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Purpose: The European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) Green Paper aims to address the challenge of environmental sustainability in intensive care and proposes actionable strategies for integrating sustainability into intensive care unit (ICU) stakeholder actions., Methods: The ESICM Executive Committee appointed a task force of topic experts and ESICM committee representatives to develop the ESICM Green Paper. The task force convened biweekly from January to June 2024, identifying key domains for environmental sustainability and prioritizing actions. Drafts were iteratively refined and approved by the ESICM Executive Committee., Results: Climate change will impact activities in intensive care in many ways, but also the impact of ICU activities on the environment is considerable; drivers for this include extensive resource use and waste generation in ICUs from energy consumption, use of disposable items, and advanced therapies for critically ill patients. The ESICM Green Paper outlines a structured approach for ICUs to reduce their environmental impact, emphasizing energy efficiency, waste reduction, and sustainable procurement. Furthermore, it endorses the need for awareness and education among healthcare professionals, integration of sustainability into research, and sustainable policies within scientific societies., Conclusions: The ESICM Green Paper reviewed the relevance of climate change to intensive care and provided suggestions for clinical practice, research, education, and ESICM organizational domains. It underscores that reducing intensive care's ecological footprint can coexist with high-quality patient care. Promoting a resilient, responsible healthcare system is a joint responsibility of all ICU stakeholders., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Climate change is one of the greatest threats to health that societies face and can adversely affect mental health. Given the current lack of a European consensus paper on the interplay between climate change and mental health, we signal a need for a pan-European position paper about this topic, written by stakeholders working in mental health care., Methods: On behalf of the European Psychiatric Association (EPA), we give recommendations to make mental health care, research, and education more sustainable based on a narrative review of the literature., Results: Examples of sustainable mental healthcare comprise preventive strategies, interdisciplinary collaborations, evidence-based patient care, addressing social determinants of mental health, maintaining health services during extreme weather events, optimising use of resources, and sustainable facility management. In mental health research, sustainable strategies include investigating the impact of climate change on mental health, promoting research on climate change interventions, strengthening the evidence base for mental health-care recommendations, evaluating the allocation of research funding, and establishing evidence-based definitions and clinical approaches for emerging issues such as 'eco-distress'. Regarding mental health education, planetary health, which refers to human health and how it is intertwined with ecosystems, may be integrated into educational courses., Conclusions: The EPA is committed to combat climate change as the latter poses a threat to the future of mental health care. The current EPA position paper on climate change and mental health may be of interest to a diverse readership of stakeholders, including clinicians, researchers, educators, patients, and policymakers.

The world is currently facing uncertainty caused by environmental, social, and economic changes and by political shocks. Fostering social-ecological resilience by enhancing forests' ability to provide a range of ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration, habitat provision, and sustainable livelihoods, is key to addressing such uncertainty. However, policy makers and managers currently lack a clear understanding of how to operationalise the shaping of resilience through the combined challenges of climate change, the biodiversity crisis, and changes in societal demand. Based on a scientific literature review, we identified a set of actions related to ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation, and disturbance and pressure impacts that forest managers and policy makers should attend to enhance the resilience of European forest systems. We conclude that the resilience shaping of forests should (1) adopt an operational approach, which is currently lacking, (2) identify and address existing and future trade-offs while reinforcing win-wins and (3) attend to local particularities through an adaptive management approach., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

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Climate change affects plant species, especially those with restricted ecology and distribution. Centaurium erythraea is a flowering plant species in the Gentianaceae family, native to Europe, with its centre of diversity in the Mediterranean and western Asia. Of the 11 infraspecific taxa distinct from C. erythraea, only two are common in Europe: C. erythraea subsp. erythraea (widespread nominal subspecies) and C. erythraea subsp. majus (mainly distributed in the western Mediterranean region). Freshly collected samples of 36 plants from 11 localities across Lower Silesia (Central Europe) were utilised for taxonomic and genetic analysis. The barcode sequences of chloroplast DNA region matK were used for molecular analysis. Data deposited in GenBank was also used. Five haplotypes were identified among the analysed specimens. Species Distribution Modelling (SDM) techniques were applied to predict the current and future (short- and long-term projections) potential distribution of C. erythraea subsp. majus and to identify the most influential climatic factors. Despite the typical Mediterranean distribution, the presence of C. erythraea subsp. majus outside its natural range in SW Poland has been confirmed by morphological and genetic studies. The mean monthly precipitation of the wettest quarter and the mean daily temperatures of the warmest quarter were identified as the key climatic factors. Short-term scenarios suggest that C. erythraea subsp. majus will maintain most of its current suitable habitats and potentially expand into the lowlands of Central Europe. However, long-term projections indicate a potential reduction in its currently suitable areas, especially in the southern parts of its range, with a possible expansion into north-western Europe. The results of these studies provide clear evidence of the impact of ongoing climate change on species range changes. These findings suggest that climate change may create new opportunities for Mediterranean species to spread to new regions, using C. erythraea subsp. majus as an example., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

To unravel the challenges in the global diffusion of climate-friendly technologies, this investigation analyzes the diffusion of climate change-related technologies across countries. By using an unbalanced panel of selected European countries over the period 1990-2020, this investigation quantifies the carbon dioxide (CO2) emission effects of the diffusion of climate change-related technologies that are mediated by imports, geographical and technological proximity and free diffusion of technologies. In this study, the effects of domestic development of climate change-related technologies, population and affluence are also accounted for, and the emission effects are estimated using a fixed-effects panel model with instrumental variables. The instrumental variable for foreign technology spillovers is based on the technology support policies adopted in foreign countries. As expected, international spillovers of climate-friendly technologies are negatively linked to CO2 emissions, thus promoting emission reductions across the region. Importantly, emission reductions in Europe are more strongly influenced by international technology spillovers than by domestic innovation activities. Moreover, while all the analyzed technology diffusion channels appear relevant, the results are the most robust regarding import-mediated technology spillovers. Insights from this study support policy recommendations, especially in the trade policy context., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) sets the fundamental structure for assessing the status of water bodies in the European Union. Its implementation is currently entering its fourth six-year cycle assisted by a total of 38 guidance documents. The