A comprehensive understanding of land use carbon metabolism characteristics from the production-living-ecological space (PLES) perspective is crucial for formulating carbon reduction strategies. As the core economic zone of northern China, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region faces severe carbon emission pressures due to rapid urbanization and intensive land use transformation. However, focusing solely on carbon metabolism calculation without considering future changes and optimization effects may prevent achieving carbon emission reduction targets. This study assessed carbon emissions and sequestration based on different land use types in PLES, constructed a multi-objective carbon reduction scenario utilizing the Dinamica-EGO model, nondominated sorting genetic algorithm II, and entropy weight-TOPSIS model, and simulated 2035 carbon reduction characteristics by coupling PLES changes. Taking the BTH region as a case study, a methodological framework and corresponding models were established. The results show that from 2000 to 2020, the total carbon emissions in the BTH region increased significantly, presenting a spatial pattern of high emissions in the southeast and low emissions in the northwest. In contrast, the overall carbon sequestration capacity showed a decreasing trend, with stronger capacity in the northwest and weaker capacity in the southeast. The multi-variable 2035 carbon emission reduction prediction model achieved an accuracy of 82.24%. The 2035 carbon reduction plan developed based on this framework outperformed the original land use plan: economic benefits, emission reduction efficiency, spatial compactness, and accessibility are projected to increase by 15.8%, 7.9%, 2.5%, and 8.3%, respectively, while carbon emissions are expected to decrease by 19.04%. The proposed PLES-based framework for carbon metabolism measurement and emission reduction simulation exhibits good applicability in regional spatial emission reduction. These findings contribute to exploring regional carbon dynamics and provide references for governments to formulate carbon reduction policies.

Process-resolved characterization and multi-metric co-control of VOC emissions in pesticide manufacturing.

Presented on 20 May 2026: Session 12 In Australia, gas producing facilities must report greenhouse gas emissions under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) Act 2007 and comply with the Safeguard Mechanism if their total emissions exceed 100,000 tonnes CO2-equivalent (CO2-e) per year. Emissions are measured in CO2-e, which accounts for all covered gases weighted by their global warming potential (GWP). Methane (CH4) is explicitly listed as a covered gas. Methane has a GWP of 28, meaning 1 tonne of methane has the same climate impact as 28 tonnes of carbon dioxide. This weighting makes methane slip (unburned methane released from combustion in gas-fired engines) critical to quantify. We have measured methane concentrations of up to 2849 ppm, contributing approximately 55% of total CO2-e emissions for the same engine. If methane slip is not measured or accounted for, facilities may significantly underreport their actual CO2-e emissions, potentially by a large margin. Accurate measurement of methane engine emissions with fourier transform infrared spectroscopy can be reliably used to measure methane slip from combustion sources. It also allows sites to tune the engines to work at reducing methane slip in real time, making it a valuable tool for ensuring compliance. Facilities exceeding NGER thresholds and falling under the Safeguard Mechanism are assigned baseline emission targets and must surrender Australian carbon credit units or safeguard mechanism credits to offset excess emissions. The baseline declines annually by about 4.9%. Given methane’s high GWP, even small unmeasured methane slip can have disproportionate impacts on both compliance obligations and environmental performance. To access the Oral Presentation click ‘Supplementary data’ below. To read the full paper click here

Carbon footprint of routine endoscopic procedures - a comprehensive assessment in three US endoscopy units.

Spatially resolved nitrous oxide emissions in wastewater treatment processes.

