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The article discusses the study which compares the measurements of carbon dioxide CO2 δ(O2/N2) and δ13CO2 to assess the measurement compatibility of three European laboratories. It says that the standard deviation of the average differences between the laboratories are the same. It mentions that the required compatibility goals are not met by the laboratories.

The endeavor to implement the 2030 Agenda of national and international stakeholders became increasingly impetuous, considering the wide range of uncertainties and risks. The new humans-centered development model built on the prominence of environmental and social values seeks to reinforce communities' resilience and mitigate environmental risks, leaving no one behind. For this to happen, solid and effective institutions, the right environmental policies, and a safe statutory labor framework are the sine qua non. In this study, we evaluated the effects of informality, institutional quality, and renewable energy consumption on ecological footprint of two groups of emerging countries from Europe and Asia from 2002 to 2018. Our results by PMG-ARDL approach highlight dissimilarities between the two groups, showing greater heterogeneity. In this sense, informality is found to have positive and significant effects on ecological footprint in the long run in emerging European countries. In contrast, the effect is negative for emerging Asian countries. In the short run, the effects are less critical in the studied countries between the two groups. Institutional quality variables impacted environmental quality differently. In this sense, it is detrimental for policymakers to consider concerted measures to decrease institutional vulnerabilities and reduce the level of the informal economy. The outcome of this study concurs with a complete awareness of the importance of informality and institutional quality to mitigate social and environmental risks conjunctively., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Resolving the spatial and temporal dynamics of gross primary productivity (GPP) of terrestrial ecosystems across different scales remains a challenge. Remote sensing is regarded as the solution to upscale point observations conducted at the ecosystem level, using the eddy covariance (EC) technique, to the landscape and global levels. In addition to traditional vegetation indices, the photochemical reflectance index (PRI) and the emission of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF), now measurable from space, provide a new range of opportunities to monitor the global carbon cycle using remote sensing. However, the scale mismatch between EC observations and the much coarser satellite-derived data complicates the integration of the two sources of data. The solution is to establish a network of in situ spectral measurements that can act as bridge between EC measurements and remote sensing data. In situ spectral measurements have been already conducted for many years at EC sites, but using variable instrumentation, setups, and measurement standards. In Europe in particular, in situ spectral measurements remain highly heterogeneous. The goal of EUROSPEC Cost Action ES0930 was to promote the development of common measuring protocols and new instruments towards establishing best practices and standardization of in situ spectral measurements. In this review we describe the background and main tradeoffs of in situ spectral measurements, review the main results of EUROSPEC Cost Action, and discuss the future challenges and opportunities of in situ spectral measurements for improved estimation of local and global carbon cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing human activities amidst competition for resources across the globe has made environmental challenges an ongoing classic problem, thus prompting policymakers to continually seek effective solution while ensuring sustainable development. With the wide coverage of the relevance of the double dividend hypothesis in explaining the co-benefit of environmental tax, there is a dearth of evidence in the literature to suggest that environmental tax offers green dividends for both the environment and agricultural practice in the European countries. As such, this study employed the more recent Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR) alongside other approaches for Europe's largest agrarian economies (France, Germany, Italy, and Spain) over the annual period 1995-2020. The investigation affirms the validity of the co-benefit of environmental tax as far as environmental sustainability and value-added to agriculture are concerned in this panel of 'Big Four' economies, thus motivating the countries to relentlessly pursue the carbon-neutral 2050 target. Moreover, the study aligns with the expectation that renewable energy utilization and population density are desirable factors for achieving a carbon-neutral target. Lastly, the findings suggest that environmental quality is attainable in the panel, especially as increasing income surpasses a certain threshold, thus validating the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis. Above all, the findings provide timely policy insight that accommodates both the environmental sustainability and food security framework of the European Union. The policy options relevant in light of the study's conclusions include that the decision makers in the selected agrarian economies should ramp up energy transition opportunities through a resilient environmental tax system that incentives availability of credit and investment financing in the agriculture sector., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

This paper analyses decarbonisation scenarios for the European passenger car fleet in 2050. The scenarios have been developed using the backcasting approach and aim to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of passenger cars to a level defined in the Transport White paper that is 60% below 1990 levels. Considering the emission levels of 2010, a yearly reduction of 1.7% is required in order to achieve the target. Car emissions were decomposed into the main emission factors of mobility, efficiency and carbon intensity. How these factors change over time depends on various external factors: the pace of technological improvements, the future role of cars in society’s mobility system and the priority given to decarbonising energy demand. The analysis showed that if car mobility and ownership continue to increase as expected in a ‘business as usual’ case, a share of 97% plug-in hybrid or battery electric vehicles might be required by 2050, together with a substantial decrease in greenhouse gas emission from electricity production. A transition to more advanced car technology such as automated driving, advanced batteries or lightweight materials in vehicle production would raise vehicle efficiency. Should car mobility continue at a high level, an early technology transition will be required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the economic growth and energy consumption patterns, most countries are striving to solve the problems of CO 2  emissions reduction to achieve sustainable development. This paper employs an improved DEA model to measure energy and environmental efficiency for some selected countries in central and western Europe. In addition, the DEA window evaluation technique is applied to measure cross-sectional efficiency using two inputs (energy consumption, labor force), a desirable output (gross domestic product), and an undesirable output (CO 2 emission) for the period from 2010 to 2014. The study finds that the UK ranks the highest position in term of energy and environmental efficiency. This shows that the UK has more effective policies regarding energy efficiency, consumption, production, import and energy intensity measures for sustainable economic growth as well as environmental protection. Ireland is the second-best country after the United Kingdom. The efficiency scores of the two countries are 0.99 and 0.89 respectively. On the empirical outcomes, this study suggests effective reforms in energy sector for countries with less energy efficiency that are still facing the problem of environmental degradation., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The aim of this paper is to showcase different decarbonization pathways for Europe with varying Carbon dioxide (CO2) constraints until 2050. The Global Energy System Model (GENeSYS-MOD) framework, a linear mathematical optimization model, is used to compute low-carbon scenarios for 17 European countries or regions. The sectors power, lowand high-temperature heating, and passenger and freight