Climate Issues Research Articles

Dynamic Fear in Fear Appeals: Applying Fear Appeals to Environmental Communication in China

This study investigates the role of dynamic fear in the effectiveness of communicating health threats (i.e. fear appeals) of ground-level ozone among Chinese citizens. An online survey revealed that fear appeal messages effectively enhance the audience’s risk perceptions, efficacy beliefs, and acceptance of the message. Crucially, dynamic fear reduction process positively predicts engagement in protective behaviors (i.e. danger control process) and negatively predicts engagement in fear control processes, such as message denial. Presenting severity before susceptibility resulted in a more positive attitude toward the message recommendation. These findings highlight that communicating health-threats about climate pollution is effective in raising awareness and motivating protective behaviors. Furthermore, our study underscores the importance of dynamic fear, specifically fear reduction, in increasing fear appeals’ effectiveness in communicating climate issues from a health perspective.

Threat and Vulnerability of Thermal Discomfort in Yogyakarta City

The world’s attention to climate issues is increasing as the issue of global warming and climate change emerges. Several studies with the scope of cities and urban areas concluded that urban surface temperatures have an increasing trend. This phenomenon will have an impact on the thermal comfort of urban population. Yogyakarta City as one of the National Activity Centers (PKN), is experiencing rapid urban development and leads to become a metropolitan city so it needs to be studied regarding its thermal comfort. This research is intended to identify the potential and vulnerability of thermal discomfort in Yogyakarta City. The identification of potential discomfort is carried out using the Discomfort Index (DI) approach and the Land Surface Temperature (LST) value. Meanwhile, vulnerability is identified in the social aspects of population. Furthermore, the potential and vulnerability scores are assessed to get an overview of thermal discomfort mitigation priorities. Based on DI analysis, thermal discomfort is felt by more than 50% of the Yogyakarta’s residents and it is estimated that in the future will get worse. By looking at the distribution of LST values, the high potential for discomfort is in the city center and has expanded to the north and northeast. Meanwhile, areas with high vulnerability are located in the center and south side of Yogyakarta City. From the combined assessment of threat and vulnerability, the areas that are the top priority for mitigation are in the center of Yogyakarta City, which include 7 districts, namely Danurejan, Gedongtengen, Gondomanan, Jetis, Kraton, Ngampilan, and Pakualaman. The medium priority districts are Gondokusuman and Wirobrajan.

A Call to Arms for the Earth. Environmental Poetry in Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific Islands: The Case of the Anthology No Other Place to Stand

Poetry is a major artistic expression in New Zealand and Pacific culture, including a longstanding tradition of indigenous oral literature. Besides its many functions, it can also have a crucial militant role. In the present climate emergency, the potential of oral and written poetry for environmental activism has been rediscovered: “poet-performers” have risen as militant figures that write verses and act them out on websites, during public performances and in important political venues. The effects of global warming are dramatically real in the Pacific region, especially in consequence of the sea-level rise that has caused the flooding of many atolls and is threatening the survival of populations and cultures. Aotearoa has always been sensitive to environmental problems, also thanks to the prominent voice of the Māori minority in the country’s politics. It is thus not surprising the recent publication of No Other Place to Stand (2022), the first New Zealand poetry anthology to deal with climate issues from a specifically New Zealand and Pacific perspective. The book forms a dedicated platform for creative work in response to the climate crisis. Half of the contributors are indigenous and a good number under thirty, giving voice to the people of the land and to those with the most at stake for their futures. My article will provide a critical analysis of the volume against the Pacific cultural and political background.

