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Facing the climate change is a common priority, due to ethical issues related to general concept of sustainability and livable future for the next generations. Moreover, ethical aims for contrasting energy poverty, heat-related diseases and deaths, availability of food and water, infections and viral-bacteriological risks, meteorological extreme phenomena, such as floods and intense and destructive precipitations, are stringent and pressing targets. All serious and independent investigations reveal future scenarios of an overall global warming that surely make worrying the evolution of quality of life on this earth. Each one has to do his part. In this study, the research is focused on renewable technologies for the passive cooling of buildings. Indeed, the space cooling is a strongly increasing use of energy and induces a vicious circle, being, at the same time, a cause and an effect of the anthropogenic overheating of the planet. The paper mainly reviews techniques for suitably governing the energy interaction between buildings and surrounding environment. The energy efficiency concerns the building envelope design, the use of efficient HVAC systems, adoption of renewable energy on-site. On the other hand, every energy conversion process determines waste heat, so that also a ‘free of operational cost’ solar cooling system however causes dissipation of heat into the ambient. Finally, renewables cannot be the unique solutions for supplying the energy required for the building use. Conversely, strategies for reducing the building cooling are needed, and these are reviewed in this study. In thermodynamics terms, the building is seen as part of the system and not the mere control volume. Greenery of facades and roofs, phase change materials, nocturnal convective cooling, evaporative and ground cooling, solar systems such as chimneys for improving the building ventilation are here discussed, as well as emerging technologies such as breathing walls and dynamic insulation. The reviewed studies, selected on the basis of more recent progresses concerning the investigated technologies, revealed potentialities but also criticalities in the design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jatropha curcas L. biofuel development is considered a strategy for achieving energy security, climate change mitigation, foreign exchange savings and economic development. This paper reviews the experiences of some southern African countries with the impacts of Jatropha biofuel development on sustainability, with a view to providing lessons for biofuel development policy for Botswana. The review has shown that most of the large commercial plantations planned to produce jatropha seed for home consumption and export were not economically viable mainly due to low seed yield, high cost of production, delayed production and uncompetitive feedstock prices. On the other hand, smallholder-based jatropha biofuel projects were economically viable due to their low input costs. Analysis of social impacts showed that jatropha production has been associated with loss of rights to land, low compensation levels, and compromised food security where land and other production inputs were diverted from food crops to jatropha production. Positive social impacts in some countries included increased employment opportunities and incomes. Jatropha production is associated with environmental impacts such as loss of biodiversity, high water requirements and high carbon debts resulting from conversion of land. Positive environmental impacts included high energy return on investment and high GHG savings when Jatropha is cultivated on abandoned agricultural fields as revealed by research in some parts of West Africa. Policy considerations for the Government of Botswana include: providing support to biofuel projects at their early stage of development, discouraging large plantation business models until such time that research in Botswana produces high seed-yielding Jatropha varieties, introducing legal safeguards for protection of land rights of local communities, and ensuring that land-use change and high carbon debts are minimized as they have adverse impacts on biodiversity and climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Massive grasslands on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau(QTP) provide vital ecosystems services, which have been decreased by land degradation associated with global change. Effective efforts and actions of restoration and management are required to promote the sustainable development of these grassland ecosystems with global importance. This special issue collected numerous papers to address share the innovative theoretical foundations and practical approaches for restoring and protecting QTP's grassland ecosystems in the era of global change. The findings from the collected papers of this special issue stated that the ecosystems services of the QTP's grasslands are declining due to weakened interfaces among soil, plant and grazing animals in the QTP's grassland ecosystems by climate and land use changes. Applicable actions such as climate change mitigation and adaptation, close-to-nature restoration, rotational grazing regime with moderate grazing intensity should be taken to enhance the ecosystem services through rebuilding rational soil-plant-animal interfaces. • Both climate change and human activities led to grassland degradation. • Grassland degradation have weakened the ecosystem services. • Restoration and rational grazing can enhance sustainability of grasslands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: During the last decades numerous environmental problems have been exacerbated, and in some cases created. Traditionally, such problems have been addressed through environmentally sound technologies. The diffusion of such technologies has, however, been slow, where the focus has primarily been on high-polluting sectors. This paper explores the environmental actions of a relatively low-polluting sector, the insurer industry, in regards to environmentally sound technologies, by schematizing the concept of environmentally sound technologies as it is defined in Agenda 21. The Agenda 21 definition is critical when discussing environmentally sound technologies, as typologies of academic scholars are defined from the perspective of manufacturers ignoring the role of relatively low-polluting sectors when dealing with environmental issues. Five focus points from a climate change statement issued by the Nordic insurance industry are then integrated into the schematic framework. Case study examples from 16 Nordic insurance companies and secondary data of insurers' activities are used to illustrate insurers' role in enhancing development and utilization of environmentally sound technologies. Although the insurance industry offers many examples of its role in the development and utilization of environmentally sound technologies, this paper highlights the following points (1) there are still areas for improvements, (2) there is a large capacity that could be utilized, and (3) business opportunities are expected to increase once climate change consequences become more apparent. Due to the slow uptake of environmentally sound technologies, it is important to strengthen the focus on the role and obligation of low-polluting sectors as a part of the supporting infrastructure dealing with environmental sustainability issues. This paper shows the potential of opportunities arising from the synergies between environmentally sound technologies and finance and service providers to address such issues. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: There is widespread international acceptance that climate change, demographic shifts and resource limitations impact on the performance of water servicing in cities. In response to these challenges, many scholars propose that a fundamental move away from traditional centralised infrastructure towards more integrated water management is required. However, there is limited practical or scholarly understanding of how to enable this change in practice and few modern cities have done so successfully. This paper addresses this gap by analysing empirical evidence of Melbourne's recent experience in shifting towards a hybrid of centralised and decentralised infrastructure to draw lessons about the institutional context that enabled this shift. The research was based on a qualitative single-case study, involving interviews and envisioning workshops with urban water practitioners who have been directly involved in Melbourne's water system changes. It was found that significant changes occurred in the cultural-cognitive, normative and regulative dimensions of Melbourne's water system. These included a shift in cultural beliefs for the water profession, new knowledge through evidence and learning, additional water servicing goals and priorities, political leadership, community pressure, better coordinated governance arrangements and strong market mechanisms. The paper synthesises lessons from the case study that, with further development, could form the basis of prescriptive guidance for enabling the shift to new modes of water servicing to support more liveable, sustainable and resilient outcomes for future cities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Biorefineries are linked to SDGs and Bioeconomy. • Challenges towards implementing the bioeconomy are discussed. • The role of biorefineries in the bioeconomy is elucidated. Sustainable development goals (SDGs) are guidelines to improve the socio-economic and environmental worldwide situation caused by excessive fossil fuel use. These goals must be accomplished before 2030 by implementing a national sustainable development framework in all UN country members. Instead, biorefineries are the seed towards a more sustainable world since biomass upgrading into a series of value-added products and energy vectors can reduce current issues related to waste generation and climate change. Besides, biorefineries are the first step on the way to implement a bioeconomy. This review paper aims to elucidate the existing relation between biorefineries, bioeconomy, and the SDGs through a comprehensive analysis of the technical requirements, challenges, and perspectives of biomass upgrading processes. In this way, this review paper includes a discussion about the biorefinery, bioeconomy, sustainable development, and sustainability concepts. Moreover, this paper elucidates how the implementation of biorefineries is linked to the SDGs accomplishment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

