Benefits Of Climate Change Research Articles

A review of carbon farming impacts on nitrogen cycling, retention, and loss

Soil carbon (C) sequestration in agricultural working lands via soil amendments and management practices is considered a relatively well-tested and affordable approach for removing CO2 from the atmosphere. Carbon farming provides useful benefits for soil health, biomass production, and crop resilience, but the effects of different soil C sequestration approaches on the nitrogen (N) cycle remain controversial. While some C farming practices have been shown to reduce N fertilizer use in some cases, C farming could also impose an unwanted "N penalty" through which soil C gains can only be maintained with additional N inputs, thereby increasing N losses to the environment. We systematically reviewed meta-analysis studies on the impacts of C farming on N cycling in agroecosystems and estimated the cumulative effect of several C farming practices on N cycling. We found that, on average, combined C farming practices significantly reduced nitrous oxide emissions and nitrate leaching from soils, thus inferring both N cycling and climate change benefits. In addition to more widely studied C farming practices that generate organic C, we also discuss silicate rock additions, which offer a pathway to inorganic C sequestration that does not require additional N inputs, framing important questions for future research.

Integration of energy flow modelling in life cycle assessment of electric vehicle battery repurposing: Evaluation of multi-use cases and comparison of circular business models

In their efforts to implement a circular economy (CE) for lithium-ion batteries (LIB) in electric vehicles, automotive manufacturers need to take into account the perspective of energy consumers when assessing the environmental benefits of LIB repurposing in life cycle assessment (LCA). In response to this issue, this study presents a novel LCA framework, which allows manufacturers to assess different cases of LIB repurposing in an energy system and interpret the results in a CE context. The framework firstly uses energy flow modelling to enable the assessment of combining different battery storage applications in multi-use cases. Secondly, it includes a comparison of repurposing with alternative circular business models options for LIB. The framework is applied to an automotive manufacturer, seeking to assess a real-world project of LIB repurposing in different combinations of behind-the-meter applications at an industrial production site in Germany. As a key outcome, results reveal that from the perspective of the energy consumer, climate change benefits in multi-use cases are 10–22% lower than in single applications. Furthermore, from the perspective of the automotive manufacturer, repurposing is identified as the most beneficial option of circular business models available for LIB, taking into account additional recycling benefits resulting from the delay of end-of-life. Based on these findings, the study contributes to the application of LCA for decision-making in a CE and highlights pitfalls and potentials for a sustainable implementation of LIB repurposing in the future.

Biogas Development in China to Achieve Carbon Neutrality

To meet China’s goal of reaching carbon-neutrality by 2060, the state will have to surmount tremendous technical and bureaucratic obstacles in transitioning its coal-dependent economy toward renewable energy. Biomass has a carbon neutral life cycle and great potential for promoting climate change benefits. The main problems restricting biogas development in China are the lack of integrity and unified policy, and the contradiction between longer duration of environmental PPP (Public-Private-Partnership) project and social capital always pursuing short-term profits. PPP is an institutional arrangement of policy interaction, which means that there is a legally structured partnership between government and private actors. Therefore, we propose that China should further accelerate the construction of basic and standardized PPP legal system, further promote the innovation development of PPP model, and establish effective risk-sharing and credit constraint mechanisms. According to the degree of government involvement and the role of the market, biogas development can be divided into three main stages: the government support phase, the transitional phase and the market-driven phase. A policy path that adapts to China’s electricity market and biogas development is designed based on the three development stages, and it strictly follows the principles of development, coordination and innovation

Integrated Methodology for Physical and Economic Assessment of Coastal Interventions Impacts

Due to economic, environmental, and social interest of coastal areas, together with their erosion problems, different coastal management strategies can be considered, with different physical (shoreline evolution) and economic (net present value, ratio benefit-cost, break-even point) consequences and impacts. Therefore, this work presents an integrated methodology that aims to compare and discuss the most promising coastal intervention scenarios to mitigate erosion problems and climate change effects, considering costs and benefits related to each intervention. The proposed methodology takes a step forward in assessing the coastal erosion mitigation strategies, incorporating three well-defined and sequential stages: shoreline evolution in a medium-term perspective; structures pre-design; and a cost-benefit assessment. To show the relevance of the methodology, a hypothetic case study and several intervention scenarios were assessed. In order to mitigate costal erosion two different situations were analyzed: the reference scenario and the intervention scenarios. 34 intervention scenarios were proposed and evaluated to mitigate the erosion verified. Depending on the parameter considered (reduce erosion areas, protect the full extension of urban waterfronts, improve the economic performance of the intervention by increasing the net present value, the benefit-cost ratio or decreasing the break-even time), best results are obtained for different scenarios. The definition of the best option for coastal erosion mitigation is complex and depends on the main goal defined for the intervention. In conclusion, costs and benefits analysis are demanded and it is considered that the proposed methodology allows choosing better physical and economic options for future coastal interventions, helping decision-making processes related to coastal management.

