Increased Greenhouse Gas Emissions Research Articles

Исследование процесса испарения водно-этанолового раствора на супергидрофильной капиллярно-пористой поверхности в условиях вынужденной конвекции

In view of the continuous growth of global energy consumption, reduction of non-renewable energy sources, as well as increasing greenhouse gas emissions, it is necessary to introduce pro-mising methods to increase the importance of rational use of energy resources in the industrial, domestic and scientific and technical fields, which will reduce the amount of energy to provide the same level of energy supply of buildings or technological processes in production. This paper considers superhydrophilic capillary-porous surfaces capable of providing heat exchange through phase transition, which is of fundamental importance in evaporative radiators for space applications, heat pipes, as well as in the operation of cooling towers for electricity and heat production in centralized heat supply systems. The study of the heat exchange process with phase transition on the capillary-porous surface was carried out by conducting experiments on evaporation of water-ethanol mixture of different concentration under conditions of forced convection at diffe¬rent orientation of the modified surface in space. The results obtained in this work allow us to judge about the effectiveness of capillary-porous structures in heat exchangers operating on eva¬poration cycles and the Maisotsenko cycle, and are also applicable to further study of heat and mass transfer processes occurring on superhydrophilic capillary-porous surfaces.

China's enhanced urban wastewater treatment increases greenhouse gas emissions and regional inequality

Sustainable water pollution control requires understanding of historical trajectories and spatial characteristics of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), which remains inadequately studied. Here, we establish plant-level monthly operational emissions inventories of China's WWTPs in 2009–2019. We show that urban wastewater treatment has been enhanced with 80% more chemical oxygen demand being removed annually. However, this progress is associated with 180% more GHG emissions at the national level, up to 58.3 Mt CO2 eq in 2019. We found significant seasonality in GHG emissions. Increasing sludge yield and electricity intensity became primary drivers after 2015 because of stricter standards, causing GHG emissions increase 12.9 and 8.3% until 2019. GHG emissions from urban wastewater treatment show high spatial difference at province, city and plant levels, with different sludge disposal and energy mix approaches combined with different influent and effluent conditions in WWTPs across China. Stricter effluent standard resulted in similar GHG emissions growth pattern in cities. We argue WWTPs focus on resource recovery in developed areas and higher operational efficiency in developing areas.

An analysis of the social and private return to land use change from agriculture to renewable energy production in Ireland

Increased use of renewable energy is a major part of Ireland's plans to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, lessen reliance on fossil fuels, and enable sustainable economic growth. Two forms of renewable energy interesting Irish policymakers are bioenergy and solar PV. To scale up these technologies, land will be required to grow bioenergy feedstocks and erect ground mount solar PV arrays. A micro, farm-based approach is utilised to generate private returns from renewable energy production, and agriculture, adjusted for the cost of GHGs. This considers both the cost to society of increasing GHG emissions and the benefit of reducing emissions.This paper compares income that could be derived from renewable energy production with average agricultural income from the main farm systems in Ireland. The private (market and subsidy) and social (GHG) return from substituting renewable energy sources for the existing agricultural land use on 1 ha is considered. We also use input-output modelling to generate output multipliers for renewable energy technologies: biogas, biomethane, short rotation coppice (SRC) willow, and solar PV.The results show that the market return from growing 1 ha of grass silage and SRC willow is less than for all the main farming systems. When the social value of the feedstock is considered by putting a monetary value on displaced GHG emissions, producing grass silage and willow biomass can provide a better return to farmers than cattle and sheep farming. Due to the high land rental amounts available to farmers from solar companies, the market and social return is higher for using land to erect solar PV than any of the main agricultural activities. Results from the output multiplier analysis show that biomethane production has the highest multiplier while solar PV has the lowest.

