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The aim of the study is to estimate the nexus between energy insecurity and energy poverty with the role of climate change and other environmental concerns. We used DEA like WP methods and properties of MCDA, a most common form of data envelopment analysis (DEA) to estimate the nexus between constructs. This paper presents a measurement and analysis of G7 countries' energy, economic, social, and environmental performance associated with energy poverty indexes. The study used the multiple, comprehensive, and relevant set of indicators, including energy economics and environmental consideration of energy poverty. The net energy consumption of al G7 economies is equal to 34 percent of the entire world along with the net estimate GDP score of around 50 percent. Using DEA modelling and estimation technique, our research presented valuable insights for readers, theorists and policy makers on energy, environment, energy poverty and climate change mitigation. For this reasons, all these indicators combined in a mathematical composite indicator to measure energy, economic, social, and environmental performance index (EPI). Results show that Canada has the highest EPII score, which shows that Canada's capacity to deal with energy self-sufficiency, economic development, and environmental performance is greater than the other G7 countries. France and Italy rank second and third. Japan comes next with 0.50 EPI scores, while the USA has the lowest average EPI score environment vulnerable even though have higher economic development among the G7 group countries. We suggest a policy framework to strengthen the subject matter of the study., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Policies to mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss often assume that protecting carbon-rich forests provides co-benefits in terms of biodiversity, due to the spatial congruence of carbon stocks and biodiversity at biogeographic scales. However, it remains unclear whether this holds at the scales relevant for management, and particularly large knowledge gaps exist for temperate forests and for taxa other than trees. We built a comprehensive dataset of Central European temperate forest structure and multi-taxonomic diversity (beetles, birds, bryophytes, fungi, lichens, and plants) across 352 plots. We used Boosted Regression Trees (BRTs) to assess the relationship between above-ground live carbon stocks and (a) taxon-specific richness, (b) a unified multidiversity index. We used Threshold Indicator Taxa ANalysis to explore individual species' responses to changing above-ground carbon stocks and to detect change-points in species composition along the carbon-stock gradient. Our results reveal an overall weak and highly variable relationship between richness and carbon stock at the stand scale, both for individual taxonomic groups and for multidiversity. Similarly, the proportion of win-win and trade-off species (i.e., species favored or disadvantaged by increasing carbon stock, respectively) varied substantially across taxa. Win-win species gradually replaced trade-off species with increasing carbon, without clear thresholds along the above-ground carbon gradient, suggesting that community-level surrogates (e.g., richness) might fail to detect critical changes in biodiversity. Collectively, our analyses highlight that leveraging co-benefits between carbon and biodiversity in temperate forest may require stand-scale management that prioritizes either biodiversity or carbon in order to maximize co-benefits at broader scales. Importantly, this contrasts with tropical forests, where climate and biodiversity objectives can be integrated at the stand scale, thus highlighting the need for context-specificity when managing for multiple objectives. Accounting for critical change-points of target taxa can help to deal with this specificity, by defining a safe operating space to manipulate carbon while avoiding biodiversity losses., (© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Climate change has been shown to have long-term effects on mental health, yet, to date, there have been few studies on how children and adolescents experience and respond to ecological changes and how and why they engage in climate action. We explored empirically young people's views about climate change and how distinct cultural contexts influence individual climate action. Methods: We invited children and adolescents (ages 7 to 18) and their caregivers from the general population in the United States and France to participate in semi-structured focus groups. We recruited 74 participants, 39 in the U.S. (33 children and adolescents, 6 parents) and 35 in France (32 children and adolescents, 3 parents). Focus groups with participants centered on their emotions, beliefs, and actions around climate change. We analyzed the focus group data and developed themes via grounded theory and symbolic interactionist approaches. Results: Many participants described experiencing anger, hopelessness, guilt, and sadness in response to climate change, and a smaller number endorsed significant anxiety symptoms; many described frustration about needing to fix the mistakes of earlier generations. Younger participants frequently misunderstood the purpose of their parents' eco-conscious behaviors unless they were provided with age-appropriate explanations. Participants described a spectrum of experiences when trying to discuss climate change with peers and family, ranging from genuine support to apathy to hostility. Between the two samples, U.S. participants experienced more conflict with adults about climate change than French