Search Results (109)

Climate change is one of the most important environmental problems of the modern world. Without an effective solution to this problem, it is not possible to implement sustainable development. For this reason, in the European development strategies, including the European Green Deal (EGD), the reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is one of the priorities. This also applies to sectoral strategies, including those related to agriculture. In this context, the monitoring of changes in GHG emissions becomes particularly important, and its key condition is an applicative estimation method, adapted to the available data and levels of assessment (globally, country, sector, economic unit). GHG emission calculations at the level of the agricultural sector are officially estimated by the state and non-governmental organisations. However, calculations at the level of the agricultural unit-farm remain a challenge due to the lack of detailed data or its incomplete scope to estimate GHG emissions. The other issue is the necessity of a representative data nature, taking into consideration the different profiles of various farms. The research focused on presenting a methodological approach to utilising FADN (Farm Accountancy Data Network) data for estimating GHG emissions at the farm level. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) methodology was adopted to use available farm-level data. Some assumptions were needed to achieve this goal. The article presents the subsequent stages of GHG calculation using the FADN data. The results reveal significant differences in GHG emissions among farm types. The presented results indicated the primary sources of emissions from agriculture, including energy (e.g., fuel and electricity consumption), thus outlining the scope of action that should be taken to reduce emissions effectively. The study confirms that the method used helps estimate emissions at the farm level. Its application can lead to better targeting of climate policy in agriculture. Full article

The vulnerability framework developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defines vulnerability as a function of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. Building off this framework, the Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation (CIRCA) developed a Climate Change Vulnerability Index (CCVI) for the state of Connecticut, designed to integrate flood and extreme heat-related climate exposure with impacted socioeconomic, infrastructure, and ecological variables into a single comprehensive index that can guide resilience planning and prioritization at multiple levels. The index serves as a central component of the Resilient Connecticut project, a statewide initiative to advance climate adaptation and resilience planning through data-driven tools, community engagement, and strategies to address flood and heat risks across vulnerable communities. In this article, we detail the development of the CCVI, including earlier iterations, methodology, stakeholder engagement activities, and lessons learned that can impact resiliency planning in Connecticut. Preliminary statistical analyses, notable regional trends, data limitations, and future areas for research advancement are also discussed. The CCVI framework detailed here can be used in the process of identifying priority areas for intervention and supporting the selection and design of targeted resilience projects, and can also be adapted for other states. Full article

The prioritization of energy policies by local governments represents a process of competitive attention allocation among various policy tools, and its outcomes significantly influence the ultimate effectiveness of the low-carbon transformation of energy. Building on the theoretical framework of governmental attention allocation, the research first analyzes how internal–external governmental relations shape policy tool prioritization through comparative case studies, followed by a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to empirically examine local governments’ preferences for policy tool attributes under different relational conditions. The findings reveal that county governments (CGs) dominated by intergovernmental relationships tend to align their priorities with the governance requirements of higher-level authorities and emphasize clarity, operability, economic attributes, and political considerations in policy tool selection. In contrast, governments dominated by government–enterprise relationships place greater emphasis on the impact of policy tools on enterprise production and focus primarily on economic attributes and operability. The study demonstrates that under different internal–external government relations, CGs prioritize distinct attributes of policy tools, which leads to varied rankings of energy policy tools. Building effective incentive and constraint mechanisms on the basis of rationalizing vertical intergovernmental and government–enterprise relationships, while optimizing energy policy supply to guide local governments in selecting context-appropriate energy policy tools, serves as a crucial approach to advancing urban low-carbon energy transitions and achieving sustainable socioeconomic development. Full article

In order to achieve China’s carbon neutrality target by 2060, accurate carbon accounting for wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is imperative. This study takes Shandong Province as the research object, through large-scale empirical analysis, research method differences, and the annual operation data of 49 sewage treatment plants, for the first time to realize the systematic comparison of multiple methods on the provincial scale. The main findings show a 19.7% reduction in calculated emissions from Standard for Carbon Emission Reduction Assessment of Urban WWTPs (T/CUWA 50055-2023, GS 2023) compared to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2019), thanks to its inclusion of CO₂ from fossil sources (5.0% of total emissions) and optimized CH₄/N₂O emission factors. Indirect emissions accounted for 56.8% of total emissions, with electricity consumption (43.3%) and chemical use (13.5%) being the main contributors. Carbon sources (27.6%) and phosphorus removal agents (15.2%) were the most important chemical-related emissions. The scale effect of indirect emissions is significant. It was found that there was a large difference in emission factors (such as a 236.9% difference in carbon source factors), and optimization strategies were proposed: preferentially using low-emission carbon sources (methanol reduced emissions by 77.6% compared with sodium acetate) and developing alternative carbon sources. Full article

