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The impact of the broad disjunction between Amazonia and the Atlantic Forest on biodiversity has been the theme of several discussions in recent decades. Here, we evaluate the effects of dependence on humid environments and the role of historical factors on the level, distribution and structuring of genetic variation in widely distributed Neotropical insects. For such, we test whether climatically stable zones (i.e. refuges) in both Amazonia and the Atlantic Forest concentrate higher genetic diversity in the social paper wasps Angiopolybia pallens and Synoeca surinama. We found that historical events have avoided the interchange of A. pallens between both rainforests at least since the Early Pliocene and that ancient colonization in north-western Amazonia and the Bahia refuge significantly predicts genetic diversity in populations of this species. Conversely, the split between the Atlantic Forest and remaining western populations of S. surinama is more recent (Plio-Pleistocene); this species has considerably lower genetic diversity than A. pallens and such diversity is mostly concentrated in Amazonia and in the cerrado biome (savanna) than in the Atlantic Forest. Finally, we propose that the occurrence of species that exhibit such distribution patterns should be taken into consideration when establishing areas for conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synthesis has become ubiquitous in ecology. Despite its widespread application to a broad range of research topics, it remains unclear how synthesis has affected the discipline. Using a case study of publications (n = 2304) from the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis compared with papers with similar keywords from the Web of Science (n = 320,000), we address several questions about the comparative impact of synthesis, the role of synthesis in driving key research themes, and whether synthesis is focused on different topics than is the broader ecological literature. We found much higher citation rates for synthesis papers overall (fivefold more) and within eleven key topic themes (e.g. species richness, biodiversity, climate change, global change). Synthesis papers often played key roles in driving, redirecting, or resolving core questions and exhibited much greater cross-theme connectivity. Together, these results indicate that synthesis in science has played a crucial role in accelerating and advancing ecological knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the interactive effects of elevated concentrations of carbon dioxide ([CO2]) and ozone ([O3]) on radial growth, wood chemistry and structure of five 5-year-old trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) clones and the wood chemistry of paper birch (Betula papyrifera Marsh.). Material for the study was collected from the Aspen FACE (free-air CO2 enrichment) experiment in Rhinelander, WI, where the saplings had been exposed to four treatments: control, elevated [CO2] (560 ppm), elevated [O3] (1.5 x ambient) and their combination for five growing seasons. Wood properties of both species were altered in response to exposure to the treatments. In aspen, elevated [CO2] decreased uronic acids (constituents of, e.g., hemicellulose) and tended to increase stem diameter. In response to elevated [O3] exposure, acid-soluble lignin concentration decreased and vessel lumen diameter tended to decrease. Elevated [O3] increased the concentration of acetone-soluble extractives in paper birch, but tended to decrease the concentration of these compounds in aspen. In paper birch, elevated [CO2] decreased and elevated [O3] increased starch concentration. The responses of wood properties to 5 years of fumigation differed from those previously reported after 3 years of fumigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1 Weather and climate information The future risk projections presented in the paper are, as Raftery correctly states in his comment, conditional on a given deterministic representative concentration pathway emission scenario. Authors' reply to the Discussion of 'Assessing present and future risk of water damage using building attributes, meteorology and topography' at the first meeting on "Statistical aspects of climate change" For example, an interaction term between climate covariates and the cellar variable would result in a separate climate risk map for each level of the cellar variable (including the level "unknown"). For our response, we have grouped our comments according to four overarching themes, namely weather and climate information, model specification, model verification, and relation to other work. [Extracted from the article]

Climate change is a defining challenge of our times. The five papers collected in this special issue provide foundations to well-informed policymaking by addressing two main themes of the economic geography of climate change. First, it brings effects that are heterogeneous across space. Some regions of the globe will lose more than others and some may even be better off as a result. Second, humans will have to adapt in order to survive. We emphasize how the lack of mobility could contribute to worsening the socioeconomic costs of climate change. This issue also considers alternative margins of adjustment, such as fertility, specialization and trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the government-sponsored enterprises' sharp securitization rules, this paper provides evidence that, in the aftermath of natural disasters, lenders are more likely to approve mortgages that can be securitized, thereby transferring climate risk. The identification strategy uses the time-varying conforming loan limits above which the government-sponsored enterprises do not securitize mortgages. Natural disasters lead to more securitization right below the limit, suggesting an increased option value of securitization. A model identified using indirect inference simulates increasing disaster risk without GSEs. Mortgage credit supply would decline in flood zones and lenders would have a greater incentive to screen mortgages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To study the effects of elevated CO2 concentration ([CO2]) on relationships between nitrogen (N) nutrition and foliar gas exchange parameters, white birch (Betula papyrifera Marsh.) seedlings were exposed to one of five N-supply regimes (10, 80, 150, 220, 290 mg Nl-1) in either ambient [CO2] (360 µmol mol-1) or elevated [CO2] (720 µmol mol-1) in environment-controlled greenhouses. Foliar gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence were measured after 60 and 80 days of treatment. Photosynthesis showed a substantial down-regulation (up to 57%) in response to elevated [CO2] and the magnitude of the down-regulation generally decreased exponentially with increasing leaf N concentration. When measured at the growth [CO2], elevated [CO2] increased the