Vulnerability of eco-friendly assets to return shocks from climate change and carbon credit indices

Climate change poses a threat to the survival of the human race. Increased interest in climate change, carbon peaks, and carbon neutralization and rising recognition of the challenges inherent to highlighting this issue provides the opportunity to carry out a bibliometric study to identify what research can generate ideas regarding climate change, carbon peaks, and carbon neutralization. As expected, it may align with the dual goals of the Chinese government agenda in terms of a carbon peak and carbon neutralization in 2030 and 2060, respectively. The recent argument has induced calls for improved transparency and standardization in the approaches adopted to synthesize climate change, carbon peak, and carbon neutralization research. Nevertheless, key questions are still unanswered, namely, what are the key contributions that the research community has produced in relation to climate change, carbon peaks, and carbon neutralization? Have their contributions been inclined toward specific geographical areas, directions, and themes? As such, software tools for bibliometric analysis, VOSviewer, and Python were used to conduct a systematic quantitative analysis of the relevant literature on climate change, carbon peaks, and carbon neutralization. The results show that carbon peaks and carbon neutralization have received wide attention from academic scholars. In the meantime, China faces the unfolding challenges of economic, technological, and political factors that need to be addressed to achieve carbon peak and carbon neutralization. This study provides policy implications for achieving China’s emission reduction targets.

Climate change is inevitable and intensifying. The consequences are particularly severe for urban areas, which are becoming increasingly populated. This has resulted in the necessity to analyze the effects of climate change on the functioning of urban areas and build and plan strategies for strengthening the resilience of cities and their infrastructures and for predicting climate change and the threats associated with it. This study proposes a multi-criteria model for analyzing and assessing the risk arising from climate change to urban areas by determining the probability of the occurrence of various threats and their potential consequences for urbanization. The model takes into account the exposure and vulnerability of assets, systems, infrastructure, and communities to the significant consequences of climate change and the occurrence of hazardous events. Bayesian probability theory was proposed to predict the probability of hazardous event occurrence, taking into account climate change and the statistical uncertainty in estimating extreme hazard impacts. The proposed model allows us to include vulnerability drivers and resilience factors and their effect on the functioning of a city and its critical infrastructures and, consequently, the lives and well-being of residents. The model can be applied to risk management and planning strategies for urban resilience strengthening.

<p><strong>Fifty-one years of scientific ocean drilling through the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) and its predecessors generated a treasure trove of Cenozoic climate and carbon cycle dynamics. Yet, it remains unclear how climate system and carbon cycle interacted under changing geologic boundary conditions. Here, we present the carbon isotope (d<sup>13</sup>C) megasplice, documenting deep-ocean d<sup>13</sup>C evolution since 35 million years ago (Ma). We juxtapose the d<sup>13</sup>C megasplice with its d<sup>18</sup>O counterpart and determine their phase-difference on ~100-kyr eccentricity time-scales. This analysis uncovers that 2.4-Myr eccentricity modulates the in-phase relationship between d<sup>13</sup>C and d<sup>18</sup>O during the Oligo-Miocene (34-6 Ma), potentially related to changes in continental weathering. At 6 Ma, a striking switch from in-phase to anti-phase behaviour occurs, signalling a threshold in the climate system. We hypothesize that Arctic glaciation and the emergence of bipolar ice sheets enabled eccentricity to exert a major influence on the size of continental carbon reservoirs. Our results suggest that a reverse change in climate - carbon cycle interaction should be anticipated if CO<sub>2</sub> levels rise further and we return to a world of unipolar ice sheets.</strong></p>

Extreme weather events such as flooding have been observed to deplete households’ assets and render households vulnerable to shocks and poverty. Few empirical studies have however examined households’ asset vulnerability and adaptation to such extreme events in Ghana. Based on qualitative research with two ecologically fragile communities in Ghana, this paper explores the asset vulnerability and adaptation strategies of households against periodic flooding. Findings suggested that households’ assets most vulnerable to flooding were farmlands, human health, housing and financial savings. However, flooding did not affect households’ assets equally; the effects were gendered and differentiated, often occasioned by inequalities in exposure, vulnerability, access to resources, capabilities and opportunities. Nonetheless, many households are actively adapting their assets by acquiring new knowledge about early warning systems, employing different farming practices and diversifying their assets. Understanding the differences in households’ asset vulnerability as well as in the priorities that men and women, as well as the young and old, place on different asset adaptation strategies could therefore be important in the effectiveness of climate change adaptation as well as the sustainability of communities.

