Centering food, decentering lifestyle: Food politics and the Green Transition

The study aimed to identify the main changes in international trade in the context of achieving carbon neutrality. The research methods included analysis of the legal framework, analysis of official sources of documents, and secondary analysis of relevant reports. The study findings demonstrated that the green transition is shaping changes in supply chains and global trade. Therefore, the commitments under the Paris Agreement formed a regulatory framework within the European Union that promotes the sustainable supply of critical materials for the green transition. In the European Union, the green transition is being implemented under the European Green Deal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Various mechanisms were created for this purpose, including the Emission Trading System, which can help achieve this goal but creates risks of economic polarisation within the European Union. Export restrictions on critical raw materials, which reached 30% in 2022, also pose a significant obstacle to the green transition. The problem of resource allocation was also evident in times of geopolitical tension. This is determined by the fact that most rare earth resources are in the bowels of the People’s Republic of China and the countries that cooperate most closely with the Chinese government. At the same time, the resources of the United States and European countries are limited. This created opportunities for the formation of new trade relations. For instance, representatives of the European Union are actively cooperating with Africa to achieve both domestic carbon neutrality goals and the sustainable development of the African continent. As a result, international trade may change dramatically in the context of intensified trade between green governments, but this may only be possible in the long term.

China's green deal: Can China's cement industry achieve carbon neutral emissions by 2060?

China’s massive reliance on fossil energy consumption is considered as the major hindrance in achieving carbon neutrality and environmental protection goals. However, China is committed to reduce the proportion of non-renewable energy for achieving the dual goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality by 2030 and 2060, respectively. To meet these aspiring goals, China mainly relies on technological innovations and climate protections policies implementations for transforming fossil energy to renewable energy consumption. The present research is intended to assess the impact of environmental policy stringency (EPS) and technological innovations in China’s green energy transitions. Based on the nature of research data, the quantile regression model was applied to precisely explore the drivers of green energy transitions in China from 1990 to 2020 in various quantiles. The finding indices that technology innovation, EPS, and renewable energy index had accelerated the green energy transitions, while, the non-renewable energy consumption exhibited a negative impact. The results also revealed that impact of the solar and hydro installation capacity was significantly increase in the second quantile. The empirical analysis of this study informs several policy directions aimed at facilitating China’s green energy transitions and decarbonizing goals.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the green transition process in the Russian Federation. The study is relevant due to the fact that in 2021 Russia adopted a strategy for low-carbon economic development, which means that Russia is pursuing an active environmental policy and has a clear goal of adhering to the principles of sustainable development. Special attention is paid to the possible difficulties of greening the economy: business resistance, a weak goal in reducing greenhouse gases and risks of new, post-fuel Russian economy. The article is focused on the use of methods that reveal the history of the ecological transition, show positive dynamics and possible scenarios for the development of a low-carbon economy. In conclusion, the authors state, that despite the fact that achieving carbon neutrality is a difficult task, Russia will continue to pursue this goal trying to find an appropriate approach to a safe transition.

Achieving carbon neutrality in tourism-dependent regions poses a critical challenge for global climate governance. However, existing studies lack frameworks to analyze the linkages between tourism and regional carbon neutrality. This study fills the gap by developing an interdisciplinary quantitative framework integrating Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index decomposition and system dynamics modeling. It systematically examines tourism-carbon neutrality interactions across industry, residents, land use, and Carbon Capture and Storage. Using Hainan Island (2010–2021) as a case study, the simulations reveal the following: (1) fluctuating growth in net emissions alongside declining carbon intensity; (2) the tertiary and secondary industries are the main emitters, with the former decarbonizing faster and the latter lagging behind in the green transition, while the primary industry is at a low level of both carbon emissions and carbon intensity; (3) residential emissions are driven by urbanization and living standards; (4) land-use carbon sinks decline slightly despite urban green expansion, due to construction land encroachment; (5) sensitivity analysis shows tourism growth in Hainan currently increases regional emissions but reduces carbon intensity. The novelty of this study lies in mapping dynamic relationships through a coupled approach and providing tools for destination-specific decarbonization strategies. Practical implications emphasize the need for integrated policies that balance tourism growth, industrial decarbonization, residential planning, and ecosystem restoration. By aligning economic objectives with climate resilience, this approach advances climate governance for policymakers in tourism-dependent regions.

