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The climate change policy debate and ensuing discussions about industrial energy use and carbon emissions have highlighted the need to: (a) aggregate engineering information to a level relevant for economic policy analysis while maintaining sufficient detail so that results are meaningful for industry decision makers, (b) properly represent an industry’s capital vintage structure to better understand inertia associated with changes in aggregate industrial emissions profiles, and (c) identify policy instruments that leverage an industry’s potential for technological change such that carbon emissions can be noticeably reduced. This paper presents an econometric analysis of energy use and emissions profiles of the US Pulp and Paper Industry and uses the resulting set of equations to specify a dynamic model for the analysis of select climate change policies. Scenarios of cost of carbon, energy tax, and investment-led policies indicate that a combination of cost of carbon and investment-led policies can achieve the desired result of rapidly improving overall efficiency of the industry and promoting changes in fuel mix, which together can result in drastic reductions of carbon emissions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Using past episodes of climate change as a source of evidence to inform our projections about contemporary climate change requires establishing the extent to which episodes in the deep past are analogous to the current crisis. However, many scientists claim that contemporary rates of climate change (e.g., rates of carbon emissions or temperature change) are unprecedented, including compared to episodes in the deep past. If so, this would limit the utility of paleoclimate analogues. In this paper, I show how a data adjustment procedure called "temporal scaling," which must be applied to both contemporary and past rate data, complicates the claim that contemporary rates are truly unprecedented. On top of giving actionable recommendations to scientists, this paper advances the philosophical literature concerning the use of models that are known to be somewhat disanalogous to their target systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the uneven access to climate knowledge experienced by scientists and policymakers in Vanuatu. Rather than pointing to a lack of capability or forethought on the part of the Vanuatu government or scientists in Vanuatu, an examination of the colonial basis and economic investments necessary in climate science and monitoring elucidates how developing nations are systemically disadvantaged in climate research. Drawing from political ecology and science and technology studies these inequities are contextualized and spatially located through discourse analysis and qualitative interviews with ni-Vanuatu scientists, policymakers, and scholars. By situating climate science and climate knowledge in a historical perspective this paper provides a critique of the dominant view of climate research as neutral and necessarily global. This paper concludes by asserting climate knowledge inequities will not be resolved merely by more information, but only through addressing the root causes of these inequities over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Climate adaptation policy in a large river basin is explored. • Empirical study of science and policy interactions during actual reforms. • Interviews with senior research policy professionals reveal dynamics of policy formulation. • Proposes legally prescribed procedures for utilising science in environmental policy formulation. Climate change has many disruptive consequences, particularly in large river basins experiencing drying trends and declining water availability. With pressure for more adaptive policies, understanding how institutions governing water are adapting to climate risks has broad international relevance. This paper examines the challenges of climate risk assessments in Australia's Murray Darling Basin, an economically and culturally important basin where national legislation mandates a Basin Plan based on the best available science. However, despite repeated scientific warnings about a drying climate, the current Basin Plan does not reduce estimates of water resources available, and its climate risk management relies on a bricolage of policy mechanisms, which appear insufficient for the magnitude of predicted changes. This paper outlines the findings of original research exploring why this occurred. It draws on interviews with 30 senior public policy professionals and researchers with deep experience in climate and water policy. The interview data indicate that minimising political risks were the principal reasons for abandoning proposed reductions in entitlements and for relying on historical averages for estimating water availability. As the reform process evolved, decisions about water-planning techniques became increasingly politicised, and the adoption of explicit climate adaptation measures became problematic. As a result, the Basin Plan neither reflects the broad scientific consensus about climate change nor makes specific allowances for declining water availability. Climate risks are downplayed while concerns about levels of scientific uncertainties appear overstated. Importantly, lessons emerge from this examination that could contribute to the revisions of the Plan, scheduled for 2026. More generally, the research finds that proactive climate adaptation policies for large river basins require sustained and well-designed institutional reforms, particularly the adoption of legally prescribed procedures for utilising science - and accounting for its use - in controversial environmental reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture is a major source of global greenhouse gas emissions and therefore effective policy interventions are required in order to mitigate these emissions. One form of intervention used within the agricultural sector is participatory extension programmes (PEPs). PEPs are advisory programmes based on voluntary participation where farmers, researchers, and rural experts collectively learn by sharing information and experiences. To evaluate the contribution of these programmes towards more climate friendly farming, this paper conducts an ex-post evaluation of a PEP focused on the voluntary uptake of on-farm emissions mitigation practices in the UK. We use a mixed-methods approach to understand both the adoption of new practices and a range of human-social outcomes such as social learning, resilience and improved decision-making. We find that participants in the PEP show a higher level of practice adoption compared to non-participants. However, the evaluation of the human-social indicators shows that the change cannot always be attributed to PEP participation. The paper contributes to the current literature by conducting the first evaluation on a climate change PEP in a developed country and by developing and applying an effective evaluation framework for climate change PEPs, in order to achieve an understanding of the change achieved by PEPs. • Understanding change due to PEP participation requires a mixed methods approach. • Holistic evaluation shows increased practice adoption cannot always be attributed to the PEP. • A wider set of measures is required to achieve a sustained change towards climate friendly farming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the temporalities of planned relocation in response to climatic and environmental changes in Fiji. It is based on fieldwork among seven low-lying coastal villages under threat from sea- level rise and where planned relocation has been implemented, initiated or anticipated. The paper highlights how residents of these villages make sense of different temporalities and timescale: climate impacts and adaptation are understood to disrupt personal and intergenerational histories of attachment to place; climatic and environmental changes – such as sea-level rise, coastal erosion and flooding – and relocation planning and implementation are central to contemporary everyday experience; and climate impacts and relocation extend into the future in uncertain ways, albeit informed by future-oriented scientific estimates and local experience and observation. This paper argues that these temporalities are experienced as 'thick time' in which the past, present and future of climate change and relocation are palpable in the everyday. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• 5210 forestry Brazilian theses and 2228 forestry articles were evaluated. • Climate change on forest environments are understudied given its relevance. • Three key opportunities to improve science about climate change are presented. This article explores the extent to which research in forestry is directly related to the issue of climate change. The study conducted two surveys, one analyzing 5,210 theses from Brazilian forestry-related postgraduate programs between 2013 and 2022, and another examining 2228 articles published in ten forestry journals in 2022. We classified the extent of a focus on climate change in four classes: strong focus, relevant focus, using it as a context and not considered. Given the pervasive impacts of changing climates, we found a small representation of the topic within the theses with only 2% with a strong focus, 2% of relevant focus and 5% mentioned climate change as a contextual factor but provided no clear connections or inferences about climate change and forests. The focus on climate change was developed better in the forest journals. Almost one-third at least justified their projects based on connections to climate change, and 14% directly studied climate change and its impacts. Six percent of the papers with a direct focus on climate change also incorporated climate change effects into their experimental designs. We propose three key opportunities for improve the science about climate change related directly with forestry. Firstly, an opportunity is related with the writing of papers by itself, where articles might have substantive connections and insights connected with the core theme of the research. Secondly, taking Brazil as an example, there should have an increment in the number of graduate students working directly with the theme of climate change given its relevance. Lastly, we identified an opportunity for a more balanced science in the distinct types of forests. Tropical forest represents 45% of the forests worldwide but comprises only 14% of studies in our sample. By addressing these opportunities, we will not only benefit the forests