participants, but French participants described a greater lack of political agency compared to U.S. participants. Participants in both samples expressed a relatively balanced view of climate action, recognizing the significance of individual actions while acknowledging the limits of their power in the face of systemic issues. Some found hope and empowerment through climate action and building communities around it. Conclusion: Discussing with children and adolescents what adults are doing to mitigate climate change can provide reassurance, model prosocial behaviors, and inspire their own investment in climate action. Adults seeking to support the psychological well-being of young people should both support their concerns and actions around climate change and create avenues for young people to meaningfully engage in climate action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on CMIP6 climate simulations, updated global and regional observations, and recently introduced statistical methods, we provide an updated assessment of past and future warming over France. Following the IPCC AR6 and recent global-scale studies, we combine model results with observations to constrain climate change at the regional scale. Over mainland France, the forced warming in 2020 with respect to 1900–1930 is assessed to be 1.66 [1.41 to 1.90] ∘ C, i.e., in the upper range of the CMIP6 estimates, and is almost entirely human-induced. A refined view of the seasonality of this past warming is provided through updated daily climate normals. Projected warming in response to an intermediate emission scenario is assessed to be 3.8 ∘ C (2.9 to 4.8 ∘ C) in 2100 and rises up to 6.7 [5.2 to 8.2] ∘ C in a very high emission scenario, i.e., substantially higher than in previous ensembles of global and regional simulations. Winter warming and summer warming are expected to be about 15 % lower than and 30 % higher than the annual mean warming, respectively, for all scenarios and time periods. This work highlights the importance of combining various lines of evidence, including model and observed data, to deliver the most reliable climate information. This refined regional assessment can feed adaptation planning for a range of activities and provides additional rationale for urgent climate action. Code is made available to facilitate replication over other areas or political entities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the influence of climate change, wildfire regimes are expected to intensify and expand to new areas, increasing threats to natural and socioeconomic assets. We explore the environmental and economic implications for the forest sector of climate‐induced changes in wildfire regimes. To retain genericity while considering local determinants, we focus on the regional level and take Mediterranean France as an example. Coupling a bioeconomic forest sector model and a model of wildfire activity, we perform spatially explicit simulations under various levels of radiative forcing. By using a probabilistic framework, we also assess the propagation of several sources of uncertainty to the forest sector, considering both climate‐induced uncertainty and the intrinsic stochasticity of the fire process. By the end of the century, summer burned areas increase by up to 55%, causing moderate losses of merchantable timber and forest carbon stocks, with cascading impacts for industrial activities and climate mitigation in the forest sector. Implications for industries remain limited, but we observe price increases, especially for softwoods, as well as spatially differentiated changes in producer welfare. Inter‐annual fluctuations explain most of uncertainty in wildfire activity, but their impacts on the forest sector are quickly dampened. Over time, owing to the cumulative nature of wildfire impacts on forest resources, uncertainty related to climate warming, climate models' response and stochasticity intrinsic to the wildfire phenomenon strongly increase in relative importance. Results reassert the need to consider multiple futures in prospective assessments, including uncertainty inherent to natural processes, often omitted in large‐scale economic assessments. Plain Language Summary: Forest fires in the Mediterranean are expected to become more numerous, more intense, and to reach new areas due to climate change. Forest resources, carbon sequestrated in forests, as well as economic activities related to forestry, are threatened by this evolution. This article focuses on Southern France and uses large‐scale model simulations to explore these dynamics. We show that burned areas in forests may increase by more than half by 2100, leading to a decrease in forest resources (timber) by up to 5%. Besides, prices for wood products may increase, especially for softwoods, with implications for the welfare of timber producers and consumers. Moreover, these results are heterogenous across space, and areas to the south and to the west are more gravely affected. However, these trends come with relatively large uncertainties. We show that uncertainties concerning the evolution of forest fires themselves are largely due to annual variability in weather conditions. On the contrary, uncertainties concerning economic activity in forestry are mostly due to the unknown future evolution of greenhouse gas emissions and to differences in climate models functioning. Our results reassert the need to consider several possible sources of uncertainty in long‐term prospective assessments. Key Points: Models project an intensification of wildfire regimes in southern France, losses of forest resources and carbon, disturbances to forestryUncertainty in projections is dominated by annual