Addressing climate change and achieving carbon neutrality are urgent global responsibilities, with China’s “dual carbon” goals presenting a significant challenge and opportunity for its energy sector. Green finance, as a pivotal driver for fostering low-carbon and high-quality development in the energy industry, significantly accelerates its green transition. Employing an integrated micro-macro framework, this study first develops a tripartite evolutionary game model involving government, local energy enterprises, and external energy enterprises to analyze the micro-mechanisms of corporate low-carbon decision-making under green finance policies. Subsequently, utilizing panel data from 30 Chinese provinces (2013–2021), it empirically examines the macro impact of green finance on the industry’s low-carbon, high-quality development using a spatial Durbin model (SDM). Key findings include the following: (1) Game analysis reveals that local enterprises’ low-carbon transition propensity and emission reduction returns increase with R&D investment but are negatively moderated by the tax rate level within green finance policies. (2) Spatial econometric results demonstrate that green finance significantly facilitates local energy industry low-carbon transition via technological progress, confirming a significant negative spatial spillover effect on neighboring regions, with notable regional heterogeneity. (3) The effectiveness of green finance policy exhibits significant regional disparity, being markedly stronger in eastern China compared to central and western regions. The findings provide a theoretical and practical foundation for improving market mechanisms and regional coordination in China’s green finance policies, offering a valuable reference for the design of green finance systems in other major emerging and developing economies.

This study investigates strategies for achieving carbon neutrality within OECD countries, acknowledging their significant contribution to global carbon emissions. Employing advanced econometric techniques, including panel-corrected standard error (PCSE), instrumental variables generalized method of moments (IV-GMM), and quantile regression, it analyzes the impact of green transitions on carbon neutrality from 2000 to 2020. Results reveal that green transitions play a crucial role in achieving carbon neutrality, with varied effects based on different indicators and quantiles. The study emphasizes a multifaceted approach, advocating for the advancement of green policies, political strategies, technological innovations, and financial mechanisms concurrently. By addressing issues such as cross-sectional dependence, heteroscedasticity, endogeneity, and heterogeneity, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of the direct effects of transitions and green indicators on the path toward carbon neutrality in OECD countries. Its findings aim to guide policymakers toward more efficient and tailored sustainability efforts.

In response to the global climate and sustainability crisis, many countries have expressed ambitions goals in terms of carbon neutrality and a green economy. In this context, the European Green Deal comprises several policy elements aimed to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.In response to these ambitions, the European Space Agency (ESA) is initiating various efforts to leverage on space technologies and data and support various Green Deal ambitions. The ESA Space for Green Future (S4GF) Accelerator will explore new mechanisms to promote the use of space technologies and advanced modelling approaches for scenario investigations on the Green Transition of economy and society.A central element of the S4GF accelerator are the Green Transition Information Factories (GTIF). GTIF takes advantage of Earth Observation (EO) capabilities, geospatial and digital platform technologies, as well as cutting edge analytics to generate actionable knowledge and decision support in the context of the Green Transition.A first national scale GTIF demonstrator has now been developed for Austria. It addressed the information needs and national priorities for the Green Deal in Austria. This is facilitated through a bottom-up consultation and co-creation process with various national stakeholders and expert entities. These requirements are matched with various EO industry teams thatThe current GTIF demonstrator for Austria (GTIF-AT) builds on top of federated European cloud services, providing efficient access to key EO data repositories and rich interdisciplinary datasets. GTIF-AT initially addresses five Green Transition domains: (1) Energy Transition, (2) Mobility Transition, (3) Sustainable Cities, (4) Carbon Accounting and (5) EO Adaptation Services.For each of these domains, scientific narratives are provided and elaborated using scrollytelling technologies. The GTIF interactive explore tools allow various users to explore the domains and subdomains in more detail to investigate better understand the challenges, complexities, and underlying socio-economic and environmental conflicts. The GTIF interactive explore tools combine domain specific scientific results with intuitive Graphical User Interfaces and modern frontend technologies. In the GTIF Energy Transition domain, users can interactively investigate the suitability of locations at 10m resolution for the expansion of renewable (wind or solar) energy production. The tools also allow investigating the underlying conflicts e.g., with existing land uses or biodiversity constraints. Satellite based altimetry is used to dynamically monitor the water levels in hydro energy reservoirs to infer the related energy storage potentials. In the sustainable cities’ domain, users can investigate the photovoltaic installments on rooftops and assess the suitability in terms of roof geometry and expected energy yields.GTIF enables various users to inform themselves and interactively investigate the challenges but also opportunities related to the Green Transition ambitions. This enables, for example, citizens to engage in the discussion process for the renewable energy expansion or support energy start-ups to develop new services. The GTIF development follows an open science and open-source approach and several new GTIF instances are planned for the next years, addressing the Green Deal information needs and accelerating the Green Transition. This presentation will showcase some of the GTIF interactive explore tools and provide an outlook on future efforts.