Th is chapter introduces a new asset-focused framework whose objective is both analytically to understand and operationally to address the diff erent phases of urban climate change as they impact on the lives of poor urban communities. Th e framework builds on earlier research on asset vulnerability, asset adaptation, and urban poverty reduction (see Moser 1998, 2007; Moser and Felton 2007, 2009), as well as preliminary climate change–related work (see Moser and Satterthwaite 2008). By way of background, the chapter briefl y reviews current approaches to climate change adaptation. It then describes the asset adaptation framework in terms of two components: fi rst, an asset vulnerability analytical framework that appraises the types of socioeconomic vulnerability and groups most aff ected by climate change–related disasters, and, second, an asset adaptation operational framework that identifi es a range of “bottom-up” climate change strategies at the individual, household, and community levels. Complementing this, it also highlights some of the “top-down” interventions of external actors such as municipalities, civil society organizations, and the private sector. Th ese are discussed in terms of four closely interrelated “phases” of urban climate change, namely, long-term resilience, predisaster damage limitation, immediate 9

In recent years, climate change and carbon sinks have been widely studied by the academic community, and relevant research results have emerged in abundance. In this paper, a scientometric analysis of 747 academic works published between 1991 and 2018 related to climate change and carbon sinks is presented to characterize the intellectual landscape by identifying and revealing the basic characteristics, research power, intellectual base, research topic evolution, and research hotspots in this field. The results show that ① the number of publications in this field has increased rapidly and the field has become increasingly interdisciplinary; ② the most productive authors and institutions in this subject area are in the USA, China, Canada, Australia, and European countries, and the cooperation between these researchers is closer than other researchers in the field; ③ 11 of the 747 papers analyzed in this study have played a key role in the evolution of the field; and ④ in this paper, we divide research hotspots into three decade-long phases (1991-1999, 2000-2010, and 2011-present). Drought problems have attracted more and more attention from scholars. In the end, given the current trend of the studies, we conclude a list of research potentials of climate change and carbon sinks in the future. This paper presents an in-depth analysis of climate change and carbon sink research to better understand the global trends and directions that have emerged in this field over the past 28years, which can also provide reference for future research in this field.

Federal land managers are faced with the task of balancing multiple uses and goals when making decisions about land use and the activities that occur on public lands. Though climate change is now well recognized by federal agencies and their local land and resource managers, it is not yet clear how issues related to climate change will be incorporated into on-the-ground decision making within the framework of multiple use objectives. We conducted a case study of a federal land management agency field office, the San Juan Public Lands Center in Durango, CO, U.S.A., to understand from their perspective how decisions are currently made, and how climate change and carbon management are being factored into decision making. We evaluated three major management sectors in which climate change or carbon management may intersect other use goals: forests, biofuels, and grazing. While land managers are aware of climate change and eager to understand more about how it might affect land resources, the incorporation of climate change considerations into everyday decision making is currently quite limited. Climate change is therefore on the radar screen, but remains a lower priority than other issues. To assist the office in making decisions that are based on sound scientific information, further research is needed into how management activities influence carbon storage and resilience of the landscape under climate change.