Exploring the Climate Change-AI Nexus: A Bibliometric and Scientometric Study1

Abstract The intersection between artificial intelligence (AI) and climate change mitigation has received increased attention as a result of pressing global environmental concerns and technological advancements. This paper will cover key scientific literature about the development and implementation of AI in tackling climate change challenge. Methodologically, bibliometric and scientometric analyses, including cooccurrence and co-citation analysis, were employed to systematically examine research trends and patterns. The major research question focuses on tracing the evolution of AI research in relation to climate change, investigating important drivers of interest and identifying influential works and research groups. The data find a considerable increase in AI and climate change papers after 2015, demonstrating a growing appreciation for AI’s potential to provide novel solutions. Implications of this trend include the use of AI technologies for environmental monitoring, prediction, and policy makers. Moreover, interdisciplinary collaborations on AI and climate change between experts from various fields shown the importance of global climate issues. This paper provides a new idea for the study on AI in climate change, highlighting opportunities for further exploration and collaboration.

Environmental Blindspots: Identification and Mitigation using Technologies, Education, and Policies

Objectives:“Environmental Blindspots” are newly defined as a type of social problem within the realm of various environmental pollution and climate issues, wherein they are pushed down in priority due to factors such as corporate profit, consumer preferences, and government regulations, consequently remaining unresolved. This ultimately leads citizens to experience a sense of guilt. Despite the significant influence they wield on the welfare of current and future generations, various environmental social issues characterized by environmental blindspots (such as micro-hazardous substances like microplastics and environmental hormones) fail to become major considerations in societal decision-making. Consequently, they are not actively discussed within the social community. This absence of social consensus on these issues reflects the current situation. As a result, citizens repeatedly make choices that do not prioritize environmental values due to a perception of powerlessness stemming from the absence of environmentally friendly options, the belief that the issue is too immense to tackle individually, and lack of knowledge about specific actions to take for environmental problem-solving, among other factors. In this process, they experience involuntary and deliberate emotions of guilt. Since environmental blindspots are issues collectively experienced by the societal community comprising citizens, businesses, and government, solutions must also be derived collectively through collective thinking. This review has endeavored to incorporate such efforts.Methods:In this review, to develop a more effective interdisciplinary research methodology for addressing the previously mentioned environmental social issues, ten interdisciplinary researchers from the Environmental Engineering and Social Sciences fields at the center for convergence research (SEBIS) collaborated, leveraging their respective expertise to document literature survey results. Firstly, they reported on the environmental behavior, toxicity, distribution, and regulatory status of micro-hazardous substances, namely (micro)plastics and volatile organic compounds, which are the research subjects of the Environmental Blindspot Research Center. Secondly, they compiled relevant treatment technologies. Subsequently, they described the socio-structural causes of environmental blindspots and various solutions to environmental social issues through social science methodologies.Results and Discussion:To address the environmental blindspots, a key environmental social issue, it is necessary to advance various environmental technologies alongside responsible production by businesses and the enhancement of citizen environmental awareness. It is crucial for the government to institutionalize policies in the public domain to achieve this. Understanding the structural roles of citizens, businesses, and government is essential. It requires ethical consumer awareness and active participation, public campaigns and education, as well as effective government environmental policies to incentivize environmental friendly technological innovations by companies.Conclusion:In this review, the issue of environmental blindspots as an environmental social issue is being addressed comprehensively for the first time. Through this, we aim to establish an effective communication and cooperation system among social entities to explore solutions to environmental blindspots, and to propagate this ability to address social issues to future academic generations.

A traits-based approach to assess aquaculture’s contributions to food, climate change, and biodiversity goals

