ALBERT

Description: We focus on new gravity and gravity gradient data sets from modern satellite missions GOCE, GRACE and CHAMP, and their geophysical interpretation at passive continental margins of the South Atlantic. Both sides, South Africa and South America, have been targets of hydrocarbon exploration and academic research of the German Priority Program SAMPLE (South Atlantic Margin Processes and Links with onshore Evolution). The achievable spatial resolution, driven by GOCE, is 70–80 km. Therefore, most of the geological structures, which cause a significant gravity effect (by both size and density contrast), can be resolved. However, one of the most important aspects is the evaluation of the omission error, which is not always in the focus of interpreters. It results from high-frequency signals of very rough topographic and bathymetric structures, which cannot be resolved by satellite gravimetry due to the exponential signal attenuation with altitude. The omission error is estimated from the difference of the combined gravity model EIGEN-6C4 and the satellite-only model GOCO05S. It can be significantly reduced by topographic reductions. Simple 2D density models and their related mathematical formulas provide insights in the magnitude of the gravity effect of masses that form a passive continental margin. They are contrasted with results from satellite-only and combined gravity models. Example geophysical interpretations are given for the western and eastern margin of the South Atlantic Ocean, where standard deviations vary from 25 to 16 mGal and 21–11 mGal, respectively. It could be demonstrated, that modern satellite gravity data provide significant added value in the geophysical gravity data processing domain and in the validation of heterogeneous terrestrial data bases. Combined models derived from high-resolution terrestrial gravity and homogeneous satellite data will lead to more detailed and better constrained lithospheric density models, and hence will improve our knowledge about structure, evolution and state of stress in the lithosphere.

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Description: THESIS ABSTRACT

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Description: THESIS ABSTRACT

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Description: This volume contains the program, abstracts and field guides of the centenary meeting of the Paläontologische Gesellschaft (September 2012, Berlin). The topics of the symposia are: •The Alfred Wegener Centennial Symposium: The Idea that Changed the World – 100 Years of Continental Drift •Biodiversity in the Fossil Record – Going Beyond How Many Taxa •Frontiers in Geobiology •Stories from the Past – Reading Biomineralized Diaries •New Challenges in Micropalaeontology – Going Beyond the Standards •Evolution, Development, and Developmental Paleontology – the Interplay of Ontogenetic and Deep Time •Anomalies and Pathologies – the Other Sources of Variation •Taphonomy – Preservation of Ecological and Biogeographic Attributes in the Sedimentary Record •Bridging the Gap – Cross-Discipline Research in Biology and Palaeontology •The Cambrian Bioradiation of Metazoa – an Interdisciplinary Approach •Climate Change and Biodiversity Patterns in the Mid-Paleozoic (IGCP 596) •The Triassic – Organismic Evolution Between Two Mass Extinction Events •The Early Evolution of Tetrapods and their Ecosystems •Tendaguru and Beyond – Vertebrates in Jurassic Terrestrial Ecosystems •Biological Factors of Sauropod Gigantism •Mammalian Dentitions – Diversity, Form, and Function •Amber as a Window to Terrestrial Palaeoecosystems •More than just Wet Feet – Tetrapod Transitions from Land to Sea and Hot Spots of Marine Tetrapod Evolution •The Evolution of Modern African Biogeography •Gymnosperm Evolution – Major Events and Mysteries •The Development of Modern Vegetation Belts During the Cretaceous and Tertiary •Öffentlichkeitsarbeit – Vernetzung oder Abgrenzung? •The Young Palaeontologist Award •Open Symposia •Tilly-Edinger Award

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Description: During the past years there has been a great amount of new publications on varved sediment records, some of them describing methodological developments and others forming a basis of interpretation of climate and environmental change of mainly postglacial times. In many studies, the varve chronologies of lacustrine and marine sediments form a solid basis of dating, not to mention the environmental and climate signal that is stored in varves and laminae they contain. Since two years a step forward has been taken and the varve community is gathering during annual Varves Working Group (VWG) workshops to summarize what has been accomplished during the past decade and to exchange new ideas and promote their use in global climate reconstructions. The VWG has formed under the frame of the PAGES cross cutting theme 1 (CCT1) “Chronology” and CCT2 “Proxy development, calibration, validation” to address a number of topics with workshops and products. The main topics of the VWG include: •Methodological developments •Marine versus lacustrine varves •Varve chronologies, including quantification of age uncertainties •Calibration of archived climatic and environmental signals •Database management •Data processing •Learning from other annually resolved archives.

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Description: This 4th International PASADO Workshop is related to the research initiative “Potrok Aike Lake Sediment Archive Drilling Project” (PASADO) within the framework of the “International Continental Scientific Drilling Programme” (ICDP). PASADO addresses challenging issues of geoscientific and socioeconomic relevance related to Earth history and climate like qualitative and quantitative climatic and environmental reconstruction as well as reconstruction of the palaeosecular variation of the Earth's magnetic field but also natural hazards like fire history, frequency of volcanic activity including tephra fallout and dust deposition. The history of volcanic activities for the last ca. 50,000 years is another interesting topic. Moreover, dust and tephra records provide links of this unique southern hemispheric terrestrial record to marine sediment archives and to ice cores from Antarctica. Finally, obtained reconstructions of climate variability will be compared statistically with the output of Global Circulation Model (GCM) simulations to improve our understanding of forcing mechanisms of the global climate.

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Description: The understanding of early agrarian economies and their impact on landscapes and natural environments has become a major goal of many large-scale projects. The shaping of cultural landscapes by the spread of agriculture, animal husbandry and the building of settlements has been the most influential development since the beginning of agriculture more than 10.000 years ago. Sessions: •Gathering, Cultivation and Domestication •Ethnobotanical approaches •Methods and Analytical Archaeobotany •Regional and Historical Archaeobotany •Origins of agriculture in the Near East.

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Description: This 2nd International PASADO Workshop is based on the research initiative “Potrok Aike Lake Sediment Archive Drilling Project” (PASADO) within the framework of the “International Continental Scientific Drilling Programme” (ICDP). PASADO addresses several challenging issues of geoscientific and socioeconomic relevance related to Earth history and climate like qualitative and quantitative climatic and environmental reconstruction as well as reconstruction of the palaeosecular variation of the Earth's magnetic field and natural hazards like fire history, frequency of volcanic activity including tephra fallout or dust deposition. The history of volcanic activities for the last ca. 50,000 years is another interesting topic. Moreover, dust and tephra records will provide means to link this unique southern hemispheric terrestrial record to marine sediment archives and to ice cores from Antarctica. Finally, obtained reconstructions of climate variability will be compared statistically with the output of Global Circulation Model (GCM) simulations to improve our understanding of forcing mechanisms of the global climate.

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Description: Poster describing the general and current work of the FID GEO.

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Description: Climate change is arguably the most severe challenge facing our planet during the 21st century. Human interference with the climate system (mainly through the emission of greenhouse gases and changes in land use) has increased the global and annual mean air temperature at the Earth's surface by roughly 0.8 °C since the 19th century (IPCC, 2013). The year 2014 was the hottest one on record so far (NOAA, 2015a), and at the time of writing, 2015 appears to be on track to set a new record (NOAA, 2015b). This trend of increasing temperatures will continue into the future: by 2100, the globe could warm by another 4 °C or so if emissions are not decisively reduced within the next decades (IPCC, 2013). There is broad agreement that a warming of this magnitude would have profound impacts both on the environment and on human societies (IPCC, 2014a), and that climate change mitigation via a transformation to decarbonized economies and societies has to be achieved to prevent the worst of these impacts (IPCC, 2014b). The spatial and temporal extent of the climate challenge deeply connects it to ethical questions as well. These arise both from the fact that the poorest people on Earth are not significantly contributing to global emissions, but may well feel the impacts most severely, and from the long‐term commitment to future warming and climate change impacts – like sea level or the partial melting of the large ice sheets – which will be felt by future generations. In essence, past and future greenhouse gas emissions seriously affect a large fraction of the still growing human population on our planet and profoundly shape the environment in which our children and grandchildren will have to live in. Humanity therefore has a moral obligation to address the climate challenge. This will have to combine successful negotiations on a binding and effective international climate agreement and bottom‐up initiatives from individuals or communities. There is a wide range of global threats that certainly require humanity's urgent attention (see the recent report by the World Economic Forum, 2015). These global risks include water, food and energy security, population growth, infectious diseases, and international security, for example. However, climate change is often regarded as one of the most profound global problems. This is mainly due to the sheer scale of climate change impacts – both in terms of its global and temporal spread and of the variety of sectors affected by it – that sets it apart from other planetary challenges. Indeed, recent high‐level initiatives highlight the importance of climate change, including the ground‐breaking encyclical of Pope Francis, the G7 countries' pledge to phase out fossil fuels or Barack Obama's new climate mitigation proposal. But climate change cannot be considered isolated from other challenges. Indeed, climate change is a truly cross‐cutting issue affecting many sectors and connected to other global challenges. For example, climate change has the potential to impact global water supplies, agricultural production, human health, and our energy infrastructure. In turn, the way in which we produce our energy and food has a profound effect on the Earth's climate system. Finally, the impacts of policies in one of the fields on the other challenges need to be explored if truly sustainable solutions to global problems shall be achieved. These close connections – and the societal and technical challenges of climate mitigation (IPCC 2014b) and adaptation (IPCC 2014a) – require interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary thinking; we hope that our new journal Global Challenges can serve as a highly visible forum for research bridging classical scientific disciplines, for ideas which have the potential to directly influence future climate policy and for discussions about new research and different policy options. Within the climate change focus of Global Challenges , we therefore invite submissions related to climate change of the highest quality, with a clear focus on the global view of the climate problem and with relevance for (global) climate policy or bottom‐up initiatives which are a significant step towards a solution of the climate challenge. We explicitly invite submissions connecting climate change to the other challenges covered by the journal. In addition to original research papers, we will regularly commission commentary pieces and review articles highlighting the most relevant recent developments in climate research and policy as well as the most exciting open research questions. I firmly believe that a journal like Global Challenges with its broad scope, its cross‐cutting nature, its focus on policy relevance, and its open‐access publication model is an important and innovative outlet for high‐quality research work on global problems in general. Concerning climate change in particular, I am looking forward to working with the editorial team, the staff at Wiley and the global climate science community to develop Global Challenges into one of the major journals in the field.

Description: Focusing on critical aspects of infrastructure, such as energy, this brief argues that Africa, and African cities in particular, need infrastructure that advances both basic needs and industrialization, and avoids a lock-in of unsustainable, high-carbon technologies. G20 countries can promote and support quality of life in Africa by: (1) aligning and cementing the G20 Agenda for Africa with African initiatives, SDGs and the Paris Agreement, (2) mitigating economic risks of climate change through supporting low carbon development pathways in Africa, (3) creating and enabling a level playing field for low carbon technologies, which includes integrated strategies for de-risking renewable energy investments, and (4) supporting smart and sustainable urban planning.