principal objective is to ensure good status for surface and ground waters. The functioning of the WFD is based on detecting the impact of human pressures on biological, physico-chemical, or hydromorphological parameters, and reducing these causal pressures through a program of measures to achieve good status. Climate change can exert a significant influence on ecological status by directly altering parameters monitored, pressure interactions, or influencing the effectiveness of programs of measures. Aquatic systems respond holistically to climate change with different pressures having additive, synergistic, or antagonistic interactions. The challenge is how to adapt the framework to manage aquatic systems in the context of climate change while maintaining focus on implementing measures to tackle key pressures. This paper examines potential approaches, including reassignment of waterbody type, quantifying the portion of Ecological Quality Ratio (EQR) driven by climate change, and creating an assessment module of climatic pressures and ecological responses. The overall purpose is to stimulate discussion and explore ways to incorporate climate change into the WFD structure., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no competing interest., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

To effectively protect against the increasingly pervasive effects of climate change, countries and cities around the world are tasked with formulating and implementing climate actions that effectively respond to the challenges ahead. However, choosing the optimal climate actions is complex, since it is necessary to consider many external impacts as early on as the planning phase. Our novel methodology uncovers and integrates into first-of-its-kind decision support framework the identified climate actions of 443 European cities (from 32 countries) and the city structure-related features that influence the basic success of strategy creation into a first-of-its-kind decision support framework. Depending on their budget, population density, development and energy consumption portfolio, the results highlight that the analyzed European cities need to adopt a different way of thinking. The research results lay the foundation for the decision support of evidence-based climate action planning and contribute towards strengthening the role of cities worldwide in the fight against climate change in the future., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

In light of growing concerns about climate change and environmental issues, investor interest has surged in the new green economy market. However, the existing literature is limited regarding potential price bubbles and co-bubbles within this new domain. This study examines price bubbles and co-bubbles in the new green economy market, covering 31 indexes classified into three groups: the green economy market and its components, geographical regions, and sectors. Using daily data from August 31, 2005, to May 31, 2024, a test procedure is first applied to detect periods of price bubble in the various indexes, then logistic regressions are employed to examine price co-bubble behaviours. The results show evidence of price bubbles in the green economy market, particularly in solar and wind indexes, with peaks during the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine conflict, whereas the water index is the least prone to price bubbles. Regarding geographical region, the USA market exhibits a higher tendency for price bubbles than the Asian or European markets. Several sectors are resistant to price bubbles. The co-bubble analysis reveals a strong reliance of wind index on price bubbles in the solar and water indexes. Price bubbles in Asia significantly influence price bubbles in Europe and the USA. These findings have implications for investment portfolio management and risk management strategies in the new green economy market., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The crises of climate change and biodiversity loss have pushed the aim for increasing the resilience of forest ecosystems high on the agenda of foresters and policymakers. At the same time, synergistic opportunities for restoring forests and biodiversity are emerging to safeguard these ecosystems. Naturalness is a key characteristic of forest ecosystems, which should be considered when estimating benchmarks for resilience and biodiversity conservation. The naturalness of forest ecosystems is highly dependent on the intensity of human activity, as different levels of management intensity can change the original traits of forest ecosystems. This paper presents an archetypal typology of forest ecosystems, describing the association between management and naturalness. Both features are represented as gradients covering the full spectrum observed in European forests. The array of forest ecosystem archetypes was verified using case studies across Europe. The typology provides useful information for setting targets for resilience and restoration of forest ecosystems., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

In recent years, the oak lace bug, Corythucha arcuata, has emerged as a significant threat to European oak forests. This species, native to North America, has in the last two decades rapidly extended its range in Europe, raising concerns about its potential impact on the continent's invaluable oak populations. To address this growing concern, we conducted an extensive study to assess the distribution, colonization patterns, and potential ecological niche of the oak lace bug in Europe. We gathered 1792 unique presence coordinates from 21 Eurasian countries, utilizing diverse sources such as research observations, citizen science initiatives, GBIF database, and social media reports. To delineate the realized niche and future distribution, we employed an ensemble species distribution modelling (SDM) framework. Two future greenhouse gas scenarios (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5) were considered across three-time intervals (2021-2040, 2061-2080, and 2081-2100) to project and evaluate the species' potential distribution in the future. Our analysis revealed that significant hotspots rich in host species occurrence for this invasive insect remain uninvaded so far, even within its suitable habitat. Furthermore, the native ranges of Turkey oak (Quercus cerris L.) and Hungarian oak (Quercus frainetto L.) species offer entirely suitable environments for the oak lace bug. In contrast, the pedunculate oak and sessile oak distribution ranges currently show only 40 % and 50 % suitability for colonization, respectively. However, our predictive models indicate a significant transformation in the habitat suitability of the oak lace bug, with suitability for these two oak species increasing by up to 90 %. This shift underlines an evolving landscape where the oak lace bug may exploit more of its available habitats than initially expected. It emphasises the pressing need for proactive measures to manage and stop its expanding presence, which may lead to a harmful impact on the oak population across the European landscape., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Forests are expected to be strongly affected by modifications in climate and disturbance regimes, threatening their ability to sustain the provision of essential services. Promoting drought-tolerant species or functionally diverse stands have recently emerged as management options to cope with global change. Our study aimed at evaluating the impact of contrasting stand-level management scenarios on the resilience of temperate forests in eastern North America and central-western Europe using the individual process-based model HETEROFOR. We simulated the evolution of eight stands over 100 years under a future extreme climate according to four management scenarios (business as usual - BAU; climate change adaptation - CC; functional diversity approach - FD; no management - NM) while facing multiple disturbances, resulting in a total of 160 simulations. We found that FD demonstrated the greatest resilience regarding transpiration and tree biomass, followed by CC and then BAU, while these three scenarios were equivalent concerning the net primary production. These results were however dependent on forest type: increasing functional diversity was a powerful option to increase the resilience of coniferous plantations whereas no clear differences between BAU and adaptive management scenarios were detected in broadleaved and mixed stands. The FD promoted a higher level of tree species diversity than any other scenario, and all scenarios of management were similar regarding the amount of harvested wood. The NM always