Could climate change benefit invasive snakes? Modelling the potential distribution of the California Kingsnake in the Canary Islands

The interaction between climate change and biological invasions is a global conservation challenge with major consequences for invasive species management. However, our understanding of this interaction has substantial knowledge gaps; this is particularly relevant for invasive snakes on islands because they can be a serious threat to island ecosystems. Here we evaluated the potential influence of climate change on the distribution of invasive snakes on islands, using the invasion of the California kingsnake (Lampropeltis californiae) in Gran Canaria. We analysed the potential distribution of L. californiae under current and future climatic conditions in the Canary Islands, with the underlying hypothesis that the archipelago might be suitable for the species under these climate scenarios. Our results indicate that the Canary Islands are currently highly suitable for the invasive snake, with increased suitability under the climate change scenarios tested here. This study supports the idea that invasive reptiles represent a substantial threat to near-tropical regions, and builds on previous studies suggesting that the menace of invasive reptiles may persist or even be exacerbated by climate change. We suggest future research should continue to fill the knowledge gap regarding invasive reptiles, in particular snakes, to clarify their potential future impacts on global biodiversity.

Issue Framing and U.S. State Energy and Climate Policy Choice

AbstractExperimental and case study research has highlighted the importance of issue framing to the adoption of state renewable energy and climate change policies. Yet this relationship has not been tested within broader models of state policy adoption. We fill this gap by exploring the relationship between issue‐framing patterns and climate/renewable energy policy activity across the 50 U.S. states, controlling for other well‐known determinants of state environmental policy choice. Our results confirm that framing patterns for these issues vary markedly between states and regions and that a higher proportion of frames highlighting the economic benefits of climate change and renewable energy policies is positively associated with state policy activity. These results further confirm the importance of new issue frames related to economic benefits in subnational climate and renewable energy politics.

The variability of natural and climatic conditions in investment projects in the field of nature management

The article focuses on the actual scientific and practical problem of accounting for the influence of meteorological and climatic factors in the technical and economic calculations in the field of environmental management. It has been proven that the introduction of scientifically sound and effective methods of using meteorological and cli-matic information in economic calculations significantly reduces the loss caused by weather conditions and improves the implementation of an optimal strategy for agricultural production on reclaimed lands. Such calculations are based on economic and statistical modelling of different variants that accounting for standard hy-drometeorological information in the implementation of design, management and economic decisions. This increases the validity and reliability of calculations, as well as their compliance with the actual operating conditions of environmental and economic facilities. Consequently, this attracts increased interest of both public and private investors. Not only under such conditions is a sustainable development of environmental management sectors possible but also the adaptation to global climate change and additional benefits from the efficient economic activity in the new environmen-tal conditions.

Gender Inequality in the Global Warming Era: The Disparate Impact of Climate Change on Female

The climate change crisis has gained unprecedented urgency in the most recent decade. Overall, climate change has already led to and will continuously lead to environmental tipping points and irreversible lock-ins that will decrease the common welfare. When taking a closer look at the macroeconomic growth prospects as measured in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per country, a changing climate will affect countries differently, when considering different mean temperatures but also differences in the GDP sector composition per country and a differing peak temperature per GDP sector for optimal production levels. Within society, climate change has a disparate impact of sustainability on female. Female are traditionally the household caretakers who face a disproportional burden of sustainability pledges. As economic gains and losses from a warming earth are distributed unequally within society, ethical imperatives lead to the pledge to redistribute economic opportunities due to climate change to parts of society that lose from global warming in the quest for climate justice. While between countries but also over generations’ differences in climate change gains and losses lead to unique and unprecedented tax-and-bonds climate change gains and losses distribution strategies, climate justice fairness within society will require novel ways of measuring, monitoring and distributing gains and burdens’ distribution strategies, also between household members. The regular redistribution mechanisms of taxation, as used between countries or consumers, and climate bonds with diversified interest rates and maturity yield regimes, as a rebalancing between generations, needs to be extended on the gender imbalance and family or community level. The novel policy recommendation of this chapter calls for more interpersonal research on climate change burden sharing and socio-psychological mechanisms such as trust, future orientation, compassion and social responsibility – all powerful female attributes that can drive climate leadership-in-action. We will need redistribution mechanisms that are more diversified than monetary redistribution to shift and balance gender interactions that have gotten skewed due to climate change. Areas of concern are disparate impacts of Zero Waste strategies on women as household caretakers but also the long-term burden the novel Coronavirus crisis has on women, who are particularly prone to develop long-term disability as COVID-19 Long Haulers. Addressing all the mentioned areas of concern in future public policymaking will ensure to share the burden but also the benefits of climate change within the most granular micro-level of society where it seems to matter at most for the individual.