Agriculture is commonly portrayed as a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, yet it also represents one of the largest human-managed biological systems regulating carbon exchanges between the atmosphere and the biosphere. This study reassesses the role of global agriculture within the terrestrial carbon cycle by quantifying gross photosynthetic CO2 uptake from crops, pastures, and managed forests and by evaluating alternative agricultural development pathways through 2050. Using FAOSTAT data for 156 crops integrated with FAO estimates for pastures and managed forests, we estimate that agricultural systems assimilated approximately 47.64 Gt CO2 in 2023, including 21.87 Gt CO2 from crops alone. This gross uptake exceeds current annual anthropogenic CO2 emissions and approaches total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions expressed as CO2 equivalents. However, most of the assimilated carbon is subsequently returned to the atmosphere through respiration, decomposition, livestock metabolism, biomass utilization, and food consumption. Gross uptake should therefore be interpreted as a measure of managed biogenic carbon cycling rather than permanent carbon sequestration. Historical analysis indicates that crop CO2 assimilation increased from approximately 5.4 Gt CO2 in 1961 to 21.9 Gt CO2 in 2023, reflecting the combined effects of technological progress, yield improvements, agricultural intensification, and expansion of photosynthetically active biomass. Over the same period, agricultural productivity increased much faster than cropland area, reducing the land required to satisfy growing food demand and thereby limiting the conversion of natural ecosystems. To explore future trajectories, we developed the Emission Scenarios Simulation Dynamic Model (ESSDM), a scenario-based accounting framework that evaluates alternative production pathways under the constraint of meeting projected global food demand. Three scenarios were examined: Sustainable Intensification (SI), Moderate Expansion with Sustainable Intensification (MESI), and Organic Farming with substantial cropland expansion (OF). The simulations reveal substantial divergence among scenarios. By 2050, cumulative emissions are projected to reach 163.51 Gt CO2e under SI, 241.35 Gt CO2e under MESI, and 493.99 Gt CO2e under OF. The markedly higher emissions associated with OF are primarily driven by lower average yields and the resulting expansion of cropland area (+ 52.45% relative to 2023), which generates substantial land-use change emissions through ecosystem conversion. Overall, the results indicate that the climate performance of agricultural systems depends not only on direct greenhouse gas emissions but also on productivity, land-use efficiency, and their influence on future land demand. The analysis highlights that protecting forests and grasslands from conversion remains a central climate objective and that sustainable intensification provides the most effective pathway for reconciling food security with climate mitigation under the assumptions considered. More broadly, the study suggests that agricultural assessments may benefit from integrating emission inventories with information on managed carbon fluxes and land-use dynamics when evaluating alternative development pathways.

Abstract Accurate simulation of regional carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) concentrations is critical for urban carbon monitoring, inverse modeling and mitigation. However, large uncertainties persist due to differences in anthropogenic emission inventories in China. Focusing on Jiangsu Province in the Yangtze River Delta, where the mean inter‐inventory spread in annual city‐level total emissions exceeds 60% and spatial discrepancies are substantial, we assessed how six widely used inventories affect modeled CO 2 fields. Using a 3‐km WRF‐Chem‐VPRM framework, we performed simulations for July and December 2022. To isolate the impact of inventory‐related uncertainties, we designed sensitivity experiments that separately perturbed inventory selection, emission magnitude, spatial distribution, and temporal and vertical allocation used in the inventory‐to‐model matching. All experiments were driven by identical meteorological conditions to ensure comparability. Model outputs showed good consistency with meteorological observations, CarbonTracker near‐surface CO 2 , and OCO‐2 XCO 2 ( R ≈ 0.83), while also capturing physically reasonable near‐surface diurnal behavior. Inventory selection led to a nighttime urban domain‐averaged standard deviation of 8.2 ppm. Sensitivity results indicated that spatial allocation differences contributed more to modeled CO 2 variability than total emission magnitude. Under stable boundary‐layer conditions, vertical allocation emerged as a key uncertainty source, producing 25–50 ppm differences in surface CO 2 . These results demonstrate that inventory‐to‐model matching, especially vertical allocation, can exceed the impact of inventory selection for high‐resolution urban CO 2 simulations under stable nighttime conditions. This study provides a quantitative basis for diagnosing inventory‐induced variability and supports the development of fine‐resolution, vertically resolved inventories for robust urban CO 2 modeling and future inversion efforts.

Long-term dynamics and circularity implications of brominated flame retardants in China's plastics.

ABSTRACT This paper exploits China’s Environmental Protection Tax Reform (CEPTR) as a quasi-natural experiment to examine whether market-based environmental regulation can simultaneously enhance productivity and reduce pollution. Using panel data on A-share listed firms over the period 2012–2024 and a difference-in-differences (DID) framework, we evaluate the reform’s impact on firms’ total factor productivity (TFP) and pollutant emissions. The results reveal a clear ‘double dividend’ effect: CEPTR significantly increases TFP while simultaneously reducing emissions. Mechanism analyses indicate that these effects are primarily driven by three channels: the promotion of green innovation, increased R&D investment and the alleviation of financing constraints. Heterogeneity analysis shows that firms in moderately polluting industries experience the most pronounced improvements in both productivity and emission reduction, suggesting that the reform is particularly effective where regulatory pressure is neither too weak nor excessively stringent. Overall, the findings provide firm-level evidence supporting the Porter Hypothesis in the context of a major developing economy and highlight the role of environmental taxation as an effective policy instrument for achieving coordinated economic and environmental gains.