overall rate of photosynthesis (Pn) and instantaneous water-use efficiency (IWUE) by up to 69 and 236%, respectively, but decreased transpiration (E) and stomatal conductance (gs) in all N treatments. However, the degree of stimulation of photosynthesis by elevated [CO2] decreased as photosynthetic down-regulation increased from 60 days to 80 days of treatment. Elevated [CO2] significantly increased total photosynthetic electron transport in all N treatments at 60 days of treatment, but the effect was insignificant after 80 days of treatment. Both Pn and IWUE generally increased with increasing leaf N concentration except at very high leaf N concentrations, where both Pn and IWUE declined. The relationships of Pn and IWUE with leaf N concentration were modeled with both a linear regression and a second-order polynomial function. Elevated [CO2] significantly and substantially increased the slope of the linear regression for IWUE, but had no significant effect on the slope for Pn. The optimal leaf N concentration for Pn and IWUE derived from the polynomial function did not differ between the CO2 treatments when leaf N was expressed on a leaf area basis. However, the mass-based optimal leaf N concentration for Pn was much lower in seedlings in elevated [CO2] than in ambient [CO2] (31.88 versus 37.00 mg g-1). Elevated [CO2] generally decreased mass-based leaf N concentration but had no significant effect on area-based leaf N concentration; however, maximum N concentration per unit leaf area was greater in elevated [CO2] than in ambient [CO2] (1.913 versus 1.547 g N m-2). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do climate risk beliefs affect coastal housing markets? This paper provides theoretical and empirical evidence. First, we build a dynamic housing market model and show that belief heterogeneity can reconcile prior mixed evidence on flood risk capitalization. Second, we implement a door-to-door survey in Rhode Island, finding significant flood risk underestimation and sorting based on risk perceptions and amenity values. Third, we estimate that coastal prices exceed fundamentals by 6 |$\%$| -13 |$\%$| in our benchmark area, with potentially higher overvaluation in other locations. Finally, we quantify both allocative inefficiency and distributional consequences arising from flood risk misperceptions and insurance policy reform. Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix , which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

B Professor Adrian E. Raftery b (University of Washington): It is a pleasure to congratulate the authors of these two papers on the important topic of statistical aspects of climate change. For forecasting, numerical weather prediction models did forecast the 2021 heatwave quite successfully even though it was outside the range of all previous experience. They developed new statistical methods for climate problems ranging from the integrated assessment of future global climate change to the detailed modelling of granular atmospheric processes. The purpose is clear, to provide probabilistic forecasts of future water damage for any building in Norway, both with current climate and accounting for future climate change, for insurance purposes. [Extracted from the article]

Scenarios are central to fisheries and aquatic conservation research on climate change. Scenarios project future greenhouse-gas emissions, which climate models translate into warming projections. Recent climate research and global development trends have significantly changed our understanding of plausible emissions pathways to 2100 and climate sensitivities to emissions. Here, we review these developments and make recommendations for scenario use in fisheries and aquatic conservation research. Although emissions pathways are uncertain, recent research suggests that scenarios producing ∼3.4–4.5 W/m2 radiative forcing by 2100 (e.g. scenarios SSP2-3.4 and SSP2-4.5/RCP4.5) might be most plausible. This corresponds to ∼2–3 degrees C global warming by 2100 with median climate sensitivities, or 1.5–4 degrees C considering climate-system uncertainties. Higher- and lower-emissions scenarios (e.g. RCP2.6 and RCP6.0) might be plausible and should be explored in research. However, high-emission scenarios (RCP8.5/SSP5-8.5, SSP3-7.0) seem implausible and should be used with clear rationales and caveats to ensure results are not misinterpreted by scholars, policymakers, and media. We analyse fisheries and aquatic conservation papers published from 2015 to 2022 in major journals, and find that RCP8.5/SSP5-8.5 are the most commonly used scenarios, though RCP4.5/SSP2-4.5 use has increased since 2020. Studies predominantly project quantitative rather than qualitative differences between these scenarios' impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through a survey and analyses of observational data, we provide systematic evidence that institutional investors value and demand climate risk disclosures. The survey reveals the investors have a strong demand for climate risk disclosures, and many actively engage their portfolio firms for improvements. Empirical analyses of holdings data corroborate this evidence by showing a significantly positive association between climate-conscious institutional ownership and better firm-level climate risk disclosure. We establish further evidence of institutional investors' influence on firms' climate risk disclosures by examining a shock to the climate risk disclosure demand of French institutional investors (French Article 173). Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix , which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combining the model with an ensemble of climate projections enables projection of the (spatially varying) impacts of climate change on the 'risk of pluvial flooding towards the middle and end of the 21st century'. Authors and Papers under Discussion: 'Assessing present and future risk of water damage using building attributes, meteorology and topograph' Heinrich-Mertsching C, Wahl JC, Ordonez A, Stien M, Elvsborg J, Haug O, and Thorarinsdottir TL. The paper 'Assessing present and future risk of water damage using building attributes, meteorology and topography' by Heinrich-Mertsching et al. from Norway establishes a 'nationwide, building-specific risk score for water damages associated with pluvial flooding in Norway', and the basic methodology is to 'fit a generalised additive model that relates the number of water damages to a wide range of explanatory variables' (or covariates). [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses expansion of global protected areas. It mentions that percentage targets for protected area expansion are important to commit policymakers to biodiversity conservation. It reveals that international collaboration would support the creation of a well-connected system of protected areas that could enhance ecosystem functioning and adaptation to climate change.