transportation are included, with the model endogenously constructing capacities in each period. Emission constraints differ between different scenarios and are either optimized endogenously by the model, or distributed on a per-capita basis, GDP-dependent, or based on current emissions. The results show a rapid phase-in of renewable energies, if a carbon budget in line with established international climate targets is chosen. It can be shown that the achievement of the 2° target can be met with low additional costs compared to the business as usual case, while reducing total emissions by more than 30%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atmospheric inversions are used to derive constraints on the net sources and sinks of CO 2 and other stable atmospheric tracers from their observed concentrations. The resolution and accuracy that the fluxes can be estimated with depends, among other factors, on the quality and density of the observational coverage, on the precision and accuracy of the transport model used by the inversion to relate fluxes to observations, and on the adaptation of the statistical approach to the problem studied. In recent years, there has been an increasing demand from stakeholders for inversions at higher spatial resolution (country scale), in particular in the framework of the Paris agreement. This step up in resolution is in theory enabled by the growing availability of observations from surface in situ networks (such as ICOS in Europe) and from remote sensing products (OCO-2, GOSAT-2). The increase in the resolution of inversions is also a necessary step to provide efficient feedback to the bottom-up modeling community (vegetation models, fossil fuel emission inventories, etc.). However, it calls for new developments in the inverse models: diversification of the inversion approaches, shift from global to regional inversions, and improvement in the computational efficiency. In this context, we developed LUMIA, the Lund University Modular Inversion Algorithm. LUMIA is a Python library for inverse modeling built around the central idea of modularity: it aims to be a platform that enables users to construct and experiment with new inverse modeling setups while remaining easy to use and maintain. It is in particular designed to be transport-model-agnostic, which should facilitate isolating the transport model errors from those introduced by the inversion setup itself. We have constructed a first regional inversion setup using the LUMIA framework to conduct regional CO 2 inversions in Europe using in situ data from surface and tall-tower observation sites. The inversions rely on a new offline coupling between the regional high-resolution FLEXPART Lagrangian particle dispersion model and the global coarse-resolution TM5 transport model. This test setup is intended both as a demonstration and as a reference for comparison with future LUMIA developments. The aims of this paper are to present the LUMIA framework (motivations for building it, development principles and future prospects) and to describe and test this first implementation of regional CO 2 inversions in LUMIA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent times, there has been increase in climate change protest across the globe. However, whether decrease in emissions is connected with climate change protest or not is yet to be documented in the literature. Consequently, the aim of this study is to fill this gap by examining ex-post detection of how climate change protests and its interconnectedness with CO2 emissions. Using the Bai and Perron (1998) structural break test, we estimate the number of breaks as well as the date of such structural breaks in CO2 emissions series for 41 countries. Our aim is to match the date of the climate change protests to those of the structural breaks. We observe that climate change protests are fairly consistent with the dates of breaks in Europe and Asia, but not in BRICS economies or US, Canada and other countries. Therefore, this method allows us to solve a gap in the energy industry related to the modelling and correct allocation of positive shocks in CO2 emissions to climate change protests., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Due to lower-cost energy supplies elsewhere, Europe needs resource efficient technologies to safeguard the competitiveness of its energy-intensive industries. The technical feasibility of the CCU value chain components (carbon capture, transportation and utilization) has been widely studied in literature. However infrastructural, regulatory and business strategic issues have received less attention. A review of the relevant policies (e.g. European Emissions Trading Scheme, Renewable Fuels and Waste Directives) has been performed. Stakeholder engagement and the stakeholder influence mapping was used to examine potential climate change, circular economy, renewable energy and regional industrial development policies that can support CO 2 utilization value chains. The main contribution of the paper is to outline potential benefits of policies to foster the production and uptake of CO 2 -derived products such as methanol, polyurethane and mineral construction aggregates. Another outcome is to illustrate the role of key policy-making stakeholders in assessing the suitability of current statutes and the impact of potential changes. An important finding was that the development of connectivity infrastructure is a key missing enabler and more attention to policy on infrastructure is required. Finally, the work examines the justification for a CO 2 Utilization Directive, comparable to the Carbon Capture and Storage Directive, but considering the current complexity of the European Union (EU) policy landscape., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Atmospheric inversions have been used for the past two decades to derive large-scale constraints on the sources and sinks of CO2 into the atmosphere. The development of dense in situ surface observation networks, such as ICOS in Europe, enables in theory inversions at a resolution close to the country scale in Europe. This has led to the development of many regional inversion systems capable of assimilating these high-resolution data, in Europe and elsewhere. The EUROCOM (European atmospheric transport inversion comparison) project is a collaboration between seven European research institutes, which aims at producing a collective assessment of the net carbon flux between the terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere in Europe for the period 2006–2015. It aims in particular at investigating the capacity of the inversions to deliver consistent flux estimates from the country scale up to the continental scale. The project participants were provided with a common database of in situ-observed CO2 concentrations (including the observation sites that are now part of the ICOS network) and were tasked with providing their best estimate of the net terrestrial carbon flux for that period, and for a large domain covering the entire European Union. The inversion systems differ by the transport model, the inversion approach, and the choice of observation and prior constraints, enabling us to widely explore the space of uncertainties. This paper describes the intercomparison protocol and the participating systems, and it presents the first results from a reference set of inversions, at the continental scale and in four large regions. At the continental scale, the regional inversions support the assumption that European ecosystems are a relatively small sink (-0.21±0.2 Pg C yr -1). We find that the convergence of the regional inversions at this scale is not better than that obtained in state-of-the-art global inversions. However, more robust results are obtained for sub-regions within Europe, and in these areas with dense observational coverage, the objective of delivering robust country-scale flux estimates appears achievable in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buildings occupy an important role in our modern society. However, the existing buildings have a very low thermal protection, leading to high levels of energy consumption making the buildings sector among the most significant CO2 source in Europe. Even if new buildings have high performance levels, the majority of the building stock is represented by older buildings which require renovation work. The European Union has imposed important reduction of specific energy consumption in all sectors, but energy conservation in buildings remains a key element in obtaining the sustainable development as evidence of human solidarity beyond the limits of space and time. In this paper the importance of the energy reductions in the