Search Results (7)

Methane (CH₄) is a potent greenhouse gas and a key target for near-term climate mitigation, yet major uncertainties remain in quantifying emissions from landfills, particularly in rapidly urbanizing regions of the Global South. Here, we present a systematic satellite-based assessment of CH₄ emissions from landfills and related sites across northern and central Brazil, based on plume detections from the Carbon Mapper public data portal. Using imaging spectroscopy data from the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) onboard the International Space Station and the dedicated Tanager-1 satellite, we analyzed 40 plume detections across 16 sites in nine Brazilian states spanning the Amazon forest biome and the Cerrado transition region. An adaptive thresholding algorithm was applied to each detection to quantify plume strength (ppm·m³), areal extent, and recurrence across multiple overpasses. Our results reveal a strongly heavy-tailed distribution of emissions, with most sites exhibiting modest plume strengths in the 10⁶–10⁷ ppm·m³ range, while a small number of facilities dominated the upper tail. Two detections at Brasília (2.22 × 10⁸ and 2.14 × 10⁸ ppm·m³) and one at Marituba (1.66 × 10⁸ ppm·m³) were classified as super-emitters, exceeding all other sites by more than an order of magnitude. These facilities also demonstrated high persistence across overpasses, in contrast to smaller landfills such as Macapá and Boa Vista, where emissions were weaker (<10⁷ ppm·m³) and episodic. Regional contrasts were also evident: sites in the Cerrado transition zone, (e.g., Brasília, Campo Grande) generally showed stronger and more frequent emissions than those in the Amazon basin. These findings underscore the disproportionate role of a few persistent super-emitters in shaping the regional CH₄ budget. Targeted mitigation at these high-impact sites could yield rapid and cost-effective emission reductions, directly supporting Brazil’s commitments under the Paris Agreement and the Global CH₄ Pledge. More broadly, this study demonstrates the power of high-resolution satellite imaging spectroscopy for identifying, monitoring, and prioritizing CH₄ mitigation opportunities in the waste sector. Full article

Regional carbon budgeting in policymaking is underutilized despite its importance for achieving global climate goals, particularly the Paris Agreement’s target of limiting global warming to 2 °C by 2050. In this work, we present the model PLEDGES, a novel system dynamic-based simulation tool that focuses on the European Union region to equitably distribute carbon budgets among the Member States and activate emissions offset strategies to manage unexpected deviations from the EU27 carbon budget. The emissions trading dynamic is based on the “Gains from Trade” approach. The tool also calculates the cost of the offset strategies based on the use of the abatement cost curves for the Member States. Using a case study of the recent increase in carbon emissions in Germany in response to reduced Russian gas supplies, different emissions scenarios for Germany’s quota redistribution among the Member States are explored. The study reveals varied cost implications of between 30–60 Eur/ton CO_2eq to offset the emissions increase across other Member States. Final recommendations include promoting cross-border collaboration at the EU27 level. Full article

The biodiversity of our planet is under threat, with approximately one million species expected to become extinct within decades. The reason: negative human actions, which include hunting, overfishing, pollution, and the conversion of land for urbanisation and agricultural purposes. Despite significant investment from charities and governments for activities that benefit nature, global wildlife populations continue to decline. Local wildlife guardians have historically played a critical role in global conservation efforts and have shown their ability to achieve sustainability at various levels. In 2021, COP26 recognised their contributions and pledged USD 1.7 billion per year; however this is a fraction of the global biodiversity budget available (between USD 124 billion and USD 143 billion annually) given they protect 80% of the planets biodiversity. This paper proposes a radical new solution based on “Interspecies Money”, where animals own their own money. Creating a digital twin for each species allows animals to dispense funds to their guardians for the services they provide. For example, a rhinoceros may release a payment to its guardian each time it is detected in a camera trap as long as it remains alive and well. To test the efficacy of this approach, 27 camera traps were deployed over a 400 km${}^2$ area in Welgevonden Game Reserve in Limpopo Province in South Africa. The motion-triggered camera traps were operational for ten months and, using deep learning, we managed to capture images of 12 distinct animal species. For each species, a makeshift bank account was set up and credited with GBP 100. Each time an animal was captured in a camera and successfully classified, 1 penny (an arbitrary amount—mechanisms still need to be developed to determine the real value of species) was transferred from the animal account to its associated guardian. The trial demonstrated that it is possible to achieve high animal detection accuracy across the 12 species with a sensitivity of 96.38%, specificity of 99.62%, precision of 87.14%, F1 score of 90.33%, and an accuracy of 99.31%. The successful detections facilitated the transfer of GBP 185.20 between animals and their associated guardians. Full article

