ALBERT

Description: Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Under the auspices of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and through the Paris Agreement, there is a commitment to keep global temperature rise this century to well below two degrees Celsius compared with pre-industrial levels. This will require a variety of strategies, including increased renewable power generation, broad-scale electrification, greater energy efficiency, and carbon-negative technologies. With increasing support worldwide, innovations in carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technologies are now widely acknowledged to contribute to achieving climate mitigation targets while creating economic opportunities. To assess the environmental impacts and commercial competitiveness of these innovations, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Techno-Economic Assessment (TEA) are needed. Against this background, guidelines (Version 1.0) on LCA and TEA were published in 2018 as a valuable toolkit for evaluating CCU technology development. Ever since, an open community of practitioners, commissioners, and users of such assessments has been involved in gathering feedback on the initial document. That feedback has informed the improvements incorporated in this updated Version 1.1 of the Guidelines. The revisions take into account recent publications in this evolving field of research; correct minor inconsistencies and errors; and provide better alignment of TEA with LCA. Compared to Version 1.0, some sections have been restructured to be more reader-friendly, and the specific guideline recommendations are renamed ‘provisions.’ Based on the feedback, these provisions have been revised and expanded to be more instructive.

Description: The poster outlines PhD project and presents guiding research questions, mapping uncertainties and approach and methodology leading to planned aim of PhD project; Reconceptualising Arctic Fossil Fuel Resource Uncertainty.

Description: One of the most important questions arising from the painful corona crisis is: how can we make the economic case for investing in a green, healthy and just recovery for people and the planet? The COVID-19 pandemic offers many lessons, despite the early stage of global responses. For me, the most important one is the inevitable truth that we will not be able to promote an inclusive and durable recovery without addressing the root causes of this pandemic. While most of the public attention goes to a much awaited vaccine, there is also great value in understanding long-term and preventive measures. In this article, I highlight the Planetary health approach, which has the advantage of “multi-solving” several crises at once, such as the one linked to climate change, biodiversity, food systems, and social inequalities.

Description: Rural energy consumption not only significantly affects the national economy but also informs us about the living conditions of rural residents. A comprehensive survey of households in the agropastoral area of Qinghai Province was conducted from 2017 to 2018 to identify its energy consumption characteristics. In this paper, a typical household energy flow model was established. The results show that 1) the proportion of noncommercial energy in the agropastoral area of Qinghai Province is 52.89%, and it is affected by the ‘returning farmland to forest’ (RFF) policy and the ‘returning grazing land to grassland project’ (RGLGP). Furthermore, the household energy consumption structure has shifted from traditional biomass to coal and a combination of other energy sources. 2) Households of different cultural backgrounds have different energy consumption patterns. 3) High-income households consume more energy and have more frequent energy flows compared with low-income households. The results of this survey will help policymakers and scholars to formulate strategies for energy conservation and more effectively assess energy policies.

Description: The negotiations for an international legally binding instrument on the conservation and sustainable use of BBNJ provides a unique opportunity to strengthen international MCS provisions. This can be done through the fu-ture BBNJ treaty (Cremers et al., 2020a) but also through existing frameworks, including at the regional level. In this context, this re-port offers recommendations to the Member States of the Permanent Commission for the South Pacific (CPPS) with a view to supporting decisions on how MCS can be strength-ened in the region.

Description: This is a write-up of an expert workshop held in November 2019 jointly organised by the IASS and UBA. It summarises the state of knowledge on ground-level ozone in Germany, identifies research gaps, and makes recommendations for action to reduce ground-level ozone.

Description: Superconducting links are an innovative solution for bulk power transmission, distinguished by their compact dimensions, high efficiency and small environmental footprint. As with any new technology field, there is a large amount of design possibilities for such links, each of them having a profound impact on the system configuration. For instance, changing the material can imply a change in the working temperature from 20 to 70 K and has consequences on the maximum link length. This article presents the dichotomic decision possibilities for the optimized design of a high-power superconducting link, focusing on some of the key components of the cable system. The complex design optimization process is exemplified using the European project Best Paths, in which the first 3-gigawatt-class superconducting cable system was designed, optimized, manufactured, and successfully tested.

Description: "The Role of Public Participation in Energy Transitions" provides a conceptual and empirical approach to stakeholder and citizen involvement in the ongoing energy transition conversation, focusing on projects surrounding energy conversion and efficiency, reducing energy demand, and using new forms of renewable energy sources. Sections review and contrast different approaches to citizen involvement, discuss the challenges of inclusive participation in complex energy policymaking, and provide conceptual foundations for the empirical case studies that constitute the second part of the book. The book is a valuable resource for academics in the field of energy planning and policymaking, as well as practitioners in energy governance, energy and urban planners and participation specialists.

Description: The Kathmandu Valley in Nepal is a bowl-shaped urban basin that experiences severe air pollution that poses health risks to its 3.5 million inhabitants. As part of the Nepal Ambient Monitoring and Source Testing Experiment (NAMaSTE), ambient air quality in the Kathmandu Valley was investigated from 11 to 24 April 2015, during the pre-monsoon season. Ambient concentrations of fine and coarse particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10, respectively), online PM1, inorganic trace gases (NH3, HNO3, SO2, and HCl), and carbon-containing gases (CO2, CO, CH4, and 93 non-methane volatile organic compounds; NMVOCs) were quantified at a semi-urban location near the center of the valley. Concentrations and ratios of NMVOC indicated origins primarily from poorly maintained vehicle emissions, biomass burning, and solvent/gasoline evaporation. During those 2 weeks, daily average PM2.5 concentrations ranged from 30 to 207 µg m−3, which exceeded the World Health Organization 24 h guideline by factors of 1.2 to 8.3. On average, the non-water mass of PM2.5 was composed of organic matter (48 %), elemental carbon (13 %), sulfate (16 %), nitrate (4 %), ammonium (9 %), chloride (2 %), calcium (1 %), magnesium (0.05 %), and potassium (1 %). Large diurnal variability in temperature and relative humidity drove corresponding variability in aerosol liquid water content, the gas–aerosol phase partitioning of NH3, HNO3, and HCl, and aerosol solution pH. The observed levels of gas-phase halogens suggest that multiphase halogen-radical chemistry involving both Cl and Br impacted regional air quality. To gain insight into the origins of organic carbon (OC), molecular markers for primary and secondary sources were quantified. Levoglucosan (averaging 1230±1154 ng m−3), 1,3,5-triphenylbenzene (0.8±0.6 ng m−3), cholesterol (2.9±6.6 ng m−3), stigmastanol (1.0 ±0.8 ng m−3), and cis-pinonic acid (4.5±1.9 ng m−3) indicate contributions from biomass burning, garbage burning, food cooking, cow dung burning, and monoterpene secondary organic aerosol, respectively. Drawing on source profiles developed in NAMaSTE, chemical mass balance (CMB) source apportionment modeling was used to estimate contributions to OC from major primary sources including garbage burning (18±5 %), biomass burning (17±10 %) inclusive of open burning and biomass-fueled cooking stoves, and internal-combustion (gasoline and diesel) engines (18±9 %). Model sensitivity tests with newly developed source profiles indicated contributions from biomass burning within a factor of 2 of previous estimates but greater contributions from garbage burning (up to three times), indicating large potential impacts of garbage burning on regional air quality and the need for further evaluation of this source. Contributions of secondary organic carbon (SOC) to PM2.5 OC included those originating from anthropogenic precursors such as naphthalene (10±4 %) and methylnaphthalene (0.3±0.1 %) and biogenic precursors for monoterpenes (0.13±0.07 %) and sesquiterpenes (5±2 %). An average of 25 % of the PM2.5 OC was unapportioned, indicating the presence of additional sources (e.g., evaporative and/or industrial emissions such as brick kilns, food cooking, and other types of SOC) and/or underestimation of the contributions from the identified source types. The source apportionment results indicate that anthropogenic combustion sources (including biomass burning, garbage burning, and fossil fuel combustion) were the greatest contributors to PM2.5 and, as such, should be considered primary targets for controlling ambient PM pollution.

Description: The COVID-19 pandemic proved to be an unprecedented challenge for different aspects of our global society and made the unbalance among our countries and continents even more striking. Beyond the tragedy, this crisis also opens a window of opportunity for a healthier future, if we make the right choices and support the most vulnerable groups. We write to share the painful reality of the Indigenous peoples in Brazil, exponentially worsened since the COVID-19 has hit the world.

Description: Despite all the sadness, fear, bewilderment and frustration that it is generating, this pandemic is compelling us to "unlearn" and reshape our realities. In this time of radical uncertainty, two fundamental questions have emerged. Could the coronavirus open our eyes for the importance of a global transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies? More precisely, will we finally realize that human health is intrinsically dependent on healthy ecosystems? For professionals involved in sustainable development research and practice, this tragedy inevitably leads to the important theme of planetary health, an evolving field of research and practice that stresses the deep interconnectedness between nature and human health.

Description: This master thesis explores the potential of enriching higher education with the triad of self, sustainability and Silence. This work aims for self-development of students, teachers and institutions which is expressed in transformative action towards sustainability. To do so, the research investigates the potentials of Silence1 regarding the dimension of the self and the transformation processes towards sustainability. Our research is based on relevant literature from the field of sustainable development and education. We derived our key results out of the application of Action Research. The Action Research Cycles present the central findings and conclude with the presentation and integration of the Silence Space concept into higher education. An essential insight is that sustainability as a concept still faces major systemic hurdles in being integrated in societies of the Global North. These obstacles have their origin mainly in a perception of separation, in a lack of attention to qualitative human needs and in the mindset. It is therefore the mindset that needs to be transformed in order to make action and behaviour conducive to a relational and thus holistic sustainability. Silence as an attitude can act as a significant supporting force that fuels these processes of transformation and promotes human well-being, which underlies the definition of sustainability. Especially, when integrated in approaches of higher education for sustainable development, it leads to a better perception of the congruence of knowledge and action. The Eberswalde University for sustainable development (HNEE) with its prototype of the Silence Space might contribute to the understanding of oneself in relation to others (and the environment), thereby fostering the experience of self-efficacy and strengthening transformative actions towards sustainability. Since higher education should at best contribute to the creation of critically thinking global citizens, we see this investigation and the concept Silence Space as a contribution for a more sustainable society.

