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The Planetary Boundaries framework was developed to control the anthropogenic pressure on the Earth system and delimit a safe operating space for humanity. Within the European Union (EU), the energy sector is the most emitting sector. Many studies have investigated life cycle impacts of electricity generation, but assessments of the life cycle impacts of electricity generation in relation to the planetary boundaries are currently limited. Here, we evaluate the life cycle impacts of electricity generation in the EU-28 and relate these impacts to the planetary boundaries. Moreover, we include an assessment of impacts on the planetary boundary biosphere integrity, which has often been omitted due to its complexity and inadequate basis for quantification. Three scenarios (Base, Green, and NZE) for the period 2020–2050 are considered, and two different sharing principles are applied for assigning a share of the safe operating space to the considered system. We found that neither of the three scenarios can be considered within the boundaries of the assigned safe operating space using either of the sharing principles. All three scenarios comply with an equal number of boundaries defined by SoSOS 1 in year 2050 (7 out of 15 boundaries), but in relation to the boundaries defined by SoSOS 2 the Green scenario performs best, complying with 13 out of 15 boundaries. The good performance of the Green scenario in 2050 is especially due to the large share of renewable energy sources (74 %) and nuclear (21 %), and because of the inclusion of BECCS, giving negative impacts on climate change. The results of the study indicate a need for a drastic change in the electricity mix of the EU-28 towards a larger share of renewable energies and emphasize the importance of considering all planetary boundaries to avoid burden shifting and to obtain absolute environmental sustainability for EU-28 electricity generation.

In this contribution, we study the extent to which 68 scenarios for microalgae biofuels could help the heavy-duty transport sector operate within planetary boundaries. The proposed scenarios are built considering a range of alternative configurations based on three types of fuel production processes (i.e., transesterification, hydrodeoxygenation, and hydrothermal liquefaction), different carbon sources (such as natural gas power plants and direct air capture), byproduct treatments, and two electricity mixes. Our results reveal that microalgae biofuels could significantly reduce the environmental and human health impacts of the business-as-usual (fossil-based) heavy-duty transport sector. Moreover, relative to standard biofuels that show large land-use requirements, we find that microalgae biofuels also decrease the damage on biosphere integrity substantially. Notably, pathways resorting to hydrodeoxygenation of microalgae oil and direct air capture and carbon storage could reduce the current impact induced globally on climate change by the heavy transport by 77%, while attaining six-fold reductions in biosphere integrity impacts, both relative to conventional biofuels.© 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.

My work discusses how Gibe III is a Sustainable Development but is not sustainable. Along the river Omo are tribes and, unlike Gibe III which utilizes instrumental rationality to harness the flow of the River Omo for the production of hydroelectricity, they plant crops after the flow from the hydrological cycle floods the riverbanks with water and nutrients. I simplified Hägerstrand’s (2001) System of Nested Domains into three levels: the local, meso-level, and landscape. Using the nested domains, I outline part of a vast interconnected web between the multinational institutions in the Lower Omo. In the meso-level, by combing Arturo Escobar’s (2015 (a)) writing of a One World World with Erik Swyngedouw’s (2004) description of Glob/calization, I describe the prolongation of a dominant image of thought which extends into the multitude of worlds on Earth. The localization of a global network of institutes impedes the flow of the river and, in turn, uses the water in the local river to transmit hydroelectricity into the Eastern Africa Power Pool. Gibe III - by impeding the flow of the river Omo - generates hydroelectricity through glob/calization. Gibe III lowering the water level of the river causes a change to the environmental conditions downstream. In the local level, I use a hydrosocial perspective to frame how Flood Retreat Agriculture (FRA) is a dimension of the Omo and different to Gibe III. On the one hand is a hydrological cycle that annually floods a river and deposits nutrients into the river banks and, on the other, Gibe III utilizes the river to generate hydroelectricity. FRA occurs in tandem with the hydrological cycle and Gibe III exports hydroelectricity and redirects water to industrial scale agriculture. As the tribes have lived in the Lower Omo for thousands of years, Sustainability has persisted through the changes of climate in the Lower Omo and does not hide behind a false sense of power generated through a hydropower dam. To transmit how the trib

We explore the role of agriculture in destabilizing the Earth system at the planetary scale, through examining nine planetary boundaries, or “safe limits”: land-system change, freshwater use, biogeochemical flows, biosphere integrity, climate change, ocean acidification, stratospheric ozone depletion, atmospheric aerosol loading, and introduction of novel entities. Two planetary boundaries have been fully transgressed, i.e., are at high risk, biosphere integrity and biogeochemical flows, and agriculture has been the major driver of the transgression. Three are in a zone of uncertainty i.e., at increasing risk, with agriculture the major driver of two of those, landsystem change and freshwater use, and a significant contributor to the third, climate change. Agriculture is also a significant or major contributor to change for many of those planetary boundaries still in the safe zone. To reduce the role of agriculture in transgressing planetary boundaries, many interventions will be needed, including those in broader food systems.