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Methane, both enteric and from manure management, is the most important greenhouse gas from ruminant livestock, and its mitigation can deliver substantial decreases in the carbon footprint of animal products and potentially contribute to climate change mitigation. Although choices may be limited, certain feeding-related practices can substantially decrease livestock enteric CH 4 emission. These practices can be generally classified into 2 categories: diet manipulation and feed additives. Within the first category, selection of forages and increasing forage digestibility are likely to decrease enteric CH 4 emission, but the size of the effect, relative to current forage practices in the United States dairy industry, is likely to be minimal to moderate. An opportunity also exists to decrease enteric CH 4 emissions by increasing dietary starch concentration, but interventions have to be weighed against potential decreases in milk fat yield and farm profitability. A similar conclusion can be made about dietary lipids and oilseeds, which are proven to decrease CH 4 emission but can also have a negative effect on rumen fermentation, feed intake, and milk production and composition. Sufficient and robust scientific evidence indicates that some feed additives, specifically the CH 4 inhibitor 3-nitrooxypropanol, can substantially reduce CH 4 emissions from dairy and beef cattle. However, the long-term effects and external factors affecting the efficacy of the inhibitor need to be further studied. The practicality of mass-application of other mitigation practices with proven short-term efficacy (i.e., macroalgae) is currently unknown. One area that needs more research is how nutritional mitigation practices (both diet manipulation and feed additives) interact with each other and whether there is synergism among feed additives with different mode of action. Further, effects of diet on manure composition and greenhouse gas emissions during storage (e.g., emission trade-offs) have not been adequately studied. Overall, if currently available mitigation practices prove to deliver consistent results and novel, potent, and safe strategies are discovered and are practical, nutrition alone can deliver up to 60% reduction in enteric CH 4 emissions from dairy farms in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Accounting methods of agricultural methane are summarized. • Influencing factors of emission sources from agricultural sources were analyzed. • Mitigation strategies based on accounting and actual situation are proposed. Methane is one of the major greenhouse gases (GHGs) and agriculture is recognized as its primary emitter. Methane accounting is a prerequisite for developing effective agriculture mitigation strategies. In this review, methane accounting methods and research status for various agricultural emission source including rice fields, animal enteric fermentation and livestock and poultry manure management were overview, and the influencing factors of each emission source were analyzed and discussed. At the same time, it analyzes the different research efforts involving agricultural methane accounting and makes recommendations based on the actual situation. Finally, mitigation strategies based on accounting results and actual situation are proposed. This review aims to provide basic data and reference for agriculture-oriented countries and regions to actively participate in climate action and carry out effective methane emission mitigation. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental catastrophes, including the increased severity and frequency of climate extremes, can act as "windows of opportunities" that challenge citizens' mental models and motivate them to engage in reflective processes, challenging their pre-conceived ideas. Less well understood is whether experiencing changing weather conditions, common in mid-latitudes, can have a similar effect and increase the citizens' concerns about climate change and their willingness to accept more stringent climate policies. In this paper, we investigate the effects of changing seasonal temperature on the perceived seriousness of climate change and willingness to mitigate climate change. We use data from four yearly waves of a spatially explicit representative population survey in Germany and weather records from the postal code areas in which they live. To our knowledge, this study is the first analysis to link individual perceptions towards climate change and different mitigation options with seasonal temperature changes at specific locations in Europe. The analyzed perceptions were strongly influenced by socio-demographic characteristics and broader societal changes, as well as individual experiences of seasonal temperatures. The results show that experienced seasonal temperature change influences personal climate change concerns as well as the willingness to mitigate climate change, although with a weaker effect. The results indicate that it is the absolute temperature variation experienced that is important, rather than whether it is getting colder or warmer than usual. Considering the influences identified in this study can offer a window of opportunity for more stringent and targeted climate change policy. • Seasonal temperature changes influence climate change perception. • Effects can offer a window of opportunity for more stringent climate change policy. • Governmental mitigation policy solutions less supported than self-determined options. • Perceptions influenced by broader societal changes as well as individual experiences. • Need for targeted climate change communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change poses serious risks to rural communities which rely heavily on climate-sensitive resources. Rural communities are also significant contributors to GHG emissions given the prevalence of agriculture and related activities and are therefore expected to develop courses of action that tackle climate change. This includes either formulating a standalone plan that outlines mitigation and adaptation strategies or integrating these priorities into existing plans. The extent to which municipalities fulfill these planning functions, and how well, has been found to vary considerably from one community to another. In this study, we sought to contribute to knowledge about how well rural municipalities are planning for climate change risks. To this end, we systematically evaluated the contents and quality of rural climate change plans in Ontario (Canada). Using a well-established plan quality evaluation framework, we found that rural plans generally contained strong mechanisms for coordination between departments, and most had outlined specific goals concerning climate change action. By contrast, few plans provided a meaningful fact base to support their goals, many lacked specific policies to guide decision-makers in achieving climate goals, and most contained weak provisions for monitoring and evaluation. After drawing out some key themes from the plan quality analysis, the article concludes by pointing to areas of rural climate change planning that require further attention, and by outlining some areas for further study. • Rural municipal climate change planning is in its infancy in Ontario, Canada. • There is an emphasis on climate mitigation over adaptation. • There is a lack of meaningful fact base to support climate change goals. • Plans lacked specific policies to guide decision-makers in achieving climate goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is urgent need for the transformation of built environments to tackle climate change. The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to achieve the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to well below 2 °C is of paramount importance, as is planning for future climate change risks. Architects, as designers of the built environment hold an important role in advocating and enabling the necessary mitigation and adaptation actions required in the design and construction of new buildings, and the reuse of existing built fabric – to reduced embodied carbon and achieve operational energy efficiency. Despite the importance, most built environments do not yet adequately address climate change. Limited research has examined the barriers that architectural professionals encounter when integrating climate change action in their projects during their role designing built environments. This is the gap that this research addresses. Interviews with twenty-two Australian architectural practitioners were undertaken, to investigate their experience of barriers to and facilitators of climate change action in their professional practice. Four key themes were found: 1) actors, 2) processes and structures, 3) information and knowledge, and 4) the role of government. Barriers and facilitators were found to be embedded in architects' perception of their role, the processes and practices they undertake, and their relationship with other stakeholders. The facilitators identified can assist drive better outcomes for future design and construction of buildings. Recommendations identified include: 1) build architects' confidence and capability to be advocates; 2) develop of architects' climate change knowledge and competence; 3) transform design processes to be more circular, interdisciplinary and long term focused, and 4) reform current built environment policy to adequately consider climate change. [Display omitted] • Architects are crucial to achieving climate change action, but there is limited information on how to achieve this. • This study interviewed Australian architects about the barriers and facilitators they face to climate change action. • Key barriers for architects to enable change include limited influence, reach and decision-making capabilities. • Barriers and facilitators to climate action are influenced by both internal and external factors. • Identifies initiatives to facilitate climate change action: building knowledge and capacity, and transforming design processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Case study of wetlands conservation for carbon sequestration in California, USA. • Defines framework for assessing justice of state investment in climate mitigation. • Most vulnerable communities received least funding for wetlands conservation. • Wetlands' climate adaptive co-benefits concentrated in least vulnerable communities. • "Just mitigation" requires producing adaptive co-benefits for most vulnerable. Using the case of wetlands in California, USA, this paper defines (and assesses strategies for advancing) an understudied corollary of maladaptation and "just adaptation": "just mitigation." Wetlands sequester carbon, making their conservation