the near-term projections. This study is meaningful because it provides new possibilities with respect to the consideration of climate uncertainties to the establishment of climate change policies in more detail on the regional scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) contents and reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in paddy soil fields can result in positive impacts on climate change mitigation and soil quality. However, SOC accumulation and its microbial driving factors under enhanced fertilization strategies (e.g., organic matter application) are still unclear. Therefore, we investigated the effects of organic matter addition on SOC variations, CO2 fluxes, and their relationships with soil bacterial compositions and functions through a 6-year fertilizer experiment in rice fields involving two fertilization types, namely chemical fertilizer (NPK) and chemical fertilizer combined with organic matter (NPK+OM). The results showed significantly higher and lower SOC contents (p < 0.05) in the 10–20 cm soil layer under the NPK+OM treatment before rice transplanting and after rice harvest, respectively, than those under the NPK treatment. The lower SOC contents after rice harvest might be due to the great nutrient consumption, resulting in higher rice yields in the NPK+OM than those in the NPK treatment by 6.68 to 32.35%. Compared with NPK, NPK+OM reduced the in-situ CO2 fluxes by 38.70–118.59%. However, the ex-situ SOC mineralization rates were not affected by NPK+OM in the 0–10 and 10–20 cm soil layers. The 16S rRNA sequence indicated a significant increase in the abundance of non-singleton amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) in the NPK+OM treatment scenario compared to those in the NPK treatment scenario. The top three most important soil bacterial phylum influenced by NPK+OM were LCP-89, BRC1, and Rokubacteria in April, as well as Firmicutes, Nitrospinae, and BRC1 in July. Soil Actinobacteria was negatively correlated with the SOC contents in April and July. The results of the present study demonstrate the economic and ecological benefits of the organic matter addition in rice production, as well as the contribution of soil bacteria to SOC accumulation and CO2 emission reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review aimed to evaluate the impacts of oil palm-cattle integration systems on food security and environmental sustainability. We reviewed more than 100 papers and selected those that reported the advantages of these systems. Oil palm-cattle integration has been implemented in some Southeast Asian countries, especially in Malaysia and Indonesia, but it is not widely adopted by oil palm plantations. These systems are mainly driven by policies to enhance food security and reduce environmental impacts. Oil palm-cattle integration can contribute to several Sustainable Development Goals, such as (SDG 1 and 2) no poverty and zero hunger, because it allows for more and diverse food production on the same land, and it increases the income per hectare by up to 15% due to higher oil palm yield (up to 4 t FFB/ha) and lower weed control costs (up to 60%) with rotational grazing. It can also support (SDG 6, 12, 13) responsible production and consumption, clean water and sanitation, and climate action, because it can decrease herbicide use, enhance biodiversity (understory and beneficial species), and improve soil quality. Moreover, it can mitigate the risk of indirect land use change associated with deforestation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Should climate activists be optimistic or pessimistic about the climate crisis and their efforts to confront it? This paper analyses common narratives in the climate movement through the lens of the philosophical traditions of optimism and pessimism, arguing for three points. Firstly, most dominant narratives within the climate movement resemble philosophical optimism through their commitment to political progress and inherent value of climate action. Secondly, optimistic narratives within the climate movement should be rejected, as climate optimism places an overwhelming mental burden on climate activists and drives the climate movement towards bad responses to the inefficacy problem. Finally, the paper sketches pessimism as a better framework that can act as a moral source for climate activists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The building sector plays an important role in the global climate change mitigation objectives. The reduction of CO2 emissions and energy consumption in the building sector has been intensively investigated in the last decades, with solar thermal energy considered to be one of the most promising solutions due to its abundance and accessibility. However, the discontinuity of solar energy has led to the study of thermal energy storage to improve the thermal performance of solar thermal systems. In this review paper, the integration of various types of phase-change materials (PCMs) in transpired solar collectors (TSC) is reviewed and discussed, with an emphasis on heat transfer enhancements, including nanomaterials. Thermal energy storage applied to TSC is studied in terms of design criteria, materials technologies, and its impact on thermal conductivity. This review highlights the potential of nanomaterial technology integration in terms of thermal performance improvements. The utilization of nanomaterials in solar walls holds the potential to significantly enhance their performance. The integration of diverse materials such as graphene, graphite, metal oxides, and carbon nanoparticles can pave the way for improving thermal conductivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With its northern location, the exposure and vulnerability of Canada's forest ecosystems to climate change impacts are all too glaring. While there is now an extensive body of literature describing expected climate change impacts and potential responses, studies characterizing the implementation of adaptation and mitigation practices in forest management remain rare in the Canadian forest sector. Using a systematic literature review, we examined reports on forest management practices implemented in response to climate change, specifically focusing on governance and institutional arrangements that either support or limit climate change adaptation and mitigation responses. Our literature sample size of 24 documents suggests that the body of literature reporting on adaptation and mitigation practices in forest management is scarce. Governments remain the dominant actors providing funding and leading the implementation and reporting of climate change adaptation practices, primarily in response to national or international climate change commitments. Forest practices such as enhanced silviculture, assisted migration, and nature-based solutions were the most frequently reported. However, given the scarcity of literature, it is difficult to conclude the scope of climate change adaptation practice uptake in Canada. Barriers such as lack of information/data, inter-jurisdictional knowledge transfer, policy conflicts, forest tenure models, technical capacity gaps, and economic barriers to adaptation need to be overcome to strengthen climate change response in forest management. Better coordination of reporting at the provincial and national levels and improved information flows between private sector organizations and governments are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canada is recognized as a global leader in sustainable forest management. Canadian forests and the forest sector remain vital pillars of the Canadian economy and home to many rural and remote communities. However, climate change is an existential threat to the sustainability of forests and forest-dependent communities. While both direct and indirect threats posed by climate change to Canada's forest sector are now well understood, our understanding of specific forest practices that have emerged from the body of science to mitigate and adapt to climate change impacts is not well documented. Through a review of the scientific and grey literature, this study expands our knowledge and operational gaps associated with implementing climate change adaptation and mitigation practices in Canadian forests. The study found a dearth of literature specifically dedicated to reporting on the type of forest practices currently in use across Canada to address mitigation and adaptation. Most reports or studies were published in 2019 or later, with federal and provincial governments being the dominant actors in reporting and monitoring, research, and funding. Across the 15 terrestrial ecozones in Canada, forest practices linked to climate change were reported in 12 ecozones, with most practices reported in the Montane Cordillera located in western Canada. Common forest practices reported include fuel management, assisted migration, enhanced silvicultural activities, and carbon offset projects. We conclude that climate change adaptation/mitigation practices in Canada are in their early stages of implementation. Many practices remain in experimental stages (e.g., genetic trials) or are implemented at a relatively small scale in Canada (e.g., climate-based seed transfer and carbon reserves). The literature suggests that the most mainstream practices associated with climate change mitigation in Canada include tree planting for carbon sequestration and the designation of protected areas to enhance ecosystem resilience. We conclude that despite increasing reports linking climate change benefits with reported forest practices, the reporting in the scientific literature is scarce, poorly reported, and