Description: This chapter is a joint effort by natural and legal scientists to make the case for the dramatic consequences black carbon (BC) emissions mainly from outside the Arctic region have on the Arctic ecosystem, and how BC has recently become the specific focus of a regime complex. The authors provide scientific knowledge about the sources, pathways, and climate impacts of BC emissions, and stress the special relevance of possible near-immediate climate benefits from BC emission reduction in the Arctic. Further consideration is given to the crucial importance of the governance responses to these opportunities and challenges. Thus, the second part of the chapter critically discusses the status and prospects of current multilateral BC emission reduction efforts in the context of the Arctic Council, the International Maritime Organization, and the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution.

Description: The BEST PATHS project is focused on the development and demonstration of grid equipment suitable for bulk power transmission across Europe. This work summarises the different cable conductor designs envisioned during the first 2.5 years of the superconducting demonstrator, taking benefit of the improved performance of MgB2 wires produced by Columbus Superconductors. The results of extensive validation tests carried out at CERN on two cables manufactured by Nexans are also presented.

Description: Lumbini, in southern Nepal, is a UNESCO world heritage site of universal value as the birthplace of Buddha. Poor air quality in Lumbini and surrounding regions is a great concern for public health as well as for preservation, protection and promotion of Buddhist heritage and culture. We present here results from measurements of ambient concentrations of key air pollutants (PM, BC, CO, O3) in Lumbini, first of its kind for Lumbini, conducted during an intensive measurement period of 3 months (April–June 2013) in the pre-monsoon season. The measurements were carried out as a part of the international air pollution measurement campaign; SusKat-ABC (Sustainable Atmosphere for the Kathmandu Valley – Atmospheric Brown Clouds). The main objective of this work is to understand and document the level of air pollution, diurnal characteristics and influence of open burning on air quality in Lumbini. The hourly average concentrations during the entire measurement campaign ranged as follows: BC was 0.3–30.0 µg m−3, PM1 was 3.6–197.6 µg m−3, PM2. 5 was 6.1–272.2 µg m−3, PM10 was 10.5–604.0 µg m−3, O3 was 1.0–118.1 ppbv and CO was 125.0–1430.0 ppbv. These levels are comparable to other very heavily polluted sites in South Asia. Higher fraction of coarse-mode PM was found as compared to other nearby sites in the Indo-Gangetic Plain region. The ΔBC ∕ ΔCO ratio obtained in Lumbini indicated considerable contributions of emissions from both residential and transportation sectors. The 24 h average PM2. 5 and PM10 concentrations exceeded the WHO guideline very frequently (94 and 85 % of the sampled period, respectively), which implies significant health risks for the residents and visitors in the region. These air pollutants exhibited clear diurnal cycles with high values in the morning and evening. During the study period, the worst air pollution episodes were mainly due to agro-residue burning and regional forest fires combined with meteorological conditions conducive of pollution transport to Lumbini. Fossil fuel combustion also contributed significantly, accounting for more than half of the ambient BC concentration according to aerosol spectral light absorption coefficients obtained in Lumbini. WRF-STEM, a regional chemical transport model, was used to simulate the meteorology and the concentrations of pollutants to understand the pollutant transport pathways. The model estimated values were ∼ 1. 5 to 5 times lower than the observed concentrations for CO and PM10, respectively. Model-simulated regionally tagged CO tracers showed that the majority of CO came from the upwind region of Ganges Valley. Model performance needs significant improvement in simulating aerosols in the region. Given the high air pollution level, there is a clear and urgent need for setting up a network of long-term air quality monitoring stations in the greater Lumbini region.

Description: PAH concentrations were measured in total suspended particle (TSP) samples collected from six sites along two south-north transects across the central Himalayas from April 2013 to March 2014. The annual average TSP and PAH (especially 5- and 6-ring compounds) concentrations were found to decrease noticeably northwards along both transects. At rural and urban sites, the TSP and PAH concentrations showed clear seasonal variations, with the lower concentrations around the mid-monsoon season and the higher values in the winter season. Meanwhile, at the remote sites (e.g., Nyalam and Zhongba), these pollutants generally remained constant throughout the year but with relatively higher levels during the pre-monsoon season. Both IndP/(IndP + BghiP) and Fla/(Fla + Pyr) ratios suggested that atmospheric PAHs from urban and rural sites were mainly associated with emissions from biomass burning, coal burning and petroleum combustion. However, the contribution of biomass burning increased at remote sites. Similar compositions of PAHs were found at three remote sites located on both sides of the Himalayas (Jomsom, Zhongba, and Nyalam), suggesting that the northern side of the Himalayas may be affected by anthropogenic emissions from the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) via long-range atmospheric transport. This work provides a database of PAHs in central Himalayas for further assessing environmental risk of air pollution in the remote regions.

Description: This volume explores the governance of the transforming Arctic from an international perspective. Leading and emerging scholars in Arctic research investigate the international causes and consequences of contemporary Arctic developments, and assess how both state and non-state actors respond to crucial problems for the global community. Long treated as a remote and isolated region, climate change and economic prospects have put the Arctic at the forefront of political agendas from the local to the global level, and this book tackles the variety of involved actors, institutional politics, relevant policy issues, as well as political imaginaries related to a globalizing Arctic. It covers new institutional forms of various stakeholder engagement on multiple levels, governance strategies to combat climate change that affect the Arctic region sooner and more strongly than other regions, the pros and cons of Arctic resource development for the region and beyond, and local and trans-boundary pollution concerns. Given the growing relevance of the Arctic to international environmental, energy and security politics, the volume helps to explain how the region is governed in times of global nexuses, multi-level politics and multi-stakeholderism.

Description: Partnering for a Sustainable Ocean: The Role of Regional Ocean Governance in ImplementingSDG14 highlights the major role that regional ocean governance can play in theimplementation of SDG14. It assesses the mandates of different regional frameworks, showcasesexisting regional efforts contributing to the specific targets underpinning SDG14, andidentifies key contributions that regional initiatives can make to the overarching challengesof the 2030 Agenda. AcknowledgementsKey messages1. Regional cooperations are is essential for ocean sustainabilityRegional approaches to ocean governance make it possible for States and stakeholders tocooperate at an ecosystem scale and work together across sectors and national boundaries.2. Most of the SDG14 targets can be addressed through regional initiativesRegional approaches and instruments can play a key role in meeting most of the SDG14 targets,with particular relevance in the areas of marine pollution, sustainable ocean management,fisheries, conservation, and economic benefits for Small Island Developing States and LeastDeveloped Countries.3. Regional ocean governance is a driver for the development of integrated approachesRegional approaches can help advance ocean governance by bringing all relevant actorstogether, taking the interdependencies among SDG14 targets into account, and providingco-benefits for the other SDGs.4. Regional ocean governance efforts require greater support to overcome gaps and institutionalweaknesses.Regional cooperation is key to the success of SDG14 and the 2030 Agenda, and should befurther strengthened, including through capacity building and the development of regionalpartnerships.

Description: The Best Paths European project investigates the feasibility of technological innovations that could advance high-capacity transmission links. These innovations include a demonstrator project dedicated to superconducting electric lines, which aims to validate the novel MgB2 technology for GW-level HVDC power transmission. This paper focuses on the research, development and design activities for the 10 kA cable conductor, which were carried out in the first two years of the project.

Description: Next week thousands of leaders and ocean experts will descend upon New York City to wrestle with an urgent problem: How can we protect the world’s oceans?

Description: Despite a growing literature on the climate response to solar geoengineering – proposals to cool the planet by increasing the planetary albedo – there has been little published on the impacts of solar geoengineering on natural and human systems such as agriculture, health, water resources, and ecosystems. An understanding of the impacts of different scenarios of solar geoengineering deployment will be crucial for informing decisions on whether and how to deploy it. Here we review the current state of knowledge about impacts of a solar geoengineered climate and identify major research gaps. We suggest that a thorough assessment of the climate impacts of a range of scenarios of solar geoengineering deployment is needed and can build upon existing frameworks. However, solar geoengineering poses a novel challenge for climate impacts research as the manner of deployment could be tailored to pursue different objectives making possible a wide range of climate outcomes. We present a number of ideas for approaches to extend the survey of climate impacts beyond standard scenarios of solar geoengineering deployment to address this challenge. Reducing the impacts of climate change is the fundamental motivator for emissions reductions and for considering whether and how to deploy solar geoengineering. This means that the active engagement of the climate impacts research community will be important for improving the overall understanding of the opportunities, challenges and risks presented by solar geoengineering.

Description: Decision-support tools are increasingly popular for informing policy decisions linked to environmental issues. For example, a number of decision-support tools on transport planning provide information on expected effects of different measures (actions, policies, or interventions) on air quality, often combined with information on noise pollution or mitigation costs. These tools range in complexity and scale of applicability, from city to international, and include one or several polluting sectors. However, evaluation of the need and utility of tools to support decisions on such linked issues is often lacking, especially for tools intended to support local authorities at the city scale. Here we assessed the need for and value of combining air pollution and climate change mitigation measures into one decision-support tool and the existing policy context in which such a tool might be used. We developed a prototype decision-support tool for evaluating measures for coordinated management of air quality and climate change; and administered a survey in which respondents used the prototype to answer questions about demand for such tools and requirements to make them useful. Additionally, the survey asked questions about participants’ awareness of linkages between air pollution and climate change that are crucial for considering synergies and trade-offs among mitigation measures. Participants showed a high understanding of the linkages between air pollution and climate change, especially recognizing that emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants come from the same source. Survey participants were: European, predominantly German; employed across a range of governmental, non-governmental and research organizations; and responsible for a diversity of issues, primarily involving climate change, air pollution or environment. Survey results showed a lack of awareness of decision-support tools and little implementation or regular use. However, respondents expressed a general need for such tools while also recognizing barriers to their implementation, such as limited legal support or lack of time, finances, or manpower. The main barrier identified through this study is the mismatch between detailed information needed from such tools to make them useful at the local implementation scale and the coarser scale information readily available for developing such tools. Significant research efforts at the local scale would be needed to populate decision-support tools with salient mitigation alternatives at the location of implementation. Although global- or regional-scale information can motivate local action towards sustainability, effective on-the-ground implementation of coordinated measures requires knowledge of local circumstances and impacts, calling for active engagement of the local research communities.

Description: Democracy and Climate Change explores the various ways in which democratic principles can lead governments to respond differently to climate change. The election cycle can lead to short-termism, which often appears to be at odds with the long-term nature of climate change, with its latency between cause and effect. However, it is clear that some democracies deal with climate change better than others, and this book demonstrates that overall stronger democratic qualities tend to correlate with improved climate performance.Beginning by outlining a general concept of democratic efficacy, the book provides an empirical analysis of the influence of the quality of democracy on climate change performance across dozens of countries. The specific case study of Canada’s Kyoto Protocol process is then used to explain the mechanisms of democratic influence in depth. The wide-ranging research presented in the book opens up several new and exciting avenues of enquiry and will be of considerable interest to researchers with an interest in comparative politics, democracy studies and environmental policies.