showed the lowest resilience, demonstrating that forest management could be an important tool to mitigate adverse effects of global change. Our study highlighted that tree-level process-based models are a relevant tool to identify suitable management options for adapting forests to global change provided that model limitations are considered, and that alternative management options, particularly those based on functional diversity, are promising and should be promoted from now on., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Background: Climate change is expected to elevate exposure to several environmental health risk factors, including extreme environmental temperatures, air pollution and airborne allergenic pollen. Given their interconnected effects on respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, it is crucial to evaluate these exposures simultaneously. Yet, comprehensive efforts to do so remain limited. This research aims to develop an approach using modelled data, in conjunction with health-based threshold values, to assess whether, where and when there is simultaneous threshold exceedance of heat, air pollution and airborne allergenic pollen in Europe., Methods: Hourly exposure data for the three stressors were sourced from three models (air pollution: LOTOS-EUROS, pollen: Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, meteorological conditions: ECMWF) for 2021 and 2022. Thresholds for each stressor that indicate the boundary of acceptable limits were based on officially established tresholds or literature recommendations. The result is a 0.1°x0.1° resolution grid (approximately 10 km x 10 km) for each stressor, with each cell representing whether exposure met or exceeded the threshold., Findings: Simultaneous threshold exceedance of air pollution and heat is occurring in various degrees throughout Europe. In the summer of 2022, the exceedances ranged from below 1% in large parts of Northern Europe to as much as 25% of the time in the Mediterranean area. An assessment of monthly threshold exceedance patterns shows a dynamic and changing co-exposure pattern across the year, which differs per region., Interpretation: This work lays out a robust approach to assess simultaneous threshold exceedances of multiple environmental health risk stressors. This approach can guide policy makers in pinpointing high-risk areas particularly vulnerable to simultaneous threshold exceedances, and develop mitigation strategies for those areas., Funding: Internal funding from TNO., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The European Board and College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (EBCOG) and the European Network of Trainees in Obstetrics and Gynaecology (ENTOG) express their concerns on the effect of climate change and environmental pollution. This paper reviews the impact on reproductive health and the contribution to climate change by the field of obstetrics and gynaecology. It concludes that its contributors and the effects of climate change cause definite adverse consequences to fertility and adverse obstetric outcomes. Mankind, and obstetrics and gynaecology personnel as well, must be aware and responsible of its contribution to climate change and consider the impact of their actions and interventions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The aim of this paper is to prepare, describe and discuss the models of the current and future distribution of Phthiracarus longulus (Koch, 1841) (Acari: Oribatida: Euptyctima), the oribatid mite species widely distributed within the Palearctic. We used the maximum entropy (MAXENT) method to predict its current and future (until the year 2100) distribution based on macroclimatic bio-variables. To our best knowledge, this is the first-ever prediction of distribution in mite species using environmental niche modelling. The main thermal variables that shape the current distribution of P. longulus are the temperature annual range, mean temperature of the coldest quarter and the annual mean temperature, while for precipitation variables the most important is precipitation of the driest quarter. Regardless of the climatic change scenario (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP5-8.5) our models show generally the northward shift of species range, and in Southern Europe the loss of most habitats with parallel upslope shift. According to our current model, the most of suitable habitats for P. longulus are located in the European part of Palearctic. In general, the species range is mostly affected in Europe. The most stable areas of P. longulus distribution were the Jutland with surrounding southern coasts of Scandinavia, islands of the Danish Straits and the region of Trondheim Fjord., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Climate change causes far-reaching disruption in nature, where tolerance thresholds already have been exceeded for some plants and animals. In the short term, deer may respond to climate through individual physiological and behavioral responses. Over time, individual responses can aggregate to the population level and ultimately lead to evolutionary adaptations. We systematically reviewed the literature (published 2000-2022) to summarize the effect of temperature, rainfall, snow, combined measures (e.g., the North Atlantic Oscillation), and extreme events, on deer species inhabiting boreal and temperate forests in terms of their physiology, spatial use, and population dynamics. We targeted deer species that inhabit relevant biomes in North America, Europe, and Asia: moose, roe deer, wapiti, red deer, sika deer, fallow deer, white-tailed deer, mule deer, caribou, and reindeer. Our review (218 papers) shows that many deer populations will likely benefit in part from warmer winters, but hotter and drier summers may exceed their physiological tolerances. We found support for deer expressing both morphological, physiological, and behavioral plasticity in response to climate variability. For example, some deer species can limit the effects of harsh weather conditions by modifying habitat use and daily activity patterns, while the physiological responses of female deer can lead to long-lasting effects on population dynamics. We identified 20 patterns, among which some illustrate antagonistic pathways, suggesting that detrimental effects will cancel out some of the benefits of climate change. Our findings highlight the influence of local variables (e.g., population density and predation) on how deer will respond to climatic conditions. We identified several knowledge gaps, such as studies regarding the potential impact on these animals of extreme weather events, snow type, and wetter autumns. The patterns we have identified in this literature review should help managers understand how populations of deer may be affected by regionally projected futures regarding temperature, rainfall, and snow., (Global Change Biology© 2024 The Author(s). Global Change Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

This comprehensive study addresses the urgent global challenges of climate change and environmental degradation by focusing on the Ecological Footprint (EF). Unlike previous studies, it introduces a novel approach incorporating spatial spillover, temporal effects, and common shocks in panel data analysis. The spatial spillover effect highlights the influence of trade, pollution havens, and competition between neighboring countries on EF. The temporal effects emphasize the significance of historical production patterns and export strategies in shaping the current EF. The study also considers the impact of exogenous common shocks, such as international agreements and global events, on EF. Utilizing a dynamic spatial panel data model with common shocks, the research examines 40 European countries from 1992 to 2020, revealing the significant impact of biocapacity, energy consumption, industrialization, and globalization on EF. Findings indicate that spatial spillover effects contribute to EF transfer, emphasizing the need for collaborative global efforts. The study sheds light on the interconnectedness of environmental impacts and underscores the importance of considering both weak and strong forms of cross-sectional dependence in achieving accurate estimations. The research enriches our understanding of EF determinants and provides nuanced insights for policymakers striving to develop effective strategies for sustainable resource management and environmental conservation., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Recent hot droughts have caused tree vitality decline and increased mortality in many forest regions on earth. Most of Central Europe's important timber species