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Anthropogenic influences significantly modify the hydrochemical properties and material flow in riverine ecosystems across Asia, potentially accounting for 40-50% of global emissions. Despite the pervasive impact on Asian rivers, there is a paucity of studies investigating their correlation with carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions. In this study, we computed the partial pressure of CO 2 (pCO 2 ) using the carbonate equilibria-based model (pCO 2 SYS) and examined its correlation with hydrochemical parameters from historical records at 91 stations spanning 2013-2021 in the Ganga River. The investigation unveiled substantial spatial heterogeneity in the pCO 2 across the Ganga River. The pCO 2 concentration varied from 1321.76 μatm, 1130.98 μatm, and 1174.33 μatm in the upper, middle, and lower stretch, respectively, with a mean of 1185.29 μatm. Interestingly, the upper stretch exhibited elevated mean pCO 2 and FCO 2 levels (fugacity of CO 2 : 3.63 gm 2 d -1 ) compared to the middle and lower stretch, underscoring the intricate interplay between hydrochemistry and CO 2 dynamics. In the context of pCO 2 fluctuations, nitrate concentrations in the upper segment and levels of biological oxygen demand (BOD) and dissolved oxygen (DO) in the middle and lower segments are emerging as crucial explanatory factors. Furthermore, regression tree (RT) and importance analyses pinpointed biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) as the paramount factor influencing pCO 2 variations across the Ganga River (n = 91). A robust negative correlation between BOD and FCO 2 was also observed. The distinct longitudinal patterns of both parameters may induce a negative correlation between BOD and pCO 2 . Therefore, comprehensive studies are necessitated to decipher the underlying mechanisms governing this relationship. The present insights are instrumental in comprehending the potential of CO 2 emissions in the Ganga River and facilitating riverine restoration and management. Our findings underscore the significance of incorporating South Asian rivers in the evaluation of the global carbon budget., 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 © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

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.)

The EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is regarded as the world's first carbon tariff regulation. Its consequential impacts on the trades of individual countries/regions at different development stages are crucial for climate justice while remaining unclear. By combining Multi-regional Input-output analysis and scenario analysis, this study analyzed the economic-carbon inequality in national/regional plastic exports and simulated CBAM's short-term impacts on plastic trade inequality under different scenarios. Our analysis shows that the maximum values of total carbon tariffs for all countries/regions levied on plastic exports to the EU will be 497.8, 859.1, and 1564.2 million euros under scenarios covering Scope 1, Scope 1&2, and Scope 1&2&3 emissions, respectively. The corresponding proportions of CBAM costs to national/regional plastic export volumes to the EU will be 0.6%, 1.0%, and 1.8% on average, respectively. China and the rest of Asia and the Pacific will burden the most CBAM costs in all cases, and Russia will be the country most affected. CBAM will exacerbate the economic-carbon inequality in the plastic trade by reducing the trade profits of developing economies with higher ratios than those of developed economies. Our analysis calls for practical initiatives to induce technological advances toward lower carbon technologies, increase trade diversification, exploit the domestic market's potential, and implement domestic carbon pricing mechanisms to alleviate the negative impact of CBAM., 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.)

Today, the developing economies continue to tackle the penalties of the energy use and its influence on their environmental and socio-economic prosperity, and the developed economies are concentrating on promoting programs and policies to improve and sustain the endowment of adequate energy consumption that pledges less carbon emissions and threats to human health. Currently, millions of people face a dearth of access to reliable, affordable, and clean energy to fulfill their daily requirements. Thus, the mounting need for energy use portends hazardous consequences on human health. This paper investigates the transmission channels and impact of energy consumption on health outcomes in Asia by adopting a panel of selected Asian economies for the period from 1991 and 2019. The findings of the study show that energy causes a rise in infant mortality rate and a reduction in life expectancy. Furthermore, the study found that a high degree of pollution emissions causes a rise in infant mortality and a decline in life expectancy., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Zhang, Chen and Li.)