Aquaculture has the potential to support a sustainable and equitable food system in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) on food security, climate change, and biodiversity (FCB). Biological diversity amongst aquaculture organisms can drive diverse contributions to such goals. Existing studies have assessed the performance of a limited number of taxa in the general context of improving aquaculture production, but few explicitly consider the biological attributes of farmed aquatic taxa at the FCB nexus. Through a systematic literature review, we identify key traits associated with FCB and evaluate the potential of aquaculture to contribute to FCB goals using a fuzzy logic model. The majority of identified traits are associated with food security, and two-thirds of traits linked with food security are also associated with climate change or biodiversity, revealing potential co-benefits of optimizing a single trait. Correlations between FCB indices further suggest that challenges and opportunities in aquaculture are intertwined across FCB goals, but low mean FCB scores suggest that the focus of aquaculture research and development on food production is insufficient to address food security, much less climate or biodiversity issues. As expected, production-maximizing traits (absolute fecundity, the von Bertalanffy growth function coefficient K, macronutrient density, maximum size, and trophic level as a proxy for feed efficiency) highly influence a species’ FCB potential, but so do species preferences for environmental conditions (tolerance to phosphates, nitrates, and pH levels, as well as latitudinal and geographic ranges). Many highly farmed species that are typically associated with food security, especially finfish, score poorly for food, climate, and biodiversity potential. Algae and mollusc species tend to perform well across FCB indices, revealing the importance of non-fish species in achieving FCB goals and potential synergies in integrated multi-trophic aquaculture systems. Overall, this study provides decision-makers with a biologically informed assessment of desirable aquaculture traits and species while illuminating possible strategies to increase support for FCB goals. Our findings can be used as a foundation for studying the socio-economic opportunities and barriers for aquaculture transitions to develop equitable pathways toward FCB-positive aquaculture across nuanced regional contexts.

Relation exploration between clean and fossil energy markets when experiencing climate change uncertainties: substitutes or complements?

During the crucial stage of the energy transition for combating extreme climate changes, it has been frequently discussed: Whether clean and fossil energies are substitutes or complements? To answer this question, we first analyze the correlations of some main clean and fossil energy markets in 2015–2022. After identifying and measuring the volatility spillovers in these energy markets, the original sequence is decomposed into three subsequences in each time-frequency to accurately capture the temporal relations in the short or long term. Furthermore, we select three periods when global climate change issues occurred frequently for the event analysis, then explore the linkages between the energy markets when experiencing climate uncertainties from different time dimensions. We find that the close interactions between clean energy markets are mainly presented in the long term. Meanwhile, even though the spillover effects between the oil market and others are not obvious in the original sequence, significant spillovers could be observed in the selected periods. Therefore, we can infer that the frequently-occurred climate change issues could be one of the reasons that trigger the volatility spillovers between the oil and other energy markets. As climate uncertainties increase, different reactions between the energy markets can be seen in the short term, while a synchronized trend is also easily observed in the long term. Hence, we conclude that these energies could be substitutes in the short term, while complements in the long run. The above analytic results could be helpful for policymakers and investors to cope with the market fluctuations that are brought by climate issues.

STUDY OF SUSTAINABLE PUBLIC SPACE IMPLEMENTATION IN WONOREJO SEED GARDEN, SURABAYA

Public space is the character and identity of a city. Public Space is a facility that is able to accommodate the interaction of diverse and dynamic urban communities, such as the Wonorejo Nursery which is located in the city of Surabaya. With climate and global warming issues becoming more and more worrisome, sustainable public spaces are very important because they can have a positive impact on urban life as a whole. Therefore, this study aims to examine the principles of sustainable public space that are applied to parks in the city of Surabaya. In this study, the Wonorejo Nursery was chosen as a case study because the Wonorejo Nursery is the largest and busiest park in the East Surabaya area. So the presence of the Wonorejo Nursery has significant implications for the lives of East Surabaya residents. With this significance, the study of the implementation of sustainable public space in this park can provide an overview of the impact of park development on the surrounding environment in terms of sustainability issues. This research is a qualitative research, with a descriptive-analytic type. The results of the analysis show that the Wonorejo nursery implements several elements of sustainable public space, but in some facilities it still requires improvement and development so that it can function optimally.

Constructing climate change: Exploring how cities frame climate change in the Arctic

ABSTRACT Framing climate policy actions to be acceptable by various stakeholders in cities poses a critical task for urban governance. Despite the proliferation of studies on urban climate change governance in the past decades, framing as a mechanism for agenda-setting in local policymaking has received little attention. This paper draws on the literature on climate change discourse to analyze the content of framing and its reasoning in the two municipalities located in the Arctic: Murmansk (Russia) and Tromsø (Norway). Using qualitative research methods, including semi-structured interviews, document reviews, and discourse analysis, the paper finds that climate change is absent in the political discourse in Murmansk. At the same time, Tromsø authorities recognize climate change as a global and a local problem and incorporate it into local policies. It also identifies three factors that explain the (non)framing of climate change by the municipal authorities: (1) local authority to frame climate issues, (2) local political party branches’ climate preferences, and (3) prior experiences with weather extremes and scientific knowledge. Given that cities in the Arctic are on the front lines of climate change, learning from their framing experiences, other cities across the globe can seize the opportunities for their efforts to address climatic impacts.