building sector is outlined and both the energy policy and building stock statistics in EU and Romania are presented. Moreover, some measures and initiatives at European level are discussed, focusing on some important themes: demography, housing stock age and energy requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper delves into an econometric analysis to uncover the differences between Nordic European Countries - NEC (Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden) and South-East European Countries - SEEC (Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary). The focus is on exploring the interplay among electricity generation from Renewable Energy Sources (RES), CO 2 emissions, urban population and GDP per capita in these two European regions. The study employs cross-sectional dependence, first and second-generation panel unit root tests, Pedroni panel and Westerlund panel cointegration tests, ARDL, Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality test to establish the relation among variables. The findings reveal that in both regions, CO 2 emissions are significantly influenced by GDP per capita, urbanization and RES generation. Furthermore, urbanization plays an important role. When examining causality in SEEC, three bidirectional relationships are observed: urbanization and CO 2 , urbanization and GDP, urbanization and generation from RES, and two unidirectional causalities: CO 2 and GDP, generation from RES and CO 2. In contrast, for the NEC, there are two bidirectional causalities: urbanization and CO 2 , urbanization and generation from RES, and two unidirectional causalities: GDP and CO 2 , generation from RES and CO 2. These results highlight the nuanced and varied nature of environmental and economic dynamics across various European regions. • Relationship between CO 2 emissions, GDP per capita and electricity production from RES. • Investigating two groups of EU countries located in the North and SE Europe. • Estimations with Fully Modified and Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares. • Causality and cointegration between variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Investigation of GHG pollutants persistence in Europe and major economic areas. • Mean reversion properties and the integration factor is examined for CO2, CH4, and NO2 (2000-2021) • Empirical evidence of mean reversion in CO2 emissions across all countries. • CH4 and NO2 show reduced persistence and not all countries exhibit mean reversion properties. • These empirical findings highlight policy progress, but underscore the need for further efforts. This paper investigates the persistence of GHG in Europe, evaluating the effectiveness of government policies, including the Kyoto Protocol and the EU Council commitment. Mean reversion properties, and the structure of the integration factor were examined to determine the degree of persistence across markets and assess policy effectiveness. The analysis focuses on CO 2 , CH 4 , and NO 2 pollutants, with monthly data starting in January 2000 and ending in December 2021 from major European countries, and the US, Japan, Brazil, China, and India for comparison purposes. Empirical results show clear evidence of mean reversion in CO 2 emissions observed across all countries, indicating certain degrees of stabilization. Similar patterns are seen for CH 4 , and NO 2 , observing reduced persistence of these pollutants; however not all countries exhibit mean reversion properties. Thus, these findings highlight policy progress in stabilizing GHG emissions, particularly for CO 2 , but underscore the need for further efforts to achieve a substantial emissions reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyze the main determinants of the economic acceptability of four Green Technologies (GTs): alternative fuel vehicles, energy savings in residential buildings, smart meters and renewable electricity, using a meta-analysis on a sample of 35 selected papers, which provided 245 primary data. This approach allows detecting relationships across heterogeneous studies, avoiding the subjectivity of qualitative surveys. We implement a new two-step procedure. First, we compute a measure of the implicit price for a kilogram of CO2 avoided (PCO2), homogenizing the usable information for the GTs considered. Second, we conduct a meta-regression using the computed PCO2 values to estimate the socio-economic determinants' impact. In general, our results show a wide degree of acceptability for GTs which is stronger among European citizens. In particular, it emerges that, on average, the estimated PCO2 is positive for the GTs considered, and additional positive effects exist when respondents are confronted with an explicit reference to quantitative targets in terms of CO2 abatement, a clear proposal for payment timing, and a specific renewable electricity mix. These results indicate that information and transparency are crucial to spur GTs deployment. Therefore, to support GTs’ market penetration, public and private institutional stakeholders, have to provide “ad hoc” information to the end users, setting a clear and suitable system of prices to increase the economic value end users place on GTs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We use a spatial error model to test the EKC hypothesis on European cities. • The sample is a balanced panel of 922 European cities from 2000 to 2020. • We test CO 2 and SO 2 emissions, PM 2.5 and O 3 concentration and artificial land use. • Depending on the environmental indicator, the EKC takes on different shapes. • Participation in Transnational City Networks can affect EKC curvature. This paper empirically explores the extent to which European cities are on track to sustainable development by examining the environmental performance of a large sample of cities observed during the last two decades. The paper builds on the Environmental Kuznets Curve framework and leverages satellite data to build a set of environmental indicators as varied and as granular as possible. Evidence suggests that European cities are, on average, on track to sustainable development, meaning that the contribution of their economic growth to environmental degradation is already negative or close to becoming so. The paper also examines Transnational City Networks as accelerators of environmental transition. The results suggest that cities participating in such networks anticipate the transition with respect to their peers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The power-to-methane technology is promising for long-term, high-capacity energy storage. Currently, there are two different industrial-scale methanation methods: the chemical one (based on the Sabatier reaction) and the biological one (using microorganisms for the conversion). The second method can be used not only to methanize the mixture of pure hydrogen and carbon dioxide but also to methanize the hydrogen and carbon dioxide content of low-quality gases, such as biogas or deponia gas, enriching them to natural gas quality; therefore, the applicability of biomethanation is very wide. In this paper, we present an overview of the existing and planned industrial-scale biomethanation facilities in Europe, as well as review the facilities closed in recent years after successful operation in the light of the scientific and socioeconomic context. To outline key directions for further developments, this paper interconnects biomethanation projects with the competitiveness of the energy sector in Europe for the first time in the literature. The results show that future projects should have an integrative view of electrolysis and biomethanation, as well as hydrogen storage and utilization with carbon capture and utilization (HSU&CCU) to increase sectoral competitiveness by enhanced decarbonization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we explore the skill of hyperspectral reflectance measurements and vegetation indices (VIs) derived from these in estimating carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes of grasslands. Hyperspectral reflectance data, CO2 fluxes and biophysical parameters were measured at three grassland sites located in European mountain regions using standardized protocols. The relationships between CO2 fluxes, ecophysiological variables, traditional VIs and VIs derived using all two-band combinations of wavelengths available from the whole hyperspectral data space were analysed.We found that VIs derived from hyperspectral data generally explained a large fraction of the variability in the investigated dependent variables but differed in their ability to estimate midday and daily average CO2 fluxes and various derived ecophysiological