Many attempts are made to assess future changes in extreme weather events due to anthropogenic climate change, but few studies have estimated the potential change in economic losses from such events. Projecting losses is more complex as it requires insight into the change in the weather hazard but also into exposure and vulnerability of assets. This article discusses the issues involved as well as a framework for projecting future losses, and provides an overview of some state-of-the-art projections. Estimates of changes in losses from cyclones and floods are given, and particular attention is paid to the different approaches and assumptions. All projections show increases in extreme weather losses due to climate change. Flood losses are generally projected to increase more rapidly than losses from tropical and extra-tropical cyclones. However, for the period until the year 2040, the contribution from increasing exposure and value of capital at risk to future losses is likely to be equal or larger than the contribution from anthropogenic climate change. Given the fact that the occurrence of loss events also varies over time due to natural climate variability, the signal from anthropogenic climate change is likely to be lost among the other causes for changes in risk, at least during the period until 2040. More efforts are needed to arrive at a comprehensive approach that includes quantification of changes in hazard, exposure, and vulnerability, as well as adaptation effects.

A GIS-based framework for high-level climate change risk assessment of critical infrastructure

Research question/issueWe examine whether linking executive compensation to climate‐related performance is associated with better firm‐level climate change impact. We also explore the interaction of culture and climate‐linked incentive compensation with climate change impact.Research findings/insightsUsing firm‐level climate change strategy and carbon emissions to measure climate change impacts, we find that climate‐linked compensation is associated with improved climate change strategy. Climate‐related incentives for the CEO and other (operational) executives are found to be negatively associated with firm‐level carbon emissions, although the relationship is not as strong; however, no such association is found for climate‐linked compensation of the board and top‐3 executives. Country‐level attitudes to whether solutions for environmental issues are considered a joint (society) responsibility versus an individual's personal responsibility are found to have an effect on the association between climate‐linked compensation and climate change impacts. We also find that country‐level cultural views enhance the positive association between climate‐linked compensation and climate change strategy but not the association with actual firm‐level carbon emissions. Further analysis shows that non‐US firms drive our study's findings. Finally, improvement in climate strategy is found to have a positive effect on Tobin's Q but has no effect on profitability.Theoretical/academic implicationsAcademic research is growing on the role of climate change risk and carbon emissions in corporate decisions. The findings of our study are important given that linking executives' compensation with climate performance is gaining momentum. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to examine any link between climate‐linked compensation and climate change impact.Practitioner/policy implicationsWhile climate‐linked compensation is associated with positive changes in climate strategy, its association with firm‐level carbon emissions is promising. This is particularly the case when this compensation is offered to executives who are likely to make operational decisions with a direct impact on a firm's carbon footprint and carbon emissions.

Various disasters in recent decades have confirmed that the risk from water-related events has been increasing significantly worldwide. Among those events are tsunamis, storm surges, river floods, flash floods, mass movements and droughts. The driving factors of this risk are the unabated increase in global population, the concentration of people in high-risk areas such as coasts, flood plains and hillsides, the rise in vulnerability of assets, infrastructure and social systems, and the consequences of environmental and climatic changes. Risk reduction requires general awareness at all levels of society and a partnership between the public sector, the people concerned and the insurance industry. Structural and nonstructural precautionary measures are always cheaper in the long run than paying losses. Overall economic consequences are significantly less severe in societies with a high insurance penetration.