Green Bonds and Diversified Interest Rates

The climate change crisis has gained unprecedented urgency in the most recent decade. Overall, climate change has already led to and will continuously lead to irreversible tipping points and lock-ins that will degrade the common welfare. When taking a closer look at the macroeconomic growth prospects as measured in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), climate change gains and losses will be distributed fairly unequally throughout the world. A climate change winners and losers index generated the economic prospects under climate change around the world. The index attributed economic gain and loss prospects based on the medium temperature per country in relation to the optimum temperature for economic productivity and the GDP composition per country in order to determine how far countries are deviating from their optimum productivity levels on a time scale. As economic gains and losses from a warming earth are distributed unequally around the globe, ethical imperatives lead to the pledge to redistribute gains to losing territories in the quest for climate justice. Climate justice comprises fairness between countries but also over generations in a unique and unprecedented tax-and-bonds climate change gains and losses distribution strategy. Climate change winning countries are advised to use taxation to raise revenues to offset the losses incurred by climate change. Climate change losers could raise revenues by issuing bonds that have to be paid back by taxing future generations. Regarding taxation, within the winning countries, foremost the gaining GDP sectors should be taxed. Climate justice within a country should also pay tribute to the fact that low- and high-income households share the same burden proportional to their dispensable income, for instance enabled through a progressive carbon taxation. Those who caused climate change could be regulated to bear a higher cost through carbon tax in combination with retroactive billing through inheritance tax to map benefits from past wealth accumulation that potentially contributed to global warming. A novel policy recommendation for enacting climate justice entails diversified interest rate regimes for climate bonds repayment based on the country’s initial position on the climate change gains and losses index spectrum. Diversified repayment of bonds is a new method aimed at ensuring to share the burden but also the benefits of climate change within society in an economically efficient, legally equitable and practically feasible way.

Animal Sightings and Citings under COVID Capitalism: Beyond Liberal Sentimentalism