fluctuations for wildfire activity, by choice of climate model/scenario for forestryProspective bioeconomic assessments need to consider multiple possible futures but also stochasticity intrinsic to disturbance processes [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I investigate whether and how banks align green words, in terms of their commitments to tackle climate change, with deeds in terms of credit allocation across carbon-intensive industries in France. I use data on bank credit exposures to large versus small firms across 49 industries for the main banking groups operating in France, which I merge with information on industries' greenhouse gas emission intensities and a score for banks' self-reported climate-related commitments over 2010–2017. I find evidence that higher levels of self-reported climate commitments by banks are associated with a slower growth of lending to large firms in the five most carbon-intensive industries. However, lending to small and medium-sized enterprises across more or less carbon-intensive industries remains unrelated to banks' commitments to green their business. These findings suggest that devising an appropriate carbon reporting framework for small firms is likely to enhance the decarbonization of bank lending. Key policy insights Over 2010–2017, in France, banking groups that self-report to CDP as being more committed to climate change adaptation and mitigation tend to cut their lending relatively faster to domestic firms in the five most carbon-intensive industries. This pattern is entirely driven by the dynamics of banks' credit to large corporations, which in France are legally bound to regular carbon reporting. In contrast, banks' climate commitments do not seem to affect their lending to domestic small and medium-sized enterprises(SMEs) in carbon-intensive industries. Overall, the results support recent calls for an extension of mandatory carbon disclosure regulations to SMEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the Yellow Vests movement and the extent it constitutes an original platform for resistance to a sustainability transition agenda in the French context. The movement represents a disruption to global climate mitigation solutions that are often formalized at a global scale, and illustrates cultural and economic constraints in providing social justice in the age of climate change. Using a cultural performative approach, this case study reveals the relevance of framing and cultural analyses to understand such resistance. This qualitative exploration initiates a narrative analysis to assess how the universal resolve of the 2015 Paris Conference and the related legitimacy of the sustainability discourse has been further contested by the Yellow Vests and their fractured framing. From the 'end of the world' to the 'end of the month', we investigate the rise and fall of the legitimacy of the French sustainability discourse by analysing politicians' and activists' speeches, historical narratives as well as visual materials of resistance in France in the context of sustainability transitions. Tip of a broader social crisis, the movement reveals an original conflict of temporalities, symptomatic of the inevitable interdependency of socio-economic inequalities to sustainability transitions. Beyond the resistance itself, the Yellow Vests embody an original exemplar for the importance of cultural appropriation within the sustainability discourse' legitimation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of appropriate tools to quantify long‐term carbon (C) budgets following forest transitions, that is, shifts from deforestation to afforestation, and to identify their drivers are key issues for forging sustainable land‐based climate‐change mitigation strategies. Here, we develop a new modeling approach, CRAFT (CaRbon Accumulation in ForesTs) based on widely available input data to study the C dynamics in French forests at the regional scale from 1850 to 2015. The model is composed of two interconnected modules which integrate biomass stocks and flows (Module 1) with litter and soil organic C (Module 2) and build upon previously established coupled climate‐vegetation models. Our model allows to develop a comprehensive understanding of forest C dynamics by systematically depicting the integrated impact of environmental changes and land use. Model outputs were compared to empirical data of C stocks in forest biomass and soils, available for recent decades from inventories, and to a long‐term simulation using a bookkeeping model. The CRAFT model reliably simulates the C dynamics during France's forest transition and reproduces C‐fluxes and stocks reported in the forest and soil inventories, in contrast to a widely used bookkeeping model which strictly only depicts C‐fluxes due to wood extraction. Model results show that like in several other industrialized countries, a sharp increase in forest biomass and SOC stocks resulted from forest area expansion and, especially after 1960, from tree growth resulting in vegetation thickening (on average 7.8 Mt C/year over the whole period). The difference between the bookkeeping model, 0.3 Mt C/year in 1850 and 21 Mt C/year in 2015, can be attributed to environmental and land management changes. The CRAFT model opens new grounds for better quantifying long‐term forest C dynamics and investigating the relative effects of land use, land management, and environmental change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest social-ecological systems (FSESs) can play a major role in both the mitigation of climate change, as well as the adaptation of local communities to it. In Europe, however, forests are highly fragmented