often not grounded in credible evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lagoons are a major coastal environment in West Africa. They provide a plethora of resources, ecosystem services and economic benefits yet a diverse set of inter-connected stressors are a challenge to their sustainability. A scoping study of the published literature pertaining to lagoons within the region was undertaken to reveal the nature of these stressors and identify gaps in knowledge, providing a resource to inform coastal management practices and reveal areas for future study. Thirty-one lagoons were identified from the scoping exercise covering Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Cote D'Ivoire, Liberia and Senegal. The DAPSI(W)R(M) framework was used to structure analysis of the literature and surface key environmental themes. Key drivers and activities established are the use of lagoon resources and expansion of lagoon settlements. The resultant identified pressures are waste, overuse of resources, and urban growth as well as climate change. Resultant stage changes are the degradation of water quality and ecosystems with impacts for the health of lagoon organisms and humans. Responses to changes were identified as a combination of punitive legislation, participatory management approaches and solutions focused on ecosystem restoration and engineering of the physical environment. Gaps identified include research on waste and aspects of climate change mitigation and adaptation. Also notable is a lack of multi- and interdisciplinary studies that address the inter-connecting stressors experienced at lagoons and studies of multiple lagoons. Studies also tend to be problem-focused with solutions rarely presented, limiting their applicability to inform management practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methane (CH4) is a significant greenhouse gas in exacerbating climate change. Approximately 25 % of CH4 is emitted from storage tanks. It is crucial to spatially explore the CH4 emission patterns from storage tanks for efficient strategy proposals to mitigate climate change. However, due to the lack of publicly accessible storage tank locations and distributions, it is difficult to ascertain the CH4 emission spatial pattern over a large-scale area. To address this problem, we generated a storage tank dataset (STD) by implementing a deep learning model with manual refinement based on high spatial resolution images (1–2m) from the GaoFen-1, GaoFen-2, GaoFen-6, and Ziyuan-3 satellites over cities in China with officially reported numerous storage tanks in 2021. STD is the first storage tank dataset over 92 typical cities in China. The dataset can be accessed at https://zenodo.org/records/10514151 (Chen et al., 2024). It provides a detailed georeferenced inventory of 14,461 storage tanks, wherein each storage tank is validated and assigned the construction year (2000–2021) by visual interpretation referring to the collected high spatial resolution images, historical high spatial resolution images of Google Earth, and field survey. The inventory comprises storage tanks having various distribution patterns in different cities. Spatial consistency analysis with CH4 emission product shows good agreement with storage tank distributions. The intensive construction of storage tanks significantly induces CH4 emissions from 2005 to 2020, underscoring the need for more robust measures to curb CH4 release and aid in climate change mitigation efforts. Our proposed dataset STD will foster the accurate estimation of CH4 released from storage tanks for CH4 control and reduction and ensure more efficient treatment strategies are proposed to better understand the impact of storage tanks on the environment, ecology, and human settlements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability outcomes are influenced by the laws and configurations of natural and engineered systems as well as activities in socio-economic systems. An important subset of human activity is the creation and implementation of institutions, formal and informal rules shaping a wide range of human behavior. Understanding these rules and codifying them in computational models can provide important missing insights into why systems function the way they do (static) as well as the pace and structure of transitions required to improve sustainability (dynamic). Here, we conduct a comparative synthesis of three modeling approaches--integrated assessment modeling, engineering-economic optimization, and agent-based modeling--with underexplored potential to represent institutions. We first perform modeling experiments on climate mitigation systems that represent specific aspects of heterogeneous institutions, including formal policies and institutional coordination, and informal attitudes and norms. We find measurable but uneven aggregate impacts, while more politically meaningful distributional impacts are large across various actors. Our results show that omitting institutions can influence the costs of climate mitigation and miss opportunities to leverage institutional forces to speed up emissions reduction. These experiments allow us to explore the capacity of each modeling approach to represent insitutions and to lay out a vision for the next frontier of endogenizing institutional change in sustainability science models. To bridge the gap between modeling, theories, and empirical evidence on social institutions, this research agenda calls for joint efforts between sustainability modelers who wish to explore and incorporate institutional detail, and social scientists studying the socio-political and economic foundations for sustainability transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The large amount of food waste generated worldwidely has significant adverse environmental impacts to our entire ecosystem, highlighting the urgent need for a historic resolution to achieve sustainable managment of food waste as well as its circular economy. In this regard, preparation of engineered biochars from food waste has garnered significant attention for CO2 capture, as this upcycling potential could play a significant role in advancing the concept of a negative carbon circular economy. Hence, this review holistically explores the potential of food waste-derived engineered biochars as CO2 adsorbents, not only from sample-level to process-level CO2 adsorption, but also from a life-cycle perspective. Sample-level CO2 adsorption is examined in terms of synthetic methods and procedures, focusing on application and optimisation of carbonisation, activation, and surface modification processes. The application of machine learning for guiding syntheses of high-performance CO2 adsorbents derived from food waste is also dicussed. Process-level CO2 adsorption is examined in terms of two primary cycling configurations, namely pressure swing adsorption and temperature swing adsorption, whose efficiency is critical for commercialisation. In addition, a comprehensive life-cycle assessment is performed to provide a novel and timely overview of the environmental impacts of CO2 adsorption using food waste-derived engineered biochars. This review demonstrates the viability and potential of integrating food waste-derived engineered biochars with carbon capture technologies to afford an environmentally friendly innovation for sustainable food waste management and climate change mitigation, which is benefical to achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals including Goals 11–13. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthropogenic climate change has amplified human thermal discomfort in urban environments. Despite the considerable risks posed to public health, there is a lack of comprehensive research, evaluating the spatiotemporal changes in human thermal discomfort and its characteristics in hot-hyper arid regions, such as the Arabian Peninsula (AP). The current study analyzes spatiotemporal changes in human thermal discomfort categories and their characteristics in AP, using the newly developed high-resolution gridded ERA5-HEAT (Human thErmAl comforT) dataset for the period 1979–2022. In addition, the study assesses the interplay between the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) and El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) indices for the study period. The results reveal a significant increase in human thermal discomfort and its characteristics, with higher spatial variability in the AP region. The major urban centers in the southwestern, central, and southeastern parts of AP have experienced significant increases in human thermal discomfort (0.4–0.8 °C), with higher frequency and intensity of thermal stress during the study period. The temporal distribution demonstrates a linear increase in UTCI indices and their frequencies and intensities, particularly from 1998 onward, signifying a transition towards a hotter climate characterized by frequent, intense, and prolonged heat stress conditions. Moreover, the UTCI and ENSO indices exhibit a dipole pattern of correlation with a positive (negative) pattern in the southwestern (eastern parts) of AP. The study's findings suggest that policymakers and urban planners need to prioritize public health and well-being in AP's urban areas, especially for vulnerable groups, by implementing climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies, and carefully designing future cities to mitigate the effects of heat stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The data revolution transforms operations, innovation, and society through artificial intelligence and advanced analytics. Data-driven innovations (DDI) have the most potential to