have suffered from the extreme 2018/2019 hot drought, confronting foresters with difficult questions about the choice of more drought- and heat-resistant tree species. We compared the growth dynamics of European beech, sessile oak, Scots pine and Douglas fir in a warmer and a cooler lowland region of Germany to explore the adaptive potential of the four species to climate warming (24 forest stands). The basal area increment (BAI) of the two conifers has declined since about 1990-2010 in both regions, and that of beech in the warmer region, while oak showed positive BAI trends. A 2 °C difference in mean temperatures and a higher frequency of hot days (temperature maximum >30 °C) resulted in greater sensitivity to a negative climatic water balance in beech and oak, and elevated sensitivity to summer heat in Douglas fir and pine. This suggests to include hot days in climate-growth analyses. Negative pointer years were closely related to dry years. Nevertheless, all species showed growth recovery within one to three years. We conclude that all four species are sensitive to a deteriorating climatic water balance and hot temperatures, and have so far not been able to successfully acclimate to the warmer climate, with especially Douglas and beech, but also Scots pine, being vulnerable to a warming and drying climate., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The increase in global average temperature, mainly due to the high rate of greenhouse gas emissions, has triggered severe global warming and climate change. In Europe, the building sector accounts for a significant portion of emissions and energy consumption, prompting attention on nearly-zero-energy buildings (nZEBs) and zero-carbon buildings, as they play a pivotal role in reaching the goal of climate neutrality by 2050. Passive systems offer a promising solution, optimizing energy usage by better adapting buildings to their local climates. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art of passive heating and cooling techniques, exploring their contributions to contemporary architecture and showcasing their features and adaptability across different climates. Furthermore, the link between traditional and bioclimatic architecture is assessed. Recent years have witnessed a surge in publications on bioclimatic solar passive strategies, reflecting an intensified debate on climate change. Europe leads research in this area, aligned with initiatives like the Green Deal and Fit for 55. While dynamic simulation software is widely utilized for energy efficiency analysis, there remains limited integration of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and life cycle analysis (LCA) tools, which could enhance holistic assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high prevalence of hay fever in Europe has raised concerns about the implications of climate change-induced higher temperatures on pollen production. Our study focuses on downy birch pollen production across Europe by analyzing 456 catkins during 2019-2021 in 37 International Phenological Gardens (IPG) spanning a large geographic gradient. As IPGs rely on genetically identical plants, we were able to reduce the effects of genetic variability. We studied the potential association with masting behavior and three model specifications based on mean and quantile regression to assess the impact of meteorology (e.g., temperature and precipitation) and atmospheric gases (e.g., ozone (O 3 ) and carbon-dioxide (CO 2 )) on pollen and catkin production, while controlling for tree age approximated by stem circumference. The results revealed a substantial geographic variability in mean pollen production, ranging from 1.9 to 2.5 million pollen grains per catkin. Regression analyses indicated that elevated average temperatures of the previous summer corresponded to increased pollen production, while higher O 3 levels led to a reduction. Additionally, catkins number was positively influenced by preceding summer's temperature and precipitation but negatively by O 3 levels. The investigation of quantile effects revealed that the impacts of mean temperature and O 3 levels from the previous summer varied throughout the conditional response distribution. We found that temperature predominantly affected trees characterized by a high pollen production. We therefore suggest that birches modulate their physiological processes to optimize pollen production under varying temperature regimes. In turn, O 3 levels negatively affected trees with pollen production levels exceeding the conditional median. We conclude that future temperature increase might exacerbate pollen production while other factors may modify (decrease in the case of O 3 and amplify for precipitation) this effect. Our comprehensive study sheds light on potential impacts of climate change on downy birch pollen production, which is crucial for birch reproduction and human health., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: The spread of vector-borne infectious diseases is determined, among other things, by temperature. Thus, climate change will have an influence on their global distribution. In the future, Europe will approach the temperature optimum for the transmission of ZIKV and CHIKV. Climate scenarios and climate models can be used to depict future climatic changes and to draw conclusions about future risk areas for vector-borne infectious diseases., Methods: Based on the RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 climate scenarios, a geospatial analysis was carried out for the future temperature suitability of ZIKV and CHIKV in Europe. The results were presented in maps and the percentage of the affected areas calculated., Results: Due to rising temperatures, the risk areas for transmission of ZIKV and CHIKV spread in both RCP scenarios. For CHIKV transmission, Spain, Portugal, the Mediterranean coast and areas near the Black Sea are mainly affected. Due to high temperatures, large areas throughout Europe are at risk for ZIKV and CHIKV transmission., Conclusion: Temperature is only one of many factors influencing the spread of vector-borne infectious diseases. Nevertheless, the representation of risk areas on the basis of climate scenarios allows an assessment of future risk development. Monitoring and adaptation strategies are indispensable for coping with and containing possible future autochthonous transmissions and epidemics in Europe., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Soil microbial biomass and activity strongly depend on land use, vegetation cover, climate, and soil physicochemical properties. In most cases, this dependence was assessed by one-to-one correlations while by employing network analysis, information about network robustness and the balance between stochasticity and determinism controlling connectivity, was revealed. In this study, we further elaborated on the hypothesis of Smith et al. (2021) that cropland soils depended more on climate variables and therefore are more vulnerable to climate change. We used the same dataset with that of Smith et al. (2021) that contains seasonal microbial, climate and soil variables collected from 881 soil points representing the main land uses in Europe: forests, grassland, cropland. We examined complete (both direct and indirect relationships) and incomplete networks (only direct relationships) and recorded higher robustness in the former. Partial Least Square results showed that on average more than 45% of microbial attributes' variability was predicted by climate and habitat drivers denoting medium to strong effect of habitat filtering. Network architecture slightly affected by season or land use type; it followed the core/periphery structure with positive and negative interactions and no hub nodes. Microbial attributes (biomass, activity and their ratio) mostly belong to core block together with Soil Organic Carbon (SOC), while climate and soil variables to periphery block with the exception of cropland networks, denoting the higher dependence between microbial and climate variables in these latter. All complete networks appeared robust except for cropland and forest in summer, a finding that disagrees with our initial hypothesis about cropland. Networks' connectivity was controlled stronger by stochasticity in forest than in croplands. The lack of human interventions in forest soils increase habitat homogeneity enhancing the influence of stochastic agents such as microbial unlimited dispersal and/or stochastic extinction. The increased stochasticity implies the necessity for proactive management actions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The ability to predict changes in the right tail of daily precipitation distributions