Deciphering nitrous oxide emissions from tropical soils of different land uses

Tropical regions are hotspots of increasing greenhouse gas emissions associated with land-use change. Although many field studies have quantified soil fluxes of nitrous oxide (N2O; a potent greenhouse gas) from various land uses, the driving mechanisms remain uncertain. Here, we used tropical soils of diverse land uses and actively manipulated the soil moisture (35%, 60%, and 95% water-filled pore space [WFPS]) and substrate supply (control, nitrate, and nitrate plus glucose) to investigate the responses of N2O emissions with short-term incubations. We then identified key factors regulating N2O emissions out of a series of soil physicochemical and biological factors and explored how these factors interacted to drive N2O emissions. Land-use changes from primary forest to oil palm or Acacia plantation risks emitting more N2O, whereas low emissions could be maintained by conversion to Macaranga forest or Imperata grassland; these laboratory observations were corroborated by a literature synthesis of field N2O measurements across tropical regions. Soil redox potential (Eh) and labile organic nitrogen (LON; amino acid mixture, arginine, and urea) mineralization were among the factors with greatest influence on N2O emissions. In contrast to common understandings, the control of WFPS over N2O emissions was largely indirect, and acted through Eh. The mineralization of LON, particularly arginine, potentially played multiple roles in N2O production (e.g., bottlenecks of nitrifier-denitrification or simultaneous nitrification-denitrification versus substrate competition for co-denitrification). Structural equation models suggest that soil-environmental factors of different levels (from distal including land use, soil moisture, and pH to proximal such as LON mineralization) drive N2O emissions through cascading interactions. Overall, we show that, despite identical initial soil conditions, land conversion can substantially alter the N2O emission potential. Also, collectively considering soil-environmental regulators and their interactions associated with land conversion is crucial to predict and design mitigation strategies for N2O emissions from land-use change.

Different Effect of Inward Foreign Direct Investment, Outward Foreign Direct Investment, Imports, and Exports on Greenhouse Gas Emission across 24 European Union Countries

The European Union (EU) has achieved remarkable progress in reducing greenhouse gas emission with the help of the emission trade system (ETS) and other environmental policies for the past decades. The main purpose of current study is to empirically investigate different effects of inward foreign direct investment, outward foreign direct investment (FDI), imports and exports on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for different level of GDP per capita. Panel data set of 24 European Union countries was selected from 2013 to 2017. And these 24 countries would be further divided into two groups based on their GDP per capita. The result indicates that inward FDI would decrease GHG emission for high GDP per capita group, whereas it increases the GHG emission for low GDP per capita group, suggesting the existence of “pollution haven” in countries with lower GDP per capita. On the contrary, the effect of outward FDI on GHG emission would be positive for high GDP per capita group but negative for low GDP per capita group. Meanwhile, exports would increase GHG emission for low GDP per capita group but decrease GHG emission for high GDP per capita group. Besides, imports would also be a contributor of GHG emission for high GDP per capita group. The conclusion drawn from this study implicates that, to reduce the domestic GHG emissions, countries with different level of GDP per capita should have different strategies. For countries with high level of GDP per capita, it would be more effective to attract inward FDI while for countries with low level of GDP per capita, promoting environmental policies with subsidies to encourage domestic producer to adopt newer and cleaner technology would be primary.

Ensemble Evaluation and Member Selection of Regional Climate Models for Impact Models Assessment