tackle global challenges, including poverty, healthcare, climate actions, disaster management, gender inequality, peace and justice and others. This paper identifies the sources of DDI capabilities to address various global challenges. The findings show three major foundations of DDI capabilities: market orientation, infrastructure orientation, and talent orientation. Theoretically, these findings highlight the role of dynamic DDI capabilities to sense, seize and transform global challenges. Practically, we present guidelines for developing DDI in an agile and efficient manner that is fair and inclusive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supporters of hydrogen energy urge scaling up technology and reducing costs for competitiveness. This paper explores how hydrogen energy technologies (HET) are perceived by Australia's general population and considers the way members of the public imagine their role in the implementation of hydrogen energy now and into the future. The study combines a nationally representative survey (n = 403) and semi-structured interviews (n = 30). Results show age and gender relationships with self-reported hydrogen knowledge. Half of the participants obtained hydrogen information from televised media. Strong support was observed for renewable hydrogen, while coal (26%) and natural gas (41%) versions had less backing. Participants sought more safety-related information (41% expressed concern). Most felt uncertain about influencing hydrogen decisions and did not necessarily recognise they had agency beyond their front fence. Exploring the link between political identity and agency in energy decision-making is needed, with energy democracy a potentially productive direction. • Hydrogen's strongest appeal to Australians is its benefit for climate change mitigation. • Although widely accepted, there is limited knowledge about hydrogen in terms of how it is produced or used. • The more people know about hydrogen, the more willing they are to participate in the decision-making process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effectively reducing climate change requires marked, global behavior change. However, it is unclear which strategies are most likely to motivate people to change their climate beliefs and behaviors. Here, we tested 11 expert-crowdsourced interventions on four climate mitigation outcomes: beliefs, policy support, information sharing intention, and an effortful tree-planting behavioral task. Across 59,440 participants from 63 countries, the interventions' effectiveness was small, largely limited to nonclimate skeptics, and differed across outcomes: Beliefs were strengthened mostly by decreasing psychological distance (by 2.3%), policy support by writing a letter to a future-generation member (2.6%), information sharing by negative emotion induction (12.1%), and no intervention increased the more effortful behavior--several interventions even reduced tree planting. Last, the effects of each intervention differed depending on people's initial climate beliefs. These findings suggest that the impact of behavioral climate interventions varies across audiences and target behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A range of conservation and restoration tools are needed to safeguard the structure and function of aquatic ecosystems. Aquaculture, the culturing of aquatic organisms, often contributes to the numerous stressors that aquatic ecosystems face, yet some aquaculture activities can also deliver ecological benefits. We reviewed the literature on aquaculture activities that may contribute to conservation and restoration outcomes, either by enhancing the persistence or recovery of one or more target species or by moving aquatic ecosystems toward a target state. We identified 12 ecologically beneficial outcomes achievable via aquaculture: species recovery, habitat restoration, habitat rehabilitation, habitat protection, bioremediation, assisted evolution, climate change mitigation, wild harvest replacement, coastal defense, removal of overabundant species, biological control, and ex situ conservation. This list may be expanded as new applications are discovered. Positive intentions do not guarantee positive ecological outcomes, so it is critical that potentially ecologically beneficial aquaculture activities be evaluated via clear and measurable indicators of success to reduce potential abuse by greenwashing. Unanimity on outcomes, indicators, and related terminology will bring the field of aquaculture–environment interactions into line with consensus standards in conservation and restoration ecology. Broad consensus will also aid the development of future certification schemes for ecologically beneficial aquaculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goals of the Paris Agreement (PA) on collectively managing climate change can only be reached if all parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) commit to actions supporting their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Developing-economy nations play a crucial role in reaching the PA targets, particularly in the Agriculture, Forest, and Other Land Uses (AFOLU) sector. However, developing country Parties also face several constraints in tracking and communicating progress towards their climate policy targets and implementation of their NDCs. The operationalization of Biennial Transparency Report (BTR) and Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) under the PA will bring stricter reporting timeframes and advanced transparency for all parties. With these requirements rapidly coming into force, addressing reporting gaps is now a pressing priority. The present study analyzes the NDCs, and Biennial Update Reports (BURs) submitted by developing country Parties under the UNFCCC. In an illustrative exercise, our in-depth analysis concentrates on reporting on the AFOLU sector and identifies issues impeding a comprehensive and comparable Global Stock Take (GST): (i) issues of consistency in reporting timeframes (ii) issues in transparency of reporting on mitigation sectors and on relevant progress indicators (iii) incomparability of methodological approaches proposed and used, and (iv) the implications of limited national capacity for transparent reporting. The UNFCCC and developed country Parties now have the opportunity of providing specialized support for developing country Parties. This could include tailored guidance to address gaps in both greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions accounting, and reporting challenges, to ensure consistent, comprehensive, and transparent reporting to reinforce capacities moving forward following the next GST. The lack of consistent, transparent, and comparable communication from developing country Parties on NDC progress for key climate change impact mitigation sectors, such as AFOLU, has implications for operationalization of the GST. Delayed and inconsistent reporting are expected to affect the aggregation and consolidation of information across countries to inform global progress. Increased support for tailored capacity building and data gathering is required to enable transparent communication on progress in NDC implementation, monitoring, and reporting. Developing country groups will need to improve the transparency of reporting progress on the implementation and achievement of their NDCs to match the expected increase in carbon footprints with growing economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policymakers and governments increasingly frame climate protection in terms of green growth, arguing that continued economic growth and climate protection are complementary and mutually beneficial. With such framing, governments hope to overcome the global common goods problem associated with climate change and to enable higher ambition on climate action within and across states. Yet, no empirical evidence to date has been provided on how widespread the support for green growth is in international climate politics. This paper, therefore, investigates which countries employ green growth framings at UNFCCC negotiations, and whether this relates to domestic factors, in particular economic structure, level of development and climate impacts. We conduct panel-data analysis on green growth positions derived from hand-coding a unique dataset of High-level Segment statements at the Convention of the Parties (COPs) from 2010 to 2019 for 151 countries. The results reveal that, to date, green growth proponents are those countries with the most advanced national clean energy technology (CET) capacities – as measured by the Green Complexity Index. The findings highlight that green growth is not promoted by all countries at international climate negotiations. In international climate negotiations, climate protection is increasingly framed as a green growth opportunity to motivate global ambition. Clean Energy Technology (CET) leading countries are more likely to use green growth framings than other less-technologically advanced peers and those with high exposure to climate risks. Mechanisms to support green growth pathways for all countries should be scaled up, including technology transfer and finance to foster local capacities and human capital. Given that green growth framings are not universally endorsed, further emphasis should be placed on additional co-benefits of climate action beyond economic growth, such as food and energy security, adaptation and resilience-building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of digital technologies poses opportunities and challenges for transparency and accountability in climate governance. This paper examines their impact on