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The warming in the first half of the 20th century in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) (early 20th century warming (ETCW)) was comparable in magnitude to the current warming, but occurred at a time when the growth rate of the greenhouse gas (GG) concentration in the atmosphere was 4–5 times slower than in recent decades. The mechanisms of the early warming are still a subject of discussion. The ETCW was most pronounced in the high latitudes of the NH, and the recent reconstructions consistently indicate a significant negative anomaly of the Arctic sea ice area during early warming period linked with enhanced Atlantic water inflow to the Arctic and amplified warming in high latitudes of the NH. Assessing the contributions of internal variability and external natural and anthropogenic factors to this climatic anomaly is key for understanding historical and modern climate dynamics. This paper considers mechanisms of ETCW associated with various internal variability and external anthropogenic and natural factors. An analysis of the findings on the topic of long-term studies of climate variations in the NH during the period of instrumental observations does not allow one to attribute the ETCW to one particular mechanism of internal climate variability or external forcing of the climate. Most likely, this event was caused by a combined effect of long-term climatic fluctuations in the North Atlantic and the North Pacific with a noticeable contribution of external radiative forcing associated with a decrease in volcanic activity, changes in solar activity, and an increase in GG concentration in the atmosphere due to anthropogenic emissions. Furthermore, this climate variation in high latitudes of the NH has been enhanced by a number of positive feedbacks. An overview of existing research is given, as are the main mechanisms of internal and external climate variability in the NH in the early 20th century. Despite the fact that the internal variability of the climate system is apparently the main mechanism that explains the ETCW, the quantitative assessment of the contribution of each factor remains uncertain, since it significantly depends on the initial conditions in the models and the lack of instrumental data in the early 20th century, especially in polar latitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is the most important environmental problem facing humanity in this century. And it has become the great axis of public policies and private actions in developed societies. The effects of altering the planetary energy balance due to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are already becoming evident in some regions of the planet. Among them, the evidence is already significant in the areas with a Mediterranean climate. This paper collects, as a review paper, the evidence and trends that are being recorded in two areas with a Mediterranean climate (the Spanish Mediterranean coast and the central sector of Chile) to assess the effect of the global warming process. The impact that the current climate change is having on the main elements of the climate and on specific environmental processes in both of these geographical spaces has been analysed. The study seeks to update, through an evaluative summary, the state of the issue of climate change in Mediterranean areas, indicating its future impact on elements of the natural environment and on the functioning of the societies that exist in these regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is a critical issue of our time, and its causes, pathways, and forecasts remain a topic of broader discussion. In this paper, we present a novel data driven pathway analysis framework to identify the key processes behind mean global temperature and sea level rise, and to forecast the magnitude of their increase from the present to 2100. Based on historical data and dynamic statistical modeling alone, we have established the causal pathways that connect increasing greenhouse gas emissions to increasing global mean temperature and sea level, with its intermediate links encompassing humidity, sea ice coverage, and glacier mass, but not for sunspot numbers. Our results indicate that if no action is taken to curb anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, the global average temperature would rise to an estimated 3.28 °C (2.46–4.10 °C) above its pre-industrial level while the global sea level would be an estimated 573 mm (474–671 mm) above its 2021 mean by 2100. However, if countries adhere to the greenhouse gas emission regulations outlined in the 2021 United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP26), the rise in global temperature would lessen to an average increase of 1.88 °C (1.43–2.33 °C) above its pre-industrial level, albeit still higher than the targeted 1.5 °C, while the sea level increase would reduce to 449 mm (389–509 mm) above its 2021 mean by 2100. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the challenge of global warming, the European Union (EU) signed the Paris Agreement (2015) to diminish total Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. This paper addresses the conflict that EU member states face when they want to follow the target of the Paris Agreement for the period 2021–2030 which is a 55% GHG emission reduction by 2030 (compared with GHG emission in 1990). EU member states have to emit at a level that is lower than their emission needs. To solve this problem, we implement the claims problems approach as a method for distributing insufficient resources among parties with greater demands. We use several well-known division rules to divide the emission budget among EU member states. We define a set of principles that should be satisfied by division rules to select the most optimal allocation method. To diminish the effect of countries' preferences on the allocation we use equity and stability criteria to examine the fairness of the rules. Moreover, we allocate the emission budget in two ways: First, we apply division rules to allocate the total emission budget for 2021–2030 among countries. Second, we allocate the emission budget annually from 2021 to 2030. We propose that Constrained Equal Awards (CEA) is an appropriate division rule to meet the target of 2030. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of global warming on the environment is a significant concern, and finding effective ways to address climate change is a priority. This paper investigates how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be utilised to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and support efforts to combat climate change, with a particular focus on the chemical industry. The study presents a theoretical framework and comparative analysis of both technological and non-technological solutions to achieve net-zero GHG emissions and establish a carbon-neutral status in the chemical industry. The aim is to assess the potential role of AI as a tool for reducing CO2 emissions from the chemical industry and contributing to the global goal of achieving net-zero CO2 emissions. The analysis will evaluate the efficacy of AI as a tool in reducing GHG emissions in the chemical industry and explore its potential for optimising processes, predicting and reducing emissions, and supporting the development of sustainable practices. By utilising AI, it may be possible to identify and implement effective solutions that may not have been possible through conventional methods. Ultimately, the study aims to contribute to the ongoing efforts to address climate change by highlighting the potential of AI as a tool for reducing GHG emissions in the chemical industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many regions around the world are facing climate changes, with substantial increase in air temperature over the past decades, which is mainly related to continental and global warming forced by the higher greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The objectives of this study were to use the Köppen climate classification to detect local climate change based on a historical series of 100 years and to assess if such change is related to those that are occurring in other spatial scales as a likely consequence of increasing GHG. This paper brings a content full of innovative results. The study area presented an average annual air temperature increase by 0.9 °C between 1917 and 2016, rising from 21.4 °C for the first climatological normal (1917–1946) to 22.3 °C for the last one (1987–2016). Furthermore, in the summer months, the temperature rose from 24.5 to 25.3 °C, and in the winter months, such increase was from 17.1 (1917–1946) to 18.3 °C (1987–2016). Our findings showed the subtropical conditions (Cfa in Köppen's classification) in the study area persisted from the beginning of the analysis (1917–1946) until the climatological normal of 1979–2008, with a clear tendency of tropicalization after that with a change in the climate type of Piracicaba from subtropical to tropical, which can now be classified as tropical with dry winter (Aw climate type). The local average air temperature showed