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Paper has shaped society for centuries and is considered one of humanity's most important inventions. However, pulp and paper products can be damaging to social and natural systems along their lifecycle of material extraction, processing, transportation, and waste handling. The pulp and paper industry is among the top five most energy-intensive industries globally and is the fourth largest industrial energy user. This industry accounts for approximately 6% of global industrial energy use and 2% of direct industrial CO 2 emissions. The pulp and paper industry is also the largest user of original or virgin wood, with deleterious impacts on both human health and local flora and fauna, including aquatic ecosystems. This critical and systematic review seeks to identify alternatives for mitigating the climate impacts of pulp and paper processes and products, thus making the pulp and paper industry more environmentally sustainable. This study reviews 466 studies to answer the following questions: what are the main determinants of energy and carbon emissions emerging from the pulp and paper industry? What are the benefits of this industry adopting low-carbon manufacturing processes, and what barriers will need to be tackled to enable such adoption? Using a sociotechnical lens, we answer these questions, identify barriers for the pulp and paper industry's decarbonization, and present promising avenues for future research. •This review identifies carbon-intensive processes in the pulp and paper industry. •Presents decarbonizing practices, potential transformations and innovations. •Presents promising avenues for future research. •No agreed consensus on the most promising technologies to achieve net-zero in the pulp and paper industry. •Pulp and paper products are associated with other sociotechnical systems that create compelling interdependencies among industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concrete is the most highly used construction material globally. This is largely due to its durability, versatility and manufacture from inexpensive and readily available materials. Although concrete has become an essential and ubiquitous construction material for modern society, its use has significant environmental impacts. The full cement and concrete lifecycle, from production to final disposal, accounts for nearly 10% of global energy-related CO 2 emissions with the majority of these emissions produced from cement, which is the binding material that holds concrete together. The cement and concrete industry (CCI), which is integral to global infrastructure development, is therefore confronted with a growing need to decarbonize its operations and products, as well as to support the decarbonization of associated end-user sectors. This paper provides a systematic and critical review of more than 800 studies to highlight ways in which the CCI can decarbonize. A socio-technical perspective is used to understand the full range of industrial and economic activities where a decarbonized paradigm for cement and concrete production is relevant. This perspective is further used to assess key technical, economic, social and political factors that will drive a net-zero transition in the CCI over the long term. • Reviews the cement and concrete industry (CCI) decarbonization literature. • Describes the CCI's sociotechnical system and energy and environmental impacts. • Highlights barriers and opportunities for CCI decarbonization. • Outlines technologies and policies to mitigate negative CCI impacts. • Proposes gaps and future agendas for CCI decarbonization research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the funding trends, topical themes, and notable gaps in global public research funding across the areas of energy, climate change, transport, and industrial decarbonisation from 1990 to 2020. The paper organizes its analysis along the themes of financial and spatial patterns of funding, patterns of disciplinary funding, and the temporality (and shifting research priorities) within funding patterns. It finds that funding for energy and climate research remains concentrated within the European Commission, United Kingdom and United States. Climate change adaptation research is the most funded general area, and the specific topics of energy efficiency, climate resilience, and climate information systems, managing climate risks, energy storage, carbon dioxide removal and solar energy are the most funded technologies. There is significant diversity in the disciplines funded, with the social sciences supported almost as much as the engineering and physical sciences and meaningful amounts of funding disbursed to the arts and humanities and the life sciences. A large majority of projects identify themselves as transdisciplinary. The paper, lastly, discusses research gaps and future research questions. • Systematically explores research funding on climate change and energy from 1990 to 2020. • Catalogues public research programs across the largest funders and countries in the world. • Examines the top-awarded universities, top-awarded disciplines and interdisciplinary funding patterns. • Evaluates how research funding shapes the dynamics on knowledge and technology innovation. • Analyses spatial patterns of funding, disciplinary politics, and shifting research priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]