Transboundary water governance faces persistent challenges due to mismatches between natural hydrological boundaries and political administrative boundaries. This study examines the evolution and mechanisms of intergovernmental cooperation in the Taihu Basin (1987–2024), addressing how cooperation forms, evolves, and sustains amid conflicting priorities. Using a mixed-methods approach, we analyzed 106 policy documents, government reports, and stakeholder interviews to map governance stages, cooperation networks, and policy themes. Results reveal three phases in transboundary water governance in Taihu Basin: (1) a centralized hierarchy (1987–2007) dominated by vertical mandates; (2) a hybrid stage (2008–2018) with rising horizontal cooperation driven by crisis responses like the 2007 cyanobacteria outbreak; and (3) a networked stage (2019–2024) integrating diagonal mechanisms that bridged hierarchical gaps and scaled grassroots innovations. Key findings show diagonal relations reduced bureaucratic delays, enabling bottom-up practices like joint river chief systems to become regional policies. While grounded in the Taihu Basin context, this study provides a compelling case of institutional coupling that may inform governance in other transboundary basins, where vertical authority, horizontal reciprocity, and diagonal experimentation coexist dynamically. This study offers a model for balancing administrative fragmentation and ecological integrity, emphasizing adaptive networks over rigid hierarchies. These insights provide a feasible solution approach for addressing transboundary water resource governance challenges in similar institutional environments. Full article

Land use and land cover change (LULCC) is a key driver of carbon storage changes, especially in complex coastal ecosystems such as the Yellow River Delta (YRD), which is jointly influenced by climate change and resource development. The compounded effects of sea-level rise (SLR) and land subsidence (LS) are particularly prominent. This study is the first to integrate the dual impacts of SLR and LS into a unified framework, using three climate scenarios (SSP1–26, SSP2–45, SSP5–85) provided in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), along with LS monitoring data, to comprehensively assess future inundation risks. Building on this, and taking into account land use and ecological protection policies in the YRD, three strategic scenarios—Ecological Protection Scenario (EPS), Natural Development Scenario (NDS), and Economic Growth Scenario (EGS)—are established. The PLUS and InVEST models are used to jointly simulate LULCC and carbon storage changes across these scenarios. Unlike previous studies focusing on single driving factors, this research innovatively develops a dynamic simulation system for LULCC and carbon storage driven by the SLR-LS compound effects, providing scientific guidance for land space development and coastal zone planning in vulnerable coastal areas, while enhancing carbon sink potential. The results of the study show the following: (1) Over the past 30 years, the land use pattern of the YRD has generally extended toward the sea, with land use transitions mainly from grasslands (the largest reduction: 1096.20 km²), wetlands, reservoirs and ponds, and paddy fields to drylands, culture areas, construction lands, salt pans, and tidal flats. (2) Carbon storage in the YRD exhibits significant spatial heterogeneity. Low-carbon storage areas are primarily concentrated in the coastal regions, while high-carbon storage areas are mainly found in grasslands, paddy fields, and woodlands. LULCC, especially the conversion of high carbon storage ecosystems to low carbon storage uses, has resulted in an overall net regional carbon loss of 2.22 × 10⁶ t since 1990. (3) The risk of seawater inundation in the YRD is closely related to LS, particularly under low sea-level scenarios, with LS playing a dominant role in exacerbating this risk. Under the EGS, the region is projected to face severe seawater inundation and carbon storage losses by 2030 and 2060. Full article

With accelerating surface warming trends in urban regions, cities like Algiers are increasingly exposed to extreme heat, contributing to a growing concern over heat-related illnesses. For a comprehensive long-term assessment (2001–2023) of heat-related risks in Algiers, multi-decade satellite, meteorological, and census data were used in this study to map and assess spatial patterns of the Heat Health Risk Index (HHRI) within the framework established by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) incorporating hazard, exposure and vulnerability components. The Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) was then calculated to assess thermal stress levels during the same period. Following this, the study addressed a critical research gap by coupling the HHRI and UTCI and identified hotspots using the Getis-Ord Gi* statistical analysis tool. Our findings reveal that the intensity of HHRI has increased over time since “very-low” risk areas had an outstanding decrease (93%) and a 6 °C UTCI rise over 23 years reaching the “very strong heat stress” level. The coupled index demonstrated greater and different risk areas compared to the HHRI alone, suggesting that the coupling of both indicators enhances the sensitivity of heat risk assessment. Finally, persistently identified hotspots in central and eastern regions call for localized, targeted interventions in those areas and highlight the value of remote sensing in informing policymakers and enhancing climate resilience. Full article