In order to attain a truly sustainable society it is necessary for people to make ‘the sustainable choice’ in daily life, business and governance. Instrumental in increasing the awareness and understanding about sustainability issues and improving people's behaviour regarding sustainability issues is sustainability education. However, sustainability education is not yet widespread and is found to not always be effective in tackling people's behavioural aspects regarding sustainability issues. This paper addresses a novel form of sustainability education that has potentially both a wide reach and tackles behavioural aspects of sustainability issues directly: serious gaming. It is shown how an entertainment game, a scenario expansion for the popular board-game Settlers of Catan, can be used to educate a broad audience on sustainability issues. Through a causal analysis of the educational mechanisms embedded in the game scenario the strategies that players might use were found. Subsequently, workshops were held to observe how players are affected by playing the game. The results suggest that playing the game affects people's attitude towards sustainability and, predominantly, the sustainability of the behaviour. Although only the second finding could be supported by statistical tests, the anecdotal observations and quantitative findings do point in the same direction. It was found that the sustainability concepts embedded in the game together with the gameplay dynamics drove the educational effects of the game. These game dynamics enable players to experience real sustainability issues: players are forced to reconsider their strategies, not necessarily to save the Island of Catan, but for their own victory in the game – which is a strong lesson related to sustainability in general and climate change specifically. Future research should focus on conducting larger-scale surveys supporting the execution of statistical tests. In addition, this research points at the untapped potential of teaching sustainability concepts through entertainment games and suggests that game developers incorporate sustainability concepts through educational mechanisms in their games. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU has assumed objectives for energy sustainability and the fight against climate change. In this regard, the generation of biogas allows contributions to the 2020 established targets. The EU is leader in the production of biogas, representing 60% of total global production in 2011. The estimates of the contribution of biogas to electricity generation for 2020 in the EU-28 represent 1.5% within the total energy mix. This paper analyzes the measures implemented in the EU-28 to promote biogas, relating them to the country targets established in their National Renewable Energy Action Plans. Currently, 19 countries apply some measure of price and/or amount: 14 use Feed-in Tariffs, 6 Premium Tariffs and 1 uses tenders. A trend has been observed to reduce public financial support to promote biogas, linked to the reduction of the cost of this technology, and to the attempt to increasingly link it to the markets. However, excessive linking to the market hinders its development, putting the attainment of 2020 targets at risk. Consequently, the Feed-in Tariff or Premium Tariff systems, used in each country, must be designed in agreement with the peculiarities of the development of their markets, to be able to guarantee suitable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite many studies in literature demonstrate the environmental sustainability of organic food, a debate is still open in the scientific community on the effect of organic farming on global warming and climate change mitigation. This paper aims to contribute to a more informed debate on the actual contribution to climate change in terms of GHG emissions of organic and conventional agriculture. For this purpose, the production process of an organic vs conventional wholemeal bread locally produced in central Italy by a small-medium bakery enterprise was compared and the carbon footprint (CF) was assessed by means of the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. We found that the CF of 1 kg of the conventional wholemeal bread was 24% less respect to the same organic bread, with 1,18 and 1,55 kg CO 2 eq respectively. On the contrary, if the CF is assessed per unit of cultivated area (hectare), wheat organic cultivation showed a better performance in terms of GHG emissions than conventional by 60%, with 1,15 and 2,87 Mg CO 2 eq ha −1 respectively. The higher CF per unit of organic product is due to the lower yield per unit of area cultivated with organic farming and to the consequent attribution to a smaller amount of products of the GHG emissions generated in the field phase of the life cycle. Whereas, the CF per hectare is higher when conventional practices are applied due to the higher use of raw materials (higher seed density, agrochemicals for fertilization and plant protection) respect to the same organic system. Results of the study demonstrate that organic farming for wheat cultivation in Italy is a low-carbon agriculture with a lower contribution to climate change in terms of GHG emissions per hectare respect to the conventional wheat cultivation, although implications of the reduced productivity and the consequent need of more cultivated land should be considered. However, more research is needed to better explore the potential of organic farming and to improve organic food production, optimizing the balance between the use of resources and yields, to ensure sufficient organic food supply at global level. A more comprehensive assessment of the actual GHG emitted in the atmosphere from both organic and conventional agricultural systems can be provided when the CF is assessed per unit of area, in addition to the CF per product unit, especially if also the carbon sink of the agrosystem is included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fuel security, economics and climate change issues are creating a requirement for alternative renewable fuels. Bioethanol produced by algal biomass is becoming increasingly popular all over the world due to the sustainability of feed stock and environmentally friendly nature. This review paper describes the bioethanol production technology from algae using various cultivation, harvesting, extraction and commercialization techniques and its environmental perspectives. The economic sustainability of algae-derived bioethanol biofuel depends on the cost of production that could be minimized by producing valuable secondary by-products, which is the aim of current algal biofuel research. Future technologies with sufficient potential for maximum extraction capacity and minimal downstream processing using low cost feedstock will address the cost-effectiveness of renewable bioethanol biofuel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air travel plays a vital role in today's life because it makes remote destinations accessible and short getaways possible. Despite its benefits, air transportation contributes heavily to climate change. Behavioral change is seen as a key driver in mitigating the environmental impacts of air travel. One way to encourage behavioral change is to use eco-labels. This study explores how an eco-label could be developed for the airline industry to function as a potential driver for behavioral change. 12 interviews with airline industry experts were conducted and thematically analyzed. Empirical results were then combined with prior research and the following five criteria essential for the development of an airline eco-label were identified: credibility, comparability, clarity, transparency and participation. Out of these five criteria, participation seemed to be the most challenging to realize. Based on these criteria, this paper could be understood as a first step towards the introduction of an industry-wide eco-labelling scheme for the airline industry that could help reduce the environmental impacts of aviation through behavioral change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional manufacturing industry is facing significant transformation. Fundamental to this transformation, are the challenges of a changing social, economic, political and environmental future in response to climate change, global competition and limits to finite resources. These challenges have motivated a transition towards a new sustainable trajectory. Within a range of disciplinary fields, scholars have studied and developed conceptual frameworks to explain the processes, outcomes and effectiveness of particular transitions, yet, there remains limited evidence drawing together these conceptual approaches to identify the elements and attributes essential to holistic, practical and long lasting transitions within established manufacturing regions. To address this gap, this paper introduces an interdisciplinary framework, ‘Attributes of Sustainable Transitions’, by reviewing and integrating four existing conceptual approaches (Advanced Manufacturing, Sustainability Transitions, Spatiality of Regions and Transition Regions) to identify attributes of sustainable transitions within the manufacturing industry sector. In the process, this article also focuses on regions as important spaces for transitions, an emphasis currently missing from traditional economic approaches. Examples from international and Australian case studies are used to support the conceptual analysis, paving the way for future empirical research based on Australian firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forty seven percent of the population of Pakistan is food