Description: The urgent and critical challenges of transforming patterns of behavior from current unsustainable ones are encapsulated in the 2015 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Central to these goals and targets are systems of sustainable consumption and production. This crucial goal depends on consumers and producers making choices that depend on knowledge available to them and on other factors influencing their preferences in accordance with norms and culture. This paper investigates how “green knowledge” (i.e., knowledge of ecologically and socially sound products and practices) influences sustainability in the intersections of knowledge, preferences, behavior, and economic and environmental performance. By employing a general equilibrium economic model, we show that consumers, producers, and industry regulators with different degrees of knowledge and concern about the health and environmental benefits of products and production would lead to different economic and environmental consequences. As “green knowledge” influences consumption patterns and government policy-making, our model shows that, in principle, there will be a shift in the content of the economy to that which supports the achievement of long-term sustainability.

Description: Argentina is among the countries hardest hit by the social and economic consequences of the current pandemic. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) is predicting the worst economic crisis in the history of Latin America, with a fall in GDP of over 5% and millions more people pushed into poverty. Argentina, which is currently renegotiating its massive external debt, could suffer a drop in GDP of 6.5% or more. In order to mitigate the impacts of the crisis, the government is responding with some immediate relief measures – tax deferrals, subsidies for low-income families, and special financial measures for different sectors including energy – as well as planning a quite ambitious recovery program. The decisions that are being taken today are likely to have a profound effect on the energy sector for decades to come. These decisions are influenced by visions and narratives associated with different sectors, with oil and gas being the “golden goose” and renewables the “ugly duckling”.

Description: Why is it that we are so slow to change our ways - despite all that we know and in the face of the unfolding climate and biodiversity crises and other socio-ecological challenges?

Description: In this article we argue that the notion of control poses a critical conceptual and historical connection between scientific and political power. While many meanings of control originate in the sciences, concepts of experimentation, care, and learning currently translate into increasingly decentralized governance concepts, be it through market-logics or surveillance technologies. That is, epistemic and social control is co-constituted. Collaborative research plays a transformative but paradoxical role in this interplay: Science and Technology Studies scholars have leveraged powerful critiques against techno-scientific control and have shaped practical modes of transdisciplinary research. However, the critique of techno-scientific control is increasingly mixed up with post-truth controversies, and the appeal to inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration has been appropriated by neoliberal science policy. The historical conundrum culminates in a practical dilemma: Collaborative researchers seek to overcome the very regimes of techno-scientific control that the sciences are bound to co-produce. Can they shift the control regimes that they are part of? Collaborative research requires a critical and pragmatic standpoint with regard to both the methods of politics and the politics of methodology. This special issue seeks to come to terms with the inherent contradictions of collaborative research and make useful proposals with regard to its political potential.

Description: In the European Commission’s “Coronavirus response”, President von der Leyen recently announced the aim of building “a modern, clean and healthy economy, which secures the livelihoods of the next generation”. But what does that mean for high emitting industrial sectors such as cement production? Are they part of “yesterday’s economy”, or will they successfully transition to more sustainable modes of production? Over half of all the materials that humans use on Earth are “cementitious” – including concrete, cement and other building materials – and it is difficult to imagine a life without cement.

Description: This factsheet provides a concise and fact-based overview of various aspects of the digital transformation of African economies and is intended as a basic introduc-tion to this topic.

Description: Risk governance has in recent years become a commonly used concept in relation to the understanding, assessment, management and communication of risk or risk problems, including so-called systemic risks. Substantial scientific work has been conducted to establish a proper foundation for this concept and its applications. Nonetheless, there are still some issues that remain to be clarified, for example how to best characterise risks and risk problems that need risk governance approaches. The purpose of the present article is to provide new insights into the risk governance concept by critically examining some common definitions and uses of key terms. In particular, the article seeks to shed new light on the interpretation of risk-problem classes: simple, complex, uncertain and ambiguous. A set of recommendations is presented on how to improve current risk governance theories and practices, including a suggestion for a modified risk-problem classification system.

Description: Transnational climate change initiatives have increased in number and relevance within the global climate change regime. Despite being largely welcomed, there are concerns about their ability to deliver ambitious climate action and about their democratic legitimacy. This paper disentangles the nature of both authority and legitimacy of a specific form of transnational networks, transgovernmental networks of subnational governments. It then investigates how a major transgovernmental initiative focusing on tropical forests, the Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force, attempts to command authority and to build and maintain its legitimacy. The paper illustrates the particular challenges faced by initiatives formed primarily by jurisdictions from the Global South. Three major trade-offs related to authority and legitimacy dimensions are identified: first, the difficulty of balancing the need for increased representation with performance on ambitious climate goals; second, the need to deliver effectiveness while ensuring transparency of governance processes; and third, the limited ability to leverage formal authority of members to deliver climate action in local jurisdictions, while depending on external funds from the Global North.

Description: In this Discussion Paper we show how the Covid-19 pandemic is affecting the Brazilian Amazon, leading to the collapse of health systems in several Amazon cities, endangering indigenous ethnic groups, facilitating the clearance of huge forested plots, and, in the process, giving rise to growing concerns about the possible emergence of new transmissible zoonotic diseases.

Description: High investment costs are a key impediment to the energetic refurbishment of residential buildings in Germany. A versatile consumer market for smart thermostat systems suggests that they might constitute a low-investment alternative that is also accessible for tenants. Here, we assess the cost-effectiveness of smart thermostat systems under different conditions and in comparison with other mitigation measures. A dynamic investment model is set up and applied to two typical home types, an average single-family house and an average apartment, built between 1949 and 1978. The impact of variables such as relative savings, building efficiency standard, investment cost, and heating fuel price on CO2 mitigation costs and payback times is investigated using sensitivity analyses. Smart thermostat systems are cost-effective for the two home types if relative savings of at least 5.7% (single-family house) and 7.7% (apartment) are achieved. Both CO2 mitigation costs and payback times strongly decrease with increasing relative savings for values below 10%. Similarly, the level of savings needed to achieve cost-effectiveness strongly increases with increasing building efficiency for values below 100 kWh/m2a. We demonstrate that smart thermostat systems can be a low-investment measure to cost-effectively reduce CO2 emissions and energy consumption in the residential building sector. They should be used primarily in buildings with a medium to low efficiency standard, where energetic refurbishment is unlikely in the coming years. To assess the economic mitigation potential of smart thermostat systems, broad and granular empirical data on realized heating energy savings is urgently needed.

Description: Policy advice for dealing with the Corona Crisis has been focusing on two major concepts: resilience and sustainability. The paper explores the relationship between the two terms, illustrates the various concepts that are associated with each term, and suggests an integrative approach that is based on the ideal of maintaining critical services for reaching humane living conditions for present and future generations based on fair distribution rules and inclusive governance processes.

Description: This policy brief focuses on the nexus between decarbonization and tech innovation on the municipal level in Germany and Israel. It asks how decarbonization and innovation are coupled in cities in both countries, and what this nexus brings with it. To answer these questions, the following text provides a qualitative analysis of two German and two Israeli forerunner cities that are involved in efforts and practices of urban decarbonization and innovation.

Description: Access to sustainable and effective energy services is central to every challenge and opportunity that humanity and the planet face today. As a result, there is unprecedented consensus that the ways in which energy is produced, distributed, and consumed can have major positive or negative consequences for humans, the environment, and the broader ecosystem, and therefore, a direct or indirect effect on achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and complying with the Paris Agreement. The situation in the developed and middle-income countries is such that most households have sustained and effective access to cooking energy services. In contrast, almost 80-90% of household in developing countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, lacks such access or face constant interruptions due to financial insecurities, and unreliable or insecure energy services. Technological development has widely been viewed and supported as the solution to these challenges. However, while technological development is an important element in addressing this challenge, the central role of individual and societal factors in influencing the acceptance, sustainable access, and effective uses of technologies is often overlooked. Nevertheless, technological processes are negotiated, developed, implemented, and used within social contexts. The objective of this thesis is to understand and contextualize the factors that facilitate or hinder sustainable and effective access to cooking energy services within households in the informal settlement of Kibera, with a focus on biomass improved cookstoves (ICSs). Guided by the needs-opportunity-ability model (NOA), this thesis first examines the needs that households seek to fulfil through cooking energy services. It then assesses the state of abilities and opportunities in order to understand the limitations and opportunities available and accessible to households to meet their desired needs. Lastly, the role of individual and societal factors are examined at the micro, meso, and macro levels in enabling or hindering sustainable access and effective use of the cooking energy services sought and desired by households. This approach is especially important because it recognizes that energy access processes are also shaped by a broad spectrum of influences that lie outside the households’ direct control or the nature of technological outcomes. The findings of this thesis show that households have multiple and diverse needs that they seek to fulfil through cooking energy services. Moreover, the findings confirm, as emphasized in the NOA model, the influential and interconnected roles of factors at the micro and macro levels in influencing consumer behavior and outcomes. Furthermore, it is found that meso-level factors also have significant influence on sustained access and effective use of cooking energy services, and might even exert stronger influence than macro-level factors, due to their immediacy and direct connection to the user and their day-to-day activities and livelihoods. This thesis concludes that, rather than household resistance to embracing sustainable and effective cooking energy services, the most persistent barriers to the adoption of sustainable and effective cooking energy services relate to how user needs are understood or fail to be understood, and the lack of appropriate and secure abilities and opportunities. Therefore, while several opportunities to address the challenges of access to clean and effective cooking energy services were identified, a range of individual and structural challenges would also need to be overcome to facilitate sustainable and effective progress. To overcome these challenges in Kibera, a range of options are proposed to improve and strengthen sustained access and effective use of cooking energy services. These recommendations emphasize the need for ongoing and holistic understanding of households' needs and realities, as well as the central role played by interacting forces at the micro, meso, and macro levels in influencing access conditions and outcomes for humans and the environment of advocated cooking energy services. More specifically, the recommendations call for greater attention to the social and contextual dimensions and dynamics of cooking energy production, distribution, and consumption processes, as demonstrated in the ‘landscape’ of cooking energy access that is one of the major outcomes of this thesis.