but also contribute to a more sustainable and climate-resilient future for both forests and communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Modal plant functional types (PFTs) can be used to indicate vegetation response to climate change. • Modal PFTs are better indicators of vegetation response to climate change than single traits. • Leading modal PFTs and traits are identified for the global flora. • Green stem photosynthesis, leaf inclination and stomatal distribution are important functional traits worldwide. • Global database includes modal PFTs, species and estimates of plant functional complexity from gradsect samples of all major biomes. An assessment of plant functional indicators of vegetation response to climate change requires a science-based evaluation of functional linkages between plants and climate. This paper addresses the hypotheses outlined in the preceding paper: 1) A whole-plant system of modal plant functional types (PFTs) based on a core set of functional traits can provide an improved alternative to PFTs and traits used so far in models of vegetation response to climate change; 2) Modal PFTs are more efficient indicators of vegetation response to climate change than individual traits; 3) Improved plant functional selection criteria can lead to improved parameters in Earth System and Dynamic Global Vegetation Models. Present-day (1975 centred) plant–climate relationships were analyzed within a global climatic framework of 1327 (200 m2) sample sites covering all major biomes. Five regions were selected for their range of bioclimatic gradients (arctic-boreal; cool temperate-subtropical; humid equatorial; hot, cold deserts). Biophysical site data were recorded along gradient oriented transects (gradsects) using a standard protocol that included all vascular plant taxa and modal PFTs. Regression, ordination and species distribution modeling were used to assess plant–climate indicator values against ten bioclimatic variables including extremes of contemporary thermal, light (energy) and moisture availability and estimates for 'present' (1975) and year 2100 climate scenarios. Modal PFTs and individual traits were highly correlated in differing patterns with bioclimate in each of the five regions in both climate scenarios with PFTs being the best predictors. Each of the three hypotheses is supported by these results, indicating that preference should be given to modal assemblages rather than individual traits as response parameters in predictive vegetation models. The indicators identified here are but one element of the highly complex array of other factors that influence vegetation response to terrestrial environmental change such as resource use, species acclimation, invasive species and human population pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Improving rural household energy efficiency is an important policy issue for climate change mitigation in China. A better understanding of the factors affecting farmers' energy-efficient appliance use behavior can help policymakers design more effective policies. This paper explores the effect of farmers' risk preferences and loss aversion on their energy-efficient appliance use behavior in rural China. Using unique data from a survey and a paired lottery experiment completed by 235 rural household heads in the Dazu District of China, this study finds that the farmers' risk preferences and loss aversion have significant effects on their energy-efficient appliance use behavior. The more risk-averse farmers are less likely to buy or use energy-efficient appliances. The farmers who are more loss averse are more willing to purchase and more likely to use durable energy-efficient appliances. In addition, the farmers' demographic factors (age, gender, education, and family location), their perceptions of climate change adaptation and their trust attitudes have significant effects on their energy-efficient appliance use behavior. This paper contributes to the emerging literature that relates risk preferences and loss aversion in experiments to farmers' energy-efficient appliance use behavior. Highlights • The analysis is based on a unique data set combining a survey and economic experiments. • The average response of our sample is risk averse and loss averse. • The more risk-averse farmers are less likely to use energy-efficient appliances. • The more loss-averse farmers are more willing to use durable energy-efficient appliances. • Farmers' socioeconomic status and trust attitudes affect their use behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A number of empirical methods have been developed to study China's sectoral carbon emissions (CSCE). Measuring these emissions is important for climate change mitigation. While several articles have reviewed specific methods, few attempts conduct a systematic analysis of all the major research methods. In total 807 papers were published on CSCE research between 1997 and 2017. The primary source of literature for this analysis was taken from the Web of Science database. Based on a bibliometric analysis using knowledge mapping with the software CiteSpace, the review identified five common families of methods: 1) environmentally-extended input-output analysis (EE-IOA), 2) index decomposition analysis (IDA), 3) econometrics, 4) carbon emission control efficiency evaluation and 5) simulation. The research revealed the main trends in each family of methods and has visualized this research into ten research clusters. In addition, the paper provides a direct comparison of all methods. The research results can help scholars quickly identify and compare different methods for addressing specific research questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Discourse structuration and institutionalization can identify dominant discourses. • Discourses in long-term projections from climate science frame climate action. • High degree of discourse hybridity in climate science, negotiations and commitments. • States strategically adopt hybrid discourses from climate science. Abstract This paper analyses climate science as a discourse to reveal how it enables and constrains climate change negotiations and action. Focusing on long-term outcomes projected in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fifth Assessment Report and the World Bank's "Turn Down the Heat" reports, this paper examines processes of discourse structuration and institutionalization to identify the dominant discourses which frame climate action. We trace the dominant discourses identified in the scientific reports – Survivalism, Ecological Modernisation and Economic Rationalism – through the Paris Agreement and selected Leader Statements and Intended Nationally Determined Contributions from COP21. From the 24 states included in this analysis, Papua New Guinea (PNG) is developed as a case study to investigate the hybridity and institutionalization of discourses. Even though PNG's rhetoric and commitments at COP21 express Survivalism, the state's policy frameworks rarely move beyond solutions found in Economic Rationalism and Ecological Modernisation. This suggests that states strategically adopt hybrid discourses drawn from climate science in line with their positionality, political economy and interests. Understanding how discourses drawn from climate science manifest in national policies has significant implications not only for how science is communicated at the international level but also for understanding different state positions in the global climate governance regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The research community will play a key role in the post-2020 UNFCCC framework. • GHG inventories must follow a rigid set of rules established by the UNFCCC and IPCC. • To be policy relevant, the research community should understand these set of rules. • The research and reporting communities should facilitate estimates comparability. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emission inventories represent the link between national and international political actions on climate change, and climate and environmental sciences. Inventory agencies need to include, in national GHG inventories, emission and removal estimates based on scientific data following specific reporting guidance under the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement, using the methodologies defined in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines. Often however, research communities and inventory agencies have approached the problem of climate change from different angles and by using terminologies, metrics, rules and approaches that do not always match. This is particularly true dealing with "Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry" (LULUCF), the most challenging among the inventory sectors to deal with, mainly because of high level of complexity of its carbon dynamics and the difficulties in disaggregating the fluxes between those caused by natural and anthropogenic processes. In this paper, we facilitate the understanding by research communities of the current (UNFCCC) and future (under the Paris Agreement) reporting requirements, and we identify the main issues and topics that should be considered when targeting improvement of the GHG inventory. In relation to these topics, we describe where and how the research community can contribute to producing useful inputs, data, methods and solutions for inventory agencies and policy makers, on the basis of available literature. However, a greater effort by both communities is desirable for closer cooperation and collaboration, for data sharing and the understanding of respective and common aims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Delta cities are increasingly exposed to the risks of climate change, particularly to flooding. As a consequence, a variety of new spatial development visions, strategies, plans and programmes are being developed by city governments in delta regions to address these risks and challenges. Based on a general conceptual framework, this paper examines the nature of visions, strategies, plans and programmes in the delta cities of Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Rotterdam which are highly exposed to flooding and connected through a network of epistemic communities. The paper follows two main lines of inquiry. First, it examines the terms, concepts, and dominant institutional characteristics associated with the development of these visions, strategies, plans and programmes as a way of constructing a conceptual framework for understanding and explaining their connectivity. Second, it explores how