Climate change increasingly is affecting every aspect of human life on the earth. Many regional climate models (RCMs) have so far been developed to carefully assess this important phenomenon on specific regions. In this study, ten RCMs captured from the European Coordinated Downscaling Experiment (EURO CORDEX) platform are evaluated on the river Chiese catchment located in the northeast of Italy. The models’ ensembles are assessed in terms of the uncertainty and error calculated through different statistical and error indices. The uncertainties are investigated in terms of signal (increase, decrease, or neutral changes in the variables) and value uncertainties. Together with the spatial analysis of the data over the catchment, the weighted averaged values are used for the models’ evaluations and data projections. Using weighted catchment variables, climate change impacts are assessed on 10 different hydro-climatological variables showing the changes in the temperature, precipitation, rainfall events’ features, and the hydrological variables of the Chiese catchment between historical (1991–2000) and future (2071–2080) decades under RCP (Representative Concentration Path for increasing greenhouse gas emissions) scenario 4.5. The results show that, even though the multi-model ensemble mean (MMEM) could cover the outputs’ uncertainty of the models, it increases the error of the outputs. On the other hand, the RCM with the least error could cause high signal and value uncertainties for the results. Hence, different multi-model subsets of ensembles (MMEM-s) of 10 RCMs are obtained through a proposed algorithm for different impact models’ calculations and projections, making tradeoffs between two important shortcomings of model outputs, which are error and uncertainty. The single model (SM) and multi-model (MM) outputs imply that catchment warming is obvious in all cases and, therefore, evapotranspiration will be intensified in the future where there are about 1.28% and 6% value uncertainties for monthly temperature increase and the decadal relative balance of evapotranspiration, respectively. While rainfall events feature higher intensity and shorter duration in the SM, there are no significant differences for the mentioned features in the MM, showing high signal uncertainties in this regard. The unchanged catchment rainfall events’ depth can be observed in two SM and MM approaches, implying good signal certainty for the depth feature trend; there is still high uncertainty about the depth values. As a result of climate change, the percolation component change is negligible, with low signal and value uncertainties, while decadal evapotranspiration and discharge uncertainties show the same signal and value. While extreme events and their anomalous outcomes direct the uncertainties in rainfall events’ features’ values towards zero, they remain critical for yearly maximum catchment discharge in 2071–2080 as the highest value uncertainty is observed for this variable.

Effect of deficit irrigation practices on greenhouse gas emissions in drip irrigation

One of the most important sources of greenhouse gas emissions resulting from human activities is agricultural activities. Many factors such as tillage, fertilizer use, irrigation, soil properties, etc. can affect greenhouse gas emissions. However, their effects on greenhouse gas emissions are still among the important research topics today. In this study, the effects of different irrigation levels on CO2, CH4, N2O emission in soil were investigated in silage maize irrigated with drip irrigation system. The study was carried out for two years, 4 different irrigation levels (S1:100%, S2:70%, S3:40%, S4:0) were applied. ADA 9516 silage mazie variety was used as the test plant. Static cylinders were used in each plot for greenhouse gas measurements. Greenhouse gas Cylinders (cells) consisting of 2 pieces made of PVC placed on trial plots were used in the research. Gas samples were analyzed with gas chromatograph (Agilent GC 7890A) and gas emission values of CO2, CH4 and N2O were calculated. In the study, the highest cumulative CO2 emission values by years were obtained for S1 with 1470.4 and 1129.6 kg ha−1, respectively (p<0.01) and the CO2 emission values measured after irrigation were found to be higher than the pre-irrigation emission values. The highest cumulative N2O emission values were obtained for S1 with 0.54 and 0.50 kg ha−1, respectively, over the years (p<0.001), N2O emission values were higher after irrigation. In CH4 analyzes, it was determined that the trial area soil behaved as a CH4 sink. The highest cumulative CH4 uptake in both years of the study occurred in S1 with -1.79 and -3.17 kg ha−1, respectively (p<0.01). Similarity was observed in CH4 flux values before and after irrigation. In the research, it was determined that irrigation practices increased greenhouse gas emission statistically. On the other hand, it has been determined that producing with irrigation using less agricultural land can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Iron Reduction Controls Carbon Mineralization in Aquaculture Shrimp Pond Sediments in Subtropical Estuaries