In this paper, we quantify the CO2 and N2O emissions from denitrification over the Amazonian wetlands. The study concerns the entire Amazonian wetland ecosystem with a specific focus on three floodplain (FP) locations: the Branco FP, the Madeira FP and the FP alongside the Amazon River. We adapted a simple denitrification model to the case of tropical wetlands and forced it by open water surface extent products from the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite. A priori model parameters were provided by in situ observations and gauging stations from the HYBAM Observatory. Our results show that the denitrification and the trace gas emissions present a strong cyclic pattern linked to the inundation processes that can be divided into three distinct phases: activation, stabilization and deactivation. We quantify the average yearly denitrification and associated emissions of CO2 and N2O over the entire watershed at 17.8 kgN ha -1 yr -1 , 0.37 gC- CO2 m -2 yr -1 and 0.18 gN- N2O m -2 yr -1 respectively for the period 2011–2015. When compared to local observations, it was found that the CO2 emissions accounted for 0.01 % of the integrated ecosystem, which emphasizes the fact that minor changes to the land cover may induce strong impacts on the Amazonian carbon budget. Our results are consistent with the state of the art of global nitrogen models with a positive bias of 28 %. When compared to other wetlands in different pedoclimatic environments we found that the Amazonian wetlands have similar emissions of N2O with the Congo tropical wetlands and lower emissions than the temperate and tropical anthropogenic wetlands of the Garonne (France), the Rhine (Europe) and south-eastern Asia rice paddies. In summary our paper shows that a data-model-based approach can be successfully applied to quantify N2O and CO2 fluxes associated with denitrification over the Amazon basin. In the future, the use of higher-resolution remote sensing products from sensor fusion or new sensors like the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission will permit the transposition of the approach to other large-scale watersheds in tropical environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper utilizes spatial econometric reenactments to examine the geographic effects of different types of environmentally friendly power on corban discharges. The example covers 31 nations in the Asia-Pacific district during the time frame 2000 to 2018. The spatial connection in the model was affirmed by symptomatic testing, and the spatial Durbin model was picked as the last model. Results show that Gross domestic product per capita, receptiveness to business sectors, unfamiliar direct venture, energy force, and urbanization critically affect CO2 emanations. In correlation, just wind and sunlight-based energy have added to a generous abatement in ozone harming substance emanations in nations over the long run. In contrast, hydropower, bioenergy, and geothermal energy discoveries have been irrelevant. A cross-sectional examination worldview delineated that nations with more elevated sunlight-based energy yield have higher CO2 outflows, while nations with lower levels have lower CO2 emanations. The presence of spatial impacts in the model gave off an impression of the negative consequences for homegrown CO2 outflows of Gross domestic product per capita and exchange transparency of adjoining nations. Furthermore, energy power and higher creation of sustainable power in adjoining nations will prompt lower homegrown CO2 outflows., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the research work presented in this article.

Although Asian economies have registered strong economic growth over the last few decades, their growing pollution emissions raise concerns among the policymakers about the sustainability of this output growth. This paper tests the causal relationship between economic development, energy consumption, trade openness, financial development, FDI, government expenditures, institutional quality. and pollution emissions for 41 Asian economies from 1996 to 2015. Further, we separately test the impact of political and economic institutions on pollution emissions of the sample economies. Our estimated outcomes, based on the panel cointegration method and panel vector error correction models (VECM), substantiate the presence of a cointegration relationship among all the selected variables. While economic development, energy use, trade openness, and FDI augment environmental degradation, financial development and better economic institutions help the selected countries in reducing their pollution emissions. Moreover, better economic and political institutions also mediate the adverse impact of income, trade openness, and FDI on pollution emissions. The VECM model shows that per capita GDP is the only variable having a causal effect on pollution emissions in all the models. For all the other variables, the causal effect is significant only in a few cases. These outcomes have some important policy recommendations for the sample economies., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

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.)