information flows and accountability in the context of climate outcomes, analyzing three case examples (World Bank Climate Warehouse, Climate TRACE, and OpenClimate) to assess the potential of digital solutions to improve data availability and reliability, particularly for non-state actors (NSAs). Using Ostrom's 'rules in use' framework, we explore how digital technologies shape transparency outcomes, highlighting challenges and unintended consequences. We analyze how these initiatives frame, design, and implement their rules for digital approaches to define their participants' data collection, purpose, and access rules, all of which are crucial aspects impacting transparency and accountability for the Paris Agreement. Our findings reveal uncertainties in the rules' operationalization for these digital technologies that undermine their potential to enhance transparency. Three key issues emerge: (1) establishing appropriate rules to govern data quality for accuracy and credibility; (2) addressing power imbalances to foster inclusive and equitable transparency; and (3) aligning rules in use across digitally-enabled solutions to promote coordination and facilitate polycentrism in the post-Paris climate regime. These insights shed light on the role of digital approaches in bridging transparency and accountability gaps, emphasizing the need for careful rule design and coordination for effective implementation in global climate governance. Digital technologies have the potential to generate new modes of transparency within the Paris climate governance system, particularly at the level of non-state and subnational actors. By comparing three case examples employing digital technologies to improve climate data, we evaluate various formal and informal 'rules in use' for generating data and facilitating sharing across actors and initiatives to enhance transparency and accountability. To leverage the potential of digital technologies in advancing transparency and accountability in climate governance, policymakers should prioritize the alignment of rules in use, address power imbalances, and ensure the creation of appropriate rules governing data quality and structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides an overview of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) and its development since 2002. The GSPC was created to address the conservation of threatened plant species and their habitats on a global scale. It has achieved significant milestones, such as the development of national plant conservation strategies and Red List assessments for all tree species. The Global Partnership for Plant Conservation (GPPC) has played a crucial role in supporting the implementation of the GSPC and raising awareness. The article also discusses the development of a post-2020 update to the GSPC, which will align with the new Global Biodiversity Framework and focus on complementary actions for plant conservation. The GSPC is expected to be adopted at CBD COP 16. [Extracted from the article]

The voluntary-based initiative Covenant of Mayors (CoM) focused on the active role of local authorities and increased its targets by 2016, through the Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans (SECAPs) in terms of GHG reduction from 20% to 40% by 2030. In actual fact, the SECAP, intended as an urban planning tool, has the potential to improve the resilience of the EU Municipalities to climate-change, developing adaptation/mitigation actions and increasing the 'environmental awareness' of the involved actors. From a planning point of view, we affirm that the CoM started a new season of urban planning in Europe that covers the planning demand in the domain of implementing sustainable territorial development objectives. It unlocks the current ineffective planning systems and represents a remarkable practice promoting feasible framework projects for public and private investments. This paper proposes a methodological proposal to exploit this spread of SECAPs in the EU, including the systemic strategic planning approach in the process of SECAP design and ensuring an integrated vision of city development over the list of actions per sector required by the Global CoM procedures. Besides the methodological proposal, a review of the major EU energy policies is provided and relevant Best Practices are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global age has confronted human beings with new and numerous challenges, from global poverty, to labour exploitation, to climate change. Many individuals, aware of such challenges, wish to act in solidarity, and give their contribution to countering them. Acting in solidarity in such contexts can be challenging, however, as which actions are most effective for reaching the desired goal is not obvious. Furthermore, an action that is intended in solidarity at times not only fails to promote the desired objective but proves detrimental to it. In this article, I wish to propose a reflection on a prior duty of solidarity action: the epistemic duty to acquire information about the correct way to promote a cause. By analyzing the anti-sweatshop movement and climate action, I will show how acting in solidarity has significant epistemic requirements that should be considered as part of the solidarity action itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Colombian Amazon, there has been long‐term and sustained loss of primary forest threatening biodiversity and climate change mitigation. Silvopastoral practices that integrate trees into livestock production could help address both local economic and wider environmental challenges.We aimed to assess the effects of silvopastoral practices on invertebrate communities on smallholder farms in Caquetá, Colombia. Using sweep nets and malaise trapping, invertebrate communities were compared between traditional pasture, silvopasture and forest edge habitats.Invertebrate communities collected using sweep nets were contrasting among habitat types, communities were significantly different between traditional pasture and forest edge habitats and diversity and evenness were greatest in forest edges compared to traditional pastures. It appears that silvopasture areas, by supporting similar invertebrate assemblages to both traditional pasture and forest edges, may be acting as an intermediate habitat.When individual invertebrate orders were compared, Lepidoptera and Coleoptera were found in greater abundance in the forest edge habitats, while Hemiptera were more abundant in traditional pasture. Hemipterans are often pests of forage plants in pasture systems and these differences in abundance may have implications for ecosystem services and disservices.Silvopastoral approaches cannot replace the unique biodiversity supported by native forests but could deliver benefits for invertebrate conservation and ecosystem services if integrated into landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: This paper explores the methane emissions from the livestock industry and their large impact on climate change, with a particular focus on cattle. It emphasizes how important it is to monitor and control methane accurately because it is a powerful greenhouse gas that accounts for 14–16% of world emissions. The study evaluates both conventional and AI-powered techniques for methane emission detection, emphasizing the significance of cattle in particular. It has been determined that region-specific formulations are required. The review discusses a number of topics, such as the methane emissions from livestock, the promise of AI technology, difficulties in gathering data, the use of methane in carbon credit programs, and current research and innovation. The review aims to improve knowledge and practices for climate change mitigation by highlighting the crucial role that accurate measurement and estimation methodologies play. It draws attention to the role that methane produced by livestock, particularly cattle, plays in climate change and stresses the need for precise measuring methods to be integrated into mitigation efforts. This review examines the significant role of methane emissions in the livestock industry, with a focus on cattle and their substantial impact on climate change. It highlights the importance of accurate measurement and management techniques for methane, a potent greenhouse gas accounting for 14–16% of global emissions. The study evaluates both conventional and AI-driven methods for detecting methane emissions from livestock, particularly emphasizing cattle contributions, and the need for region-specific formulas. Sections cover livestock methane emissions, the potential of AI technology, data collection issues, methane's significance in carbon credit schemes, and current research and innovation. The review emphasizes the critical role of accurate measurement and estimation methods for effective climate change mitigation and reducing methane emissions from livestock operations. Overall, it provides a comprehensive overview of methane emissions in the livestock industry by synthesizing existing research and literature, aiming to improve knowledge and methods for mitigating climate change. Livestock-generated methane, especially from cattle, is highlighted as a crucial factor in climate change, and the review underscores the importance of integrating precise measurement and estimation techniques for effective mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transnational governance initiatives (TGIs) are increasingly recognized as central actors in the governing of climate change and biodiversity loss. Yet, their role in linking these domains has yet to be explored. As the climate crisis comes to be increasingly