parameters. Relationships between VIs and CO2 fluxes and ecophysiological parameters were site-specific, likely due to differences in soils, vegetation parameters and environmental conditions. Chlorophyll and water-content-related VIs explained the largest fraction of variability in most of the dependent variables. Band selection based on a combination of a genetic algorithm with random forests (GA-rF) confirmed that it is difficult to select a universal band region suitable across the investigated ecosystems. Our findings have major implications for upscaling terrestrial CO2 fluxes to larger regions and for remote- and proximal-sensing sampling and analysis strategies and call for more cross-site synthesis studies linking ground-based spectral reflectance with ecosystem-scale CO2 fluxes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we develop a model to analyze the economics of carbon capture, transport, and storage (CCTS) in the wake of expected rising CO prices. We present a scalable mixed integer, multiperiod, welfare-optimizing network model for Europe, called CCTS-Mod. The model incorporates endogenous decisions on carbon capture, pipeline and storage investments, as well as capture, flow and injection quantities based on given costs, CO prices, storage capacities, and point source emissions. Given full information about future costs of CCTS-technology, and CO prices, the model determines a cost minimizing strategy on whether to purchase CO certificates, or to abate the CO through investments into a CCTS-chain on a site by site basis. We apply the model to analyze different scenarios for the deployment of CCTS in Europe, e.g., under high and low CO prices, respectively. We find that beyond CO prices of €50 per t, CCTS can contribute to the decarbonization of Europe's industry sectors, as long as one assumes sufficient storage capacities (onshore and/or offshore). We find that CCTS is only viable for the power sector if the CO certificate price exceeds €75 per t. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an account of urban greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from 40 countries in Europe and examines covariates of emissions levels. We use a 'top-down' analysis of emissions as spatially reported in the Emission Dataset for Global Atmospheric Research supplemented by Carbon Monitoring for Action from 1153 European cities larger than 50 000 population in 2000 (comprising >81 % of the total European urban population). Urban areas are defined spatially and demographically by the Global Rural Urban Mapping Project. We compare these results with 'bottom-up' carbon accounting method results for cities in the region. Our results suggest that direct (Scopes 1 and 2) GHG emissions from urban areas range between 44 and 54 % of total anthropogenic emissions for the region. While individual urban GHG footprints vary from bottom-up studies, both the mean differences and the regional energy-related GHG emission share support previous findings. Correlation analysis indicates that the urban GHG emissions in Europe are mainly influenced by population size, density, and income and not by biophysical conditions. We argue that these data and methods of analysis are best used at the regional or higher scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with predicting carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide emissions generated by power production sector in the Baltic States in period up to year 2020. The economies of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are rapidly growing therefore forecast of emissions related with this occurrence becomes very important. The Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP), one of the largest in the world, is situated in the region. Two power production scenarios are modelled to investigate changes in power sector's emissions expected as the consequences of the coming closure of Ignalina NPP. Power market was assumed to be common for all three Baltic countries and was modelled by applying the Balmorel model. The planned closure of Ignalina NPP will bring restructuring of Lithuania power production sector and will change also power transmission between countries. Predictive identified the potential of investments for new modern power generation technologies. At the same time, modelling results show in both scenarios that CO(2) and SO(2) emissions from power production in the Baltic region will increase. The increment of emissions is discussed in the context of meeting requirements of UNFCCC Kyoto protocol and EC Directives. Despite of CO(2) emissions increase the Kyoto protocol's requirements may be expected. At the same time, SO(2) formation in Lithuania power sector may exceed the limits of the EU Council Directive 2001/80/EB therefore the additional measures to control SO(2) emissions have to be investigated.

In this paper we demonstrate the potential of combining electric hybridization with a dual-fuel natural gas-Diesel engine. We show that carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced to 43 gram per kilometer with a subcompact car on the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC). The vehicle is operated in charge-sustaining mode, which means that all energy is provided by the fuel. The result is obtained by hardware-in-the-loop experiments where the engine is operated on a test bench while the rest of the powertrain as well as the vehicle are simulated. By static engine measurements we demonstrate that the natural gas-Diesel engine reaches efficiencies of up to 39.5%. The engine is operated lean at low loads with low engine out nitrogen oxide emissions such that no nitrogen oxide aftertreatment is necessary. At medium to high loads the engine is operated stoichiometrically, which enables the use of a cost-efficient three-way catalytic converter. By vehicle emulation of a non-hybrid vehicle on the Worldwide harmonized Light vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP), we demonstrate that transient operation of the natural gas-Diesel engine is also possible, thus enabling a non-hybridized powertrain as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Bog Ecosystem Research Initiative (BERI) project was initiated to investigate, at five climatically different sites across Europe, the effects of elevated CO2 and N deposition on the net exchange of CO2 and CH4 between bogs and the atmosphere, and to study the effects of elevated CO2 and N deposition on the plant biodiversity of bog communities. A major challenge to investigate the effects of elevated CO2 on vegetation and ecosystems is to apply elevated CO2 concentrations to growing vegetation without changing the physical conditions like climate and radiation. Most available CO2 enrichment methods disturb the natural conditions to some degree, for instance closed chambers or open top chambers. Free Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) systems have proven to be suitable to expose plants to elevated CO2 concentrations with minimal disturbance of their natural environment. The size and spatial scale of the vegetation studied within the BERI project allowed the use of a modified version of a small FACE system called MiniFACE. This paper describes the BERI MiniFACE design as well as its temporal and spatial performance at the five BERI field locations. The temporal performance of the MiniFACE system largely met the quality criteria defined by the FACE Protocol. One minute average CO2 concentrations measured at the centre of the ring stayed within 20% of the pre-set target for more than 95% of the time. Increased wind speeds were found to improve the MiniFACE system's temporal performance. Spatial analyses showed no apparent CO2 gradients across a ring during a 4 day period and the mean differences between each sampling point and the centre of the ring did not exceed 10%. Observations made during a windy day, causing a CO2 concentration gradient, and observations made during a calm day indicated that short term gradients tend to average out over longer periods of time. On a day with unidirectional strong winds, CO2 concentrations at the upwind side of the ring centre were higher than those made at the centre and at the downwind side of the ring centre, but the bell-shaped distribution was found basically the same for the centre and the four surrounding measurement points, implying that the short term (1 sec) variability of CO2 concentrations across the MiniFACE ring is almost the same at any point in the ring. Based on gas dispersion simulations and measured CO2 concentration profiles, the possible interference between CO2-enriched and control rings was found to be negligible beyond a centre-to-centre ring distance of 6 m.