concordances with the long-term air temperature anomalies from regional, continental, and global scales, indicating that all of them may be linked with increasing GHG emissions, since well-defined long-term linear relationships (r2 = 0.99) were observed between continental and global average air temperature anomalies and atmospheric CO2 concentration observed at the NOAA Lab in Mauna Loa in the last 59 years. While the local and regional forcing effects remain to be fully unraveled, our study provided a valid and strong scientific sound evidence that climate change occurred in Piracicaba, southeastern Brazil, in the last 100 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the growing need for residential buildings as a result of population growth, the building sector is a high-priority area in climate change due to its large share of CO 2 emissions, the significant energy saving opportunities it represents, and the increasing expectations for occupant comfort. This paper presents the results of climate change impact assessment on a typical mid-rise residential building in four representative cities with different climatic characteristics in Turkey. Three different scenarios that characterize different solutions towards space cooling are developed, from naturally ventilated to fully air-conditioned. The energy requirements and corresponding CO 2 emissions due to space conditioning as well as occupant thermal comfort are the investigated building performance metrics. The preliminary results based on energy simulations indicate that pronounced overheating will be experienced in the future, which will have a strong effect on cooling energy use and/or occupant comfort. The projected energy demand also points to the future need to explore measures for climate change adaptation of buildings and the importance of the decarbonization of the electricity industry for climate change mitigation. The analysis results presented in this paper provide a basis for future studies on building retrofit for climate change. • Evaluation of climate change impact on a typical residential building in Turkey. • Cooling is to dominate thermal loads due to increased temperatures. • Warmer climates to be influenced most by negative effects. • Severe overheating for poorly ventilated, highly insulated buildings. • Adaptation measures needed for climate-proofing existing buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an assessment of Article 4.1 of the Paris Agreement on climate; the main goal of which is to provide guidance on how “to achieve the long-term temperature goal set out in Article 2”. Paraphrasing, Article 4.1 says that, to achieve this end, we should decrease greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions so that net anthropogenic GHG emissions fall to zero in the second half of this century. To aggregate net GHG emissions, 100-year global warming potentials (GWP-100) are commonly used to convert non-CO2 emissions to equivalent CO2 emissions. The GWP-scaling method is tested using methane as an example. The temperature projections using GWP-100 scaling are shown to be seriously in error. This throws doubt on the use of GWP-100 scaling to estimate net GHG emissions. An alternative method to determine the net-zero point for GHG emissions based on radiative forcing is derived, where the net-zero point is identified with the maximum of GHG forcing. This shows that, to meet the Article 2 warming goal, the net-zero point for GHG emissions needs to be reached as early as 2036, much sooner than in the Article 4.1 window. Other scientific problems in Article 4.1 that further undermine its purpose to guide efforts to achieve the Article 2 temperature targets are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An Erratum to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1028334X23070188 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of climate change and the global efforts to address it have made environmental considerations increasingly important. Industries and transportation, being major energy consumers, play a significant role in global warming and must reduce their pollutants. This paper presents a bi-objective production routing problem aimed at minimizing the total Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and cost, taking into account real-world constraints and data from a single-plant, multi-distribution center, gaseous-pharmaceutical supply chain with a heterogeneous delivery fleet. The modeling takes into account the GHG emissions from the production process of the product being delivered. A branch and cut method is used in combination with multi-objective fuzzy goal programming to solve the problem. The results show that the proposed model reduces total costs while also reducing GHG emissions compared to the current method used in the case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy model, a systematic data-intensive multi-objective framework replicating the energy sector of the country or globe, constitutes of energy resource supply, energy consumption sector-by-sector, energy transformation technologies, greenhouse gas emission and energy pricing. Considering the atypical weather pattern yearly and geographical diversity, the challenges and benefits of designing an energy model have been summarized. The paper has documented the tremendous jeopardy of drastic climate change, energy crisis on the global economy, requirement for transition to low carbon economy and rural electrification which have been impetus for the evolution of legitimate energy model. Special emphasis has been provided on the types of energy models that have been developed and practiced throughout the world followed by a comparative analysis of a few. The requirement to configure a unique energy model in India followed by certain recommendations has been proposed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Globally, population weighting substantially changes degree-days rate of change. • Choice of base temperature strongly influences degree-day calculation. • For typical base temperatures, heating degree-days are falling at twice the rate that cooling degree days are increasing. • Within countries, heterogeneity in population changes determines relative changes in heating and cooling degree-days. Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are driving global increases in temperature. This rise will likely lead to an increase in demand for cooling in the coming years. However, increasing temperatures are not the main explanatory factor for why the world is moving towards more cooling. This paper compares population and area-weighted cooling and heating degree-days derived using ERA5-Land reanalysis temperature, to show that population growth in warmer parts of the world drives cooling demand globally. The analysis shows that mean global area-weighted heating degree-days have fallen 8.46 °C days/year, whereas population-weighted heating degree-days have fallen by 12.5 °C days/year. At the same time, mean global area-weighted cooling degree-days have risen by 3.0 °C days/year, while population-weighted cooling degree-days have risen at 6.0 °C days/year. By using sub-country analysis, this paper shows that population-weighted degree-days can substantially differ from area-weighted degree-days. Finally, the findings highlight that the choice of heating and cooling degree-day base temperature is the most important parameter in the variability of degree-days and will need to be understood better in order to accurately account for future heating and cooling energy demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the global temperature is on the rise due to global warming, the issue of climate change is indeed a hot topic among the climate scientists and policy-makers worldwide. Claiming anthropogenic emissions as the primary cause of the prevailing climate change, every human activity is now under heavy scrutiny. Among others, mining is one of the fundamental activities which caters to the supply of raw materials to other basic industries and fulfils most of the energy needs of the human race and is believed to be a major contributor to the anthropogenic emissions. The present paper discusses a few case studies conducted in some Indian mines to estimate their respective carbon emissions. The accounting of carbon emissions due to mining activities is called as 'greenhouse gas inventory'. A brief look over the GHG inventory of some mines provides a succinct idea about contribution of mining industry to global emissions. The results highlight that emissions from mining industry are significant and cannot be overlooked. Thus it is required to develop clean technology to be implemented in mines to lower its emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global warming, climate change, and resource depletion have forced us to reconsider energy usage and efficiencies over the last few decades. Residential and commercial buildings are both large energy consumers, so improving energy and material usage efficiency in this sector is a common research topic. According to a recent study, the Building Sector (BS) accounts for 40% of greenhouse gas emissions. The