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The European Green Deal (EGD) represents the most ambitious environmental policy framework in European history, aimed at improving the health and well-being of citizens and future generations through climate action and becoming the first climate-neutral region in the world by 2050. The EC has initiated the European Democracy Action Plan and the European Climate Pact to include the participation of citizens in a meaningful way to help achieve these goals (i.e. not simply a tokenistic gesture or box-ticking exercise). While these efforts to ensure greater citizen participation and deliberation in environmental policy are good first steps, there is still a lack of clarity about what meaningful citizen engagement should look like. This paper will propose that for such efforts to be successful, we need to assess different perspectives in the debate and provide recommendations based on this. This paper provides a systematic review of various approaches within the academic literature on citizen participation and deliberation in environmental policy (ecocentrism, biocentrism, ecomodernism, ecofeminism, environmental pragmatism, environmental citizenship, environmental rights, and environmental justice). Following this, we provide a list of 16 criteria (in five thematic sections) for policymakers, civil society organisations (CSOs), and society, to ensure meaningful citizen participation and deliberation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public participation in local governance is crucial for effective climate action and for ensuring that policies are designed in a way that respects the rights of communities. Policy developments and choices are shaped by the groups that participate, by the ideas that they hold, and by the institutions that enable and constrain their participation. This paper seeks to understand local climate change governance in Ireland by identifying the environmental interests and the ideas of the groups that participate, and by examining how they engage with institutionalised local policymaking processes and with the organisations that represent the officially recognised views of the country's national environmental movement. An analysis of survey data collected from the groups that are members of one of Ireland's Public Participation Networks shows that a majority of groups are small, rural, voluntary, interested in a wide variety of environmental issues and have a pro-ecological worldview. Most groups follow a pro-institutional advocacy strategy at the local level, while only a minority interact with the national environmental movement, mostly limiting their engagement to the acquisition of information. This paper contributes to the literature that examines how interests, ideas, and institutions shape public participation in local climate politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global climate issue is becoming increasingly serious, and studying the energy transition (ET) has proven to be an effective solution to this problem. The essence of climate mitigation is to address the issue of ensuring the public health (pH) of human beings. Still, the definitions of ET in existing literature are inconsistent, and Many researches overlook the definitions of ET in official documents and discuss the relationship between ET and pH. Therefore, this research utilizes panel data from 107 countries over the period 2000–2020 to construct an energy transition indicator based on the definition from the World Economic Forum (WEF). It also examines the link between ET and pH using a two-way fixed effects regression. In the current turbulent international environment, this paper also investigates this link in the context of composite risk control (CRC), financial risk control (FRC), economic risk control (ERC), and political risk control (PRC). The results show that ET can significantly improve pH, a conclusion that remains significant after being subjected to a range of robustness tests. The study exploring the mechanism impact on the relationship between ET and pH shows that CRC, FRC, ERC, and PRC all strengthen the effect of ET on pH, and the mechanism effect varies considerably between high-income and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs); ET is more significantly affected by the mechanism in LMICs than in high-income countries. Furthermore, this paper illustrates that ET does not differ by gender in improving pH among infants, while there are gender differences in adults by using the instrumental variable regression and GMM regression to mitigate the endogenous and heteroscedasticity issue for heterogeneity test. The study in this paper can not only inspire policy researchers on which aspects to promote ET, but also provide a direction for improving pH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Miyawaki method, developed by Akira Miyawaki, restores natural forests by planting diverse native species in compact spaces, rapidly creating compact, resilient ecosystems. Initially successful in Japan, its global application bloomed but remains rare in Mediterranean urban areas despite benefits like biodiversity enhancement and climate change mitigation. This method's effectiveness in Mediterranean climates, which face unique challenges like urban heat islands and biodiversity loss, is underexplored in literature and practice. We are leading a project in Italy to identify optimal plant assemblages, addressing the method's documentation gap in urban settings. It explores the potential of Tiny Forests to provide ecosystem services and improve urban liveability against climatic extremes. This note paper details the methodological steps undertaken in this experimental application, offering a tailored approach to test the method's adaptability and impact in Mediterranean urban environments, suggesting a significant opportunity for urban greening and resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the rhetoric and argumentation of two