over short time periods, as well as the probability of clustering extreme values, is critical for current risk management. In the present study, we apply the well-established metric average value-at-risk (AVaR) for the first time within the field of climatology. We also investigate the evolution of the return level (RL) and the extremal index (EI), which we refer to as risk measures. In the case of precipitation processes, a rise in the first two and a reduction in the third may result in increased hazards. These methods were applied to the new data on the daily sum of precipitation from the region of Upper Vistula in Poland from 1951 to 2020 to analyze the dynamics of changes across time. We found that AVaR and RL have the smallest values for the middle of the analyzed period (years 1971–2010), while EI has a maximal value around 1963–92. Both the beginning and the end of the investigated period are characterized by more extreme and clustered precipitation events. Furthermore, this paper includes some recommendations for the tools used to compute the measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Europe accounts for 51% of international tourist arrivals and the tourism industry provides about 10% of workplaces in Europe. Tourism will be impacted by climate change in a diverse number of ways. At the same time, tourism is also a significant contributor of greenhouse gas emissions. The aim of this article is, therefore, to provide an assessment of climate and carbon risks for the European tourism industry based on a systematic literature review. Climate risk is the dominant category with 313 papers (74%), while 110 papers (26%) were on carbon risks. The following gaps were identified: geographical gaps, especially in countries of the former Soviet Union and former Yugoslavia; a lack of coherent studies on national tourism's and its sub-sectors' emissions; research addressing how climate policies might affect tourism demand; assessments of the integrated carbon and climate risks; lack of evidence on the link between tourism climate indicators and tourism demand; lack of climate change and tourism studies addressing policy and institutional tools for adaptation and implementation of adaptation measures in destinations; and research on rising sea levels and coastal erosion and its impacts on tourism destinations and demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work aims to explore climate change as a decisive element for the transition from feudalism toward capitalism and considers the Marxist transition debate as a framework. In order to avoid the deterministic trap, climate must be considered as a condition framing the historical possibilities in a dialectical relationship with human historical agents. Thus, this paper explores the interactions between medieval English society, focusing on land use and class relation, and the conditions imposed by nature, particularly the change in rainfall and the transformation of ecological conditions around the North Sea Basin, especially on England's east coast. Through the course of this research, we found out that the climate change that happened in the 14th century is one important condition for the rise of capitalism, as it creates certain pressures on both peasant and manorial economies that exacerbate their contradictions and sets a course for profound societal change. [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]

The assessment of risk posed by climate change in coastal cities encompasses multiple climate-related hazards. Sea-level rise, coastal flooding and coastal erosion are important hazards, but they are not the only ones. The varying availability and quality of data across cities hinders the ability to conduct holistic and standardized multi-hazard assessments. Indeed, there are far fewer studies on multiple hazards than on single hazards. Also, the comparability of existing methodologies becomes challenging, making it difficult to establish a cohesive understanding of the overall vulnerability and resilience of coastal cities. The use of indicators allows for a standardized and systematic evaluation of baseline hazards across different cities. The methodology developed in this work establishes a framework to assess a wide variety of climate-related hazards across diverse coastal cities, including sea-level rise, coastal flooding, coastal erosion, heavy rainfall, land flooding, droughts, extreme temperatures, heatwaves, cold spells, strong winds and landslides. Indicators are produced and results are compared and mapped for ten European coastal cities. The indicators are meticulously designed to be applicable across different geographical contexts in Europe. In this manner, the proposed approach allows interventions to be prioritized based on the severity and urgency of the specific risks faced by each city., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Climate change is a pressing global challenge with profound implications for human health. Forest-based climate change mitigation strategies, such as afforestation, reforestation, and sustainable forest management, offer promising solutions to mitigate climate change and simultaneously yield substantial co-benefits for human health. The objective of this scoping review was to examine research trends related to the interdisciplinary nexus between forests as carbon sinks and human health co-benefits. We developed a conceptual framework model, supporting the inclusion of exposure pathways, such as recreational opportunities or aesthetic experiences, in the co-benefit context. We used a scoping review methodology to identify the proportion of European research on forest-based mitigation strategies that acknowledge the interconnection between mitigation strategies and human impacts. We also aimed to assess whether synergies and trade-offs between forest-based carbon sink capacity and human co-benefits has been analysed and quantified. From the initial 4,062 records retrieved, 349 reports analysed European forest management principles and factors related to climate change mitigation capacity. Of those, 97 studies acknowledged human co-benefits and 13 studies quantified the impacts on exposure pathways or health co-benefits and were included for full review. Our analysis demonstrates that there is potential for synergies related to optimising carbon sink capacity together with human co-benefits, but there is currently a lack of holistic research approaches assessing these interrelationships. We suggest enhanced interdisciplinary efforts, using for example multideterminant modelling approaches, to advance evidence and understanding of the forest and health nexus in the context of climate change mitigation., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The Mediterranean basin is one of the most vulnerable regions worldwide due to its population density, the concentration of economic activities along the coasts and borderline climatic balance. It is identified as one of the most critical erosion hotspots in Europe, mainly due to the degradation of coastal areas, overexploitation and unsustainable practices affecting beach tourism, agriculture and fishing. The region is also affected by other phenomena such as storms and floods, which are exacerbated by climate change. To mitigate and adapt to these environmental and climatic changes, Nature based Solutions (NbSs) are considered a promising step-forward. However, despite their global recognition in both research and policy, few scientific papers and documents on the state of NbSs implementation for coastal risk management in the Mediterranean exist. This paper aims to provide an understanding of the status of NbS adoption for coastal risk management in the Mediterranean through a literature review. Out of 162 scientific papers and documents, only 23 were found to be relevant to the study. Through the definition and support of an innovative matrix-based approach, the analysis of the state of adoption of NbSs have been performed. Despite the limited information on the state of the adoption of NbSs for coastal risk management in the Mediterranean due to the low numbers of scientific research and documents available, some key considerations have been revealed., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

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]

The silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) is among the most valuable conifers in Europe for ecological and economic reasons. Throughout the course of history, primarily in the 20th century, its share in stands has been declining due to ill-suited management practices, especially clear-cut management, air pollution (SO2 and NOX emissions), and wildlife-induced damage. This literature review compiles findings from 338 scientific papers. It describes futures for silver fir and its distribution, ecological requirements, threats and diseases, seed production and nurseries, and forest management practices with emphasis on ongoing climate change. Based on recent knowledge of fir ecology and population dynamics, small-scale shelterwood and selection management have been introduced in fir stands, which have also stabilized them. Fir is an essential species for maintaining high stability and biodiversity, especially on planosols and in waterlogged habitats. Owing to its shade tolerance and environmental plasticity, it can coexist very well with many tree species in mixtures, which can increase the productive potential of stands within the natural range in Europe. The average stand volume of mature fir stands ranges from 237–657 m3 ha−1. For its successful natural regeneration, it is essential to reduce cloven-hoofed game and thus prevent bud browsing damage. The attractiveness of fir in terms of heavy browsing is the highest of all conifers (52% damage). On the other hand, fir is a species relatively resistant to bark stripping and the spread of secondary rot compared with Norway spruce (Picea abies [L.] Karst.). Under global climate change, fir is expected to shift to higher elevations with sufficient precipitation, while in the southern part of its natural range or at lower elevations, outside water-influenced habitats, it is likely to decline. Climate change is intricately linked to the heightened prevalence of forest pathogens with significant damage potential in Europe, necessitating careful consideration and strategic adaptation within management practices of fir forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zootoxins are produced by venomous and poisonous species and are an important cause of poisoning in companion animals and livestock in Europe. Little information about the incidence of zootoxin poisoning is available in Europe, with only a few case reports and review papers being published. This review presents the most important zootoxins produced by European venomous and poisonous animal species responsible for poisoning episodes in companion animals and livestock. The main zootoxin-producing animal species, components of the toxins/venoms and their clinical effects are presented. The most common zootoxicoses involve terrestrial zootoxins excreted by the common toad, the fire salamander, the pine processionary caterpillar, and vipers. The lack of a centralized reporting/poison control system in Europe makes the evaluation of the epidemiology of zootoxin-induced poisonings extremely difficult. Even if there are many anecdotal reports in the veterinary community about the exposure of domestic animals to terrestrial and marine zootoxins, the number of published papers regarding these toxicoses is low. Climate change and its consequences regarding species distribution and human-mediated transportation are responsible for the emerging nature of some intoxications in which zootoxins are involved. Although new venomous or poisonous animal species have emerged in regions where they were previously unreported, zootoxins produced by native species remain the main concern in Europe. The diversity of poisonous and venomous animal species and the emerging nature of certain poisonings warrant the continuous update to such knowledge by veterinary professionals and animal owners. This review offers an overview about zootoxin-related poisonings in domestic animals in Europe and also provides important information from a health perspective.

Starting from the relationship between urban planning and mobility management, TeMA has gradually expanded the view of the covered topics, always remaining in the groove of rigorous scientific in-depth analysis. This section of the Journal, Review Notes, is the expression of continuously updating emerging topics concerning relationships between urban planning, mobility and environment, through a collection of short scientific papers written by young researchers. The Review Notes are made of four parts. Each section examines a specific aspect of the broader information storage within the main interests of TeMA Journal. In particular, the Urban Practices section aims at presenting recent advancements on relevant topics that underline the challenges that the cities have to face. This note provides an overview of the challenges that global warming poses and the risks in terms of climate change that it generates for territories and cities. The challenges that adaptation to climate change commonly faces are outlined, and a brief review of European case studies is carried out. Finally, the results of the review are discussed highlighting some key threads of climate adaptation practices and three significant examples of climate change adaptation in urban areas are reported, within a perspective of integration and sharing of know-how on the topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of our rapidly evolving word, where pressing issues like anthropogenic climate change and accelerating urbanization demand innovative solutions, a critical evaluation of the potential and impact of digital technologies is necessary. Climate-neutral governance entails the implementation of governmental instruments and tools designed and used to harmonize short-term policy actions with a long-term vision of achieving a climate-neutral state. This fact aims to facilitate evidence-based decision-making, foster inter-sectoral coordination, enhance transparency, and cultivate public legitimacy for climate mitigation and adaptation measures. This paper presents a focused analysis of SmartCities projects and their implementation across diverse urban centers and nations. Our objective is to provide a comprehensive overview, highlighting recent advancements in the realm of smart and climate-neutral city governance. Furthermore, we conduct a comprehensive inquiry into Romania's legislative framework, encompassing the regulations and strategies pertaining to energy, climate change, and urban development. This analysis is complemented by an exploration of the evolving perspectives and legislative proposals that are likely to shape the future course of action in these domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we highlight that the global economy, which is made up of gametheoretic interactions between multinational corporations, governments, and citizens is facing an unprecedented level of adversity. This adversity is intense due to a nexus of events such as the war in Europe, a focus on climate change, global inflation, and rising populism in a variety of regions of the world. We propose that the problems facing the global economy and its decision-makers are exacerbated, and made more difficult to resolve, due to the extensive employment of propaganda techniques used by multinational corporations and governments. Even some marketing professionals aid in the employment of propaganda communication techniques. As a result, the citizens play these economic games with manipulated payoffs and make choices that do not reflect reality. When the game theoretic settlement occurs, actual payoffs reveal themselves, thus causing confusion and unexpected outcomes for at least the citizens. Furthermore, the discrepancy between manipulated payoffs and actual payoffs fuels populism, thus making the global economic situation riskier than it otherwise would be. In this paper, we propose that marketing professionals should reject aiding the use of propaganda communication techniques against citizens in order to aid global economic stability and efficient resource allocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an analysis of the relationships between soil moisture, cloud cover, solar radiation, air temperature and humidity, and precipitation during the warm half of the year in East‐Central Europe over the years 1971–2020. The temporal and spatial variability of these meteorological elements is presented in association with the occurrence of anticyclonic blocking events over the study area. It demonstrates that changes in soil moisture in East‐Central Europe point to the combined influence of many meteorological factors resulting from the atmospheric circulation, and are an indicator of the comprehensive relationships among those factors. The main factors affecting soil water content are precipitation and evapotranspiration, which in turn depend on air humidity, cloudiness, intensity of solar radiation and air temperature. The increase in the frequency and duration of sequences of days with blocking events in East‐Central Europe has contributed