primary objective of this paper is to examine and assess the potential of Renewable Energy Systems (RES) and their combinations for enhancing energy efficiency in the BS. Specifically, the focus will be on converting low energy-efficient buildings into highly efficient ones. The potential of the RES and their combinations for the BS is evaluated based on payback durations, energy generation, and reduction of CO 2 emissions. The optimization flow charts for the RES, feasibility studies, commercialization road maps of energy storage systems and the necessity of control mechanisms for enhancing RES efficiency were discussed. Additionally, the technology drawbacks are discussed, along with various innovative techniques recommended to direct future study in this area. Finally, this article assists the audience clear idea in the selection of the right combination of potential RES based on different conditions to achieve deep decarbonization in BSs. • Buildings sector (BS) responsible for 40% of GHG emissions. • Study assesses potential of Renewable Energy System (RES) in BS. • RES evaluated on payback, energy generation, and CO 2 reduction. • Optimization, feasibility and commercialization studies were discussed. • Article recommends right RES combinations for deep decarbonization in BS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the confluence of rapidly continuing economic development and increasing greenhouse gas emissions, the frequency and severity of natural disasters caused by global warming have increased in recent years. The international Financial Stability Board established the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) to provide recommendations for collecting and disclosing climate-related information that is helpful for decision-making such that investors, decision-makers and supervision units can understand and more accurately assess climate-related risks as well as opportunities. However, the TCFD recommendations only provide a general framework of risks and opportunities from which companies cannot derive specific disaster-related data for regional climate disclosures. For stakeholders in different continents and regions, there is a need to develop a disaster data-driven model that can precisely disclose regional risks. Our study develops a regional climate framework for TCFD based on natural language processing that can process and analyze data from historical local news. The paper aims to offer suitable climate recommendations for different regions and suggest possible preventive measures and responses to emergencies caused by various disasters. The contributions of this research contain: (1) using unsupervised learning to present climate change in a quantitative way; (2) helping enterprises adjust sustainable strategies according to conditions in different regions; (3) extending involvement from a small area to a large area, quantifying climate data so that investors can make decisions based on factual results; (4) combining artificial intelligence with climate change in the field of TCFD. [Display omitted] • We develop a data-driven regional climate framework for TCFD based on deep learning. • This framework can help enterprises minimize risks along with costs and can be applied to other industries. • This research supplements quantitative information in TCFD and provides a scientific climate risk management method. • The first study that applies artificial intelligence to climate change in the field of TCFD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polish energy sector is mainly based on coal. More than 90% of electricity is generated in steam power or heat-and-power plants fired by hard coal or lignite. Obviously, the share of coal fired units in Poland is higher than in EU-15 countries. By taxing CO 2 generation EU enforces the development of low carbon technologies. The motivation behind this policy is to limit the global warming effect resulting from energy conversion technologies. However, the implemented system of CO 2 taxing accounts practically only for the CO 2 produced by direct combustion of fuels neglecting the remaining links of the process chain. The aim of the paper is to give a more complete picture of the influence of the power generation by resorting to the cumulative emission approach. The direct emission of CO 2 following from stoichiometry is significantly higher in the case of hard coal or lignite than of natural gas. The result of direct emission analysis are the main argument against coal technologies. As a result, natural gas technologies are treated as much climate friendly than their coal counterparts. Taking into account that in Poland and many other European countries the majority of natural gas is transported by huge distance from Siberia, it is obvious that to have a fair comparison of coal and natural gas technologies, the greenhouse gas emissions associated with transportation of the gas over very long distances and the leakages must be taken into account. The paper shows that when gas leakage at mining and its consumption in compressor stations of the pipeline are taken into consideration, the natural gas technologies exert similar influence on the global climate as its coal competitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluates life cycle environmental impacts associated with chocolate products made and consumed in the UK. The paper focuses on three representative chocolate products occupying 90% of the market: ‘moulded chocolate’, ‘chocolate countlines’ and ‘chocolates in bag’. The impacts were estimated using life cycle assessment (LCA) as a tool and following the ReCiPe impact assessment method. The water footprint was also considered. For example, the global warming potential ranges between 2.91 and 4.15 kg CO 2 eq., primary energy demand from 30 to 41 MJ and the water footprint, including water stress, from 31 to 63 l per kilogram of chocolate. The raw materials are the major hotspot across all impact categories for all three product types, followed by the chocolate production process and packaging. The raw material impacts are mainly due to milk powder, cocoa derivatives, sugar and palm oil. The sensitivity analysis shows that the results for global warming potential are sensitive to land-use change (LUC) associated with cocoa production, increasing the impact of the chocolate products by three to four times if LUC is involved. The improvement opportunities targeting the key contributing stages suggest that GWP of chocolates could be reduced by 14%–19%. Chocolate countlines have the highest contribution to the total impacts at the UK level (37%–43%), followed by chocolates in bag (28%–33%). Moulded chocolates and other chocolate confectionary make up the rest of the impacts, with a roughly equal share each. Chocolate consumption in the UK contributes 4.7% to the primary energy consumption and 2.4% to the GHG emissions from the whole food and drink sector. The results of this work will be of interest to policy makers, chocolate producers and consumers, helping them to make more informed decisions towards sustainable production and consumption of chocolate products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change mitigation requires the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The majority of the discussions on climate change policy focus exclusively on the reduction of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions but ignore other important GHGs such as methane. This paper investigates the optimal choice of policy instruments under the joint consideration of CO 2 and methane in a dynamic setting with asymmetric information and pollutant correlations. We develop a dynamic programming model with two state variables and calibrate it to the global warming case. The results show that it is optimal to levy tax on both CO 2 and methane. A mixed strategy that implements a tax on CO 2 and a quota on methane is the second-ranked choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fossil fuel consumption, luxurious lifestyles, population and economic growths are drivers of climate change. Rampant rise in Greenhouse Gases (GHG) emissions drives the big wheel of climate change which affects human societies, animal habitats and woodlands by flash floods, glacial melts, acidic rains, droughts, famines, wildfires, epidemics, heat and cold waves. South Asia is one of the most severely affected regions on the planet due to its demographics. The per capita impact of climate change on the millions of Pakistanis is very high compared to their diminutive per capita share of global GHG emissions. Environmental issues of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries include deforestation, air pollution, desertification, glacial melts, sea level rise, water contamination and loss of biodiversity. Pakistan is among the top ten countries worst hit by climate change, where native populations of lions, leopards, dolphins, tortoise and vultures face extinction threat. Acacia and rosewood tree forests in Sindh, Punjab and Pak-Afghan precincts have already dried by dieback disease during 1998–2005. Hundreds of people succumb to death annually by heat waves in South during summer