Description: The seasonal aerosol radiative forcing efficiency (ARFE) in the atmosphere was found high (〉100 Wm-2) and consistent throughout the year over Dusanbe, the capital city of Tajikistan in central Asia. Consequently, this resulted in similar seasonally coherent high atmospheric solar heating rate (HR) of 1.5 K day-1 during summer-autumnwinter, and ca. 0.9 K day-1 during spring season. High ARFE and HR values indicate that atmospheric aerosols could exert significant implications to regional air quality, climate and cryosphere over the central Asian region and downwind Tianshan and Himalaya-Tibetan Plateau mountain regions with sensitive ecosystems.

Description: In the moment of preparation of this paper, the world is still globally in grip of the Corona (COVID-19) crisis, and the need to understand the broader overall framework of the crisis increases. As in similar cases in the past, also with this one, the main interest is on the “first response”. Fully appreciating the efforts of those risking their lives facing pandemics, this paper tries to identify the main elements of the larger, possibly global, framework, supported by international standards, needed to deal with new (emerging) risks resulting from threats like Corona and assess the resilience of systems affected. The paper proposes that future solutions should include a number of new elements, related to both risk and resilience. That should include broadening the scope of attention, currently focused onto preparation and response phases, to the phases of “understanding risks”, including emerging risks, and transformation and adaptation. The paper suggests to use resilience indicators in this process. The proposed approach has been applied in different cases involving critical infrastructures in Europe (energy supply, water supply, transportation, etc., exposed to various threats), including the health system in Austria. The detailed, indicator-based, resilience analysis included mapping resilience, resilience stress-testing, visualization, etc., showing, already before the COVID-19, the resilience (stress-testing) limits of the infrastructures. A simpler (57 indicator based) analysis has, then been done for 11 countries (including Austria). The paper links these results with the options available in the area of policies, standards, guidelines and tools (such as the RiskRadar), with focus on interdependencies and global standards—especially the new ISO 31,050, linking emerging risks and resilience.

Description: While the concept of ‘just transitions’ has become more and more prominent in academic and popular discussions of sustainability transition, these conceptions are often framed in purely economic terms, and focus on the economic impact on communities, regions, and nation-states. We argue that a broader conception of justice in transitions, and in particular energy transitions, is required. Questions such as who will win and who will lose as society transitions to more sustainable future, who decides what the transition will look like, how are those historically excluded from decision making recognized, and how are the interests of non-humans and future generations included are important to answer in order to ensure that concepts of justice are included in transitions processes. Answering these questions is critical in “ensuring that system transitions are not only more sustainable, but also more just” (Williams and Doyon, 2019, p. 144). In this paper, we apply the justice and system transition framework (Williams and Doyon, 2019) to the Energy Futures Lab (EFL). We find that while the EFL has made great strides towards justice in transition, the EFL is also a demonstration of the challenges of incorporating justice such as addressing issues of power dynamics and conceptions of diversity and inclusion. We also find that the justice and system transitions framework proves to be a valuable tool in assessing justice in transitions projects. Going beyond the common ‘just transition’ approach that focuses on distributive justice gives a richer conception of justice and ensures that procedural and recognition approaches are included.

Description: The report at hand summarises the key findings of the COBENEFITS Assessment Series, quantifying essential co-benefi ts of decarbonising the power sector in South Africa. The COBENEFITS South Africa Assessment series can be directly accessed through www.cobenefi ts.info. Building on the opportunities presented, the report formulates a set of policy actions to allow government institutions to create an enabling political environment to unlock the social and economic co-benefi ts of the new energy world of renewables for the people of South Africa. The policy options were generated during a series of roundtable dialogues and consultations with government institutions, industry associations, and expert and civil society organisations (CSOs) in the years 2019 and 2020.

Description: Risk governance is used to refer to a body of scholarly ideas and concepts for collective decision making involving uncertain consequences of events or actions. The risk governance concept developed by the International Risk Governance Council in Geneva provides guidance for constructing comprehensive assessment and management strategies to cope with risk. Its crafters integrate three types of scientific input: classic, curiosity-driven research; strategic, goal-oriented research: and catalytic, process-related investigations. In this paper, I demonstrate how these three knowledge pools can assist risk assessors and managers to improve their understanding of complex risk situations.

Description: This study presents a comprehensive analysis of organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), and particularly the light absorption characteristics of EC and water-soluble brown carbon (WS–BrC) in total suspended particles in the Kathmandu Valley from April 2013 to January 2018. The mean OC, EC, and water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) concentrations were 34.8 ± 27.1, 9.9 ± 5.8, and 17.4 ± 12.5 μg m−3, respectively. A clear seasonal variation was observed for all carbonaceous components with higher concentrations occurring during colder months and lower concentrations in the monsoon season. The relatively low OC/EC ratio (3.6 ± 2.0) indicates fossil fuel combustion as the primary source of carbonaceous components. The optical attenuation (ATN) at 632 nm was significantly connected with EC loading (ECS) below 15 μg cm−2 but ceased as ECS increased, reflecting the increased influence of the shadowing effect. The derived average mass absorption cross-section of EC (MACEC) (7.0 ± 4.2 m2 g−1) is comparable to that of freshly emitted EC particles, further attesting that EC was mainly produced from local sources with minimal atmospheric aging processes. Relatively intensive coating with organic aerosols and/or salts (e.g., sulfate, nitrate) was probably the reason for the slightly higher MACEC during the monsoon season, whereas increased biomass burning was a major factor leading to lower MACEC in other seasons. The average MACWS-BrC at 365 nm was 1.4 ± 0.3 m2 g−1 with minimal seasonal variations. In contrast to MACEC, biomass burning was the main reason for a higher MACWS-BrC in the non-monsoon season. The relative light absorption contribution of WS-BrC to EC was 9.9% over the 300–700 nm wavelength range, with a slightly higher ratio (13.6%) in the pre-monsoon season. Therefore, both EC and WS-BrC should be considered in the study of optical properties and radiative forcing of carbonaceous aerosols in this region.

Description: Total suspended particles (TSP) were collected in Lumbini from April 2013 to March 2016 to better understand the characteristics of carbonaceous aerosol (CA) concentrations, compositions and sources and their light absorption properties in rural region of severe polluted Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP). Extremely high TSP (203.9 ± 109.6 μg m−3), organic carbon (OC 32.1 ± 21.7 μg m−3), elemental carbon (EC 6.44 ± 3.17 μg m−3) concentrations were observed in Lumbini particularly during winter and post-monsoon seasons, reflecting the combined influences of emission sources and weather conditions. SO42− (7.34 ± 4.39 μg m−3) and Ca2+ (5.46 ± 5.20 μg m−3) were the most dominant anion and cation in TSP. These components were comparable to those observed in urban areas in South and East Asia but significantly higher than those in remote regions over the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau, suggesting severe air pollution in the study region. Various combustion activities including industry, vehicle emission, and biomass burning are the main reasons for high pollutant concentrations. The variation of OC/EC ratio further suggested that biomass such as agro-residue burning contributed a lot for CA, particularly during the non-monsoon season. The average mass absorption cross-section of EC (MACEC) and water-soluble organic carbon (MACWSOC) were 7.58 ± 3.39 and 1.52 ± 0.41 m2 g−1, respectively, indicating that CA in Lumbini was mainly affected by local emissions. Increased biomass burning decreased MACEC; whereas, it could result in high MACWSOC during the non-monsoon season. Furthermore, dust is one important factor causing higher MACWSOC during the pre-monsoon season.

Description: Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, health is receiving unprecedented public and political attention. Yet the fact that climate change also presents us with a health crisis deserves further recognition. From more deaths due to heat stress to endangering food security and access to clean water, climate change affects the environmental and social determinants of health in ways that are profound and far-reaching.

Description: The global energy transition, that is the full decarbonization of the world energy system until 2050, is attracting growing attention in global policy debates.

Description: Strew pellet production not only contribute to regional sustainable development and localized energy transition, but also help to mitigate global greenhouse gas emissions. With the development strew pellet products in China, it is critical to uncover the embodied emissions, land use and economic cost effectiveness from producing strew pellet. In order to reach such a target, two main categories of biomass pellet production including a large-scale centralized factory and a small-scale distributed workshop are investigated. Compared with raw coal production, the unit co-benefits in terms of per gigajoule of straw pellets from centralized factory are 1687 kg CO2, 8.65 g SO2, 3.21 g NOx, and 3.897 g PM10, and 0.33 m2 land use, and those for straw pellets from centralized factory are 1352 kg CO2, 8.46 g SO2, 3.12 g NOx, and 4.22 g PM10, and 0.33 m2 land use. Cost-effectiveness for the two straw pellets production system were also uncovered so that the relevant interested agents such as decision makers, business investors or environmental researchers can see the potential economic performance from developing such kind biomass plants. We conclude that environmental performance of the straw pellets whether from centralized factor or decentralized workshop have attractive alternatives to coal production.

Description: This worked example is part of a series of examples that are designed to provide practical guidance to the application of the Techno-Economic Assessment and Life Cycle Assessment Guidelines for CO2 Utilization. In this worked example the impact of “picking and mixing” inventory data on results interpretation is explored in detail. The results of 18 LCA inventories (for a CO2 to nitrogen rich fertilizer pathway) are assessed, showing the inconsistencies in the conclusions drawn from the interpretation phase of the studies.

Description: In recent years, there have been increasing calls to make central banks agents of broader socio-economic change for pursuing environmental goals. But are central banks the most suitable actor to finance a Green transition?