Several developing countries in Asia are relying on agricultural practices in which climate change is a challenging concern. The trends change in atmospheric parameters and vegetation indices are questioned and vague. Consequently, the trend variations of the environmental characteristics were introduced in the first decade of 21 century to better understand the trend changes and envisage the relationship between the atmospheric parameters and the vegetation cover. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer and the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder provide several atmospheric parameters, e.g., Air Temperature, Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD), and Carbon Dioxide (CO2). In addition, NDVI was estimated and aimed at the role of the interactions among the atmospheric parameters based on statistical analysis. The results showed that AOD and NDVI were air temperature dependent; meanwhile, AOD, NDVI, and air temperature were exchanging and influencing one another. Furthermore, the average minimum air temperature of the region increased during this period and carbon dioxide was a time-dependant parameter that was rising at a steep slope, which may lead to environmental crises. The trend analysis outlines what policies, programs, and procedures should be used to balance the ecosystem and mitigate the climatic negative effects. The Current research strengthens on the social awareness and the international cooperation to reduce socio-economic and political harm and loss in the face of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food production is an important source of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Quantifying the carbon footprint of all the major food categories in different continents is critical for accurately evaluating various aspects of GHG emissions from food production on a continental and global scale. Such information, however, is lacking. Thus, we conducted a meta-analysis of plant-based and animal-based food production in all continents comprehensively using 5353 carbon footprint values from 524 published papers and calculated GHG emissions from food production (system boundary is from cradle to farm gate) at the continental and global scale. Our results indicate that the average carbon footprint of plant-based foods amounts to 0.66 kg CO 2 -eq kg−1, which is only 10.7% of animal-based foods (6.15 kg CO 2 -eq kg−1). The carbon footprint of plant-based food in Asia and Europe is 8.9%–184% higher than that of other continents. Africa has the lowest carbon footprint for plant-based foods, owing to its low agricultural input and limited crop management. However, the carbon footprint of animal-based foods in Africa and Asia is 2.5%–150% higher than that of other continents, with North America and Oceania recording the lowest. Total annual GHG emission from global food production reached 8125 Mt CO 2 -eq, with grains, meat, and milk together accounting for 70.8%. Asia, owing to its large production, emerged as the largest emitter, accounting for 55.4% of global GHG emissions. It was followed by Europe (16.3%) and North America (10.5%), while Africa, South America and Oceania together emit 17.8%. In summary, our study presents the most comprehensive account of the carbon footprint of food production at the continental and global scale to-date, which will help develop strategies and policies to reduce GHG emissions at various levels such as geographical regions, food and nutrition security, resource availability and resource use. • Plant-based food carbon footprint (CF) < 89% than that of animal-based food. • Plant-based food CF in Asia and Europe up to >184% than that of other regions. • Animal-based food CF in Africa, Asia up to >150% than that of other regions. • Global food production GHG emission is 8125 Mt CO 2 yr−1. • Asia emits 55% of global food GHG emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the face of climate change, it is essential to rethink how we build to reduce the environmental impact of the construction industry. Timber construction can be a solution to reduce the use of concrete or steel, whose manufacture emits much CO 2. This paper proposes a method to reinterpret tenon and mortise joints for construction. Friction-based assemblies, particularly mortise and tenon wooden joints, have been studied for centuries in Asia and Europe and may offer promising constructive solutions, such as allowing disassembling rather than demolishing a structure. These assemblies can be complex; they initially required a great deal of craftsmanship, which robotics can now replace to manufacture and assemble them. Nevertheless, it is necessary to develop methods to produce these robotic joints. Our method uses non-sequential assemblies, which are by definition, opposed to sequential assemblies. An assembly is said to be sequential when the elements that compose it are assembled one after the other, in a defined order or not. For a non-sequential assembly, all the elements that compose it are in motion and assembled simultaneously. This assembly method has the particularity of being locked only by its kinematics, which makes it possible to easily (dis)assemble the elements by only knowing their motion. After an introduction and defining the terms and hypotheses of our research, we discuss the related word. In the fourth section, the developed method is explained. Then, we introduce the different parameters to control the assembly's design and kinematics. After that, we extend the previous method to the third dimension. Finally, a construction prototype demonstrates the method's efficiency. [Display omitted] • Generality: our method works for pure translation, in 2D or 3D. • Exhaustivity: any kinematic