interlinked with the loss of biodiversity, such initiatives are increasingly combining this challenge of climate change with action on biodiversity loss through the deployment of nature-based solutions, with significant consequences for the ways in which the nature problem and its solutions are framed and implemented. Employing a governmentality approach, this research reveals two overarching rationales by TGIs of biodiversity as a means to climate change and "asset-at-risk" that are rendered governable through myriad techniques "at a distance" and "in proximity." By revealing how biodiversity is made to fit with the climate arena, this research finds that these governable biodiversity spaces could generate rather regrettable solutions along these shifting and unfolding climate–biodiversity frontiers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful nonstate climate actions can scale up their efforts and/or have their approaches replicated by others. To strengthen these "catalytic impacts" and their contribution to global mitigation and adaptation efforts, multiple international awarding mechanisms have been established, including Momentum for Change, launched by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). To assess the actual value of awarding mechanisms for fostering catalytic impacts among nonstate climate actions, this article identifies drivers and barriers for catalytic impacts and the extent to which Momentum for Change addresses them, using the concept of enabling power. Research results indicate that only a selective range of drivers and barriers for catalytic impact is actually addressed through Momentum for Change, which mainly strengthens reputation as a driver. Overall, the study demonstrates that the enabling power of Momentum for Change relies on the legitimacy of the UNFCCC in climate governance. However, the extent to which awarding mechanisms help foster catalytic impact is also dependent on an initiative's individual context, which may affect its ability to capitalize on reputational benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the role of expectations and monetary policy in the economy's response to climate actions. We show that in a stochastic environment, without the standard assumption of the perfect rationality of agents, there is more uncertainty regarding the path and the economic impact of a climate policy, with a potential threat to the ability of central banks to maintain price stability. Market beliefs and behavioral agents increase the trade-offs inherent to the chosen mitigation tool, with a carbon tax entailing more emissions uncertainty than in a rational expectations model and a cap-and-trade scheme implying a more pronounced pressure on allowance prices and inflation. The impact on price stability is worsened by delays in the implementation of stringent climate policies, the lack of confidence in the ability of central banks to keep inflation under control, and the adoption of monetary rules tied to expectations rather than current macroeconomic conditions. Central banks can implement successful stabilization policies that reduce the uncertainty surrounding the impact of climate actions and support the greening process while remaining within their mandate. • This work investigates how expectations can shape a green transition. • Without fully rational agents impacts of climate policy are more uncertain. • Carbon taxes and cap-and-trade's drawbacks are enlarged by non-fully-rational agents. • Delayed action and low credibility in central banks cause major inflationary pressure. • A reactive monetary policy can reduce uncertainty on climate policies' impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CO2 emission inventory provides fundamental data for climate research and emission mitigation. Currently, most global CO2 emission inventories were developed with energy statistics from International Energy Agency (IEA) and were available at country level with limited source categories. Here, as the first step toward a high-resolution and dynamic updated global CO2 emission database, we developed a data-driven approach to construct seamless and highly-resolved energy consumption data cubes for 208 countries/territories, 797 sub-country administrative divisions in 29 countries, 42 fuel types, and 52 sectors, with the fusion of activity data from 24 international statistics and 65 regional/local statistics. Global CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production in 1970–2021 were then estimated with highly-resolved source category (1,484 of total) and sub-country information (797 of total). Specifically, 73% of global CO2 emissions in 2021 were estimated with sub-country information, providing considerably improved spatial resolution for global CO2 emission accounting. With the support of detailed information, the dynamics of global CO2 emissions across sectors and fuel types were presented, representing the evolution of global economy and progress of climate mitigation. Remarkable differences of sectoral contribution were found across sub-country administrative divisions within a given country, revealing the uneven distribution of energy and economic structure among different regions. Our estimates were generally consistent with existing databases at aggregated level for global total or large emitters, while large discrepancies were observed for middle and small emitters. Our database, named the Multi-resolution Emission Inventory model for Climate and air pollution research (MEIC) is publicly available through http://meicmodel.org.cn with highly-resolved information and timely update, which provides an independent carbon emission accounting data source for climate research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil organic carbon storage is a well-identified climate change mitigation solution. Quantification of the soil carbon storage in cropland for agricultural policy and offset carbon markets using in situ sampling would be excessively costly, especially at the intrafield scale. For this reason, comprehensive monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) of soil carbon and its explanatory variables at a large scale need to rely on hybrid approaches that combine remote sensing and modelling tools to provide the carbon budget components with their associated uncertainties at intrafield scale. Here, we present AgriCarbon-EO v1.0.1: an end-to-end processing chain that enables the estimation of carbon budget components for major and cover crops at intrafield resolution (10 m) and regional extents (e.g. 10 000 km 2) by assimilating remote sensing data (e.g. Sentinel-2 and Landsat8) in a physically based radiative transfer (PROSAIL) and agronomic models (SAFYE-CO2). The data assimilation in AgriCarbon-EO is based on a novel Bayesian approach that combines normalized importance sampling and look-up table generation. This approach propagates the uncertainties across the processing chain from the reflectances to the output variables. After a presentation of the chain, we demonstrate the accuracy of the estimates of AgriCarbon-EO through an application over winter wheat in the southwest of France during the cropping seasons from 2017 to 2019. We validate the outputs with flux tower data for net ecosystem exchange, biomass destructive samples, and combined harvester yield maps. Our results show that the scalability and uncertainty estimates proposed by the approach do not hinder the accuracy of the estimates (net ecosystem exchange, NEE: RMSE =1.68 –2.38 gC m -2 , R2=0.87 –0.77; biomass: RMSE =11.34 g m -2 , R2=0.94). We also show the added value of intrafield simulations for the carbon components through scenario testing of pixel and field simulations (biomass: bias =-47 g m -2 , - 39 % variability). Our overall analysis shows satisfying accuracy, but it also points out the need to represent more soil processes and include synthetic aperture radar data that would enable a larger coverage of AgriCarbon-EO. The paper's findings confirm the suitability of the choices made in building AgriCarbon-EO as a hybrid solution for an MRV scheme to diagnose agro-ecosystem carbon fluxes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human exploratory missions to Moon or Mars are considered the next steps in human space exploration. Such activities result in the exposure of humans to the space environment for long time, especially under the constraints of orbital dynamics as with increasing distances from earth quick return possibilities are ruled out. Crews on these kinds of missions must be self-sustaining in medical treatments, as environmental conditions in space, such as the influence of altered gravity, radiation or isolation, raise health issues. Therefore, astronauts may use the here presented Handheld Bioprinter as part of the first-aid strategy for in situ wound treatment. The device consists of a handle capable of holding an exchangeable "Ink Printing Unit" containing two separate gel-like components (Bioink and Crosslinker), which are extruded during a printing process through a nozzle and form a skin-cell containing bioink band-aid. For ISS experiments cell simulants were used, as in-space experiments first demonstrated the general feasibility of handheld bioprinting under space conditions. On-ground human skin cells were mixed with the biogel, printed via the handheld bioprinter and cultivated, to demonstrate the overall feasibility of the "Bioprint FirstAid" technology. Concluding results were that a mobile, handheld tool like the bioprinter shows good applicability and offers a possibility of in situ wound treatment for in-space applications. The "Bioprint FirstAid" project was coordinated