This paper conducts a textual analysis of earnings call transcripts to quantify climate risk exposure at the firm level. We construct dictionaries that measure physical and transition climate risks separately and identify firms that proactively respond to climate risks. Our validation analysis shows that our measures capture firm-level variations in respective climate risk exposure. Firms facing high transition risk, especially those that do not proactively respond, have been valued at a discount in recent years as aggregate investor attention to climate-related issues has been increasing. We document differences in how firms respond through investment, green innovation, and employment when facing high climate risk exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how physical climate exposure affects firm performance and global supply chains. We document that heat at supplier locations reduces the operating income of suppliers and their customers. Further, customers respond to perceived changes in suppliers' exposure: when suppliers' realized exposure exceeds ex ante expectations, customers are 7% more likely to terminate supplier relationships. Consistent with experience-based learning, this effect increases with signal strength and repetition and decreases with country-level climate adaptation. Subsequent replacement suppliers show a lower expected and realized but similar projected heat exposure. We find similar results for suppliers' exposure to floods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earth system science indicates the existence of planetary boundaries. Several of these ecological limits have been transgressed, raising serious human rights concerns. Concurrently, persistent poverty and significant economic disparities continue to challenge societies and human rights law and scholarship. How to reform economies to respect planetary boundaries and at the same time address deprivation and socio-economic inequalities is the subject of a rich 'degrowth' literature. Surprisingly, this literature received minimal attention from human rights scholarship. Building upon Raworth's influential concept of Doughnut Economics, this paper aims to bridge this gap by investigating whether human rights can encompass ecological limits (outer circle of the doughnut) and how these limits relate to social priorities embodied in human rights law (inner circle of the doughnut). To do so, the paper is structured along two sub-sections. The first section examines the relevance of core planetary boundaries, particularly biosphere integrity and climate change, within the context of human rights law. In the second section, the paper addresses the relationship between the inner and outer circle of doughnut economics from a human rights perspective. Drawing on critical literature, the article problematizes the 'growth paradigm' in human rights practice but also offers alternative readings. In this final part of the article, the author demonstrates how central doctrines of ESC rights, such as progressive realization and non-retrogression, could be interpreted in a way agnostic of economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is expected to alter pressure from insect pests and the abundance and effectiveness of insect pollinators across diverse agriculture and forestry systems. In response to warming, insects are undergoing or are projected to undergo shifts in their geographic ranges, voltinism, abundance, and phenology. Drivers include direct effects on the focal insects and indirect effects mediated by their interactions with species at higher or lower trophic levels. These climate-driven effects are complex and variable, sometimes increasing pest pressure or reducing pollination and sometimes with opposite effects depending on climatic baseline conditions and the interplay of these drivers. This special collection includes several papers illustrative of these biological effects on pests and pollinators. In addition, in response to or anticipating climate change, producers are modifying production systems by introducing more or different crops into rotations or as cover crops or intercrops or changing crop varieties, with potentially substantial effects on associated insect communities, an aspect of climate change that is relatively understudied. This collection includes several papers illustrating these indirect production system-level effects. Together, biological and management-related effects on insects comprise the necessary scope for anticipating and responding to the effects of climate change on insects in agriculture and forest systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although climate change is among the main ecological crisis the world is grappling with today, relevant discourses on the subject often focus exclusively on the existential threats it presents ignoring other associated risks, including how it exacerbates modern slavery vulnerabilities. Despite already constituting a major human rights challenge, climate change promises to further exacerbate the modern slavery conundrum in Africa. Thus, in this paper, two interconnected questions are engaged with. Firstly, the climate crisis is interrogated vis-à-vis the way it induces modern slavery vulnerabilities in Africa and undermines human rights. The second aspect assesses the utility of the human rights framework in climate change action and its potential to protect modern slavery victims. While African countries are obligated to implement mitigation and adaptation strategies within their jurisdictions, to effectively address the modern slavery challenge, the paper suggests a stronger focus on global climate action via international cooperation and debt-for-nature swap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing awareness that actions by policymakers and international organizations to reduce poverty, and those to mitigate and adapt to climate change, are inextricably linked and interwoven. This paper examines relevant academic and policy literature and evidence on this relationship and explores the potential for a new form of development that simultaneously mitigates climate change, manages its impacts , and improves the wellbeing of people in poverty. First, as a key foundation, it outlines the backdrop in basic moral philosophy, noting that climate action and poverty reduction can be motivated both by a core principle based on the right to development and by the conventional consequentialism that is standard in economics. Second, it reviews assessments of the current and potential future impacts of weakly managed climate change on the wellbeing of those in poverty, paying attention to unequal effects, including by gender. Third, it examines arguments and literature on the economic impacts of climate action