can be generate thanks to parallel transformation. • Control: calculations and parameters are given to choose the kinematics according to external factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The terrestrial carbon sink slows the accumulation of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere by absorbing roughly 30% of anthropogenic CO2 emissions, but varies greatly from year to year. The resulting variations in the atmospheric CO2 growth rate (CGR) have been related to tropical temperature and water availability. The apparent sensitivity of CGR to tropical temperature ( γ CGR T ) has changed markedly over the past six decades, however, the drivers of the observation to date remains unidentified. Here, we use atmospheric observations, multiple global vegetation models and machine learning products to analyze the cause of the sensitivity change. We found that a threefold increase in γ CGR T emerged due to the long-term changes in the magnitude of CGR variability (i.e., indicated by one standard deviation of CGR; STDCGR), which increased 34.7% from 1960-1979 to 1985-2004 and subsequently decreased 14.4% in 1997-2016. We found a close relationship (r2 = 0.75, p < 0.01) between STDCGR and the tropical vegetated area (23°S – 23°N) affected by extreme droughts, which influenced 6-9% of the tropical vegetated surface. A 1% increase in the tropical area affected by extreme droughts led to about 0.14 Pg C yr−1 increase in STDCGR. The historical changes in STDCGR were dominated by extreme drought-affected areas in tropical Africa and Asia, and semi-arid ecosystems. The outsized influence of extreme droughts over a small fraction of vegetated surface amplified the interannual variability in CGR and explained the observed long-term dynamics of γ CGR T . The apparent temperature sensitivity of atmospheric CO2 growth rate has increased markedly over the past six decades, however, the increase remains unexplained. Here we show that tropical extreme droughts amplified the interannual variability in atmospheric CO2 growth rate and drove the sensitivity change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most significant greenhouse gas, and its concentration is continuously increasing, mainly as a consequence of anthropogenic activities. Accurate quantification of CO2 is critical for addressing the global challenge of climate change and for designing mitigation strategies aimed at stabilizing CO2 emissions. Satellites provide the most effective way to monitor the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. In this study, we utilized the concentration of the column-averaged dry-air mole fraction of CO2 , i.e., XCO2 retrieved from a CO2 monitoring satellite, the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2), and the net primary productivity (NPP) provided by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) to estimate the anthropogenic CO2 emissions using the Generalized Regression Neural Network (GRNN) over East and West Asia. OCO-2 XCO2 , MODIS NPP, and the Open-Data Inventory for Anthropogenic Carbon dioxide (ODIAC) CO2 emission datasets for a period of 5 years (2015–2019) were used in this study. The annual XCO2 anomalies were calculated from the OCO-2 retrievals for each year to remove the larger background CO2 concentrations and seasonal variability. The XCO2 anomaly, NPP, and ODIAC emission datasets from 2015 to 2018 were then used to train the GRNN model, and, finally, the anthropogenic CO2 emissions were estimated for 2019 based on the NPP and XCO2 anomalies derived for the same year. The estimated and the ODIAC CO2 emissions were compared, and the results showed good agreement in terms of spatial distribution. The CO2 emissions were estimated separately over East and West Asia. In addition, correlations between the ODIAC emissions and XCO2 anomalies were also determined separately for East and West Asia, and East Asia exhibited relatively better results. The results showed that satellite-based XCO2 retrievals can be used to estimate the regional-scale anthropogenic CO2 emissions, and the accuracy of the results can be enhanced by further improvement of the GRNN model with the addition of more CO2 emission and concentration datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combined NO2 and CO2 observations have the potential to constrain the identification of the locations and strength of urban CO2 emissions, in particular, point sources such as power plants. We report the first results of airborne spectroscopic NO2 and CO2 observations over an urban area in Japan in February 2018. Inversed emission rates of two stacks of the coal‐fired power plant for CO2 showed relatively good agreement with those estimated by a bottom‐up inventory—the Regional Emission inventory in ASia (REAS) v3.1—within −7% to 40% because the plume shapes were well identified due to constraint by NO2 measurements. The estimated NOx emission rates showed discrepancies more than 80% with those estimated by the REAS v3.1, mainly due to the uncertainties in activity data and emission factors, or in the greatly varying NO/NO2 ratios in fresh plumes, which warrant further investigations when estimating NOx emissions from satellite NO2 observations on km‐scales. Plain Language Summary: Burning of fossil fuels at high temperatures constitutes a major anthropogenic source of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and carbon dioxide (CO2). While CO2 stays in the atmosphere for hundreds of years, thereby being a well‐mixed gas, NO2 has a much shorter lifetime of only a few hours. This substantial difference in lifetime between NO2 and CO2 means that concurrent NO2 and CO2 observations obtained by the same platform can be used to identify the locations and strength of