AbstractExpanding worldwide aquaculture has greatly increased greenhouse gas emissions; however, the underlying microbial mechanisms are poorly understood. In particular, the role of ferric iron [Fe(III)] (hydro)oxides in carbon mineralization in aquaculture pond sediments remains unclear. Here, we studied the rates of microbial Fe(III) reduction, sulfate reduction, methanogenesis, and carbon mineralization in aquaculture shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) ponds of various salinities before, during, and after shrimp farming in subtropical estuaries in southeast China. Sediment samples (0–10 cm) were collected to investigate the content of iron species, characteristics of organic matter, and abundance of Geobacter, a proxy of iron reducers. Overall, Fe(III) reduction (46.1% ± 19.1%) dominated carbon mineralization, followed by sulfate reduction (39.6% ± 16.8%) and methanogenesis (1.5% ± 1.1%). Microbial Fe(III) reduction contributed more to carbon mineralization during farming than before and after farming. This enhancement in Fe(III) reduction is attributed to a significant increase in Fe(III) content during farming. Additionally, the contributions of microbial Fe(III) reduction to carbon mineralization were lower in the high‐salinity ponds than in the low‐salinity ponds due to the suppression of sulfate reduction, abiotic Fe(III) reduction by sulfides, and lower oxidation‐reduction potential. Our findings demonstrate that microbial Fe(III) reduction plays a significant role in carbon mineralization in aquaculture pond sediments. Future carbon flux prediction models of aquaculture pond systems should fully integrate microbial Fe(III) reduction.

Enhancing resource use efficiency of alfalfa with appropriate irrigation and fertilization strategy mitigate greenhouse gases emissions in the arid region of Northwest China

With the increasing global warming concerns, appropriate agronomic practices for improving crop yields while reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions are essential for sustainable agricultural production. However, little information is available if these benefits can be achieved simultaneously in arid pastoral agriculture systems with irrigation and nitrogen (N) management. We assumed that the local practiced irrigation (600 mm) and N (300 kg ha −1 ) applications for spring wheat in the arid regions of Northwest China are excessive, and optimizing irrigation-N rates would improve the resource use efficiency of alfalfa and reduce GHGs emissions. A two-year field study (2015–2016) was conducted to investigate the effects of irrigation regimes (I L , 300 mm; I M , 450 mm; and I H , 600 mm) and N application rates (F 0 , 0; F L , 150; F M , 225; and F H , 300 kg ha −1 ) on forage yield, resource use efficiency, and GHGs emissions from alfalfa fields. The GHGs emissions during alfalfa growing seasons were assessed by analyzing gas samples using the static chamber-gas chromatography method. High irrigation and N application (I H F H ) was associated with elevated GHGs emissions, global warming potential, and greenhouse gas intensity, but lower irrigation water productivity (IWP) and partial factor productivity of N (PFP N ). Reducing the irrigation and N rates decreased the GHGs emissions but differently affected alfalfa yield and resource use efficiencies. Among all the treatments, I M F L and I H F L resulted in the highest alfalfa yields, IWP, and PFP N . However, I M F L showed a good trade-off between yield benefits and environmental performance manifested by lower GHGs emissions, GWP, and GHGI. The I M F L reduced the cumulative emissions of nitrous oxide by 67.83% and 67.16%, carbon dioxide by 31.05% and 34.60%, GWP by 61.72% and 70.40%, and GHGI by 74.37% and 79.78%, while increased alfalfa yield by 49.24% and 46.45%, IWP by 99.05% and 94.97%, and PFP N by 198.44% and 192.90% compared to I H F H . Regardless of all the treatments, the alfalfa field acted as a CH 4 sink during both crop-growing seasons. Our results suggest that the application of 450 mm irrigation and 150 kg N ha −1 could be used as an appropriate management strategy for enhancing resource use efficiencies and mitigating GHGs emissions, GHGI, and GWP from alfalfa fields. The findings can provide an opportunity for greenhouse gas mitigation without alfalfa forage yield reduction following the proper irrigation and fertilization regimes in the arid region of northwest China and areas with similar agro-climatic conditions. • Intensive irrigation and fertilization increase GHGs emissions and global warming potential. • Enhancing resource use efficiency with suitable irrigation and N rates mitigate GHGs emissions. • Soil moistures and inorganic N contents are the major factors regulating GHGs emissions. • 450 mm irrigation and 150 kg N ha –1 maintain high alfalfa yields and minimize environmental impacts.