and why cities’ spatial plans and governance dynamics are shaping climate adaptation responses. The systematic development of conceptual frameworks and in-depth analyses of varied, representative case studies is needed as their findings have important implications for vulnerability and adaptation to climate change in terms of policy options and cities as the optimal level for adaptation. The paper finds that dominant institutional characteristics critically affect the steering capacity of organisations/agencies (including their coordination capacity) to address climate-related risks. The findings have important implications for vulnerability and adaptation to climate change in cities, in general and delta cities, in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an expectation that the insurance sector should be leading business efforts in responding to climate change due to their inherent exposure to increasing risks. However, insurance companies normally operate on a one year time horizon - underwriting risks through policies which change each year to reflect new knowledge of these risks. The ClimateWise principles is a voluntary initiative of the insurance sector that was launched in 2007 to provide a basis for insurance companies to engage with climate change risks. This paper introduces the ClimateWise initiative and explores progress made since its launch. The paper presents new knowledge on whether this voluntary initiative provides a useful structure for the insurance sector in responding to the challenge of climate change. It finds that while the insurance sector has engaged with climate change, there is much more to do and we welcome the recent changes to ClimateWise that more accurately reflect this. The paper concludes that ClimateWise has been a useful initiative for the insurance companies and as a potential benchmark for the sector it offers some value. However, ClimateWise has not provided a strong enough engagement across the sector to embed climate action into business decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate science has become more ambitious in recent years as global awareness about the environment has grown. To better understand climate, historical climate(e.g. archived meteorological variables such as temperature, wind, water, etc.) and climate-related data (e.g. geographical features and human activities) are widely used by today's climate research to derive models for an explainable climate change and its effects. However, such data sources are often dispersed across a multitude of disconnected data silos on the Web. Moreover, there is a lack of advanced climate data platforms to enable multi-source heterogeneous climate data analysis, therefore, researchers must face a stern challenge in collecting and analyzing multi-source data. In this paper, we address this problem by proposing a climate knowledge graph for the integration of multiple climate data and other data sources into one service, leveraging Web technologies (e.g. HTTP) for multi-source climate data analysis. The proposed knowledge graph is primarily composed of data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's daily climate summaries, OpenStreetMap, and Wikidata, and it supports joint data queries on these widely used databases. This paper shows, with a use case in Ireland and the United Kingdom, how climate researchers could benefit from this platform as it allows them to easily integrate datasets from different domains and geographical locations. • Interoperable knowledge graphs advances integrating and updating multi-source data. • OpenStreetMap data enhance the geographical features of the knowledge graph data. • Exploring the knowledge graph structures visually is necessary for non-experts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• English-only searches for African climate change science introduce language-bias. • Non-English literature is poorly represented on Web of Science and Scopus. • Google Scholar incorporates a non-English voice, important for global assessments. • Supporting non-English authors may improve the global uptake of their work. • English-language research translated into local languages may encourage local use. Disregarding research not published in English may pose a risk to finding solutions for urgent global concerns, such as biodiversity loss, or climate change. To assess the extent of this 'missing voice', we compared the representation of 22 languages in scientific publications on climate change in Africa, indexed by widely used databases. Between 87 % and 95 % of publications were in English, with a small, but noteworthy, number in languages of the former European colonisers of Africa. We then assessed undergraduate monographs, master's dissertations, doctoral theses, and peer-reviewed papers derived from the doctoral theses, that are about Lusophone Africa and written in Portuguese, and found this research largely not accessible in English on online databases. If the goal of researchers, practitioners and policy makers is to obtain climate change information on, or present solutions for, individual developing countries, cultures, or localised issues, then searching in English may exclude local, context specific knowledge. This may prevent global assessments from being truly global, or locally down-scalable, by biasing science towards a single world view that marginalises key local stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emissions from aviation will continue to increase in the future, in contradiction of global climate policy objectives. Yet, airlines and airline organisations suggest that aviation will become climatically sustainable. This paper investigates this paradox by reviewing fuel-efficiency gains since the 1960s in comparison to aviation growth, and by linking these results to technology discourses, based on a two-tiered approach tracing technology-focused discourses over 20 years (1994–2013). Findings indicate that a wide range of solutions to growing emissions from aviation have been presented by industry, hyped in global media, and subsequently vanished to be replaced by new technology discourses. Redundant discourses often linger in the public domain, where they continue to be associated with industry aspirations of ‘sustainable aviation’ and ‘zero-emission flight’. The paper highlights and discusses a number of technology discourses that constitute ‘technology myths’, and the role these ‘myths’ may be playing in the enduring but flawed promise of sustainable aviation. We conclude that technology myths require policy-makers to interpret and take into account technical uncertainty, which may result in inaction that continues to delay much needed progress in climate policy for aviation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper's central concern is to trace how dominant, scientific understanding of climate change is mobilized in ways that set a course towards slow violence. Slow violence is indirect, latent, and results in neglectful human suffering. It can result from particular actions or decisions; it can result from epistemic and political dominance of particular narratives or understandings. This paper takes a constructivist Science and Technology Studies (STS) perspective to look at the emergence of a technoscientific understanding of climate change and to consider political geographic implications of this interpretation. Following an overview of inroads already made in applying an STS approach to climate studies, I turn to two examples of specific scientific narratives or practices, reliance on Global Circulation Models by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and carbon data, to consider ways in which selective, political mobilization of these interpretations of climate change may contribute to forms of slow violence. The science in either case is not in question. Instead, the foreclosure of other ways of understanding human-environment interactions is brought about in part by geopolitics as usual and through the work of powerful actors and interests. The paper argues for a re-politicization of climate change and considers examples of alternative narratives and efforts towards equity and transparency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It was 100 years ago (on August 7, 1920), that the comprehensive mathematical foundations of climate change research, written by a Serbian researcher, Milutin Milankovitch, were published. A later interpreter and developer of his results, Georg (in Hungarian: György) Bacsák (Pozsony/Pressburg/Bratislava, June 5, 1870 - Fonyód, March 4, 1970) was born 150 years ago and died at the age of one hundred, half a century ago. In this commemorative paper we look back to special circumstances in revealing the secrets of ice ages that had puzzled scientists for at least several centuries. Recently, after 100 years, the Milankovitch theory, including related short-term forcings (ranging from interannual, multidecadal to millennial timescales) has not only been confirmed, but its climate forcing mechanism has also been identified and proposed. Owing to the uniqueness of the problem, the science of the orbital forcing of climate change can be proclaimed to be essentially settled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Assessment framework reveals progress in climate action planning in BC, Canada. • City differences clear: Victoria and Vancouver ahead of Surrey in sustainable paths. • Partnerships have been critical for supporting engagement in climate action. • Conditioning cities to report climate action progress has set a successful standard. • Feedback through self-assessment needed to identify most effective climate actions. To transition to a more sustainable and low-carbon economy, a series of local governments in British Columbia, Canada, are implementing climate action and innovation. This is largely in response to a need for societal changes in current development paths. However, there has been a lack of studies assessing the effectiveness of these actions and whether these municipalities are on track to meet their targets. This paper tests a newly developed assessment framework to evaluate local government actions and to better understand city-wide community development paths in three major cities in British Columbia—Vancouver, Victoria and Surrey. This assessment reveals notable progress in their transitions to sustainable pathways in areas such as agenda setting and strategy, plan formulation and implementation, and these sometimes result in transformative actions. Nonetheless, a gap between these actions and their performance reveals that local governments from this study are failing to properly address the current climate emergency. In particular, the municipalities lack processes for evaluating their progress in changing their current paths. This reduces their capacity to identify best practices to improve the effectiveness of climate actions and also hinders their ability to act on feedback and make adjustments to meet their stated goals and targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The singular voice of women at COPs strategic entry point into the climate debate. • Ecofeminist tropes and Gender Balance homogenize women erase important differences. • Dominant gender message at the COPs controlled by a select group. • Intersectionality contests perpetuation of social and environmental inequalities. • Attention to intersections of structural inequalities and climate related pressures. Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of our time and will have differential impacts across different geographies and social strata. The Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is the most important international meeting surrounding climate change. The 2015 Paris climate talks reflected the global preoccupation around climate change, in that it was the first time 150 Heads of State ever gathered to discuss an issue. For geographers, the COPs are important sites to study because decisions around our environmental commons can perpetuate or contest socio-environmental narratives responsible for social and environmental inequalities. Increasingly, gender is being introduced into the climate debate in sites such as the COPs. Using qualitative methods, this paper delineates the mechanisms by which some meanings of gender like gender balance dominate over others like gender equality. My research illustrates how discourses of gender and climate change arise, are perpetuated, and materialized through climate policy. I use an intersectional lens to underscore the practices that perpetuate injustices, and explore the discourses that are the most popular at the COPs around gender and climate change, who perpetuates them, which narratives are mobilized, and which become invisible. I highlight how material practices at the COPs that construct polarized divisions of gender are accompanied by polarized divisions of space. Feminist geographies of climate change can challenge the global conversation about gender and climate change to form new coalitions and techniques to find just and equitable outcomes in the face of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the 2018 COP24 meeting in Poland, the Just Transition received particular emphasis, with the adoption of the "Solidarity and Just Transitions Silesia Declaration". It represented commitments to take seriously the impact of climate change and climate change policy on workers and surrounding communities. To date, however, UNFCCC historical contexts and commitments have rarely been recognised in the academic literature. This paper reviews the link of the Just Transition to UNFCCC processes and labour unions before critically considering the current academic treatment of the agenda and in particular, the under emphasis of Nationally Determined Contributions. It then presents a series of research recommendations centred on a concern for how best to use this political background to leverage tangible impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We compare configurations of boundary work with actor's way of life in three case studies of innovation processes. • We find that innovation processes with egalitarians has a high level of knowledge integration. • There is a greater need for dedicated boundary workers in processes with individualist users • Our analysis suggest how we can overcome challenges for coproduction associated with certain ways of life. • The framework can inform the design and implementation of deliberate coproduction of knowledge for transformation. Although it is increasingly recognized that scientific knowledge about climate change needs to be framed and conveyed in ways that resonate with people's livelihoods to motivate societal change, these insights are often neglected in discussions about science-policy interactions. Drawing on empirical studies from Norwegian renewable primary industries, this paper presents a novel conceptual framework for culturally sensitive boundary work for climate change transformation. Our framework combines boundary work theory with cultural theory and examine the production of and engagement with knowledge in innovation and development processes in agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries from three case studies in Norway. The innovation processes are analyzed across four dimensions: degrees of knowledge integration, degrees of participation, learning and negotiation over boundaries. By combining this with an analysis of the actors' way of life according to cultural theory, we are able to compare different configurations of boundary work with ways of life. We find that in innovation processes with egalitarian users there is a high level of knowledge integration, learning and participation, while there is a greater need for dedicated boundary workers in processes with individualist users. We argue that the framework can inform the design and implementation of deliberate coproduction of knowledge for transformation among actors that adheres to different ways of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the emergence of a global climate change mitigation regime through an analysis of the language employed in international science-policy reports. We assume that a global climate regime can only operate effectively on the basis of a shared understanding of climate change which is itself based on a shared language of governance. We therefore carried out an in-depth thematic and metaphor analysis of 63 policy documents published between 1992 and 2012. Results show that global climate science-policy discourses universalise the myriad impacts of a changing climate into a single dichotomous impacted/not-impacted scenario and aim to govern this world according to economic principles of cost–benefit analysis. These discourses use metaphors that draw on narrative structures prevalent in the wider culture to produce and legitimate a reductionist representation of climate change. This representation undermines public understanding of and engagement with climate change by marginalising subordinate policy framings which do not align with the prevailing dichotomous framing. The types of documents we analyse in this paper represent important sources for journalists reporting on climate change. We therefore suggest that any attempt to improve public communication of climate change should include revisions to these organisational discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We present a multi-disciplinary collaborative approach for developing a regional scale climate adaptation plan with the health and wellbeing sector. • This includes an innovative engagement and policy mapping strategy. • We demonstrate the application of this approach for developing climate change adaptation plan for health and wellbeing sector in Queensland, Australia. • We find that direct engagement between various key stakeholders is a critical element of translating scientific evidence of climate change impacts on human health into a regional adaptation policy for the health and wellbeing sector. The science of climate change and its impacts on health makes it clear that human health and wellbeing will be increasingly negatively impacted as a result of climate change. The health and wellbeing sector must respond to these growing pressures in order to continue to provide safe, quality care. Adaptation and mitigation policies need to be developed at different scales, including at a regional government level. Numerous challenges exist; for example, the necessity for collaboration between multiple agencies across scales, the tailoring of policies to the health issues specific to regions, and constraints on existing regional and local resources and adaptive capacities, to name a few. This paper presents a multi-disciplinary collaborative approach used to develop a regional scale climate adaptation plan with the health sector. Starting from a scientific understanding of climate change impact on the health sector in Queensland, Australia, the approach used an innovative engagement strategy to a) better understand awareness of relevant stakeholders about current and future climate change impact on the health of the population and on service provision, b) identify on-ground barriers to effective adaptation faced by the sector stakeholders, c) identify opportunities and benefits which would arise from adaptation, and d) identify what conditions or support stakeholders required to overcome those barriers, take advantage of opportunities, and achieve benefits from adaptation. Analysis of these findings guided the development of specific policy directions for the sector. We found direct engagement between various key stakeholders such as health service providers (e.g. hospitals), critical infrastructure providers, academics, local government authorities, and sub-sectors such as aged care and early childhood care facilities, was a critical element of translating scientific evidence of climate change impacts on human health into a regional adaptation policy for the health and wellbeing sector. The resulting policy, grounded in the reality and experience of health and wellbeing sector stakeholders, reflects their insights and concerns, and served to develop a level of sectoral 'ownership' (not 'top-down' imposition) which will be important for its successful ongoing development and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is myriad evidence that global warming is exerting a profoundly disruptive influence on the lifeways of modern native (Yup'ik) communities living in the Yukon-Kuskokwim (Y-K) delta of southwestern Alaska. Yup'ik subsistence is intimately tied to seasonal change and the ability to accurately predict the availability of plant and animal resources. It therefore seems reasonable to suggest that periods of climatic instability such as the Little Ice Age (LIA) may have had a deleterious effect on Yup'ik communities in the past. However, at present there are no palaeotemperature records that document the localised climatic changes of the last millennium in the Y-K Delta region. This lack of data hinders our understanding of the archaeological record from the site of Nunalleq, which is situated at the heart of the delta and was occupied during