prominent environmental activists, Greta Thunberg and Chris Packham. From the perspective of Ecolinguistics, Thunberg has given voice to a generational movement for change, galvanising young people everywhere through high-profile protests and speeches. Packham represents British mainstream environmentalism, notably as the presenter of the acclaimed nature documentary 'Springwatch'. We argue that their influence partially stems from their alignment with dominant cultural narratives: Thunberg's emphasis on intergenerational discord and Packham's connection to the natural world. We analyse both figures via the lens of the 'emotionalisation of media discourse', highlighting argumentation strategies that feature expressions of negative emotions of which anger is a type. Thunberg's famous 'How dare you?' outburst at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit and Packham's statement to Novara Media, 'I am more angry now than at any point since my 20s', exemplify this trend. We explore the pragmatic implications of their argumentative and discursive strategies, suggesting that while both have significantly elevated the profile of ecological activism, their discourse may also have a potentially divisive aspect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mangroves provide numerous ecological, social, and economic benefits that include carbon sequestration, habitat for biodiversity, food, recreation and leisure, income, and coastal resilience. In this regard, mangrove-based carbon market projects (MbCMP), involving mangrove conservation, protection, and restoration, are a nature-based solution (NbS) for climate change mitigation. Despite the proliferation of blue carbon projects, a highly publicized need for local community participation by developers, and existing project implementation standards, local communities are usually left out for several reasons, such as a lack of capacity to engage in business-to-business (B2B) market agreements and communication gaps. Local communities need to be engaged and supported at all stages of the MbCMP development process to enable them to protect their ecological, economic, and social interests as custodians of such a critical ecosystem. In this paper, we provided 15 strategic considerations and recommendations to engage and secure the interests of local communities in the growing mangrove carbon market trade. The 15 considerations are grouped into four recommendation categories: (i) project development and community engagement, (ii) capacity building and educational activities, (iii) transparency in resource allocation and distribution, and (iv) partnerships with local entities and long-term monitoring. We expect our study to increase local participation and community-level ecological, social, and economic benefits from MbCMP by incorporating equitable benefit-sharing mechanisms in a B2B conservation-agreement model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health. Disability. Vulnerability. These words are often used when discussing the risks of climate disruption. These discussions warn of the potential for climate impacts to "undermine 50 years of gains in public health" (as stated by the Lancet Countdown on Climate Change). Increasingly, such discussions also acknowledge climate injustice, examining who will benefit or lose out from climate change, how and why. The embodied vulnerability of disabled people is often assumed within such discussions, with less consideration of the social, economic or political conditions that create this vulnerability. By bringing disability justice and disability studies into correspondence with care, environmental and climate justice scholarship, this reflective paper challenges the master narratives that blur differentiated experiences of disability and climate impacts into a single story of inevitable vulnerability. Recognising disabled people as knowers, makers and agents of change, it calls for transformative climate action, underpinned by values of solidarity, mutuality and care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conservation of endangered native species and climate change are currently the two most pressing environmental problems on the planet. Therefore, the general objective of the review was to synthesize evidence of the contributions of agroforestry systems to the conservation of native species, carbon sequestration, and livelihood benefits in Ethiopia. A total of 104 publications from 2000 to 2024 publication years were used to provide available evidence and research gaps on agroforestry contribution to native species conservation (n=21), carbon sequestration (n=33), and livelihood benefits (n=35) in Ethiopia. Furthermore, 38 papers from other parts of the world were used to support ideas and relevant evidence linked to the title. The review's findings confirm that agroforestry can serve as in-situ conservation for endangered native species including Cordia africana Lam., Hagenia abyssinica (Bruce) J.F. Gmel., Acacia abyssinica Hochst. ex Benth, Croton macrostachyus Hochst. ex Delile, Ficus sur Forssk and Faidherbia albida (Delile) A. Chev. The review systematic review indicated that agroforestry systems store an average of 40.04 ± 10.4 Mg C ha −1 in biomass and 68.9 ± 9.9 Mg C ha−1 in soil in Ethiopia. Hence, the above-ground carbon was highest for coffee-based agroforestry (17.12 ± 6.3 Mg ha−1) followed by homegarden (16.6 ± 3.2 3 Mg ha−1) and woodlot (7.1 ± 1.09 Mg ha−1). Fuelwood, food, fodder, income, timber, fruits, and poles for construction were the main benefits of livelihood; which have been reported in 37, 30, 26, 25, 23, and 20,18 published articles, respectively. Empirical studies show that an agroforestry system, which can significantly reduce the vulnerabilities of households and store a large amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, is an important strategy for climate adaptation and mitigation. Moreover, further scientific research on agroforestry on the sustainability of agroforestry is needed