This paper reviews the currently available optical sensors, their limitations and opportunities for deployment at Eddy Covariance (EC) sites in Europe. This review is based on the results obtained from an online survey designed and disseminated by the Co-cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action ESO903-"Spectral Sampling Tools for Vegetation Biophysical Parameters and Flux Measurements in Europe" that provided a complete view on spectral sampling activities carried out within the different research teams in European countries. The results have highlighted that a wide variety of optical sensors are in use at flux sites across Europe, and responses further demonstrated that users were not always fully aware of the key issues underpinning repeatability and the reproducibility of their spectral measurements. The key findings of this survey point towards the need for greater awareness of the need for standardisation and development of a common protocol of optical sampling at the European EC sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analysed interannual and decadal changes in the atmospheric CO2 concentration gradient (ΔCO2) between Europe and the Atlantic Ocean over the period 1995–2007. Fourteen measurement stations are used, with Mace-Head being used to define background conditions. The variability of ΔCO2 reflects fossil fuel emissions and natural sinks activity over Europe, as well as atmospheric transport variability. The mean ΔCO2 increased by 1–2 ppm at Eastern European stations (∼30% growth), between 1990–1995 and 2000–2005. This built up of CO2 over the continent is predominantly a winter signal. If the observed increase of ΔCO2 is explained by changes in ecosystem fluxes, a loss of about 0.46 Pg C per year would be required during 2000–2005. Even if severe droughts have impacted Western Europe in 2003 and 2005, a sustained CO2 loss of that magnitude is unlikely to be true. We sought alternative explanations for the observed CO2 build-up into transport changes and into regional redistribution of fossil fuel CO2 emissions. Boundary layer heights becoming shallower can only explain 32% of the variance of the signal. Regional changes of emissions may explain up to 27% of the build-up. More insights are given in the Aulagnier et al. companion paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spring forest ephemerals often create homogeneous patches in the understory; however, our knowledge about their stand level characteristics is deficient. Our aims were to examine, parallel to their phenology, the stand level Net Ecosystem CO2 Exchange (NEE) and evapotranspiration (ET) fluxes as well as the dependence of NEE on leaf area (LA), air temperature (Tair) and light (PPFD) in three spring forest geophytes that are widespread in Europe. Furthermore, we compared the leaf and stand level net photosynthesis. The methods used included open chamber measurements with an infrared gas analyser in permanent plots on a weekly basis. The results showed that the stand levels of all three species proved to be carbon sinks from the beginning of the vegetation period until the end of it or until the last phase of fruit formation. The largest amount of carbon sink was observed at the peak of blooming. A positive linear correlation was measured between NEE and PPFD as well as between NEE and LA, while a negative linear regression was measured between NEE and Tair. The remarkable carbon uptake capacity indicates the non-negligible role of geophyte vegetation in the carbon flux of temperate forests. In addition, the research provided new proof about the role of stand level operation, stability and regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rising levels of greenhouse gases (GHG) in our atmosphere make it necessary to find pathways to reduce the amount of GHG, especially emissions of CO2. One approach is carbon capture and utilization by mineralization (CCUM). With this technology, it is possible to bind CO2 chemically from exhaust gas streams in magnesium or calcium silicates. Stable products of this exothermic reaction are carbonates and amorphous silica. Being amongst the biggest emitters of CO2, the cement industry has to find ways to reduce emissions. Geological mapping in Europe has been carried out to find suitable feedstock material, mainly olivines but also slags, to perform lab‑scale carbonation tests. These tests, conducted in a 1.5 L autoclave with increased pressure and temperature, have been scaled up to a 10 L and a 1000 L autoclave. The outcomes of the carbonation are unreacted feed material, carbonate, and amorphous silica, which have to be separated to produce substitutes for the cement industry as pozzolanic material (amorphous silica) or a value‑added product for other applications like paper or plastics (magnesite/calcite with bound anthropogenic CO2). Therefore, a process for the separation of ultrafine carbonation product was developed, consisting mainly of classification and flotation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Afforestation is an important mitigation strategy for climate change due to its carbon sequestration potential. Besides this favorable biogeochemical effect on global CO 2 concentrations, afforestation also affects the regional climate by changing the biogeophysical land surface characteristics. In this study, we investigate the effects of an idealized global CO 2 reduction to pre-industrial conditions by a Europe-wide afforestation experiment on the regional longwave radiation balance, starting in the year 1986 on a continent entirely covered with grassland. Results show that the impact of biogeophysical processes on the surface temperatures is much stronger than that of biogeochemical processes. Furthermore, biogeophysically induced changes of the surface temperatures, atmospheric temperatures, and moisture concentrations are as important for the regional longwave radiation balance as the global CO 2 reduction. While the outgoing longwave radiation is increased in winter, it is reduced in summer. In terms of annual total, a Europe-wide afforestation has a regional warming effect despite reduced CO 2 concentrations. Thus, even for an idealized reduction of the global CO 2 concentrations to pre-industrial levels, the European climate response to afforestation would still be dominated by its biogeophysical effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European countries are required to look for alternative gas suppliers to deliver energy security for Europe. Qatar has been proposed to be an alternative gas supplier; however, there are problems that limit Qatar from exporting more gas to Europe, namely: the limited LNG quantities available for export, the long-term fixed contracting strategy, and the lack of room to receive additional gas in European LNG terminals. As these problems are critical and limit Qatar from exporting more gas to Europe, this research aims to propose potential solutions to overcome them. The results show that to solve the issue of the limited LNG quantities available for export, Qatar can produce electricity from renewable sources and export the gas consumed for power production, and can produce renewable natural gas (RNG) from green hydrogen and captured carbon dioxide. Two BCM of natural gas can be exported if 15% of the electricity required is produced from renewables in Qatar. In addition, 0.45 BCM of RNG can be exported if Qatar uses its natural resources to produce 5000 MW of renewable power. Redirecting contracts coming to an end and increasing dependence on spot markets can resolve the issue of a long-term fixed contracting strategy. Finally, using floating import terminals may alleviate the problem of European LNG terminals running out of room to receive more gas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon dioxide (CO2) has reached a higher level of emissions in the last decades, and as it is widely known, CO2 is responsible for numerous environmental problems, such as climate change. Thus, there is a great need for the application of CO2 capture and storage, as well as of CO2 utilization technologies (CCUS). This review article focuses on summarizing the current CCUS state-of-the-art methods used in Europe. Special emphasis has been given to mineralization methods/technologies, especially in basalts and sandstones, which are considered to be suitable for CO2 mineralization. Furthermore, a questionnaire survey was also carried out in order to investigate how informed about CO2 issues European citizens are, as well as whether