and restoration important for climate mitigation. They also offer co-benefits for climate adaptation, such as greenspace that mitigates the urban heat island and improves local environmental health. However, if such co-benefits are concentrated in the least vulnerable communities, the result would be "unjust mitigation." This analysis uses a distributive justice lens to compare environmental justice indicators between areas of past and potential investment in wetlands conservation and restoration. On average, areas with greater pollution burden and social vulnerability and less greenspace have received less investment in wetlands conservation and restoration and contain fewer wetlands that could receive investment earmarked for wetlands in the future. This begs the question of what degree of such inequality is acceptable in exchange for reducing overall carbon emissions. Advancing "just mitigation" requires prioritizing wetlands near environmentally burdened communities. However, if such wetlands have reduced sequestration potential due to ecological damage, the goals of mitigation, adaptation, and environmental justice may be in tension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban areas have key roles in climate mitigation, including increasing renewable energy penetration in smart energy systems. The potential of urban areas in limiting global warming, however, is not quantified. This research work develops a new framework to analyse urban emissions and land use efficiency scenarios with coupling to the transient climate response to cumulative carbon dioxide emissions. Two new parameters that quantify contributions to and avoidance of increments of global warming from urban areas are formulated and applied to twelve scenario combinations. The results for 465 urban areas indicate that a green-growth scenario with lower ambition in reducing urban emissions can lead up to a 0.13 °C additional increment of global warming in 2050 based on the best estimate of the transient climate response to cumulative carbon dioxide emissions. Those of the most ambitious urban emissions scenario with green-growth and renewable energy are limited to 0.06 °C. When combined with the most ambitious land use efficiency scenario for 135 urban areas, it is possible to avoid more than double or 2.09 times additional increments of global warming in comparison to other integrated urban scenarios. The mean and 5–95th percentile range of the results are compared based on 10,000 Monte Carlo simulations. Informing on the urgency to ensure ambitious mitigation action in urban areas can support a climate future that remains within critical thresholds and tipping elements of the planet. [Display omitted] • A new framework couples urban scenarios and increments of additional global warming. • Cumulative urban emissions of 465 urban areas can be 291.04 GtCO 2 eq in 30 years. • A green-growth oriented renewable energy scenario can avoid up to 0.09 °C in 2050. • Cumulative sequestration penalties of 135 urban areas are up to 2.01 GtCO 2 in 30 years. • Joint ambitious mitigation and land use efficiency in this case averts 0.039 ± 0.016 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The port governance literature has charted the trend towards devolution of port services to the private sector, also showing how the increasing influence of external private actors such as shipping lines and global terminal operators affects decisions on expansion and service provision, producing a more multifaceted and polycentric kind of port governance. In this paper we extend these notions to cover both mitigation of and adaptation to climate change. A growing body of literature on green ports discusses the various actions that can be taken to limit emissions in the port area, while another body of literature is growing on climate change adaptation measures, including the uncertain risks and rewards. Both mitigation and adaptation actions are partly linked to the commercial decisions of port actors but also partly driven by external actors (e.g. society, government, regulators). The analysis produces an updated conceptualisation of port governance under climate change, based on four stakeholder groups (public policy, commercial actors, indirect actors and international shipping governance) and produces three key conclusions. First, concession contracts and commercial relationships will need to change, with a more integrated vision and approach to sharing future (sometimes undefined or uncosted) costs and benefits between the port authority and commercial partners. Second, diversification of the port business model will see a larger focus on energy production and provision, requiring the more explicit inclusion of external stakeholders, particularly energy companies, in port governance. Third, port governance will see a return to prominence of the public dimension, both in terms of national decarbonisation plans and particularly regarding adaptation to an uncertain and turbulent future. As ports are both commercial activities and national infrastructure, these different identities will need to be united in a joint vision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The pandemic did not halt, nor slow down climate change. • Africa faces challenges in financing climate action. • COVID-19 drained resources and attention for climate action. • Africa will be less sustainable and resilient post-COVID-19. • Approaches used to address COVID-19 should be adopted for climate change. This study assesses the potential for establishing a sustainable and climate-resilient African economy, post-COVID-19, focusing on Kenya, South Africa, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe. Utilising the United Nation's Climate-Positive Action Framework, document analysis, and a systematic literature review, it examines these nations' investment in climate action. Findings reveal a decrease in climate funding during the pandemic, with notable gaps in climate finance, including reallocations away from climate-related ministries and delays in project implementation. This decline in climate action poses risks to sustainability and climate resilience. To mitigate these risks, the study emphasizes the need for frameworks to mobilize external and domestic resources for climate action. Despite ongoing challenges posed by COVID-19, proactive measures are essential to maintain focus on climate action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Examines how the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) performs as 'mapmaker'. • Illustrates how it acts a corridor maker, effectively narrowing down the range of possible climate futures to a limited range consistent with the relevant 1.5 or 2 °C temperature targets. • Explores the implicit, rarely explicated assumptions made about the feasibility of CDR technologies that justify model and policy choices. • Illustrates how these assumptions pre-empt political consideration of alternative futures. • Concludes by giving a more comprehensive understanding of what is at stake in the politics of anticipation. The article examines how the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) performs its self-proclaimed role as 'mapmaker. We seek to contribute to the emerging literature on global environmental assessments (GEA) and climate politics by reconstructing how the IPCC imagines the corridor for climate mitigation. Our particular focus is on the emergence of Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) as the preferred scientific approach to projecting mitigation pathways consistent with average global temperature target. Taking our lead from current research in science and technology studies (STS) and sociology of futures, we reconstruct the emergence of a science policy tradition of modeling in the field of climate change as a particular mode of anticipation. We summarize the main findings of this literature in order to illustrate the historical and socio-political context in which this mode of anticipation is embedded. Based on this genealogy, we demonstrate how, in its role as mapmaker, the IPCC has also functioned as a corridor maker. We highlight how the IPCC has achieved consensus on a limited set of mitigation pathways, thus effectively narrowing down the discursive space for imagining potential futures to pathways that are deemed technically feasible and cost-efficient. We conclude by discussing the political consequences of this mode of anticipation in order to give us a more comprehensive understanding of what is at stake in the politics of anticipation. We elucidate why the techno-economic framing of current mitigation pathways is highly restrictive, especially when it omits many cultural, political, and other dimensions involved in deploying CDR at scale in their 'real-world' context of application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agroforestry, a sustainable land-use system that integrates trees with crops and/or livestock, is recognized as an effective strategy for synergizing climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts in India. However, the prevalence of limited land under agroforestry indicates the presence of significant constraints hindering its widespread implementation. To address this challenge, the State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC) represents a potentially potent policy tool for driving the expansion of agroforestry at the sub-national level. The aim of this study was to examine (i) how the SAPCCs recognized and reported the benefits of agroforestry for climate change adaptation and mitigation, and (ii) what policy approaches are put forth to operationalize agroforestry in India. For this study, the information on agroforestry was coded using a hybrid approach (a combination of deductive and inductive coding) followed by thematic analysis and peer debriefing (for validation of the generated codes and themes). Many of the mitigation and adaptation benefits of agroforestry are reflected in the SAPCCs. However, the predominant focus of these SAPCCs has been on tree-based agroforestry, with insufficient attention given to the crop-tree-livestock nexus, which could offer greater scope for reducing agricultural emissions. Furthermore, existing constraints to the expansion of agroforestry have not been adequately addressed, and the strategies proposed lack the necessary precision to enable effective implementation on the ground. These shortcomings are further compounded by the absence of accurate budgetary estimates, thereby hindering the ability to execute meaningful actions at the grassroots level. The results of this study could offer valuable perspectives on how the potential benefits of agroforestry may be harnessed more prudently to realize mitigation and adaptation