ALBERT

Description: The gap between the internationally agreed climate objectives and tangible emissions reductions looms large. We explore how the supreme decision-making body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Conference of the Parties (COP), could develop to promote more effective climate policy. We argue that promoting implementation of climate action could benefit from focusing more on individual sectoral systems, particularly for mitigation. We consider five key governance functions of international institutions to discuss how the COP and the sessions it convenes could advance implementation of the Paris Agreement: guidance and signal, rules and standards, transparency and accountability, means of implementation, and knowledge and learning. In addition, we consider the role of the COP and its sessions as mega-events of global climate policy. We identify opportunities for promoting sectoral climate action across all five governance functions and for both the COP as a formal body and the COP sessions as conducive events. Harnessing these opportunities would require stronger involvement of national ministries in addition to the ministries of foreign affairs and environment that traditionally run the COP process, as well as stronger involvement of non-Party stakeholders within formal COP processes. This article is categorized under: Policy and Governance 〉 International Policy Framework

Description: The concept of sustainable lifestyles is said to have reached the limits of its usefulness. As commonly understood, it impedes an effective response to our increasingly complex world, and the associated societal challenges. In this context, the emerging paradigm of relationality might offer a way forward to renew our current understanding and approach. We explore this possibility in this study. First, we systematize if, and how, the current dominant social paradigm represents a barrier to sustainable lifestyles. Second, we analyze how a relational approach could help to overcome these barriers. On the basis of our findings, we develop a Relational Lifestyle Framework (RLF). Our aim is to advance the current knowledge by illustrating how sustainable lifestyles are a manifestation of identified patterns of thinking, being, and acting that are embedded in today’s “socioecological” realities. The RLF revitalizes the field of sustainable lifestyle change, as it offers a new understanding for further reflection, and provides new directions for policy and transformation research.

Description: Mineral economics is a genuine multidisciplinary field dealing with economic and policy matters related to the production, distribution, and consumption of mineral commodities. We discuss why the increasing complexity, ambiguity, ambivalence, and social contestation of subjects of mineral economics promote the participation of mineral economists in transdisciplinary processes. These processes relate (a) knowledge from targeted interdisciplinary processes and (b) mitigated discourses among different stakeholders to provide (c) a shared problem definition and to attain shared basic knowledge about problem transformation science and practice. We discuss known examples of misperceptions regarding minerals (phosphorus), such as an imminent scarcity threat, the incorrectly understood causations of the 2007/2008 price peak and present the phosphorus ore-grades increased by 3.2% between 1983 and 2013 fallacies (which is based on the Simpson’s paradox), and only few countries have mineable reserves fallacy. Here, we also illuminate motivations underlying several mineral economics–related misunderstandings. We argue that societally relevant questions require an honest mineral economics knowledge brokership. The example of the Global TraPs project, which targeted sustainable phosphorus management, is presented. Honest brokership to attain a clearinghouse function of science requires trust formation in society. We argue that this calls for increasing the understandability of relationships that are not well-understood, such as “if prices rise, so do stocks.” Wellmer and Becker-Platen’s feedback control cycle may be considered an example of how complex mineral economics can become and how challenging it is to be understandable to scientists from different disciplines and faculties as well as to practitioners whose knowledge may well be used to cope with the complexity of given problems. Thus, the present paper represents a plea for mutual learning between science and practice in order to understand the complex social and economic challenges of mineral resource dynamics.

Description: Gypsum makes up about one fifth of giant salt deposits formed by evaporation of seawater throughout Earth’s history. Although thermodynamic calculations and precipitation experiments predict that gypsum precipitates when the salinity of evaporating seawater attains about 110 g kg-1, gypsum deposits of the Mediterranean Salt Giant often bear the geochemical signature of precipitation from less saline water masses. Addressing this geochemical riddle is important because marine gypsum deposition and continental gypsum erosion affect the global carbon cycle. We investigated gypsum deposits formed in the marginal basins of the Mediterranean Sea during the Messinian Salinity Crisis (about 6 million years ago). These often bear low-salinity fluid inclusions and isotopically light crystallization water, confirming previous published reports that the Mediterranean Salt Giant harbors low-salinity gypsum deposits. A geochemical model constrained by fluid inclusion salinity and isotope (87Sr/86Sr, δ34SSO4, δ18OH2O, δDH2O) measurements excludes that Ca2+- and SO42--enriched continental runoff alone provides the trigger for gypsum precipitation at low salinity. We propose that, concurrent with the prevalent evaporative conditions and with Ca2+- and SO42--bearing runoff, the biogeochemical sulfur cycle is capable of producing a spatially-restricted and temporally-transient increase of Ca2+ and SO42- within benthic microbial mats, creating local chemical conditions conductive to gypsum precipitation. This hypothesis is supported by the presence of dense packages of fossils of colorless sulfur bacteria within gypsum in several Mediterranean marginal basins, together with independent geochemical and petrographic evidence for an active biogeochemical sulfur cycle in the same basins. Should this scenario be confirmed, it would expand the range of environments that promote marine gypsum deposition; it would also imply that an additional, biological coupling between the calcium, sulfur and carbon cycles exists.