to an increased probability of longer periods with soil moisture negative anomalies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In European cities, groundwater remains an issue of significant concern, largely because it is "out of sight and out of mind." The general public, and even decision-makers, possess only a limited understanding of the state and characteristics of this vital resource. As a consequence, problems related to groundwater quality or changing water tables/piezometric surfaces may persist for years, or even decades, without being adequately addressed-or worse, without being noticed at all before resulting in land subsidence,saltwater intrusion, deep migration of persistent organic contaminants like PFAS (Le monde, 2023) or other irreversible consequences. The urban water cycle is central to ensuring the supply of clean, safe drinking water, effective sanitation, and wellfunctioning drainage systems for millions of residents. The impacts of human activities, such as land use change, excessive water abstraction and mismanagement, and the discharge of wastewater can exert a far greater influence on groundwater systems and hydrogeology than climate change. These activities alter the quantity and quality of both surface and groundwater, raising complex scientific, technical, socio-economic, cultural, and ethical challenges in urban water management. It is important to address the many challenges associated with ensuring water security and safety in cities (Quevauviller et al., 2024), as well as for development of effective climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies for urban areas (IPCC, 2024). Groundwater plays a critical role in the green transition and is an integral component of most climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies (Ingemarsson et al., 2022), and for meeting the increasing demand for freshwater in cities due to accelerating urbanization (United Nations, 2022). Many urbanized areas in Europe already face poor chemical and quantitative status (EEA, 2024; Sentek et al., 2024), and global change including increasing populations and sea level rise pose a tremendous challenge for safe and secure water supply especially in coastal European cities. Open access to digital subsurface data e.g. through the European Geological Data Infrastructure supports societal needs and UN sustainable development goals (Hinsby et al., 2024). This special issue demonstrates some of the important issues that the water supply of European cities are facing in times of increasing competing use of the subsurface (Volckko et al., 2020), projected climate change impacts on the hydrological cycle (Henriksen et al., 2023) and with freshwater now being among the transgressed planetary boundaries (Richardsson et al., 2023). [...] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glued laminated timber made from hardwood is a sustainable structural product that is currently gaining momentum due to climatic changes and afforestation policy. Diversities in hardwood species have led to a lack of a complete standard for the production of glued laminated timber from hardwood in Europe. This paper addresses hardwood species available in Croatian forests, namely Carpinus Betulus L. (European hornbeam), Quercus Cerris L. (Turkey oak), and Acer Campestre L. (Maple), in terms of their suitability for the production of glued laminated timber. The suitability is assessed by a multi‐criteria analysis with seven criteria. Visual and physical properties include density, the occurrence of knots, and grain deviation in lamellas. Mechanical properties include the bending strength, modulus of elasticity, and shear strength of glue lines. In order to obtain physical and mechanical properties, corresponding experimental research has been carried out. Production costs have been evaluated in collaboration with the manufacturer. Results indicate a very high potential of European hornbeam and Turkey oak for the production of glued laminated timber. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As climate change impacts increase, there are growing calls for strengthening relationships between researchers and other stakeholders to advance adaptation efforts. Participation and co‐production are widely held to be key to such relationships, both intended to open substantive engagement in science and research to non‐experts. Gains commonly attributed to participation and co‐production include improved understanding of user needs and contexts, enhanced trust, creating actionable knowledge for adaptation planning and decision‐making, and other new outcomes and practices supporting adaptation progress. At the same time, scrutiny of existing efforts to use participation and co‐production reveals limits and gaps in understanding the conditions and processes required to undertake them in meaningful, appropriate, and effective ways. This review assesses such limitations and gaps across the growing volume of research focused on adapting coastal and island communities within Europe. We systematically reviewed 60 peer‐reviewed papers, drawing on a novel meta‐method review approach to synthesize patterns in participation and co‐production implementations, types of outcomes, and the latter's associations with study research designs. We identify a propensity toward using more simplistic definitions of community, more conventional, extractive research methods in working with study communities, and emphasizing knowledge generation over other outcomes. These issues are all limits on participation and co‐production effectiveness, and we make recommendations to reduce them. We also recommend further recourse to systematic review methods to aid the development of participation and co‐production knowledge for adaptation. This article is categorized under:Assessing Impacts of Climate Change > Evaluating Future Impacts of Climate ChangePerceptions, Behavior, and Communication of Climate Change > Perceptions of Climate ChangeClimate and Development > Social Justice and the Politics of Development [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the influence of multi-decadal climatic variability on the temporal evolution of root zone storage capacities (Sr,max) and its implications for streamflow predictions at the catchment scale. Through a comprehensive analysis of 286 catchments across Europe and the US, we analyse the deviations in evaporative ratios (IE) from expected values based on catchment aridity (IA) and their subsequent impact on Sr,max predictions. Our findings reveal that while catchments do not strictly adhere to their specific parametric Budyko curves over time, the deviations in IE are generally very minor, with an average ΔIE = 0.01 and an interquartile range IQR= -0.01 to 0.03. Consequently, these minor deviations lead to limited changes in predictions of Sr,max, mostly ranging between -10.5 and +21.5 mm (-5.1 % to +9.9 %). When these uncertainties in Sr,max are incorporated into hydrological models, the impact on streamflow predictions is found to be marginal, with the most significant shifts in monthly evaporation and streamflow not exceeding 4 % and 12 %, respectively. Our study underscores the utility of parametric Budyko-style equations for first order estimates of future Sr,max in hydrological models, even in the face of climate change and variability. This research contributes to a more nuanced understanding of hydrological responses to changing climatic conditions and offers valuable insights for future climate impact studies in hydrology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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 purpose of this paper is to contribute to the body of knowledge on the first human occupations predating MIS 21 in the Atapuerca karst system. These occupations are described in terms of their ecological, cultural and technological context based on the Sima del Elefante and Gran Dolina sites. This paper focuses on the lower units of these sedimentary infills, specifically Unit TE9 of Sima del Elefante and Unit TD4 of Gran Dolina. In addition, evidence of the earliest human settlements in Europe is reviewed and hypotheses about the dynamics and intensity of that settlement are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Europe, increasing the area of legume crops has been identified as a key measure to achieve the objectives set by the European Green Deal and transition toward more sustainable food systems. Although the role of grain legumes in climate change mitigation has been closely examined, little research has focused on how climate change will challenge the development of these crops. This article systematically reviews recent simulation