outcomes in India while aligning with the country's Nationally Determined Contributions and building sustainable livelihood. [Display omitted] • India's sub-national climate change action plans acknowledge agroforestry's potential for climate change adaptation and mitigation. • However, the plans primarily focus on adding trees to expand agroforestry and overlook the potential of agrosilvopastoral systems. • The existing constraints of agroforestry adoption in India are not sufficiently addressed, and budget estimates vary significantly among states. • To address these issues, the plans require revision to incorporate specific actions and a clear implementation roadmap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much recent research on climate change mitigation has focused on carbon intensities, i.e. emissions per unit of economic value, to better understand interrelationships of decarbonization with value. This paper studies large tourism enterprises, which account for a large share of tourism's emissions. Based on annual reports, the paper evaluates greenhouse gas emission and revenue interrelationships for a total of n = 29 large tourism companies including airlines, cruise lines and accommodation businesses. Together, these companies represent about 13% (365 Mt CO 2) of global tourism emissions, generating revenues of US$477 billion (in 2019). The paper tracks their total emissions and emission intensities over the period 2015–2019, revealing that large tourism firms are not on track to net-zero. Results show considerable differences in emission intensities between the three tourism subsectors and between individual firms within the subsectors. These findings are discussed against emission reduction needs to mid-century. There is strong evidence that continued growth at industry's expected rates represents an insurmountable barrier to net-zero, contradicting industry narratives of progressively and successfully engaging with climate change mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Climate action on the state level is dependent on political context (specifically, Republicanism)—an influence far less prominent on the local level. • At both state and local scales of governance, climate mitigation is somewhat more strongly influenced by power dynamics compared to climate adaptation. • State-level power dynamics best predict state climate action and, to a substantially weaker extent, combined state and local power dynamics best predict local climate action. • Power dynamics outweigh the influences of politics and climate risk on state and local climate action. American cities have played an increasingly critical role in advancing US climate change mitigation and adaptation. Subnational government support for these efforts, however, varies across social, political, economic, and biogeophysical contexts. While the influence of politics on US climate mitigation is well established, further research is required to identify barriers to—and discern complex influences on—US subnational climate action. This study examines the influences of power dynamics between public and private interests, political party affiliation within government and the public, and risk of climate impacts, on observed climate mitigation and adaptation efforts within 136 urban US cities and 33 states. The findings of this study shed light on the motivations of subnational governments to take climate action, and identify significant dynamics influencing the likelihood of key state or local government decision-makers to take climate action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• COVID-19 pandemic aside, climate change is the ultimate challenge of our time • There is lack of political thrust to facilitate appropriate climate action • Climate change-induced mortality and morbidity are expected to rise globally • Little time is left to develop and implement mitigation and adaptation strategies COVID-19 pandemic aside, climate change is the ultimate challenge of our time. However, to date, there has been insufficient political thrust to make that much-needed climate action a reality. Infectious diseases represent only one facet of the threats arising from climate change. Direct impacts from climate change include the more frequent occurrence and increased magnitude of extreme weather events, as well as changing temperatures and precipitation patterns. For climate-sensitive infectious diseases, these changes implicate a shift in geographical and temporal distribution, seasonality, and transmission intensity. Susceptibility to the deleterious effects of climate change is a net result of the interplay of not only environmental factors, but also human, societal, and economic factors, with social inequalities being a major determinant of vulnerability. The global South is already disproportionately affected by the climate crisis. The financial capacity to pursue adaptation options is also limited and unevenly distributed. Climate change-induced mortality and morbidity from both infectious and non-infectious diseases, among other adverse scenarios, are expected to rise globally in the future. The coming decade will be crucial for using all remaining opportunities to develop and implement adequate mitigation and adaptation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Global and local climate change cause overheating in coastal cities like Sydney. • We modelled 2018 and 2050, with and without land-use change and heat mitigation. • We performed energy simulations assessing building adaptation technologies. • Mitigation technologies are not enough to counteract global and local climate change. • Building adaptation and urban mitigation must be combined. In several areas of the world, the population concentrates along the coastal regions, benefitting from the sea breeze, with warmer inland areas. However, increasing population is driving urban sprawl in traditionally low-density areas, enhancing the synergies between global and local climate change. Here we show that local climate mitigation can reduce the impacts of climate change, with the analysis of a new development area in Sydney, 50 km from the coast. With meso-scale climate modelling, we computed that by 2050 the peak summer temperature will increase by 0.8 °C and the daily average summer temperature by 1.6 °C. Mitigation with cool materials, greenery, and irrigation will lower the peak and average daily temperatures respectively by 2.2 °C and 1.6 °C with respect to the unmitigated future climate scenario. Mitigation techniques when applied in the whole Sydney area yield to cooling energy needs reductions by 6.7–8.6 kWh/m2 (13.4–19.3%) for typical residential, office, and school buildings, with a negligible heating penalty, compared to an unmitigated future scenario. Combined adaptation and mitigation can reduce the future cooling energy needs by 31.3 kWh/m2 (70%), 29.3 kWh/m2 (57.3%), and 20.9 kWh/m2 (59.4%) for typical residential, office, and school building, respectively. Our study indicates that the consolidated and widely available mitigation technologies alone cannot counteract the energy impact of both global and local climate change. A structured system of interventions at building and urban scale is necessary while developing novel and higher efficiency mitigation technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article develops the proposal of a new method of education. The vertiginous changes that have taken place some decades ago with respect to the advancement in knowledge and technology, encompass the educational processes. Traditional teacher-centered teaching has yielded to student-centered learning, seeking to develop in it the skills necessary for a performance that transcends the professional field and prepares it for good performance throughout his life, as well as human. However, the didactic forms that are carried out to "arrive and stay" Knowledge in the formation of the undergraduate leaves him, in many occasions still, locked inside his classrooms and unconnected with the reality of the world, where the student. There are tools or supports based on current knowledge that mark the trend of use in educational processes. A portable and portable tool that the university student has to access information quickly and updated is the smartphone, its use is being extended in the educational environment. One of the current supports to the current educational process, is the neurodidactics that promotes the autonomy of the student so that he develops self-regulation of his learning by working on his Executive Functions, suggesting to the teacher the use of constant motivation and the sensory experience that facilitates the reconnections neuronal those that permeate a more stable and lasting learning, although adaptable and modifiable. In order to raise awareness in the mitigation of global warming, first-cycle students of a public university designed and applied an instrument for observing environmental quality of water, air and soil, characterizing feasible indicators of measurement in the urban area of ​​residence. The modality of active learning has been applied, modified, in a mixed design research, applying a visual didactic process, a modeling of selection of indicators and design of an instrument for observing environmental indicators for its subsequent application in assigned areas of the urban area of the city, applying a semi-structured questionnaire to verify the level of awareness and learning. It is concluded that the application of disruptive strategies such as the use of apps for smartphones, the design and subsequent application of an instrument developed by the students themselves and the ability to "measure" the level of pollution of their area of ​​residence facilitate environmental awareness to mitigate global warming by adopting actions towards a sustainable lifestyle. With the purpose of raising awareness on climate change mitigation, first-cycle students of a public university designed and applied an instrument for observing environmental quality of water, air and soil, characterizing feasible indicators of measurement in the urban area of?? Residence. Subject. Finally they show up primary results of the application of the method. The article presenting some advantages and disadvantages of the method proposed based on the experience gained, as well as some specifications and requirements for the application Successful method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wind power is a rapidly growing source of energy worldwide. It is crucial for climate change mitigation, but it also accelerates the degradation of biodiversity through habitat loss and the displacement of wildlife. To understand the extent of displacement and reasons for observations where no displacement