their background is relative to their positive or negative opinion about the establishment of CCUS technologies in their countries. In addition, social acceptance by the community requires contact with citizens and stakeholders, as well as ensuring mutual trust through open communication and the opportunity to participate as early as possible in the development of actions and projects related to CO2 capture and storage, at all appropriate levels of government internationally, as citizens need to understand the benefits from such new technologies, from the local to the international level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Stunning is an important and statutory pre-slaughter process that aims to induce a state of unconsciousness and insensibility to pain just before sticking and bleeding out. In Europe, two main stunning methods that are applied at pig slaughter are electrical (ES) and gas stunning with high-concentration carbon dioxide (CO2). Stunning is not only crucial in terms of the welfare of pigs at slaughter, but it may also have effects on meat quality. Various studies have compared these two methods with respect to meat-quality traits. In several studies, stunning with CO2 has been shown to improve meat quality in comparison with ES; however, other research indicated that ES enhanced the meat quality as opposed to CO2 or had no significant effect. The current study analysed the combined results of independent research and experiments to achieve quantitative evidence of the effects of two stunning methods, electrical and gas with a high concentration of carbon dioxide, on selected quality attributes of fresh pork. The results of the meta-analysis revealed that relative to CO2 stunning, overall, ES pigs had a lower pH1, higher drip loss (DL) and lightness (L*). However, the greater alterations in these traits were achieved with the application of the head-to-back (HB) electrical-stunning method and conventional chilling (Conv.) of the carcasses. The results of the meta-analysis provide evidence that differences between these two stunning methods in DL and L* may be diminished by the application of the head-only (HO) or head-to-body (HBO) method, followed by the fast chilling of the carcasses. Stunning is a statutory pre-slaughter process that may affect the quality of pork. The objective of this study was quantification of the effects of stunning (ES vs. CO2 stunning) on selected quality attributes of pork, using a meta-analytical approach. Data from 18 publications with 46 individual experiments were combined using a random-effect model to estimate the effect size of stunning on the initial and ultimate pH (pH1, pHu); drip loss (DL); colour (lightness—L*, redness—a*, yellowness—b*); and tenderness (expressed as Warner–Bratzler shear force, WBSF) of pork. In overall, loins from ES showed significantly lower pH1 (by 0.08 units); greater DL (by 0.68 p.p.); higher L* (by 1.29 units); and a* (by 0.80 units) as they compared to those from CO2 stunning. In subgroups, a greater-than-overall negative change in pH1, pHu, DL, L* and a* was detected with the application of the head-to-back (HB) stunning method. Additionally, alterations in DL and L* may be magnified with the application of conventional chilling (Conv.) to ES pigs. There was no effect of stunning on WBSF but, due to a low number of research in the database, the reliability of these results may be misleading. These results provide evidence that the differences between these two stunning methods in DL and L* may be diminished by the application of the head-only (HO) or head-to-body (HBO) method, followed by the fast chilling of carcasses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-hourly net ecosystem exchange (NEE) is estimated at spatial scales of 0.25 ∘ over the European continent, based on the pre-operational inverse modelling framework "CarboScope Regional" (CSR) for the years 2006 to 2019. To assess the uncertainty originating from the choice of a priori flux models and observational data, ensembles of inversions were produced using three terrestrial ecosystem flux models, two ocean flux models, and three sets of atmospheric stations. We find that the station set ensemble accounts for 61 % of the total spread of the annually aggregated fluxes over the full domain when varying all these elements, while the biosphere and ocean ensembles resulted in much smaller contributions to the spread of 28 % and 11 %, respectively. These percentages differ over the specific regions of Europe, based on the availability of atmospheric data. For example, the spread of the biosphere ensemble is prone to be larger in regions that are less constrained by CO 2 measurements. We investigate the impact of unprecedented increase in temperature and simultaneous reduction in soil water content (SWC) observed in 2018 and 2019 on the carbon cycle. We find that NEE estimates during these 2 years suggest an impact of drought occurrences represented by the reduction in net primary productivity (NPP), which in turn leads to less CO 2 uptake across Europe in 2018 and 2019, resulting in anomalies of up to 0.13 and 0.07 PgC yr -1 above the climatological mean, respectively. Annual temperature anomalies also exceeded the climatological mean by 0.46 ∘ C in 2018 and by 0.56 ∘ C in 2019, while Standardised Precipitation–Evaporation Index (SPEI) anomalies declined to -0.20 and -0.05 SPEI units below the climatological mean in both 2018 and 2019, respectively. Therefore, the biogenic fluxes showed a weaker sink of CO 2 in both 2018 and 2019 (-0.22 ± 0.05 and -0.28 ± 0.06 PgC yr -1 , respectively) in comparison with the mean -0.36 ± 0.07 PgC yr -1 calculated over the full analysed period (i.e. 14 years). These translate into a continental-wide reduction in the annual sink by 39 % and 22 %, respectively, larger than the typical year-to-year standard deviation of 19 % observed over the full period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper, a purposely designed code for the performance analysis of the Water Loop Heat Pump (WLHP) systems is presented. Hourly, daily and seasonal energy system consumptions, operating economic costs and environmental impact assessments are dealt with. For the scope of comparison, the performances of two reference HVAC system are investigated too. For the computation of the building heating and cooling requirements, a suitable dynamic performance simulation model is being developed. All the relevant algorithms are implemented in MATLAB®. A case study of an office building undergoing simulation in different European climatic areas is being presented. Here, different building thermal features are considered. In order to maximize the system performance an additional optimization procedure to the operating devices temperatures is carried out. Results show that primary energy savings and avoided CO2 emissions of the WLHP system vary in relation to the compared reference systems and can be obtained only in several European weather zones. The feasibility of the WLHP system strongly depends on electricity and natural gas national costs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We present observing system simulation experiments (OSSEs) to evaluate the impact of a proposed network of ground-based miniaturized laser heterodyne radiometer (mini-LHR) instruments that measure atmospheric column-averaged carbon dioxide (XCO2) with a 1 ppm precision. A particular strength of this passive measurement approach is its insensitivity to clouds and aerosols due to its direct sun pointing and narrow field of view (0.2 ∘). Developed at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), these portable, low-cost mini-LHR instruments were designed to operate in tandem with the sun photometers used by the AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET). This partnership allows us to leverage the existing framework of AERONET's global ground network of more than 500 sites as well as providing simultaneous measurements of aerosols that are known to be a major source of error in retrievals of XCO2 from passive nadir-viewing satellite observations. We show, using the global 3-D GEOS-Chem chemistry transport model, that a deployment of 50 mini-LHRs at strategic (but not optimized) AERONET sites significantly improves our knowledge of global and regional land-based CO2 fluxes. This improvement varies seasonally and ranges 58 %–81 % over southern lands, 47 %–76 % over tropical lands, 71 %–92 % over northern lands, and 64 %–91 % globally. We also show significant added value