Assessment of environmental tax and green bonds impacts on energy efficiency in the European Union

Owing to the increased greenhouse gas emissions and threat of environmental pollution, scholars have drawn attention to the issue of energy efficiency in recent decades. One of the main practical policies related to energy efficiency is deploying green tax and green financing tools. The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the impacts of issued green bonds and environmental taxes on energy efficiency in the 27 European Union (EU) member states from 2010 to 2021. The major results confirm that green bonds accelerate the process of improvement of the level of energy efficiency in EU members. In the EU, environmental taxation is an efficient fiscal policy to encourage enterprises to conduct different policies and projects to improve their energy efficiency levels. In addition, a 1% increase in the gross domestic product leads to an increase in energy efficiency of the EU by nearly 0.39%. The recommended practical policies are promoting the green bond market through more transparency and marketing among private investors, paying attention to the concept of green economic recovery, and issuing digital green bonds (DGBs).

Frontier model of the environmental inefficiency effects on livestock bioeconomy

Background: This work was focused on measuring environmental inefficiency in Mexican dairy farms, considering climate change variables related to the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) and planetary geomagnetic activity. Methods: The applied methodology measures the eco-efficiency of Mexican dairy farms using the empirical application of a stochastic frontier model of the bioeconomy. The productive sector of the bioeconomy studied was the eco-intensification of the livestock production system (dairies). The environmental inefficiency effect was assumed to be a distribution-independent truncation of a normal distribution with constant variance, while the mean was a linear environmental function of the observable variable. Results: The results showed that the coefficients of the frontier model were highly significant, highlighting the investment in livestock (50%). The inefficiency model had an impact on climate variation with greenhouse gas emissions CH4 (1.96%). The results of the environmental technical efficiency in geometric average were 81.28%. The producers that reached the border with a technical efficiency equal to 1 are the references for the rest, marking the relative technical efficiency. Conclusions: It was concluded that the coefficients in the model were very significant, showing the level of investment in livestock (50%). The low-performance model estimates the impact of climate change on GHG emissions CH4 (1.96%) explaining the trend of increasing GHG emissions, keeping in view that the management of food and cattle during the study period were affected by summer feeding, which allowed considering the activity of GHG emissions. According to the results, the geometric mean environmental performance of engineering is 81.28%.

Decomposition of microplastics: Emission of harmful substances and greenhouse gases in the environment

Few reports have been reported on the conditions of the decomposition of plastics in the environment and their threats, while the influence of the decomposition of plastics as a potential factor in increasing greenhouse gas emissions has not been investigated. Greenhouse gases from the decomposition of plastics have so far not been considered in the development of models that show the likely climate change in the future. The work described here examined the presence and possibility of emission of phthalic acid esters and greenhouse gases from various plastic materials in daily use in the aquatic environment. The article presents, inter alia, research on the influence of temperature (20, 60, and 90 °C), pH (3, 7, and 10), plastic material, time (1, 3, 5, 7, and 14 d), and ultraviolet radiation on the migration of components present in various types of plastics, such as poly(vinyl chloride) (with high and low content of plasticizers) and polypropylene. No significant effect of pH on the migration of the plasticizers from the polymer matrix was observed. In turn, the influence of temperature on the emission of these susceptibilities was determined by the type of polymer. The highest emission level of plasticizers made of poly(vinyl chloride) was recorded for 60 °C, while from polypropylene for 20 °C. Depending on environmental conditions, the degradation of microplastics leads to a reduction in the mass of the material and conversion to methane and carbon dioxide. Each material was degraded, which resulted in the observed migration of components and methane and carbon dioxide emissions from the analysed materials. The highest degree of bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate migration was observed for the material made of poly(vinyl chloride). The amount of greenhouse gas emissions depended on the insolation conditions, and the poly(vinyl chloride) material showed the highest emission of methane and carbon dioxide. The highest concentration of methane at the level of 94 ppm after 360 days was observed for poly(vinyl chloride) with a large amount of plasticizers without access to light.