and cold waves in North during winter. Climate change is a global phenomenon; nevertheless, higher GHG emissions first affect local and regional territories and later impact worldwide. Pakistan's CO 2 emissions are greater than least developed SAARC countries but much lower than the nearby Himalayan slope countries. This paper reports impact of CO 2 emissions on society, forests, crops and wildlife in Pakistan recounting adaptation and mitigation strategies in SAARC countries. We present simulation results for a future super smart grid connecting Central Asian States (CAS) to SAARC countries for bilateral electricity trade, progress in carbon capture and storage technologies in SAARC countries, and original research on utilizing CO 2 (R744) for water heating in extremely cold regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extreme climate warmth (hyperthermal) events through deep-time offer prescient insights into how the Earth may respond to present-day warming related to greenhouse gas emissions. This special issue deals with Paleoenvironmental changes across the Mesozoic–Paleogene hyperthermal events and comprises 25 interdisciplinary research articles. In this review paper, we summarise the contents of the special issue, placing it into a wider context, and demonstrate that Mesozoic–Paleogene hyperthermal events were among the most devastating and extreme climate modes in the geological record. Key findings are as follows: (1) Multi-proxy geochemical and sedimentological analyses reveal that widespread deoxygenation of oceans and megalakes was a common accompanying feature of most hyperthermals. (2) Evidence exists for complex linkages between volcanism, warm climate conditions, contemporary carbon cycles, aquatic biogeochemical cycles, wildfire activities, and climate-modulated hydrological and terrestrial weathering changes operating at seasonal, orbital and/or tectonic timescales. (3) Pronounced and rapid biological turnovers in the ocean during hyperthermals may have been linked to seawater acidification and shifts in nutrient availability, while promoting significant alterations in primary productivity, biological pump and ecosystem structures. Despite these advances, future interdisciplinary studies are needed to deliver a more comprehensive understanding of the nature and mechanism of complex environmental interactions within the Earth system, as well as the internal and external drivers that may have triggered hyperthermal events. • Marine and lacustrine deoxygenation was a common feature of Mesozoic–Paleogene hyperthermal events. • The temporal link is often observed between hyperthermals and Large igneous province emplacement and intense volcanism. • Large-scale greenhouse gas emissions induced strong positive climate feedbacks and global–scale biogeochemical extremes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global air temperature has become the primary metric for judging global climate change. The variability of global temperature on a decadal timescale is still poorly understood. This paper examines further one suggested hypothesis, that variations in solar radiation reaching the surface (Rs) have caused much of the observed decadal temperature variability. Because Rs only heats air during the day, its variability is plausibly related to the variability of diurnal temperature range (daily maximum temperature minus its minimum). We show that the variability of diurnal temperature range is consistent with the variability of Rs at timescales from monthly to decadal. This paper uses long comprehensive datasets for diurnal temperature range to establish what has been the contribution of Rs to decadal temperature variability. It shows that Rs over land globally peaked in the 1930s, substantially decreased from the 1940s to the 1970s, and changed little after that. Reduction of Rs caused a reduction of more than 0.2 °C in mean temperature during May to October from the 1940s through the 1970s, and a reduction of nearly 0.2 °C in mean air temperature during November to April from the 1960s through the 1970s. This cooling accounts in part for the near-constant temperature from the 1930s into the 1970s. Since then, neither the rapid increase in temperature from the 1970s through the 1990s nor the slowdown of warming in the early twenty-first century appear to be significantly related to changes of Rs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global climate change and its impacts have ethical dimensions, for instance carbon footprint equity concerns. World issues, including the state of the ecosphere and biodiversity, regularly see political leaders, NGOs, business representatives, religious/spiritual organizations, academics, and others engage in international aviation-dependent meetings to address critical challenges facing humanity and the planet. Yet, climate scientists and associated advocates call for an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 to cap the increase in global temperatures to 2°C. Aviation emissions resulting from international meetings raise questions that are not silenced by GHG emissions offsetting. The era of climate change and 'peak oil' poses ethical challenges for holding international in-person religious and academic events, especially when the events propound an environmentalist concern and when aviation use is assumed. This paper raises questions regarding the ecological impacts of large international events and focuses the 'inconvenient truths' associated with international aviation in the era of global warming. The Parliament of the World's Religions, the largest multifaith gathering in the world, serves as a case study. The paper emphasizes the view that faith-based/faith-inspired organizations have a special responsibility for leadership in policy and praxis on the moral imperatives of sustainability, sustainable development and climate justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article builds on the premise that human consumption of goods, food and transport are the ultimate drivers of climate change. However, the nature of the climate change problem (well described as a tragedy of the commons) makes it difficult for individuals to recognise their personal duty to implement behavioural changes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Consequently, this article aims to analyse the climate change issue from a human-scale perspective, in which each of us has a clearly defined personal quota of CO2 emissions that limits our activity and there is a finite time during which CO2 emissions must be eliminated to achieve the “well below 2°C” warming limit set by the Paris Agreement of 2015 (COP21). Thus, this work’s primary contribution is to connect an equal per capita fairness approach to a global carbon budget, linking personal levels with planetary levels. Here, we show that a personal quota of 5.0 tons of CO2 yr-1 p-1 is a representative value for both past and future emissions; for this level of a constant per-capita emissions and without considering any mitigation, the global accumulated emissions compatible with the “well below 2°C” and 2°C targets will be exhausted by 2030 and 2050, respectively. These are references years that provide an order of magnitude of the time that is left to reverse the global warming trend. More realistic scenarios that consider a smooth transition toward a zero-emission world show that the global accumulated emissions compatible with the “well below 2°C” and 2°C targets will be exhausted by 2040 and 2080, respectively. Implications of this paper include a return to personal responsibility following equity principles among individuals, and a definition of boundaries to the personal emissions of CO2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the Global Warming Potential (GWP) was first presented in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) First Assessment Report, the metric has been scrutinized and alternative metrics have been suggested. The IPCC Fifth Assessment Report gives a scientific assessment of the main recent findings from climate metrics research and provides the most up-to-date values for a subset of metrics and time horizons. The objectives of this paper are to perform a systematic review of available midpoint metrics (i.e. using an indicator situated in the middle of the cause-effect chain from emissions to climate change) for well-mixed greenhouse gases and near-term climate forcers based on the current literature, to provide recommendations for the development and use of characterization factors for climate change in life cycle assessment (LCA), and to identify research needs. This work is part of the ‘Global Guidance on Environmental Life Cycle Impact Assessment’ project held by the UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative and is intended to support a consensus finding workshop. In an LCA context, it can make sense to use several complementary metrics that serve different purposes, and from there get an understanding about the robustness of the LCA study to different perspectives and metrics. We propose a step-by-step approach to test the sensitivity of LCA results to different modelling choices and provide recommendations for specific issues such as the consideration of climate-carbon feedbacks and the inclusion of pollutants with cooling effects (negative metric values). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Methane from livestock manure accounts for ∼6.6% of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the United States, and 1.1% of total emissions in Canada. Methane is 25 times more potent than CO2 as a GHG and is emitted into the atmosphere from enteric emissions and manure. Livestock operators can reduce CH4 emissions and may qualify for credits for its capture by utilizing manure management practices such as anaerobic digesters. Thus, livestock producers can play a role in reducing GHG emissions while also earning C offset credits. This paper has two related objectives. First, using data from Canada, we explore the economics of adoption of anaerobic digesters for Canadian dairy and hog producers. Second, using this example, we explore the institutional framework in place for livestock based GHG emissions and the sources of uncertainties facing both producers and consumers with regard to C offsets. From these two objectives we hope to better understand the potential gains for livestock producers, and consumers of CH4 based offsets, and identify potential institutional innovations needed to allow the offset market to function efficiently. This paper is part of the special issue entitled: Greenhouse Gases in Animal Agriculture – Finding a Balance between Food and Emissions, Guest Edited by T.A. McAllister, Section Guest Editors; K.A. Beauchemin, X. Hao, S. McGinn and Editor for Animal Feed Science and Technology, P.H. Robinson. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Merck suppressed data on harmful effects of its drug Vioxx, and Guidant suppressed data on electrical flaws in one of its heart-defibrillator models. Both cases reveal how financial conflicts of interest can skew biomedical research. Such conflicts also occur in electric-utility-related research. Attempting to show that increased atomic energy can help address climate change, some industry advocates claim nuclear power is an inexpensive way to generate low-carbon electricity. Surveying 30 recent nuclear analyses, this paper shows that industry-funded studies appear to fall into conflicts of interest and to illegitimately trim cost data in several main ways. They exclude costs of full-liability insurance, underestimate interest rates and construction times by using 'overnight' costs, and overestimate load factors and reactor lifetimes. If these trimmed costs are included, nuclear-generated electricity can be shown roughly 6 times more expensive than most studies claim. After answering four objections, the paper concludes that, although there may be reasons to use reactors to address climate change, economics does not appear to be one of them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthropogenic global climate change has large and mounting negative economic impacts. Companies and nations responsible for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are thus acquiring considerable potential liabilities. If litigation becomes widespread, renewable energy technologies (RETs) potentially offer emitters reduced liability for climate change. This benefit has been ignored because of the lack of knowledge of potential liabilities. To overcome this information deficit, this paper reviews recent literature on the potential for climate change litigation and methods to quantify liability for climate change. Next, the top 10 emitters in the U.S. are identified and their potential liability is quantified using standard GHG emission costs. Potential liabilities are explored in depth with a single case study company comparing the results of the fractional liability from only natural disasters within the U.S. for a single year to a sensitivity of the future costs of carbon emissions from other sources of emission-related liability. Then classes of potential climate change litigants are identified and their capacity to bring such lawsuits is evaluated. The results show that the net income available to shareholders of large companies could see a significant reduction from the emissions liability related to only natural disasters in the U.S. from a single coal-fired power plant. Finally, a rough estimate of the economic risk associated with future scenarios and existing organized international potential litigants is quantified. The results show that potential liability for climate change for the Alliance of Small Island States is over $570 trillion. It is concluded that as emitters begin to be held liable for damages resulting from GHG emissions resulting in climate change, a high value for liability mitigation would provide additional powerful incentives for deployment of renewable energy technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using an experimental auction, we explore how verifiable information affects the willingness to pay (WTP) for two climate friendly goods given the politicized climate change debate. We test whether the dissemination of (scientific) verifiable information lets subjects cut through the media noise. We define our baseline by first examining how noisy information (pro and con) about climate change affects WTP. We then consider how third party verifiable information within this noisy information affects WTP. Our results suggest subjects could cut through noisy information to process verifiable information. We find a significant WTP premium for climate protection. The verifiable information treatment increases the premium for both shade-grown coffee (by 51 %) and recycled paper (by 48 %). This suggests the WTP premium for climate change depends on the available information flow and the characteristics of the climate friendly good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses costs, emissions, and climate impact by freight shipping in the Arctic with main focus on the Northern Sea Route. The entire route lies in Arctic waters, which due to global warming, has become ice free during summer and autumn. The route goes from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean along the Russian Arctic coast and reduces voyage distance by 40% between Northern Europe and Japan. Traditionally, comparisons of the climate impact of transport solutions have been based on fuel consumption and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), while other trace emissions in the exhaust gas have been ignored. It is becoming increasingly well-known however, that aerosols, and their precursors emitted from shipping are strong climate forcers, with a magnitude that is intimately connected to the specific region of emission. Taking into account these considerations, we apply region-specific Global Warming Potential (GWP) characterization factors to estimate the relative magnitude of the short-lived climate forcers in the Arctic compared to traditional shipping regions and to the impact of CO 2 emissions in light of reduced overall fuel consumption. The results indicate that there are no general climate benefits of utilizing the Northern Sea Route, even with cleaner fuels, since the additional impact of emissions in the Arctic more than offsets the effect of shorter voyages. In terms of climate change mitigation, managing this trade-off will be challenging, as the Northern Sea Route offers cost savings per ton of freight transported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greenhouse gases (GHG) causing global warming and climate change. In the year 2014, 32.3 billion tones CO2 emitted to the atmosphere as the most important greenhouse gas. According to the statistics, a significant portion of this amount is related to electricity demand of air conditioning systems, for producing a one ton of refrigeration in HVAC air cooled or water cooled systems respectively 1026 and 764 grams GHG emitted in the atmosphere. Therefore, air conditioning systems have an important role in the global warming and climate change. By increasing the COP of air conditioning systems the electricity demand of them reduced. One strategy for increasing the COP of air conditioning systems is using nanorefrigerants. In the present study, a comprehensive information is given regarding to use nanorefrigerants in air conditioning systems according to the theoretical, CFD and experimental review of the recent literature. This paper gives assistance to designers of air conditioning systems in their future efforts for selecting refrigerant for their systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global warming poses significant risks to human health and the planet. If allowed to continue unchecked, its consequences will be devastating. While all populations will be effected with time, vulnerable groups, including those with kidney disease, are likely to be at primary risk. This paper summarizes the current state of scientific knowledge relevant to climate change. It discusses the contribution of the health-care system, and particularly dialysis programmes, to greenhouse gas emissions, and pathways that exist for nephrologists to mitigate their environmental impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientific records provide clear evidence of rising atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHG) concentrations. Global warming and rising extreme weather events are believed to be a result. Besides proactively combating global climate change, transport agencies may need to develop strategies for better preparedness of the impacts of climate change. This is particularly important for certain regions that are more vulnerable to the potential damages caused by climate change. A methodological framework for developing such strategies is presented in the paper. The framework is illustrated through two examples: the management of rural roads in Thailand where the vast road network is being threatened by increasing floods and rising sea levels and the improvement of pavement design strategies for expressways along the coast of Hong Kong. Adaption measures are proposed for the highway agencies to address the challenges caused by climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change represents a feedback-loop in which livestock production both contributes to the problem and suffers from the consequences. The impact of global warming and continued, uncontrolled release of greenhouse gasses (GHG) has twofold implications for the livestock industry, and consequently food security. Firstly, the continuous increase in ambient temperature is predicted to have a direct effect on the animal, as well as on food and nutrition security, due to changes associated with temperature itself, relative humidity, rainfall distribution in time and space, altered disease distribution, changes in the ecosystem and biome composition. Secondly, the responsibility of livestock production is to limit the release of greenhouse gases (GHG) or the carbon footprint, in order to ensure future sustainability. This can be done by implementing new or adapted climate-smart production systems, the use of known and new technologies to turn waste into assets, and by promoting sustainable human diets with low environmental impacts. The following elements, which are related to livestock production and climate change, are discussed in this paper: (1) restoring the value of grasslands/rangelands, (2) pastoral risk management and decision support systems, (3) improved production efficiency, (4) global warming and sustainable livestock production, (5) the disentanglement between food and nutritional needs, focusing on nutrient rich core foods, (6) GHG from livestock and carbon sequestration, and (7) water and waste management. No single organization (or industry) within South Africa can perform this research and the implementation thereof on its own. The establishment of a (virtual) centre of excellence in climate-smart livestock production and the environment for the livestock industries, with the objective to share research expertise and information, build capacity and conduct research and development studies, should be a priority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Dynamic modeling of building performance is essential for understanding how current buildings will respond to projected changes in environmental conditions, and how these responses will in turn affect building occupants. Additionally, expected shifts in background energy systems will change the carbon intensity of energy delivered to buildings, while shifts in atmospheric composition will alter the global warming potential of each greenhouse gas. This paper models these three dynamic systems simultaneously to determine which projected shifts will have the largest influence on global warming impacts and occupant satisfaction metrics throughout the use phase of an office building prototype model in different climate zones of the United States. The median of RCP8.5 and RCP4.5 climate scenarios were used to morph local weather files to simulate the electricity and natural gas needed to meet heating and cooling loads in each location, as well as thermal comfort and daylighting metrics. These RCPs were also used to estimate shifts in the global warming potential factors for CO 2 , CH 4 , and N 2 O. Projected shifts in the electricity generation mix and upgrades to transmissions and distribution infrastructure in each region were used to estimate future carbon intensity factors for building site energy use. Compared to the baseline results, decarbonization of the electricity grid results in the largest shift in building operational GHG emissions, far outweighing emissions increases due to higher cooling loads. Shifts in ambient temperatures and direct and diffuse radiation had heterogeneous effects on occupant comfort, particularly in Boston across different seasons and orientations. Understanding how building performance is expected to respond to complex future trends will assist in designing adaptive buildings that take advantage of projected changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For some time, there has been a slow but gradual rise in the average temperature of the entire globe, a "global warming", in fact, the result of human and natural processes that have been producing this phenomenon for decades. Since they are not directly perceived by individuals, these processes and their effects have been ignored for a long time, or at least not considered to be immediately harmful and dangerous. Global warming does not depend so much on solar radiation as it does on the greenhouse effect deriving from the continuous emission, by human activities and natural events, of greenhouse gases that accumulate in the atmosphere and form a barrier to the dispersion of heat produced by solar radiation. A good number of models exists to explain how global warming is produced, which are technical in nature and consider the production of greenhouse gases as the most important cause; however, they do not always analyze and justify the reasons for such emissions. Following the logic, language and methods of Senge's systems thinking, the paper aims to present a general model, the GEAM—qualitative in nature, but rational and coherent—for highlighting the interacting factors that give rise to and maintain global warming. This model constitutes a reference framework to identify possible "strategic areas" within which to identify man-made "artificial" and "natural" factors that can control the phenomenon and to order the countless ideas and interventions that different nations carry out individually to control global warming. The model presented is qualitative in nature and does not allow immediate calculations or forecasts to be performed. However, it could guide in-depth scientific research in generating accurate forecasts and simulation using the tools of systems dynamics. In conclusion, understanding how global warming is created and if and how it could be controlled is the aim of this work. Finally, I want to note that the purpose of this work is not to analyze the technical aspects of the phenomenon of global warming, or to deepen the measures and actions to contrast it, but to provide a "general model of description and understanding" of the phenomenon using logic and language of the Systems Thinking Approach (according to Peter's Senge and Piero Mella), with the aim of highlighting three fundamental strategic areas for countering the phenomenon and four uncontrollable phenomena, triggered by global warming itself, which can make strategic control difficult. Furthermore, I highlight the role played by the world population, understood both quantitatively as a number and qualitatively as a level of economic development, in the production of global warming. Lastly, I observe how the different strategic actions that nations can, indeed must, implement to stem global warming are systematically interconnected and interacting; however, these interactions can produce unknown effects and consequences that must be carefully researched and evaluated—encouraged, if positive, reduced or eliminated if negative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change due to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of precipitation events, which is likely to affect the probability of flooding into the future. In this paper we use river flow simulations from nine global hydrology and land surface models to explore uncertainties in the potential impacts of climate change on flood hazard at global scale. As an indicator of flood hazard we looked at changes in the 30-y return level of 5-d average peak flows under representative concentration pathway RCP8.5 at the end of this century. Not everywhere does climate change result in an increase in flood hazard: decreases in the magnitude and frequency of the 30-y return level of river flow occur at roughly one-third (20-45%) of the global land grid points, particularly in areas where the hydrograph is dominated by the snowmelt flood peak in spring. In most model experiments, however, an increase in flooding frequency was found in more than half of the grid points. The current 30-y flood peak is projected to occur in more than 1 in 5 y across 5-30% of land grid points. The large-scale patterns of change are remarkably consistent among impact models and even