the LIA. To address this oversight, this paper presents the results of a Coleoptera (beetle) based climate reconstruction from a peat profile in the vicinity of Nunalleq to investigate the magnitude of Late Holocene climatic changes. Using the Mutual Climatic Range (MCR) method, we reconstruct mean summer and winter temperatures from the mid-15th to late-19th centuries. The results indicate that the past environments of Nunalleq were characterised by a climate significantly cooler than the present. The earliest definitive evidence for Little Ice Age cooling dates from the late 16th century, when mean summer temperatures were at least 1.2ᵒC below the modern mean. Temperatures appear to have remained lower than modern until the early 19th century. The coolest Nunalleq record – 1.3ᵒC below the modern mean summer temperatures – is centred on AD 1815, after which there is evidence for climatic amelioration. These data present differences with observations from other regions of Alaska and underline the importance of more local palaeoclimate reconstructions, particularly when interrogating the relationships between past climatic and social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extreme weather and climate events, although rare at any particular location, can lead to different amount of loss to exposed human and natural systems, even to disasters. In this paper, the most authoritative definitions of "extreme events" given by the World Meteorological Organization and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have been considered, as well as the underlying basic concepts, i.e., selected intensity levels, selected percentiles, multiples of the standard deviation, return period, distribution tails, imprint left, cause-effect relationships, natural disasters. Definitions and criteria have been tested with real world case studies using long instrumental records (300 years of daily temperature and 200 years of daily precipitation in Bologna, Italy) and proxy series (1000 years of Venice lagoon frozen over and 300 years of Po River outflow). The analysis reveals that each definition leads to particular consequences, e.g., in the peak over threshold theory, if the threshold is expressed in absolute terms, the number of extreme events may change with the climate period as tested with the Venice case study; as opposed, the relative definition based on percentiles or standard deviation will keep unchanged this frequency. Again, considering extreme events those external to the 10th or 90th percentile of the distribution may lead to a return period too short, e.g., 10 days for daily records, while a 10 years return period would require 1st or 99th percentiles, as tested with the daily temperature and precipitation in Bologna. In addition, the distribution of a series may substantially change shape passing from daily to monthly and yearly averages as tested with the series taken as examples. The specific case of proxies is also considered analysing their uncertainties and categorization. The lagoon frozen over as a consequence of exceptionally severe winters constitutes an example of extremes based on an absolute threshold, as well as cause-effect relationship, and the return period was highly affected by the change of climate periods. The example of the overflow of the Po River suggests that the occurrence of extremes, and their intensity, may be altered by other factors that concur to the final result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Collaboratively written article with a decolonising approach to climate and weather. • Acknowledges more-than-human agency by recognising Country as lead author. • Offers alternatives to Western-scientific constructions of time, climate and weather. • Adds new Indigenous-led dimension to academic/policy discourse on climate change. • Calls for 'response-ability as' rather than 'responsibility for' weather. New engagements between humans and with the environment are vitally necessary in this perilous period of intensified environmental change. Climate change policy interventions and public discourses persistently frame climate as outside human experience, something to be controlled and understood within a strict, linear, universalist and ultimately colonising understanding of time. Yet constructions that suggest that humans are separate from, act upon or may manage or control a passive environment may be offensive to a sentient world, while relegation of the past to 'the past' ignores the many enduring violences of colonialism and multiple sustained efforts to nurture multi-temporal relationships of belonging and care. In this paper, our more-than-human Indigenous and non-Indigenous research collective share understandings of time led by the Yolŋu songspiral, Wuku n or Gathering of the Clouds, from northern Australia. Wuku n challenges many orders and disciplines of colonial structures, including those associated with time and climate change. In place of an abstract, distant and unbound climate, locked into a linear, passive timescape, Wuku n suggests time as multiple, agential, and a manifestation of co-becoming. Rather than being responsible to or responsible for climate as something passive and separate from humans, Wuku n signals a need to cultivate abilities to attend deeply to place's agency and act through co-becoming. In this way, we may understand and respond to climate change as relational and patterned, embodied and affective, and co-constituted through more-than-human placed and multi-temporal relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Analyse the impact of climate change on road transport systems. • Develop a risk prediction tool to reduce climate impact on roads. • Conduct economic analysis of various measures to reduce climate impact on roads. • Conduct an empirical study to provide useful insights for rational risk based climate adaptation. This paper aims to analyse the impacts of climate change to the current and predicted future situations of road transportation in the UK and evaluate the corresponding adaptation plans to cope with them. A conceptual framework of long-term adaptation planning for climate change in road systems is proposed to ensure the resilience and sustainability of road transport systems under various climate risks such as flooding and increased temperature. To do so, an advanced Fuzzy Bayesian Reasoning (FBR) model is first employed to evaluate the climate risks in the UK road transport networks. This modelling approach can tackle the high uncertainty in risk data and thus facilitate the development of the climate adaptation framework and its application in the UK road sector. To examine the feasibility of this model, a nationwide survey is conducted among the stakeholders to analyse the climate risks, in terms of the timeframe of climate threats, the likelihood of occurrence, the severity of consequences, and infrastructure resilience. From the modelling perspective, this work brings novelty by expanding the risk attribute "the severity of consequence" into three sub-attributes including economic loss, damage to the environment, and injuries and/or loss of life. It advances the-state-of-the-art technique in the current relevant literature from a single to multiple tier climate risk modelling structure. Secondly, an Evidential Reasoning (ER) approach is used to prioritise the best adaptation measure(s) by considering both the risk analysis results from the FBR and the implementation costs simultaneously. The main new contributions of this part lie in the rich raw data collected from the real world to provide useful practical insights for achieving road resilience when facing increasing climate risk challenges. During this process, a qualitative analysis of several national reports regarding the impacts posed by climate change, risk assessment and adaptation measures in the UK road sector is conducted for the relevant decision data (i.e. risk and cost). It is also supplemented by an in-depth interview with a senior planner from Highways England. The findings provide road planners and decision makers with useful insights on identification and prioritisation of climate threats as well as selection of cost-effective climate adaptation measures to rationalise adaptation planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Impacts of commercial aircraft operation upon the environment, which are caused primarily from emissions of C O 2 , N O x and the formation of contrails, are matter of growing concern, as aviation is one of the fastest developing industrial sectors worldwide and the awareness of its effects is expanding. Recent research has focused on the cost-benefit potential of different mitigation strategies, which optimize flight trajectories with respect to climate and economy, but most of these mitigation strategies cannot be implemented in the near future due to technical challenges. The objective of this paper is to present an interim mitigation strategy, which bridges this time period. In analogy to military exclusion zones, climate restricted airspaces (CRA) are defined based on 3-D climate change functions, characterizing the environmental impact caused by an aircraft emission at a certain location. Regions with climate costs greater than a threshold value are closed in the corresponding month; others are cleared for air traffic. To estimate the cost-benefit potential of this strategy, a preliminary analysis is conducted on the route from Helsinki (EFHK) to Miami (KMIA). Affected flight trajectories are re-routed optimally around resulting CRA with regard to monetary costs for varying threshold values. Therefore, flight simulation algorithms are developed, which solve a non-linear optimal control problem. For each optimized flight trajectory corresponding average temperature response (ATR) and cash operating costs (COC) are expressed relative to a reference great circle trajectory with constant Mach number and compared with the climate mitigation potential of climate optimized trajectories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate classifications based on temperature and precipitation measurements are increasingly being used for environmental and climate change studies. Using three classification methods (Köppen, Extended Köppen, and Holdridge) and one observational dataset for present climate (CRU, Climate Research Unit), we show that GCMs have bridged the gap that led to the emergence of RCMs thirty years ago, as GCMs can now provide global climate classifications whose accuracy and precision are comparable to those of regional outputs of the RCMs. Projections of high-resolution GCMs for future