CO2 emissions from point sources such as power plants. In February 2018, for the first time, we obtained concurrent airborne spectroscopic NO2 and CO2 observations over an urban area, to demonstrate the traceability of NO2 to CO2. The plumes of co‐emitted NO2 and CO2 were derived from measured spectra. The plumes of NO2 and CO2 co‐emitted from the stacks of power plants were well identified owing to constraint by NO2. Uncertainties of inversed emission rates were statistically derived. For CO2, the results were within 40% in agreement with a bottom‐up emission inventory known as REAS v3.1. For NOx, however, a disagreement of 80% was identified, likely due to the uncertainties of the inventory data or in the NOx partitioning in fresh plumes. Key Points: Concurrent observations of NO2 and CO2 in fresh plumes from a large single point source using airborne spectrometers were reportedColumnar enhancements of NO2 and CO2 due to power plant emissions were up to 3.8 × 1016 molec.cm−2 and 75 ppm, respectivelyPlume shapes of CO2 emitted from power plants were well identified and constrained by NO2 plume shapes [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of seasonally asymmetric warming on ecosystem respiration (Re), CH 4 uptake, and N 2 O emissions in alpine grassland of the Tianshan of central Asia, from October 2016 to September 2019. The annual means of Re , CH 4 , and N 2 O fluxes in growing season were 42.83 mg C m -2 h -1 , - 41.57 µ g C m -2 h -1 , and 4.98 µ g N m -2 h -1 , respectively. Furthermore, warming during the non-growing season increased Re and CH 4 uptake by 7.9 % and 10.6 % in the growing season and 10.5 % and 9.2 % in the non-growing season, respectively. However, the increase in N 2 O emission in the growing season was mainly caused by the warming during the growing season (by 29.7 %). The warming throughout the year and warming during the non-growing season increased N 2 O emissions by 101.9 % and 192.3 % in the non-growing season, respectively. The Re , CH 4 uptake, and N 2 O emissions were positively correlated with soil temperature. Our results suggested that Re , CH 4 uptake, and N 2 O emissions were regulated by soil temperature, rather than soil moisture, in the case of seasonally asymmetric warming. In addition, the response rate was defined by the changes in greenhouse gas fluxes driven by warming. In our field experiment, we observed the stimulatory effect of warming during the non-growing season on Re and CH 4 uptake. In contrast, the response rates of Re and N 2 O emissions were gradually attenuated by long-term annual warming, and the response rate of Re was also weakened by warming over the growing season. These findings highlight the importance of warming in the non-growing season in regulating greenhouse gas fluxes, a finding which is crucial for improving our understanding of C and N cycles under the scenarios of global warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paleocene lavas of the Dianzhong Formation preserved in the Linzhou Basin of South Tibet provide a unique opportunity to constrain the initial geometry of the India‐Asia collision; however, earlier studies argued a complex magnetic signature resulting from thermal and/or chemical remagnetizations. To better characterize the remanences obtained from the Dianzhong lavas, we carried out an intraformational conglomerate test on a previously‐studied section in the Linzhou Basin. The positive conglomerate test suggests that the characteristic remanences reported from the Dianzhong Formation are primary. The updated Paleocene pole confirms a paleolatitude of 6.7° ± 4.4°N for the Lhasa terrane and positions the southern margin of Asia in the equatorial humid belt. An initial collision, between India, Asia and an intra‐oceanic arc in the equatorial humid belt, may have intensified silicate weathering and resulted in an extra consummation of carbon dioxide, which contributes to a long‐term cooling of the Earth during the Cenozoic. Plain Language Summary: The locus of the initial India‐Asia collision can be constrained using paleomagnetic studies on the Paleocene volcanics from the Linzhou Basin, South Tibet. However, the primary nature of the magnetic signature previously reported from the Dianzhong Formation was questioned. This study carries out an intraformational conglomerate test collected from the middle part of the Dianzhong Formation. The stable remanences isolated from a layer of intercalated lava cobbles yield a random distribution in contrast to the well‐grouped directions obtained from the over‐ and underlying lava layers resulting in a positive conglomerate test. We therefore argue for a primary nature for the characteristic remanence recorded by the Dianzhong lavas from the Linzhou Basin. Our study confirms a low latitude of ∼7°N, that is, within the equatorial humid belt, for the southern margin of Asia during ∼64–60 Ma. An initial low‐latitude collision between India and Asia is critical for understanding the tectonic and climatic significance of the India‐Asia collision. Key Points: Characteristic remanences reported from the Dianzhong lavas in the Linzhou Basin are primary in originThe updated Paleocene pole confirms a low latitude of ∼7°N for the Lhasa terraneAn initial collision between India, Asia and an oceanic arc in the equatorial humid belt may contribute to the Cenozoic cooling of the Earth [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Satellite retrievals of the column-averaged dry air mole fractions of CO 2 (XCO 2) could help to improve carbon flux estimation due to their good spatial coverage. In this study, in order to assimilate the GOSAT (Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite) XCO 2 retrievals, the Global Carbon Assimilation System (GCAS) is upgraded with new assimilation algorithms, procedures, a localization scheme, and a higher assimilation parameter resolution. This upgraded system is referred to as GCASv2. Based on this new system, the global terrestrial ecosystem (BIO) and ocean (OCN) carbon fluxes from 1 May 2009 to 31 December 2015 are constrained using the GOSAT ACOS (Atmospheric CO 2 Observations from Space) XCO 2 retrievals (Version 7.3). The posterior carbon fluxes from 2010 to 2015 are independently evaluated using CO 2 observations from 52 surface flask sites. The results show that the posterior carbon fluxes could significantly improve the modeling of atmospheric CO 2 concentrations, with global mean bias decreases from a prior value of 1.6 ± 1.8 ppm to - 0.5 ± 1.8 ppm. The uncertainty reduction (UR) of the global BIO flux is 17 %, and the highest monthly regional UR could reach 51 %. Globally, the mean annual BIO and OCN carbon sinks and their interannual variations inferred in this study are very close to the estimates of CarbonTracker 2017 (CT2017) during the study period, and the inferred mean atmospheric CO 2 growth rate and its interannual changes are also very close to the observations. Regionally, over the northern lands, the strongest carbon sinks are seen in temperate North America, followed by Europe, boreal Asia, and temperate Asia; in the tropics, there are strong sinks in tropical South America and tropical Asia, but a very weak sink in Africa. This pattern is significantly different from the estimates of CT2017, but the estimated carbon sinks for each continent and some key regions like boreal Asia and the Amazon are comparable or within the range of previous bottom-up estimates. The inversion also changes the interannual variations in carbon fluxes in most TransCom land regions, which have a better relationship with the changes in severe drought area (SDA) or leaf area index (LAI), or are more consistent with previous estimates for the impact of drought. These results suggest that the GCASv2 system works well with the GOSAT XCO 2 retrievals and shows good performance with respect to estimating the surface carbon fluxes; meanwhile, our results also indicate that the GOSAT XCO 2 retrievals could help to better understand the interannual variations in regional carbon fluxes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the environmental efficiency, productivity, and shadow price of carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions of 52 Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries for 2005–2016. We consider the case of three inputs (Energy, Labor and Capital), one desirable output (GDP), and one undesirable output (CO 2 emissions). The contribution of this paper is that we use the endogenous directional distance function (DDF) to construct environmental efficiency and sequential productivity indicators. The benefit of this approach is that we can both avoid the influence of arbitrary mapping rules and capture the progressive nature of the technology. The results show that the technical efficiency of Eastern Asia increased continuously during the sample period, while those of the other regions did not show a significant trend, indicating that Eastern Asia was catching up with the frontier faster than the rest of the regions. The average shadow prices of CO 2 emissions for all the BRI countries increased steadily over the sample period, but the shadow prices of Eastern Europe and Central Asia are much higher than those of the other regions. The average productivity of the BRI countries improved for most periods, mainly because of technological progress. Moreover, the technical changes for the six regions during the sample period are all positive, meaning that technology progress is universal for the BRI countries, especially for those in Eastern Asia. The results of this study have important policy implications for carbon reduction in the BRI countries. • The technical efficiency of Eastern Asia increased continuously during 2005–2016. • The reduction potential of CO2 emissions for BRI countries is substantial. • The discrepancy between inefficient BRI countries and their efficient counterparts has increased. • The average shadow price of CO2 emissions for BRI countries has increased during 2005–2016. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has increased the economic growth of many developing countries in Asia, more attention should be paid to carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in these regions. Based on the Tapio decoupling model and Kaya-LMDI model, this paper investigates the spatiotemporal evolution of decoupling and driving factors of CO2 emissions of 57 BRI countries from 1991 to 2016. The results are as follows. First, the decoupling statuses of higher income countries are generally better than lower income countries. Second, Northeast Asia, South Asia, and West Asia accounted for 68.5%, 16.8%, and 13.3% of CO2 emission increases in BRI countries from 1991 to 2016. Third, almost all countries' CO2 emissions significantly rise due to economic growth, while energy intensity reduces CO2 emissions to some extent. Energy exports increase CO2 emissions to varying degrees in Asia countries, but their impact has gradually fallen. Except for Europe, the population size effect increases CO2 emissions, especially in West Asia. China, India, Russia, and five OPEC countries show similar characteristics with the above regions. • The Tapio decoupling model is applied to analyze the CO 2 decoupling of 57 Belt and Road Initiative countries. • Five driving forces of CO 2 emissions are identified via the Kaya-LMDI model. • Spatiotemporal characteristics of decoupling and driving forces are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]