by the German Space Agency at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Bonn and funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK). • Handheld Bioprinter offers possibility for in-situ wound treatment in future in-space applications • Human skin cells proliferate in biogels after printing with handheld bioprinter • The customizable Ink-printing unit and nozzle can be tailored to specific printing demands • Bioprinter device has low susceptibility to failure, has a robust design, no electronics, and maintenance-free mechanics • German Astronaut Matthias Maurer conducted the Bioprinting experiment successfully on board the ISS [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current post-carbon transition trajectories are primarily focused on external solutions, while citizens' inner lives and roles in collective transformation and system change processes are largely overlooked. To address this gap, this study aims to explore the potential role of citizens as active agents of change. Specifically, it examines how citizens perceive and address climate change, the factors that can empower and motivate them to act, and how they imagine future transformation pathways and their own role within them. Based on a combined SenseMaker and Grounded Theory methodology, we explore citizens' perspectives and discuss their implications for improving current approaches and discourses, such as lifestyle environmentalism and post-growth. Our findings provide important insights into the interplay between people's motivation, sense of agency, and social paradigms, with direct implications for policy and practice. They show that the materialistic growth paradigm under which most people act does not support motivation and engagement in sustainability transformations. Secondly, although intrinsic motivation, along with values such as care and community, increase engagement and transformation, they are seldom reflected in current policy approaches and discourses. Thirdly, a sense of agency is key for lasting individual and collective engagement. Put together, the results indicate that empowering individual and collective agency requires challenging current societal and systemic values that lie at the root of today's crises. Supporting conditions that allow the emergence of new social paradigms through targeted actions at individual, collective, and system levels is thus crucial to tackling climate change and meeting policy targets [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To reduce agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, farmers need to change current farming practices. However, farmers' climate change mitigation behaviour and particularly the role of social and individual characteristics remains poorly understood. Using an agent‐based modelling approach, we investigate how knowledge exchange within farmers' social networks affects the adoption of mitigation measures and the effectiveness of a payment per ton of GHG emissions abated. Our simulations are based on census, survey and interview data for 49 Swiss dairy and cattle farms to simulate the effect of social networks on overall GHG reduction and marginal abatement costs. We find that considering social networks increases overall reduction of GHG emissions by 45% at a given payment of 120 Swiss Francs (CHF) per ton of reduced GHG emissions. The per ton payment would have to increase by 380 CHF (i.e., 500 CHF/tCO2eq) to reach the same overall GHG reduction level without any social network effects. Moreover, marginal abatement costs for emissions are lower when farmers exchange relevant knowledge through social networks. The effectiveness of policy incentives aiming at agricultural climate change mitigation can hence be improved by simultaneously supporting knowledge exchange and opportunities of social learning in farming communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the Fukushima disaster, several European countries revisited their policies and decided to phase out nuclear energy production. More recently, however, the EU taxonomy proposed a classification system of environmentally sustainable economic activities and consequently reopened the debate regarding nuclear energy. This study analyses public comments about the inclusion or exclusion of nuclear energy as a response to climate change, in the conceptual frameworks of ecological modernization, sustainability and technological neutrality. The study highlights the challenge of shaping energy policies amid dynamic circumstances and diverse viewpoints. Proponents of nuclear energy emphasised its low‐carbon emissions and climate change mitigation potential, while opponents focused on issues of radioactive waste and environmental risks. The study reveals that sustainability emerges as a potential reconciling framework to match arguments to influence the EU's decision‐making, while it reflects the political primacy of this process. Finally, this research recommends improving feedback visibility and enhancing clear communication, and suggests further research directions to understand future EU nuclear energy policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little consideration has been given to the process of technological change in political theory. Given that ideas about this process play an important role in many strands of normative political thought, and are especially crucial to climate change politics, this is a remarkable oversight. It risks political theory being irrelevant to climate change mitigation. The implications of this oversight for political theory are explored here through an analysis of the liberalism-ecologism debate. The article argues that attempts to green liberalism – to move it beyond environmentalism – cannot succeed while liberalism is silent about technological change. More broadly, given that most political theory traditions make claims about technological change, claims crucial to their worldviews and normative goals, it argues that much more theorisation of the concept is necessary. Especially now that they shape how the world understands climate change mitigation, contests over the meaning of technological change are intensely political contests. Political theory needs to get much more involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present investigation elaborates on the level of game theory application for the applied and theoretical analyses of climate change and development studies. This editorial shows that the common good character of global climate alongside the increasing internalization of environmental externalities through national regulations and international environmental treaties jointly result in the increasing congruence between the context of climate change problems and the game theoretical method. Furthermore, the adoption of the Paris Accord by the overwhelming majority of developing countries as well as the disproportionate vulnerability of the Global South have led to an increasing shift in focus with regard to international development cooperation, from poverty alleviation and economic growth to green growth and circular economy solutions, within developing countries. The underutilization of game theory in the context of development studies is not satisfactory. This paper underlines the importance of implementing an impetus to researchers for scholarly discussions and applications of game theory in a discourse on the following topics: 1. economic growth; 2. climate change mitigation and adaptation; and 3. a broader socioeconomic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wildfires are becoming more frequent due to the global climate change. Large amounts of greenhouse gases emitted by wildfires can lead to increases in extreme climate events. Accurately estimating the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from wildfires is important for mitigation of climate change. In this paper, we develop a novel method to estimate wildfire CO2 emissions from the relationship between local CO2 emissions and XCO2 anomalies. Our method uses the WRF-Chem assimilation system from OCO-2 XCO2 retrievals which coupled with Data Assimilation Research Testbed (DART). To validate our results, we conducted three experiments evaluating the wildfire CO2 emissions over the conterminous United States. The four-month average wildfire emissions from July to October in 2015∼2018 were estimated at 4.408 Tg C, 1.784 Tg C, 1.514 Tg C and 2.873 Tg C, respectively. Compared to the average of established inventories CT2019B, FINNv1.5 and GFASv1.2 fire emissions, our estimates fall within one standard deviation, except for 2017 due to lacking of OCO-2 XCO2 retrievals. These results suggest that the regional carbon assimilation system, such as WRF-Chem/DART, using OCO-2 XCO2 retrievals has a great potential for accurately tracking regional wildfire emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful climate change mitigation, adaptation, and transformation will require a balance of bottom-up, community-led planning and engagement with top-down resource deployment. While many non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society groups, and local agencies argue that they work closely with residents, especially on plans to manage extreme weather events and climate change, the degree to which local, urban-based climate projects engage with coastal communities remains an open question. Using interviews with nearly 20 project managers, local planners, and decision makers along with site visits to and archival research on three core projects in Boston, we evaluate the degree to which residents participate, plan, and engage. Despite being heralded by some observers as truly