Feminist Studies 47, no. 3. © 2021 by Feminist Studies, Inc. 599 Sushmita Chatterjee and Kiran Asher Animal Sightings and Citings under COVID Capitalism: Beyond Liberal Sentimentalism Conversations, news, and social media accounts about COVID are saturated with stories about animals: accounts of “wild” animals emerging and seen in cities around the world, an increase in the number of bird watchers, an astronomical rise in webcam views of wildlife, videos of zoo animals walking through their exhibition halls or through art museums and galleries. Animals are also getting adopted and fostered at an unprecedented rate, and pets appear on virtual meetings as never before. Since the World Health Organization’s (WHO) official announcement of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, news reports related to meat are differently but equally prevalent: the disappearance of chicken and other meat from grocery shelves; the rapid spread of the virus and death among workers in meat-packing industries; the closure of slaughterhouses leading to hogs, cows, and other animals raised for food being “euthanized”; and claims about COVID emerging from the meat of exotic animals sold in Asian “wet” markets. These “citings,” or references to the animal as food, threat, pests, and resources, are not usually seen within the same frame as animal sightings. We argue, however, that around the world animal sightings and citings sit significantly alongside each other. We juxtapose representations of animal sightings and citings to read how capitalism works at this historical moment or at the COVID conjuncture. This relational methodology fuels our inquiry. 600 Sushmita Chatterjee and Kiran Asher Popular and mainstream media accounts represent animal sightings as the pandemic’s “silver lining,” as “nature” coming back into streets and spaces emptied of humans by quarantine. Coverage of “wild” animals in urban areas and temporary reduction in carbon emissions lead to speculations on whether these are signs of hope for a healthier planet (among the sickness of COVID) and for a potential reversal of the environmental damage of global warming and climate change.1 More time with pets and connections with nonhuman kin enabled by greater leisure time or forced isolation are seen as possibilities that we can suture the sense of alienation (with each other and the natural world) that modernity engenders.2 Stories about animals in slaughterhouses and in farms, fields, and factories raised as part of the industrial production of food do not occupy the same representational space in news or popular accounts; even less do citings about the scarcity of meat in stores and work and death in meat processing plants occur alongside narratives of animal sightings. We contend, however, that the two are closely connected. In this paper, we explore seen and celebrated animal lives (in sightings ) and unseen and unmourned animal deaths (in citings) in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, foregrounding their linkages. We juxtapose the wonder of living with and viewing animals with the obliteration of animals that become “dead meat” to argue that the former can evoke sentimentalism and awe only when considered in a separate register from the latter. This splitting not only renders animal death invisible, but also conceals the labor of dead and living animals. We describe and analyze this stark contradiction, which fundamentally structures and substantiates capitalist political economy. Commentaries abound about how the COVID pandemic is a moment of crisis that brings the contradictions 1. Kaylee Brzezinski, “The Surprising Climate Change Benefits of Coronavirus ,” One Tree Planted, March 17, 2020, https://onetreeplanted.org/blogs /stories/climate-change-benefits-coronavirus; “The Urban Wild: Animals Take to the Streets amid Lockdown–In Pictures,” Guardian, April 22, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2020/apr/22/animals-roamingstreets -coronavirus-lockdown-photos. 2. Lisa Walden “Pet Owners Have a Lot to Thank Their Animals for during Lockdown,” Country Living, June 6, 2020, https://www.countryliving.com /uk/wildlife/pets/a32764266/pets-boosting-owner-motivation-lockdown; Connie Wang, “The Pure Positivity of a Quarantine Dog,” Refinery29, March 26, 2020, https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2020/03/9607659/adopt-rescuedog -coronavirus-quarantine. Sushmita Chatterjee and Kiran Asher 601 of capitalism’s working into sharper relief. 3 In this essay, we sketch the tandem workings of sightings and citings of...

Does the “NIMBY syndrome” undermine public support for nuclear power in Japan?

A key obstacle to nuclear energy as a decarbonization policy is the public perception of risks of radiation leaks from reactors. In particular, the “not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY)" syndrome suggests that individuals oppose nuclear reactors in their neighborhoods because they overestimate their risks. Arguably, such perceptions would be acute for those who have lived in the vicinity of a nuclear accident. We conducted a surveyembedded experiment in Japan (N = 2574) to assess how the NIMBY syndrome influences public support for restarting nuclear reactors when health, economic, and climate change benefits of nuclear energy are highlighted. We focus on Japan because the risks of nuclear energy became salient after the 2011 Fukushima accident. We test for two types of NIMBY effect, (1) respondents' proximity to any nuclear power plant and (2) respondents' place of residence in 2011 and its proximity to Fukushima. We do not find support for either the NIMBY syndrome or the Fukushima effect. On the contrary, we find support for a “reverse-NIMBY” among low-income residents, when they are treated with information on nuclear energy's low local air pollution (health). Our findings suggest that support for nuclear energy varies across population groups and depends on how its local benefits and costs are framed.

Projections of temperature-dependent mortality in Russian subarctic under climate change scenarios: a longitudinal study across several climate zones

The magnitude of climate change in Arctic is greater than in other regions. Climate projections confirmed the ongoing warming in the circumpolar areas. The study goal was to estimate the fraction of mortality attributable to the exposition to non-optimal ambient temperatures during the 21st Century under the selected IPCC Representative Concentration Pathways RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. Three study areas were chosen to represent the different types of subarctic climate: from marine-type to transitional to extremely continental. Our dataset comprised 160363 deaths occurred between 1999 and 2016 in the cities of Murmansk, Archangelsk and Yakutsk. Non-linear distributed lag model was used to estimate the relationship between daily air temperatures and mortality rates. Daily temperature anomalies projected by the decades 2050-2059 and 2090-2099 were derived from the ensemble modelling with the regional climate model developed in the Voeikov Main Geophysical Observatory. The study showed positive net health impacts in all locations, and indicated uneven distribution of the benefits of climate change. Under the RCP8.5 scenario, mortality from all natural causes in the age group over 30 years will decrease by 4.5% (95% CI 1.1%; 7.9%) in Murmansk, 3.1% (1.1%; 5.1%) in Archangelsk and 3.6% (0.3%; 7.0%) in Yakutsk between the decades 1990-99 and 2090-99.