Description: The Kathmandu Valley, located in the Himalayan foothills in Nepal, is heavily polluted. In order to investigate ambient particulate-bound mercury (Hg) in the Kathmandu Valley, a total 64 total suspended particulates (TSP) samples were collected from a sub-urban site in the Kathmandu Valley, the capital region of Nepal during a sampling period of an entire year (April 2013-April 2014). They were analyzed for ambient particulate-bound Hg (PBM) using thermal desorption combined with cold vapor atomic spectroscopy. In our knowledge, it is the first study of ambient PMB in the Kathmandu Valley and the surrounding broader Himalayan foothill region. The average concentration of PBM over the entire sampling period of a year was found to be 850.5 (±962.8) pg m-3 in the Kathmandu Valley. This is comparable to those values reported in the polluted cities of China and significantly higher than those observed in most of urban areas in Asia and other regions of world. The daily average Hg contents in TSP (PBM/TSP) ranges from 269.7 to 7613.0ngg-1 with an average of 2586.0 (±2072.1) ng g-1, indicating the high enrichment of Hg in TSP. The average concentrations of PBM were higher in the winter and pre-monsoon season than in the monsoon and post-monsoon season. The temporal variations in the strength of anthropogenic emission sources combined with other influencing factors, such as ambient temperature and the removal of atmospheric aerosols by wet scavenging are attributable to the seasonal variations of PBM. The considerably high dry deposition flux of PBM estimated by using a theoretical model was 135μgm-2 yr-1 at the Kathmandu Valley. This calls for an immediate attention to addressing ambient particulate Hg in the Kathmandu Valley, including considering it as a key component of future air quality monitoring activities and mitigation measures. © 2016 Elsevier B.V.

Description: For a long time the European Union (EU) has been considered a transnational project securing peace and security. In the light of the recent developments of the deep international financial crisis, we argue that the EU suffers from a substantial legitimacy crisis threatening its existence. This crisis combines symptoms of a structural democratic deficit on the one hand and a general lack of solving common problems effectively on the other. The two strengthen and reinforce each other and lead to eroding support and acceptance for the European project and pose questions about opportunities and limits to transnational democracy. Based on a literature review, we discuss different streams of the discourse on institutional reforms of the European Union and develop an argument in favour of a more citizen-oriented Union. We follow arguments for institutional reforms but suggest more specifically to strengthen and redesign specific elements of participatory democracy, which are anchored in the constitutional framework of the Union. Thus, we discuss the benefits and potential application of citizen dialogues and deliberation in the European context. Finally, we briefly exemplify our institutional proposal in applying it to the policy field of the common European energy policy.

Description: Through the present report, we would like to share with you theinspiring outcomes of our joint experience at the Global Soil Week2017, and offer you an opportunity to reflect on the high potential ofpreparatory events to the HLPF, and of using its thematic reviews asmeans to achieve an integrated implementation of the SDGs.

Description: This work analyses the limiting parameters for long-length superconducting cables and examines their interdependencies. The calculations are carried out for different fluid options and geometries.

Description: Ten years ago, Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen called for research into the possibility of reflecting sunlight away from Earth by injecting sulfur particles into the stratosphere. Across academic disciplines, Crutzen's intervention caused a surge in interest in and research on proposals for what is often referred to as “geoengineering” - an unbounded set of heterogeneous proposals for intentionally intervening into the climate system to reduce the risks of climate change. To mark the 10 year anniversary of the publication of Paul Crutzen's seminal essay, this special issue reviews the developments in geoengineering research since Crutzen's intervention and reflects upon possible future directions that geoengineering research may take. In this introduction, we briefly outline the arguments made in Paul Crutzen's 2006 contribution and describe the key developments of the past 10 years. We then proceed to give an overview of some of the central issues in current discussions on geoengineering, and situate the contributions to this special issue within them. In particular, we contend that geoengineering research is characterized by an orientation toward speculative futures that fundamentally shapes how geoengineering is entering the collective imagination of scientists, policymakers, and publics, and a mode of knowledge production that recognizes the risks which may result from new knowledge and that struggles with its own socio-political dimensions.

Description: This document includes the main policy outcomes of the Global Soil Week 2017 by introducing 1) the principles and methods utilized, 2) the five key policy messages discussed in plenary with the participants and 3) considerations from the discussions at the Global Soil Week supporting the five key policy messages. We respectfully submit the messages below, for consideration by the High Level Political Forum (HLPF), and reinforce our commitment to contribute to strengthening the work and role of the HLPF. We also stand ready to work together with Member States aiming to strengthen the emphasis on soil- and land-related issues in their National Voluntary Reviews and also with platforms aiming to conduct similar reviews.

Description: In support of the first Tropospheric Ozone Assessment Report (TOAR) a relational database of global surface ozone observations has been developed and populated with hourly measurement data and enhanced metadata. A comprehensive suite of ozone data products including standard statistics, health and vegetation impact metrics, and trend information, are made available through a common data portal and a web interface. These data form the basis of the TOAR analyses focusing on human health, vegetation, and climate relevant ozone issues, which are part of this special feature.Cooperation among many data centers and individual researchers worldwide made it possible to build the world's largest collection of in-situ hourly surface ozone data covering the period from 1970 to 2015. By combining the data from almost 10,000 measurement sites around the world with global metadata information, new analyses of surface ozone have become possible, such as the first globally consistent characterisations of measurement sites as either urban or rural/remote. Exploitation of these global metadata allows for new insights into the global distribution, and seasonal and long-term changes of tropospheric ozone and they enable TOAR to perform the first, globally consistent analysis of present-day ozone concentrations and recent ozone changes with relevance to health, agriculture, and climate.Considerable effort was made to harmonize and synthesize data formats and metadata information from various networks and individual data submissions. Extensive quality control was applied to identify questionable and erroneous data, including changes in apparent instrument offsets or calibrations. Such data were excluded from TOAR data products. Limitations of a posteriori data quality assurance are discussed. As a result of the work presented here, global coverage of surface ozone data for scientific analysis has been significantly extended. Yet, large gaps remain in the surface observation network both in terms of regions without monitoring, and in terms of regions that have monitoring programs but no public access to the data archive. Therefore future improvements to the database will require not only improved data harmonization, but also expanded data sharing and increased monitoring in data-sparse regions.

Description: Transnational civil society networks have become increasingly important democratizing actors in global politics. Still, the exploration of democracy in such networks remains conceptually and methodologically challenging. Practice theory provides a framework to study democracy as routinized performances even in contexts of fluid boundaries, temporal relations and a diffuse constituency. The author attempts to understand how new forms of democratic practice emerge in the interaction between political actors and their structural environments.During recent decades, the arenas of political decision-making have increasingly shifted from national governments to intergovernmental and transnational political forums. At the same time, the number and relevance of non-state actors in international politics is steadily growing. These trends have led political scientists to study and theorize about new forms of democracy beyond the national political arenas (Archibugi 2004, Bexell et al. 2010, Nasström 2010). However, democracy beyond the nation state is difficult to conceptualize with the idea of an institutionalized democracy within the borders of nation-states. Therefore, many political scientists emphasize the role of civil society actors as a cure for the democratic deficit in inter-national politics (Steffek & Nanz 2008). Yet, normative and empirical problems arise over the extent of access, selection and role of civil society actors in international organizations (Tallberg et al. 2013). Furthermore, the normative relevance of transnational civil society actors makes it necessary to study their own democratic legitimacy.While international organizations are mostly institutionalized and hierarchical governing bodies, the ever growing diffuse conglomerate of non-state actors is characterized by fluid structures, blurry boundaries and a multi-level setting of interaction (Keck & Sikkink 1998). Thus, in studying democratic practice in transnational civil society networks, we must ask: How institutionalized does political practice have to be and how flexible can it be, to still be considered democratic? Normative theorists reconceptualized democracy in the light of this changing context (Bohman 2007). Recent concepts of participatory, deliberative and representative democracy attempt to reconfigure existing democratic institutions through procedural elements (Fung & Wright 2003, Dryzek 2006) or innovative forms of representation (Phillips 1998, Mansbridge 2003, Castiglione & Warren 2006). This emerging theoretical framework is well suited to analyze the extent, to which democratic practice exists within transnational civil society networks.By applying the concept of practice (Giddens 1984, Schatzki 2001) as a bridging tool between the empirical reality of fluid, temporary and open transnational civil society networks on the one hand and the institution-oriented democratic theory on the other hand, this study explores the extent to which democratic practice develops in a field that lacks traditional institutions to guarantee formal representation and deliberation as well citizen participation. As innovative transnational actors, civil society networks can bring up new forms of democratic practice (see Polletta 2006) that can potentially inspire the debate about transnational democracy as such. This study, with its innovate approach, hopes to invigorate the debate about transnational democracy and transnational civil society, which has stalled to some degree in recent years.The study is divided into three parts: first, a conceptual part that clarifies the question of how democracy as practice can be theoretically conceptualized in transnational civil society networks, which is followed by an empirical exploration of political practice in the transnational civil society networks. In this second part, the main question is how participation, representation and deliberation practice develops in transnational civil society networks. Two cases of transnational civil society networks, the Clean Clothes Campaign and Friends of the Earth, are analyzed to provide insights into the democratic practice within transnational civil society. In the final part, the empirical findings are evaluated in the light of the outlined concepts of democratic theory in order to explore how democratic the political practice actually is.The study identifies implicit and in-process practice of democratic norms in transnational civil society networks. Political practice in transnational civil society networks can become democratic through empowerment measures and trustful relationships. However, deliberation practice can be impeded by disembodied digital communication and complex decision-making. The study explores how new forms of democratic practice emerge in the interaction between political actors and the structural environments of actors and networks.

Description: A positive matrix factorization model (US EPA PMF version 5.0) was applied for the source apportionment of the dataset of 37 non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) measured from 19 December 2012 to 30 January 2013 during the SusKat-ABC international air pollution measurement campaign using a proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometer in the Kathmandu Valley. In all, eight source categories were identified with the PMF model using the new constrained model operation mode. Unresolved industrial emissions and traffic source factors were the major contributors to the total measured NMVOC mass loading (17.9 and 16.8 %, respectively) followed by mixed industrial emissions (14.0 %), while the remainder of the source was split approximately evenly between residential biofuel use and waste disposal (10.9 %), solvent evaporation (10.8 %), biomass co-fired brick kilns (10.4 %), biogenic emissions (10.0 %) and mixed daytime factor (9.2 %). Conditional probability function (CPF) analyses were performed to identify the physical locations associated with different sources. Source contributions to individual NMVOCs showed that biomass co-fired brick kilns significantly contribute to the elevated concentrations of several health relevant NMVOCs such as benzene. Despite the highly polluted conditions, biogenic emissions had the largest contribution (24.2 %) to the total daytime ozone production potential, even in winter, followed by solvent evaporation (20.2 %), traffic (15.0 %) and unresolved industrial emissions (14.3 %). Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) production had approximately equal contributions from biomass co-fired brick kilns (28.9 %) and traffic (28.2 %). Comparison of PMF results based on the in situ data versus REAS v2.1 and EDGAR v4.2 emission inventories showed that both the inventories underestimate the contribution of traffic and do not take the contribution of brick kilns into account. In addition, the REAS inventory overestimates the contribution of residential biofuel use and underestimates the contribution of solvent use and industrial sources in the Kathmandu Valley. The quantitative source apportionment of major NMVOC sources in the Kathmandu Valley based on this study will aid in improving hitherto largely un-validated bottom-up NMVOC emission inventories, enabling more focused mitigation measures and improved parameterizations in chemical transport models.