from responsible bodies in Ethiopia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media greatly facilitates people's access to information; however, it can also lead to information overload and exposure to uncomfortable content that may cause individuals to avoid it. As a result, two types of influencing mechanisms emerge: information exposure and information avoidance, which may impact users' behaviors. Currently, there is limited understanding of the simultaneous effects of social media information exposure and avoidance on individuals' behavioral intentions towards climate change mitigation. Using survey data for 1056 Chinese Gen-Z undergraduates and based on the extended theory of planned behavior, this paper utilizes a partial least squares structural equation model to examine the effects of social media information exposure and information avoidance on individual low-carbon behavioral intention. The results show that information exposure on social media has a positive relationship with behavioral attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control, and then increasing the low-carbon behavioral intention. Information avoidance has a negative association with three factors, respectively, and decreases the low-carbon behavioral intention. Additionally, exposure to social media information has the greatest impact on the subjective norm and the least impact on behavioral attitude; information avoidance has the greatest impact on behavioral attitude, whereas perceived behavioral control is the least affected. Drawing from the results, we propose policy recommendations that facilitate information exposure while addressing avoidance in shaping low-carbon behavioral intentions. Those implications would help reconcile the two opposing effects while promoting public engagement in climate activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the regional implementation of an International Environmental Agreement, the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, especially as waterfowl habitat (Ramsar), using the Arctic as a case study. With almost a quarter of the world's wetlands located in the Arctic, accounting for the planet's largest regional storehouse of carbon, the region is facing threats from climate change-induced permafrost degradation and increasing human activities. Therefore, effective management of these wetlands is crucial for global climate change adaptation and mitigation. The research question addressed by this paper is how effective Arctic states are in achieving the goals outlined in the Ramsar Convention. To address this question, the study employs several methods, including compiling and analyzing data on the status and trends of Ramsar-designated wetlands in the Arctic, comparing state performance against Ramsar commitments, assessing Ramsar reporting mechanisms to monitor implementation progress, and considering potential modifications to enhance the relevance of Ramsar reporting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the centre of the global policy response to climate change. The Paris Agreement, a legally binding treaty under the UNFCCC, has located climate change adaptation as a critical component of the global response to climate change. The Paris Agreement also establishes an enhanced transparency framework to track progress towards Parties climate change commitments. However, the UNFCCC has consistently maintained a marked difference in provisions for reporting climate change adaptation and climate change mitigation. Consequently, reporting on climate change adaptation lags far behind in detail when compared to that for reporting on climate change mitigation. Using literature review as the main method of analysis, this paper aims to understand the underlying factors that have resulted in the lack of specificity of reporting provisions of the UNFCCC for climate change adaptation and the consequences of non-mandatory provisions for reporting on climate change adaptation on national and global adaptation practice. The paper then highlights the benefits of regular reporting of climate change adaptation to the UNFCCC. It makes important contribution to the growing literature on global environmental governance, especially on national reporting of adaptation information, an under-studied and a poorly understood field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

B I Sustainability and Climate Change i b is a peer-reviewed publication dedicated to furthering the science of sustainability, sustainable development, and climate change. The editorial team of B I Sustainability and Climate Change i b invites you to submit your manuscript for consideration. [Extracted from the article]

The emergence of new transformational technology, known as the fourth industrial revolution, has crucially opened a new window to green economic growth. The transition to low carbon, green economy, and green sustainability has gained momentum simultaneously in developed and developing countries. The greening policy echoes the pending climate change and its entrenching disruptions. Financial technology, or FinTech seems to be a promising direction in unlocking the green dilemma; to be concrete, FinTech and the green economy are separately documented in the literature. Against this background, the current study investigates the intersection between green economic growth and FinTech by conducting a systematic-cum-bibliometric analysis of published papers in the Scopus database with the goal of first examining the role and opportunities of implementing green FinTech as a stimulus for transition towards green economic growth in African countries and, second, identifying knowledge gaps and future policy and research directions by developing an integrated framework to help African countries in the transition to green economic growth and green FinTech. The results illustrate an increasing trend in research attention towards the green FinTech concept and its relationship with green economic growth, climate