from combining mini-LHR instruments with the existing ground-based NOAA flask network. Collectively, these data result in improved a posteriori CO2 flux estimates on spatial scales of ∼10 km 2 , especially over North America and Europe, where the ground-based networks are densest. Our studies suggest that the mini-LHR network could also play a substantive role in reducing carbon flux uncertainty in Arctic and tropical systems by filling in geographical gaps in measurements left by ground-based networks and space-based observations. A realized network would also provide necessary data for the quinquennial global stocktakes that form part of the Paris Agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given their increasing trend in Europe, an understanding of the role that flooding events play in carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will be important for improved assessments of local and regional GHG budgets. This study presents the results of an analysis of the CO2 and N2O fluxes from a coastal grassland ecosystem affected by episodic flooding that was of either a relatively short (SFS) or long (LFS) duration. Compared to the SFS, the annual CO2 and N2O emissions were 1.4 and 1.3 times higher at the LFS, respectively. Mean CO2 emissions during the period of standing water were 144±18.18 and 111±9.51 mg CO2-Cm-2 h-1, respectively, for the LFS and SFS sites. During the growing season, when there was no standing water, the CO2 emissions were significantly larger from the LFS (244±24.88 mgCO2-Cm-2 h-1/ than the SFS (183±14.90 mgCO2-Cm-2 h-1/. Fluxes of N2O ranged from -0.37 to 0.65 mgN2O-Nm-2 h-1 at the LFS and from -0.50 to 0.55 mgN2O-Nm-2 h-1 at the SFS, with the larger emissions associated with the presence of standing water at the LFS but during the growing season at the SFS. Overall, soil temperature and moisture were identified as the main drivers of the seasonal changes in CO2 fluxes, but neither adequately explained the variations in N2O fluxes. Analysis of total C, N, microbial biomass and Q10 values indicated that the higher CO2 emissions from the LFS were linked to the flooding-associated influx of nutrients and alterations in soil microbial populations. These results demonstrate that annual CO2 and N2O emissions can be higher in longer-term flooded sites that receive significant amounts of nutrients, although this may depend on the restriction of diffusional limitations due to the presence of standing water to periods of the year when the potential for gaseous emissions are low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the projected increases in regional temperatures and atmospheric carbon dioxide CO2 levels, among the several factors influencing plant growth and pollen production, which could mean a rise in the number of people impacted by seasonal allergies. Topics include Leonard Bielory of the Rutgers University Center of Environmental Prediction, Kate Weinberger of Brown University, and Lewis Ziska of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Aim To project the potential European distribution of seven broad habitat categories (needle-leaved, broad-leaved, mixed and mediterranean forest, urban, grassland and cropland) in order to assess effects of land use, climate change and increase in CO2 on predicted habitat changes up to the year 2050. Location Europe. Method We modelled the response of European vegetation to changes in land use, climate and CO2 by combining the land-use model Dyna- CLUE (based on the CORINE land-cover data) and the dynamic vegetation model LPJ-GUESS. Two reforestation options were explored: maintaining the current range of tree species ( EFI) or promoting naturally occurring tree species ( NAT). Climate data from two general circulation models and two SRES scenarios ( A2 and B1) were used. The broad habitat types were classified according to a combination of land use and the dominant plant species. Results Our models predicted that croplands and grasslands are expected to decrease due to land-use change. Although climate change has a negative effect on needle-leaved forest, it is expected to maintain its area or even increase in the EFI reforestation option while mediterranean, broad-leaved and mixed forests are expected to increase markedly. All investigated drivers have shown some effect, but land use is the dominant contributor to broad habitat change except for needle-leaved and mixed which are mainly influenced by climate change. Main conclusions Land use is predicted to have the greatest effect on broad habitat distribution according to our simulations. Hence in most parts of Europe mitigating actions should focus on land-use change rather than climate change. According to our simulation, the effects of the different drivers are not in general additive. In some cases they act synergistically and in some cases antagonistically. The projected habitat changes are a valuable tool for species distribution modelling and are available online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The carbon dioxide (CO2/ exchange of five different peatland systems across Europe with a wide gradient in land use intensity, water table depth, soil fertility and climate was simulated with the process oriented CoupModel. The aim of the study was to find out whether CO2 fluxes, measured at different sites, can be explained by common processes and parameters or to what extend a site specific con- figuration is needed. The model was calibrated to fit measured CO2 fluxes, soil temperature, snow depth and leaf area index (LAI) and resulting differences in model parameters were analyzed. Finding site independent model parameters would mean that differences in the measured fluxes could be explained solely by model input data: water table, meteorological data, management and soil inventory data. Seasonal variability in the major fluxes was well captured, when a site independent configuration was utilized for most of the parameters. Parameters that differed between sites included the rate of soil organic decomposition, photosynthetic efficiency, and regulation of the mobile carbon (C) pool from senescence to shooting in the next year. The largest difference between sites was the rate coefficient for heterotrophic respiration. Setting it to a common value would lead to underestimation of mean total respiration by a factor of 2.8 up to an overestimation by a factor of 4. Despite testing a wide range of different responses to soil water and temperature, rate coefficients for heterotrophic respiration were consistently the lowest on formerly drained sites and the highest on the managed sites. Substrate decomposability, pH and vegetation characteristics are possible explanations for the differences in decomposition rates. Specific parameter values for the timing of plant shooting and senescence, the photosynthesis response to temperature, litter fall and plant respiration rates, leaf morphology and allocation fractions of new assimilates, were not needed, even though the gradient in site latitude ranged from 48 ° N (southern Germany) to 68 ° N (northern Finland) differed largely in their vegetation. This was also true for common parameters defining the moisture and temperature response for decomposition, leading to the conclusion that a site specific interpretation of these processes is not necessary. In contrast, the rate of soil organic decomposition, photosynthetic efficiency, and the regulation of the mobile carbon pool need to be estimated from available information on specific soil conditions, vegetation and management of the ecosystems, to be able to describe CO2 fluxes under different conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European emissions trading scheme (EU ETS) is the centerpiece of Europe's climate policy. The system has been undermined variously by the weakness of its regulation, an undesirable overlap with other public policies and the farreaching economic and financial crisis that caused the market price of allowances to plunge. This article attempts to identify the conditions for making the coming years of the EU ETS a success. It draws historical lessons from the eight years the scheme has been in operation, and then analyzes, using the ZEPHYR-Flex model, the various interventions by the public authorities currently under discussion in order to revive the market. These simulations reveal the risk of carrying forward problems to the future, with further clouding of the visibility needed by ETS actors in the long term. Finally, the article proposes to draw lessons from