the driving climate models, but at local scale and in individual river basins there can be disagreement even on the sign of change, indicating large modeling uncertainty which needs to be taken into account in local adaptation studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Arctic Oscillation (AO) has been found in previous studies to be a major synoptic factor affecting the climate of many regions in the high and mid-latitudes. This paper demonstrates the physical process by which the AO affects the climate of the Eastern Mediterranean basin, with a focus on precipitation in Israel as a case study. It is shown that a trend of increasing AO is associated with a substantial decrease of winter precipitation from the Iberian Peninsula, though Italy, Greece, Turkey and Cyprus, as well as Lebanon, Syria and also the northern parts of Israel. Winter rain is slightly increased in the southern coast of the eastern half of the Mediterranean Sea. The immediate meteorological causes are shown to be a larger northerly component of the flow over the Mediterranean Sea, associated with a decreasing relative humidity and stability, except over the southern coast, where the air mass has the longest track over the relatively warm water. We suggest here that the observed changes in air flow that drives the precipitation trends can be explained by shifts in the AO that can be partially explained by increasing greenhouses gases. Results from the IPCC multi climate models show that the AO will continue to increase during the 21st century. This increase may lead to a continuation of the trends discussed here. The importance of the analysis provided here is in pointing out the possibility that processes that have been predicted by global warming and changes in global circulation have already started to affect precipitation and major water resources in the Mediterranean basin. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

About 25 years ago, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change claimed that the greenhouse gases, in particular Carbon Dioxide, are mainly responsible for global warming and its adverse effects. The claim rapidly became an absolute and incontrovertible truth regardless of countless scientific counterevidences. Such international trend was directed to a birth of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, the detailed norm to the Convention. Even to this very day, the "man-made climate change" operates as implicit prerequisite of continuing international climate conferences and international environmental law studies. The paper tries to introduce a viewpoint from the scientific skepticism towards man-made climate change and figure out the political calculations inside Kyoto Protocol. By doing so, the author demonstrates that serious concern about the environment barely exists in current climate response system and attempts to adduce suggestions that should be made in future climate change conferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emissions of fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-gases), which are used as replacements for ozone-depleting substances, have risen sharply since 1995. The rapid increase in F-gas emissions coupled with their global warming potential (GWP) has led to increased worldwide attention to monitoring emission levels and subsequently regulating the use of F-gases. These restrictions apply in particular to applications for which alternative technologies are available that are more economically efficient and have minor or no impact on the Earth's climate system. This paper brings new information about changes in composition of consumed F-gases in the Czech Republic. Since no F-gases are produced in the country, data about F-gas consumption are obtained from three resources which give information about import and export. The paper also describes implementation of newly used F-gases, which are used as replacements for specific F-gases, into emission calculation models. Emissions are estimated according to the methodology developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Although consumption of F-gases with high GWP has already started decreasing, it will have no effect on F-gas emissions for several years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through tests conducted at the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority's (TRCA) Archetype Sustainable Houses, a hybrid residential space heating system with a supervisory controller was monitored and studied to evaluate its performance and effectiveness for the heating season. A high efficiency natural gas furnace (NGF) and an electric air source heat pump (ASHP) were coupled together to meet the space heating demand of the house. This integrated system is called the cloud based Smart Dual Fuel Switching System (SDFSS) that considers time-of-use (TOU) pricing, fuel cost, short-term weather forecast, and equipment efficiencies and capacities. This multi-variable decision-making process defines an optimal schedule for the hybrid system to run more cost effectively. This paper analyses two separate SDFSSs. According to these analyses, the SDFSS systems showed lower operating cost with respect to the furnace or the ASHP system alone with various carbon tax (CT) levels from $0 to $250/tonne of CT with an increment of $10/tonne of CT that were simulated, along with a significant GHG emission reduction relative to the conventional heating systems. Furthermore, with these technologies, Canada's residential sector could potentially meet Canada's Paris Agreement goals. The SDFSS technology is a is flexible, user friendly, ubiquitous technology for the smooth transition from today's natural gas dominated space heating system to the future's low carbon infrastructure powered by a heat pump and renewable energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Early 20th Century Warming (ETCW) in the northern high latitudes was comparable in magnitude to the present-day warming yet occurred at a time when the growth in atmospheric greenhouse gases was rising significantly less than in the last 40 years. The causes of ETCW remain a matter of debate. The key issue is to assess the contribution of internal variability and external natural and human impacts to this climate anomaly. This paper provides an overview of plausible mechanisms related to the early warming period that involve different factors of internal climate variability and external forcing. Based on the vast variety of related studies, it is difficult to attribute ETCW in the Arctic to any of major internal variability mechanisms or external forcings alone. Most likely it was caused by a combined effect of long-term natural climate variations in the North Atlantic and North Pacific with a contribution of the natural radiative forcing related to the reduced volcanic activity and variations of solar activity as well as growing greenhouse gases concentration in the atmosphere due to anthropogenic emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is one of the most important issues among researchers, scientists, planners and politicians in the present times. Of all the climatic elements, temperature plays a major role in detecting climatic change brought about by urbanization and industrialization. This paper, therefore, attempts to study the temperature changes at Dehradun city by analyzing the time series data of annual maximum, minimum and mean temperature from 1967 to 2007. Data for the study has been analyzed in three parts by running linear regression and by taking anomalies for the whole period from 1967 to 2007, phase one 1967-1987 and phase two 1988-2007. The study of linear trend indicated increasing trends in annual maximum, annual minimum and annual mean temperatures. During 1967-2007 annual maximum, annual minimum and annual mean temperatures increased about 0.43°C, 0.38°C and 0.49°C, respectively. The analysis of temperature data in two phases also revealed an increase in annual maximum, annual minimum and annual mean temperature. However, temperature increase in second phase was more pronounced in relation to first phase. During second phase (1988-2007) annual maximum, annual minimum and annual mean temperatures increased about 0.42°C, 0.59°C and 0.54°C, respectively. The perceptible increase in temperature during second phase is mainly attributed to urbanization and industrialization process initiated at Dehradun particularly after becoming the state capital of newly carved out state of Uttarakhand since the year 2000. The analysis also highlight significantly the role of extreme vulnerability of rising temperatures at Dehradun and urban population will constantly be affected by the change in the temperature which controls the comfort level of the inhabitants. Also, the rising temperatures in Doon valley are not a healthy signature for crop production and water resources in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A favoured method of assimilating information from state-of-the-art climate models into integrated assessment models of climate impacts is to use the transient climate response (TCR) of the climate models as an input, sometimes accompanied