Can N2 O emissions offset the benefits from soil organic carbon storage?

To respect the Paris agreement targeting a limitation of global warming below 2°C by 2100, and possibly below 1.5°C, drastic reductions of greenhouse gas emissions are mandatory but not sufficient. Large-scale deployment of other climate mitigation strategies is also necessary. Among these, increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks is an important lever because carbon in soils can be stored for long periods and land management options to achieve this already exist and have been widely tested. However, agricultural soils are also an important source of nitrous oxide (N2 O), a powerful greenhouse gas, and increasing SOC may influence N2 O emissions, likely causing an increase in many cases, thus tending to offset the climate change benefit from increased SOC storage. Here we review the main agricultural management options for increasing SOC stocks. We evaluate the amount of SOC that can be stored as well as resulting changes in N2 O emissions to better estimate the climate benefits of these management options. Based on quantitative data obtained from published meta-analyses and from our current level of understanding, we conclude that the climate mitigation induced by increased SOC storage is generally overestimated if associated N2 O emissions are not considered but, with the exception of reduced tillage, is never fully offset. Some options (e.g. biochar or non-pyrogenic C amendment application) may even decrease N2 O emissions.

Beyond the Precautionary Principle: Climate Justice Transfers and the Behavioral Green New Deal

We live in the time beyond the precautionary principle. A precautionary approach to innovations is taken with respect for the potential for causing harm when extensive scientific knowledge on a matter is lacking. It emphasizes caution before leaping into new endeavors that may prove harmful or disastrous. In the age of climate change, the precautionary approach is currently melting for two trends: First, the incentivization and redistribution of climate change gains and losses. Second, the Green New Deal emphasizing to steer green market action as an economic driver with respect for ecologic potentials. This chapter addresses first climate justice based on climate gains and losses redistribution to then introduce the potential of the Green New Deal to steer positive change and action beyond the precautionary approach. The Mapping Climate Justice proposes a 3-dimensional climate justice approach to share economics benefits and the burden of climate change right, just and fair around the globe. Scientific data is grounded by ethical imperatives that argue for a pre-precautionary principle based on Rawls’ veil of ignorance and Kant’s categorical imperative.Empirically, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) gains and losses of a warming globe are captured to be distributed unequal around the world. The ethical climatorial imperative demands for an equalization of the gains of climate change around the globe in order to offset for losses incurred due to climate change (Kant, 1783/1993; Puaschunder, 2017b, c; Rawls, 1971).First, climate justice within a country should pay tribute to the fact that low- and high-income households carry the same burden proportional to their dispensable income, for instance, enabled through a progressive carbon taxation, consumption tax to curb harmful behavior and/or corporate inheritance tax to reap benefits of past wealth accumulation that may have offset climate change (Puaschunder, 2017c). Secondly, fair climate change burden sharing between countries ensures those countries benefiting more from a warmer environment also bear a higher responsibility regarding climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts (Puaschunder, 2020). Thirdly, climate justice over time is proposed in an innovative bonds climate change burden sharing strategy (Puaschunder, 2016a). All these recommendations are aimed at ensuring to share the burden but also the benefits of climate change within society in an economically efficient, legally equitable and practically feasible way now and also between generations.

Development of the Low Emissions Analysis Platform – Integrated Benefits Calculator (LEAP-IBC) tool to assess air quality and climate co-benefits: Application for Bangladesh