monetary policy by outlining what might be the mandate of an Independent Carbon Market Authority, with responsibility for the dynamic management of the supply of allowances, and whose main mission would be to ensure the optimal linkage between the different temporal horizons of the climate strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are currently trends in the world to transfer and adapt traditional solutions to contemporary needs. This applies, inter alia, to mobile shelters used by nomadic peoples. The article is devoted to the research on the quality of internal air in the yurt and the possibilities of its adaptation to high contemporary quality and environmental requirements, while maintaining its characteristic sustainable values. The tested traditional Mongolian yurt was moved from the dry and cold climate of the Asian steppe to the temperate climate of Central Europe and has been significantly modified. The outer shell materials have been changed, replacing natural materials with modern tight insulating foils. The wood-fired stove has been replaced with an electric heater and the roof opening has been firmly closed. All of these modifications resulted in far-reaching changes in the quality of the internal environment in the yurt. The conducted measurements and simulations of CO2 concentration in the modified yurt proved that the efficiency of ventilation system is not sufficient and that the air quality is very poor (even for a single user). In the case of a larger number of users, the concentration of CO2 has already reached a level that was dangerous to health. The simplest method of improving the air quality in the yurt is its careful unsealing to the required level. Striving for a low energy demand, however, would require a completely different approach (for example, in the form of forced ventilation with a heat recovery unit, ultimately powered with a PV array). Such a solution is very different from the traditional yurt model but is close to modern expectations and environmental requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greenhouse industry has evolved in the last decade as a very important economical activity in agriculture. As a result, the interest towards investment in this sector has been increasing in many countries of Europe. In Italy, most of the greenhouse areas are located in the southern regions where there is an enormous amount of incoming solar energy. On average, this large availability allows a generation of PV energy not less than 200 kWh/m2/year, that can be used for a variety of applications in greenhouse (motorization, pumping, ventilation, heating and cooling). Evaluations made from ENEA, estimated a total greenhouse energy consumption of 0.73 MTOE/year, to which correspond to about 2.06 MTons of CO2 emissions. Furthermore, data achieved by the ENEA project Modem to improve the energy efficiency and to support the development of photovoltaic solar greenhouses are reported. Both these subjects are being investigated with the general aim to find out solutions to cut down fossil energy demand and CO2 emissions, in order to innovate Italian greenhouse agriculture sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Airborne in-situ observations of carbon dioxide (CO2) were made during 7 intensive measurement campaigns between November 2001 and April 2003 as part of the SPURT project. Vertical profiles and latitudinal gradients in the upper troposphere/lowermost stratosphere were measured along the western shore of Europe from the subtropics to high northern latitudes during different seasons. In the boundary layer, CO2 exhibits a strong seasonal cycle with the maximum mixing ratios in winter and minimum values in summer, reflecting the strength of CO2 exchange with vegetation. Seasonal variations are strongest in high latitudes and propagate to the free troposphere and lowermost stratosphere, although with reduced amplitude. In the lowermost stratosphere, the CO2 seasonal cycle is phase-shifted relative to the free troposphere by approximately 3 months, with highest mixing ratios during the summer. Modelling studies support the interpretation that altitude gradients of CO2 are likely due to stratosphere-troposphere-transport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comprehensive assessment of policy impact on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agricultural soils requires careful consideration of both socio-economic aspects and the environmental heterogeneity of the landscape. We developed a modelling framework that links the large-scale economic model for agriculture CAPRI (Common Agricultural Policy Regional Impact assessment) with the biogeochemistry model DNDC (DeNitrification DeComposition) to simulate GHG fluxes, carbon stock changes and the nitrogen budget of agricultural soils in Europe. The framework allows the ex-ante simulation of agricultural or agri-environmental policy impacts on a wide range of environmental problems such as climate change (GHG emissions), air pollution and groundwater pollution. Those environmental impacts can be analyzed in the context of economic and social indicators as calculated by the economic model. The methodology consists of four steps: (i) definition of appropriate calculation units that can be considered as homogeneous in terms of economic behaviour and environmental response; (ii) downscaling of regional agricultural statistics and farm management information from a CAPRI simulation run into the spatial calculation units; (iii) designing environmental model scenarios and model runs; and finally (iv) aggregating results for interpretation. We show the first results of the nitrogen budget in croplands in fourteen countries of the European Union and discuss possibilities to improve the detailed assessment of nitrogen and carbon fluxes from European arable soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural ecosystems respond to, and may affect climate change through uptake and storage of atmospheric CO2. Here we use the land-surface and carbon cycle model JULES to simulate the contemporary European carbon balance and its sensitivity to rising CO2 and changes in climate. We find that the impact of climate change is to decrease the ability of Europe to store carbon by about 175 TgC yr-1. In contrast, the effect of rising atmospheric CO2 has been to stimulate increased uptake and storage. The CO2 effect is currently dominant leading to a net increase of around 150 TgC yr-1. Our simulations do not at present include other important factors such as land use and management, the effects of forest age classes and nitrogen deposition. There seems to be an emerging consensus that changes in climate will weaken the European land-surface's ability to take up and store carbon. It is likely that this effect is happening at the present and will continue even more strongly in the future as climate continues to change. Although CO2 enhanced growth currently exceeds the climate effect, this may not continue indefinitely. Understanding this balance and its implications for mitigation policies is becoming increasingly important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Carbon dioxide and methane (CH4) fluxes were measured in a cutover bog of the Jura Mountains (France) together with biotic and abiotic variables for two entire vegetation periods in order to compare the carbon balance of the bog at three stages of regeneration. • Among all factors, air temperature and vegetation index (including leaf area of vascular plants, bryophyte density and bryophyte desiccation) were the two main determinants of ecosystem respiration and gross photosynthesis at light saturation. • During 2004 and 2005, the vegetated plots acted as carbon sinks. Net carbon exchange ranged between 67 and 166 g C m−2 yr−1 for the Eriophorum-dominated plots and between 93 and 183 g C m−2 yr−1 for the Sphagnum-dominated plots. The bare peat plots represented a net carbon source (between −19 and −32 g C m−2 yr−1). Methane fluxes accounted for a very small part of the total carbon efflux (< 2%). • The recovery of vegetation in our naturally regenerating bog was beneficial for the carbon sequestration after the relatively short period of 20 yr. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the effects of elevated carbon dioxide concentration on stomal conductance of forest trees in Europe. Application of meta-analysis; Decrease in stomal conductance in response to growth in elevated carbon dioxide; Comparison of carbon dioxide reponse between younger and older trees.