change, and greening rules and standards. A deep inspection of the mined papers indicates that future research trajectories are oriented into five different mainstreams: technology and instruments in digital finance; regulation, policies, and green FinTech; climate risk mitigation through FinTech; FinTech and environmental quality; green finance and climate change mitigation. Based on these research directions, an integrated framework was conceptualised that aims to deliver green economic growth using FinTech as a vehicle of transition for African countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collaboration is strongly promoted as an effective means for cities to respond to climate change. While collaboration is perceived to offer opportunities to progress climate action in cities, little is known about how collaboration can enable low‐carbon transformation in practice. Furthermore, while collaboration is largely framed as a positive endeavour, there is a need to more carefully explore the challenges and barriers that may arise. This paper explores the aims, processes, and outcomes of collaboration within urban climate governance. Drawing on a policy review and semi‐structured interviews, we present empirical findings from the case study of Hong Kong. This paper identifies three types of collaboration that are structured by regulations, oriented to policy goals, and emerge as everyday practices within the governance of climate change and the energy system. The forms of collaboration challenge the assumptions that collaboration always brings positive outcomes in mobilising action for climate change. While collaboration opens up different modes of governance within cities, the paper highlights significant barriers in terms of the diverse roles of actors, ongoing power imbalances, and shifting governance spaces for intervention. Given the prevailing interest in working together, it is critical to review carefully how collaboration facilitates cities to achieve their climate goals and create momentum for action. The paper explores the opportunities and challenges of collaborative climate governance. It draws on a case study of Hong Kong and identifies three modes of collaborative climate and energy governance: regulatory, consensual, and participatory. The paper challenges the assumption that collaboration brings positive outcomes for action on climate change and offers new insights into potential barriers for climate action in cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article, the author discusses their efforts as members of the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) to help in mitigating climate change. Also cited are their strategies like recycling paper, food waste, and containers, their issuance of biodegradable membership cards, and their environmentally-responsible actions for their annual international conference.

The transition toward renewables is central to climate action. The paper empirically tests whether renewables also enhance international peace, a hypothesis discussed in the International Political Economy (IPE) of renewables literature. It develops and tests hypotheses about the pacifying effects of renewables, with a view to establishing the foundations for analyzing more detailed causal mechanisms. These mechanisms rest on the 'energy democracy' debate, suggesting that a low carbon world sees less interstate tension thanks to more states being democratic; the 'capitalist peace' theorem, establishing that the deployment of renewables brings about economic development, reducing conflict; and the human security literature, positing that renewables reduce local-level reduce vulnerabilities, thus enhancing social stability and reducing violence. Using a longitudinal dataset on global renewable energy investment, econometric tests suggest that distributed renewable energy systems do not seem to foster democratic rule, nor do they have a significant influence on human development. Countering the energy democracy literature, it is a higher concentration of renewable investment that tends to increase stability/ absence of violence and human development, instead of decentralized investment patterns. We find no evidence for the 'peace through prosperity' argument. Overall, there is no support for the assumption that renewables bring about peace and reduce conflict. The paper critically discusses the limitations of these findings and suggests further avenues for empirical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the importance of national governments and national-local relationships for scaling up local climate action to achieve global goals. From the Sustainable Development Goals to the New Urban Agenda to the Paris Climate Change Agreement, the achievement of global sustainability goals will depend on deep changes to national infrastructure and urban systems. Through an analysis of climate action planning and investments in exemplary cases in Africa, the paper highlights the opportunities and challenges that come with integrating national governments into urban-focused priorities and needs, especially for mobilising financial resources. The paper finds that scaling up city climate action in the selected African countries benefits from a constructive multi-level relationship between local and national institutions and stakeholders to shape and improve the legislative, financial and operating frameworks to enable systemic change. Large-scale urban climate action can be enabled by formal multi-level institutional arrangements, links to politically prioritised policy frameworks, and transformative aims that address both climate and socio-economic benefits for communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The building sector is responsible for nearly 40% of the total global direct and indirect CO2 emissions. Urban green infrastructure, which includes features such as urban trees, vegetation, green roofs, and green facades, are examples of nature-based solutions often employed as