and policies and how those affect the wellbeing of people in poverty, highlighting the importance of market failures, technological change, systemic dynamics of transition, and distributional effects of mitigation and adaptation. Finally, the paper surveys the current state of knowledge and understanding of how climate action and poverty reduction can be integrated in policy design, indicating where further research can contribute to a transition that succeeds in both objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global policymaking often seeks to create processes for the effective delivery of public goods and services. What happens when individuals critique or dissent such policies? In this paper, we examine the case of two activists—Greta Thunberg and Disha Ravi—who have been mobilizing attention toward climate change since their teenage years, and who have been both celebrated and vilified for it. While climate change policies emphasize the importance of gender mainstreaming and youth participation, reactions garnered by these two activists are instructive in highlighting the narrow notion of "participation" that undergirds climate policy. Specifically, we show that Greta and Disha's tactics do not readily jive with the postfeminist, neoliberal conceptualization of youth participation that emphasizes apolitical exercise of citizenship; valorizes girls' activism only insofar as it enhances national economic growth; and views girls as symbols of hopeful futurities. Greta and Disha are instead what we call, "policy dissidents," whose activism creates "tactical crevices." We theorize tactical crevices as tentative and fleeting interruptions by the powerless that puncture prevailing logics through strikes and protests, and through consumption of discourses and materials in ways that those in power do not intend. The paper contributes to the study of girl activism broadly, and to notions of youth engagement (or disengagement) specifically, within the spheres of local and global politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South eastern Australia is a global warming hotspot, and is also home to ~70% of Australia's population and one of Australia's largest fisheries—the South East Scalefish and Shark Fishery. This fishery spans shelf to deep waters, subtropical to temperate waters, employs many gears, and interacts with over 100 species. Despite following best practice fisheries management principles, including taking an ecosystem perspective to overall fisheries interactions, management interventions have failed to arrest or recover the decline of some focal species. Using an Atlantis ecosystem model developed for the fishery over the past 20 years, this paper presents simulations that suggest climate change may be a major contributor to the trajectories seen for a number of species—such as jackass morwong (Nemadactylus macropterus), blue warehou (Seriolella brama), and gemfish (Rexea solandri). This kind of climate influence poses many challenges for fisheries management into the future, raising questions about what to do when climate change undermines or overrides fisheries management actions and objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Rural populations are at risk of climate-related impacts due to ecological and geographical determinants, potentially leading to greater morbidity and health utilization. They are often highly dependent on primary care services. However, no rural- or primary care specific synthesis of these issues has ever been conducted. This review aimed to identify, characterize, and summarize existing research on the effects of climate-related events on utilization and health outcomes of primary care in rural and remote areas and identify related adaptation strategies used in primary care to climate-related events. Methods A scoping review following PRISMA-ScR guidelines was conducted, examining peer-reviewed English-language articles published up to 31 October 2022. Eligible papers were empirical studies conducted in primary care settings that involved climate-related events as exposures, and health outcomes or utilization as study outcomes. Two reviewers independently screened and extracted relevant information from selected papers. Data were analysed using content analysis and presented using a narrative approach. Results We screened 693 non-duplicate papers, of those, 60 papers were analysed. Climate-related events were categorized by type, with outcomes described in terms of primary, secondary, and tertiary effects. Disruption of primary care often resulted from shortages in health resources. Primary care may be ill-prepared for climate-related events but has an important role in supporting the development of community. Conclusions Findings suggest various effects of climate-related events on primary care utilization and health outcomes in rural and remote areas. There is a need to prepare rural and remote primary care service before and after climate-related events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Assessing present and future risk of water damage using building attributes, meteorology and topography. Discussion Climate change has been an emerging research field given its tremendous effect on human beings, and I am happy to see discussions like ([1]; [2]). B Paper 1: b Assessing present and future risk of water damage using building attributes, meteorology and topography B Authors: b Claudio Heinrich-Mertsching*, Jens Christian Wahl*, Alba Ordonez*, Marita Stien HT ht , John Elvsborg HT ht , Ola Haug*, Thordis L. Thorarinsdottir* *Norwegian Computing Center, Oslo, Norway HT ht Gjensidige Forsikring ASA, Oslo, Norway B Paper 2: b The importance of context in extreme value analysis with application to extreme temperatures in the USA and Greenland B Authors: b Daniel Clarkson, Emma Eastoe, Amber Leeson, University of Lancaster, UK Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily state or reflect those of Microsoft. [Extracted from the article]