Environmental Protection in the Job Creation Law

On October 5, 2020, the Indonesian government passed the Omnimbus Law which contained various kinds of legislation. Including the environment which is also regulated in the Omnimbus Law. On the one hand, this regulation provides hope for Indonesia's economic growth. However, on the other hand, this regulation has the potential to damage the environment and is not in line with the Indonesian Government's commitment to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which in it weakens instruments for environmental protection and management. Weakening of environmental instruments has the potential to increase greenhouse gas emissions through high-carbon activities and investment in fossil energy. Therefore, this paper will critically analyze how the weakening of environmental instruments in the Omnimbus Law and the Revision of the Minerba Law hampers the fulfillment of Indonesia's greenhouse gas emission reduction targets in the era of restoring national economic stability.&#x0D; Keywords: Environmental Protection Instruments, National Economic Recovery, Omnimbus Law, Greenhouse Gas Emissions.

Swedish recreational athletes as subjects for sustainable food consumption: focus on performance and sustainability

A high food intake can contribute to increased greenhouse-gas emissions, and therefore consumers with a high energy intake are important to include when exploring sustainable foodways. In this paper, semi-structured interviews and a seven-day food record were used to understand the climate impact of food, analyse mundane food practices, and identify sustainable routines among high-energy consumers represented by a group of recreational athletes. Social practice theory and the interdependent relationship between competence, material, and meaning unfold an Athletic performance-related food practice with a focus on performance, time-saving strategies, structured eating, and a possible Climate-conscious athletic performance-related food practice where the food practice also includes important sustainability aspects. The results indicate a high carbon footprint from high energy and dairy and whey protein intake. Some recreational athletes demonstrate an awareness of the climate impact of food, but they need to be convinced that more sustainable ways are possible without jeopardising athletic performance.

Using DMPP with cattle manure can mitigate yield-scaled global warming potential under low rainfall conditions

Organic fertilisers can reduce the carbon (C) footprint from croplands, but adequate management strategies such as the use of nitrification inhibitors are required to minimise side-effects on nitrogen (N) losses to the atmosphere or waterbodies. This could be particularly important in a context on changing rainfall patterns due to climate change. A lysimeter experiment with maize (Zea mays L.) was set up on a coarse sandy soil to evaluate the efficacy of 3,4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate (DMPP) to mitigate nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, nitrate (NO3−) leaching losses and net global warming potential from manure, with (R+) and without (R-) simulated rainfall events. Soil water availability was a limiting factor for plant growth and microbial processes due to low rainfall during the growing season. Nitrification was effectively inhibited by DMPP, decreasing topsoil NO3− concentrations by 28% on average and cumulative N2O losses by 82%. Most of the N2O was emitted during the growing season, with annual emission factors of 0.07% and 0.95% for manure with and without DMPP, respectively. Cumulative N2O emissions were 40% higher in R-compared to R+, possibly because of the higher topsoil NO3− concentrations. There was no effect of DMPP or rainfall amount on annual NO3− leaching losses, which corresponded to 12% of manure-N and were mainly driven by the post-harvest period. DMPP did not affect yield or N use efficiency (NUE) while R-caused severe reductions on biomass and NUE. We conclude that dry growing seasons can jeopardize crop production while concurrently increasing greenhouse gas emissions from a sandy soil. The use of nitrification inhibitors is strongly recommended under these conditions to address the climate change impacts.

Response of Pasture Nitrogen Fertilization on Greenhouse Gas Emission and Net Protein Contribution of Nellore Young Bulls.