Description: In 2015, the United Nations agreed on 17 Sustainable Development Goals as the central normative framework for sustainable development worldwide. The effectiveness of governing by such broad global goals, however, remains uncertain, and we lack comprehensive meta-studies that assess the political impact of the goals across countries and globally. We present here condensed evidence from an analysis of over 3,000 scientific studies on the Sustainable Development Goals published between 2016 and April 2021. Our findings suggests that the goals have had some political impact on institutions and policies, from local to global governance. This impact has been largely discursive, affecting the way actors understand and communicate about sustainable development. More profound normative and institutional impact, from legislative action to changing resource allocation, remains rare. We conclude that the scientific evidence suggests only limited transformative political impact of the Sustainable Development Goals thus far.

Description: The Peruvian Upwelling System hosts an extremely high productive marine ecosystem. Observations show that the Peruvian Upwelling System is the only Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems (EBUS) with an out-of-phase relationship of seasonal surface chlorophyll concentrations and upwelling intensity. This "seasonal paradox" triggers the questions: (1) what is the uniqueness of the Peruvian Upwelling System compared with other EBUS that leads to the out of phase relationship; (2) how does this uniqueness lead to low phytoplankton biomass in austral winter despite strong upwelling and ample nutrients? Using observational climatologies for four EBUS we diagnose that the Peruvian Upwelling System is unique in that intense upwelling coincides with deep mixed layers. We then apply a coupled regional ocean circulation-biogeochemical model (CROCO-BioEBUS) to assess how the interplay between mixed layer and upwelling is regulating the seasonality of surface chlorophyll in the Peruvian Upwelling System. The model recreates the "seasonal paradox" within 200 km off the Peruvian coast. We confirm previous findings that deep mixed layers, which cause vertical dilution and stronger light limitation, mostly drive the diametrical seasonality of chlorophyll relative to upwelling. In contrast to previous studies, reduced phytoplankton growth due to enhanced upwelling of cold waters and lateral advection are second-order drivers of low surface chlorophyll concentrations. This impact of deep mixed layers and upwelling propagates up the ecosystem, from primary production to export efficiency. Our findings emphasize the crucial role of the interplay of the mixed layer and upwelling and suggest that surface chlorophyll may increase along with a weakened seasonal paradox in response to shoaling mixed layers under climate change.

Description: Marine ecosystems, particularly productive marine ecosystems, substantially impact global fisheries and are considerably influenced by climate change as an integral component of the earth system. Modelling is an essential tool to understand marine ecosystems and project their possible response to climate change. However, current ecosystem modelling projections have significant uncertainties, which are partially caused by a lack of overall understanding of the underlying physical-biological interactions. This thesis seeks to identify the driving mechanisms of the trophodynamics in productive marine ecosystems in the contemporary climate, which is key to improve future ecosystem projections under climate change.

Description: The western Andean belt of Argentina displays a comprehensive record of the Carboniferous and earliest Permian rocks so extensive that it allows an exceptional reconstruction of the Late Paleozoic Ice Age of the southwestern margin of the South American Gondwana area. Severe endemism of the Gondwana biota during this period makes it difficult to achieve a precise correlation of these glacially influenced deposits with the coeval sequences of the palaeoequatorial belt, where the subdivisions of the International Chronostratigraphic Chart (ICC) are currently defined. The abundant palaeontological record available from the Upper Paleozoic deposits of central-western Argentina, central Patagonia and eastern Argentina makes it possible to recognize five successive faunal stages that allow a proper ordering of the sequences of this period. The proposed regional stages, and their assumed chronological position regarding the standards of the current ICC, are: the Malimanian (late Tournaisian), Barrealian (Mid-Carboniferous or Serpukhovian–Bashkirian), Aguanegrian (Upper Pennsylvanian), Uspallatian (Asselian–Tastubian?) and Bonetian (Sakmarian). This paper aims to reiterate former recommendations about the convenience of having regional reference units and suggests the consideration of the available faunal stages as possible chronostratigraphic subdivisions for the Carboniferous–early Permian of the southeastern margin of Gondwana.

Description: In its latest assessment report the IPCC stresses the need for carbon dioxide removal (CDR) to counterbalance residual emissions to achieve net zero carbon dioxide or greenhouse gas emissions. There are currently a wide variety of CDR measures available. Their potential and feasibility, however, depends on context specific conditions, as among others biophysical site characteristics, or availability of infrastructure and resources. In our study, we selected 13 CDR concepts which we present in the form of exemplary CDR units described in dedicated fact sheets. They cover technical CO2 removal (two concepts of direct air carbon capture), hybrid solutions (six bioenergy with carbon capture technologies) and five options for natural sink enhancement. Our estimates for their CO2 removal potentials in 2050 range from 0.06 to 30 million tons of CO2, depending on the option. Ten of the 13 CDR concepts provide technical removal potentials higher than 1 million tons of CO2 per year. To better understand the potential contribution of analyzed CDR options to reaching net-zero CO2 emissions, we compare our results with the current CO2 emissions and potential residual CO2 emissions in 2050 in Germany. To complement the necessary information on technology-based and hybrid options, we also provide an overview on possible solutions for CO2 storage for Germany. Taking biophysical conditions and infrastructure into account, northern Germany seems a preferable area for deployment of many concepts. However, for their successful implementation further socio-economic analysis, clear regulations, and policy incentives are necessary.