and located close to human populations. This means that maintaining forest sustainability implies not only increasing ecosystem adaptation but also developing social adaptation. Hence, there is a need to understand the current priorities and management goals of forestry stakeholders, as well as their capacity to achieve functional and sustainable FSES in the future. The present study uses an interdisciplinary approach to evaluate stakeholders' capacity to deal with climate change and top-down policies in different FSESs. We selected five FSESs in France that exhibit a range of climatic threats and socio-economic characteristics to estimate their adaptive capacity and transformative potential. The estimation is based on an assessment of different types of capital (i.e. natural, social, resources, governance) that involves evaluating 70 indicators through more than 70 semi-structured interviews with local stakeholders. Our results highlight that forest management in France, and more broadly in Europe, is mainly based on technical approaches, which build stakeholders' confidence in their capacity to maintain the status quo. We observe asymmetry in capital distribution in some FSES, mainly through the maximization of the resources capital, which can constraint FSESs in a robustness trap. To develop adaptive capacity for small perturbations as well as transformability, forestry stakeholders should be encouraged to compromises. More balanced capital distribution, with decreased economic benefits, along with new technical approaches and changes to the landscape composition could be necessary to ensure the long-term adaptability of FSES to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents an innovative approach to hand-coding parties’ policy preferences in the relatively new, cross-sectoral field of climate change mitigation policy. It applies this approach to party manifestos in six countries, comparing the preferences of parties in Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and the United Kingdom over the past two decades. It probes the data for evidence of validity through content validation and convergent/discriminant validation and engages with the debate on position-taking in environmental policy by developing a positional measure that incorporates ‘pro’ and ‘anti’ climate policy preferences. The analysis provides evidence for the validity of the new measures, shows that they are distinct from comparable measures of environmental policy preferences and argues that they are more comprehensive than existing climate policy measures. The new measures strengthen the basis for answering questions that are central to climate politics and to party politics. The approach developed here has important implications for the study of new, complex or cross-cutting policy issues and issues that include both valence and positional aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Local authorities are key in coastal territories' adaptation to climate change. • Interviews cover 29 French Mediterranean municipalities. • Beaches and residential economy ground the social representation of the territory. • Coastal risks are given little consideration, except for beach erosion. • Territorial inertia, i.e. keeping the same territorial trajectory, impedes adaptation. Adaptation to climate change is a critical issue in coastal areas, at risk from sea-level rise, erosion, and sea flooding. In territories strongly urbanized and long oriented toward tourism and a residential economy, a change in coastal management and territorial development is hard to initiate. In Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (France), a leading tourism region, this article explores how local authorities perceive climate change and talk about adaptation strategies. Interviews with municipal-level authorities, both elected officials and technical agents, reveal the influence of territorial inertia, with persistent statements promoting the beach- and residential-oriented economy and a wait-and-see attitude regarding climate change. Beach erosion is the only coastal risk interviewees really recognize, while sea-level rise and sea flooding are barely perceived. Yet evidence supporting the possibility of a future change in position is provided by the younger generation of interviewees, who are more aware of environmental challenges. Providing original data for a coastal region often considered as a model of development throughout the world, this article also proposes an original and transferable method combining geographical sampling of municipalities, text statistics and qualitative analysis of interviews, to apprehend the social representations of the coast, of climate change and coastal risks. Such a methodology is recommended prior to any quantitative assessment of climate action at local scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Grand Paris' is a study carried out by ten teams of researchers and city planners in the aim of putting forward general guidelines for Paris urban area's evolution by 2030. All the teams suggest making the area 'greener' in some way, to combat climate warming by CO sequestration. Our team also shows that extending the nearby forests by 30 %, favouring short farm-to-consumer circuits and using lighter coloured building materials will decrease the urban heat island, reducing the mortality during heat waves as well as the need for air-conditioning. These results lead us to reverse the way of thinking urban planning: the geographic and natural aspects should replace the urban infrastructure as a driver for planning urban development. This new strategy allows city changes on quite a large scale, that will have a favourable impact in terms of economics, leisure activities, greenhouse gas emissions and the local microclimate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the "Historical Climatology" conference that took place at the German Historical Institute in Paris, France from September 5-6, 2011. Papers presented at the conference discussed topics such as how historians can contribute to finding a solution to climate change, how climate change affected animals in England and Wales during the 14th century, and how certain types of documentary data can aid in the reconstruction of European climates.