Integrated valorization of the seafood residues in a (near) zero-pollution biorefinery concept.

Treated sewage discharge mitigates net greenhouse gas emissions from polluted urban rivers.

Five years of Greener NHS: improved carbon footprint assessment of the National Health Service in England.

Digital poster design has become a dominant visual communication medium, yet its environmental impacts remain poorly understood despite assumptions of inherent sustainability. This research developed a specialized life cycle assessment methodology to quantify and optimize the environmental footprint of digital poster systems. The framework encompasses five lifecycle stages from design creation through data deletion, employing real-time monitoring and dynamic data collection across a six-month case study with a digital marketing agency. Assessment results revealed total carbon emissions of 7.45 kg CO₂-eq per functional unit, with distribution infrastructure and display operations contributing 89% of lifecycle impacts. Implementation of comprehensive optimization strategies achieved 28.6% reduction in climate change impact through hardware efficiency improvements, temporal scheduling, and cloud platform adoption. Sensitivity analysis identified data center PUE as the most influential parameter, while geographic variations significantly affected regional impacts. The methodology advances LCA application in digital systems by incorporating workload-specific assessments and providing actionable optimization guidance. These findings demonstrate that systematic environmental management can achieve substantial impact reductions while maintaining creative excellence, supporting the digital design industry’s transition toward genuine sustainability rather than merely shifting environmental burdens between lifecycle stages.

Floating marine plastics undergo weathering and fragmentation, generating abundant small microplastics (MPs) (≤10 μm) that can be released into the atmosphere by sea spray aerosol (SSA), enabling long-range atmospheric transport. However, despite being increasingly recognized as emerging pollutants, the cross-boundary transport and cycling of MPs remain poorly constrained, and the response of their sea-to-air transfer mechanisms and fluxes to environmental drivers remains highly uncertain. Here, we combine controlled laboratory simulations with model estimation to quantify how sea surface temperature (SST) regulates the SSA-mediated emission of size-resolved MPs (0.5-10 μm). We find that warming SST significantly suppresses MPs enrichment in SSA, with stronger effects observed for smaller MPs. Compared to 0 °C seawater, size-resolved MPs enrichment factors decreased by factors of 1.5 to 4.2 at 30 °C, and this trend was coupled with the decrease in particle size of MPs. Mechanistic analyses indicate that warming SST reduces the submerged bubble scavenging and interfacial enrichment during bubble bursting, thereby impeding the transfer of MPs from the ocean to the atmosphere. By incorporating SST-driven changes in SSA production, surface-ocean MPs concentrations, and size-dependent enrichment of MPs, we developed a high-resolution global emission inventory, yielding total SSA-mediated MPs emissions in the range 3.85-23.32 tons yr-1. These findings identify SST as a key parameter regulating the release of marine MPs, which has significant implications for improving global emission inventories and atmospheric transport modeling.

Low-carbon transition pathways for heavy-industry parks: A case study from Fujian, China.

Carbon footprint and environmental impacts of feeding grape pomace to dairy cows in California.

Diesel engines remain indispensable in energy production and transportation, necessitating effective strategies to mitigate toxic unregulated emissions. Despite extensive research on oxygenated fuels, the influence of higher alcohol molecular structure on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) formation and toxicity remains poorly understood. This study systematically investigates the effects of 7.5% (v/v) n-propanol (C3), n-butanol (C4), and n-pentanol (C5) blending with diesel (D100) and biodiesel (B100) on total PAH emissions, relative distribution, and toxicity-weighted (BaPeq) emissions under identical operating conditions using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) analysis. The addition of higher alcohol markedly reduced total PAHs and suppressed the formation of higher-ring carcinogenic species. Among the tested blends, n-propanol consistently delivered the greatest reduction in both total PAH concentration and toxicity. This superior performance is attributed to structure-dependent combustion effects, including enhanced charge homogeneity, moderated local temperature evolution, and suppression of aromatic growth pathways. Overall, these findings provide a basis for the rational design of oxygenated fuel mixtures to reduce unregulated emissions associated with toxicity in future diesel combustion systems.