Electricity infrastructure is one of the most essential infrastructure systems for the functioning of our society. It forms the “lifeline” for a prosperous modern economy by supporting the delivery of health, education, and many other services in its day-to-day functioning (Rentschler et al. 2019; Arderne et al. 2020). Weather-related hazards are the leading cause of major power outages, resulting in significant damage (Alemazkoor et al. 2020; Shield et al. 2021).The power grid is a highly intricate system with varying degrees of (inter)connectivity and redundancy over a wide geographic extent. The complexity of the power grid topology may create system-wide failures, more specifically, the power outages may escalate from local problems to broad interruptions, thereby resulting in widespread, catastrophic impacts that may seriously disrupt socioeconomic activities (Pescaroli and Alexander 2018; Suppasri et al. 2021). Transmission and distribution networks are most vulnerable to storm events and are responsible for most power outages (Nicolas et al. 2019). Another main factor behind the increasing damage from power outages is of socio-economic origin — more and more people and physical assets are located in harm's way due to the rapid development of the economy — climate change is also expected to exacerbate impacts from weather-related outages and then alter the landscape of natural hazard risk to power systems (Forzieri et al. 2018).Understanding the potential damage caused by natural hazards requires information on their intensity and frequency, as well as how these natural hazards interact with the exposure and vulnerability of assets. In recent years, a great number of studies highlight that ongoing sea-level rise will expose the coastal area to greater risk (Hinkel et al. 2014); while more frequent extreme weather events will enhance the impact of sea-level rise on the coast. However, the risk modelling of natural hazards to power grid assets is mainly studied on a local scale, with little attention has been paid to the exposure of electricity infrastructure at the detailed asset level (Dawson et al. 2018; Arrighi et al. 2021); while many existing studies make generalized assumptions on infrastructure density when modelling the infrastructure risk (Koks et al. 2019).To fill these gaps, we present the first estimate of exposure and risk of power grids in South-eastern and Eastern Asia to tropical cyclones (wind speed only) and coastal floodings. In this paper, we introduce detailed electricity infrastructure asset maps from collaborative community map – OpenStreetMap (OSM) and broadly-collected government power grid maps, state-of-the-art global hazard maps, and various vulnerability curves of wind and flooding for different types of electricity infrastructure into risk modelling. Strengthening the electricity infrastructure to withstand natural hazards takes priority, it is also important to customers and operators of other infrastructure systems, who rely heavily on electricity. The assessment provides better risk information – the annual repairing costs of electricity infrastructure damaged by natural hazards – which will help to improve power grid design and planning against natural hazards, and further make power grids resilient and sustainable.

Purpose The study’s primary objective is to examine the association between corporate commitment to climate change action (CCCA) and the carbon performance of the firm. Furthermore, it investigates whether the corporate commitment to climate change action underlies firms’ climate change actions. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a sample from 13 Asia-Pacific countries for a period spanning from 2015 to 2021 and employs the ordered logistic regression model to investigate the objectives. Findings The study finds a positive relationship between corporate commitment to climate change action and carbon performance. The results suggest that the new CDP ranking system accurately portrays carbon mitigation at the firm level and implies the corporations’ enhanced commitment to deal with climate change issues. Furthermore, this commitment underlies the firms’ increased actions to combat climate change. Additionally, country-level governance and cultural factors play a role in determining corporate commitment. Originality/value This study adds to the literature by empirically establishing the positive association between corporate commitment to climate change action and carbon performance. It also establishes the CDP’s new ranking system as an effective mechanism to negate the firms’ decoupling behaviour and legitimacy attempts through voluntary carbon disclosure. Additionally, the study unveils that the CDP ranks underscores firms’ increased efforts to prevent climate change.

Satellite imagery proves to be a promising data source to gain insights in historic shoreline behavior over the last 4 decades on a global scale. To enable the use of such a large amount of satellite data, image processing techniques are introduced to interpret such large datasets. Furthermore, Machine Learning (ML) algorithms allow for an extra in-depth understanding of the shoreline dynamics, while growing computational power and standardization of ML packages, opens possibilities for studying shoreline dynamics and their drivers on a global scale. In this way, human drivers, such as nourishments, ports, coastal structures, and natural drivers, such as relative sea level rise, inlet systems, and storms, can be identified across the globe. The high spatial and temporal resolution of this information yields more comprehensive understanding of our coasts and their resilience to cope with a changing climate. This is not only of great added value in data-poor environments, but it will also allow for more cost-effective coastal monitoring in data rich environments as the necessity of in-situ measurements will reduce in future. Furthermore, information on the governing drivers for local coastal change is one of the key elements required for shoreline predictions. Providing such a prediction for future shoreline positions is just one example of a climate service. To prepare coastal zones for a changing climate in the future, coastal managers are demanding various other climate services to efficiently access and use state-of-the-art data on projections related to flooding, erosion, subsidence, vulnerability of assets and adaptation measures. The CoCliCo platform will be presented that fulfils the stakeholder needs by providing climate services at a pan-European scale.

AimsIn light of the implementation of the Greener NHS National Program to deliver a net zero NHS by 2040, we set out to(1) explore the attitudes of healthcare workers towards...