municipal climate mitigation and adaptation strategies. This approach offers a range of cost-effective strategies for reducing municipal CO2 emissions and presents compelling public policy co-benefits such as improved urban livability and enhanced environmental conditions. For municipalities to confidently deploy these solutions at a scale necessary to achieve climate benefits, acquiring knowledge of quantifiable and demonstrated outcomes is an essential requirement. The objectives of this paper are to (1) provide a comprehensive analysis of the advantages and limitations of nature-based solutions (NBS) to address the challenge of reducing CO2 emissions; (2) evaluate existing design guidelines and policies as may be available across Canada, and that that support the of implementation of NBS in urban agglomerations; (3) identify knowledge gaps and research needs to address challenges to the implementation of NBS. In this review, suggestions and requirements as presented in these documents are examined while giving due consideration to the scientific evidence available in research papers. It was found that the adoption of NBS can contribute to carbon neutral communities through reduced building energy consumption and carbon sequestration. Supportive guidelines and policies have been developed, or are in development, to promote the implementation of NBS at the city scale, despite challenges in assessing, quantitatively, their impact due to uncertainties in data, methods, and scale. Nonetheless, existing research provides sufficient evidence to qualify the measures and suggestions outlined in the guidelines and policies described in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses how climate change has an impact on the road transport infrastructure of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (CTMM). There is no empirical component to this paper. Thus, desk research or secondary research was used. The desk research method entails gathering pre-existing data from a range of sources, such as government documents, the internet, critical scholarly reviews, books and conceptual analyses. This paper finds deplorable road infrastructure elements that are highly vulnerable to climate change. It discusses various options for responding to the growth of road transport infrastructure during the planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance phases. The paper shows that a key factor in responding is the design aspect and emphasises the necessity of enhancing institutional capability to implement policy execution of mitigation action. It suggests expanding the current environmental impact assessment risk to incorporate an analysis of the impacts of climate change. The limited amount of literature that is available in the context of the South African local government points to the need for additional research in the fields of road transport and climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

The purpose of this I Special Issue on Access and Allocation in Earth System Governance i is to undertake a decadal analysis of the literature on the subject since 2008, to harvest lessons learnt, to test some of these ideas and to develop theories on governance. Although they apply the access and allocation lens to adaptation, they argue that these terms are less intuitive for the adaptation literature and prefer the notion of climate justice. The final synthesis paper by Gupta and Lebel argues that although in some fields access and allocation may appear to be unintuitive terms, this paired framework enables unpacking socio-ecological justice issues. [Extracted from the article]

Through 1959-2012, an airborne fraction (AF) of 44% of total anthropogenic CO2 emissions remained in the atmosphere, with the rest being taken up by land and ocean CO2 sinks. Understanding of this uptake is critical because it greatly alleviates the emissions reductions required for climate mitigation. An observable quantity that reflects sink properties more directly than the AF is the CO2 sink rate (kS), the combined land-ocean CO2 sink flux per unit excess atmospheric CO2 above preindustrial levels. Here we show from observations that kS declined over 1959-2012 by a factor of about 1/3, implying that CO2 sinks increased more slowly than excess CO2. We attribute the decline in kS to four mechanisms: slower-than-exponential CO2 emissions growth (~ 35% of the trend), volcanic eruptions (~ 25 %), sink responses to climate change (~ 20 %), and nonlinear responses to increasing CO2, mainly oceanic (~ 20 %). The first of these mechanisms is associated purely with extrinsic forcings, and the last two with intrinsic, nonlinear responses of sink processes to changes in climate and atmospheric CO2. Our results indicate that the effects of these intrinsic, nonlinear responses are already detectable in the global carbon cycle. Although continuing future decreases in kS will occur under all plausible CO2 emission scenarios, the rate of decline varies between scenarios in non-intuitive ways because extrinsic and intrinsic mechanisms respond in opposite ways to changes in emissions: extrinsic mechanisms cause kS to decline more strongly with increasing mitigation, while intrinsic mechanisms cause kS to decline more strongly under high-emission, low-mitigation scenarios as the carbon- climate system is perturbed further from a near-linear regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a special issue of the journal "Plants" that focuses on the soil-plant-water system and its interactions. The articles in this issue cover a wide range of topics, including climate change and soil water deficits, forest and woody plant ecosystems, and alternative crop production methods. The studies explore the effects of drought on plant growth and development, the impact of different inter-row soil management techniques on soil water content, and the response of plants to phosphorus addition. The issue also includes research on zero discharge cultivation of cucumbers and indoor vegetable production methods. The authors highlight the importance of studying the soil-plant-water system as an interconnected system and identify areas for further research. [Extracted from the article]