Description: The German energy transition (Energiewende) is the subject of intensive research, and thankfully so. We now have reliable estimates relating to the required deployment of technology, the costs for end consumers and society, and the expected consequences for health and the environment. It has been firmly established just how much CO2 we have already saved with the energy transition, and what is required in order to reduce CO2 emissions even further. There is also a range of scientific studies on the impact of the expansion of renewable energies on nature conservation and species protection. However, one question has received little academic attention to date: How does the energy transition affect society? It is astonishing that we know so little about this. After all, experts have long been agreed on the fact that sustainability does not just have an economic and ecological dimension, but also a social one. It is essential that we consider the social impact to the same extent as the economic or ecological effects. So it is high time to give the question of social sustainability a solid empirical base. The Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), together with the RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research, conducted a panel survey of more than 7,500 households. Now, with the Social Sustainability Barometer for the German Energiewende 2017, we present the results for the first time.

Description: Several holistic urban concepts point to the importance of taking an integrated resources approach in the city. The reason for this is obvious: resource flows are highly interconnected. Think for instance of the high water, energy, and land input for most of our food production, or the vast energy input in water desalination processes. In addition, taking a single-resource approach to cities, mostly done for energy, often leads to negative feedbacks on other resource flows. Carbon-neutral cities do not usually account for higher material in- and output for insulation, efficient appliances, or renewable energy systems, and most often do not even account for the embodied energy of these extra material flows. If, on top of that, carbon offsetting is allowed, one should definitely question if the claimed carbon neutrality weighs against all the externalities of realizing this claim. Therefore, on a conceptual basis, an integrated approach towards resources makes a lot of sense. It is, however, in the translation from theory to practice that such concepts often get stuck. One of the obvious obstacles with respect to hindering progress in implementation is the difficulty to realize cooperation between institutions, experts, and bureaucrats that are neatly organized in a sectorial way, the famous silo effect. Other challenges that are often mentioned are short-termism, lack of mandate and financing of local governments and corruption (WFC 2014). While these are well-known obstacles, I will discuss some often missed elements that are crucial for a successful implementation of holistic urban concepts aiming at sustainable cities and regions. These elements are: transformative change, transdisciplinarity, performance measurability, and demand-side change.

Description: The Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development will benefit from coordinated contributions from G20 countries. International cooperation is particularly important when addressing the sustainable use and protection of global commons such as the ocean (SDG14), especially on the high seas. At the same time SDG14 should be implemented with consideration of the interactions with other SDGs in order to promote coherent ocean policies as a basis for a thriving and sustainable ocean economy. G20 countries have the opportunity to lead global cooperation through both protection and restoration measures for coastal and marine ecosystems and a carefully approach to sustainable exploitation of marine resources. This T20 Policy Brief draws on various recent policy and analysis papers on the ocean economy, the SDGs and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for oceans, seas and marine space and resources and provides a synthesis for decision makers.

Description: This editorial is the introduction to a Special Issue of Scaling Up Biofuels? A Critical Look at Expectations, Performance and Governance which assesses biofuels contribution to sustainability governance and upscaling. The issue aims to contribute to a more informed, evidence-based policy debate on the role of bioenergy for sustainable development. It comprises six review papers that share a solutions-oriented and policy-focused approach towards the assessment of sustainability. Bioenergy production and consumption is not evaluated as an isolated industry or additionality. Instead, it is assessed as an inherent component of the broader social-ecological system and history of which it forms a part. Synthesizing available empirical evidence on performance, and contextualizing the evidence in view of expectations and bioenergy governance in and over time, the papers address the role of biofuels for climate mitigation; their ability to deliver on socio-economic policy expectations; the actual performance in view of risk anticipation and mitigation; the role of state policy considering sector development and sustainability; and the ability of certification schemes to deliver on market conversion, and quality. The synthesis paper draws on the empirical findings to develop a set of sustainability conditions (sine qua nons) that have to be considered in processes of policy making and upscaling.

Description: This report aims to start a conversation on how these priorities can be achieved, focusingparticularly on the potential of Industry 4.0 to help achieve the UN Sustainable DevelopmentGoals (SDGs) related to affordable and clean energy (SDG 7), industry and infrastructure (SDG 9),and climate action (SDG 13) along with the implementation of the Paris Agreement.Based on a review of the current literature and on interviews with experts, the report explorespotential opportunities and also the challenges that Industry 4.0 may pose to countries atvarying levels of industrialization. It analyzes the effects of Industry 4.0 along four countrygroups, namely industrialized, emerging industrial as well as developing and least developedcountries (LDCs).2 The report further discusses how Industry 4.0 could foster the implementationof sustainable energy and help curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the industrial sector.It also outlines potential limits, barriers and risks that Industry 4.0 may pose to sustainable andinclusive economic development.

Description: The Arctic is one of the world’s regions most affected by cultural, socio-economic, environmental, and climatic changes. Over the last two decades, scholars, policymakers, extractive industries, governments, intergovernmental forums, and non-governmental organizations have turned their attention to the Arctic, its peoples, resources, and to the challenges and benefits of impending transformations. Arctic sustainability is an issue of increasing concern as well as the resilience and adaptation of Arctic societies to changing conditions.This book offers key insights into the history, current state of knowledge and the future of sustainability, and sustainable development research in the Arctic. Written by an international, interdisciplinary team of experts, it presents a comprehensive progress report on Arctic sustainability research. It identifies key knowledge gaps and provides salient recommendations for prioritizing research in the next decade.Arctic Sustainability Research will appeal to researchers, academics, and policymakers interested in sustainability science and the practices of sustainable development, as well as those working in polar studies, climate change, political geography, and the history of science.

Description: In diesem Jahr widmete sich das „World Forum for Democracy“ (8. -10. November 2017) der Frage „Ist Populismus ein Problem?“ Diskutiert wurde die Rolle politischer Parteien und Medien im Kontext des aufsteigenden Populismus. Am 07. November fand im Rahmen des Forums das „3. Participatory Democracy Incubator Meeting“ im Europe Youth Centre in Straßburg statt. Mit dabei war der Forschungsbereichsleiter PartizipationsKultur Jan-Hendrik Kamlage, der die Keynote zum Paper “Public Participation and Democratic Innovations: Assessing Democratic Institutions and Processes for Deepening and Increased Public Participation in Political Decision-Making” hielt. Das Paper entstand in Zusammenarbeit mit Patrizia Nanz vom IASS (Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V.) in Potsdam. Ziel des Inkubator-Treffens war es einerseits, Leitlinien und praktische Ansätze zu identifizieren, die den Impact partizipativer Demokratie-Initiativen auf kommunaler Ebene stärken. Zum anderen sollten Ideen über die Gründung eines partizipativ-demokratischen Beirates im Europarat gesammelt werden. Dabei ging es z.B. auch um folgende Fragen: Können partizipativ-demokratische Plattformen Einfluss auf Entscheidungsprozesse oder Institutionen nehmen? Wie können Entscheidungsträger davon überzeugt werden, dass Initiierung und Unterstützung von partizipativ-demokratischen Initiativen eine Win-Win Situation sowohl für repräsentative Institutionen als auch für die Demokratie an sich sein kann? Welche Rahmenbedingungen werden benötigt, um partizipative Initiativen sinnvoll zu gestalten und deren Impact auf politische Entscheidungen zu erhöhen? Diese und weitere Fragen wurden mit Hilfe der thematischen Panels beantwortet. Vier ReferentInnen und drei ModeratorInnen diskutierten in drei Gruppen mit den Ergebnissen der Panels sowie der Leitfrage, wie man Partizipativ-Demokratie in unser repräsentatives System einbetten könne. Ziel war die Erstellung einer Roadmap mit spezifischen Vorschlägen aus den Gruppendiskussionen. Nähere Infos erhalten Sie im Netz auf den Webseiten des „World Forum for Democracy“.

Description: We evaluate numerical simulations of surface ozone mixing ratios over the south Asian region during the pre-monsoon season, employing three different emission inventories in the Weather Research and Forecasting model with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) with the second-generation Regional Acid Deposition Model (RADM2) chemical mechanism: the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research – Hemispheric Transport of Air Pollution (EDGAR-HTAP), the Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment phase B (INTEX-B) and the Southeast Asia Composition, Cloud, Climate Coupling Regional Study (SEAC4RS). Evaluation of diurnal variability in modelled ozone compared to observational data from 15 monitoring stations across south Asia shows the model ability to reproduce the clean, rural and polluted urban conditions over this region. In contrast to the diurnal average, the modelled ozone mixing ratios during noontime, i.e. hours of intense photochemistry (11:30–16:30 IST – Indian Standard Time – UTC +5:30), are found to differ among the three inventories. This suggests that evaluations of the modelled ozone limited to 24 h average are insufficient to assess uncertainties associated with ozone buildup. HTAP generally shows 10–30 ppbv higher noontime ozone mixing ratios than SEAC4RS and INTEX-B, especially over the north-west Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP), central India and southern India. The HTAP simulation repeated with the alternative Model for Ozone and Related Chemical Tracers (MOZART) chemical mechanism showed even more strongly enhanced surface ozone mixing ratios due to vertical mixing of enhanced ozone that has been produced aloft. Our study indicates the need to also evaluate the O3 precursors across a network of stations and the development of high-resolution regional inventories for the anthropogenic emissions over south Asia accounting for year-to-year changes to further reduce uncertainties in modelled ozone over this region.

Description: Robust environmental management of deep-sea mining projects must be integrated into the planning and execution of mining operations, and developed concurrently. It should follow a framework indicating the environmental management-related activities necessary at each project phase, and their interrelationships. An environmental management framework with this purpose is presented in this paper; it facilitates the development of environmental information and decision-making throughout the phases of a mining project. It is based environmental management frameworks used in allied industries, but adjusted for unique characteristics of deep-sea mining. It defines the gathering and synthesis of information and its use in decision-making, and employs a conceptual model as a growing repository of claim-specific information. The environmental management activities at each phase have been designed to enable the implementation of the precautionary approach in decision making, while facilitating review of adaptive management measures to improve environmental management as the quantity and quality of data increases and technologies are honed. This framework will ensure fairness and uniformity in the application of environmental standards, assist the regulator in its requirements to protect the environment, and benefit contractors and financiers by reducing uncertainty in the process.

Description: The European project BEST PATHS was initiated with the aim of developing state-of-the-art high-power transmission technologies. In this work, the AC losses in a superconducting MgB2 cable are estimated for various operating conditions. Based on the analysis of the most important parameters, recommendations are given to significantly reduce the AC losses of the cable and consequently decrease the operating cost for long lengths.

Description: Carbon Dioxide Utilisation (CDU) technologies convert Carbon Dioxide (CO2) into carbon-based products. CDU technologies are viewed as a means of helping to address climate change while creating commodities that can be sold to generate financial revenue. While technical research and development into CDU options is accelerating, at present there has been little research into public acceptance of the technology. The current study presents the findings of a series of 28 exploratory interviews conducted with lay people in the United Kingdom and Germany. The results show that awareness of CDU is currently very low in both countries but that there is tentative support for the concept. This support is, however, caveated by considerations of the techno-economic feasibility of the technology and the societal consequences that might result from investment. While the thematic content of discussions was similar in both countries, where appropriate any notable differences are outlined and discussed. In addition to providing fresh insight into the emerging nature of public perceptions and acceptance of CDU, it is reasoned that the findings of this research could help to benefit the design of communication materials intended to engage lay-publics in debate about the nature and purpose of CDU technologies.