Low- and middle-income countries have the largest health burdens associated with air pollution exposure, and are particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts. Substantial opportunities have been identified to simultaneously improve air quality and mitigate climate change due to overlapping sources of greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions and because a subset of pollutants, short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs), directly contribute to both impacts. However, planners in low- and middle-income countries often lack practical tools to quantify the air pollution and climate change impacts of different policies and measures. This paper presents a modelling framework implemented in the Low Emissions Analysis Platform – Integrated Benefits Calculator (LEAP-IBC) tool to develop integrated strategies to improve air quality, human health and mitigate climate change. The framework estimates emissions of greenhouse gases, SLCPs and air pollutants for historical years, and future projections for baseline and mitigation scenarios. These emissions are then used to quantify i) population-weighted annual average ambient PM2.5 concentrations across the target country, ii) household PM2.5 exposure of different population groups living in households cooking using different fuels/technologies and iii) radiative forcing from all emissions. Health impacts (premature mortality) attributable to ambient and household PM2.5 exposure and changes in global average temperature change are then estimated. This framework is applied in Bangladesh to evaluate the air quality and climate change benefits from implementation of Bangladesh’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) and National Action Plan to reduce SLCPs. Results show that the measures included to reduce GHGs in Bangladesh’s NDC also have substantial benefits for air quality and human health. Full implementation of Bangladesh’s NDC, and National SLCP Plan would reduce carbon dioxide, methane, black carbon and primary PM2.5 emissions by 25%, 34%, 46% and 45%, respectively in 2030 compared to a baseline scenario. These emission reductions could reduce population-weighted ambient PM2.5 concentrations in Bangladesh by 18% in 2030, and avoid approximately 12,000 and 100,000 premature deaths attributable to ambient and household PM2.5 exposures, respectively, in 2030. As countries are simultaneously planning to achieve the climate goals in the Paris Agreement, improve air quality to reduce health impacts and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, the LEAP-IBC tool provides a practical framework by which planners can develop integrated strategies, achieving multiple air quality and climate benefits.

Trends In Climate Variables (Temperature And Rainfall) And Local Perceptions Of Climate Change In Lamu, Kenya

Community adaptation to the negative impacts of climate change benefits from an analysis of both the trends in climate variables and people’s perception of climate change. This paper contends that members of the local community have observed changes in temperature and rainfall patterns and that these perceptions can be positively correlated with meteorological records. This is particularly useful for remote regions like Lamu whereby access to weather data is spatially and temporally challenged. Linear trend analysis is employed to describe the change in temperature and rainfall in Lamu using monthly data obtained from the Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD) for the period 1974–2014. To determine local perceptions and understanding of the trends, results from a household survey are presented. Significant warming trends have been observed in the study area over the period 1974–2014. This warming is attributed to a rise in maximum temperatures. In contrast to temperature, a clear picture of the rainfall trend has not emerged. Perceptions of the local community closely match the findings on temperature, with majority of the community identifying a rise in temperature over the same period. The findings suggest that the process of validating community perceptions of trends with historical meteorological data analysis can promote adaptation planning that is inclusive and responsive to local experiences.

A Maritime Emission Control Area for the Mediterranean Sea? Technological Solutions and Policy Options for a ‘Med ECA’

Proposals to create a maritime Emission Control Area for the Mediterranean (‘Med ECA’) are on the agendas of national governments, local governments, port authorities, international organizations, and nongovernmental organizations. Previous studies have contributed much data and analysis about maritime emissions and their impacts in the Mediterranean region. The present paper reviews the results of these studies and evidence from existing ECAs in other regions in order to inform analyses of issues regarding the design and implementation of a Med ECA. There are diverse issues and options concerning technologies and policies that need to be addressed. The potential for applying remote sensing technology and digital ledger technology to compliance verification and enforcement processes is assessed. The following international institutions are especially appropriate for addressing these issues and facilitating the development of a Med ECA: the International Maritime Organization and its affiliated body the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea, the Climate and Clean Air Coalition at the UN Environment Programme, the World Bank, and the UN Conference on Trade and Development, which prepares an annual review of maritime transport that includes information about recent policy and technology developments. The paper concludes that the public health, food production, climate change and economic benefits of a Med ECA would be significant for the more than 200 million people living in Mediterranean coastal areas.

Spring vegetation green-up dynamics in Central Europe based on 20-year long MODIS NDVI data