Religion in international relations should not be viewed solely as a source of conflict or cultural differences; it also has a constructive dimension, as demonstrated by the international activities of faith-based organizations (FBOs). FBOs have benefited from the post-Cold War expansion of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in global affairs. Their growth is often linked to raising awareness among various social groups about security challenges or issues traditionally addressed by state and inter-governmental actors, as well as increasing international interconnectedness. While FBOs differ from classical NGOs in their strong religious motivation, they too often organize around specific missions or messages. The Community of Sant’Egidio (CSE) is a distinctive example of a faith-based organization that operates both as a religious community within the Roman Catholic Church and as an internationally active NGO. Unlike many NGOs, which are founded in response to a singular issue, CSE has broadened its scope over time, addressing a wide range of concerns, from poverty alleviation and peacebuilding to humanitarian aid and, more recently, environmental issues. This paper explores the process by which the CSE has discursively constructed its identity and examines how this process has contributed to its growing influence on the international stage. Full article

Given that most environmental regulation is performed on the international and national scale and that municipal powers are often limited, what are the necessary conditions for local government to take on leadership and policy innovation in this space? The transportation-for-hire industry provides an interesting case study as municipalities around the world recently updated their local regulatory frameworks because of the disruption caused by the advent of ridehailing. Over time, policy learning resulted in policy convergence of major components, including license requirements, vehicle standards, and rate standardization, across the industry. However, overlooked from these initial regulations, but now gaining traction is the regulation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of ridehailing vehicles and the transportation-for-hire industry more generally. Because of how many transportation-for-hire vehicles are in use, activists argue that environmental fleet standards ought to be tougher than that for personal-use vehicles. This paper investigates the emerging regulatory frameworks for GHG emissions by examining four case studies of the first-mover cities (London, Amsterdam, Mexico City, and New York City) in this emerging policy space, untangling the complex web of multi-level regulatory governance to tease our policy learning outcomes. Through the innovative lens of examining multi-level governance for policy learning, we conclude that GHG emissions in the transportation industry at the local level only occurred after international and national frameworks were set, giving “permission” to local leaders to demonstrate innovation and leadership on how to achieve targets set by higher-order governments. Cities, assisted with policy-learning transfer through international not-for-profit organizations, acted via local government powers to fill in the gaps of international and national frameworks with policies implemented at higher orders of government in other places. These local environmental transportation-for-hire bylaws took a three-pronged form: (a) vehicle permit standards; (b) regulations of public space and infrastructure; and (c) public–private partnerships to assist in the transition to electric vehicles. Full article

Effective greenhouse gas mitigation strategies in the agricultural sector are crucial for reducing emissions. Methane (CH₄) emissions associated with agriculture are predominantly the result of enteric fermentation from ruminant production systems. Accurate measurement of these emissions is essential for assessing environmental impacts and developing effective mitigation strategies. The eddy covariance (EC) method is widely used to measure trace gas and energy fluxes and has since also been adapted to measure enteric CH₄ emissions from grazing ruminants effectively. This study combined EC measurements of CH₄ emissions from pasture-based Jersey cows with milk production, feed intake data and CH₄ prediction equations during four measurement campaigns between September and November 2022 in northern Germany. Cows’ distance relative to the EC station was controlled by a specialized fencing system and its effect on the measured CH₄ fluxes was adjusted by means of footprint (FP) flux allocation based on a two-dimensional FP model. The EC method presented very low daily emissions of 205 g CH₄ cow⁻¹ day⁻¹, below the estimations based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Tier 2 default values and other equations based on feed intake and feed quality parameters. The results of this study indicated that the EC method, in combination with a specialized fencing design, is an appropriate method to measure enteric CH₄ emissions of dairy cows in pasture-based systems. Moreover, this study showed that a comprehensive dataset of animal-related data is a practical tool to contextualize the results. Full article

The impact of climate change is increasingly evident in various domains today and is gaining prominence in scientific inquiries. Climate change also affects the utilisation of renewable energies. The article examines the effects of 21st-century climate change on the annual electric energy production of medium-sized photovoltaic module systems. The study bases its analysis on three possible scenarios: a pessimistic (RCP 8.5), a less pessimistic (RCP 4.5), and an optimistic (RCP 2.6) scenario. The applied Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) scenarios were developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to enhance comparability in analyses related to climate change. Compared to older linear models, an innovation utilises a more flexible and multidirectional model. One of the article’s key findings is that, for all three examined settlements, the annual yield of the studied photovoltaic systems will surpass the levels of the base year 2010 by the middle and end of the century. Another significant outcome is that, under the three scenarios analysed, the ratio of annual performance variation to annual global radiation variation shows substantial differences by the middle and end of the century compared to the 2010 baseline. In the optimistic scenario, this ratio exceeds 1, whereas in the pessimistic and less pessimistic scenarios, it falls below 1. This ratio does not directly inform about the annual production—which increases in all cases—but rather about the changes in efficiency. These efficiency changes are influenced by the rise in annual average temperatures and the fluctuation in sunny hours yearly. The third finding reveals that under the climate change pessimistic scenario (RCP 8.5), the efficiency decrease is less adverse than in the less pessimistic scenario (RCP 4.5). Full article