climates under the assumptions of three Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP26, RCP45 and RCP85) can therefore be used as a primary source for climate change and global warming studies at high resolution. This paper provides comprehensive, model-derived climate classifications for the entire planet, using RCMs and two GCMs for present and future climate-change scenarios, and discusses how well the models actually represent the climates of the world when compared with reference, ground validation data. It turns out that both GCMs and RCMs appear still limited to provide practical estimates of the world climates even for present climate conditions. The modeling of precipitation remains the Achilles' heel of models and thus of multidimensional indices, which are very sensitive to this variable. The conclusion is that model outputs at regional scale need to be taken with extreme caution without venturing into informing policies presenting potentially large societal impacts. Nonetheless, the role of models as privileged tools to advance our scientific knowledge of the Earth's system remains undisputed. • A systematic analysis of climate classifications with RCMs and two high resolution GCMs is presented. • Three classification methods are used to illustrate the differences between models and observations. • Current high-resolution GCMs can provide climate classifications with the same accuracy as those from RCMs. • Uncertainties in modeling precipitation persist for large parts of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Air conditioning is expected to be a major adaptation option for households. • Thermal insulation requires dedicated, well-designed, properly enforced policies. • More frequent hot days and urbanization will shape adaptive behaviours in OECD countries. • Demographic, household characteristics, income, and wealth also play a major role. • Well-designed and communicated climate policies reduce reliance on air conditioning. Adjustments in the final use of energy are a critical margin of adaptation for maintaining indoor thermal comfort. This paper explores how households have been adopting air conditioning and thermal insulation to cope with different climatic conditions, and how climatic factors interact with socio-economic, demographic, and household characteristics across eight OECD countries. Changes in the cumulative number of hot and cold days over the year, urbanization, demographics and household characteristics, including attitudes towards energy efficiency, strongly affect those two margins of adaptation, along with income. If the historically-observed adaptation behaviour is maintained also under future socio-economic pathways and climate scenarios, the impact of global warming and income on air conditioning adoption will be reinforced by urbanization trends, which on the contrary will make it more difficult to improve building thermal insulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities are gaining prominence committing to respond to the threat of climate change, e.g., by developing local climate plans or strategies. However, little is known regarding the approaches and processes of plan development and implementation, or the success and effectiveness of proposed measures. Mainstreaming is regarded as one approach associated with (implementation) success, but the extent of integration of local climate policies and plans in ongoing sectoral and/or development planning is unclear. This paper analyses 885 cities across the 28 European countries to create a first reference baseline on the degree of climate mainstreaming in local climate plans. This will help to compare the benefits of mainstreaming versus dedicated climate plans, looking at policy effectiveness and ultimately delivery of much needed climate change efforts at the city level. All core cities of the European Urban Audit sample were analyzed, and their local climate plans classified as dedicated or mainstreamed in other local policy initiatives. It was found that the degree of mainstreaming is low for mitigation (9% of reviewed cities; 12% of the identified plans) and somewhat higher for adaptation (10% of cities; 29% of plans). In particular horizontal mainstreaming is a major effort for local authorities; an effort that does not necessarily pay off in terms of success of action implementation. This study concludes that climate change issues in local municipalities are best tackled by either, developing a dedicated local climate plan in parallel to a mainstreamed plan or by subsequently developing first the dedicated and later a mainstreaming plan (joint or subsequent "dual track approach"). Cities that currently provide dedicated local climate plans (66% of cities for mitigation; 26% of cities for adaptation) may follow-up with a mainstreaming approach. This promises effective implementation of tangible climate actions as well as subsequent diffusion of climate issues into other local sector policies. The development of only broad sustainability or resilience strategies is seen as critical. • Trends in mainstreaming climate change issues were analyzed for 885 cities EU-28. • EU cities provide numerous local mitigation (#664) and/or adaptation (#321) plans. • Mainstreaming was investigated as vertical and horizontal approach. • 9% of cities have mainstreamed mitigation LCP; 12% of mitigation LCPs mainstreamed. • 10% of cities have mainstreamed adaptation LCP; 29% of adaptation LCPs mainstreamed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Personal and social norms in favor of contribution to the Paris Agreement influence PEB. • These norms partially mediate the influence of personal involvement (Paris Agreement) on PEB. • These norms partially mediate the influence of environmental values on PEB. • These norms are largely better predictors of PEB than more abstract norms. This paper examines the impact of climate targets which have been adapted to individuals' behavior based on global political events. As the global climate targets of the Paris Agreement are largely supported by society, we investigate the potential of these targets to lead to personal and social norms concerning individual contributions to the Paris Agreement´s climate goals. We assume that these norms mediate the influence of personal involvement in the Paris agreement and of environmental values on greenhouse gas avoiding decisions. Also, we expect that these norms predict greenhouse gas avoiding behavior, rather than norms related to climate change. The research is based on a laboratory study with students conducted in December 2017 in Germany (n = 226). The main results show for the students surveyed in the research that norms in favor of contribution to the Paris Agreement substantially influence objective carbon offsetting, as well as consumption of local food and green electricity; and these norms partially mediate the influence of personal involvement in the Paris Agreement and of environmental values on decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper applies a behavioral economics model of cigarette addiction to the issue of fossil fuel usage and climate change. Both problems involve consumption of a currently beneficial product that causes detrimental effects in the distant future and for which current reductions in usage induces an adjustment cost. The paper argues that because fossil fuel control requires solving an international public goods problem as well as an addiction-like problem, breaking it will be more challenging. Using insights from the model, it also suggests that fossil fuel addiction, like cigarette addiction, may generate a long period of time in which people express sincere desire to convert to clean energy, but accomplish little to achieve that outcome. Finally the paper examines the history of the international anti-smoking campaign to draw insights for the campaign against global climate change. The analogy suggests that policies to reduce the present cost of non-carbon energy sources to induce voluntary adjustments in energy usage, or, policies that induce cleaner usage of fossil fuels, or geo-engineering policies that work to reverse the warming effects of higher CO2 concentrations, may be more viable than policies that raise the cost of current fossil fuel consumption. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper examines how the claim of a two degrees dangerous limit to climate change is represented in the public sphere. The cultural circuits model is used to frame a discourse analysis and content analysis of UK news media, popular science books and advocacy literature. This analysis is supported with perspectives gleaned from semi-structured interviews with a range of expert actors. The results show that news reports largely ignore the two degree limit and where it is mentioned it is validated through invocation of anonymous expert knowledge. Discourses which do recognise uncertainties surrounding definitions of dangerous change still support the two degree limit. Primary sources show a rejection of the two degree limit as a division between safe and dangerous climate change. Arguments made by advocates that the concept at least allows the public to debate complex climate science is not supported by the manner in which the limit is constructed in public discourses. The results demonstrate that public representations of the two degree limit idea have not evolved, despite developments in climate science casting doubt on the veracity of the two degree limit. The paper concludes that framing climate policy within the two degree metric is not delivering the hoped for emission reductions and it may therefore be appropriate for public discourses to recognise the role of non-scientific factors in defining how much climate change is dangerous. Such a change might prove an important step in the development of a more participatory debate about climate policy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Building adaptive reuse plays a critical role in emissions reduction and supports global climate protection. Thus, the designing of future buildings with embedded adaptive reuse potential is a useful criterion for sustainability. This paper describes the development of a new rating tool known as adaptSTAR, which offers holistic and unified design criteria suitable for assessing the adaptive reuse potential of future buildings. The findings show that criteria can be identified and weighted according to physical, economic, functional, technological, social, legal and political categories to calculate an adaptive reuse star rating. In addition, this paper reports on the first stage