Description: It is highly debatable whether deep-sea minerals are needed to enable the renewable-energy transition and decarbonize the global economy. Instead of rushing to mine them, the world must first protect the biodiversity of the high seas and show that seabed mining can yield long-term net benefits for sustainable development.

Description: The following paper posits not only that democracies can, but also that they must experiment and re-invigorate themselves to meet the challenges ahead. It presents the case for participatory innovative practices as an important pathway for democratic renewal and for bolder and more ambitious climate action in Israel. Specifically, we focus on one deliberative democratic format, the Citizens’ Assembly, that has gained in popularity around the world of late, especially around climate-related issues.

Description: This document describes the data underlying the modelling works for Deliverable 8.2 Market uptake of concentrating solar power in Europe: model-based analysis of drivers and policy trade-offs (Resch et al., 2020). They were conducted using the Green-X model (TU Wien) and the Enertile model (Fraunhofer ISI). Sufficiently high climate ambitions are another enabler of CSP development, because they hinder the use of fossil power plants as a backup of fluctuating renewables and supply of electricity demand exceeding the realizable potential of other renewables. Hence, CSP with its additional advantage of dispatchability becomes more important under such conditions.

Description: We conducted a model-based analysis evaluating the role of CSP in the EU electricity system up to 2050. In particular, we analysed how cooperation, sector coupling, electricity demand levels, underlying RES policy concepts and pathways, and infrastructural developments/prerequisites impact the market uptake of CSP in the EU. Our results show, that cooperation among European countries leads to higher expansions of CSP power plants than the pathway following national preferences. Sufficiently high climate ambitions are another enabler of CSP development, because they hinder the use of fossil power plants as a backup of fluctuating renewables and supply of electricity demand exceeding the realizable potential of other renewables. Hence, CSP with its additional advantage of dispatchability becomes more important under such conditions.

Description: Future air quality will be driven by changes in air pollutant emissions, but also changes in climate. Here, we review the recent literature on future air quality scenarios and projected changes in effects on human health, crops and ecosystems. While there is overlap in the scenarios and models used for future projections of air quality and climate effects on human health and crops, similar efforts have not been widely conducted for ecosystems. Few studies have conducted joint assessments across more than one sector. Improvements in future air quality effects on human health are seen in emission reduction scenarios that are more ambitious than current legislation. Larger impacts result from changing particulate matter (PM) abundances than ozone burdens. Future global health burdens are dominated by changes in the Asian region. Expected future reductions in ozone outside of Asia will allow for increased crop production. Reductions in PM, although associated with much higher uncertainty, could offset some of this benefit. The responses of ecosystems to air pollution and climate change are long-term, complex, and interactive, and vary widely across biomes and over space and time. Air quality and climate policy should be linked or at least considered holistically, and managed as a multi-media problem.

Description: In the wake of digitalization it is increasingly debated whether developing countries can achieve economic prosperity through industrialization in the same manner as developed countries did. At the same time, developing countries have high hopes for digital technologies to drive the transformation of the economy towards prosperity. Literature on structural change views technology as one driver of employment shifts between economic sectors, but underlying mechanisms are often overlooked. Similarly, evidence on digitalization highlights its impacts on employment, but the causes and effects require further investigation. As a consequence, both strands of literature benefit from an integrated perspective on structural change and digitalization, which has largely been lacking. Hence, we pose the following research question: What are potential linkages between structural change and digitalization? Based on a review of the existing literature we identify the drivers of structural change as well as the economic impacts of digitalization on these drivers. We then elaborate on linkages between both strands of literature, showing that digitalization impacts the drivers of structural change in various ways. Evidence suggests that digitalization is likely to affect relative sectoral productivity, but it is questionable whether destinations of subsequent labor movements (e.g. towards traditional services) will equally benefit from technological progress. Moreover, the skill bias of digital technologies may be a risk not only for equitable income gains, but also for inter-firm linkages. Our review further implies that digitalization fosters the servicification of manufacturing and presents opportunities for developing countries to diversify in traded goods and services. However, it is contested if digitalization facilitates better positioning of developing countries in global markets, or if it narrows the scope for their participation and upgrading opportunities in global value chains due to relatively larger benefits for developed countries. We thus highlight various differences between developed and developing countries in the ability to benefit from digitalization. Future studies can empirically test the proposed linkages to reveal technology-, country- and industry-specific interactions between processes of structural change and digitalization.

Description: The health of the ocean, central to human well-being, has now reached a critical point. Most fish stocks are overexploited, climate change and increased dissolved carbon dioxide are changing ocean chemistry and disrupting species throughout food webs, and the fundamental capacity of the ocean to regulate the climate has been altered. However, key technical, organizational, and conceptual scientific barriers have prevented the identification of policy levers for sustainability and transformative action. Here, we recommend key strategies to address these challenges, including (1) stronger integration of sciences and (2) ocean-observing systems, (3) improved science-policy interfaces, (4) new partnerships supported by (5) a new ocean-climate finance system, and (6) improved ocean literacy and education to modify social norms and behaviors. Adopting these strategies could help establish ocean science as a key foundation of broader sustainability transformations.

Description: Changing mobility patterns combined with changes in the climate present challenges and opportunities for global health, requiring effective, relevant, and humane policy responses. This study used data from a systematic literature review that examined the intersection between climate change, migration, and health. The study aimed to synthesize policy recommendations in the peer-reviewed literature, regarding this type of environmental migration with respect to health, to strengthen the evidence-base. Systematic searches were conducted in four academic databases (PubMed, Ovid Medline, Global Health and Scopus) and Google Scholar for empirical studies published between 1990–2020 that used any study design to investigate migration and health in the context of climate change. Studies underwent a two-stage protocol-based screening process and eligible studies were appraised for quality using a standardized mixed-methods tool. From the initial 2425 hits, 68 articles were appraised for quality and included in the synthesis. Among the policy recommendations, six themes were discernible: (1) avoid the universal promotion of migration as an adaptive response to climate risk; (2) preserve cultural and social ties of mobile populations; (3) enable the participation of migrants in decision-making in sites of relocation and resettlement; (4) strengthen health systems and reduce barriers for migrant access to health care; (5) support and promote optimization of social determinants of migrant health; (6) integrate health into loss and damage assessments related to climate change, and consider immobile and trapped populations. The results call for transformative policies that support the health and wellbeing of people engaging in or affected by mobility responses, including those whose migration decisions and experiences are influenced by climate change, and to establish and develop inclusive migrant healthcare.

Description: This forum contribution explains how analyzing the creation, distribution, and destruction of contemporary credit money is placed centre stage in the emerging field of critical macro-finance. This approach not only involves traditional forms of money but also ‘shadow money’: private credit instruments which are not regulated as money from a legal standpoint, but in many respects are functionally equivalent to ‘established’ forms of money. To connect different positions in this discourse, we propose three core criteria for defining shadow money as a baseline position for future critical macro-financial research.

Description: Gas flares are a regionally and globally significant source of atmospheric pollutants. They can be detected by satellite remote sensing. We calculate the global flared gas volume and black carbon emissions in 2017 by applying (1) a previously developed hot spot detection and characterisation algorithm to all observations of the Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer (SLSTR) instrument on board the Copernicus satellite Sentinel-3A and (2) newly developed filters for identifying gas flares and corrections for calculating both flared gas volumes (billion cubic metres, BCM) and black carbon (BC) emissions (g). The filter to discriminate gas flares from other hot spots uses the observed hot spot characteristics in terms of temperature and persistence. A regression function is used to correct for the variability of detection opportunities. A total of 6232 flaring sites are identified worldwide. The best estimates of the annual flared gas volume and the BC emissions are 129 BCM with a confidence interval of [35, 419 BCM] and 73 Gg with a confidence interval of [20, 239 Gg], respectively. Comparison of our activity (i.e. BCM) results with those of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Nightfire data set and SWIR-based calculations show general agreement but distinct differences in several details. The calculation of black carbon emissions using our gas flaring data set with a newly developed dynamic assignment of emission factors lie in the range of recently published black carbon inventories, albeit towards the lower end. The data presented here can therefore be used e.g. in atmospheric dispersion simulations. The advantage of using our algorithm with Sentinel-3 data lies in the previously demonstrated ability to detect and quantify small flares, the long-term data availability from the Copernicus programme, and the increased detection opportunity of global gas flare monitoring when used in conjunction with the VIIRS instruments. The flaring activity and related black carbon emissions are available as “GFlaringS3” on the Emissions of atmospheric Compounds and Compilation of Ancillary Data (ECCAD) website (https://doi.org/10.25326/19, Caseiro and Kaiser, 2019).

Description: The notion of systemic risks denominates the danger of destruction of a whole system by the mechanisms of nonlinear interactions between its agents in combination with circular causality between the system´s elementary dynamic processes and the macroscopic structures generated by them. An extensive body of empirical evidence demonstrates a fundamental homomorphism among systemic risks in all domains, from the systems of nature over those of technology up to society. This homomorphism, based on complexity science, allows to formulate cornerstones of a scientific theory resulting in several governance strategies, associated with policy implications, be it to protect ecosystems, technical infrastructure or, last not least, avoid undesired transformation processes in societies. The approach is exemplified here for the systemic risks associated with modern migration phenomena that has direct impact on sustainable development.

Description: Although radiation protection is challenged by many uncertainties, there is no systematic study investigating the definitions and types of these uncertainties. To address this gap, in this paper we offer a scoping review to comprehensively analyse, for the first time, peer-reviewed scientific articles (n = 33) related to uncertainties in the following radiation exposure situations: nuclear emergencies, decommissioning of nuclear/radiological installations and long-term radiological exposure situations (e.g. naturally occurring radioactive materials). The results suggest that firstly, there is no agreement regarding definitions of uncertainty, which is mainly defined based on its sources, types or categories rather than by its meaning. Secondly, different actors are faced with different types of uncertainties. Uncertainties of the scientific community are mostly data and methodology-driven (e.g. dose-response relationships), those of the decision-makers are related to the likely consequences of decision options and public reactions, while laypeople’s uncertainties are mainly related to the trustworthiness of experts or the emotional potential of specific risk exposures. Furthermore, the majority of articles focus on the uncertainties of the scientific community, while those of the information receivers (i.e. decisionmakers and laypeople) receive much less consideration. Finally, there was no difference in types of uncertainties across the different risk-related study areas analysed (radiation versus other risks). Based on these findings, we provide some preliminary recommendations regarding research on uncertainty related to radiation protection, as well as communication practices.