Vegetation dynamics result from the interaction between human activities and climate change. Numerous studies have investigated the contributions of human activities and climate change to vegetation cover dynamics using statistical methods. However, these studies have not focused much on the spatially non-stationary effects of human activities on vegetation cover changes and future trends. Taking the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) area as the case study area, it was divided into 32 combinations by considering the spatially varying effects of five factors related to human activity and climate change, including gross domestic product (GDP), population, land use change, precipitation, and temperature. Regression in terms of pixels was then performed for each combination at the pixel scale. The result showed that from 2001 to 2020, the annual average normalized digital vegetation index (NDVI) in the TGR area exhibited an upward trend (slope = 0.0051, p < 0.01), with the mean NDVI increasing from 0.53 to 0.64. Compared with the regression with climate variables, the proposed model improved the ${\mathrm{R}}^2$ value from 0.2567 to 0.6484, with the p-value in the t-test reduced from 0.2579 to 0.0056. It indicated that changes in vegetation were dominated by human activities and climate change in 48.77% and 3.19% of the TGR area, respectively, and 43.70% of the vegetation coverage was dominated by both human activities and climate change. This study also predicted the future NDVI according to the shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs) and representative concentration pathway (RCP) scenarios provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. It suggests that, assuming future regional policies are the same as the historical policies in the TGR, the SSP5–8.5 scenario would have the highest and fastest growth in average NDVI, with the average NDVI increasing from 0.68 to 0.89, because of the large increase in the GDP, lower population in this scenario, and adequate hydrothermal conditions. Full article

Cooperation in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area under the “one country, two systems” framework is different from regional cooperation in other areas. Its unique cross-border cooperation within one country has attracted much attention from the academic community. Since the 1980s, the cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao has gone through different stages with China’s development. Examining the process of change can contribute to understanding the logic and driving mechanisms of cooperation in the Greater Bay Area. This study shows that regional cooperation has been driven from the market to the combined influence of the market and government since the 1980s. During this transition, the central government has become increasingly involved in the cooperation through political embedding, eventually becoming the main driver of this regional cooperation. However, regardless of whether the driving force was the market or the government, significant internal tensions remained throughout the transition process. The research suggests that the top-level design for institutionalising regional cooperation can effectively balance market and administrative forces, leveraging the strengths of each. It is valuable to elucidate the uniqueness and complexity of Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao cooperation under “one country, two systems”, which will contribute to further promoting deep cooperation in the Greater Bay Area. Full article

Under the Paris Agreement, countries must articulate their most ambitious mitigation targets in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) every five years and regularly submit interconnected information on greenhouse gas (GHG) aspects, including national GHG inventories, NDC progress tracking, mitigation policies and measures (PAMs), and GHG projections in various mitigation scenarios. Research highlights significant gaps in the definition of mitigation targets and the reporting on GHG-related elements, such as inconsistencies between national GHG inventories, projections, and mitigation targets, a disconnect between PAMs and mitigation scenarios, as well as varied methodological approaches across sectors. To address these challenges, the Mitigation-Inventory Tool for Integrated Climate Action (MITICA) provides a methodological framework that links national GHG inventories, PAMs and GHG projections, applying a hybrid decomposition approach that integrates machine learning regression techniques with classical forecasting methods for developing GHG emission projections. MITICA enables mitigation scenario generation until 2050, incorporating over 60 PAMs across Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) sectors. It is the first modelling approach that ensures consistency between reporting elements, aligning NDC progress tracking and target setting with IPCC best practices while linking climate change with sustainable economic development. MITICA’s results include projections that align with observed trends, validated through cross-validation against test data, and employ robust methods for evaluating PAMs, thereby establishing its reliability. Full article

The relatively new sea level satellite altimetry and secular coastal tide gauge data made the reconstruction of sea levels on regional and global scales possible about one century back. Due to better estimations of the Earth’s crustal, glacial, tectonic, and other possible motion biases in tide gauge data, some additional improvements can be expected in sea level reconstructions, analysis, and predictions. A more detailed review of published sea level-related results was conducted for the Eastern Adriatic coast, including the operation of the tide gauge network and data processing, crustal movement estimations, and the establishment of a new reference height system in Croatia, based on five tide gauge sea level data. It was shown that sea level variation and trend-related indicators are spatially homogeneous, especially on a sub-Adriatic scale. The regional Adriatic Sea mean sea level rise rate of +2.6 mm/year for the satellite altimetry era (1993–2019) is less than the global mean sea level (GMSL) rise rate of +3.3 mm/year for the period of 1993–2022. Several empirical methods for GMSL projections and expected IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) assessments until the end of the 21st century are considered. Full article