Cities constitute three quarters of global energy consumption and the built environment is responsible for significant use of final energy (62%) and greenhouse gas emissions (55%). Energy has now become a strategic issue for local authorities (LAs) and can offer savings when budget cuts have threatened the provision of core services. Progressive LAs are exploring energy savings and carbon reduction opportunities as part of the sustainable and smart city agenda. This paper explores the role of citizens in smart city development as “buildings don’t use energy: people do”. Citizens have the potential to shape transitions towards smart and sustainable futures. This paper contributes to the growing evidence base of citizen engagement in low carbon smart cities by presenting novel insights and practical lessons on how citizen engagement can help in smart city development through co-creation with a focus on energy in the built environment. A case study of Nottingham in the UK, a leading smart city, is analysed using Arnstein’s Ladder of Citizen Participation. Nottingham City Council (NCC) has pledged to keep “citizens at the heart” of its plans. This paper discusses learnings from two EU funded Horizon 2020 projects, REMOURBAN (REgeneration MOdel for accelerating the smart URBAN transformation) and eTEACHER, both of which aimed to empower citizens to reduce energy consumption and co-create smart solutions. Although these two projects are diverse in approaches and contexts, what unites them is a focus on citizen engagement, both face to face and digital. REMOURBAN has seen a “whole house” approach to retrofit in vulnerable communities to improve liveability through energy efficiency. User interaction and co-creation in eTEACHER has provided specifications for technical design of an energy saving App for buildings. eTEACHER findings reflect users’ energy needs, understanding of control interfaces, motivations for change and own creative ideas. Citizens were made co-creators in eTEACHER from the beginning through regular communication. In REMOURBAN, citizens had a role in the procurement and bidding process to influence retrofit project proposals. Findings can help LAs to engage demographically diverse citizens across a variety of buildings and communities for low carbon smart city development. Full article

Most election pledges require a significant budget for their implementation. In the case of a candidate for the head of a local government who presented his pledges related to urban planning by subdividing them into voting districts, we tested how the size of the budget committed to the voters affected the votes. Based on the urban planning-related pledged budget, the economic utility value of one vote was estimated to be about 2050 USD. In elections for local government heads, as the pledged budget related to urban planning increased, the vote percentage and the degree of competition for votes increased positively. Moreover, when the pledged budget related to urban planning exceeded a certain level, the slope of the vote percentage curve tended to be gentle. The slope of the curve is steep in the section up to the pledged budget of 50 million USD, and the slope becomes gentle in the next section. This study was based on a specific case that was limited in terms of space and time, and it was limited to analyzing only the election pledge and election result data without considering the socioeconomic background factors of the voters. Full article

Evidence-based policymaking must be rooted in sound data to inform policy priorities, budget allocations, and tracking of progress. This is especially true in the case of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as they provide the policy framework that all 193 UN member states have pledged to achieve by 2030. Good data and clear metrics are critical for each country to take stock of where it stands, devise pathways for achieving the goals, and track progress. Current assessments of the EU’s performance on the SDGs, however, tend to reach different findings and policy conclusions on where the priorities for further action lie, which can be confusing for researchers and policymakers. In order to demystify the drivers of such differences and make them transparent, this paper compares and contrasts the results obtained by four SDG monitoring approaches. We identify three main elements that are responsible for most of the differences: (i) the use of pre-defined targets for calculating baseline assessments and countries’ trajectories; (ii) the inclusion of measures that track not only domestic performance, but also the EU’s transboundary impacts on the rest of the world; and (iii) the use of non-official statistics to bridge data gaps, especially for biodiversity goals. This paper concludes that there is not one “correct” way of providing an assessment of whether the EU and EU member states are on track to achieve the goals, but we illustrate how the different results are the outcomes of certain methodological choices. More “forward-looking” policy trackers are needed to assess implementation efforts on key SDG transformations. Full article

The Paris Agreement, ratified in 2015, pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions within a Global Carbon Budget that limits the global temperature increase to less than 2 °C. With the Roadmap 2050 mitigation measures, the European Union has a target to reduce emissions by 80% of their 1990 value by 2050 but without giving an estimation or a maximum ceiling for the total amount of cumulative greenhouse gases emissions over that period. Thus, the impact of the EU regulations on global warming remains unestimated. The aim and the novelty of this study are to develop a set of potential European emissions trajectories, within the Global Carbon Budget and at the same time satisfying the Roadmap 2050 goals. The result of the study highlights the urgency to reinforce mitigation measures for Europe as soon as possible because any delay in policy implementation risks the Roadmap 2050 mitigation package being insufficient to achieve the objectives of the Paris treaty. Full article