is reported, we conducted a systematic review of birds, bats, and terrestrial mammals. Eighty-four peer-reviewed studies of onshore wind power yielded 160 distinct displacement distances, termed cases. For birds, bats, and mammals, 63 %, 72 %, and 67 % of cases respectively reported displacement. Cranes (3/3 cases), owls (2/2), and semi-domestic reindeer (6/6) showed consistent displacement on average up to 5 km. Gallinaceus birds showed displacement on average up to 5 km, but in 7/18 cases reported to show "no displacement". Bats were displaced on average up to 1 km in 21/29 cases. Waterfowl (6/7 cases), raptors (24/30), passerines (16/32) and waders (8/19) were displaced on average up to 500 m. Observations of no displacement were suggested to result from methodological deficiencies, species-specific characteristics, and habitat conditions favorable for certain species after wind power development. Displacement-induced population decline could be mitigated by situating wind power in low-quality habitats, minimizing the small-scale habitat loss and collisions, and creating high-quality habitats to compensate for habitat loss. This review provides information on distance thresholds that can be employed in the design of future wind energy projects. However, most studies assessed the effects of turbine towers of <100 m high, while considerably larger turbines are being built today. • 63 %, 72 %, and 67 % of bird, bat, and mammal cases respectively reported displacement. • Cranes, owls and semi-domestic reindeer were displaced on average up to 5 km. • Bats were displaced on average up to 1 km in 21 out of 29 cases. • Findings of no displacement resulted from methodology, species, and environment. • Information on displacement helps to mitigate the effects of wind power on wildlife. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As interest in natural climate mitigation solutions continues to grow, there is an essential role for coastal and ocean ecosystems ("blue carbon") to play. To meet mitigation targets, however, it is crucial that human actions to protect or restore blue carbon sinks are based on solid science and actionable human management opportunities to increase sinks and reduce emissions from ecosystem loss. Here, we reaffirm the role of coastal wetlands in climate mitigation opportunities. We update the state of the science regarding existing blue carbon pathways and explore expanding the blue carbon opportunities to new systems. Specifically, we analyze new science for those blue carbon pathways we categorize as "emerging" (e.g., management interventions involving macroalgae - both cultivated and wild, tidal flats, and marine sediments) where human action may be able to increase these sinks, but we currently have insufficient information to ensure that their climate mitigation benefit is additional. We revisit those that are "non-actionable" (e.g., management interventions involving calcifying organisms and marine fauna) where the scientific evidence is clear that there is no mitigation benefit, or the science is too uncertain to claim that human action can definitively increase these carbon sinks. With limited funding for climate action, it is critical that efforts focus on projects with the most mitigation potential. Blue carbon management is only one piece in the climate mitigation challenge, but it is an important one. Continued scientific research and investment in developing policy pathways is warranted for these actionable and emerging systems. At the same time, the world must continue to work to decrease emissions rapidly, invest in other natural climate solutions, and scale renewable energy technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of universities in climate change education (CCE) is of great importance if the scientific, social, environmental and political challenges the world faces are to be met. Future leaders must make decisions from an informed position and the public will need to embed climate change mitigation tools into their work and private life. It is therefore essential to understand the range of CCE strategies being taken globally by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and to explore and analyse the ways that HEIs could better address this challenge. Consistent with this research need, this paper offers an analysis of the extent to which HEIs in 45 countries approach CCE and provides a conceptual framework for exploring how HEIs are embedding CCE into their curricula. In addition to the specialist approach (where students choose to study a degree to become experts in climate change adaptation and mitigation tools), the CCE framework developed identifies and highlights three other approaches HEIs can deploy to embed CCE: Piggybacking, mainstreaming and connecting (transdisciplinary). Using data gathered in an explorative international survey involving participants working across academic and senior management, this paper illustrates the different approaches taken and analyses practical examples of current CCE practice from across the world. Responses from 212 university staff from 45 countries indicated that CCE was highly variable – no clear pattern was identified at the country level, with CCE approaches varying significantly, even within individual HEIs. This plurality highlights the wide range of ideas and examples being shared and used by institutions in very different countries and contexts, and underlines the importance of the independence and autonomy of HEIs so that they can choose the right CCE approaches for them. To highlight the breadth and variety of approaches that were uncovered by our survey, the paper offers a range of examples illustrating how climate change education may be embedded in a higher education context, some of which could be replicated in HEIs across the world. The conceptualisation of CCE and the examples given in this paper are valuable for anyone who is thinking about strategies for embedding more climate education in the higher education curriculum. • The emphasis to climate change at universities programmes is limited at present. • Possibilities for implementation of climate change in the curriculum are overseen. • A conceptual framework to describe climate change at universities was developed. • Practical examples show how it can be incorporated at universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We present a framework combining capitals and capacities within SSPxRCP scenarios. • Capitals and capacities are needed for society to move towards the 1.5 °C target. • Locally derived capitals and capacities complement global mitigation scenarios. • Social equality is more important than technological development to achieve the 1.5 °C target. • "Business-as-usual" SSP5 has potential only if capitals and capacities are high. With a range of potential pathways to a sustainable future compatible with the Paris Agreement 1.5 °C target, scenario analysis has emerged as a key tool in studies of climate change mitigation and adaptation. A wide range of alternative scenarios have been created, and core amongst these are five socio-economic scenarios (Shared Socio-economic Pathways or SSPs) and four emission scenarios (Representative Concentration Pathways or RCPs). Whilst mitigation scenarios (the Shared Policy Assumptions, or SPAs) have been developed for each SSP-RCP combination, describing the actions necessary to match the climate pathway of the RCP, there has not yet been a systematic approach to address whether and how these actions can be enabled in practice. We present a novel and transferable framework to understand society's capacity to achieve the 1.5 °C target, based on four participatory case studies using the SSP-RCP scenarios. The methodology builds on a framework for categorising different types of societal capitals and capacities and assessing their impact on the potential to implement different types of mitigation actions. All four case studies show that SSP1 has the highest potential to reach the target. Although environmental awareness is high in both SSP1 and SSP4, continued social inequalities in SSP4 restrict society's capacity to transform, despite economic growth. In the two least environmentally-aware SSPs, SSP3 and SSP5, the transformation potential is low, but the view on capitals and capacities nonetheless helps identify opportunities for actors to develop and implement mitigation actions. The study highlights that techno-economic assessments of climate strategies need to be complemented by consideration of the critical role played by social and human capital, and by societal capacity to mobilise and create these capitals despite different socio-economic trends. These capitals and capacities are essential to enable the rapid innovation, behavioural change and international co-ordination needed to achieve the 1.5 °C target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Analyzes European household's willingness to mitigate climate change through changes in consumption behavior. • New analytical perspective through Qualitative Comparative Analysis in large-N design. • Highlights the contribution of health information for willingness to mitigate. • Demonstrates limitations of financial incentives to motivate behavioural change. • Points to need for different policy design to motivate household mitigation of GHG emissions. Abstract The climate change mitigation potential of the production side has been discussed very frequently, but private citizens and households have received less systematic attention. Thus, this paper focuses on the willingness of private households to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. While many scholars study the socio-economic characteristics of people to then recommend policies, we change the analytical perspective and look at the characteristics of climate mitigation actions that affect households' willingness to adopt these measures: Costs, emission reductions, behavioral change, and consumption sector. The paper uses data from HOPE (HOusehold Preferences for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in four European high-income countries), an interdisciplinary project investigating households' preferences for reducing greenhouse gas in four countries (France, Germany, Norway and Sweden). We use a fuzzy-set QCA (fsQCA) to analyze which attributes are necessary or sufficient conditions for specific actions to be selected by participants of HOPE. The results of the fsQCA show that Food & Recycling actions are particularly popular. The general pattern that was found shows that people prefer actions that are easy to implement even though they often do not reduce the CO2e-Footprint by much. Therefore, the condition Behavioral Change is the most important lever in improving households' willingness to act on climate change. Moreover, the analysis of Health Information suggests that there is an urgent need to go beyond financial arguments in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