Description: The idea that universities should become entrepreneurial, commercialized, private commodities or should serve politicians and governmental agencies has been promoted by the university–industry–government relationship-based Triple Helix approach and is reality in many places. In contrast, a reemphasis on universities serving the public good has been demanded by proponents of transdisciplinary sustainability research. To better understand the tensions between public-good–oriented approaches of transdisciplinarity and entrepreneurial, market-oriented Triple Helix and third-mission approaches of science—practice collaboration, this paper takes a closer look at the history of universities’ roles and functions. We then elucidate the practice of transdisciplinary processes and discuss the “science for and with society” approach of transdisciplinary sustainable transitioning. We argue that transdisciplinarity for producing groundbreaking sociotechnical solutions has to serve (a) the public good and (b) calls for independence, academic freedom, institutionalization, and proper funding schemes. Third-mission conceptions that follow the commercialization/capitalization of scientific knowledge are in conflict with the conception of science and of transdisciplinarity serving sustainable transitioning. The development of groundbreaking ideas for sustainable transitions must acknowledge the complexity and contextualization of real-world settings. Therefore, collaboration between practice and transdisciplinarity calls for the input and cooperation of authentic practitioners, i.e., the experts of practice and real wold complexity. The challenge of transdisciplinarity is to properly relate the fundamental expertise of practice to validated academic rigor. This implies that transdisciplinary research is a critical element of the university’s research mission.

Description: The COVID-19 outbreak was neither unpredictable nor unforeseen, yet it blind-sided policymakers when it emerged, leading to unprecedented global restrictions on human activity and almost certainly triggering the first global economic contraction since WWII. This paper considers the key factors in the eruption of the crisis, as well as the lessons that should be learned from it. The paper begins with an outline of COVID-19’s spread, highlighting six key drivers that have determined its severity: the exponential pace of transmission, global interconnectedness, health-sector capacity, wider state capacity, the economic impact of suppression measures, and fragilities caused by the 2008 financial crisis. The paper then proceeds by considering the steps that have been taken in response to five key challenges, corresponding to elements of the IRGC risk governance framework: technical assessment, risk perception, evaluation, management and communication. While acknowledging that only tentative conclusions can be drawn at this early stage, the paper ends with a series of ten recommendations designed to increase preparedness for future crises.

Description: This COBENEFITS Policy Report for India compiles key findings from the COBENEFITS India Assessment series, quantifying the co-benefits of decarbonising India’s power sector in view of future-oriented employment and skills development, economic prosperity in rural areas, and health benefits related to a less carbon-intensive power sector, which can be instrumental in reviving the national health system. The COBENEFITS India Assessment series can be accessed at: www.cobenefi ts.info. Building on the opportunities presented, the report formulates a set of policy actions to allow government institutions to create an enabling political environment to unlock the social and economic co-benefits of the new energy world of renewables for the people of India. The policy options were generated through a series of roundtable dialogues and government consultations involving government institutions, industry associations, and expert and civil society organisations in the years 2019 and 2020. In light of the current crisis, the study findings indicate that recovering from the economic shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic and avoiding severe future shocks triggered through the climate crisis do not represent conflicting interests but instead a mutually reinforcing coping strategy. The Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development offer important internationally agreed frameworks to ensure economic recovery in the shorter term and for building resilient economies and health systems in the long run.

Description: This Policy Brief identifies key policy recommendations for the proposed Africa-EU Strategy to ensure that the subsequent policies and implementation strategies, developed in the context of the“Green Transition and Energy Access Partnership”, deliver for the people of Africa and the planet, on a long- term basis.

Description: The corona crisis is not only threatening our health; it’s also shaking our economic systems to the core. A fall of global stock markets by as much as 35 per cent in the first quarter of this year means that a recession is imminent. The energy sector is also affected, with the price of oil plummeting and renewable energies also facing difficulties. Coronavirus infections, prolonged curfews, short-time work, and border closures are all affecting the supply chains of wind and solar energy technologies. Investment has all but dried up. In this situation we can learn from the experience of tackling previous economic crises and should opt for a “green” stimulus package in a three-step government programme of relief, recovery and reform. To accelerate and bolster the energy transition, all of the measures implemented in these three steps need to be scrutinised for their long-term viability.

Description: Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, health is receiving unprecedented public and political attention. Yet the fact that climate change also presents us with a health crisis deserves further recognition. From more deaths due to heat stress to increased transmission of infectious diseases, climate change affects the social and environmental determinants of health in ways that are profound and far-reaching. The fundamental interdependency of human health and the health of the environment is encapsulated in the concept of planetary health, a scientific field and social movement that has been gaining force since the 2015 publication of the Rockefeller Foundation-Lancet Commission report “Safeguarding human health in the Anthropocene epoch”. We see an urgent need for strategic communication to raise awareness of climate-health synergies in order to overcome the misperception that climate and health are two independent agendas. The fragmented and sector-focused nature of thinking and action remains a significant barrier to integrating health considerations into climate planning and project development. Inevitably, collaboration across sectors requires a community of practice. Despite recent efforts focused on the climate-health nexus, much work remains to be done to translate scientific findings for policymakers, mobilise climate financing resources in support of health co-benefits, and promote genderjust solutions within climate change projects.

Description: In the energy access sector, local community members are often not given the opportunity to be heard and voice their concerns. Proper consultation and accommodation is infrequent, traditional or community knowledge is often not valued or used, and the benefits of the projects are inequitably distributed and communicated to the intended beneficiaries. This lack of inclusivity contributes to the creation of inefficiencies and inequities in energy access projects. We believe that the local community is the most important actor in energy access, and that all energy access stakeholders should move in the direction of creating a culture of inclusivity. This paper proposes a set of principles of inclusivity in the energy access sector. Our list is not exhaustive – it is a starting point for discussion, introspection, and building a culture of inclusivity.

Description: Purpose: This paper aims to increase related knowledge across personal, social and ecological dimensions of sustainability and how it can be applied to support transformative learning. Design/methodology/approach: The paper provides a reflexive case study of the design, content and impact of a course on eco-justice that integrates relational learning with an equity and justice lens. The reflexive case study provides a critical, exploratory self-assessment, including interviews, group discussions and surveys with key stakeholders and course participants. Findings: The results show how relational approaches can support transformative learning for sustainability and provide concrete practices, pathways and recommendations for curricula development that other universities/training institutions could follow or learn from. Originality/value: Sustainability research, practice and education generally focuses on structural or systemic factors of transformation (e.g. technology, governance and policy) without due consideration as to how institutions and systems are shaping and shaped by the transformation of personal agency and subjectivity. This presents a vast untapped and under-studied potential for addressing deep leverage points for change by using a relational approach to link personal, societal and ecological transformations for sustainability.

Description: Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is a global hot spot for aerosol emissions, which affect the regional climate and air quality. In this paper, we use ground-based observations to address the large uncertainties in the source-resolved emission estimation of carbonaceous aerosols. Ambient fine fraction aerosol was collected on filters at the high-altitude (2590 m a.s.l.) Rwanda Climate Observatory (RCO), a SSA background site, during the dry and wet seasons in 2014 and 2015. The concentrations of both the carbonaceous and inorganic ion components show a strong seasonal cycle, with highly elevated concentrations during the dry season. Source marker ratios, including carbon isotopes, show that the wet and dry seasons have distinct aerosol compositions. The dry season is characterized by elevated amounts of biomass burning products, which approach ∼95 % for carbonaceous aerosols. An isotopic mass-balance estimate shows that the amount of the carbonaceous aerosol stemming from savanna fires may increase from 0.2 µg m−3 in the wet season up to 10 µg m−3 during the dry season. Based on these results, we quantitatively show that savanna fire is the key modulator of the seasonal aerosol composition variability at the RCO.

Description: This paper presents the main messages of a South American expert roundtable (ERT) on the unintended side effects (unseens) of digital transformation. The input of the ERT comprised 39 propositions from 20 experts representing 11 different perspectives. The two-day ERT discussed the main drivers and challenges as well as vulnerabilities or unseens and provided suggestions for: (i) the mechanisms underlying major unseens; (ii) understanding possible ways in which rebound effects of digital transformation may become the subject of overarching research in three main categories of impact: development factors, society, and individuals; and (iii) a set of potential action domains for transdisciplinary follow-up processes, including a case study in Brazil. A content analysis of the propositions and related mechanisms provided insights in the genesis of unseens by identifying 15 interrelated causal mechanisms related to critical issues/concerns. Additionally, a cluster analysis (CLA) was applied to structure the challenges and critical developments in South America. The discussion elaborated the genesis, dynamics, and impacts of (groups of) unseens such as the digital divide (that affects most countries that are not included in the development of digital business, management, production, etc. tools) or the challenge of restructuring small- and medium-sized enterprises (whose service is digitally substituted by digital devices). We identify specific issues and effects (for most South American countries) such as lack of governmental structure, challenging geographical structures (e.g., inclusion in high-performance transmission power), or the digital readiness of (wide parts) of society. One scientific contribution of the paper is related to the presented methodology that provides insights into the phenomena, the causal chains underlying “wanted/positive” and “unwanted/negative” effects, and the processes and mechanisms of societal changes caused by digitalization.

Description: If we had unrestricted basis income for everyone, what would the consequences be? Would it increase freedom and equality and so dim down the ever faster accelerating times? Would it help to save the environment with its restricted resources? We should use the direct experiences in this pandemic time for a rather radical restructuring of society, where a basic income/livelihood allows us to ask ourselves what we want, could support economies - the algorithms provide us with gainful employment, which frees us to work - to work on things that will allow us a dignified existence on the planet. With a worldwide basic income / livelihood we come closer to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and, 231 years after the French Revolution, women finally reached a point where they could have the same economic opportunities as men. We need to break out of frozen patterns of thinking and acting. Establishing a basic income is a step in the right direction. This edition represents a cross section of the German original print version: 8 interviews 7 essays 8 contributions and gifts on 184 pages out of 21 interviews 12 essays 16 contributions and gifts on 356 pages.