Description: Biofuels have been promoted worldwide under the assumption that they can support several strategic policy goals, while mitigating associated risks. Drawing on published evidence on performance, contributing papers to this Special Section question assumptions commonly attributed to biofuels: their carbon neutrality, their positive effect on rural livelihoods, and policymakers’ ability to effectively govern for sustainability. This paper takes these findings as its starting point and asks, “What next?” for countries wishing to advance biofuels as one option for the necessary divestment from fossil fuels. Deriving recommendations for national biofuel programs from past performance is no easy task. Context, complexity, power dynamics and scaling pose significant challenges to achieving policy aims. We are nevertheless able to distill a set of sine qua nons (indispensables) for sustainable biofuel governance from the evidence and change management literatures. They are put forward not as recipes for success, but minimum conditions and “best bet” approaches requiring testing, deliberation, and refinement. Perhaps the most fundamental sine qua non is to pursue options that downscale global demand – as current levels of global energy consumption, if only in the transport sector, cannot be met by biomass-derived agrofuels in a way that meets social and environmental sustainability goals.

Description: The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development includes a development goal dedicated to the seas and oceans. How can this goal best be achieved, given the complex challenges and diverse actors operating at the international, national and regional levels?

Description: The role of the regional level in addressing and strengthening the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) should not be undermined. As a complementary approach to the ongoing negotiations for an implementing agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of BBNJ under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, it can provide useful lessons learnt and best practices that can inform the global negotiation process. Focusing on the highly productive Southeast Pacific region, this article highlights the institutional and legal challenges faced by this region in the adoption and implementation of the four BBNJ elements and provides options on how to strengthen the legal and institutional framework of the Southeast Pacific to better address the conservation and sustainable use of BBNJ.

Description: Ozone (O3) is an important atmospheric oxidant, a greenhouse gas, and a hazard to human health and agriculture. Here we describe airborne in situ measurements and model simulations of O3 and its precursors during tropical and extratropical field campaigns over South America and Europe, respectively. Using the measurements, net ozone formation/destruction tendencies are calculated and compared to 3-D chemistry–transport model simulations. In general, observation-based net ozone tendencies are positive in the continental boundary layer and the upper troposphere at altitudes above  ∼  6 km in both environments. On the other hand, in the marine boundary layer and the middle troposphere, from the top of the boundary layer to about 6–8 km altitude, net O3 destruction prevails. The ozone tendencies are controlled by ambient concentrations of nitrogen oxides (NOx). In regions with net ozone destruction the available NOx is below the threshold value at which production and destruction of O3 balance. While threshold NO values increase with altitude, in the upper troposphere NOx concentrations are generally higher due to the integral effect of convective precursor transport from the boundary layer, downward transport from the stratosphere and NOx produced by lightning. Two case studies indicate that in fresh convective outflow of electrified thunderstorms net ozone production is enhanced by a factor 5–6 compared to the undisturbed upper tropospheric background. The chemistry–transport model MATCH-MPIC generally reproduces the pattern of observation-based net ozone tendencies but mostly underestimates the magnitude of the net tendency (for both net ozone production and destruction).

Description: Indo-gangetic plain (IGP) and Himalayan foothills have large spatial and temporal heterogeneity in aerosols characteristics. Regional meteorology around 850-500 mb plays an important role in the transformation and transportation of aerosols from west Asia to IGP, into Himalayan foothill, as well to high-altitude region of the Himalayas. In order to quantify the vertical and horizontal variation of aerosol properties in the Himalayan , an airborne campaign was carried out in the Pokhara Valley/Nepal (83°50'-84°10' E, 25°7'-28°15' N, 815 masl ) in two phases: test flights during May 2016 and an intensive airborne sampling flight in December-January 2017. This paper provides an overview of airborne measurement campaign from the first phase of measurements in May 2016. A two-seater microlight aircraft (IKARUS C 42) was used as the aerial platform. This was deemed the feasible option in Nepal for an aerial campaign; technical specification of the aircraft include an approximately 6 hrs of flying time, short-take off run, 〉 100 kgs of payload, suitable for spiral upward and downward profiling. The instrument package consist of GRIMM 1.108 for particle size distribution from 0.3 to 20 um at 6 seconds time resolution, and TSI CPC 3375 for total ultrafine particle (UFP) concentration at 1 s. The package also includes a Magee Scientific Aethalometer (AE42) for aerosol absorption at seven different wavelengths. Meteorological parameters include temperature and dew point at a sampling rate of 1 Hz or higher. The paper provides a snapshot of observed vertical profile (from 800 to 4500masl) of aerosols size, number and black carbon over one of populated mountain valley in Nepal during the pre-monsoon season. During the airborne measurement, local fires- mostly agriculture burn were observed, however no large scale forest fire was captured. Sharp morning and afternoon gradients were observed in the vertical profile for aerosol number and size, mostly dominated by 〈400 nm. The vertical profile in the afternoon showed elevated layer with higher number concentration (than ground) over 〉2000 masl which may indicate regional transport than local contribution. Also presented is the comparison between the measured vertical profile of aerosol properties and columnar measurement (using AERONET) and CALIPSO-derived vertical profile.

Description: Scholarly analysis has, in the past, rarely focused on the role that diverging notions of justice play in the evolution of natural resource conflicts. The consequence of this is a lack of systematic knowledge about the justice claims that actors involved in natural resource conflicts put forward. This is surprising considering that, upon closer inspection, justice claims advanced by affected actors are easily identifiable within any particular resource conflict. Be it the population in the Niger Delta claiming a greater share of oil revenues or an end to the contamination of fragile local ecosystems, or workers of the Marikana mine in South Africa protesting for higher wages and full rights for a particular union, almost all local claimmakers invoke ideas of justice as a basis for their demands. In International Relations, the disregard for considering justice in the context of natural resource conflicts is best illustrated in literature dealing with the causes of civil war. Notable overlaps exist between the concept of justice and the concept of grievance within the so-called greed versus grievance debate (Collier and Hoeffler, 2004; Basedau and Lay, 2009; Collier et al., 2009). However, this literature generally conceptualizes natural resources as an essential element of the greed paradigm rather than as a grievance-related explanation for civil wars. In contrast, disciplines such as political theory and philosophy have long identified the exploitation and distribution of natural resources as a central point of contention in achieving (global) justice (Beitz, 1979; Pogge, 2002; Wenar, 2008; Nili, in this volume). These scholars have, however, mostly been interested in developing abstract principles of justice; as such, when they do mention empirical justice claims made by actors, it is primarily for illustrative purposes. Social anthropologists and scholars engaged in development and regional studies, on the other hand, have frequently conceded analytical priority to justice considerations. Their explanations for the root causes and/or dynamics of ongoing resource conflicts often highlight locally perceived grievances publically expressed in terms of justice (Latouche, 1997: 137-139; Ferguson, 2006: 35-38). Despite having this focus, work done by scholars in these disciplines and research fields apparently does not differentiate between different types of justice claims in any systematic manner. This chapter analyses justice claims by local communities along with the governance initiatives that have emerged in response to these claims. We ask whether these governance initiatives adequately respond to local justice claims and identify the significance of misperceptions or misinterpretations of justice claims made by the actors involved in given conflicts. The chapter demonstrates the importance of distinguishing between various types of justice claims in order to achieve a better understanding of conflict dynamics and increase our knowledge of the governance mechanisms used to address them. In order to analyse local justice claims more systematically, we propose a threefold conceptualization of justice based on the work of Nancy Fraser (2009), which analytically covers distribution, recognition and representation-related claims (section 2, see also Schmitt, in this volume). We argue that the disentanglement of these different justice claims is important as the misperception of particular claims by addressees – such as corporations, state actors, or international organizations – might lead to governance initiatives that prove not only insufficient for satisfying local demands but could even further exacerbate the conflict dynamics. We apply this argument to a mining conflict in Peru, where numerous local conflicts exist in the context of large-scale mining projects (section 3). These conflicts have generally emerged between corporations and the affected communities, though they also invariably involve state institutions. A common response has been to install Dialogue Tables (Mesas de Diálogo) to reach a compromise between parties to the conflict. The case study presented here focuses on the conflict between the population of Ilo, in Peru’s Moquegua region, and the Southern Copper Corporation mining company. The analysis is based on field research carried out between June and August 2013, including interviews conducted with various stakeholders and participant observation in Mesa sessions.2 Our empirical analysis shows that the mesa de diálogo in Ilo has not been successful because of its inadequacy in addressing the local justice claims. While Southern Copper Corporation’s discourse focused on voluntary (financial) contributions to local communities, representatives from these communities emphasized the past damages caused by Southern, principally striving for (official) recognition of the company’s guilt. Hence, compromise-oriented policy instruments such as dialogue tables prove to be ill-suited for dealing with claims where recognition rather than compensation is at stake.

Description: Despite extensive efforts, greenhouse gases continue to be emitted in vastamounts, with potentially devastating consequences around the world. This iswhy targeted interventions in the climate system, known collectively as ‘climateengineering’, are receiving increased attention. Proposed approaches are oftendivided into two groups: those intended to remove carbon dioxide from theatmosphere and those intended to reduce the amount of solar energy that reachesthe Earth’s surface or is trapped in the atmosphere. There are some similaritiesbetween the two classes of activities, but they often raise different physical,political, and governance concerns. This series provides an introduction to eachset of approaches.

Description: CO2 utilisation technologies—also called carbon dioxide utilisation (CDU) and carbon capture and utilisation (CCU)—convert CO2 via physical, chemical, or biological processes into carbon-based products. CO2 utilisation technologies are viewed as a means of helping to address climate change and broadening the raw material base for commodities that can be sold to generate economic revenue. However, while technical research and development into the feasibility of CO2 utilisation options are accelerating rapidly; at present, there has been limited research into the social acceptance of the technology and CO2-derived products. This review article outlines and explores three key dimensions of social acceptance (i.e., socio-political, market, and community acceptance) pertaining to innovation within CO2 utilisation. The article highlights the importance of considering issues of social acceptance as an aspect of the research, development, demonstration, and deployment process for CO2 utilisation and explores how key stakeholders operating on each dimension might affect the innovation pathways, investment, and siting decisions relating to CO2 utilisation facilities and CO2-derived products. Beyond providing a state-of-the-art review of current research into the social acceptance of CO2 utilisation, this article also outlines an agenda for future research in the field.

Description: G20 should initiate a global Ocean governance process and call for Ocean Economy dialogues, strategies and regional cooperation to ensure that investment and growth in ocean use become sustainable and reach their full potential.The ocean is the largest and a most critical ecosystem on Earth, with many interactions between the ocean Sustainable Development Goal (SDG14) and other SDGs. It is one of the most biologically diverse and highly productive system on the planet, and potentially the largest provider of food, materials, energy, and ecosystem services. However, past and current maritime sectors’ uses of the ocean continue to be unsustainable. Increasing demand for resources, technological advances, overfishing, climate change, pollution, biodiversity and habitat loss, along with inadequate stewardship and law enforcement, are contributing to the ocean’s decline.As a standing agenda item for the G20, and with associated good governance, a sustainable Ocean Economy can improve the health and productivity of ocean ecosystems, and reverse the current cycle of deline. Better governance, appreciation of the economic value of the ocean and ‘Blue Economy’ strategies can reduce conflicts among uses, ensure financial sustainability, ecosystem integrity and prosperity, and promote long-term national growth and employment in maritime industries.