A Corpus-Based Critical Discourse Analysis of Chinese and American News Coverage on Climate Change

As the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) convened, the climate issue remained a focal point of coverage in both Chinese and American mainstream media. This paper seeks to explore the linguistic features of news discourse of climate change in China and the United States and the discursive strategy applied to strengthen national ideologies. Taking the reports on climate change in China Daily and Los Angeles Times within 2 months after COP27 as the research corpus, this paper examines the language features, the discursive processes of the text and possible social factors through a combination of corpus linguistics(CL) and critical discourse analysis(CDA) under the framework of Fairclough’s Three-Dimensional Model of Discourse. The finding suggests that both countries enhance national ideologies by constructing a responsible national image through objective climate reporting. Chinese media tends to focus on national efforts to improve ecological environment and global cooperation, while US newspaper attaches importance to climate security and pursues a leading position in global ecological governance.

Metacoalizão e os novos papéis de broker: o caso Observatório do Clima

This article presents an analysis of the Observatório do Clima network in the light of the categories advocacy coalition, specifically broker. A conceptual-methodological framework was mobilized based on the theoretical frameworks of the sociology of critical utopia on the climate issue and studies of socio-state interactions. Critical interpretive analysis was used as a methodological strategy. The result is the proposal of a new category, metacoalition, and two complementary roles, producer (of knowledge) and monitor (of public policies), to Gurza Lavalle and von Bülow’s (2014, 2015) conceptual framework. In addition, a new agent is introduced to the analytical scenario as a structuring configuration element of the new two roles: the artificial climate agent.

Unraveling the Sustainability Components of Organizational Value Statements: A Q-Sort Methodology Approach

Many corporations have now revised their value statements to showcase their commitment to sustainable development and green business due to the pressing issues of climate and environmental damage. Despite the importance of value statements that can direct companies to achieve sustainable goals, which kind of values can be perceived as organizational orientations towards sustainability remains unknown. This study explores how the general public views the inclusion of sustainable components in value statements from listed companies in Hong Kong by using Q-sort methodology (n = 30). Analyzing the final sample of 40 value statements extracted from 27 listed companies, we identified three factors related to sustainability, namely, Empowering business process management, Empowering customer-centric excellence, and Empowering sustainable progress. This study provides an additional component to the traditional triple bottom line by suggesting that the internal operation of a company is an emerging idea in understanding corporate sustainability.

Comparisons of stakeholders' influences, inter-relationships, and obstacles for circular economy implementation on existing building sectors

Buildings are energy- and resource-hungry: their construction and use account for around 39% of global carbon dioxide emissions; they consume around 40% of all the energy produced; they are responsible for over 35% of the EU's total waste generation; and account for about 50% of all extracted (fossil) materials. Therefore, they present a significant challenge to meeting national and international Net Zero targets of reducing greenhouse emissions and fossil resource use. The CircularB Project, is at the heart of this issue, which will underpin synergies of multi-scale circular perspectives (from materials, to components, to assets and built environments), digital transformation solutions, data-driven and complexity science, stakeholder behavioral science, and interdisciplinary capabilities towards achievable, affordable and marketable circular solutions for both new and existing buildings, for sustainable urban design, and for circular built environments across Europe. This paper contributes to the project by deriving new insights into the stakeholders’ influences, inter-relationships, and obstacles in the implementation of circular economy concepts on existing building stocks in Europe, which represent over 90% of whole building assets. In order to identify and derive the insights, our study is rigorously based on (i) a robust critical literature review of key documentations such as articles, standards, policy reports, strategic roadmaps and white papers; and (ii) interviews with relevant stakeholders and decision makers. Uniquely, our work spans across all scales of CE implementation from materials, to products and components, to existing building stocks, and to living built environments. The findings point out the current challenges and obstacles required to be tackled. Inadequacies of financial incentives and governmental enforcement (via policy, legislation, or directive) are commonly found to be the most critical obstacles found throughout Europe. Circular economy is the global challenge and not just a single country can resolve the climate issue without the cooperation of other countries. The insights thus highlight the essential need for harmonized actions and tactical/pragmatic policies promoted and regulated by the European Commission, national and local governments who can dominate the influence, promote inter-relationship, and overcome the barriers towards circular economy much more effectively.