The land-use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector is receiving increasing attention in climate change mitigation and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission offsetting. The sector itself and measures applied to mobilize this sector in order to tackle climate change are dominant in nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement as well as in national strategies, as in the case of Lithuania. Lithuania has set the goal of becoming a carbon-neutral country in 2050, reducing GHGs by 80% compared to 1990 and offsetting the remaining 20% through the LULUCF sector. Therefore, this paper aims at analyzing historical land-use changes in 1990–2021, as reported for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat, and LULUCF's potential to achieve climate change mitigation goals, taking into account different land-use change scenarios (business as usual, forest development, forest development + additional measures and forest land 40% + additional measures) for 2030 and 2050 in Lithuania. The scenarios are based on historical and potential future policy-based land-use changes. Projections of GHG emissions/removals for different scenarios are prepared according to the Good Practice Guidance and Uncertainty Management in National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (2006) by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The results indicate that land-use changes over the period 1990–2021 remained rather stable, with some increases in forest area and grassland at the expense of cropland. The whole LULUCF sector acted as a carbon sink in most cases, forests being a key category for removal. However, reaching climate neutrality in 2050 might be challenging, as the goal to offset 20% of remaining GHG emission compared to 1990 through LULUCF would not be met in any of the scenarios analyzed, even the scenario of maximal forest-area development and additional measures. Considering the high historical GHG-removal fluctuations and the uncertainties of the sector itself, caution should be taken when relying on LULUCF's potential to reach the set goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The association between economic growth and environmental degradation is well documented. However, the link between business climate and ecological footprint remains an open question. This paper therefore explores the extent of the influence of business climate on environmental degradation in Africa. The impacts of business climate are estimated in a panel of 35 African countries observed over the period 2006–2018, using ecological footprint to account for environmental degradation. Panel spatial consistent correlation estimation technique, system generalized method of moments and method of moment panel quantile regression are used to estimate the model. The results show that business climate contributes to environmental degradation in developing economies. A 1% increase in business climate distorts environmental quality by 17.8%. The study reveals that although many development experts often encourage the ease of doing business policy, it does not come without its own potential damaging repercussion for the ecological environment. The paper contributes to the empirics by suggesting a new model that integrates the quantitative impacts of business climate on ecological footprint. Policymakers need to understudy how business firms can incorporate a better responsiveness toward the ecosystem. An improvement in business activities monitoring can help to mitigate the ecological footprint issues in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decarbonizing industrial sectors is a critical global challenge, involving the creation of new industrial spaces—'net zero industrial clusters'—co‐locating energy sectors and 'hard‐to‐abate' industries such as oil refining and steelmaking. This paper provides the first empirically grounded geographical investigation of these emerging spaces. It employs a place‐based research agenda to unpack how UK net zero industrial clusters (ICs) are imagined and emplaced in policy and industry discourses through place‐based naming, spatial configuring and mapping activities. By conducting document analysis, 33 in‐depth stakeholder interviews and five field trips to three UK case studies, we show how cluster imaginaries vary across cases and policy contexts in terms of constituents, focus and purpose. Ontological complexity is compounded by different rationales among stakeholders in configuring clusters and by contested cluster naming and boundary setting. This ambiguous, evolving spatiality raises important political and justice concerns over who and where is excluded in cluster building. These findings advance the geographies of low‐carbon transitions by showing: (1) ways that ICs' spatial embeddedness, which underlies cluster spatial configurations, helps increase industry actors' recognition of their economic, social and cultural ties with the places of their making, even if this risks path dependency; (2) how fluid cluster boundaries, reflected in cluster names and maps, emphasize the value of a network topology of scale to enable spatially inclusive, multi‐scalar climate mitigation. Finally, we argue that a place‐sensitive net zero policy mindset is vital for fulfilling ICs and the UK's decarbonization potential in a manner that is both fair and locally grounded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union (EU) stands at the forefront of the global energy transition, committed to transforming its economy by adopting sustainable energy sources. This paper explores the diverse European sub-models of energy transition, highlighting different patterns among the EU Member States within the context of their particularities. Using the hierarchical