of the research methodology used in the initial development of the rating tool and concludes with some preliminary observations from 12 selected successful case studies in New South Wales (NSW) and Melbourne, Australia. The use of adaptSTAR in designing future buildings will lead and help promote low carbon built environments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: The overall goal of the present study is to show through a simulation experiment the value of adaptive management under climatic variability and change. The Northern California water resources management system is used as an example of a multi-agency, multi-site, multi-objective water resources management system that supports a trillion dollar economy to demonstrate the utility of the methods and to exemplify the assessment studies. Simulations are performed using an adaptation of the Integrated Forecast and Reservoir Management (INFORM) system of Northern California with 6-hourly 1.4° input from the CCSM3.0 climate model for historical/control (1970–2019) and future periods (2050–2099). The present paper examines the assessment of the hydroclimatological sensitivities and a companion paper () examines the assessment of reservoir management sensitivities. The future period was based on the moderate CCSM3.0 A1B scenario. The INFORM system includes an intermediate complexity regional model for dynamic downscaling of the CCSM3.0 scenario output to produce surface precipitation and temperature fields with a 10×10km2 resolution, and snow–soil-channel modeling of all the watersheds upstream of the major reservoirs in Northern California. The flow results indicate a shift in the monthly average flow volume toward earlier times in the year and higher flow variability for the future period. Higher average temperatures in the future period and, consequently, earlier snow pack melt are mainly responsible for these flow changes. Both daytime and nighttime average monthly temperatures are higher in the simulation of the future period for the entire domain with the northern catchments experiencing higher temperature increases. Simulated monthly average precipitation for the future period is higher in the southern high Sierras and lower in the northern drainage basins than the historical period precipitation. The uncertainty in the assessments for Northern California mentioned may be estimated with additional simulations similar to those shown in this work using high spatial and temporal resolution output from different climate models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Economic inequality reduces the political space for addressing climate change, by producing fear-based populism. Only when the safety, social status, and livelihoods of all members of society are assured will voluntary, democratic decisions be possible to reverse climate change and fairly mitigate its effects. Socio-environmental and climate justice, commoning, and decolonization are pre-conditions for participatory, responsible governance that both signals and assists the development of equitable socio-political systems. Degrowth movements, when they explicitly prioritize equity, can help to focus activism for climate justice and sustainable livelihoods. This paper overviews the theoretical grounding for these arguments, drawing from the work of ecofeminist and Indigenous writers. Indigenous (and also ecofeminist) praxis is grounded in activists' leadership for commoning and resistance to extraction, the fossil fuel economy, and commodified property rights. These movements are building a politics of decolonization, respect, solidarity, and hope rather than xenophobia and despair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Rising seas, more frequent storms and other climate-driven coastal hazards necessitate adaptation planning measures to protect people and property. To date, coastal vulnerability assessments have prioritized the most exposed areas of coastline, but there is a gap between recognized climate science and the feasibility or suitability considerations relevant for implementing coastal adaptation strategies—including legal, policy, financial, or engineered approaches—to address coastal threats. This paper sets forth a methodology for bridging the gap between climate science, law and coastal adaptation policies. This methodology seeks to connect spatial analysis methods with attributes of coastal adaptation strategies that make them inherently place-based—ranging from engineered solutions, to legal strategies and financial tools—to determine where they are legally feasible and suitable. Both spatial and non-spatial limiting and enabling conditions of coastal adaptation policies drive these determinations. The methodology integrates a spatial framework using feasibility statements derived by 1) coupling these conditions and features with spatial information (e.g., zoning, land use/land cover, geomorphologic features), and 2) identifying suitability conditions through synthesizing policy considerations for each coastal adaptation strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vegetation–climate relationships are often different at varying spatial scales, which is seldom taken into account in reconstructing past climate changes from fossil pollen spectra represent more local vegetation composition but using regional or extra-regional modern pollen–climate calibration set. In this paper, we employ 2620 surface pollen spectra and six pollen sequences from continental East Asia to reconstruct Holocene climate with modern analogue technique. A novel data set of vegetation sensitivity index (VSI) is introduced to examine vegetation–climate relationships in 0.5° search windows around the fossil sites (local) and in the tailored calibration sets (regional). Then, we compare them to the explanatory abilities of (reconstructed) climate variables on explaining the pollen variance in calibration sets and in the fossil pollen data sets using constrained ordination, cross-validation and significance test. By this procedure that we called local–regional–fossil comparison, we can better determine which variable reconstruction is valid and useful. In our cases, moisture variable reconstructions in temperate forest-steppe ecotone at the East Asian summer monsoon margin are reliable. Consistent Holocene moisture variations with a strong monsoon influence during 8.6–4.0 cal ka BP which can help us to better interpret human adaptations along the Great Wall. However, quantitative climate reconstructions at some sites are less reliable due to highly heterogeneous vegetation sensitivities surrounding the site, particularly for areas with complicated topographical contexts. We stress that vegetation sensitivities at local and regional scales both need to be investigated before conducting quantitative climate reconstruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate variability has played a vital role in the expansion and collapse of human civilizations across the World since ancient times. The Indus Civilization in South Asia has been the focus of investigations to archaeologists, historians, and anthropologists. But little attention was paid earlier to the role of climate variability in shaping the course of this well-established urban civilization. In this paper, we have presented a review of literature to understand various factors that affected the evolution of this cultural enigma. We suggest that the climate change in the region was a major controlling factor in determining the fate of Indus civilization settlements. The transformation of hunter-gatherers into pastoral community between 7000 and 3200 B.C.E., the establishment of village habitations along the Indus River and its tributaries in the Early Harappan phase, urbanization and shifting towards Ghaggar-Hakra rivers in the Mature Harappan phase, and final displacement towards Ganga-Yamuna doab (interfluve) region as village culture were largely modulated by the changing strength of the Indian summer monsoon and amount of precipitation in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Physical damage to property and crops caused by unanticipated wind gusts is a well understood phenomenon. Predicting its occurrence continues to be a challenge for meteorologists and climatologists. Various approaches to gust occurrence model building have been proposed. The very nature of the event is problematic because of its brief duration following a rapid change of state in wind velocity that immediately precedes it. Events classified as wind gusts have a typical duration of less than 20s and are often much shorter. The rapidly accelerating wind velocity preceding them is often not apparent until the gust occurs. They come quickly, occur suddenly, and then end as abruptly as they began. Observations of 2000 gust events were made during the research to which this paper refers. These observations indicated a mean interval of 3.2min between the beginning and end of wind velocity change and a noticeable linear progression in the acceleration pattern. It was also noted that state changes regularly occur, often over only seconds in time. In combination, these factors pose both a sampling and a data interpretation challenge, making reliable prediction difficult. This paper describes some new research undertaken to investigate methods of wind gust measurement and prediction. In particular, a machine-learning approach is taken to determine a satisfactory analytical process and to produce meaningful and useful results. An algorithm for use with real-time climate data collection and analysis is proposed, with a description of its implementation. Real-time data sampling provides input for this study using terrestrial sensor telemetry. Near-ground truth data are recorded independent of geostrophic upper atmosphere conditions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: This paper looks at the climate change problem from an equity perspective. It compares utilitarian approaches with ones based on rights or capabilities. It argues that few of the proposals that have been discussed in the literature have an ethical basis, while those that do have a number of problems. The paper looks at the practicalities of addressing the equity problem in international negotiations. Two specific dimensions of the equity problem in the context of climate change are explored further in the paper: those relating to uncertainty and those relating to discounting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In the past several decades, decision makers in the United States have increasingly called upon publicly funded science to provide “usable” information for policy making, whether in the case of acid rain, famine prevention or climate change policy. As demands for usability become more prevalent for publicly accountable scientific programs, there is a need to better understand opportunities and constraints to science use in order to inform policy design and implementation. Motivated by recent critique of the decision support function of the US Global Change Research Program, this paper seeks to address this issue by specifically examining the production and use of climate science. It reviews empirical evidence from the rich scholarship focused on climate science use, particularly seasonal climate forecasts, to identify factors that constrain or foster usability. It finds, first, that climate science usability is a function both of the context of potential use and of the process of scientific knowledge production itself. Second, nearly every case of successful use of climate knowledge involved some kind of iteration between knowledge producers and users. The paper argues that, rather than an automatic outcome of the call for the production of usable science, iterativity is the result of the action of specific actors and organizations who ‘own’ the task of building the conditions and mechanisms fostering its creation. Several different types of institutional arrangements can accomplish this task, depending on the needs and resources available. While not all of the factors that enhance usability of science for decision making are within the realm of the scientific enterprise itself, many do offer opportunities for improvement. Science policy mechanisms such as the level of flexibility afforded to research projects and the metrics used to evaluate the outcomes of research investment can be critical to providing the necessary foundation for iterativity and production of usable science to occur. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Winter weather can be a significant cause of road traffic accidents. This paper uses UKCIP climate change scenarios and a temporal analogue to investigate the relationship between temperature and severe road accidents in the West Midlands, UK. This approach also allows quantification of the changes in the severity of the winter season over the next century in the region. It is demonstrated that the predicted reduction in the number of frost days should in turn reduce the number of road accidents caused due to slipperiness by approximately 50%. However, the paper concludes by warning against complacency in winter maintenance regimes. A warmer climate may result in budget cuts for highway maintenance which in turn may well reverse declining accident trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Knowledge about the environmental impact of alcohol is limited and as an effect alcohol is often excluded from environmental studies of diets or included in incomplete ways. This paper describes the climate impact of beer, wine and liquor by using life cycle assessment. The climate impact is quantified per litre of specific alcoholic beverages and per total amount of alcohol consumed based on self-reported data of 50 000 individuals from 2009 within two population-based cohorts in Sweden. The results show that alcoholic beverages generate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the range of 0.73–2.38 kg carbon dioxide equivalents (CO 2 e) per litre. Alcohol consumption in the population studied generates on average 52 kg CO 2 e per person and year. Within the 10% of the population with the highest intake of alcohol GHG emissions are up to 202 kg CO 2 e per person and year. Consumption of wine is responsible for the largest share of GHG emissions from alcoholic beverages (61%) followed by beer (33%), while liquor and strong wine account for a smaller share (6%). Alcohol consumption among men generates 90% higher GHG emissions than among women. Alcohol consumption and in consequence alcohol-related emissions are decreasing with increasing age of men and women. Our results indicate that alcohol consumption in Swedish men and women is responsible for an average of 3% of total diet-related GHG emissions and in sub-populations with the highest consumption up to 6–11%. Limiting alcohol could be an effective option to reduce the climate impact of diets, especially among men. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • Beer, wine and spirits generate 0.73–2.38 kg of CO 2 equivalents per litre. • Alcohol intake generated 52 kg of CO 2 equivalents per person and year. • Alcohol intake among men generates 90% higher GHG emissions than among women. • GHG emissions from alcohol intake decrease with increasing age. • Alcohol intake in Sweden is responsible for about 3% of dietary GHG emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improved access to energy in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has the potential to alleviate poverty, promote industrialisation, facilitate gender equality and reduce the region's vulnerability to climate change. Consequently, the current low rates of electrification in many SSA countries has been identified as the most pressing obstacle to economic growth, more important than access to finance, red tape or corruption. Despite the presence of numerous initiatives for promoting energy access in Africa, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) calling for universal access to energy by 2030, Africa might still not be able to achieve universal energy access by 2030. Through an analysis of case studies, research articles, policy briefs and project reports this paper sought to investigate the policies, strategies and innovations that could help expedite SSA's progress towards universal energy access before 2030. This investigation revealed that an emphasis on rural electrification and linking energy access to agriculture and irrigation development as the case was in Viet Nam, could successfully diversify African economies and mitigate the negative perceptions about Africa's growth prospects and energy sectors that global economic shocks instigate. Additionally, the operations of Power Africa, the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) Initiative and the China South-South Climate Cooperation Fund can either significantly improve the financing and regulatory frameworks for SSA's energy sectors or constrain economic development in SSA by promoting rent-seeking and corruption which culminates into a ‘climate finance curse’. Consequently, these initiatives can only facilitate inclusive growth as envisioned in the SDGs if SSA develops or strengthens institutions to coordinate and harmonise investments and aid from such autonomous diverse sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper first introduced a numerical carbonation model (NCM) for fatigue-damaged concrete. Then, based on the NCM, a simplified carbonation model (SCM) for fatigue-damaged concrete was established, comprised of a non-damaged concrete contribution term and a fatigue damage contribution term, through Monte Carlo simulations. Both the NCM and SCM were verified by experimental results reported in the literature. Subsequently, an incremental method was proposed to consider the time-variant fatigue damage and exposure conditions. Finally, a case study was conducted, which determined that cumulating fatigue damage could have a big influence on carbonation depth evolution. Meanwhile, differences in the cumulating fatigue damage could lead to noticeable differences in carbonation depth evolution among different points in the same concrete bridge. Moreover, drastic increases of CO 2 concentration and temperature could induce relationships of carbonation depths with square roots of service times to remarkably deviate from the proportional laws widely accepted under a time-invariant environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To better anticipate potential impacts of climate change, diverse information about the future is required, including climate, society and economy, and adaptation and mitigation. To address this need, a global RCP (Representative Concentration Pathways), SSP (Shared Socio-economic Pathways), and SPA (Shared climate Policy Assumptions) (RCP–SSP–SPA) scenario framework has been developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report (IPCC-AR5). Application of this full global framework at sub-national scales introduces two key challenges: added complexity in capturing the multiple dimensions of change, and issues of scale. Perhaps for this reason, there are few such applications of this new framework. Here, we present an integrated multi-scale hybrid scenario approach that combines both expert-based and participatory methods. The framework has been developed and applied within the DECCMA 1 1 DECCMA ( DEltas , vulnerability and Climate Change: Migration and Adaptation ) project is part of the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA), with financial support from the UK Government's Department for International Development (DFID) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada. For more information, visit the project website: http://www.geodata.soton.ac.uk/deccma/ . project with the purpose of exploring migration and adaptation in three deltas across West Africa and South Asia: (i) the Volta delta (Ghana), (ii) the Mahanadi delta (India), and (iii) the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) delta (Bangladesh/India). Using a climate scenario that encompasses a wide range of impacts (RCP8.5) combined with three SSP-based socio-economic scenarios (SSP2, SSP3, SSP5), we generate highly divergent and challenging scenario contexts across multiple scales against which robustness of the human and natural systems within the deltas are tested. In addition, we consider four distinct adaptation policy trajectories: Minimum intervention , Economic capacity expansion , System efficiency enhancement , and System restructuring , which describe alternative future bundles of adaptation actions/measures under different socio-economic trajectories. The paper highlights the importance of multi-scale (combined top-down and bottom-up) and participatory (joint expert-stakeholder) scenario methods for addressing uncertainty in adaptation decision-making. The framework facilitates improved integrated assessments of the potential impacts and plausible adaptation policy choices (including migration) under uncertain future changing conditions. The concept, methods, and processes presented are transferable to other sub-national socio-ecological settings with multi-scale challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]