As the global population becomes more concentrated in urban environments, higher numbers of people will be exposed to urban air pollution. The environmental and human health benefits of green roofs are widely recognized. The aim of this paper is to promote green roofs as an effective passive technique for pollution mitigation and adaptation to climate change. During the heating season, the ambient concentrations of PM1, PM2.5, and PM10 were measured above a green roof and a reference roof on a school building, located in New Belgrade, the second-most populous municipality and business center of Serbia's largest city. The percent reduction of PM10, PM2.5 and PM1, in January 2020, above the green roof compared to the reference roof was 7%, 16.6%, and 17.6%, respectively. The results show that lightweight green roof improve air quality in terms of PM concentrations for all months considered. In this paper, correlation analysis and the use of Pearson's coefficient were used in the process of analysis to determine the relationship between PM10, PM2.5, PM1, and ambient parameters: relative humidity, ambient temperature, and wind speed. It was found that the statistical correlation expressed by the Pearson coefficient between all PM particles and wind speed was statistically significant in all observed months except September. Also, the degree of significance of the correlation between PM particles and humidity and temperature of ambient air varies by month. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

No-till is often referred to as a climate change mitigation option, possibly with a stronger conviction, than as a practice to manage soil organic C (SOC) content. We conducted a global meta-analysis to evaluate the effect of no-till (NT) on SOC concentration (SOC c , g C kg−1 soil) and stock (SOC s , Mg C ha−1 land) across climate, soil texture, cropping systems, and no-till duration to appraise the priority-setting. Compared to conventional tillage, NT favoured a significant rise (ΔSOC c) of 38% in the 0–5 cm soil layer and a much lesser 6% increase in the 5–10 cm layer and no change beyond 10 cm. The temperate climate had nearly twice ΔSOC c in the 0–5 cm layer compared to other climates, while the tropical climate favoured sub-surface accumulation. Coarse- and medium-textured soils and the inclusion of legumes in crop rotation facilitated larger positive ΔSOC s under NT. The microbial biomass C was the most abundant C pool, with 61% and 23% increases under NT in 0–5 and 5–10 cm layers. A large ΔSOC c in aggregates also characterized the top 0–5 cm layer. The difference in SOC s was realized to a maximum 30 cm depth (5.4 Mg ha−1 or 14%) in favour of NT, although varying with the duration of its adoption. The contribution of NT in mitigating global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions is meagre, although it can substantially offset emissions from agriculture (17–58%). The benefit of NT in improving SOC is primarily restricted to the surface layer, which is potentially exposed, and therefore an increase could be short-lived. Nevertheless, a short-term gain in SOC is likely to enhance soil quality and crop productivity. Thus, NT may be promoted as a sustainable agricultural management practice rather than emphasizing its role as a potential climate change mitigation option. • No-till increased ∼38% SOC concentration in 0–5 cm layer. • SOC stock increased by 14% or 5.4 Mg C ha−1 over 0–30 cm soil profile. • Tropical climate had net SOC gain at > 20 cm depth. • Microbial biomass C and soil aggregate-associated C had greater increases under no-till in 0–5 cm. • Contribution of no-till to global climate change mitigation is trivial, although it can offset GHG emissions from agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, transportation and manufacturing emit large amount of greenhouse gases that needs to be lowered for reaching agreed upon clim ate goals. In this context evidence of mitigation activities among eighty-five companies and their forty-five parent companies in these two polluting sectors were traced focusing on a country that has committed itself to leading the implementation of ambitious climate-mitigation goals worldwide. Documentation from the companies in the transportation and manufacturing sectors was scrutinized (yearly reports, homepages and sustainability reports, if available) for evidence of any mitigation efforts, including emissions reporting and reduction goals. The study’s results found that two thirds of the companies seemed to have done nothing to mitigate climate change, while efforts in the remaining companies were modest at best; mitigation activities among the forty-five parent companies were only slightly more ambitious. The implications of these depressing findings are discussed in the light of possible caveats and the possibilities of new policy measures such as gender quotas in company boards. The conclusion is that the study’s results most likely reflect reality in the studied sectors and that novel approaches and more sector oriented research is needed in the quest for a carbon-neutral society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Paris Agreement aims to limit global mean temperature rise this century to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels. This target has wide-ranging implications for Europe and its cities, which are the source of substantial greenhouse gas emissions. This paper reports the state of local planning for climate change by collecting and analysing information about local climate mitigation and adaptation plans across 885 urban areas of the EU-28. A typology and framework for analysis was developed that classifies local climate plans in terms of their alignment with spatial (local, national and international) and other climate related policies. Out of eight types of local climate plans identified in total we document three types of stand-alone local climate plans classified as type A1 (autonomously produced plans), A2 (plans produced to comply with national regulations) or A3 (plans developed for international climate networks). There is wide variation among countries in the prevalence of local climate plans, with generally more plans developed by central and northern European cities. Approximately 66% of EU cities have a type A1, A2, or A3 mitigation plan, 26% an adaptation plan, and 17% a joint adaptation and mitigation plan, while about 33% lack any form of stand-alone local climate plan (i.e. what we classify as A1, A2, A3 plans). Mitigation plans are more numerous than adaptation plans, but planning for mitigation does not always precede planning for adaptation. Our analysis reveals that city size, national legislation, and international networks can influence the development of local climate plans. We found that size does matter as about 80% of the cities with above 500,000 inhabitants have a comprehensive and stand-alone mitigation and/or an adaptation plan (A1). Cities in four countries with national climate legislation (A2), i.e. Denmark, France, Slovakia and the United Kingdom, are nearly twice as likely to produce local mitigation plans, and five times more likely to produce local adaptation plans, compared to cities in countries without such legislation. A1 and A2 mitigation plans are particularly numerous in Denmark, Poland, Germany, and Finland; while A1 and A2 adaptation plans are prevalent in Denmark, Finland, UK and France. The integration of adaptation and mitigation is country-specific and can mainly be observed in two countries where local climate plans are compulsory, i.e. France and the UK. Finally, local climate plans produced for international climate networks (A3) are mostly found in the many countries where autonomous (type A1) plans are less common. This is the most comprehensive analysis of local climate planning to date. The findings are of international importance as they will inform and support decision-making towards climate planning and policy development at national, EU and global level being based on the most comprehensive and up-to-date knowledge of local climate planning available to date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ambitious goals to limit global warming can only be reached with a broad acceptance and participation of the general public. This paper relies on surveys among citizens in China, Germany and the U.S. and investigates the determinants of the acceptance of national and international adaptation and mitigation efforts. The empirical findings indicate that specific beliefs and environmental awareness are important drivers in all three countries, while political attitudes and socio-economic characteristics are the main sources of cross-country heterogeneity. The study thereby points at important starting points and target groups for raising the acceptance of national and international climate policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently high reflective materials such as high reflectance paint for wall and solar control film or Low-E glass for window are utilized as a building façade aiming for reducing the cooling load of the buildings. From a view point of the direction of reflected rays, almost half of the energy goes upward due to diffuse reflection in case of paint, meanwhile most of energy goes down to the ground due to specular reflection by the glass. This leads to deterioration of thermal environment of surrounding buildings, and is one of causes of urban heat island. Retro-reflective façade materials are promising candidates for mitigation of urban heat island. The authors successfully developed a new type of transparent solar control window film Albeedo that selectively reflects near-infrared rays towards the sky. The film has a saw-tooth microstructure with a spectrally-selective reflection layer. This microstructure is able to reflect infra-red rays toward the sky. The upward reflectance of the film is measured by our custom made spectroscope. Firstly, the sample is placed in a large scale integrating sphere. Then, solar energy absorptive materials are arranged under the sample to absorb the transmitted component and positioned where the downward reflection goes to. Finally, a halogen lamp irradiates the sample at an incident angle of 60° as a light source. The result of the upward reflectance of near-infrared is about 33%. We also conducted field test measurements to evaluate the energy savings of the interior of the building and the degree of reflection of the exterior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) has consistently been positioned between