The global spread of the digital revolution and the need to manage the climate have radically altered the international trade landscape and have rendered the architecture of the World Trade Organization ill-equipped to address emerging regulatory challenges posed by cross-border flows of digital products and by carbon emissions embodied in traded goods and services. This essay reviews the set of papers published in this issue of the Oxford Review of Economic Policy that assess the regulatory challenges presented by these two 'new frontiers' of trade and evaluate alternative national and supranational trade and industrial policy responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public research funding is a critical instrument in technology and social innovation. This paper explores the emerging themes and topical trends that commonly influence interdisciplinary research within a sample of global research projects, including reviewing a recent study of 1,000 projects used in the selection of expert interview participants (n  = 15). It examines the extent to which research funding agencies and academic institutions are shifting research priorities in the energy and climate change domain. It asks: What challenges does interdisciplinary research raise? The study reveals how cross-disciplinary research funding focuses on or fails to address the themes of sustainable development goals. In addition, it emphasises policy seduction and difficulty (resistance) in understanding cross-disciplinary methods in research and how research collaborations promote (or fail to promote) global South institutions and topics. Finally, the paper recommends that research funding needs involve a broader array of stakeholders in industrial decarbonisation research, including policymakers, industries, and citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Limiting climate change to 1.5°C and achieving net-zero emissions would entail substantial carbon dioxide removal (CDR) from the atmosphere by the mid-century, but how much CDR is needed at country level over time is unclear. The purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed description of when and how much CDR is required at country level in order to achieve 1.5°C and how much CDR countries can carry out domestically. We allocate global CDR pathways among 170 countries according to 6 equity principles and assess these allocations with respect to countries' biophysical and geophysical capacity to deploy CDR. Allocating global CDR to countries based on these principles suggests that CDR will, on average, represent ∼4% of nations' total emissions in 2030, rising to ∼17% in 2040. Moreover, equitable allocations of CDR, in many cases, exceed implied land and carbon storage capacities. We estimate ∼15% of countries (25) would have insufficient land to contribute an equitable share of global CDR, and ∼40% of countries (71) would have insufficient geological storage capacity. Unless more diverse CDR technologies are developed, the mismatch between CDR liabilities and land-based CDR capacities will lead to global demand for six GtCO2 carbon credits from 2020 to 2050. This demonstrates an imperative demand for international carbon trading of CDR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK is, like its peers in the EU, just under 80% dependent on fossil fuels. This figure has come down just over 10% since the 1970s, a period when the UK had major energy-intensive industries, most of which are now gone. The government is committed to achieving net zero for the electricity sector by 2035 on the pathway to net zero for the whole economy by 2050.. The Labour opposition has set 2030 as its electricity target. Setting out the scale of this challenge, this paper demonstrates how implausible the 2035 target is. On present policies there is little prospect that the 2035 target will be met (and virtually none for the Labour 2030 target). This paper reviews the multiple current policies and the capacity objectives and explores what would have to happen to meet the target. It sets out some of the consequences of failure to deliver, and the expectation of that failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earth has a prolonged history characterized by substantial cycling of matter and energy between multiple spheres. The production of organic carbon can be traced back to as early as ∼4.0 Ga, but the frequency and scale of organic-rich shales have varied markedly over geological time. In this paper, we discuss the organic carbon cycle and the development of black shale from the perspective of Earth System Science. We propose that black shale depositions are the results of interactions among lithospheric evolution, orbital forcing, weathering, photosynthesis and degradation. Black shales can record Earth's oxygenation process, provide petroleum and metallic mineral resources and reveal information about the driver, direction and magnitude of climate change. Future research on black shales should be expanded to encompass a more extensive and more multidimensional perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small island states such as Tuvalu face major risks due to anthropogenic climate change and rise in sea levels. Whereas these microstates face an existential crisis, there is scant interest in understanding how their leaders view the world. This paper takes a political leadership approach and explores the belief systems of Pacific Island countries (PICs). Drawing from the United Nations plenary addresses of the PICs' leaders, it uses the operational code construct to assess their general and climate change-specific beliefs. Given their small state status in world politics and imminent threats to the viability of their communities, how do the PICs view the world and specifically the global politics of climate change? The findings suggest the PICs leaders have a more hostile view concerning climate change, with few exceptions they believe the PICs have less control over climate change matters, and again, with few exceptions, the PICs have less cooperative strategies in the global politics of climate change. This paper captures a preliminary account of beliefs about climate change, presents an empirical foundation to trace these in the Pacific Island states, and suggests venues for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper qualitatively investigates one of the influential transnational municipal networks, Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (CoM)'s position in three Turkish municipal governments in bridging the climate change science and climate change policy gap. In the last two decades, the importance of science-based policymaking for climate mitigation and adaptation and transnational municipal networks empowered by municipalities that guide city policies linked to international agreements has been recognized. In this paper, we argue that CoM has acted as a boundary-object in producing climate change policies and plans in Turkish municipal governments. However, CoM has done so to a certain extent; their effectiveness was limited due to the general atmosphere on climate change policies in Turkey. We substantiate this claim through a two-layer examination: a case-specific analysis of three municipalities and semi-structured interviews with thirteen experts in climate change policy-related issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fossil fuel companies hold enormous political, economic, and knowledge production power. Recently, industry operators have pivoted from pushing climate denialism to campaigns