participatory, we found that none of the projects achieved the highest levels of participation possible seen in other community led projects. Further, none of the projects achieved consistent scores on the three evaluation criteria: equity, efficacy, and efficiency. This gap between rhetoric and reality must be closed if Boston and other vulnerable, coastal cities wish to build more equitable ways of managing challenges like climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study was conducted at three sampling sites in the province of Manabí, Ecuador, designated for coffee production under an agroforestry system (AFS). A total of 21 plant species were recorded, and the carbon stored in live aboveground biomass was estimated. The results showed that coffee-based AFS has a high potential for carbon storage, and species diversity is related to the structural parameters and diversity of each sampling site. The implementation of coffee-based AFS is an effective strategy for the conservation of native flora and climate change mitigation in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Despite mounting empirical evidence regarding the positive effects of forest structural diversity (STRDIV) on forest functioning, the underlying biotic mechanisms and controlling abiotic factors remain poorly understood. This study provides the first assessment of the interactive effects of STRDIV and diversity in species and functional traits on aboveground biomass (AGB) in natural forests in West and East Africa. Location: West and East Africa. Time period: 2014–2020. Major taxa studied: Woody plants. Methods: Using data from 276 plots and 7993 trees of 207 species distributed across various types of natural forests and major climatic zones of Africa, linear mixed‐effects and structural equation models, we have evaluated how alternative causal relationships between STRDIV and taxonomic and functional diversity attributes influence AGB, while accounting for the effects of environmental covariates. We also assessed the consistency of these relationships across floristically and environmentally homogenous forest types. Results: We found that the positive effects of STRDIV on AGB were underpinned by both the community‐weighted mean (CWM) of trait values (selection effects) and species richness (niche complementarity), but the relative importance of these effects varied depending on forest types. Across the forest types, STRDIV primarily mediated the effects of CWM of traits and species richness on AGB. We also found that STRDIV–AGB relationships were constrained by resource (water and nutrient) availability. Main conclusions: Our findings provide novel insights into the role of functional traits as key determinants of the effects of STRDIV on AGB in tropical forests. We suggest that forest management and climate change mitigation strategies aimed at conserving biodiversity, and fostering biomass storage through increased STRDIV should focus on maintaining high levels of functionally dominant species while also increasing tree species diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon sequestration in soils under agricultural use can contribute to climate change mitigation. Spatial–temporal soil organic carbon (SOC) monitoring requires more efficient data acquisition. This study aims to evaluate the potential of spectral on-the-go proximal measurements to serve these needs. The study was conducted as a long-term field experiment. SOC values ranged between 14 and 25 g kg−1 due to different fertilization treatments. Partial least squares regression models were built based on the spectral laboratory and field data collected with two spectrometers (site-specific and on-the-go). Correction of the field data based on the laboratory data was done by testing linear transformation, piecewise direct standardization, and external parameter orthogonalization (EPO). Different preprocessing methods were applied to extract the best possible information content from the sensor signal. The models were then thoroughly interpreted concerning spectral wavelength importance using regression coefficients and variable importance in projection scores. The detailed wavelength importance analysis disclosed the challenge of using soil spectroscopy for SOC monitoring. The use of different spectrometers under varying soil conditions revealed shifts in wavelength importance. Still, our findings on the use of on-the-go spectroscopy for spatial–temporal SOC monitoring are promising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The kelp forest and bed of Laminaria ochroleuca were found in October 2023 in Porticello (Scylla -Reggio Calabria, Italy) between 48 and 55 m depth. Samples were collected for future genetic and sedimentological analyses and identification of associated fauna and flora. The aim of the upcoming research campaigns is to update the current knowledge of Laminaria forests in the Messina Strait, estimating the action and consequences of climate change at the local level. The project will involve the community of technical divers in long term monitoring (3–5 years), in order to measure ecosystem services. The information will be used to draft a policy document for the proposal of protected areas of the most extensive forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the implications of the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for lung disease. It highlights the significant impact of climate change on respiratory diseases, such as increased air pollution and extreme weather events, which can exacerbate conditions like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The article emphasizes the importance of climate change mitigation for respiratory health and the need for global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It also mentions the recent COP28 UAE Declaration on Climate and Health, which recognizes the adverse impacts of climate change on health and calls for action to protect respiratory health. However, the article notes that COP28 failed to achieve the necessary level of ambition to mitigate climate change and protect vulnerable populations. It concludes by highlighting the role of healthcare providers, individuals, and leaders in promoting cleaner energy, supporting policies for environmental health, and preparing healthcare systems for the impacts of climate change. [Extracted from the article]

This article, published in Environmental Politics, examines the functions of the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) as a governing instrument under the Paris Agreement. The author analyzes states' submissions to post-Paris negotiations and identifies five functions of the NDC: progress tracker, trust-builder, influencer, gatekeeper, and differentiator. The article responds to a critique by Timo Leiter, who argues that the NDC is not the only important governing instrument under the Paris Agreement and that other mechanisms should also be studied. The author emphasizes the importance of examining states' ideas during the negotiation phase and engaging in interdisciplinary discussions to enhance understanding of global climate governance. [Extracted from the article]

We quantify an elevated occurrence of abrupt changes in ocean environmental conditions under human‐induced climate forcing using Earth system model output through a novel analysis method that compares the temporal evolution of the forcings applied with the development of local ocean state changes for temperature, oxygen concentration, and carbonate ion concentration. Through a multi‐centennial Earth system model experiment, we show that such an increase is not fully reversible after excess greenhouse gas emissions go back to zero. The increase in occurrence of regional abrupt changes in marine environmental conditions has not yet been accounted for adequately in climate impact analyses that usually associate ecosystem shifts large‐scale variability or extreme events. Estimates for remaining greenhouse gas emission targets need thus to be more conservative. Plain Language Summary: The ocean warms up, gets more acidic, and loses oxygen under progressing anthropogenic climate change putting ecosystems under stress. Regionally, abrupt changes in temperature, acidity, and dissolved oxygen concentration can occur and may make it impossible for organisms to adjust to these new environmental conditions, thereby increasing the risk for deterioration of entire ecosystems. The study provides evidence for elevated occurrence of regional abrupt changes in marine environmental conditions that is not yet accounted for appropriately in climate impact analyses that usually associate ecosystem shifts with changes in large‐scale variability or extreme events. Therefore, the time window for effective climate mitigation to prevent unwanted marine ecosystem impacts may close sooner than previously expected. Key Points: There is an elevated occurrence of abrupt changes in key ocean state variables under human‐induced climate forcingThe occurrence of abrupt changes in the upper ocean peaks around the maximum of the rate of change in human‐induced forcingA multi‐centennial legacy is expected for abrupt shifts in environmental conditions, long after a stop of anthropogenic CO2 emissions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pressure on reducing greenhouse gas emissions has increased since the focus on climate change mitigation has grown. As the human development index is directly related to per capita energy consumption, sustainable energy production with reduced carbon footprint is the essential pathway for cleaner environment. Over numerous existing biological processes, hydrogen production via photo