science and policy. CSA has given rise to a lively debate in both the scientific community and civil society although it addresses the pressing need for an efficient strategy to manage agriculture and food systems facing climate change (CC). CSA formally targets the simultaneous fulfilment of three criteria: (i) CC mitigation, (ii) adaptation to CC and (iii) food security. Yet, the review of scientific literature on CSA displays a clear discrepancy between these three objectives, underlining the fact that CSA is regularly perceived as addressing only adaptation, and not mitigation and food security. On the other hand, research on agroecology (AE) reveals an extensive knowledge about food security and adaptation, often at scales which can be considered complementary to those of CSA. A better use by CSA of AE research results may help CSA focus on two currently overlooked dimensions, i.e. (i) mitigation and (ii) trade-offs and synergies between the three criteria. CSA does not have a specific blueprint for climate-smart practices and has rather a strong focus on policies, institutions and financing. Hence AE actually responds to the needs of CSA in terms of site-specificity and potential for adoption by farmers because it is strongly based on local practices. We argue that an eco- and socio-logical approach to CSA represents a sine qua non condition if CSA is to promote inclusive development and participate to collective efforts to manage agriculture and food systems under climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literature suggests a significant potential for synergies among climate change adaptation and mitigation (CCA&M) policies, especially in urban areas. However, the understanding of how best to integrate CCA&M is limited despite the fact that there is an increasing interest, particularly in Southeast Asian countries, in achieving the integration. One such synergistic approach is to improve land-use with climate change consideration. This study aims to test this idea, conducting a pilot project with four local governments in the Silang-Sta. Rosa subwatershed of the Philippines, focusing on flood prevention that has strong spatial implications. The application of participatory watershed land-use management (PWLM), a systematic process with practical tools (e.g. scenario simulation, risk assessment), indicated that planned land-use conversion and projected climate change are likely to increase the intensity of flooding in the study area. Zoning enhancement is essential as a countermeasure. As one example, runoff neutral development measures would reduce the number of flood-affected people from approximately 226,410 to 183,349 in the future (year 2025), while preserving existing vegetation would prevent up to 528,142 tons of CO 2 emissions. Illustrating the PWLM approach, this paper demonstrates the concrete use of scientific knowledge (i.e. flood hazard) for local planners to design climate change action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary This paper explores how Climate-resiliency Field Schools involving smallholder farmers in the Mindanao region of the Philippines advance climate-smart farming practices. Using data from field observations, 86 interviews, and 13 focus group discussions from five municipalities, the research finds that cross-scale activities, including local plans and multi-stakeholder forums, and municipal budgeting processes, influence adaptation and mitigation to climate change in smallholder farming systems. Furthermore, using matrix analysis and stakeholder responses, we identify interactions, synergies, conflicts, and potential co-benefits between mitigation and adaptation, and food production practices. The analysis of climate-resiliency field school practices shows that the addition of livelihood outcomes to smallholder farming landscapes strengthen adaptation, mitigation, and food production outcomes (and vice versa). Climate-resiliency Field Schools have promoted the practice of organic farming, various systems for rice intensification, and the establishment of community seed banks. Other practices, such as soil conservation, reforestation, and agroforestry, have been used in Mindanao to maintain carbon stocks while increasing crop production. Climate-resiliency Field Schools serve as a multilevel institutional platform where farmers can access climate information, which they can use to improve farm planning (i.e., choices of crops, timing of farm preparation, and harvest). The research findings suggest that climate-smart interventions are highly location-specific, technically rigorous, involve knowledge-intensive processes, and are influenced by the knowledge and capacities of local farming communities and implementing partners. We conclude with some suggestions for the design of programs, and the types of interventions that are required to sustain and ultimately scale up efforts to enhance climate-smart agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is central for climate policy to understand, monitor and forecast greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, generating insights on the key factors and actions with a greater impact to mitigate and adapt to global warming. Focusing on the leading role of cities, it is relevant to build robust and reliable GHG emissions prospects for every city committing to mitigate and adapt to climate change. In this paper, a novel methodology is proposed to build those prospects, presenting a case study with 6231 EU-27 cities and local municipalities taken from the Global Covenant of Mayors (GCoM). Key GHG emissions predictors for the target years of 2020 and 2030 refer to the baseline energy consumption and associated GHG emissions, as well as the population and the national emissions per capita trend. Additionally, other informative predictors are the baseline inventory year, the reduction target, the disaggregated baseline emissions by type of fuel (fossils or renewables), the heating and cooling degree days and the NUTS urban/rural categorization. The proposed methodology allows assessing the cities' achievements based on their expected performance, and it could be further implemented to support new cities willing to commit to a significant reduction of their GHG emissions. • A robust methodology is proposed to predict GHG emissions for cities committing to climate change mitigation and adaptation. • Key predictors refer to local, regional and national sources of information. • A case study is performed with 6231 European cities: 2030 commitments are expected to achieve a 40 % GHG emissions reduction. • The models described in this paper provide useful information to urban policy makers in the climate action planning process. • The results are replicable in the context of transnational initiatives involving cities in the fight against climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the climate emergency declaration (CED) movement in cities and its effects and synergies with local climate planning. Urban areas are experiencing a wide range of climate-induced extreme events, particularly those located in the Mediterranean hotspot. The focus is on Italian cities, which have only recently become key players in climate planning. The method is based on the collection, analysis, and comparison of data on CEDs and local climate plans (LCPs), integrated with information on city membership in climate networks, to extrapolate key performance indicators of the CED movement. The results show that the CED movement can motivate municipalities to become more ambitious in climate action. As of February 2021, the "climate emergency" movement was supported by 105 Italian cities geographically concentrated in the northern regions (66.7%). The motivation behind a CED is often attributable to local populations calling for concrete climate action (91.1% referred to the Fridays for Future movement) but also to a greater perception of the impacts of climate change (85.6% referred to the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C). Networking plays an important role (85 cities in the Covenant of Mayors). Interestingly, 36 cities (34.3%) were not engaged in local climate planning previously, but the CED shows now they see the urgency to act. 24.4% cities aim at carbon neutrality in their CEDs (most with local adaptation aspirations), with a much smaller fraction of cities doing so in LCPs and generally lower ambition in terms of greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. [Display omitted] • Case study: 105 IT cities that have declared climate emergency (66.7% in the north). • Motivation: 91.1% refer to the FFF movement, 85.6% to the 2018 IPCC Special Report. • Networking: 85 cities are members of CoM and 33 of the Italian Green City Network. • 34.3% of the CED cities had not previously a mitigation or adaptation plan. • 24.4% of CEDs aim at carbon neutrality, while LCPs have less ambitious GHG targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pastoral farming systems have always adapted to the seasonal availability of forage resources and climate variability by moving animals. However, the role of animal mobility as a possible mitigating strategy in response to climate change has not been clearly documented. To understand this role, we investigated (i) the major methodological challenges linked to the diversity of grazing areas and other forage resources exploited by these systems and enteric emissions of methane; (ii) the impacts of grazing practices (carbon sequestration/emission) on soil and biomass carbon fluxes. We developed an approach based on two existing models (OSTRAL: Outil de Simulation du TRoupeau ovin ALlaitant and CASA: Carnegie Ames Stanford Approach) that we adapted and used in combination. This approach was applied to three French Mediterranean sheep and crop farming systems with different degrees of flock mobility (sedentary, single transhumance and double transhumance). The preliminary results produced by the whole farm model OSTRAL showed that two systems (sedentary and double transhumance) causing low carbon emissions. In the sedentary system, higher animal productivity offsets the increase in GHG emissions (in CO 2 eq) caused by feed production. In the pastoral system, grazing reduced total GHG emissions (in CO 2 eq). The CASA model proved to be useful to simulate the carbon balance under dynamic land cover in natural environments, whether used for grazing or not. This model can help assess the impact of grazing practices and carbon fluxes in systems linked to natural environments. The results of the first application showed that seasonal mobility of livestock increases the contribution of rangeland to feeding systems and improves the non-renewable energy balance of the system. It is thus extremely important