The role of green bonds in reducing CO2 emissions: a case of developing countries

PurposeThe global economy is growing very fast, and it is also facing environmental challenges. Due to increased economic activities, global warming is rising as a result of greenhouse gas emissions. Concepts like green finance and green investments are emerging to battle climate issues. The present study empirically examines the impact of green bonds on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in developing countries, as these countries are producing 63% of CO2 emissions around the globe.Design/methodology/approachTo check this impact, pooled ordinary least squares (OLS), fixed effect and generalized method of moments (GMM) techniques are applied using the annual data of 65 developing countries from 2008 through 2021.FindingsThe results indicate that the overall effect of green bonds on CO2 emissions is negative, as more issuance of green bonds reduces CO2 emissions, confirming results from the existing empirical literature. The study found that more foreign direct investment (FDI) and urbanization lead to more CO2 emissions, while increase in trade openness helps reduce CO2 emissions. It was found that promoting green bonds will help to promote environmentally friendly projects that will help to reduce CO2 emissions. Rapid urbanization has led to more energy demand for various industries like manufacturing, transportation and residential sectors, which leads to more CO2 emissions.Practical implicationsThe policymakers in these countries should make policies that help in reducing carbon emission by increasing green bonds and FDI in supporting projects that are environmentally friendly. Therefore, to mitigate such current and future issues, policymakers in developing countries need to give serious attention to this area to fulfill sustainable development goals.Originality/valueThis study presents a pioneering examination of green bonds and CO2 emissions in 65 lower- and middle-income countries (developing countries). We have tried to cover all developing countries that are causing more greenhouse gas emissions and need to shift to green finance strategies. It will be a contribution to the body of knowledge regarding the role of green bonds in reducing CO2 emissions. The present study will help in assessing the importance of green bonds in bringing low-carbon economies.

Climate issues in portfolio investment decisions: a comparison of Private equity and venture capital

ABSTRACT Private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) firms increasingly consider climate issues in their portfolio investment decisions. However, what are the underlying motives and which exact consideration strategies are employed? Based on the responses of 479 VC and 215 PE fund managers from two large surveys carried out in 2021, four motives emerge: ethical responsibility, responding to external stakeholders, product differentiation, and portfolio performance. Responding to external stakeholders and portfolio performance motives matter more to PE firms, while the product differentiation motive is more important for VC firms. No difference is found with respect to ethical responsibility as a motive. Regarding climate consideration strategies, screening strategies (positive and negative) are the most popular. Differences between VC and PE firms exist, and the motives to consider climate issues have an impact on the strategies employed. The implications for policymakers and the entrepreneurial finance sector are discussed.

Extension of Japan’s Prefectural Emission Accounting and Enrichment of Socioeconomic Data from 1990 to 2020

With the continuous increase in carbon dioxide emissions due to human activities and the resulting severe climate issues, there is global concern about energy conservation and emission reduction. However, detailed data on energy consumption and emissions at a fine-grained scale, particularly regarding spatial dimensions and sector-specific emissions, remains insufficient and in need of refinement and timely updates. In Japan, following the Fukushima nuclear disaster, there has been a significant shift from nuclear power generation to reliance on fossil fuels across various sectors, highlighting disparities in emissions data across different regions and industries. Our work extends the emissions time series for Japan’s 47 prefectures, incorporating their socioeconomic characteristics over a broader time frame and with a more detailed sectoral classification. The emissions inventory, covering the period from 1990 to 2020, is based on the consumption of the three main fossil fuels across 32 sectors, with emissions carefully allocated for regional power generation. This dataset, presented in a unified format, is expanded to include longer time scales and more detailed socioeconomic data. It is anticipated to offer crucial insights for establishing regional emission reduction targets and identifying sectoral priorities for decarbonization.