fermentation and photolysis of water is considered a more sustainable and economical method of hydrogen production. While both biological modes suffer from certain limitations, such as low yields and low production rates, practical implementation is still a long way off due to these limitations. The unique properties of nanomaterials (NMs) can help increase the efficiency of the biomass to biohydrogen process in significant ways. Applications of organic and inorganic nanoparticles in photocatalytic and photo fermentative hydrogen production is discussed in this paper. This review reports a wide range of applications of nanomaterials including the details of photo fermentative microorganisms and their mechanism of action. The maximum photo fermentative bio-H 2 production was reported in the presence of SiC–Fe 3 O 4 (3.02 mol H 2 /mol acetate), Ni (41 mol H 2 /mol sugar), graphite-C 3 N 4 (64.2 mol H 2 /mol sugar) whereas photocatalytic bio-H 2 yield was highest when Pd–Ni/CdS (54 mmol/g.h), Ni-MO/g-C 3 N 4 (1785 mmol/g.h) and CuO/TiO 2 (20.3 mmol/g.h) nanoparticles were employed. To design photocatalytic systems for practical and scalable use, the future research should be focused on deeper theoretical knowledge of mechanisms of light harvesting, ± charge separation and transport, surface biochemical reactions, semiconductor–liquid interactions, and reactor dynamics. [Display omitted] • Recent developments for improving water photolysis and photo-fermentation are reviewed. • Applications of organic and inorganic nanoparticles in hydrogen production are discussed. • The working principle and mechanism of hydrogen production are discussed. • The influence of key operating factors are presented. • Scope for future research was presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study addresses the microbial risks associated with Underground Hydrogen Storage (UHS), a critical component in the transition towards renewable energy systems, by employing an innovative multi-reactor system (Bio-xplorer) to simulate UHS conditions in two Italian reservoirs. The microbiological risk assessment (MRA) of Reservoir A and B was evaluated by subjecting them to gas mixtures of 10 % H 2 and 90 % CH 4 , and 99 % H 2 and 1 % CO 2 , respectively. In Reservoir A, the stability of pressure and temperature, the negligible optical density, and lack of microbial metabolites suggested a low risk of microbial activation. Molecular analyses confirmed the absence of sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB) and limited growth of hydrogenotrophic methanogens (HM). Similarly, in Reservoir B, the absence of SRB and limited occurrence of HM indicated a low microbiological risk. Overall, the present work supports the safe and efficient implementation of UHS , a promising mitigation technique for climate change, using an innovative tool for MRA. [Display omitted] • Microbial risk assessment for UHS in Italy. • Innovative HP & HT bioreactors system (Bio-xplorer) for UHS lab tests. • Novel approach for UHS Microbial risk assessment in two Italian NG reservoirs. • Reactor-based assessment of SRB, HM, AB activity by mimicking reservoirs environment. • No sensible hydrogen consumption registered for both the reservoirs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ireland has > 50% of the EU's ocean-raised bogs; however, degradation through land-use activities has transformed them from carbon (C) sinks to sources. Given their significant role in climate mitigation, it is essential to quantify the emissions resulting from land use degradation of these ecosystems. A seven-class land-use classification system for Irish peatlands (LUCIP) was developed and mapped using Sentinel-2 imagery, random forest machine learning and Google Earth Engine. The results revealed that agricultural grassland comprised 43% of the land use on raised bogs, followed by, forestry (21%), cutover (11%), cutaway (10%) remnant peatlands (13%), waterbodies and built-up ~ 1% each. The overall accuracy of the map was 89%. The map was used to estimate CO2 emissions for four classes constituting 85% of raised bogs: cutover, cutaway, grassland, and forestry using the IPCC wetlands supplement and literature-based emission factors, we estimated emissions at ~ 1.92 (± 1.58–2.27 Mt CO2-C-yr−1) and ~ 0.68 Mt CO2-C-yr−1 (± 0.44–0.91 Mt CO2-C-yr−1) respectively. This is the first study to spatially quantify land use and related emissions from raised bogs. The results have revealed widespread degradation of these globally rare habitats, making them net emitters of CO2. The map is vital for the conservation of these ecosystems through restoration efforts, and the methodology can also be applied to other regions with similar peatland land use issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a countermovement in motion that has obstructed the adoption of climate policies all over the world. In Europe, although some organizations have been identified, we know little about their influence. This research aims to analyse the role of climate action contrarian think tanks in the policymaking of the European Parliament (EP). To this end, a two-fold methodology is employed. Firstly, a survey of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) was conducted in 2021, and this was followed by in-depth interviews with Accredited Parliamentary Assistants (APAs) related to climate issues. The results indicate almost no knowledge of these climate policy obstructionist think tanks among the surveyed MEPs and interviewed APAs. However, respondents believe that think tanks are generally used in policymaking. In fact, policymakers recognize the most prestigious European think tanks and often use them. Attributes such as visibility, good networking, quality content and transparency enable think tanks to have access to policymaking, although this would not seem to be the case for think tanks that oppose climate action in Europe. Results also describe policymakers' perceptions regarding the use of think tanks in general, which they see as useful tools in the elaboration of highly complex legislative dossiers in the EP. This article contributes to the line of research on the influence of interest groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is a key focus in society, and environmental assessments (EAs) are seen as key instruments to inform decision-makers about climate consequences of plans and projects. Previous research has, however, identified shortcomings of practice of assessing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and their significance, and this paper aims to unfold current practices with a focus on Denmark. From an initial set of 762 Danish EA reports published between 2017 and 2021, researchers scrutinized 102 of them to assess their handling of GHG emissions. The findings show that climate change mitigation receives continuous sparse attention and is only to a limited extent included in the scope of the EA. Moreover, analysis of GHG emissions only involves few phases in a life-cycle perspective, GHG emissions are seldomly deemed significant, and justifications provided are varied and frequently inadequate. The results contrast with the increasing focus in society on climate change as a pivotal concern across numerous societal activities. The repercussions of this current practice are discussed. Finally, a research agenda to support better practice is outlined. Increased focus on climate change has not had a major impact on Danish EA practice. Increasing GHG emissions are almost never assessed as significant. Nine types of justifications for the significance of GHG emissions are identified. Assessing GHG emissions directly against national total emissions is misleading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study has as its original database the decarbonization process initiated in Mexico by the National Commission for the Efficient Use of Energy (CONUEE) as part of its "Savings Program of Electric Power in Buildings of the Federal Public Administration" (PAEIAPF) of 1999. The primary purpose of PAEIAPF was to reduce the levels of electric power consumption in Federal Government buildings. The program has operated for 20 years; however, its scope only reaches operational carbon. Since 90% of existing buildings will be in use by 2050, the Retrofit Models will be the base to determine solutions for a more resilient living environment that fortifies and extends the grid's capacity and meets climate change mitigation targets. Secondly, significant socioeconomic and profound environmental impacts are not calculated explicitly in existing tools and are often referred to as "secondary" or Non-Energy Benefits (NEB). "The goal is to give them a measurement value to be considered in the decision-making calculus. It is assumed that soon; such factors will enter the general climate change economy, not unlike carbon in the past decade." In this context, the proposed research aims to develop a value-based framework that will support a Building Stock Model and subsequent Retrofit Models, documented in a web-tool platform. The framework has three main steps: A) Building Stock Model: Mapping of selected buildings of the program PAEIAPF in a GIS system. Documentation of the baseline energy consumption and embodied CO2-eq of the existing building. B) Retrofit Models: Involving a Whole Life Cycle Assessment (WLCA) and Non-Energy Benefits (resilience coefficient, health, productivity). C) Web Tool Platform: Application and toolset that allows for consistent documentation, environmental impact evaluation of existing building stock, and solution design in identifying energy reduction concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]