Towards environmental sustainability in E−7 countries: Assessing the roles of natural resources, economic growth, country risk, and energy transition

The global transport sector of the world economy contributes about 15% of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions in the world today, and this must be drastically curbed. To reduce GHG emissions and achieve carbon neutrality, the University of Saskatchewan’s Office of Sustainability has directed a green energy transition for the institution in recent years, leading diverse sustainability projects and agendas due to the importance of curbing climate change and advancing sustainability. However, there is a strong need to pursue deep decarbonization within the campus, and the university transport system is a critical operational area that the Sustainability Office has considered for decarbonization to achieve the net-zero agenda of the university. The motivation for this work stems from the directive of the Sustainability Office to transform the campus vehicle fleet as an identified area for curbing GHG emissions and meet the University agenda. This study was organized in partnership with the Sustainability Office and involved an economic benefit analysis of the campus fleet (consisting of 91 ICE vehicles) to determine if it was economically or financially feasible to transition from Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs) or PVs (Petrol Vehicles) to Electric Vehicles (EVs). The analysis used RETScreen Expert (a software for analyzing renewable energy technology projects) to model diverse transition scenarios. The variables of Payback Period (PBP), cash flow projections, savings made from transitioning (fuel cost savings and energy cost savings), benefit–cost ratio, and GHG emission reduction potential were analyzed. The findings revealed that the GHG emissions from the campus fleet could be reduced by 100%, resulting in the removal of 298.1 tCO₂ from the environment. The fleet manager could save $CAD 129,049 (88.9%) in fuel costs, and the return on investment could be achieved in year 5 but could be reduced to year 2 if the vehicles were put into constant and active use, eliminating idle times. Lastly, the Sustainability Office would achieve a GHG reduction revenue of CAD 14,906. These findings show that pursuing sustainable transport transitions in the transportation transition for a university campus is financially and economically viable and should be pursued vigorously. The contribution of this work provides examples and evidence to advance policy recommendations to aid the effective and efficient transitioning of the transportation sector, specifically for communities at the scale of university campuses.

The race to zero emissions: Can renewable energy be the path to carbon neutrality?

The Paris Agreement, a landmark in the multilateral process of global climate governance, not only demonstrates the greatest inclusiveness and feasibility based on science and principles, but also points out the general direction of the global green and low-carbon transition. The Agreement has set a global goal to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. To achieve this long-term objective, developed countries should take the lead in reducing emissions as soon as possible, which is fundamental to the achievement of net-zero global emissions at an early date. China’s goal of striving to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060 shows its great ambition, strength, and responsibility as a major country, indicating that China is committed to realizing carbon neutrality from carbon peaking in the shortest time in global history, and will make greater efforts and contributions to achieve the goals set out in the Paris Agreement.

Driven by global sustainability goals, residential photovoltaic (PV) has become a key driver in achieving carbon neutrality. Residential PV systems, due to their low cost and ease of installation, are gaining increasing significance. However, uneven regional development in China has posed challenges.This study, based on consumer behavior theory and supported by text analysis, designed a survey to explore significant internal perception factors influencing PV adoption. Hypothesis testing confirmed the importance of these factors. Using agent-based modeling, we incorporated these significant internal perceptions and demographic attributes, along with external factors such as information dissemination, to simulate consumer decision-making and the effectiveness of promotional strategies.The results show that positive perceptions of benefits, ease of use, and lower risk significantly enhance the willingness to adopt PV systems. Furthermore, controlling the scope of information dissemination and leveraging weak ties (such as online networks) are crucial for improving promotional effectiveness. This research offers practical insights for optimizing PV marketing strategies, aiding both Chinas and global green energy transitions.

The article is devoted to the assessment of the achievement of existing global environmental trends related to the transition to a green economy using the example of an industrial region. The main trends in greening the regional economy are selected and assessed. It is established that the implementation of environmental trends in the Chelyabinsk region is very heterogeneous. The highest score was given to the trend related to the overall reduction of emissions into the atmosphere, which is explained by the implementation of comprehensive regional programs that made it possible to reduce the emission of pollutants. It was revealed that the situation is slightly worse with the transition to environmentally friendly transport, in the field of waste management and disposal and the preservation of natural ecosystems. The region has some achievements in this area, but they cannot be compared with the best world practices. It is noted that the region almost completely lacks activities to develop low- carbon energy and achieve carbon neutrality, green construction and greening of agriculture. These environmental trends can be taken into account in further adjustment of the environmental policy of the Chelyabinsk region.

The European Green Deal comprises various policy initiatives with the goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050. The “Fit for 55 packages” include the Social Climate Fund, which aims to help, among others, vulnerable households and transport users meet the costs of the green energy transition. Thus, analyzing households’ expenditures and the associated carbon emissions is crucial to achieving a net-zero society. In the present study, we combine scenarios of households’ expenditures according to the Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose with economic decoupling scenarios to assess, for the first time, the European carbon budget allocation on a consumption basis. Expenditure projections based on socioeconomic scenarios were calculated using the Bayesian structural time series, and the associated emissions were estimated through the greenhouse gas intensity of the Gross Domestic Product. The model can be used to report the carbon budget of households and monitor the effectiveness of the measures funded by the Social Climate Fund. However, the emissions burden obtained by means of averaged greenhouse gas intensity of Gross Domestic Product results in a rough approximation of outcomes, and more accurate indicators should be developed across the member states.