LIFECYCLE MAINTENANCE PRACTICES OF VERTICAL GREENERY SYSTEMS IN TROPICAL CLIMATES: A CASE STUDY OF KUALA LUMPUR

ABSTRACT A vertical green system (VGS) proposes numerous benefits, expanding from the principles of sustainable social, environmental and economic development, such as aesthetics, health and ecology. While extensive research exists on VGS in terms of benefits, application, plant selection and design, limited attention has been given to the operational and long-term lifecycle maintenance of VGS, particularly in tropical climates such as Malaysia. Therefore, this paper aims to explore current VGS maintenance practices and issues in the tropical climate of Malaysia. Qualitative analysis was employed to study maintenance practices in commercial and institutional buildings in Malaysia. The qualitative data was then compared with international green wall guidelines to benchmark with current maintenance practices in Malaysia. The study revealed that the absence of a green wall guideline in Malaysia has resulted in a reliance on a limited number of competent experts on green walls, potentially contributing to higher installation and maintenance costs. These findings provide valuable insights into the impact of national guidelines on green wall maintenance practices in Malaysia, assisting building managers and policymakers in formulating appropriate maintenance practices and guidelines.

Quantifying the impacts of green roof design factors on microclimate regulation: A case study in Washington, D.C.

This study explores and quantifies the impacts of green roofs (GR) design factors on microclimate regulation. Against rapid urbanization and intensifying climate changes, green infrastructure has received increasing attention due to its contribution to dealing with the urban heat islands effect (UHIE) and increasing urban sustainability. GR is one example of green infrastructure and is widely used in cities. However, its microclimate regulation benefits have not been thoroughly explored and require more exploration. There are insufficient studies on quantifying GR design factors impacts on microclimate regulation. Meanwhile, little research has explored the impact of regulating microclimate when accessibility is considered as a design factor. Using a GR in Washington, D.C., as a case study, this study models 14 roof scenarios with several common GR design factors, generates their simulated microclimate patterns, and quantifies each design factors impact based on statistical analyses. Results present quantitative data on how studied design factors change microclimate patterns and find that accessibility does affect some microclimate aspects but only to a limited rate. This study provides suggestions and insights to optimize GR design guidelines. Overall, this study contributes to the refinement of GR research, promotes better GR design, and responds to urbanization and climate issues.

Integrating environmental health into our nursing practices

The healthcare sector accounts for 8% of the national carbon footprint in France. It is imperative to integrate climate and environmental issues into modern healthcare management. Many health professionals are advocating for more eco-responsible care. Each caregiver can reduce the environmental and health impact of their activity, while evolving in a healthy environment. Nurses have a particular responsibility to contribute to sustainable development.

The Crossover between Climate Politics and Central Banking: How Green Central Banking Emerged in the US, the EU, and the UK

Climate change has emerged on the agenda of central bankers. We argue that the rise of green central banking resulted from a crossover between climate politics after the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement and central banking after the 2008 financial crisis. Actors in these unconnected fields constructed and exploited this new linkage to their advantage. In the wake of the Paris Agreement, climate advocates promoted green central banking as part of a broader push for climate action beyond typical climate policy. Central bankers, in turn, endorsed green central banking to shore up political support. After their post-2008 unconventional monetary policies had alienated many right-wing backers, central bankers needed to make their policies more broadly appealing. This logic prevailed to varying degrees in the European Union and the United Kingdom, thanks to a new openness to climate action. In the United States, however, political polarization around the climate issue set clear limits to the crossover.