Description: To better understand the characteristics of biomass burning in the northern Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP), total suspended particles were collected in a rural site, Lumbini, Nepal, during April 2013 to March 2014 and analyzed for the biomass burning tracers (i.e., levoglucosan, mannosan, vanillic acid). The annual average concentration of levoglucosan was 734 ± 1043 ng m−3 with the maximum seasonal mean concentration during post-monsoon season (2206 ± 1753 ng m−3), followed by winter (1161 ± 1347 ng m−3), pre-monsoon (771 ± 524 ng m−3) and minimum concentration during monsoon season (212 ± 279 ng m−3). The other biomass burning tracers (mannosan, galactosan, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, vanillic acid, syringic acid and dehydroabietic acid) also showed the similar seasonal variations. There were good correlations among levoglucosan, organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC), indicating significant impact of biomass burning activities on carbonaceous aerosol loading throughout the year in Lumbini area. According to the characteristic ratios, levoglucosan ∕ mannosan (lev ∕ man) and syringic acid ∕ vanillic acid (syr ∕ van), we deduced that the high abundances of biomass burning products during non-monsoon seasons were mainly caused by the burning of crop residues and hardwood while the softwood had less contribution. Based on the diagnostic tracer ratio (i.e., lev ∕ OC), the OC derived from biomass burning constituted large fraction of total OC, especially during post-monsoon season. By analyzing the MODIS fire spot product and 5-day air-mass back trajectories, we further demonstrated that organic aerosol composition was not only related to the local agricultural activities and residential biomass usage but also impacted by the regional emissions. During the post-monsoon season, the emissions from rice residue burning in western India and eastern Pakistan could impact particulate air pollution in Lumbini and surrounding regions in southern Nepal. Therefore, our finding is meaningful and has a great importance for adopting the appropriate mitigation measures, not only at the local level but also by involving different regions and nations, to reduce the biomass burning emissions in the broader IGP region nations.

Description: On 20 January 2017, Donald Trump was inaugurated as the forty-fifth president of the United States. His previous announcements on energy policy mark a clear departure from the climate policy ambitions of his predecessor, Barack Obama. But what exactly should we expect from Trump’s climate and energy policies? Sonja Thielges explains.

Description: The global governance of displaced and trapped populations, forced migration and refugees is not prepared for the numbers likely to manifest under climate change. The Group of Twenty has a responsibility to prepare, push for reform and initiate annual reviews to enhance humanitarian responses to aid climate mobility. International policy and law build on the false assumption that displaced people and refugees can return to their place of origin when conditions improve, conflicts subside or homes are rebuilt. This cannot hold for many of those affected by climate change. Governance reform is needed to strengthen rights and obligations of peoples and governments in countries of origin, transit and destination, recognizing the special circumstances and needs of “climate refugees” or migrants.

Description: In his thesis, Steffen examines this process of 'accommodating' private credit money from a comparative perspective. To understand how and why such accommodation occurred, it develops a theory of private credit money accommodation and applies it on three cases in the respective centres of the global financial system: the 1797 Bank Restriction in the United Kingdom that accommodated bank notes; the 1933 Emergency Banking Act in the U.S. that accommodated bank deposits; as well as the realignment of Federal Reserve policies after the 2008 financial crisis, which led to an accommodation of money market mutual fund shares and overnight repurchase agreements as contemporary forms of ‘shadow money’.

Description: Changes in the Arctic strongly affect ecosystems, people and business both inside the Arctic and at lower latitudes. •We need a better understanding of the interplay between regional and global systems (meteorological, climatic, economic, technological, legal, political) within the Arctic and their impacts beyond the region. •We conduct a study of the impact of Arctic changes on business - specifically resource development - in the Arctic with the purpose of improving stakeholders’ capacity to adapt to climate change. Poster presented at the Conference 2017 International Conference on Arctic Science: Bringing Knowledge to Action n (AMAP) http://www.amap.no/about The 2017 International Conference on Arctic Science: Bringing Knowledge to Action will: Bring together diverse expert communities ranging from scientists to decision-makers in order to identify, explore and create mechanisms and venues where science and knowledge can inform the development of policies and decision-making.

Description: Vegetation has gained importance in respective debates about climate change mitigation and adaptation in cities. Although recently developed remote sensing techniques provide necessary city-wide information, a sufficient and consistent city-wide information of relevant urban ecosystem services, such as carbon emissions offset, does not exist. This study uses city-wide, high-resolution, and remotely sensed data to derive individual tree species information and to estimate the above-ground carbon storage of urban forests in Berlin, Germany. The variance of tree biomass was estimated using allometric equations that contained different levels of detail regarding the tree species found in this study of 700 km2, which had a tree canopy of 213 km2. The average tree density was 65 trees/ha per unit of tree cover and a range from 10 to 40 trees/ha for densely urban land cover. City-wide estimates of the above-ground carbon storage ranged between 6.34 and 7.69 tC/ha per unit of land cover, depending on the level of tree species information used. Equations that did not use individually localized tree species information undervalued the total amount of urban forest carbon storage by up to 15 %. Equations using a generalized estimate of dominant tree species information provided rather precise city-wide carbon estimates. Concerning differences within a densely built area per unit of land cover approaches using individually localized tree species information prevented underestimation of mid-range carbon density areas (10–20 tC/ha), which were actually up to 8.4 % higher, and prevented overestimation of very low carbon density areas (0–5 tC/ha), which were actually up to 11.4 % lower. Park-like areas showed 10 to 30 tC/ha, whereas land cover of very high carbon density (40–80 tC/ha) mostly consisted of mixed peri-urban forest stands. Thus, this approach, which uses widely accessible and remotely sensed data, can help to improve the consistency of forest carbon estimates in cities.

Description: The EURODELTA-Trends multi-model chemistry-transport experiment has been designed to facilitate a better understanding of the evolution of air pollution and its drivers for the period 1990–2010 in Europe. The main objective of the experiment is to assess the efficiency of air pollutant emissions mitigation measures in improving regional-scale air quality.The present paper formulates the main scientific questions and policy issues being addressed by the EURODELTA-Trends modelling experiment with an emphasis on how the design and technical features of the modelling experiment answer these questions.The experiment is designed in three tiers, with increasing degrees of computational demand in order to facilitate the participation of as many modelling teams as possible. The basic experiment consists of simulations for the years 1990, 2000, and 2010. Sensitivity analysis for the same three years using various combinations of (i) anthropogenic emissions, (ii) chemical boundary conditions, and (iii) meteorology complements it. The most demanding tier consists of two complete time series from 1990 to 2010, simulated using either time-varying emissions for corresponding years or constant emissions.Eight chemistry-transport models have contributed with calculation results to at least one experiment tier, and five models have – to date – completed the full set of simulations (and 21-year trend calculations have been performed by four models). The modelling results are publicly available for further use by the scientific community.The main expected outcomes are (i) an evaluation of the models' performances for the three reference years, (ii) an evaluation of the skill of the models in capturing observed air pollution trends for the 1990–2010 time period, (iii) attribution analyses of the respective role of driving factors (e.g. emissions, boundary conditions, meteorology), (iv) a dataset based on a multi-model approach, to provide more robust model results for use in impact studies related to human health, ecosystem, and radiative forcing.

Description: We report on the molecular structures of the two most abundant conformers of n-octanal observed by molecular beam Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy. Next to limonene, which is the main component of citrus-oil, octanal and other n-alkyl aldehydes strongly enhance the typical fresh smell of lemon-oil. Due to the high flexibility of its n-alkyl chain and the high number of possible conformers, different semi-empirical methods (AM1, PM3, MMFF94) were used to sample the conformational space of octanal before performing more sophisticated quantum chemical calculations at the MP2 level of theory. This technique has previously been shown to be an ideal tool to characterize relevant odorant structures in fragrance chemistry. The structure of octanal and structurally related molecules is discussed in the context of the most abundant chain conformations and the potential use of the microwave validated structures for further studies in biological media.

Description: This piece examines the need to interrogate the role of the conceptions of the future, as embedded in academic papers, policy documents, climate models, and other artifacts that serve as currencies of the science-society interface, in shaping scientific and policy agendas in climate engineering. Growing bodies of work on framings, metaphors, and models in the past decade serve as valuable starting points, but can benefit from integration with STS work on the sociology of expectations, imaginaries, and visions. Potentially valuable branches of work to come might be the anticipatory use of the future: the design of experimental spaces for exploring the future of an engineered climate in service of responsible research and innovation, and the integration of this work within the unfolding context of the Paris Agreement.

Description: Kathmandu Valley is one of the largest and most polluted metropolitan regions in the Himalayan foothills. Rapidly expanding urban sprawl and a growing fleet of vehicles, and industrial facilities such as brick factories across the valley have led to conditions where ambient concentrations of key gaseous air pollutants are expected to exceed Nepal’s National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. In order to understand the spatial variation of the trace gases in the Kathmandu Valley, passive samples of SO2, NOx, NO2, NH3, and O3 were collected simultaneously from fifteen locations between March and May 2013. A follow-up study during two separate campaigns in 2014 sampled these gases, except ammonia, one site at a time from thirteen urban, suburban and rural stationary sites. In 2013, urban sites were observed to have higher weekly averaged NO2 and SO2 (22.4 ± 8.1 μg m–3 and 14.5 ± 11.1 μg m–3, respectively) than sub-urban sites (9.2 ± 3.9 μg m–3 and 7.6 ± 2.8 μg m–3, respectively). Regions located within 3 km of brick factories had higher SO2 concentrations (22.3 ± 14.7 μg m–3) than distant sites (5.8 ± 1.1 μg m–3). Higher O3 (108.5 ± 31.4 μg m–3) was observed in rural locations compared to urban sites (87.1 ± 9.2 μg m–3), emphasizing the importance of meteorological factors and precursor species for ozone production and titration. Parallel to previous studies, these results suggest that ground-level O3, as its levels frequently exceeded guidelines throughout the sampling periods, is an important concern throughout the valley. NH3 near polluted rivers and SO2 around brick factories are also important pollutants that need more intensive monitoring, primarily due to their importance in particulate matter formation chemistry.

Description: This white paper resulted from a risk dialogue project with climate scientists and experts on the subject of climate engineering – conducted by the neutral and independent Risk-Dialogue Foundation St. Gallen between April 2016 and March 2017. The aim was to identify the current state of research on the topic as well as related risk and to evaluate a potential need for wider public deliberation. The project was carried out on behalf of the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), Climate Division. In line with views expressed during the dialogue, the sole objective of this paper is to argue for an open and public deliberation process and not to favour or promote any technologies or deployment thereof. The views expressed in this report are solely those of its authors, and do not reflect any official positions.