by a pattern matching approach to provide spatial information. More recent approaches to the problem use TCR with another independent piece of climate model output: the land-sea surface warming ratio ( φ). In this paper we show why the use of φ in addition to TCR has such utility. Multiple linear regressions of surface temperature change onto TCR and φ in 22 climate models from the CMIP3 multi-model database show that the inclusion of φ explains a much greater fraction of the inter-model variance than using TCR alone. The improvement is particularly pronounced in North America and Eurasia in the boreal summer season, and in the Amazon all year round. The use of φ as the second metric is beneficial for three reasons: firstly it is uncorrelated with TCR in state-of-the-art climate models and can therefore be considered as an independent metric; secondly, because of its projected time-invariance, the magnitude of φ is better constrained than TCR in the immediate future; thirdly, the use of two variables is much simpler than approaches such as pattern scaling from climate models. Finally we show how using the latest estimates of φ from climate models with a mean value of 1.6-as opposed to previously reported values of 1.4-can significantly increase the mean time-integrated discounted damage projections in a state-of-the-art integrated assessment model by about 15 %. When compared to damages calculated without the inclusion of the land-sea warming ratio, this figure rises to 65 %, equivalent to almost 200 trillion dollars over 200 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon is known as one of the most effective green house gases on global warming and climate changes. Recently, some developed countries are capturing carbon and pumping it into the earth for long time storage. For instance, pumping CO2 into reactive rock formation or saline aquifers underground or depleted oil and gas reservoirs or pumping into the deep ocean or onto the sea bed. Geologically, earthquake is able to release carbon from earth to atmosphere. So, underground carbon capturing not only should be paid attention to Greenhouse Gas (GHG) mitigation but also should be considered about geological concepts of carbon storage. Geographically, carbon emission and capturing have spatial concepts and find place for very long carbon storage requires spatial studies. Also, spatial planning feasibility helps us to know and assess current hazards and risks about carbon storage and mapping and characterizing potential geology. This paper describes how spatial planning is useful for carbon captured, injected and stored into earth for long time with the minimum geo-hazards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Swine manure storage is a source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study was conducted to quantify CO2, CH4 and N2O emissions from swine manure stored at different stack heights using dynamic emission vessels. Stack heights of 10, 20, and 40cm to cover the typical range of manure stack heights, were examined at 25°C with a ventilation rate of 20air changes/h with each regimen replicated thrice. Results show that the GHG emissions increased on the 2nd to 3rd day of manure storage then decreased to became stable after 10d of storage. Manure stack height affected GHG emissions from stored swine manure, with the lower stack height having higher CO2 and N2O, but lower CH4, emissions/kg of initial manure weight. On the basis of 100yr global warming potential for CH4 and N2O, cumulative emissions were 7.5±1.11, 6.8±1.32 and 10.8±1.23g CO2-eqv/kg initial manure, respectively, for the 10, 20, and 40cm stacks over the 6wk storage period. Results suggest that 20cm stack height produced the least GHG emissions. This paper is part of the special issue entitled: Greenhouse Gases in Animal Agriculture – Finding a Balance between Food and Emissions, Guest Edited by T.A. McAllister, Section Guest Editors: K.A. Beauchemin, X. Hao, S. McGinn and Editor for Animal Feed Science and Technology, P.H. Robinson. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Evidence on global climate change, being caused primarily by rising levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, is perceived as fairly conclusive. It is generally attributed to the enhanced greenhouse effect, resulting from higher levels of trapped heat radiation by increasing atmospheric concentrations of gases such as CO2 (carbon dioxide). Much of these gases originate from power plants and fossil fuel combustion. However, the fate of vast amounts of waste heat rejected into the environment has evaded serious scholarly research. While 1 kWh electricity generation in a typical condensing coal-fired power plant emits around 1 kg of CO2, it also puts about 2 kWh energy into the environment as low grade heat. For nuclear (fission) electricity the waste heat release per kWh is somewhat higher despite much lower CO2 releases. This paper evaluates the impact of waste heat rejection combined with CO2 emissions using Finland and California as case examples. The immediate effects of waste heat release from power production and radiative forcing by CO2 are shown to be similar. However, the long-term (hundred years) global warming by CO2-caused radiative forcing is about twenty-five times stronger than the immediate effects, being responsible for around 92% of the heat-up caused by electricity production. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Given the inherent uncertainties in predicting how climate and environments will respond to anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases, it would be beneficial to society if science could identify geological analogues to the human race’s current grand climate experiment. This has been a focus of the geological and palaeoclimate communities over the last 30 years, with many scientific papers claiming that intervals in Earth history can be used as an analogue for future climate change. Using a coupled ocean–atmosphere modelling approach, we test this assertion for the most probable pre-Quaternary candidates of the last 100 million years: the Mid- and Late Cretaceous, the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), the Early Eocene, as well as warm intervals within the Miocene and Pliocene epochs. These intervals fail as true direct analogues since they either represent equilibrium climate states to a long-term CO2forcing—whereas anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases provide a progressive (transient) forcing on climate—or the sensitivity of the climate system itself to CO2was different. While no close geological analogue exists, past warm intervals in Earth history provide a unique opportunity to investigate processes that operated during warm (high CO2) climate states. Palaeoclimate and environmental reconstruction/modelling are facilitating the assessment and calculation of the response of global temperatures to increasing CO2concentrations in the longer term (multiple centuries); this is now referred to as the Earth System Sensitivity, which is critical in identifying CO2thresholds in the atmosphere that must not be crossed to avoid dangerous levels of climate change in the long term. Palaeoclimatology also provides a unique and independent way to evaluate the qualities of climate and Earth system models used to predict future climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to popular belief, recent global warming has been caused largely by greenhouse gases, primarily CO[sub 2], accruing in the atmosphere, and man is responsible for most of the ~120 ppm increase in CO[sub 2] over the last 100 years. This article cites a number of recent peer-reviewed scientific papers, and finds that contrary arguments by a growing body of scientists are generally supported by better empirical data than those that favour the 'anthropogenic warming' hypothesis. These arguments invoke the effects of solar irradiance and ocean-atmosphere interactions, both of which have been shown to have warming effects at least as great as those claimed for CO[sub 2], and to be based on sound, well-understood scientific theory. Furthermore, the global warming models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and others have in some cases been shown to be incorrect and contrary to current temperature statistics. For these and other reasons, the CO[sub 2]-driven, anthropogenic warming hypothesis is regarded by many as suspect and lacking in empirical evidence. The difficulty of refuting this popular hypothesis is exacerbated by the IPCC's United Nations mandate to advise governments on the severity of man-made global warming, a mandate that they have followed faithfully, encouraging the emergence of a large body of funded research that supports their view. This presents a problem for global society, as the human-caused warming scenario diverts attention from other, at least equally serious environmental impacts of our industrial society. Recently, however, there appears to be a tilting of public opinion away from global warming alarmism, which may fundamentally affect the direction of the climate change debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]