During crises, adaptation or recovery measures or plans at local or national scales may not necessarily address longer-term or structural problems such as climate change mitigation. This article describes farmers and policymakers' responses to mitigate the adverse effects of Covid-19 on the agricultural sector. We then assess the responses' possible effects on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The study is based on surveys conducted with farmers, traders, and extension staff in Burkina Faso, Colombia, and France, and literature. We used the Cool Farm Tool calculator to assess GHG emissions associated with fertilizer production, crop production and produce transportation to international markets for the three main cash crops in the three countries. We identified contrasting responses by the agricultural sector mostly driven by changes in the consumption patterns at local or international levels. We also identified contrasting state responses to mitigate Covid-19. These responses at farm and policy scales led to similar trends in decreasing carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions across the studied countries. However, none of the studied countries linked Covid-19 response measures to long-term climate change mitigation actions. Therefore, an opportunity to sustain Covid-19 induced short-term decreases in GHG emissions was overlooked. Analyzing the impacts that Covid-19 had on agricultural systems and the decision taken by policymakers to handle its direct and indirect effects can help society draw lessons on how to improve climate action. [Display omitted] • Context/background: Recovery measures to mitigate Covid-19 challenges present an opportunity to address longer-term climate change mitigation challenges, simultaneously. • Objective: We evaluate farmer and policy responses to the Covid-19 crisis and estimate resultant greenhouse gas emissions from three cash crop value chains. • Results: State and farmers responses to Covid-19 differed between countries and cash crop value chains but resulted in decreases of CO 2 emissions. • Conclusions: Lack of incentives for climate actions in Covid-19 responses suggests an opportunity to sustain the short-term CO 2 emissions decreases was overlooked. • Significance: The Covid-19 responses point to a need for better integration and leveraging of future pandemic actions to address other long-term challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Peach (Prunus persica) phenology is a climate responsive annual cycle. • Mapping climate change impacts on peach cultivar thermal niche in france. • Winter endodormancy break will be delayed; blooming and ripening will occur earlier. • Peach cultivation suitable area will shift from south to northwest of france. • Adaptation and mitigation strategies to climate changes are urgently required. Climate influences plant phenological traits, thus playing a key role in defining the geographical range of crops. Foreseeing the impact of climate change on fruit trees is essential to inform policy decisions to guide the adaptation to new climatic conditions. To this end, we propose and use a phenological process-based model to assess the impacts of climate change upon the phenology, the suitability and the distribution of economically important cultivars of peach (Prunus persica), across the entire continental France. The model combines temperature dependent sub-models of dormancy, blooming, fruit survival and ripening, using chilling units, forcing units, frost occurrence and growing degree days, respectively. We find that climate change could have divergent impacts on peach production. On the one hand, blooming would occur earlier, warmer temperatures would decrease spring frost occurrence and fruit ripening would be easily achieved before the start of fall. On the other hand, milder winters would impede the plant buds from breaking endodormancy, with consequent abnormal patterns of fruit development or even blooming failure. This latter impact would dramatically shift the geographic range of sites where peach production will be profitable. This shift would mainly be from the south of France (Languedoc-Roussillon, Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur), to northwestern areas where the winter chilling requirement would still be fulfilled. Our study provides novel insights for understanding and forecasting climate change impacts on peach phenology and it is the first framework that maps the ecological thermal niche of peach at a national level. Image, graphical abstract [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information about the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Paris, France in December 2015 is presented. The event tackled major issues on economic, technical, and political issues, and the commitment of high-income countries to spend $100 billion annually to help low-income nations mitigate climate change. It also featured several insights from several climate scientists and health experts about the climate change deal. INSET: Panel: A brief guide to COP21..