Description: Increasing interest in climate engineering in recent years has led to calls by the international research community for international research collaboration as well as global public engagement. But making such collaboration a reality is challenging. Here, we report the summary of a 2016 workshop on the significance and challenges of international collaboration on climate engineering research with a focus on the Asia-Pacific region. Because of the region’s interest in benefits and risks of climate engineering, there is a potential synergy between impact research on anthropogenic global warming and that on solar radiation management. Local researchers in the region can help make progress toward better understanding of impacts of solar radiation management. These activities can be guided by an ad hoc Asia-Pacific working group on climate engineering, a voluntary expert network. The working group can foster regional conversations in a sustained manner while contributing to capacity building. An important theme in the regional conversation is to develop effective practices of dialogues in light of local backgrounds such as cultural traditions and past experiences of large-scale technology development. Our recommendation merely portrays one of several possible ways forward, and it is our hope to stimulate the debate in the region.

Description: Patents constitute an important economic mechanism incentivising the development of technologies. Given the immediacy of the need for global access to effective emission cutting technologies, the role of patents requires further consideration in the general climate change mitigation discourse. This paper aims to address this issue, presenting arguments on the role of the patent system from general intellectual property literature, as well as insights from specialized technological fields. The authors find that although patents provide a strong economic incentive for innovation, they limit the further commercialization of mitigation technologies based on previously patented materials and thus hinder global access to mitigation solutions. Development of mitigation technologies, specifically of renewable energies and carbon capture storage, requires predominantly an improvement of existing technologies. Therefore, patents are seen to restrict development and are perceived as an obstacle to climate change mitigation. In order to achieve the targets set by COP21, the transfer of patented technologies is a necessity. However, patents are found to act as one factor that can severely restrict the dissemination of technologies globally. Given these findings, the merits of open-source/copy-left systems of intellectual property deserve further study, especially with regard to their applicability to climate change mitigation solutions.

Description: We present the most important results of two expert surveys of the acceptance of bio-based products in the business-to-business (B2B) sector and in the public sector. Both surveys follow a Delphi approach giving insight into key market drivers and barriers, the most important information requirements, as well as perceptions on the role of product labeling and standardization. The business survey shows that market drivers differ significantly across European countries, a point to be taken into account when developing harmonized approaches for the European Union. Furthermore, the importance of market factors also varies across sub-groups of bio-based products. The labeling of bio-based products, preferably in combination with additional environmental and sustainability criteria, receives broad support from the experts. The procurement survey identifies effective policy measures and informational needs for enhancing the uptake of bio-based products in (green) public procurement. Key findings include that bio-based products are not (yet) considered a relevant category and that bio-based content on its own is typically not viewed as a relevant justification for inclusion in green public procurement schemes. Moreover, eco-labeling schemes are important points of reference, suggesting that the incorporation of bio-based content as criteria in relevant labeling schemes could also promote the acceptance of bio-based products in the public sector.

Description: In 2004, the UN General Assembly resolved to establish a working group to consider issues pertaining to the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ). The group met nine times between 2006 and 2015 before concluding its mandate by recommending the development of an international legally binding instrument on BBNJ under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Based on in-depth interviews with working group participants, this research examines how NGOs contributed to the working group process. Respondents from government delegations highlighted the usefulness of workshops and side events convened by NGOs, and the role of NGOs in bringing experts on technical issues – particularly marine genetic resources and the sharing of benefits – into the BBNJ negotiations. Respondents from both NGOs and government delegations emphasized the importance of fostering personal relationships in order to ensure a steady and constructive information flow. Social media efforts by NGOs were considered by some government representatives to have occasionally hampered open discussion, although they noted that conditions have improved. The lengthy working group process was marked by substantial fluctuation in participation, particularly within government delegations from developing states. Of 1523 individuals who participated in at least one of the working group meetings, only 45 attended more than half of the meetings, and 80% of these were representing NGOs or highly industrialized countries. Respondents felt that this comparatively small number of individuals provided a source of continuity that was crucial for moving the discussions forward.

Description: Deposited mineral dust and black carbon are known to reduce the albedo of snow and enhance melt. Here we estimate the contribution of anthropogenic black carbon (BC) to snowmelt in glacier accumulation zones of Central Asia based on in-situ measurements and modelling. Source apportionment suggests that more than 94% of the BC is emitted from mostly regional anthropogenic sources while the remaining contribution comes from natural biomass burning. Even though the annual deposition flux of mineral dust can be up to 20 times higher than that of BC, we find that anthropogenic BC causes the majority (60% on average) of snow darkening. This leads to summer snowmelt rate increases of up to 6.3% (7 cm a−1) on glaciers in three different mountain environments in Kyrgyzstan, based on albedo reduction and snowmelt models.

Description: The bioeconomy, understood as the production of renewable biological resources and their conversion into food, feed, bio-based products and bioenergy via innovative and efficient technologies, has the potential to tackle current grand challenges like natural resource scarcity, climate change, food supply and energy. Improved and systematic foresight investigations with a focus on regulations, policies and technologies are needed for better decision-making in the future and for enabling the bio-based economy to timely tackle those challenges. A common understanding of the challenges and of the capacities available is a basis for conducting foresight. This chapter, after providing an overview of the drivers and challenges of the bioeconomy and of the European policy framework governing it, explains the concept of foresight thinking and its potential contribution to the achievement of the targets of the bio-based strategy. It explains the potential role that regulatory foresight can play in establishing a sustainable circular bio-based economy and provides an overview of existing foresight studies directed to improve understanding of the future in the following dimensions: • Biomass availability and trends • Technology development and horizon scanning of emerging technology • Market acceptance of bio-based products • Regulatory and policy-framework.

Description: As part of an outreach initiative by the Natural History Museum in Vienna, Austria, an interdisciplinary educational module was developed to teach students about sustainability through the lens of mineral resources used to produce mobile phones. The overall goal of the module is to provide teachers of different subjects with a multifaceted tool to include sustainability in their classrooms and create greater awareness of our resource-rich lifestyle. The evaluation of efficacy and impact of the module in formal classroom environments is facilitated through two case studies: an assessment of teacher experiences across Austria with our teaching kit, and an assessment of student learning in Austria and the U.S. During the development of the teaching module in Austria, workshops with 97 teachers were conducted to identify educators' needs and offer an interdisciplinary usable teaching kit. The study showed that teachers greatly appreciated the hands-on workshops and implemented the module in their curriculum. For the student study, 416 students from Vienna, Austria, (209 students) and the Greater Boston area in the U.S. (207 students) were taught the same module by the same instructor. Student performance and learning impact were assessed using pre and post questionnaires. For the Austrian students, an additional long-term post questionnaire was completed six months after the intervention. Students' short-term performances increased significantly immediately after the module. This paper describes the outreach project and our teaching module, and proposes the development of curriculum extensions and teacher professional development for implementing interdisciplinary science concepts.

Description: KEY MESSAGES1. Without strategic investment in soil rehabilitation and protectionpoor and food insecure households will be left behind and globalagendas will not be achieved! Targeting is of the essence.2. Public investment in soil protection and rehabilitation must beincreased; the private sector has little incentive in investing in soilrehabilitation by food insecure households.3. Cross-sectorial coordination is pivotal to create the right incentivesand to ensure that structural hindrances to SLM are addressedsystematically.4. Technologies for protecting and rehabilitating land and soil at plotand farm levels are well known but are seldom applied at largerscales. Successful adoption – and adaptation – at scale is conditionalon locally owned and driven processes.5. Supportive tenure systems and responsive agricultural advisoryservices are essential preconditions for achieving soil protection andrehabilitation at scale. They must be gender and youth sensitive, andcreate the necessary incentives to protect the soils.

Description: The EU-funded collaborative project BEST PATHS explores new pathways for delivering reliable power in Europe through the large-scale integration of growing shares of renewable energy. BEST PATHS includes a demonstrator based on superconducting high-power links, which aims to validate the MgB2 technology for HVDC transmission. Here we present the current status of the project at the end of 2.5 years of design and development activities.

Description: Shifting the fossil fuel dominated energy system to a sustainable hydrogen economy could mitigate climate change through reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Because it is estimated that fossil fuels will remain a significant part of our energy system until mid-century, bridge technologies which use fossil fuels in an environmentally cleaner way offer an opportunity to reduce the warming impact of continued fossil fuel utilization. Methane cracking is a potential bridge technology during the transition to a sustainable hydrogen economy since it produces hydrogen with zero emissions of carbon dioxide. However, methane feedstock obtained from natural gas releases fugitive emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that may offset methane cracking benefits. In this work, a model exploring the impact of methane cracking implementation in a hydrogen economy is presented, and the impact on global emissions of carbon dioxide and methane is explored. The results indicate that the hydrogen economy has the potential to reduce global carbon dioxide equivalent emissions between 0 and 27%, when methane leakage from natural gas is relatively low, methane cracking is employed to produce hydrogen, and a hydrogen fuel cell is applied. This wide range is a result of differences between the scenarios and the CH4 leakage rates used in the scenarios. On the other hand, when methane leakage from natural gas is relatively high, methane steam reforming is employed to produce hydrogen and an internal combustion engine is applied, the hydrogen economy leads to a net increase in global carbon dioxide equivalent emissions between 19 and 27%.

Description: Energy transformation toward 100 percent renewable energy is desirable and inevitable. New energy systems, based on efficiency, renewables, storage and smart management, are cheaper to build, run and maintain. They harvest free environmental flows, often for self-consumption. Fossil fuel extraction and commodity trade will end, as fossil asset values erode in a shrinking sector that loses its role in capital formation, international trade, economic activity and government revenue. Energy transformation is beneficial overall, and yet it may produce misleading signals in outdated statistics. International organizations and the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures should address this paradox in joint reports to the Group of Twenty leaders, ministers of finance and central bank governors.

Description: Despite the fact that every single plane journey compounds climate change, many people still decide to fly. False incentives are to blame, says Katharina Beyerl. I was recently asked to answer the question "Is it still OK to fly?" for a TV programme - in just ten sentences.

Description: The environmental burden of multi-Si PV modules in China has been discussed in existing studies, however, their data are mostly from local enterprises, and none of their environmental assessment involves the decommissioning and recycling process. This study quantitatively assesses the life-cycle environmental impacts of Chinese Multi-crystalline Photovoltaic Systems involving the recycling process. The LCA software GaBi is applied to establish the LCA model and to perform the calculation, and ReCiPe method is chosen to quantify the environmental impacts. LCA of production process reveals that Polysilicon production, Cell processing and Modules assembling have relatively higher environmental impact than processes of Industrial silicon smelting and Ingot casting and Wafer slicing. Among the 14 environmental impact categories evaluated by ReCiPe methodology, the most prominent environment impacts are found as Climate Change and Human Toxicity. LCA including recycling process reveals that although recycling process has environmental impact, the recycling scenario has less environmental impact by comparing with the landfill scenario. Among the five manufacturing processes and recycling process, environmental impacts of polysilicon production, cell processing and modules assembling have relatively higher uncertainty, probably because that the environmental impact of these processes is high, and standard error of parameters such as electricity, aluminum and glass in the three processes are high. Findings of our study indicate that proper measures should be taken in the high pollution processes such as polysilicon production and cell processing. In addition, efforts should also be made to enhance the recovery rate and seek for more environmental friendly materials in the recycling process.