aimed at individualizing responsibility for climate crisis. In this paper, we focus on one related outcome of such efforts – people's experiences of complicity – here in the context of unconventional oil and gas (UOG) production. We ask: How do mobilized activists experience fossil fuel scapegoating, and what does it mean for their goals as they organize against UOG production? We show that even activists fighting UOG production feel complicit in fossil fuel production, and these feelings of complicity diminish their demands for UOG accountability. We argue that these outcomes have been especially pernicious in cultural contexts like that of the United States, where neoliberal ideologies are normalized, centering personal responsibility, individualization, and identification as consumers rather than citizens. We marshal an extensive qualitative dataset and advance a theory of complicity as a way to understand: a) how social movements intersect with neoliberalized patterns of life; b) how experiences of complicity affect activism; and c) how this may contribute to fossil fuel firms' goals of undercutting organizing. We end by examining how a sub-set of activists works to dismantle this complicity narrative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper employs the recently proposed climate penalty model to estimate season-specific climate change impacts on Chinese winter wheat yields and also reveals the effects of long-run adaptions by comparing the short-run and long-run estimates identified from the model. We find that Spring freezing days are critical as we estimate small yield gains when considering a reduction in the number of freezing days (induced by global warming), as opposed to large yield losses when such effects are omitted. We also find substantial influences of adaptation effects that could reverse the sign of climate change impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impacts of climate change are unevenly distributed across territories. Less is known about the potential effects of climate policies aimed at mitigating the negative consequences of climate change while transitioning economies towards low-carbon standards. This paper presents an analytical framework for identifying and assessing the regional impacts of the green transition. We develop a Regional Green Transition Vulnerability Index, a composite measure of the regional vulnerability of European regions to the socio-economic reconfigurations prompted by the green transition. The index brings to light strong regional variations in vulnerability, with less developed, peri-urban and rural regions in Southern and Eastern Europe more exposed to the foreseeable changes brought about by the green transition. We also draw attention to the potential rise of pockets of growing 'green' discontent, especially if the green transition contributes, as is likely to be the case, to leaving already left-behind regions further behind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a widely used mathematical programming approach for assessing the efficiency of decision-making units (DMUs) in various sectors. Inverse DEA is a post-DEA sensitivity analysis approach developed initially for solving resource allocation. The main objective of inverse DEA is to determine the optimal quantity of inputs and/or outputs for each DMU under input and/or output perturbation (s), which would allow them to reach a given efficiency target. Since the early 2000s, inverse DEA has been extended theoretically and applied successfully in different areas including banking, energy, education, sustainability and supply chain management. In recent years, research has demonstrated the potential of inverse DEA for solving novel inverse problems, such as estimating merger gains, minimizing production pollution, optimizing business partnerships and more. This paper provides a comprehensive survey of the latest theoretical and practical advancements in inverse DEA while also highlighting potential areas for future research and development in this field. One such area is exploring the use of heuristic algorithms and optimization techniques in conjunction with inverse DEA models to address issues of infeasibility and nonlinearity. Moreover, applying inverse DEA to new sectors such as healthcare, agriculture and environmental and climate change issues holds great promise for future research. Overall, this paper sets the stage for further advancements in this promising approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic effects of global warming have gained considerable attention in the recent economic literature. While the relationship between rainfall and agriculture is well known, precipitations alone do not capture the soil water availability, which depends on the evaporation of the water (potential evapotranspiration [PET]). This paper presents evidence of the relationship between aridification and agricultural productivity. We show that areas that have experienced increased precipitations have become arider due to increased PET. We then project future aridification patterns. We find that the global arid area will increase by 3.9 per cent by 2040. This implies a global loss of about 20 million tons of maize, 19 million tons of rice, 8 million tons of soybeans and 21 million tons of wheat until 2040 if no action to combat desertification is taken. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reconsiders Veblen's Absentee Ownership on the centennial of its publication in 1923. It offers a reading of the work in relation to climate change in the new geologic age of the Anthropocene. The central finding is that Veblen's analysis of the power implications of finance capital and law stand up well as guides to understanding the inertia of US energy policy. However, the book's concept of 'the industrial system' is found seriously wanting. Conceiving of 'the industrial system' as a balanced whole of inter-connected mechanical processes, Veblen's model fails to grasp how that industrial logic might be open to the environment and thus a major source of de-stabilising climate warming gases. More, this outcome is a result of industrial processes, regardless of which social group exercises control of the system: e.g. financiers, communists, or technicians. That is, while Veblen well understands the impact of technology on society, he tends not to envision how industrial technology itself can change Nature in unanticipated and destructive ways. The weaknesses of Veblen's concept are traced back to his understanding of Nature as a structure of brute forces, scientific knowledge of which permits its effective technological control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural adaptation to climate change is indispensable. However, the degree of adaptation