Description: Some climate engineering technologies are being developed to remove CO2 from the atmosphere (carbon dioxide removal, CDR), which is expected to contribute to reducing and preventing climate change. Some other technologies (solar radiation modification, SRM) would artificially cool the planet and could reduce some symptoms and risks of climate change. Meaningful steps may need to be taken soon to lay a foundation for a decision process regarding research, policy, regulation and possible use. Driven by questions and needs from the international policymaking community to better understand the potential benefits as well as opportunities, risks, uncertainties and other challenges of CDR and SRM, at both technical and governance levels, this report reviews and compares technologies and their potential contributions, costs, risks, uncertainties, before surveying the current legal and institutional landscape of governance regarding climate engineering. It then addresses trade-offs between risks and discusses possible options for international governance, including criteria for evaluating options. The need for more inclusive approaches and the pros- and cons of institutional fragmentation are emphasized. Options for sites of international governance are discussed, for various technologies, as well as general principles and specific recommendations to: distinguish between CDR and SRM as well as among CDR techniques; accelerate authoritative, comprehensive, and international scientific assessment; encourage the research, development, and responsible use of some CDR techniques; internationally build capacity for evaluating CDR and SRM; facilitate non-state governance; and explore potential further governance of SRM while remaining agnostic concerning its use.

Description: This study analyzes the environmental, economic and regulatory aspects of using second life batteries, especially with regard to providing storage solutions for Renewable Energy Sources (RES), with an emphasis on the Israeli and German cases.

Description: How is the coronavirus crisis affecting the research and development of sustainable technologies? We spoke with the leaders of research projects funded under the CO2WIN programme.

Description: The health risks of a changing climate are immediate and multifaceted. Policies, plans, and programs to reduce climate-related health impacts exist, but multiple barriers hinder the uptake of these strategies, and information remains limited on the factors affecting implementation. Implementation science—a discipline focused on systematically examining the gap between knowledge and action—can address questions related to implementation and help the health sector scale up successful adaptation measures in response to climate change. Implementation science, in the context of a changing climate, can guide decision makers in introducing and prioritizing potential health adaptation and disaster risk management solutions, advancing sustainability initiatives, and evaluating and improving intervention strategies. In this article we highlight examples from Pacific Island countries and outline approaches based on implementation science to enhance the capacity of health systems to anticipate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from climate-related exposures.

Description: Manganese nodules contain economically valuable metals which may be mined in the future to supply metals to a growing world population. Thus far, environmental research has focused mainly on impacts occurring at the seafloor or in the water column but largely neglected any impacts caused above the sea surface. Emissions of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants contribute to, inter alia, global warming, acidification and photochemical ozone formation, which all negatively affect ecosystems and humans. We quantify the annual fuel consumption and emissions associated with a potential nodule mining operation in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone with an annual production of 3 million dry tons. We base the assessment on publicly-accessible energy demand estimates from three different studies and complement this with a calculation of the fuel demand and emissions of nodule transport scenarios to three different destinations. The global warming, acidification and photochemical ozone formation potentials range between 82,600–482,000 t CO2-equivalent (-eq.), 1,880–11,197 t SO2-eq., and 1,390–8,734 t NOx-eq., respectively, depending on factors including the engine loads, specific fuel oil consumption and transport speeds. We then discuss the regulatory dimension surrounding the topic. As three separate regimes (climate change, deep-sea mining and shipping) are applicable, we analyze the applicable framework and provide an outlook for the future regulation of DSM-related GHG emissions.

Description: In this Open Access book, Sander van der Leeuw examines how the modern world has been caught in a socioeconomic dynamic that has generated the conundrum of sustainability. Combining the methods of social science and complex systems science, he explores how western, developed nations have globalized their world view and how that view has led to the sustainability challenges we are now facing. Its central theme is the coevolution of cognition, demography, social organization, technology, and environmental impact. Beginning with the earliest human societies, van der Leeuw links the distant past with the present in order to demonstrate how the information and communications technology revolution is undermining many of the institutional pillars on which contemporary societies have been constructed. An original view of social evolution as the history of human information-processing, his book shows how the past offers insight into the present and can help us deal with the future.

Description: The vital role of electrification in emergency response has become strikingly clear during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Electricity is indispensable for the effective operation of healthcare facilities and the provision of health services, the timely diffusion of information, and undisrupted communications at a time when social isolation measures are in place. Access to electrification also makes it easier to carry out important household activities and follow essential hygiene recommendations. The pandemic has therefore served as a reminder of the vulnerability of the 860 million people who have no access to electricity, most of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa.

Description: In 2017, at the UN Ocean Conference in New York and the Our Ocean Conference in Malta, Germany and the European Union announced their support for establishing a "cross-sectoral and cross-bound-ary multi-stakeholder platform for regional ocean governance" under the Partnership for Regional Ocean Governance (PROG)1. This important commitment was delivered through the development of the Marine Regions Forum, a participatory, knowledge-based platform at the science-policy-society interface. The first Marine Regions Forum was held from 30 September to 2 October 2019 in Berlin, under the banner Achieving a healthy ocean - Regional ocean governance beyond 2020. The Forum provided a unique space for open and productive exchange on pressing ocean issues, bringing together over 200 leading experts from 50 countries representing diverse marine regions and backgrounds, from academia and research, policy and decision-making, non-governmental organisations and industry, the arts and media. Keen to move beyond simply restating the challenges, participants jointly ex-plored the obstacles that need to be overcome in order to achieve the sustainable development goal (SDG) 14 and developed new pathways and solutions for accelerating progress. Discussions focussed on the role of regional governance approaches in particular and underpinned the importance of inte-grating knowledge and decision-making for sustainable ocean futures. In addition to eighteen parallel dialogue sessions running under the three conference themes Achiev-ing SDG 14 (Theme 1), Underpinning global processes (Theme 2) and Knowledge for ocean action (Theme 3), the Marine Regions Forum 2019 had daily plenary sessions that ensured the infusion of new ideas and ways of thinking and helped to deepen the debates among participants. Keynote speakers and plenary panellists from different sectors and marine regions reflected on the Marine Regions Forum's discussion topics and shared their views on the role of regions and options for ac-celerating progress. Side activities offered during conference breaks helped to create an inspiring Ocean Realm and offered space for reflection and networking. The Marine Regions Forum 2019 came at a crucial time for global ocean governance. Our ocean is in crisis, threatening the health of marine ecosystems and the vital ecosystem services they provide to humankind. There is nonetheless cause for hope, as the international community is proactively respond-ing by: implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and SDG 14; negotiating a new legally-binding instrument for biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ); integrating ocean issues into the climate discussions; and developing the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021 - 2030). Although these actions offer windows of opportunity, they require strong engagement, coordination and cooperation by marine regions. The year 2020 will be a year of stock-taking and criti-cal review to determine whether our actions are sufficiently ambitious to meet the challenges. The Marine Regions Forum 2019 has shown that the Forum is well positioned to provide solution-oriented input into these processes by bringing together the expertise and insights of actors and stakeholders from different backgrounds and regions, helping to develop integrated answers to the most pressing challenges, and facilitating collective strategies for the period beyond 2020. This conference report aims to provide a summary of the discussions held and recommendations developed during three intense but invigorating conference days. It has been prepared in cooperation with the organisers, moderators, co-hosts and rapporteurs of the dialogue sessions, plenaries and side activities. The conference organisers have, in consultation with the participants of the Marine Regions Forum, prepared conclusions that have emerged from the Marine Regions Forum 2019. These conference messages will be submitted as a solution-oriented input to key ocean governance processes. It is thanks to the over 200 participants and their open dialogue and sharing of experiences, that the space and arrangements became a room for ocean solutions and delivered clear messages to the international ocean governance community.

Description: Grand societal challenges call for a sustainability transition away from a fossil-based society toward a bioeconomy, in which energy and manufacturing production processes are based on sustainable biological resources. In this context, the forest bioeconomy can play a key role, as it links the entire forest value chain, from the management and use of natural resources to the delivery of products and services. The paper adds to the existing literature on policy mixes, seeking to identify effective policy mixes in support of the European circular forest bioeconomy. To this end, we employ a two-step methodology involving a fuzzy inference simulation, to assess the most suitable policy mixes to promote forest sector development. We considered different scenarios in order to identifying the most suitable policy mix. This analysis of alternatives revealed a number of interesting findings regarding the relative effectiveness of different policy mixes. Strengthening environmental policy resulted to be a precondition for an effective policy mix. According to stakeholder knowledge, the policy mix that performs best in pushing the bio-based forest to evolve in a circular and innovative trajectory, combines “climate mitigation policies” with “sustainable forest management policies,” “R&D policies” and “awareness raising policies.”

Description: In this article, we critically discuss the role of collaboration in Germany’s path towards a post-carbon economy. We consider civic movements and novel forms of collaboration as a potentially transformative challenger to the predominant approach of corporatist collaboration in the mobility and energy sectors. However, while trade unions and employer organizations provide a permanent and active arena for policy-oriented collaboration, civil society groups cannot rely on an equivalently institutionalized corridor to secure policy impact and public resonance. In that sense, conventional forms of collaboration tend to hinder the transformation towards a post-carbon economy. Collaboration in the German corporatist setting is thus, from a sustainability perspective, simultaneously a problem and a solution. We argue for more institutionalized corridors between civil society and state institutions. Co-creation, as we would like to call this methodical approach to collaborating, can be anchored within the environmental and industrial policy arenas.