The present study focuses on the leaf unfolding dynamics of deciduous broadleaf forests in Central Europe. MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was used to quantify green-up duration (GUD) for the wider Carpathian Basin located in Central Europe, covering the time period 2000–2019. GUD was calculated for ~170 000 pixels with deciduous broadleaf forest cover at 500 m spatial resolution. The GUD exhibited large interannual and elevation-dependent variability where the latter likely indicates the distribution of the different species. The longest mean GUD occurred in 2017 (32.7 days), while the shortest (14.5 days) was associated with 2018. The relationship between the start of leaf unfolding (SOS) and the GUD (R = -0.62) reveals that the timing of the bud break plays an important role in the leaf unfolding process. Multiple linear regression models were constructed to explain and forecast the GUD based on the date of SOS, the elevation and the meteorological variables. The main explanatory variable was the SOS date, explaining 38.3% of the GUD variability (RMSE=8 days), while the addition of the elevation and its square to the model increased the explained variance to 47.8% (RMSE=7.34 days). Further addition of meteorological variables covering periods prior to and after the SOS increased the explained variance (the best R2 was 0.65). The results indicate the complexity of processes that drive the leaf unfolding. We propose that future studies should consider SOS, elevation and meteorological variables together to interpret GUD dynamics. Earlier SOS implies longer GUD, while delayed SOS is associated with short GUD, which means that the benefits of climate change possibly realized as a longer growing season could be smaller than anticipated. Accurate estimation of the SOS is a prerequisite for the successful modeling of the GUD.

Global Leadership and Followership on Climate Justice

Climate Justice requires global leadership and followership to share economics benefits and the burden of climate change right, just and fair around the globe. Theoretical foundations and macroeconomic modelling are justified and grounded on ethical imperatives. Building on the categorical imperative (Kant, 1783/1993) to only engage in actions one would want to have incurred onto onself and Rawls (1971) veil of ignorance to evaluate ethical dilemmas without considering if one is on the benefitting or suffering edge of the implications, the ethical climatorial imperative demands for an equalization of the gains of climate change around the globe in order to offset for climate change losses (Puaschunder, 2017). Today’s climate stability leadership will determine the following generations’ living conditions. Based on the Athenian city state oath of to leave a city not only not less but greater and more beautiful than it was found, the current generation is in the lead of improving the climate stabilization for future generations to come. The global leadership and followership model thereby introduces climate justice within society, between countries and over time. This novel global leadership and followership analysis of climate gains and losses determining global warming leaders and followers based on ethical imperatives is an innovative climate justice approaches to implement climate stabilization financialization in order to aid global governance policy makers to efficiently herald climate justice in the 21st century. First, climate justice within a country should pay tribute to the fact that low- and high-income households carry the same burden proportional to their dispensable income, for instance, enabled through a progressive carbon taxation, consumption tax to curb harmful behavior and/or corporate inheritance tax to reap benefits of past wealth accumulation that may have offset climate change. Secondly, fair climate change burden sharing between countries ensures those countries benefiting from a warmer environment also bear a higher responsibility regarding climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts. Macroeconomic modeling of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) change prospects in the wake of global warming reveal climate winners and losers. Based on the starting mean climate temperatures and GDP compositions of each country in the world as well as climate change temperature projections in the future and temperature peak conditions for GDP production; climate change gains and losses outlined helps find ways how to share the benefits and burdens of global warming in a fair way around the world. Thirdly, climate justice over time is proposed in an innovative tax-and-bonds climate change burden sharing strategy in order to share the burdens and benefits of a warming globe equally between generations. All these recommendations are aimed at ensuring to share the climate change benefits and burdens within society in an economically efficient, legally equitable and practically feasible way now and also between generations.

New stories for a more conscious, sustainable society: claiming authorship of the climate story

Sustainability philosophers claim that we are at an impasse of stories, finding ourselves in a blank chapter between the old and the new. The old story, characterized by separation, technological dominance and human superiority over nature, is unfolding in an ecological crisis giving space for a new narrative defined by inter-being, cooperation and balance. It has been put forward that this crisis is climate change, a phenomenon that epitomizes the old, while holding the potential to act as a bridge to the new. Our study shows the benefits of framing climate change as a problem of story and how the dominant story we have told about climate change can be changed. Based on an approach called “Rising strong”, we address the question of how sustainability students relate to the story on climate change, how they conceptualize and situate it within a bigger narrative, and identify barriers and catalysts for authorship. The results show a clear lack of personal authorship, a feeling of disconnection to the climate story and a disbelief in any revolutionary endings, yet still a slight belief in co-authorship. Catalysts that can help to claim back authorship were identified to be positive emotions (e.g., empathy and hope), integral thinking, creation of space for creativity and co-creation. Barriers were scientific rationality and complexity alongside perceived negative emotions, such as shame and self-doubt. One of the most crucial findings was the re-occurring theme of joint engagement for story-transitioning. This point to the urgent need for both increased co-creation as well as the creation of conditions needed to enable people to engage in such processes.