depends on adaptive capacity levels and it only takes place if the appropriate resources are present. Cross-sectional climate response models ignore this requirement. This paper adapts the Ricardian method to control for a generic territorial adaptive capacity index. The results for a sample of over 60.000 European farms show a significant non-linear positive relationship between adaptive capacity and climate responsiveness and that some regions in Europe can increase their climate responsiveness significantly. This confirms that improvement of adaptive capacity is an important policy tool to enhance adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the extreme dependence of agriculture on weather conditions, this paper analyses the effect of climatic variations on this economic sector, by considering both a huge data set and a flexible spatiotemporal model specification. In particular, we study the response of N‐fertilizer application to abnormal weather conditions, while accounting for other relevant control variables. The data set consists of gridded data spanning over 21 years (1993–2013), while the methodological strategy makes use of a spatial dynamic panel data (SDPD) model that accounts for both space and time fixed effects, besides dealing with both space and time dependences. Time‐invariant short‐ and long‐term effects, as well as time‐varying marginal effects are also properly defined, revealing interesting results on the impact of both GDP and weather conditions on fertilizer utilizations. The analysis considers four macroregions—Europe, South America, Southeast Asia and Africa—to allow for comparisons among different socio‐economic societies. In addition to finding both spatial (in the form of knowledge spillover effects) and temporal dependences as well as a good support for the existence of an environmental Kuznets curve for fertilizer application, the paper shows peculiar responses of N‐fertilization to deviations from normal weather conditions of moisture for each selected region, calling for ad hoc policy interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies whether house prices reflect belief differences about climate change. We show that in an equilibrium model of housing choice in which agents derive utility from ownership in a neighborhood of similar agents, prices exhibit different elasticities to climate risk. We use comprehensive transaction data to relate prices to inundation projections of individual homes and measures of beliefs about climate change. We find that houses projected to be underwater in believer neighborhoods sell at a discount compared to houses in denier neighborhoods. Our results suggest that house prices reflect heterogeneity in beliefs about long-run climate change risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates whether farmers adapt their pesticide use to cope with weather shocks. Using a unique, exhaustive dataset detailing all active substance purchases per zip code in France between 2014 and 2019, we econometrically explain abnormal pesticide purchase deviations by weather shocks. We identify heterogeneous weather impacts across pesticide types, seasons and locations. Because our analyses suggest limited year-to-year pesticide storage and farmers' adaptation along other margins, we interpret our estimates as true weather impacts on pesticide use. Our preferred estimates suggest that, ceteris paribus , farmers increase pesticide use by seven to fifteen per cent in 2050 under a RCP4.5 climate change scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Above- and belowground linkages are responsible for some of the most important ecosystem processes in unmanaged terrestrial systems including net primary production, decomposition, and carbon sequestration. Global change biology is currently altering above- and belowground interactions, reducing ecosystem services provided by natural systems. Less is known regarding how above- and belowground linkages impact climate resilience, especially in intentionally managed cropping systems. Waterlogged or flooded conditions will continue to increase across the Midwestern USA due to climate change. The objective of this paper is to explore what is currently known regarding above- and belowground linkages and how they impact biological, biochemical, and physiological processes in systems experiencing waterlogged conditions. We also identify key above- and belowground processes that are critical for climate resilience in Midwestern cropping systems by exploring various interactions that occur within unmanaged landscapes. Above- and belowground interactions that support plant growth and development, foster multi-trophic-level interactions, and stimulate balanced nutrient cycling are critical for crops experiencing waterlogged conditions. Moreover, incorporating ecological principles such as increasing plant diversity by incorporating crop rotations and adaptive management via delayed planting dates and adjustments in nutrient management will be critical for fostering climate resilience in row-crop agriculture moving forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a scientific consensus that human activities, in the form of emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, cause global warming. These emissions mostly occur in the marketplace, that is, they are undertaken by private individuals and firms. Governments seeking to curb emissions thus need to design policies that influence market behavior in the direction of their goals. Economists refer to Pigou taxation as "the" solution here, since the case of global warming can be seen as a pure (negative) externality. We agree. However, given the reluctance of policymakers to agree with us, there is an urgent need to consider, and compare, suboptimal policies. In this paper, we look at one such instance: setting a global tax on carbon at the wrong level. How costly are different errors? Since there is much uncertainty about how much climate change there will be, and how damaging it is when it occurs, ex-post errors will most likely be made. We compare different kinds of errors qualitatively and quantitatively and find that policy errors based on over-pessimistic views on climate change are much less costly than those made based on over-optimism. This finding is an inherent feature of standard integrated assessment models, even though these models do not feature tipping points or strong linearities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agricultural sector is undergoing a period of rapid transformation, driven by the powerful and interconnected impacts of climate change, demographic transitions and uneven economic growth around the world. For governments and the international community to navigate this period of upheaval to