This study aimed to evaluate the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and net protein contribution (NPC) of Nellore young bulls grazing marandu palisade grass (Urochloa brizantha cv. Marandu) under three levels of pasture nitrogen (N) fertilization during backgrounding and finished on pasture or feedlot, based on concepts of sustainable intensification. The treatments were: System 1: pastures without N fertilizer during backgrounding, and animals finished on pasture supplemented with high concentrate at a rate of (20 g of concentrate per kg of body weight; P0N + PS); System 2: pastures fertilized with 75 kg N ha-1 year-1 during backgrounding and animals finished on feedlot fed a total mixed ration (TMR; P75N + F); and System 3: pastures fertilized with 150 kg N ha-1 year-1 during backgrounding, and animals finished on feedlot fed a TMR (P150N + F). During backgrounding, all pastures were managed under a continuous and put-and-take stock grazing system. All animals were supplemented with only human-inedible feed. Primary data from systems 1, 2 and 3, respectively, in the field experiment were used to model GHG emissions and NPC (a feed-food competitiveness index), considering the backgrounding and finishing phases of the beef cattle production system. Average daily gain (ADG) was 33% greater for the N fertilizer pastures, while carcass production and stocking rate (SR) more than doubled (P75N + F and P150N + F). Otherwise, the lowest GHG emission intensity (kg CO2e kg carcass-1) was from the P0N + PS system (without N fertilizer) but did not differ from the P75N + F system (p &gt; 0.05; pastures with 75 kg N ha-1). The main source of GHG emission in all production systems was from enteric methane. Moreover, NPC was above 1 for all production systems, indicating that intensified systems contributed positively to supply human protein requirements. Moderate N fertilization of pastures increased the SR twofold without increasing greenhouse gas emissions intensity. Furthermore, tropical beef production systems are net contributors to the human protein supply without competing for food, playing a pivotal role in the food security agenda.

Evaluating the Economic and Environmental Repercussions of the Price Paradox in Natural Resource Commodities: Market Drivers and Potential Challenges for Sustainable Development

The natural resource commodity price paradox is a phenomenon that has been observed in the past. The price of a commodity constantly and unpredictably fluctuates. This phenomenon makes it difficult for businesses to plan for future needs and investments. This study examined the relationship between natural resource commodity prices, renewable energy demand, economic growth, high-technology exports, inbound FDI, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Pakistan, using the 1975 to 2020 time period. The robust least squares (RLS) regression results showed that natural resource commodity prices and economic growth increased GHG emissions. In contrast, there was a negative relationship between renewable energy demand (and high-tech exports) and GHG emissions in Pakistan. The results verified the resource price curse hypothesis and growth-associated emissions in a country. The Granger causality estimates showed the unidirectional relationship of renewable energy consumption with GHG emissions, natural resource pricing, and inbound FDI. Further, high-technology exports Granger caused GHG emissions and GDP per capita. The results verified the country’s growth-led green energy sources and inbound FDI, resource pricing-led inbound FDI, and GHG emissions-led resource pricing. The impulse response function suggested that resource commodity pricing and the country’s economic growth will likely increase GHG emissions in the next ten years. At the same time, green energy demand, technological advancements, and sustainable investment in cleaner production would help decrease GHG emissions over time. The variance decomposition analysis suggested that technology advancements would likely have greater variance shock on GHG emissions, followed by commodity resource pricing and green energy demand. The resource price paradox hampers economic and environmental outcomes, which need to be resolved through advancement in cleaner production technologies, adoption of green energy demand, and stabilization of resource commodity pricing that helps to move forward toward the sustainable development of the country.