Description: This article explores the effects of the political reactions to the 2007–2009 financial crisis on the monetary system. It chimes in with the view that shadow banks create ‘shadow money’, i.e. private substitutes for bank deposits. The article analyses how the three main forms of shadow money – money market fund shares, overnight repurchase agreements and asset-backed commercial papers – were affected by the short-term government intervention and medium-term regulation during and after the 2007–2009 financial crisis in the United States. The analysis reveals that the measures taken between 2007 and 2014 integrated some shadow money forms in the public money supply. In the year after the Lehman collapse, the initially private shadow money supply was either publicly backstopped or de-monetised as it had broken par to bank deposits. The public backstops took on the form of emergency facilities established by the Federal Reserve and guarantees proclaimed by the Treasury. Those backstops imply that the public institutional framework to protect bank deposits was extended to some forms of shadow money during the crisis. This tendency has continued in post-crisis regulation. Accordingly, the 2007–2009 financial crisis has triggered a paradigmatic change in the monetary system, attributable to the political decisions of US authorities.

Description: Die Freiwilligen Leitlinien Land der Ernährungs- und Landwirtschaftsorganisation der Vereinten Nationen sollten vor allem bei der Prüfung von Hochrisikoprojekten und bei der Bewertung von größeren agrarpolitischen Trends angewendet werden. So lautet das zentrale Ergebnis der neuen englischsprachigen Studie "Safeguarding Human Rights in Land Related Investments" des Deutschen Instituts für Menschenrechte. Sie vergleicht bestehende internationale Prüfungsstandards der finanziellen Zusammenarbeit mit den Freiwilligen Leitlinien Land aus dem Jahr 2012.

Description: This study was commissioned by the German Federal ministry for Economic Cooperation and development in order to help identify whether there are differences and potential issues in the VGGt that are currently omitted or only partially covered by the IFC PS or the World Bank Safeguards. It will also discuss how potential gaps might be addressed. the intention of the ministry is that development policy actors in Germany that apply the IFC PS or the World Bank Safeguards can make use of this study to analyse in how far their own use of policies and standards should address potential gaps. Moreover, it will analyse whether there are issues that require closer examination and further investigation in order to provide a complete and adequate framework/international legal instrument committed to ensure the respect for and implementation of human rights.

Description: Energy transformation towards 100% renewable energy is economically inevitable, and socially and environmentally desirable, yet it may produce negative signals in outdated statistics as fossil trade diminishes and the sector shrinks. This paradoxon should be addressed in a joint report by, e.g., IRENA, IMF, OECD, andthe World Bank, and the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures.Fossil fuel extraction and commodity trade will end, and fossil asset values erode. The industry’s role in capital formation, international trade, economic activity (GDP), and government revenue will decline. New energy systems, based on efficiency, renewables, storage, and smart management are cheaper to build, run and maintain. Growth of electricity use stimulates innovation, value creation, and growth in consumer rent, as renewable energy technologies harvest free environmental flows that are not traded and often for self-consumption. Total utility will grow while trade, GDP and the tax base may shrink. Reports should inform G20 Leaders, Ministers of Finance and Central Bank Governors on the true costs and benefits, and alert them to misleading signals.

Description: Semicontinuous PM2. 5 and black carbon (BC) concentrations, and 24 h integrated PM2. 5 filter samples were collected near roadways in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Instruments were carried by a group of volunteer traffic police officers in the vicinity of six major roadway intersections in the Kathmandu Valley across two sampling periods in 2014. Daily PM2. 5 filter samples were analyzed for water-soluble inorganic ions, elemental carbon (EC) and organic carbon (OC), and 24 elements. Mean PM2. 5 and BC concentrations were 124.76 µg m−3 and 16.74 µgC m−3 during the drier spring sampling period, and 45.92 µg m−3 and 13.46 µgC m−3 during monsoonal sampling. Despite the lower monsoonal PM2. 5 concentrations, BC and several elements were not significantly lower during the monsoon, which indicates an important contribution of vehicle-related emissions throughout both seasons in this region. During the monsoon, there was an enhanced contribution of chemical species (elements and water-soluble inorganic ions), except secondary inorganic ions, and BC to PM2. 5 (crustal elements: 19 %; heavy metals: 5 %; and BC: 39 %) compared to those in spring (crustal elements: 9 %; heavy metals: 1 %; and BC: 18 %). Silica, calcium, aluminum, and iron were the most abundant elements during both spring and the monsoon, with total concentrations of 12.13 and 8.85 µg m−3, respectively. PM2. 5 and BC showed less spatial variation compared to that for individual chemical species.

Description: Exceedances of the concentration limit value for ambient nitrogen dioxide (NO2) at roadside sites are an issue in many cities throughout Europe. This is linked to the emissions of light duty diesel vehicles which have on-road emissions that are far greater than the regulatory standards. These exceedances have substantial implications for human health and economic loss. This study explores the possible gains in ambient air quality if light duty diesel vehicles were able to meet the regulatory standards (including both emissions standards from Europe and the United States). We use two independent methods: a measurement-based and a model-based method. The city of Berlin is used as a case study. The measurement-based method used data from 16 monitoring stations throughout the city of Berlin to estimate annual average reductions in roadside NO2 of 9.0 to 23 µg m-3 and in urban background NO2 concentrations of 1.2 to 2.7 µg m-3. These ranges account for differences in fleet composition assumptions, and the stringency of the regulatory standard. The model simulations showed reductions in urban background NO2 of 2.0 µg m-3, and at the scale of the greater Berlin area of 1.6 to 2.0 µg m-3 depending on the setup of the simulation and resolution of the model. Similar results were found for other European cities. The similarities in results using the measurement- and model-based methods support our ability to draw robust conclusions that are not dependent on the assumptions behind either methodology. The results show the significant potential for NO2 reductions if regulatory standards for light duty diesel vehicles were to be met under real-world operating conditions. Such reductions could help improve air quality by reducing NO2 exceedances in urban areas, but also have broader implications for improvements in human health and other benefits.

Description: This report follows up on earlier ETC work on observed air pollution trends in Europe. It builds upon the Eurodelta-Trends modelling exercise (EMEP/TFMM) to attribute air quality evolution in Europe to anthropogenic emission trends, meteorological variability, and intercontinental air pollution.Modelled ozone and particulate matter (PM) trends are compared to observations. Average maps of the evolution between 1990 and 2010 are presented. The attribution analysis demonstrates that emission reductions are the primary driver of both ozone and PM changes. Boundary conditions are mainly important for ozone trends. Depending on the region and pollutant, it can sometimes have a smaller impact than interannual meteorological variability.

Description: The mixing layer height (MLH) is a measure for the vertical turbulent exchange within the boundary layer, which is one of the controlling factors for the dilution of pollutants emitted near the ground. Based on continuous MLH measurements with a Vaisala CL51 ceilometer and measurements from an air quality network, the relationship between MLH and near-surface pollutant concentrations has been investigated. In this context the uncertainty of the MLH retrievals and the representativeness of ground-based in situ measurements are crucial. We have investigated this topic by using data from the BAERLIN2014 campaign in Berlin, Germany, conducted from June to August 2014. To derive the MLH, three versions of the proprietary software BL-VIEW and a novel approach COBOLT were compared. It was found that the overall agreement is reasonable if mean diurnal cycles are considered. The main advantage of COBOLT is the continuous detection of the MLH with a temporal resolution of 10 min and a lower number of cases when the residual layer is misinterpreted as mixing layer. We have calculated correlations between MLH as derived from the different retrievals and concentrations of pollutants (PM10, O3 and NOx) for different locations in the metropolitan area of Berlin. It was found that the correlations with PM10 are quite different for different sites without showing a clear pattern, whereas the correlation with NOx seems to depend on the vicinity of emission sources in main roads. In the case of ozone as a secondary pollutant, a clear correlation was found. We conclude that the effects of the heterogeneity of the emission sources, chemical processing and mixing during transport exceed the differences due to different MLH retrievals. Moreover, it seems to be unrealistic to find correlations between MLH and near-surface pollutant concentrations representative for a city like Berlin (flat terrain), in particular when traffic emissions are dominant. Nevertheless it is worthwhile to use advanced MLH retrievals for ceilometer data, for example as input to dispersion models and for the validation of chemical transport models.

Description: Renewable energies are viewed as a means to reconcile the decarbonisation of energy systems with sustainable economic development. The list of their possible social and economic benefits is long and many of these claims have an empirical basis. Despite this, a method for their assessment with the capacity to reflect specific country conditions does not exist.

Description: Grand societal challenges call for a transition from a society based on finite fossil resources towards a bio-based economy, based on renewable resources. Such a transition should involve not only the energy sector, but also the manufacturing sector. As acknowledged in the European Bioeconomy Strategy, the promotion of a bioeconomy is dependent on policy efforts across a wide spectrum of policy spheres. In the literature on sustainability transitions, this insight is captured in the increasing interest in the concept of policy mixes or policy strategies for promoting transitions to more sustainable modes of production and consumption. In this paper, we present a comparative analysis of bioeconomy strategies in Germany and Italy with a focus on the bioplastics sector. The paper adds to the existing literature on policy mixes by extending the concept of a policy strategy and applying it for the purpose of the comparative analysis. Moreover, the analysis is linked to the discussion on multi-level systems of governance in the European Union. A key finding is that linkages between the two policy strategies via policy making within the European Union have helped in reinforcing the nascent transition to a bio-based economy in Europe.

Description: This introductory chapter sets the stage for the edited volume and formulates a framework for analysing the governance of Arctic change in a global perspective. The chapter puts forward the argument that the Arctic, long treated as a pristine, peripheral and exceptional region, is a globally embedded space: it is subject to global impacts as well as Arctic regional processes have global ramifications. To better understand the complexity of contemporary Arctic governance, research has to analyse the dynamic interactions between four I’s: imaginaries on, interests in, institutions for and issues of the global Arctic.

Description: This chapter focuses on policy-relevant research organizations or think tanks as important institutions in open, democratic, innovative, and adaptable political systems. Think tanks deal with data, facts, ideas, and narratives as most fleeting commodities and should be highly vulnerable to digital disruption. The evidence shows, however, that think tanks manage to incorporate digital innovations into their operations, both internally and how they related to their various audiences. Digital innovations provide as many opportunities to think tanks as they present threats. This is true for old, pre-digital think tanks that adapted by developing additional layers of management and communication as well as for digitally native think tanks that were created with digital opportunities in mind. Recently, an evidence base documenting good and best practice of using digital opportunities in think tanks has begun to build up, and there are first good case studies on the development of digital strategies. Although there are warnings but no signs yet of widespread digital disruption of think tanks, there are examples of emerging virtual think tanks that might only cost 10 % to establish and operate compared to traditional think tank organizations with similar access to expertise and producing output at similar levels of quality, quantity, breadth, and depth. Although a ratio of 1:10 would indicate disruptive potential, there is no evidence of disruption yet. It appears that the early examples are not sufficiently matured and understood to be replicated, which would involve think tank sponsors accepting the new format of virtual think tanks and provide them with long-term funding.