to include the specificities of animals grazing in rangelands outside the structural limits of the farm when evaluating GHG emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Mitigation policies have focused mainly on the energy and transport sectors, but recent studies suggest that food related measures can also deliver cost-effective emission reductions. This paper evaluates the implications of levying consumption taxes on food products in Spain based on their carbon footprint. Specific elasticities are estimated for the food demand system based on a dataset of around 20,000 households, using a demand system model. The results show that this policy can reduce emissions and, at the same time, help to change consumption patterns towards healthier diets. For the first time in the related literature, this paper also explores the distributional implications. The results show that carbon-based food taxation tends to be slightly regressive and can have more effect on specific social groups. However, that effect can be ameliorated if exemptions on some basic food products are introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of global environmental change make extensive use of scenarios to explore how the future can evolve under a consistent set of assumptions. The recently developed Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) create a framework for the study of climate-related scenario outcomes. Their five narratives span a wide range of worlds that vary in their challenges for climate change mitigation and adaptation. Here we provide background on the quantification that has been selected to serve as the reference, or ‘marker’, implementation for SSP2. The SSP2 narrative describes a middle-of-the-road development in the mitigation and adaptation challenges space. We explain how the narrative has been translated into quantitative assumptions in the IIASA Integrated Assessment Modelling Framework . We show that our SSP2 marker implementation occupies a central position for key metrics along the mitigation and adaptation challenge dimensions. For many dimensions the SSP2 marker implementation also reflects an extension of the historical experience, particularly in terms of carbon and energy intensity improvements in its baseline. This leads to a steady emissions increase over the 21st century, with projected end-of-century warming nearing 4 °C relative to preindustrial levels. On the other hand, SSP2 also shows that global-mean temperature increase can be limited to below 2 °C, pending stringent climate policies throughout the world. The added value of the SSP2 marker implementation for the wider scientific community is that it can serve as a starting point to further explore integrated solutions for achieving multiple societal objectives in light of the climate adaptation and mitigation challenges that society could face over the 21st century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-term scenarios play an important role in research on global environmental change. The climate change research community is developing new scenarios integrating future changes in climate and society to investigate climate impacts as well as options for mitigation and adaptation. One component of these new scenarios is a set of alternative futures of societal development known as the shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs). The conceptual framework for the design and use of the SSPs calls for the development of global pathways describing the future evolution of key aspects of society that would together imply a range of challenges for mitigating and adapting to climate change. Here we present one component of these pathways: the SSP narratives, a set of five qualitative descriptions of future changes in demographics, human development, economy and lifestyle, policies and institutions, technology, and environment and natural resources. We describe the methods used to develop the narratives as well as how these pathways are hypothesized to produce particular combinations of challenges to mitigation and adaptation. Development of the narratives drew on expert opinion to (1) identify key determinants of these challenges that were essential to incorporate in the narratives and (2) combine these elements in the narratives in a manner consistent with scholarship on their inter-relationships. The narratives are intended as a description of plausible future conditions at the level of large world regions that can serve as a basis for integrated scenarios of emissions and land use, as well as climate impact, adaptation and vulnerability analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indonesia is the largest archipelagic country in the world and has vast natural resources. In the maritime sector, efforts to realize the sustainability of natural resources in coastal ecosystems have focused on mangroves and seagrass meadows, also known as blue carbon ecosystems, that have an important role in regulating the Earth's climate. The need for ecosystem-based climate change mitigation combined with economic recovery and improved environment conditions has shifted the motivation and escalated mangrove restoration efforts in Indonesia. As the richest mangrove nation with the greatest mangrove carbon stocks in the world, recently Indonesia has taken significant steps in the land use sector to reduce emissions by acknowledging the 'true' value of mangrove carbon and setting priorities for mangrove conservation and restoration within Indonesia's climate actions. This paper reviews opportunities and challenges in mainstreaming mangrove blue carbon into policy in Indonesia. We evaluate the gaps in regulations and policies and propose pathways for the national blue carbon action. As mangroves are embedded in both forestry and marine sectors and the responsibilities for management lies within several government ministries, an integrated framework is suggested to support the national blue carbon strategy. The Indonesia Blue Carbon Strategy Framework (IBCSF) encompasses three main elements that should be considered in order to address challenges and seize opportunities in blue carbon: coordination, policy and funding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy makers and citizens must choose from among a growing variety of strategic options as they try to cope optimally with climate change. As a means of more accurately predicting different types of climate change engagement, we empirically distinguish individuals’ felt responsibility for mitigation (FRm) from felt responsibility for adaptation (FRa), and assess support for different climate action strategies (mitigation and adaptation). We surveyed two U.S. samples two months apart, and the replication study confirmed Study 1′s findings of differing predictive powers for FRm vs. FRa. Each type of felt responsibility, controlling for the other, served as a mediator between belief in global warming (as well as belief in anthropogenic cause of climate change) and its corresponding climate action strategy (mitigation vs. adaptation). FRa predicted adaptation measures but not mitigation measures, while FRm predicted mitigation measures more strongly than it predicted adaptation but did predict both action strategies. We also found important individual differences: people’s disposition toward behaving proactively correlated positively with all types of climate engagement, and political orientation (liberal/conservative ideology) interacted with climate action strategy (mitigation vs. adaptation) in predicting all engagement variables. Comparing levels of support across the political spectrum, the mitigation measures were highly polarizing, while the adaptation measures were less divisive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though the need for holistic climate change education has been realized around the world, there is a lack of studies that examine the multidimensional impact of climate change education in higher education. To amend for this gap in literature, this paper uses a pre- and post-questionnaire (N = 245) to examine how students' knowledge, values, worldview and willingness to take mitigative climate actions change during a course on climate change. Though the course was designed to be multidisciplinary and holistic, the results show that the course had limited impact. First, the pre-post tests showed a significant increase in science knowledge, but knowledge on mitigative actions remained unchanged despite related course assignments. Second, though participants' worldview seemed to change or strengthen during the course, minimal changes were seen in students' willingness to take mitigative actions. However, an increase in biospheric values -a strong predictor of pro-environmental behavior - was seen in some segments of participants, potentially predicting a lower carbon footprint for those students in the future. Furthermore, the findings suggest that during the course, individuals found new, environmentally friendly ways to address their hedonic pleasures, also potentially having long-term positive effects. Some differences in gender and field of study were noted. Implications of the findings are discussed in relation to planning and implementing holistic climate change education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the Global Covenant of Mayors (GCoM) initiative, cities present their action plans committing to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and/or adapt to climate change. One concrete objective consists in setting a reduction target, by which cities commit to reduce their baseline GHG emissions for a chosen target year. In monitoring their emissions, cities report inventories for any arbitrary year(s), making available only discrete readings in what can be considered a very sparse yearly time series. Examining the performance of the cities for the target years of 2020 and 2030, the actual measurements are usually not available. Therefore, a machine learning methodology is proposed to predict the GHG emissions inventories for each city on their target year, enabling the assessment of the cities' performance inside a common reporting framework. Using the reported inventories, the methodology identifies a model for each city, minimizing the error for the last known reported value. As a result, the proposed method allows predicting GHG emissions for cities from their yearly inventories, controlling the uncertainty associated to the estimations and extracting reliable information that can be updated as soon as new emissions inventories become available. • A methodology is proposed to forecast the GHG emissions of cities monitoring their actions on climate change. • Forecasting models are validated by the novel Leave Last Known Value Out technique. • The proposed method predicts GHG emissions for cities from their yearly inventories. • The methodology is illustrated for a group of 1950 cities and local administrative units in the EU-27. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism is one of the most climate-sensitive economic sectors, but also a contributor to climate change. With the effects of climate change becoming an increasing concern, the tourism sector must urgently and realistically respond by mitigating its emissions and adapting tourism businesses and destinations to the changing climate conditions. This work presents a generic methodological framework to plan, manage and implement climate change mitigation and adaptation measures in the tourism context. The methodological scheme is based on Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis for prioritizing available options applicable to a defined tourism area. The proposed framework is implemented for Greece, one of the world's most popular tourism destinations, and optimally ranks 18 mitigation and 16 adaptation measures under 4 criteria i.e. environmental benefit, applicability, cost and social acceptance. The analysis indicates that rational energy use, improvement of energy efficiency and water management/saving measures should be primarily put forward for the Greek case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities are central to the fight against climate change, but the IPCC recently noted that many cities — and particularly those in the developing world — lack the institutional, financial and technical capacities needed to switch to low emission development paths. Based on detailed case studies of three Asian cities, this paper finds that the adoption of low emission development strategies (LEDS) at the urban level could be economically attractive. However, it also argues that without a coordinated multi-level, cross-sectoral governance framework these opportunities for low carbon urban development are likely to be left unexploited. As these governance conditions are frequently not in place, we argue that these case study cities, and cities in similar contexts, are likely to miss even the economically attractive low carbon development opportunities and become increasingly locked in to higher cost, higher carbon development paths. Due to their growing size and importance, we conclude that the presence or absence of governance arrangements that enable the adoption of low carbon development strategies in Asian cities will have global implications for climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of increasing crop production while reducing resource inputs and land-use change cannot be overstated especially in light of climate change and a human population growth projected to reach nine billion this century. Mutualistic plant–microbe interactions offer a novel approach to enhance agricultural productivity while reducing environmental costs. In concert with other novel agronomic technologies and management, plant-microbial mutualisms could help increase crop production and reduce yield losses by improving resistance and/or resilience to edaphic, biologic, and climatic variability from both bottom-up and top-down perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the use of impact indicators with respect to climate change in the 2007–2013 Rural Development Programme (RDP) of the European Union, with particular reference to the Scotland Rural Development Programme (SRDP). It concludes that the policy context has highlighted the need for the rural land use sector to respond to climate change but that the associated Common Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (CMEF) did not develop suitable indicators to assess the impact of SDRP measures on GHG emission mitigation. It suggests improved impact indicators based on the relationship between rural land use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions: first, an indicator based on net GHG emissions per holding; and a second based on net GHG emissions per unit volume of output. The paper points out the challenges in measuring land-based emissions accurately. It further proposes screening of RDP measures to ensure that climate change mitigation impacts are properly appraised. It is recognised that climate change policy in relation to rural land use is still at an early stage of development but greater sophistication of policy instrument design and evaluation will be required if the RDP is to contribute significantly to climate change policy objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is increasing interest in the potential of cities to contribute to climate mitigation. Multiple assessments have evaluated the scale and composition of urban GHG emissions, while others have evaluated some aspects of urban mitigation potential. However, assessments of mitigation potential tend to be broadly focused, few if any have evaluated urban mitigation potential on a measure-by-measure basis, and fewer still have considered the economic case for investing in these measures. This is a significant knowledge gap as an economic case for action could be critical in building political commitment, strengthening institutional capacities, securing large-scale finance and targeting investment and implementation in cities. In this paper, we conduct a comparative analysis of the results of five recently completed studies that examined the economic case for investing in low-carbon measures in five cities: Leeds in the UK, Kolkata in India, Lima in Peru, Johor Bahru in Malaysia and Palembang in Indonesia. The results demonstrate that there is a compelling economic case for cities in both developed and developing country contexts to invest, at scale, in cost-effective low-carbon measures. The results suggest that these investments could generate significant reductions (in the range of 15–24% relative to business-as-usual trends) in urban carbon emissions over the next 10 years. Securing these savings would require an average investment of $3.2 billion per city, which if spread over 10 years equates to 0.4–0.9% of city GDP per year. However, the savings generated in the form of reduced energy bills would be equivalent to between 1.7% and 9.5% of annual city-scale GDP, and the average payback period of investments would be approximately 2 years at commercial interest rates. We provisionally estimate that if these findings were replicated and similar investments were made in cities globally, then they could generate reductions equivalent to 10–18% of global energy-related GHG emissions in 2025. While the studies offer some grounds for optimism, they also raise important questions about the barriers to change that prevent these economically attractive options from being exploited and about the scope for mitigation based on the exploitation of only the economically attractive options. We therefore discuss the institutional capacities, policy environments and financing arrangements that need to be developed before even these economically attractive opportunities can be exploited. We also demonstrate that, in rapidly growing cities, the carbon savings from such investments could be quickly overwhelmed – in as little as 7 years – by the impacts of sustained population and economic growth. We conclude by highlighting the need to build capacities that enable the exploitation not only of the economically attractive options in the short term but also of those deeper and more structural changes that are likely to be needed in the longer term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to energy can significantly contribute to the development of the living standards of the energy poor. Also if the provision of access to energy is sustainable, i.e. via renewable energy sources, there is an added benefit of contributing to mitigation of climate change. Currently, the percentage of population with access to energy varies significantly between countries and across regions. This is due to the nature of national socio-economic situations and energy resource availability in differing settings. This article addresses issues and hindrances to energy access in regional contexts and also examines, in particular, the prospects of how regional cooperation initiatives linked with climate change mitigation objectives could assist in widening energy access. Existing relevant regional cooperation initiatives that may be upscaled or used as models to widen access to modern energy services are evaluated. Findings are that regional cooperation initiatives linked with climate change mitigation can potentially facilitate widening energy access. However, in order to realise such potential, synergies from regional cooperation that are indirectly linked to energy and wider climate change mitigation programs should be harnessed. Recommendations are made for development of sustainable energy programs in energy deprived regions that will also mitigate climate change impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lawmaking body plays an important role in developing comprehensive policies and regulations that integrate aspects of climate mitigation and adaptation, and disaster risk reduction. The present research aims to understand how the effects of climate change in coastal areas have been addressed in the Brazilian policies and normative framework. A thorough review was carried out to identify and evaluate the main legislative documents and proposed management instruments available. Although only about half of the documents include detailed and explicit coastal guidelines, the analyzed normative framework presented a comprehensive scope that enables managers to tailor actions to their particular needs on the littoral. Policies addressing climate challenges are concentrated on a national scale. For instance, financial support actions to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions stand out, such as the economic resources presented by the National Climate Change Fund. Along the same lines, both the National Disaster Protection Policy and the Sectoral Plan for Sea Resources point out how the process of climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction is fundamentally related to financial investment in Marine Sciences and the permanent ocean and meteorological monitoring. Regarding the management instruments, only 13 are currently implemented, of which 10 explicitly address climate change. As an example, the Federal Coastal Zone Action Plan aims to establish future scenarios and subsidize adaptation strategies. In the state of Santa Catarina, the State Policy on Climate Change stands out as one of the most comprehensive available pieces of legislation, even though not specifically designed for the coastal zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]