Exploring low-carbon pilot city policy implementation: evidence from China

ABSTRACT China has established three rounds of low-carbon pilot city initiatives. However, a gap exists between policy making and successful implementation, and the effects on greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction were found to be different among pilots. This paper considers the question of how low-carbon policies in cities can be implemented effectively and how policy combinations are adopted for GHG emissions reduction. It uses a mixed research approach, including Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) and field investigation in Pilot Y (situated in the southwest China). The results show that, first, financial support and monitoring systems are necessary conditions, while political leadership is a sufficient condition. This means that the absence of financial support or monitoring systems could lead to increased GHG emissions, while the presence of political leadership always promotes the reduction of GHG emissions but may not be sufficient on its own to achieve them. Second, the target responsibility system (TRS) – a system used by higher government levels to assess the policy implementation of lower government levels – and human resource mechanisms cannot effectively lead to the promotion of GHG emissions reduction. Finally, in the absence of TRS and human resource mechanisms, environmental information disclosure (EID) was found to effectively promote low-carbon urban development by encouraging public participation. This paper reveals the complexity of the implementation of low-carbon policies in cities, identifies the link between city-level and national action, and enriches the theoretical explanation of governance and low-carbon policy implementation gaps in China. Key policy insights China’s low-carbon pilot city project is critical for reducing GHG emissions, however, the effects of the low-carbon pilot city programmes varied greatly. Financial support and monitoring systems are necessary conditions, while political leadership is a sufficient condition to achieve cities’ GHG emissions reduction goals. Local low-carbon development is limited and not put into practice at the city level in China, in part because of the absence of financial support and limited political attention. This study highlights the key conditions of organizational behaviour at the meso-level, and enriches the theoretical explanation of environmental policy implementation gaps in China.

The importance of calcium and amorphous silica for arctic soil CO2 production

Future warming of the Arctic not only threatens to destabilize the enormous pool of organic carbon accumulated in permafrost soils but may also mobilize elements such as calcium (Ca) or silicon (Si). While for Greenlandic soils, it was recently shown that both elements may have a strong effect on carbon dioxide (CO2) production with Ca strongly decreasing and Si increasing CO2 production, little is known about the effects of Si and Ca on carbon cycle processes in soils from Siberia, the Canadian Shield, or Alaska. In this study, we incubated five different soils (rich organic soil from the Canadian Shield and from Siberia (one from the top and one from the deeper soil layer) and one acidic and one non-acidic soil from Alaska) for 6 months under both drained and waterlogged conditions and at different Ca and amorphous Si (ASi) concentrations. Our results show a strong decrease in soil CO2 production for all soils under both drained and waterlogged conditions with increasing Ca concentrations. The ASi effect was not clear across the different soils used, with soil CO2 production increasing, decreasing, or not being significantly affected depending on the soil type and if the soils were initially drained or waterlogged. We found no methane production in any of the soils regardless of treatment. Taking into account the predicted change in Si and Ca availability under a future warmer Arctic climate, the associated fertilization effects would imply potentially lower greenhouse gas production from Siberia and slightly increased greenhouse gas emissions from the Canadian Shield. Including Ca as a controlling factor for Arctic soil CO2 production rates may, therefore, reduces uncertainties in modeling future scenarios on how Arctic regions may respond to climate change.

Quantifying households’ carbon footprint in cities using socioeconomic attributes: A case study for The Hague (Netherlands)

Cities consume almost 80 percent of world’s energy and account for 60 percent of all the emissions of carbon dioxide and significant amounts of other greenhouse gases (GHG). The ongoing rapid urbanization will further increase GHG emissions of cities. The quantification of the environmental impact generated in cities is an important step to curb the impact. In fact, quantifying the consumption activities taking place inside a city, if differentiated by socioeconomic and demographic groups, can provide important insights for sustainable-consumption policies. However, the lack of high-resolution data related to these activities makes it difficult to quantify urban GHG emissions (as well as other impacts). This paper presents a methodology that can quantify the carbon footprint of households in cities using consumption data from a national or European level, where the resource consumption is linked to socioeconomic attributes of a population. The methodology is applied to analyzing the environmental impact by household resource consumption in the city of The Hague in the Netherlands. The key insights reveal potential intervention areas regarding resource consumption categories and demographic groups that can be targeted to reduce GHG emissions due to consumption-driven activities in the city. • Demographic clustering to realize a socio-economic segmentation of the population. • Regression and data-driven models applied at district level to derive resource consumption. • Carbon emissions calculated by matching resource consumption with process-based LCI database. • Mobility, household waste and energy use account for 70% of carbon emissions in The Hague. • An estimated potential reduction of 30% carbon emissions in the mobility sector for The Hague.