protect vulnerable populations and ensure positive societal change will require a similar degree of transformation within agricultural data systems. While technological innovation has resulted in substantive improvements in the availability, timeliness and overall quality of agricultural data, many technical and institutional challenges remain. This paper reviews recent developments in the agricultural data landscape, highlights existing constraints to further progress and argues for agricultural economists to take responsibility for building agricultural data systems equipped to respond to the diverse needs of a changing world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through its potential to contribute to mass suffering, economic disruption, and social unrest, climate change poses a security threat to the constitutional identities of states (as democratic, autocratic, or hybrid regimes). This paper proposes a conceptual framework of mediated causality for climatic impacts on constitutional identity and engages in novel theory-building for one mediating vector of change: the post-fossil energy transition. Theories of the "oil curse" and of "carbon democracy" are compared and critiqued for their contributions to understanding the potential impacts of decarbonized energy systems on democracy. Two counterintuitive conclusions emerge. First, transitioning away from petroleum may not result in increased democratization, as the oil curse implies. Second, post-fossil energy systems are unlikely to become structurally decentralized, as advocates of "energy democracy" suppose, and may even need to remain centralized in order for popular mobilization around energy to help maintain or reinvigorate democratic rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following Greta Thunberg's school strike in Stockholm in August 2018 and the October 2018 'declaration of rebellion' by activists in the UK, 2019 saw several climate protest movements rise to public attention, including Fridays for Future (FFF), Extinction Rebellion (XR), and the US Sunrise Movement. What is striking about them is that they rather bluntly refer to science in their campaigns. In this paper, we present an in-depth and comparative study of how the new climate protest movements relate to scientific evidence. Employing a narrative analysis of different types of data (websites, press releases, and media coverage), we study the movements' understandings of 'the science' as well as of science's role in policy processes. We find that the movements in their initial phase predominantly rely on science for their legitimation and adopt a scientific worldview with very little 'green ambivalence'. Notably, FFF and XR hold a deficit model of existing climate communication and enact roles as science communicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper challenges the conventional understanding among many legal ethicists that environmental harm can be a necessary, if regrettable, collateral effect of lawyerly work. It argues that lawyers sometimes do things that cost society too much and that legal ethics (being the rules of ethical conduct set out by regulators of lawyers and broader theories of 'good' lawyering) has the potential to act as a mediator on lawyers' environmental harm-causing action. The paper begins by examining lawyers' formal rules of professional conduct in England & Wales, showing how those rules require lawyers to provide active counselling to clients but do not fully address clients' legally permissible choices that may result in environmental harm. The paper then turns to theories of legal ethics that go beyond these baseline rules. Here, I argue that the dominant 'Standard Conception' of lawyers as neutral technicians is not only implausible in the context of environmental law but also fundamentally incomplete. The paper also considers the ethical implications of a lawyer's initial decision to represent a client. The commonly held belief that 'Everyone deserves legal advice' often masks a simple ethical choice, where lawyers prioritise commercial concerns over environmental considerations, unburdened by more complex ethical constraints. However, this rationalisation rests on unsound premises and frequently clashes with lawyers' personal moral boundaries; a problem I label 'Meatloaf Lawyering'. Ultimately, I argue that lawyers have significant ethical agency and that their professional obligations do not impede (and sometimes require) an active, ethically responsible stance towards environmental harms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temperatures are increasing due to global changes, putting biodiversity at risk. Organisms are faced with a limited set of options to cope with this situation: adapt, disperse or die. We here focus on the first possibility, more specifically, on evolutionary adaptations to temperature. Ectotherms are usually characterized by a hump‐shaped relationship between fitness and temperature, a non‐linear reaction norm that is referred to as thermal performance curve (TPC). To understand and predict impacts of global change, we need to know whether and how such TPCs evolve. Therefore, we performed a systematic literature search and a statistical meta‐analysis focusing on experimental evolution and artificial selection studies. This focus allows us to directly quantify relative fitness responses to temperature selection by calculating fitness differences between TPCs from ancestral and derived populations after thermal selection. Out of 7561 publications screened, we found 47 studies corresponding to our search criteria representing taxa across the tree of life, from bacteria, to plants and vertebrates. We show that, independently of species identity, the studies we found report a positive response to temperature selection. Considering entire TPC shapes, adaptation to higher temperatures traded off with fitness at lower temperatures, leading to niche shifts. Effects were generally stronger in unicellular organisms. By contrast, we do not find statistical support for the often discussed "Hotter is better" hypothesis. While our meta‐analysis provides evidence for adaptive potential of TPCs across organisms, it also highlights that more experimental work is needed, especially for under‐represented taxa, such as plants and non‐model systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A respone Jun Yang to a letter to the editor about his article "Assessing the Impact of Climate Change on Urban Tree Species: A Case Study in Philadelphia" in the October/November 2009 issue is presented.

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article "Assessing the Impact of Climate Change on Urban Tree Species: A Case Study in Philadelphia," by Jun Yang in the October/November 2009 issue.