studies to assess the impact of climate change on grain legume performances in Europe and the effect of adaptation strategies. Forty papers using process-based, ecological niche, or statistical models were selected to simulate the response of eight grain legume species to future climate (2020–2100) in Europe. The lack of data on adaptation strategies in Europe was compensated for by enlarging the study area to climatically similar regions. The review highlights a notable imbalance between research about soybean versus other grain legumes, with soybean representing approximately 80% of selected studies. Studies focused on soybean found good agreement, with yield or suitability gains found in northern Europe and a higher probability of yield losses in southern and south-eastern Europe. While a similar spatial pattern may be expected for other grain legumes, the scarcity of data makes this result more uncertain. The review also shows that several adaptation strategies have the potential to mitigate the negative impact of climate change on grain legume performances or enhance its positive impact. The most promising strategies tested include irrigation, change in sowing date, and cultivar choice. In addition, we identify several knowledge gaps that, if addressed, would support legume development in Europe. In particular, key species such as field pea, faba bean, lentil, and chickpea remain blind spots, despite their prominent role in European environmental, agricultural, and nutritional policies. Other knowledge gaps include a lack of accounting for crop response to elevated CO 2 , ozone, and future biotic pressure, and a limited range of adaptation strategies tested and indicators assessed. Implementing multi-criteria analyses that involve stakeholders would help identify relevant inputs and outputs for future simulations. • We review 40 papers assessing grain legume response to climate change in Europe. • Grain legumes other than soybean are blind spots despite their role in policies. • For soybean, yield gains are expected in the north and yield losses in the south. • Adaptation strategies can mitigate the impact of climate change on grain legumes. • We identify several knowledge gaps, including a lack of data on key legume species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental factors amplified by climate change contribute significantly to the global burden of disease, disproportionately impacting vulnerable populations, such as individuals with rare diseases. Researchers require innovative, dynamic data linkage methods to enable the development of risk prediction models, particularly for diseases like vasculitis with unknown aetiology but potential environmental triggers. In response, we present the Semantic Environmental and Rare Disease Data Integration Framework (SERDIF). SERDIF was evaluated with researchers studying climate-related health hazards of vasculitis disease activity across European countries (NP1 = 10, NP2 = 17, NP3 = 23). Usability metrics consistently improved, indicating SERDIF's effectiveness in linking complex environmental and health datasets. Furthermore, SERDIF-enabled epidemiologists to study environmental factors in a pregnancy cohort in Lombardy, showcasing its versatility beyond rare diseases. This framework offers for the first time a user-friendly, FAIR-compliant design for environment-health data linkage with export capabilities enabling data analysis to mitigate health risks posed by climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tropospheric ozone is an air pollutant that poses a public health problem in Europe. Climate change could increase the formation of ozone. Applying past and predicted annual total (all-cause) mortality data and modeled daily ozone concentrations, we performed a nationwide health impact assessment estimating annual ozone-related (attributable) deaths in Austria. Different approaches were compared. Estimates were based on maximal 1-h averages of ozone. Until the decade from 2045 till 2055, more people will die in Austria because of the demographic trends. Therefore, more deaths will also be attributable to ozone. Higher greenhouse gas emission scenarios (e.g. Representative Concentration Pathway RCP8.5 compared to RCP2.6) will lead to more ozone-related deaths, mostly due to the national emission of ozone precursors (a difference of 250–340 cases per year, depending on the model), but to a lesser extent because of global climate change. Increases in attributable deaths will be affected mostly by national, not global mitigation measures. National emission reduction will certainly have a strong and beneficial effect on local atmospheric chemistry, air quality, and public health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current urban and transport planning practices have significant negative health, environmental, social and economic impacts in most cities. New urban development models and policies are needed to reduce these negative impacts. The Superblock model is one such innovative urban model that can significantly reduce these negative impacts through reshaping public spaces into more diverse uses such as increase in green space, infrastructure supporting social contacts and physical activity, and through prioritization of active mobility and public transport, thereby reducing air pollution, noise and urban heat island effects. This paper reviews key aspects of the Superblock model, its implementation and initial evaluations in Barcelona and the potential international uptake of the model in Europe and globally, focusing on environmental, climate, lifestyle, liveability and health aspects. We used a narrative meta-review approach and PubMed and Google scholar databases were searched using specific terms. The implementation of the Super block model in Barcelona is slow, but with initial improvement in, for example, environmental, lifestyle, liveability and health indicators, although not so consistently. When applied on a large scale, the implementation of the Superblock model is not only likely to result in better environmental conditions, health and wellbeing, but can also contribute to the fight against the climate crisis. There is a need for further expansion of the program and further evaluation of its impacts and answers to related concerns, such as environmental equity and gentrification, traffic and related environmental exposure displacement. The implementation of the Superblock model gained a growing international reputation and variations of it are being planned or implemented in cities worldwide. Initial modelling exercises showed that it could be implemented in large parts of many cities. The Superblock model is an innovative urban model that addresses environmental, climate, liveability and health concerns in cities. Adapted versions of the Barcelona Superblock model are being implemented in cities around Europe and further implementation, monitoring and evaluation are encouraged. The Superblock model can be considered an important public health intervention that will reduce mortality and morbidity and generate cost savings for health and other sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A warmer climate with drier summers will affect the suitability of tree species in their current range in most of Europe. To preserve ecosystem services in the future, many European countries are looking for tree species adapted to the expected future climate and are setting up trials to test them in different environments. In collaboration with forest practitioners and federal and regional authorities, we have established a network of 57 common gardens across large environmental gradients in Switzerland. Over a period of 30 to 50 years, the vitality, growth and survival of 18 tree species from 117 seed sources will be monitored to develop tree species recommendations for forest managers. In this article, we outline the considerations, challenges and trade-offs involved in designing this experiment, as well as the participatory process with a variety of stakeholders, from local foresters to the Federal Office for the Environment. Further, we list experiments testing multiple species on multiple sites in Europe and compare experimental designs, tree species and environmental gradients. The Swiss common garden network complements other European experiments and broadens the potential network by extending the covered environmental gradients to colder and moister conditions. Such targeted assisted migration trials are key to promoting tree species that can cope with the future climate and can help us to foster forest ecosystems that can adapt to rapidly changing climates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]