Description: This issue mapping report presents the results of the desk study. It starts out by giving an overview on the current state of research and already-identified future research needs on the knowledge of SDG interaction (trade-offs and synergies). It outlines the state of SDG coverage in integrated assessment modelling, and it identifies SDG relevant gaps in IAMs and (to some extent) multi-region Input-Output analysis. It further outlines issues that are recommended by notable reports (GSDR 2019, TWI2050, GEO-6, among others) to be pursued politically or that are prominent on current political agendas (UN, EU, national (Germany)).

Description: The European Union aims to fully decarbonise its electricity system by 2050 and relies largely on renewable electricity to reach this goal. A complete decarbonisation requires a large expansion of electricity infrastructure, such as wind farms, solar farms, and transmission lines. The expansion is controversially debated, with different preferences about which infrastructure should be built and where. Preferences diverge for four reasons. First, infrastructure competes with other uses of land and alters landscapes. Second, location and size of renewable infrastructure projects determine ownership structures: large, centralised installations are better for large investors, while small, decentralised installations are better for small investors. Third, cost of electricity varies by region, based on the quality of locally available renewable resources. Fourth, the more electricity countries, regions, and municipalities generate locally, the less they must depend on imports. In building upon the diverging preferences regarding these impacts, three dominant logics determine where and which renewable infrastructure should be built. Within the first logic, it should be driven by cost and thus built where it is cheapest. Within the second logic, it should be driven by location of demand and thus built within local communities. Within the third logic, it should be built in such a way that reduces impairment of landscapes. Because the three logics are conflicting, there is no consensus regarding infrastructure allocation. This lack of consensus may serve as a problem, as it increases opposition against developments and thus may slow or even stop the energy transition. Within three contributions, I analyse the technical feasibility, economic viability, and land requirements of the three logics. My objective is to determine the extent to which the logics are possible, the extent to which they conflict, and whether compromise solutions exist that may relieve conflicts. In the first contribution, I analyse the technical possibility of the demand-driven logic. By determining solar and wind generation potentials and contrasting them with today’s electricity demand, I identify whether self-sufficiency is possible, or whether imports are necessary. I find that the generation potential of Europe and all countries within Europe is large enough to satisfy annual electricity demand. On the regional (subnational) and municipal scales, most places have the potential for self-sufficiency, though some do not -- in particular, those with a high population density. My findings show that the demand-driven logic is technically possible in most places within Europe but that some places require electricity imports. In the second contribution, I analyse the economic viability of the demand-driven logic and contrast it with the cost-driven logic. Using a dynamic model of the electricity system, I determine cost of electricity when there is unlimited trade on the continental scale (cost-driven logic), and when trade is limited to within countries or subnational regions (demand-driven logic). I find that cost increases with smaller scales and that the demand-driven logic leads to the highest cost. However, I find also that cost is primarily driven by where and how renewable fluctuations are balanced rather than where and how electricity is generated. While a trade-off between cost and scale exists, cost penalties of the demand-driven logic must not be large as long as fluctuations of renewable generation are balanced at continental scale. In the third contribution, I analyse land requirements and the economic viability of the landscape-driven logic. Using the same model as before, I analyse the relationship between cost and land requirements of the electricity system by varying shares of solar and wind supply technologies. I find that the cost-minimal case (cost-driven) is based in equal parts on onshore wind and solar power on fields and requires some 2% of Europe’s land, roughly the size of Portugal. Land requirements can be reduced by replacing onshore wind with offshore wind or solar power, but land must be traded-off against cost. Cost penalties, however, are not substantial: half of the land requirements can be avoided for an expected cost penalty of only 5% when onshore wind turbines are moved offshore. The findings demonstrate the economic viability of the landscape-driven logic. My findings have two important implications for European energy policy and the transition to a decarbonised electricity system. First, I show that renewable electricity based on any of the three logics is technically feasible and economically viable almost everywhere in Europe. However, the logics have very different impacts on landscapes, economies, and societies. The question of where and which renewable infrastructure should be built is a normative question. Second, I show that renewable electricity is feasible not only when strictly following one logic, but also by mixing aspects of the logics, and that necessary trade-offs must not be strong. For example, a system supplied primarily by solar power on the regional scale with continental trade for balancing, has low cost, low land requirements, and high local independence. Similarly, a system supplied by primarily offshore wind and solar power on the national scale has low cost, low land requirements, and high national independence. Such compromise solutions may not be ideal in any logic, but they may be acceptable to all, and thus have the potential to relieve conflicts and enable a faster energy transition.

Description: This summary for decision makers is based on the report ‘Ecological Baselines of the Southeast Atlantic and Southeast Pacific – Status of Marine Biodiversity and Anthropogenic Pressures in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction’ and provides consolidated information on key biological and ecological features of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ) in the Southeast Pacific as well as highlights key pressures placed upon it by human activities. ABNJ include the water column (the high seas) and the seabed (the Area) outside of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of coastal States and cover about half of the Earth’s surface. This summary is intended to inform relevant actors and stakeholders to support their understanding of the function and importance of marine biological diversity in ABNJ and the need to for appropriate conservation and management measures. The report was prepared as part of the Strengthening Regional Ocean Governance for the High Seas (‘STRONG High Seas’) project – funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) through the International Climate Initiative (IKI).

Description: This synthesis report presents the results of the workshop “Models for the European Energy Transition: Your Questions, Your Needs!”, held on the 1st of October 2020. The insights of the workshop will contribute to the development of new and improvements of existing energy system models of SENTINEL. Additionally, the findings will support the development of the SENTINEL platform that will allow a wide range of decision-makers to address their critical energy system design challenges better.

Description: This book examines from different perspectives the moral significance of non-human members of the biotic community and their omission from climate ethics literature. The complexity of life in an age of rapid climate change demands the development of moral frameworks that recognize and respect the dignity and agency of both human and non-human organisms. Despite decades of careful work in non-anthropocentric approaches to environmental ethics, recent anthologies on climate ethics have largely omitted non-anthropocentric approaches. This multidisciplinary volume of international scholars tackles this lacuna by presenting novel work on non-anthropocentric approaches to climate ethics. Written in an accessible style, the text incorporates sentiocentric, biocentric, and ecocentric perspectives on climate change. With diverse perspectives from both leading and emerging scholars of environmental ethics, geography, religious studies, conservation ecology, and environmental studies, this book will offer a valuable reading for students and scholars of these fields.

Description: This document fulfils RECIPES delivery 2.4.2, the inter-case study analysis and delivery 2.4.3, identification of issues cutting across multiple case studies. The criteria for the analysis are presented in delivery 2.2 as the comparative multiple-case design, which is the methodological framework developed in task 2.2. Delivery 2.3 explains the case study selection process which was undertaken to arrive at the nine cases studies that have been carried out in WP2. Delivery 2.4.1 compiles all nine case studies carried out in the RECIPES project.

Description: This Policy Brief identifies three key areas where the Packaging Act (Verpackungsgesetz) can be strengthened and clarified.

Description: The COVID-19 economic crash threatens the international trade networks that make clean energy cheap — abandoning them puts the climate at risk.

Description: The Workshop “Planetary Health: Scoping the German Research Landscape,” hosted by the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), took place in Potsdam, Germany, on August 28, 2019. The event was convened to explore the theme of Planetary Health, which refers to the idea that the health of the planet and the humans that are part of it are inextricably intertwined. Planetary Health is a topic that naturally cuts across boundaries of traditional academic disciplines. It is directly rele-vant for climate-resilient development issues such as air quality, nutrition and food security, water safety and security, and vector-borne diseases. The concept of Planetary Health has attracted wide-spread interest recently, with examples including the Lancet Countdown: ‘Tracking Progress on Health and Climate Change’, as well as the recently-released sixth Global Environment Outlook (GEO6) report ‘Healthy Planet, Healthy People’. Following an intense day of interdisciplinary dialogue on the topic of Planetary Health, this work-shop summary provides a record of the most important themes and discussions that took place. It can be used to inspire future conversations and collaborations around a rapidly evolving field.

Description: Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is rising up the climate-policy agenda. Four principles for thinking about its role in climate policy can help ensure that CDR supports the kind of robust, abatement-focused long-term climate strategy that is essential to fair and effective implementation.

Description: The environmental crisis due to air pollution, high CO2 emissions, noise from traffic and soil ceiling requires profound changes to the car-dependent transport system. This article examines the political dynamics of German transport politics, focusing on the National Platform for Electric Mobility (NPE), a high-level political forum that aimed to accelerate the run-up of the electric mobility market in Germany. The NPE provides an interesting case to study the strategies of stakeholders in influencing policy-making and shaping alternative pathways to the car-centered transport system. The paper focusses on actor constellations and the conflicts that arise within the NPE, as well as the temporal dynamics within the electric mobility debate. The findings suggest that the NPE contributed to a narrow understanding of mobility transformation based on road transport and electric cars, but that it is better described as ecological modernization. Within this narrow framework, a fundamental conflict unfolds between strong advocates versus those slowing down the ecological modernization of the car. A third group demands at least a partial departure from the automobile-centered model but remains marginalized within the NPE. Aside from this core conflict, members of the NPE struggled over the location for battery cell production, the introduction of a purchase grant known as the environmental bonus, and the expansion of battery recharging infrastructure. These issues illustrate that discussions within the NPE relate to the political debates about the future of mobility, which have intensified in Germany in recent years. However, the case of the NPE shows that high-level stakeholder platforms are not an adequate forum to legitimately deliberate and to practically contribute to a wider and more fundamental rethink of future mobility concepts.

Description: PolicyadvicefordealingwiththeCoronaCrisishasbeenfocusingontwomajorconcepts: resilienceandsustainability.Thepaperexplorestherelationshipbetweenthetwoterms,illustratesthe various concepts that are associated with each term, and suggests an integrative approach that is basedontheidealofmaintainingcriticalservicesforreachinghumanelivingconditionsforpresent and future generations based on fair distribution rules and inclusive governanceprocesses.