insecure, access to food is uneven and malnutrition is widespread. In addition, food production depends greatly on irrigation, including the use of substantial volumes of water from already stressed aquifers. Our aim in this paper is to examine the implications of continued population growth on the required production of food and the implied water demand. We examine the historical trends of crop production, water use, food availability and population growth in Pakistan, and project them forward to 2050. Food availability has improved over recent decades, mostly as a result of increasing the area and water use of crops and fodder, and partly as a result of importing more pulses and cooking oils. We show that a continuation of current trends leads to nearly a doubling of the (already unsustainable) groundwater use. There is uncertainty in the magnitude of climate change impacts, but climate change may further exacerbate matters. To avoid further increases of groundwater use, some combination would be required of: more dams and other irrigation infrastructure; increasing crop yields (particularly yields per unit volume of water) at a greater rate than in the past; a change in crop mix away from high water use crops like rice and sugarcane, to crops that use less water; and, exporting less and importing more food. The alternatives appear difficult to implement quickly, so it appears likely that in the short to medium term more groundwater will be consumed, with attendant problems of water quality and sustainability. Our analysis provides new perspectives on past trends and future food and water (including groundwater) challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the interest of climate change mitigation, policy makers, businesses and non-governmental organisations have devised initiatives designed to reduce in-use emissions whilst, at the same time, the number of energy-consuming products in homes, and household energy consumption, is increasing. Retailers are important because they are at the interface between manufacturers of products and consumers and they supply the vast majority of consumer goods in developed countries like the UK, including energy using products. Large retailers have a consistent history of corporate responsibility reporting and have included plans and actions to influence consumer emissions within them. This paper adapts two frameworks to use them for systematically assessing large retailers' initiatives aimed at reducing consumers' emissions. The Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) is adapted and used to analyse the strategic scope and coherence of these initiatives in relation to the businesses' sustainability strategies. The ISM ‘Individual Social Material’ framework is adapted and used to analyse how consumer behaviour change mechanisms are framed by retailers. These frameworks are used to analyse eighteen initiatives designed to reduce consumer emissions from eight of the largest UK retail businesses, identified from publicly available data. The results of the eighteen initiatives analysed show that the vast majority were not well planned nor were they strategically coherent. Secondly, most of these specific initiatives relied solely on providing information to consumers and thus deployed a rather narrow range of consumer behaviour change mechanisms. The research concludes that leaders of retail businesses and policy makers could use the FSSD to ensure processes, actions and measurements are comprehensive and integrated, in order to increase the materiality and impact of their initiatives to reduce consumer emissions in use. Furthermore, retailers could benefit from exploring different models of behaviour change from the ISM framework in order to access a wider set of tools for transformative system change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wine is the main economic resource in the 'Area of Jerez', located in the south of Spain. It is one of the most important wine tourism destinations in the world. However, its sustainable production process, so strongly influenced by climatic conditions, can be clearly affected by the phenomenon of global warming. The ageing process of "Sherry wine" takes place in buildings known as 'Cathedral warehouses', an example of Nearly-Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs). For centuries, they have been used to provide specific ecological conditions for biological ageing without any type of mechanical heating/cooling system. The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of climate change on this production model. For this, the annual thermal behavior of a representative winery was monitored during several years. The first energy simulation model of this type of buildings was developed and validated (daily R2 = 99%; hourly R2 = 97%). Finally, the model was simulated by modifying the outdoor climatic conditions (9 years training data sets) for a climate change scenario, applying the 'morphing' method for the transformation of the weather data. The results show that, by the middle of this century, the average outdoor temperature will increase by 2.3 °C (in summer up to 3.6 °C). As a consequence, the temperature in the ageing zone would exceed the comfort limit for 19% of the year, (up to 34% in hot years). For 2080, the prediction is even worse (average value of 27%). As a result, the microorganisms responsible for this unique process could not maintain their activity. This fact will force the sector to face a harsh reconversion through the adoption of new mechanisms and strategies, which endangers the economic sustainability of an entire region dedicated to this practice. Beyond the specific case, the work highlights the need to evaluate the future behavior of NZEBs through simulation. [Display omitted] • Assess the impact of climate change in a Near Zero Energy Building. • "Cathedral warehouses" will lose their usefulness by the middle of this century. • Comfort limits will be exceeded 19% of the year, interrupting biological ageing. • The economic sustainability of an entire region would be endangered. • The need to evaluate the future behavior of Near Zero Energy Building is highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study examines a sample of three Asian Development Bank (ADB) energy projects to determine how they holistically address the energy sector challenges of the region. The paper firstly establishes four fundamental social and environmental sustainability principles that have influenced ADB''s new energy policy. These are (1) improving energy efficiency; (2) promoting renewable energy; (3) reducing energy poverty; and (4) enhancing climate change adaptation. These inform the policy''s new four-fold implementation strategy of scaling up renewable energy, advocating efficiency, enhancing energy access to benefit livelihoods and improving energy sector governance. The study then investigates the historical genesis, drivers, and advantages and challenges facing three recent ADB energy projects: a $76.75 million biomass power plant in Thailand, a $32.6 million energy efficiency initiative in the Philippines, and a $153.5 million program for off-grid renewables in Vietnam. The final part of the study evaluates each of these cases based on how they embody each of the four sustainability principles that uphold the new energy policy. The paper concludes by distilling lessons and presenting general recommendations for planners at the ADB and in Asia more generally. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper provides an overview of carbon accounting as a rapidly developing area of sustainability management and this special issue. The global nature of greenhouse gas emissions as well as increasing climate change impacts is a context that demands new, more holistic approaches to preventing and reducing the negative impacts of climate change. This requires improved ways to anticipate and to fulfil new information requirements and to provide guidance on how to use the evolving accounting approaches for transparency, accountability and decision-making in governments, companies, academia and in non-profit organizations. Different types of carbon accounts – scientific, political, economic and corporate, are evolving. They are related but are not properly interlinked in policy or strategic. On the corporate level, carbon accounting can support carbon management with two basic approaches, carbon accounts for un-sustainability and carbon accounting for sustainability improvements. Both approaches play an increasing role for corporate functions such as production, distribution, procurement, supply chain management, innovation, communication, and marketing. Carbon management accounting can support all organizational levels in decision-making, regardless of whether a department is particularly challenged to comply with regulations, to better organize energy and material flows for substantial reduction effects, or is motivated to increase eco-efficiency, product innovation or legitimacy. This paper distinguishes different company-internal areas of application and methods of carbon accounting. To support corporate decision-makers environmental management accounting framework provides a structured overview of methods distinguishing physical and monetary approaches to carbon accounting. With the expanding scope of carbon accounting practices to include supply chains and product life-cycles, researchers are challenged to develop new methods, such as input–output assisted hybrid accounting. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Expected increases in pluvial flooding, due to climatic changes, require large investments in the retrofitting of cities to keep damage at an acceptable level. Many cities have investigated the possibility of implementing stormwater management (SWM) systems which are multi-functional and consist of different elements interacting to achieve desired safety levels. Typically, an economic assessment is carried out in the planning phase, while environmental sustainability is given little or no attention. In this paper, life cycle assessment is used to quantify environmental impacts of climate change adaptation strategies. The approach is tested using a climate change adaptation strategy for a catchment in Copenhagen, Denmark. A stormwater management system, using green infrastructure and local retention measures in combination with planned routing of stormwater on the surfaces to manage runoff, is compared to a traditional, sub-surface approach. Flood safety levels based on the Three Points Approach are defined as the functional unit to ensure comparability between systems. The adaptation plan has significantly lower impacts (3–18 person equivalents/year) than the traditional alternative (14–103 person equivalents/year) in all analysed impact categories. The main impacts are caused by managing rain events with return periods between 0.2 and 10 years. The impacts of handling smaller events with a return period of up to 0.2 years and extreme events with a return period of up to 100 years are lower in both alternatives. The uncertainty analysis shows the advantages of conducting an environmental assessment in the early stages of the planning process, when the design can still be optimised, but it also highlights the importance of detailed and site-specific data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several European policies have been designed over the last decades to address the challenge of climate change and several measures have been put in place to accelerate the development and deployment of cost-effective low carbon technologies. The domestic nature of the resource and its great potential availability in Europe make biomass conversion technologies relevant mitigation options to be considered. In this context, the project “Logistics for Energy Crops Biomass (LogistEC)” aims to develop new or improve technologies of biomass logistics chain. In this project, the sustainability of different types of biomass is analysed in terms of environmental, economic and social impacts, based on the supply chain of two existing plants. The objective of this paper is to present the main results obtained in the socio-economic analysis of the French case and its climate change consequences. The Input-Output Analysis (IOA) has been seen as the most appropriate method to estimate these impacts using a Multiregional Input-Output Table from the World Input-Output Database project. Socio-economic effects have been estimated in terms of additional economic activity, added value and job creation. By extending the IOA with environmental accounts, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have also been estimated. Additionally, the most stimulated sectors have been identified. Results highlight the importance of biomass at a national level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) sets an overall framework for intergovernmental efforts to tackle the challenge posed by climate change. Besides the “flexibility mechanisms” defined by the Kyoto Protocol to lower the overall costs of achieving their emissions targets, The Voluntary Green House Gases (GHG) reduction projects can have a lead role in GHG reduction in “non Emissions Trading System ETS sectors”. Nowadays, the voluntary market is characterised by critical aspects, such as fragmentation, lack of accounting, monitoring and validation rules that have led to the low spread of voluntary emission reduction projects developed by local authorities in the European Union despite their high potentiality. The aim of this paper is to test the applicability of voluntary emission reduction projects in the public sector following a homogeneous and consistent pattern. A research has been performed at local level on 143 voluntary emission reduction projects implemented by Public Administrations in Northern and Central Italy in renewable energy, energy efficiency and transport sectors. The applicable standards and methodologies have been checked and the case studies have been analysed though a three-step process: Preliminary additionality assessment; Projects selection; Validation of the selected project. The assessment shows that energy efficiency projects, once overcoming additionality issues, are the most promising for public entities while renewable energy and transport projects resulted to be mainly affected by double counting problems and lack of reliable methodologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Initially pushed by the European Union (EU) through the Europe 2020 strategy, the development of renewable energies is a strategic action aiming to limit climate changes and cut greenhouse gas emissions. National subsidies favored the diffusion of this new kind of energy sources, even if there are interesting economic opportunities also in non-subsidized markets. Renewable energy (RE) is a sustainable choice, but its management requires a proper analysis, both from political and operational levels. The aim of this paper is the assessment of European renewable energy source (RES) trajectory towards 2020, starting from historical values and through common scientific methods. In addition, a new reference framework is proposed, in order to evaluate RESs performances in Europe. The framework is based on three indicators: (i) share of energy from RESs in gross final energy consumption, (ii) REs primary production per capita and (iii) gross final consumption of REs per capita. Results could have practical implications for the decision makers involved in the management of energy sources throughout Europe and could be used for the comparison on a global scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By 2050, aviation emissions are forecasted to account for 25% of the global carbon budget. Thus, in addition to airlines' sustainability efforts, individual consumer action is needed in order to reduce the environmental impact of air travel. The purpose of this paper is to investigate to what extent consumers value environmental sustainability when selecting flights in terms of the trade-off between cost, time, comfort, and CO 2 emissions. Hence, a choice-based conjoint survey was conducted to understand the monetary, temporal, and comfort trade-offs consumers are willing to make for a reduction in CO 2 emissions in both short-haul and long-haul flights. The 426 collected responses were analysed using conditional logistic regressions. The results indicate that air travellers are willing to pay more (6.7–21.2 €/100 kg) or travel longer (13–41 minutes/100 kg) to reduce the environmental impact of their trip. Moreover, displaying CO 2 emissions as a percentage of an individual's annual carbon budget increased air travellers' perceived monetary and temporal value of environmental sustainability, to 11.8–26.3 €/100 kg and 22–65 minutes/100 kg respectively. • Displaying flights' environmental impact affects stated consumer behaviour. • Air travellers indicate they are willing to pay more for an eco-friendlier flight. • Flyers indicate they are willing to travel longer to reduce flight emissions. • Displaying CO 2 emissions as % of person's annual carbon budget shows better results. • Transparent information on emissions can lead to more sustainable flying behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By 2050, aviation emissions are forecasted to account for 25% of the global carbon budget. Thus, in addition to airlines' sustainability efforts, individual consumer action is needed in order to reduce the environmental impact of air travel. The purpose of this paper is to investigate to what extent consumers value environmental sustainability when selecting flights in terms of the trade-off between cost, time, comfort, and CO 2 emissions. Hence, a choice-based conjoint survey was conducted to understand the monetary, temporal, and comfort trade-offs consumers are willing to make for a reduction in CO 2 emissions in both short-haul and long-haul flights. The 426 collected responses were analysed using conditional logistic regressions. The results indicate that air travellers are willing to pay more (6.7–21.2 €/100 kg) or travel longer (13–41 minutes/100 kg) to reduce the environmental impact of their trip. Moreover, displaying CO 2 emissions as a percentage of an individual's annual carbon budget increased air travellers' perceived monetary and temporal value of environmental sustainability, to 11.8–26.3 €/100 kg and 22–65 minutes/100 kg respectively. • Displaying flights' environmental impact affects stated consumer behaviour. • Air travellers indicate they are willing to pay more for an eco-friendlier flight. • Flyers indicate they are willing to travel longer to reduce flight emissions. • Displaying CO 2 emissions as % of person's annual carbon budget shows better results. • Transparent information on emissions can lead to more sustainable flying behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Soil is one of the most important and most complex natural resources, but current developments (urbanisation, erosion and climate change) increasingly threaten this valuable resource in Europe and worldwide. The main objective of this paper is to introduce how changes in soil quality were modelled in the SENSOR project through two indicators: soil carbon content and soil water erosion. Indicators were calculated using state variables and model variables that were mainly derived from the CLUE model which predicts land use change in response to policy scenarios. In the case of erosion, accuracy of the calculations was evaluated by comparing GIS data with the results of the PESERA project. The PESERA and SENSOR models predicted comparable soil loss for the first year in the NUTS-X regions of Europe that were analysed. The higher resolution national soil-loss prediction USLE map largely overestimated the amount of soil loss compared to the PESERA and the SENSOR models in the NUTS-X regions of Hungary. This discrepancy may result from technical or methodological differences such as the spatial reference framework (NUTS-X regions), spatial resolution or levels of data aggregation. The soil organic carbon loss predictions for the NUTS-X regions of Europe are displayed on maps and background data are given in tables. The greatest decreases in soil carbon content may be expected in some regions of Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, south-eastern UK and eastern Germany. The greatest increases in soil carbon content may be expected in central and eastern parts of the UK, in Ireland, in northern and central Sweden and Estonia, in Greece, in central and southern Italy, in the island of Sardinia and in some regions of Spain. As erosion strongly reduces soil productivity these predictions have not only environmental but also socio-economic implications. The results presented in this paper could be used at EU level to locate regions where negative changes in soil quality can be expected. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Tackling climate change is a growing concern of our society. Although action is needed at all levels of governance, local authorities play a key role in climate action. The creation of sustainable energy and climate action plans at the local level are recent trends that show increasing local commitment. During the last decade, several municipalities have started to develop plans, but surprisingly little systematic technical guidance has been provided to them. As part of an effort to develop tools to assist energy planning at the local level, this study addresses the role of indicators in energy planning. This paper aims to propose a framework of local energy sustainability indicators to be used both as an assessment and as an action-planning tool. A literature review of existing sets of sustainability indicators and the testing of the selected indicators with pilot municipalities has led to a framework composed by 18 indicators. The indicators proposed were developed by having into consideration, besides relevance, their potential use as decision criteria for identifying the most effective actions for local energy planning. The paper also investigates the presence of the proposed indicators in existing local sustainability assessment initiatives and energy and climate action plans as well as the purpose for which they were being used in the plans. The analysis of 10 local energy and climate action plans has revealed that local authorities are using indicators mostly for diagnosis purposes, paying less attention to monitoring. Using indicators as decision criteria to choose the actions to be included in the action plan is not yet a common practice. It was also found that only a small number of the indicators proposed in this paper were already considered in the action plans analysed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: More than one billion people are suffering hunger and malnutrition in 2009. Food security has deteriorated since 1995 and reductions in child malnutrition are proceeding too slowly to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of halving hunger by 2015. Three major challenges threaten current and future efforts to overcome food insecurity and malnutrition: climate and global environmental change and the consequent loss of ecosystems’ services, the growing use of food crops as a source of fuel and the food and financial crises. This paper reviews and analyses the current and projected effects of climate change and bioenergy on nutrition and proposes policy recommendations to address these challenges. The first section of the review lays out the public health and socio-economic consequences of malnutrition and explores causes and costs. The paper then analyses the implications of climate and global environmental change and biofuel production for food security and nutrition, addressing strategies for adaptation and mitigation. This analysis includes a number of important socio-economic factors, besides climate change and biofuel production, that are currently impacting food and nutrition security, and that will likely contribute to future effects. The paper concludes with a series of policy proposals and recommendations to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate and global environmental change placing human rights in the centre of decision making. These proposals include a number of options for improving sustainability and food and nutrition security while addressing the links between climate change and bioenergy demand. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: ‘Behaviour change’ is one of the major concerns for academics and practitioners concerned with tackling climate change. Research amongst tourism geographers has conventionally focussed on the various choices that individuals can make, both before and during their holidays, to reduce environmental footprints, specifically through the use of sustainability criteria. However, whilst there is a developing understanding of the motivations for sustainable tourism practices, there is less appreciation of the relationship tourist practices have to everyday environmental activities in and around the home. This latter issue has been researched extensively by social psychologists and environmental sociologists. Accordingly, the paper will draw upon these two existing bodies of research to argue that a holistic understanding of ‘sustainable lifestyles’ is needed if effective behavioural change strategies for climate change are to be developed, revealing the complexities of contemporary environmental practices. Using data from a recent British Academy research project, the paper will explore the changing nature of sustainable lifestyles and will demonstrate the relationships between home- and tourism-based environmental practices. The paper will argue that whilst individuals are relatively comfortable with participating in a range of environmental behaviours in and around the home, the transference of these practices to tourism contexts can be problematic. This is particularly the case for high-consumption activities such as low-cost air travel. The paper concludes by arguing that both academics and policy makers need to re-frame their notions of ‘sustainable lifestyles’, transcending a series of practices and contexts. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The main aim of this paper is to offer a brief evaluation of recent transport geography research and publication. It examines critical observations on the sub-discipline from the past two decades, and endeavours to illustrate how the engagement of transport geography belies at least some criticisms. Arguing that both ‘positivist’ and ‘new mobilities’ approaches have validity in a transport geography research agenda, the paper goes onto exemplify this through brief discussions of areas where transport geography could gain a higher profile and where clear mutual benefit would result from greater engagement, notably, at the interface between transport and tourism, focusing on mobilities in post-transition Central and Eastern Europe and climate change issues. Finally, conclusions are drawn and suggestions are made to inform a transport geography research agenda. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Climate change and its consequences present one of the most important threats to biodiversity and the functions of ecosystems. The stress on biodiversity is far beyond the levels imposed by the natural global climatic changes occurring in the recent evolutionary past. It includes temperature increases, shifts of climate zones, melting of snow and ice, sea level rise, droughts, floods, and other extreme weather events. Natural systems are vulnerable to such changes due to their limited adaptive capacity. Based on an analysis using the DPSIR framework, this paper discusses some of the important socio-economic driving forces of climate change, with a focus on energy use and transportation. The paper also analyses observed and potential changes of climate and the pressures they exert on biodiversity, the changes in biodiversity, the resulting impacts on ecosystem functions, and possible policy responses. The latter can be divided into mitigation and adaptation measures. Both strategies are needed, mitigation in order to stabilise the greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, and adaptation in order to adjust to changes that have already occurred or cannot be avoided. One mitigation option, increased biofuel production, which is also a response to oil depletion, would change land use patterns and increase human appropriation of net primary production of biomass, thereby threatening biodiversity. By considering the first order and second order impacts of climate change on biodiversity when developing policy measures, it will be possible to integrate ecosystem and biodiversity protection into decision-making processes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This special issue of the Journal of Cleaner Production focuses on “Energy for Sustainable Future”. It is designed to mirror the increasing relevance of renewable energy sources and improved efficiency as crucial topics for practitioners in industry, for governmental policy makers, as well as for civic service providers, researchers, and educators. The purpose of this special issue is to serve as a catalyst for dialogue. The global warming related to CO2 emissions, coupled with steeply rising energy prices and the recent global financial institutional melt-down are causing massive societal concerns and give rise to increasing demand for ways to improve societal and individual energy efficiency and for ways to shift increasingly to alternative, low or non-carbon based energy systems. Until recently, industrial energy efficiency improvements have focused on improvements on efficiency rather than on the integration of renewable sources. The aim of this special issue is the identification of policies to support the development and implementation of technologies and management approaches we can employ to make the transition to more sustainable societies. The collection of papers in this special issue provide a foundation for students, researchers, scholars, practitioners and policy makers interested in making sustainable development more than a metaphor. The papers include focus upon ways for: [(a)] Improving industrial process to achieve improvements in energy efficiency. [(b)] Minimising waste disposals and reducing their impact through better management. [(c)] Reducing CO2 emissions by making progress toward lower carbon, renewable energy based systems, [(d)] Improving production of biofuels and hydrogen production systems, facilitated by employing cleaner production and novel LCA tools. [(e)] Improving integration of advanced materials and energy efficient equipment in different industrial sectors. Current and future developments in national and world economies are closely connected to sustainable, efficient and safe usage of raw materials and upon energy based on cleaner production concepts and approaches that are ecologically and economically appropriate for the short and for the long-term future of society. These challenges have received considerable attention in the media and scientific journals over the last several years. The idea of developing a specialised conference focussed upon them was put forward on various occasions. Focus upon them became reality on the 5th and 6th May 2008 in the historic Castle of Veszprém, Hungary, the current premises of the Hungarian Academy of Science which hosted the Workshop. The Workshop was a stimulating event and an overwhelming success, with nearly 100 contributors from Africa, North America, Asia and Europe, representing 28 countries. After a comprehensive selection and thorough reviewing procedure 11 papers were selected for this special issue. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The work described in this paper won an Engineering Award from the UNESCO and the United Nations. It qualified among the top 30 finalists from a pool of about 3200 engineering entries from the world''s most prestigious universities in 89 countries, including Cambridge, Oxford, MIT, Stanford and Yale. This paper describes the methods employed in a sustainability project titled ‘Global Basic Needs in an Integrated Sustainable Approach’ submitted by the author to the UNESCO in agreement with the United Nations Millennium Goals and within their framework of the Mondialogo Engineering Award. A six-nation international jury of renowned leading scientists and engineers selected this project for a nomination award. While we all anxiously wait for science to provide the solutions to global warming and catastrophic climate change, a holistic engineering approach was used to halt pollution, and to provide sustainable shelter, clean water, energy, food and education to the global population. This approach can be used anywhere in the world and conceptualizes a revolutionary sustainability paradigm for present and future societies. This work is a contribution to the advancement of the science of sustainability everywhere on the planet. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The circular economy (CE) has gained momentum among scholars, the business community, and policymakers as it fosters the circularity of resources in production and consumption systems. Extensive conceptual research has scrutinized the CE concept, yet little attention has been paid to analyzing how the CE is conceived, consented, and implemented using Twitter data. To address this gap, this study used a Twitter Analytics framework that combines descriptive, content, and network analyses to extract meaning from Twitter data. The results show that practitioners have mainstreamed the CE discourse, sharing reductionist views about the concept in terms of drivers, practices, and outcomes. Notably, many Twitter users stressed an urgent need to tackle climate change and global sustainability challenges by adopting reactive approaches to manage them. Yet, only a few regarded the potential of proactive approaches such as collaboration to empower the CE transition through closer relationships. Also, many users pinpointed recycling as a crucial CE practice, emphasizing the ultimate goal of achieving environmental sustainability. However, such perspectives disregard the CE's vision and potential to radically transform production and consumption systems. In this regard, a critical implication is that the CE concept risks becoming a buzzword. This paper provides scholars and practitioners with critical reflections that can shed light on what truly constitutes the CE, how it should be implemented, and why it matters. • A Twitter Analytics framework is used to analyze the circular economy (CE) debate. • This study offers descriptive, content, and network insights into the CE debate. • Key drivers, practices, and sustainability outcomes were identified. • This study underlines how to rethink a paradigm change to a sustainable CE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rapidly warming planet provides a significant challenge to the design, delivery, and maintenance of habitable housing across Australia. Information on the adequacy of current measures for cooling Indigenous houses in regional and remote communities in relation to climate change and rising energy consumption costs is lacking. Such information is needed to better protect low socio-economic status householders, people with pre-existing health conditions, and people living in climatically exposed regions. This article models the thermal performance of both existing and 'improved' (built to current national construction code standards) housing stock in relation to various occupancy density, cooling system, and ventilation practice scenarios. This modelling was undertaken for housing in Australia's tropical, arid, and hot/mild climate zones, matching the sites where most discrete Indigenous communities are located. Results show that retrofitting existing housing stock and even building new stock to meet recommended standards are not adequate measures for current or future climate changes. This paper challenges current knowledge, policy, and practices regarding Indigenous housing, demonstrating that significant reform is necessary to maintain habitable conditions and improve energy resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A regional green development index system is established based on the "driver-pressure-state-impact-response" model. • The level of regional green development in Hubei, China, is rising, and the gap between regions is narrowing. • The inter-regional spillover effect of green development is greater than the intra-regional spillover effect. • Technological innovation and the living environment have a positive spillover effect on green development. Green development strives to harmonize economic and social development with environmental protection. It is an innovative development model for people to follow in response to global climate change. This paper first combines the "driver-pressure-state-impact-response" (DPSIR) model with the entropy weighting method to measure the level of green development in Hubei Province from 2010 to 2018. Then, the spatial Durbin model (SDM) is used to analyse in depth the spatiotemporal evolutionary pattern and spatial spillover effects. The results indicate that after 2014, the levels of green development increased significantly and that regional differences gradually shrank. ρ = 0.409 indicates that the green development level has a positive spatial spillover effect, and the spillover effect between regions is greater than that within a region. The spatial spillover effects of the industrial structure and growth efficiency are −2.17 and −8.64, respectively, while the spatial spillover effects of technological innovation and the living environment are 7.35 and 0.32, respectively. Based on our findings, we provide several policy recommendations for developing countries to achieve green, coordinated and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The inherent adaptivity describes how structures can be fundamentally manipulated. • This can be analyzed using actuation influence matrices. • They present quantitative information on the inducible structural states. • Their rank corresponds to the number of manipulatable linearly independent states. • This information / method can be used to design adaptive structures intuitively. New approaches and technologies are needed to counter the effects of climate change and mitigate the depletion of material resources. A possible solution are adaptive load-bearing structures, i.e., structures that are equipped with sensors, actuators and control units, enabling the structure to optimise its current stress state. This requires new research regarding the overall structural design of material- and emission-efficient adaptive structures. Existing approaches employ sensitivity matrices or optimality criteria in optimization formulations to design adaptive load bearing structures and discuss the quality of the design based on the results. This paper presents the method of actuation influence matrices, which are a type of sensitivity matrix that can be used quantify the inherent adaptability of a structure. The aim is to develop an intuitive design method for adaptive structures. After a brief derivation of the influence matrices, the methodology is illustrated using three basic bracing systems – a truss, a frame and a diagonally braced frame – as example, demonstrating the relationship between structural topology and inherent adaptability. While the assessment of an adaptive structure's quality depends on the specific use case and control objective, it is proposed that truss systems are good candidates for adaptive structures due to their inherent adaptability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy systems, which include energy production, conversion, transportation, distribution and utilization, are key infrastructures in modern society. Interactions among energy systems are generally studied under the framework of energy trade. Although such studies have generated important insights, there are limitations. Many distant interactions (e.g. those due to the Fukushima nuclear crisis) are not in the form of trade, but affect energy sustainability. Even when distant interactions are related to energy trade, they are not systematically analyzed. Environmental impacts of trade are often not integrated with economic analysis of trade. In this paper, to identify and fill important knowledge gaps, we apply an integrated framework of telecoupling (socioeconomic and environmental interactions over distances). The framework of telecoupling, which is more comprehensive and cross-disciplinary than the energy trade framework, is a useful theoretical and methodological tool for analyzing distant interactions among coupled human and natural systems (including energy systems). Telecouplings widely exist in energy systems with various forms and link energy sustainability of different countries closely, so we proposed some methods for energy sustainability analysis under the framework of telecoupling. From the aspect of causes, a method is proposed to judge whether the telecoupling driven by economic factors is conducive to energy sustainability. From the aspect of effects, a method is proposed to assess whether an event is conducive to energy sustainability. The telecoupling framework presents opportunities for more profound and comprehensive understanding of energy sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lima's environmental sustainability is threatened by increasing water scarcity, heavy rain events and limited attention for water vulnerability and climate change scenarios. In this paper we examine how knowledge construction and risk perception on water-related disaster risks and vulnerabilities affects decision-making and implementation in urban governance networks, specifically looking at some of the reasons behind high levels of risk tolerance and the lack of decision-making initiatives in putting adaptation and/or preventive measures in place. New forms of metropolitan governance have constructed spatial knowledge about water-related vulnerabilities using inclusive scenario-building processes. These unpack complexities, uncertainties and spatial inequalities in water governance, making them visible by mapping and spatial representations as strategic instrument for social and policy learning. This article analyzes two case studies, which either already are or can become disasters (scenario-building). The first, concerns the long-term plausible scenario of water scarcity and droughts analyzing population growth rates, water distribution and consumption through the Chance2Sustain research project and presenting spatial representations. The maps were used to define possible spatial intervention priorities to deal with future water vulnerabilities in Lima. The second, refers to short term extreme weather events that already manifest as mudslides and floods and El Niño in Chosica, eastern Lima. We investigate the first at the metropolitan city scale level and the second at the scale of vulnerable communities. The cases illustrate iterative spatial knowledge construction, in which processes of risk prioritization, normalization and tolerance occur, and the resulting [in-]action by a variety of actors so far. The methodology used collective and iterative mapping processes, using technical, organizational and geographical knowledge from a variety of governance, experts and practitioner networks in Lima. The main outcome is the social learning derived from bringing together different kinds of knowledge and integrating several dimensions through spatial representations. This has raised awareness, increased capacities for dealing with uncertainty and contributed to the approved metropolitan Climate Change Adaptation Strategy, but not implemented by the Lima Municipality yet. The main conclusions are two: 1) spatial planning is a quite political process (c.f. Flyvbjerg 1998), in which knowledge is contested or even when acknowledged, does not necessarily steer decision-making processes, either by local communities, authorities and private institutions. And 2) existing models linking knowledge construction to risk framing, risk tolerance and how these influence decision-making processes and actions to prevent disaster may ignore the issues of risk tolerance, through normalization and prioritization at their peril. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Characterizing urban landscapes is important given the present and future projections of global population that favor urban growth. The definition of “urban” on a thematic map has proven to be problematic since urban areas are heterogeneous in terms of land use and land cover. Further, certain urban classes are inherently imprecise due to the difficulty in integrating various social and environmental inputs into a precise definition. Social components often include demographic patterns, transportation, building type and density while ecological components include soils, elevation, hydrology, climate, vegetation and tree cover. In this paper, we adopt a coupled human and natural system (CHANS) integrated scientific framework for characterizing urban landscapes. We implement the framework by adopting a fuzzy sets concept of “urban characterization” since fuzzy sets relate to classes of object with imprecise boundaries in which membership is a matter of degree. For dynamic mapping applications, user-defined classification schemes involving rules combining different social and ecological inputs can lead to a degree of quantification in class labeling varying from “highly urban” to “least urban”. A socio-economic perspective of urban may include threshold values for population and road network density while a more ecological perspective of urban may utilize the ratio of natural versus built area and percent forest cover. Threshold values are defined to derive the fuzzy rules of membership, in each case, and various combinations of rules offer a greater flexibility to characterize the many facets of the urban landscape. We illustrate the flexibility and utility of this fuzzy inference approach called the Fuzzy Urban Index for the Boston Metro region with five inputs and eighteen rules. The resulting classification map shows levels of fuzzy membership ranging from highly urban to least urban or rural in the Boston study region. We validate our approach using two experts assessing accuracy of the resulting fuzzy urban map. We discuss how our approach can be applied in other urban contexts with newly emerging descriptors of urban sustainability, urban ecology and urban metabolism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of Mode 2 has often been seen as especially applicable to fields addressing grand challenges, such as climate change. Being a relatively new field—interdisciplinary in its approach, and focused on addressing such issues—sustainability science would appear to be a case in point. The aim of this paper is twofold: 1) to explore the perceived relation between Mode 2 and sustainability science, and 2) to advance the discussion of Mode 2 from a philosophical perspective. To address these questions we focus on three characteristic features of Mode 2: the notion of a distinct, but evolving framework; boundary crossing; and a problem solving capacity “on the move”. We report the results of a survey carried out amongst leading sustainability scientists. The survey gives insight into the scientists' perception of Mode 2, their perception of their own field of sustainability science and the relation between the two. The free text answers reveal a tension within the field of sustainability science: with developments both towards Mode 1 and Mode 2 science. We conclude that the implementation of inter- and trans-disciplinarity is challenged by institutional and conceptual factors alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the broad discourses of environmental change, sustainability science, and anthropogenic Earth-surface systems, a focused body of work involves the coupled economic and physical dynamics of developed shorelines. Rapid rates of change in coastal environments, from wetlands and deltas to inlets and dune systems, help researchers recognize, observe, and investigate coupling in natural (non-human) morphodynamics and biomorphodynamics. This same intrinsic quality of fast-paced change also makes developed coastal zones exemplars of observable coupling between physical processes and human activities. In many coastal communities, beach erosion is a natural hazard with economic costs that coastal management counters through a variety of mitigation strategies, including beach replenishment, groynes, revetments, and seawalls. As cycles of erosion and mitigation iterate, coastline change and economically driven interventions become mutually linked. Emergent dynamics of two-way economic–physical coupling is a recent research discovery. Having established a strong theoretical basis, research into coupled human–coastal systems has passed its early proof-of-concept phase. This paper frames three major challenges that need resolving in order to advance theoretical and empirical treatments of human–coastal systems: (1) codifying salient individual and social behaviors of decision-making in ways that capture societal actions across a range of scales (thus engaging economics, social science, and policy disciplines); (2) quantifying anthropogenic effects on alongshore and cross-shore sediment pathways and long-term landscape evolution in coastal zones through time, including direct measurement of cumulative changes to sediment cells resulting from coastal development and management practices (e.g., construction of buildings and artificial dunes, bulldozer removal of overwash after major storms); and (3) reciprocal knowledge and data exchange between researchers in coastal morphodynamics and practitioners of coastal management. Future research into human–coastal systems can benefit from decades of interdisciplinary work on the complex dynamics of common-pool resources, from computational efficiency and new techniques in numerical modeling, and from the growing catalog of high-resolution geospatial data for natural and developed coastlines around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary The water–food–energy Nexus has emerged as a new perspective in debates concerned with balancing potentially conflicting sectoral imperatives of large scale development investments concerned with energy, water or food security. Current frameworks are partial as they largely represent a water-centric perspective. Our hypothesis is