Exploring the disparities in CO2 emissions (CE) among different city types is essential for formulating effective decarbonization policies. However, due to the limitations of urban energy data, it is challenging to conduct CE analysis at the city level. This study proposes a city-level CE accounting model based on multi-source data to estimate emissions for 41 cities in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) from 2013 to 2022. Using the K-means algorithm, cities are categorized into five distinct types, while a Geographically and Temporally Weighted Regression (GTWR) model is employed to analyze their spatiotemporal drivers. The results demonstrate that the proposed model in this study significantly enhances the accuracy of city-level CE estimation compared to traditional Nighttime Light (NTL)-based fitting methods, with the R2 value increasing from 0.63 to 0.76. Based on this improved model, the result shows that the total CE in the YRD rose from 1,700 Mt in 2013 to approximately 1,931 Mt in 2022. The region exhibits a high degree of emission concentration, where a mere 14.6% of cities with annual emissions exceeding 80 Mt contribute to 40.3% of the total regional emissions. GTWR analysis reveals that population, per capita GDP, industry structure, and energy intensity consistently drive emissions upward, while urbanization exhibits dual effects. Optimizing industrial structure and reducing energy intensity are effective ways to curb the growth of urban CE. This study improves the estimation method for urban CE based on NTL data and provides scientific support for various city types to formulate tailored mitigation pathways.

Globally, a significant volume of petroleum products is transported daily through logistic networks to meet diverse regional demands, where unreliable or delayed delivery can lead to serious economic, social, and political consequences. The primary contribution of this research is the development of a comprehensive, robust multi-period mathematical model for the integrated planning of a green multi-modal petroleum product logistic network. This model advances current frameworks by simultaneously integrating pipeline, rail, and road transportation; synchronizing strategic facility development with operational flow allocation under uncertainty; and selecting the optimal network topology from both economic and environmental perspectives. It supports decisions on the location of distribution centers and the construction of pipelines and railways within budget constraints, aligning infrastructure investment with operational efficiency. A real-world case study in central Iran, solved via the Augmented Epsilon Constraint method, validates the approach. Targeted rail and pipeline investments reduce total transportation costs and cut CO₂ emissions by ~ 27.5% compared to the cost-only optimum. Out-of-sample tests across different uncertainty scenarios confirm the robust model's superiority. It achieves 100% feasibility, vs. 50% for the nominal model, lowers average cost by 4.7%, reduces average emissions by 30.4%, and improves uncertainty regret indices by up to ~ 92%. These findings highlight the model's resilience and ability to deliver sustainable, cost-effective petroleum logistics under real-world uncertainty.

The global rise in dialysis treatments for kidney failure patients has led to growing concern about the carbon footprint of dialysis and the environmental implications of increased consumption of key resources, including water, electricity, and the manufacture and waste disposal of treatment-related consumables. As most environmental studies have reported from temperate climates, we examined the carbon footprint of a hemodialysis center in Singapore, which represents a country with a tropical climate, aiming to assess total carbon emissions quantitatively, systematically identify key components, and provide critical insights along with pragmatic recommendations for enhancing sustainability practices. We measured the direct and indirect carbon emissions using the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Product Standard at our 12-station satellite dialysis center. This study was conducted at the outpatient satellite dialysis center of NUH between October 2023 and January 2024. This 12-station satellite dialysis facility operates three shifts daily, six days a week, and encompasses an area of 210 m². It is equipped with twelve machines, supplied with dialysis water from AquaB Duo Water Treatment System (Fresenius Medical Company, Bad Homberg, Germany). Acid concentrates (dilution 1:34, 5L containers) and bicarbonate powder are supplied in single-use plastic containers. The direct and indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were measured retrospectively using the GHG Protocol Product Standard, developed by the World Resources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Our center dialyzed approximately 60 patients each month, resulting in a total of 8932 sessions over the course of the year. Our total annual emissions were evaluated at 358.52 tonnes of carbon dioxide (tCO₂e), with an average carbon emission of 5.98 tCO₂e per patient. Most of these emissions were due to dialysis consumables, accounting for 147.50 tCO₂e (41.1%). The dialysis consumables contributing the most to carbon emissions were dialyzers, bicarbonate powder, bloodlines, dialysis needles, and acid concentrates. This was followed by electricity, clinical supplies, and pharmaceuticals, which contributed 55.27 tCO₂e (15.4%), 24.35 tCO₂e (6.8%), and 36.24 tCO₂e (10.1%), respectively. Waste generated accounted for 30.94 tCO₂e (8.6%) of the carbon emissions. Our study on the carbon footprint of a satellite hemodialysis unit is the first one conducted in an equatorial urban city environment, experiencing high humidity and abundant rainfall, with a tropical climate. Further research into local carbon emissions across other centers in Southeast Asia is essential for validating our findings and informing sustainability policies.