Description: The tropical tropopause layer (TTL) is the transition region between the well-mixed convective troposphere and the radiatively controlled stratosphere with air masses showing chemical and dynamical properties of both regions. The representation of the TTL in meteorological reanalysis data sets is important for studying the complex interactions of circulation, convection, trace gases, clouds, and radiation. In this paper, we present the evaluation of climatological and long-term TTL temperature and tropopause characteristics in the reanalysis data sets ERA-Interim, ERA5, JRA-25, JRA-55, MERRA, MERRA-2, NCEP-NCAR (R1), and CFSR. The evaluation has been performed as part of the SPARC (Stratosphere–troposphere Processes and their Role in Climate) Reanalysis Intercomparison Project (S-RIP). The most recent atmospheric reanalysis data sets (ERA-Interim, ERA5, JRA-55, MERRA-2, and CFSR) all provide realistic representations of the major characteristics of the temperature structure within the TTL. There is good agreement between reanalysis estimates of tropical mean temperatures and radio occultation data, with relatively small cold biases for most data sets. Temperatures at the cold point and lapse rate tropopause levels, on the other hand, show warm biases in reanalyses when compared to observations. This tropopause-level warm bias is related to the vertical resolution of the reanalysis data, with the smallest bias found for data sets with the highest vertical resolution around the tropopause. Differences in the cold point temperature maximize over equatorial Africa, related to Kelvin wave activity and associated disturbances in TTL temperatures. Interannual variability in reanalysis temperatures is best constrained in the upper TTL, with larger differences at levels below the cold point. The reanalyses reproduce the temperature responses to major dynamical and radiative signals such as volcanic eruptions and the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO). Long-term reanalysis trends in temperature in the upper TTL show good agreement with trends derived from adjusted radiosonde data sets indicating significant stratospheric cooling of around −0.5 to −1 K per decade. At 100 hPa and the cold point, most of the reanalyses suggest small but significant cooling trends of −0.3 to −0.6 K per decade that are statistically consistent with trends based on the adjusted radiosonde data sets. Advances of the reanalysis and observational systems over the last decades have led to a clear improvement in the TTL reanalysis products over time. Biases of the temperature profiles and differences in interannual variability clearly decreased in 2006, when densely sampled radio occultation data started being assimilated by the reanalyses. While there is an overall good agreement, different reanalyses offer different advantages in the TTL such as realistic profile and cold point temperature, continuous time series, or a realistic representation of signals of interannual variability. Their use in model simulations and in comparisons with climate model output should be tailored to their specific strengths and weaknesses.

Description: Human health and wellbeing and the health of the biosphere are inextricably linked. The state of Earth’s life-support systems, including freshwater, oceans, land, biodiversity, atmosphere, and climate, affect human health. At the same time, human activities are adversely affecting natural systems. This review paper is the outcome of an interdisciplinary workshop under the auspices of the Future Earth Health Knowledge Action Network (Health KAN). It outlines a research agenda to address cross-cutting knowledge gaps to further understanding and management of the health risks of these global environmental changes through an expert consultation and review process. The research agenda has four main themes: (1) risk identification and management (including related to water, hygiene, sanitation, and waste management); food production and consumption; oceans; and extreme weather events and climate change. (2) Strengthening climate-resilient health systems; (3) Monitoring, surveillance, and evaluation; and (4) risk communication. Research approaches need to be transdisciplinary, multi-scalar, inclusive, equitable, and broadly communicated. Promoting resilient and sustainable development are critical for achieving human and planetary health.

Description: There is a dire need for deeper science‐policy engagement to face recent developments such as entering into the Anthropocene and our dependence as a species on technological and scientific advancements. However, there is a lack of preparedness and training of scientists about what science‐policy engagement is and how to get involved, with substantial discrepancies globally. We present four gaps and possible solutions to those gaps to better train and prepare scientists to engage in science‐policy. (1) Frame science‐policy as a system. The framing of a science‐policy interface is misleading. A better framing is the science‐policy system, in which two processes, science and policy, are under the influence of each other. (2) Teach the science‐policy system. Scientists should have a basic understanding of what the science‐policy system is, and the implications that has for their research. (3) Engage in the science‐policy system. Make the research on science‐policy more readily accessible to the users and share experiences and lessons learned from those that have engaged in science‐policy to foster greater engagement. (4) Value engagement in the science‐policy system. Scientific institutions need to place greater value on science‐policy engagement by setting up structures, award systems, and incentives for scientists to engage science‐policy.

Description: There is increasing interest in developing anticipatory governance of climate engineering (CE) research. Discourse is the source code with which contested futures are written, shaping how future governance options can be imagined, designed and institutionalized. ‘Cracking the code’ underpinning the CE research governance debate can, therefore, help anticipate and critically reflect upon the ongoing constitution of governance. I present a sociology-of-knowledge-based discourse analysis (SKAD) of a series of interviews with governance experts from the US, the UK and Germany about a proposed Code of Conduct for climate engineering research. I illustrate how – by shaping what is defined as the object(s) of governance, why governance is considered necessary, and who is assigned the authority to govern – the underlying discursive structure of a given governance debate can shape governance development.

Description: Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) inversions for estimating natural carbon fluxes typically do not allow for adjustment of fossil fuel CO2 emissions, despite significant uncertainties in emission inventories and inadequacies in the specification of international bunker emissions in inversions. Also, most inversions place CO2 release from fossil fuel combustion and biospheric sources entirely at the surface. However, a non-negligible portion of the emissions actually occurs in the form of reduced carbon species, which are eventually oxidized to CO2 downwind. Omission of this 'chemical pump' can result in a significant redistribution of the inferred total carbon fluxes among regions. We assess the impacts of different prescriptions of fossil fuel emissions and accounting for the chemical pump on flux estimation, with a novel aspect of conducting both satellite CO2 observation-based and surface in situ-based inversions. We apply 3-D carbon monoxide (CO) loss rates archived from a state-of-the-art GEOS chemistry and climate model simulation in a forward transport model run to simulate the distribution of CO2 originating from oxidation of carbon species. We also subtract amounts from the prior surface CO2 fluxes that are actually emitted in the form of fossil and biospheric CO, methane, and non-methane volatile organic compounds (VOCs). We find that the posterior large-scale fluxes are generally insensitive to the finer-scale spatial differences between the ODIAC and CDIAC fossil fuel CO2 gridded datasets and assumptions about international bunker emissions. However, accounting for 3-D chemical CO2 production and the surface correction shifts the global carbon sink, e.g. from land to ocean and from the tropics to the north, with a magnitude and even direction that depend on assumptions about the surface correction. A GOSAT satellite-based inversion is more sensitive to the chemical pump than one using in situ observations, exhibiting substantial flux impacts of 0.28, 0.53, and −0.47 Pg C yr−1 over tropical land, global land, and oceans, due to differences in the horizontal and vertical sampling of the two observation types. Overall, the biases from neglecting the chemical pump appear to be minor relative to the flux estimate uncertainties and the differences between the in situ and GOSAT inversions, but their relative importance will grow in the future as observational coverage further increases and satellite retrieval biases decrease.

Description: In this perspectives piece, an interdisciplinary team of social science researchers considers the implications of Covid-19 for the politics of sustainable energy transitions. The emergency measures adopted by states, firms, and individuals in response to this global health crisis have driven a series of political, economic and social changes with potential to influence sustainable energy transitions. We identify some of the initial impacts of the ‘great lockdown’ on sustainable and fossil sources of energy, and consider how economic stimulus packages and social practices in the wake of the pandemic are likely to shape energy demand, the carbon-intensity of the energy system, and the speed of transitions. Adopting a broad multi-scalar and multi-actor approach to the analysis of energy system change, we highlight continuities and discontinuities with pre-pandemic trends. Discussion focuses on four key themes that shape the politics of sustainable energy transitions: (i) the short, medium and long-term temporalities of energy system change; (ii) practices of investment around clean-tech and divestment from fossil fuels; (iii) structures and scales of energy governance; and (iv) social practices around mobility, work and public health. While the effects of the pandemic continue to unfold, some of its sectoral and geographically differentiated impacts are already emerging. We conclude that the politics of sustainable energy transitions are now at a critical juncture, in which the form and direction of state support for post-pandemic economic recovery will be key.

Description: An era (2005–2015) centered around the Copenhagen Accord saw the rise of several immature sociotechnical strategies currently at play: carbon capture and storage, REDD+, next-generation biofuels, shale gas, short-lived climate pollutants, carbon dioxide removal, and solar radiation management. Through a framework grounded in governmentality studies, we point out common trends in how this seemingly disparate range of strategies is emerging, evolving, and taking effect. We find that recent sociotechnical strategies reflect and reinforce governance rationalities emerging during the Copenhagen era: regime polycentrism, relative gains sought in negotiations, ‘co-benefits’ sought with other governance regimes, ‘time-buying’ or ‘bridging’ rationalities, and appeals to vulnerable demographics. However, these sociotechnical systems remain conditioned by the resilient market governmentality of the Kyoto Protocol era. Indeed, the carbon economy exercises a systemic structuring condition: While emerging climate strategies ostensibly present new tracks for signalling ambition and action, they functionally permit the delaying of comprehensive decarbonization.

Description: The challenge facing humanity is to live sustainably within both the ecological and physical limits of our planet and the societal boundaries needed for social cohesion and well-being. This is fundamentally a societal issue, rather than primarily an environmental problem amenable to technological optimization. Implementing the global aspirations embodied in the sustainable development goals of the United Nations will require societal transformation largely through collective behavior change at multiple geographic scales and governance levels across the world. Narrative expressions of visions of sustainable futures and narrative expressions of identity provide important, but underutilized insights for understanding affordances and obstacles to collective behavior change. Analyzing affective narrative expressions circulating in various communities seeking to implement aspects of sustainability opens up the opportunity to test whether affectively prioritized agent-based models can lead to novel emergent dynamics of social movements seeking sustainable futures. Certain types of playful games also offer the means to observe collective behaviors, as well as providing boundary objects and learning environments to facilitate dialogs among diverse stakeholders. Games can be designed to stimulate learning throughout the life span, which builds capacity for continuing innovation for the well-being of societies in moving toward sustainable futures.