that a dynamic Nexus framework that attempts to equally weight sectoral objectives provides a new paradigm for diagnosis and investigation. Dynamic refers here to explicitly understanding (or a diagnosis of) the dynamic relationships and ripple effects whereas static-comparative refers to a comparison of states before and after change. This paper proposes a balanced Nexus framework and presents results from an application to the Mekong basin. The analysis identified the advantages of a sectorally balanced, dynamic Nexus approach, in particular the ability to reveal either the emergence of cross-sectoral connections, or changes in those connections, as a consequence of single sector interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessing the impact of climate change on urban landscape dynamics (ULD) is the foundation for adapting to climate change and maintaining urban landscape sustainability. This paper demonstrates an alternative future analysis by coupling a system dynamics (SD) and a cellular automata (CA) model. The potential impact of different climate change scenarios on ULD from 2009 to 2030 was simulated and evaluated in the Beijing–Tianjin–Tangshan megalopolis cluster area (BTT-MCA). The results suggested that the integrated model, which combines the advantages of the SD and CA model, has the strengths of spatial quantification and flexibility. Meanwhile, the results showed that the influence of climate change would become more severe over time. In 2030, the potential urban area affected by climate change will be 343.60–1260.66 km 2 (5.55 –20.37 % of the total urban area, projected by the no-climate-change-effect scenario). Therefore, the effects of climate change should not be neglected when designing and managing urban landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If the planet's atmospheric CO 2eq concentration is to be limited to 450 ppm by the middle of this century, what limitation does this place on the size of dwellings and residential buildings energy consumption? This paper aims to answer and discuss these questions. In the analysis, the world is subdivided into different regions according to climate and socioeconomic characteristics. We have collected demographic statistics regarding housing and residential building energy consumption in 31 countries and 14 provinces/municipalities. Scenarios analyses include energy availability, dwelling size development and technology expansion. The results indicate that: 1) there is a limitation on dwelling space and energy consumption within the 450 ppm CO 2eq constraint. 2) There is a trade-off on consumptions between dwelling size and energy. Most regions have a potential to increase dwelling space in the future, if residents can reduce the residential energy consumption. 3) Zero energy building technology is essential to reducing residential building energy consumption, especially in the USA, Japan and the emerging economics. 4) The requirement of zero energy buildings is more urgent in the emerging economies, especially China and Middle East than the OECD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the European Union, the share of renewable energy has increased significantly over the past few years. Among renewable energy options, bioenergy is considered to be the dominant energy source. Previous literature is inconclusive regarding the suitability of bioenergy to mitigate greenhouse gases. The goal of this paper is to address this research gap. Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) of biomass systems for electricity generation were gathered via a systematic literature review and form the empirical basis of this study. A quantitative exploratory analysis and a Qualitative Comparative Analysis were carried out to identify the greenhouse gas mitigation potential of different biomass systems used for electricity generation. Significant variations in LCA results are due to the heterogeneity of these systems; therefore, the transferability of LCA results to similar systems must be investigated on a case-by-case basis. Results show that electricity from biomass can be an appropriate measure for greenhouse gas mitigation in the European Union. To mitigate greenhouse gases, it is recommended to promote the employment of (1) non-dedicated lignocellulosic biomass with thermochemical conversion, (2) dedicated lignocellulosic biomass with thermochemical conversion, and (3) dedicated lignocellulosic biomass with direct combustion. For a more holistic assessment, future research should focus not only on greenhouse gas emissions, but also on other environmental, economic, and social impact categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In integrated assessment models (IAMs) economic activity leads to global warming, which causes future economic costs. However, typical IAMs do not explicitly represent the role of natural capital. In this paper, the DICE model by Nordhaus (2008) is expanded with a natural capital variable that is affected both by climate change and by depletive effects of economic activity. Due to a synergy between the two effects, the optimal policy of the expanded model features more and earlier abatement of CO 2 emissions than DICE. Interestingly, the policy implications are different from what follows if one tries to capture the depletive effects on natural capital by simply reducing factor productivity growth in DICE. Acknowledging considerable uncertainty, simulations show that climate- and savings rate policies from the expanded model are more robust in the long term than policies that do not consider non-climatic depletion effects on natural capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We focus in this paper on the embodied and operational contribution to climate change of a concrete-printing robotic cell. We first propose, in the case of extrusion-based additive manufacturing, a simple functional unit that relates a volume-based material impact and a time-based process impact through the printing head velocity and the filament cross section. We then compute, for two robotic arms/bi-component case studies, the embodied impact related to the production of the printing cells themselves and measure their hourly electrical power consumptions. Our results and analysis suggest that the relative contribution to climate change of the printing process alone depends mostly on its spatial resolution. This suggests finally the existence of an optimal printing resolution that may allow for the highest material saving while minimizing the process-related climate change impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the Residential Solar Block (RSB) envelope, a derivative of the original solar envelope that enables the development of compact residential urban blocks with high passive solar potential. The presented construction method of the RSB envelope is transferable to different climatic and development conditions. The solar geometry data required for its construction is deduced from energy simulations of a typical thermal zone with respect to useful passive solar gains and local climatic needs. A pilot study of the RSB Envelope at an urban site in the Mediterranean demonstrates a significant improvement over the existing urban layout in terms of winter insolation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With expectations for resource efficiency and climate change adaptation in the construction industry, there is an increasing need for contractors to implement sustainable practices. Such action will burden contractors with additional costs that will lower their economic performance. There are few research studies on how sustainability relates to a firm's competitiveness. This paper represents an empirical study of the relationship between sustainability performance and business competitiveness of international construction contractors. An inverse U-shape relationship between contractors' sustainability performance and their international revenue, and a U-shape relationship between contractors' sustainability performance and their international revenue growth was discovered. The findings can help international contractors have a better understanding of the relationship between sustainability performance and business competitiveness, evaluate their current position in the relationship, optimize their resource allocation on sustainable development and integrate sustainability into their strategic planning. Therefore, contractors with high sustainability performance can expect higher international revenue growth, and sustainability performance is likely to become an opportunity for competitive advantage in the international construction market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biogas-linked agro-ecosystems provide economic and environmental benefits by using resources in a multipurpose manner. They utilize an energy consumption pattern that has prominent advantages in relieving energy shortages and reducing environmental pollution. To better understand the effects of these multiple aspects, it is important to study how much of the energy flow is extracted and available through the biogas-linked agro-ecosystem using an economic input–output evaluation or ecological and social influence assessments. It is also equally important to understand the conversion efficiency during the life cycle of biogas production, and how humans influence the whole process of the biogas-linked agro-ecosystem. This paper attempts to establish a life cycle-based accounting model of a household biogas system using different economic and ecological metrics for multiple objective considerations, to provide a powerful and comprehensive perspective to illustrate sustainability problems. In this study we use a typical household biogas system in Gongcheng Autonomous County (Guangxi Province, China) as a case study to reveal an effective route and strategy to relieve energy shortage, reduce environmental pollution, and improve human productivity. In this way, we can construct an exemplary example of how to realize sustainable development in a rural area with positive objective conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]