cluster methodology and the panel data model with fixed effects for the period 2010-2021, we analyze the broader implications of the energy transition for the restructuring of the EU economy, with a focus on key sectors such as power generation, manufacturing, and social aspects. The study identifies significant challenges, including the need for substantial investment and technological innovation, as well as economic competitiveness, and social consequences. Additionally, the paper illustrates the complex interplay between climate objectives and economic restructuring within the EU, offering insights into the potential of the energy transition to not only mitigate climate change but also to drive socio-economic development and resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inside a regenerative framework, stakeholder networks in the roundabout economy (CE) handle maintainable creation and utilization. Accordingly, an examination of stakeholder communications inside these organizations offers significant experiences into the prompt estimates that ventures should accept to advance more noteworthy congruity between human action and the climate. Regardless, the administration writing on CE doesn't give a reasonable insightful system to stakeholder support. To address this lack, we played out a thorough evaluation of the writing that included subjective substance examination of the board research on CE to unwind the complexities of stakeholder cooperations in CE. By considering the moral, key, and commonsense parts of stakeholder contribution in CE, we can observe specific targets, activities, and results. While even minded stakeholder commitment prevails in our example, the review shows that to exploit stakeholder relationship collaborations in CE, embracing moral and key stakeholder involvement is similarly critical. Our characterization of stakeholder association in CE offers scholastics and directors an outline and features the helpfulness of the stakeholder network rationale driving cooperative endeavors to address ecological worries like biodiversity misfortune and environmental change. In this thus, we add to the collection of information on the convergence of stakeholder commitment and CE the executives writing and give a structure to additional examination around here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This text mining study delves into the multifaceted contributions of the energy sector to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). By analyzing 363 papers, we uncover key themes, trends, and challenges shaping the intersection of energy and sustainability. The findings reveal that the energy sector plays a pivotal role in achieving SDGs such as affordable and clean energy (SDG 7) and climate action (SDG 13). Critical issues encompass governance, policy frameworks, and technological innovations. This research underscores the need for interdisciplinary collaboration and holistic approaches in addressing complex energy-related sustainability challenges. The insights derived here provide guidance to policymakers, researchers, and stakeholders seeking to harness the energy sector's potential for a more sustainable and equitable future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change mitigation in the tourism sector is expanding research areas due to the importance of this sector and its rapid expansion. Aviation's contribution was found to be the most important source of GHG emissions from tourism. Also, the hospitality sector contributes a lot to GHG emissions in tourism destinations. Hospitality, constituting an essential component of the tourism industry, is a sector that has a high potential to reduce GHG and use of energy and water resources. Therefore, it is important to monitor the climate change mitigation performance of tourism destinations to achieve decarbonization of the tourism sector. The main objectives of this paper are to develop indicators of climate change mitigation performance of tourism destinations based on GHG indicators for the transport and hospitality sectors and apply this framework to assessment and ranking based on climate change mitigation performance of 4 main EU geographical regions as tourism destinations: Central, Northern, Southern, and Western Europe. This paper's main methodological approach is comparing and ranking different geographical regions in the European Union by assessing their climate change mitigation performance as tourist destinations. The study's main results showed that Finland, representing North Europe, is the best-performing country in climate change mitigation in tourism destinations. The second-best-performing geographical region is Western Europe. The worst-performing EU region based on climate change mitigation in tourism destinations was Central Europe. The South Europe region was found to be in a slightly better position than Central Europe but worse in comparison with Western Europe and especially in comparison to Northern Europe. The study's main implications provide policy recommendations for Central Europe as a tourism destination to increase energy and water use efficiency and the carbon footprint of the tourism sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

B I Sustainability and Climate Change i b is a peer-reviewed publication dedicated to furthering the science of sustainability, sustainable development, and climate change. Graph: scc.2021.29000.cfp figure1.jpg The editorial team of B I Sustainability and Climate Change i b invites you to submit your manuscript for consideration. [Extracted from the article]

Short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) have significant effects on climate, human health, and the environment. In Morocco, steps are being taken to reduce SLCP emissions, but effective policymaking requires a thorough understanding of emission sources and trends. In this paper, we present a study on the production of a database on SLCP emissions in Morocco, as well as the development of scenarios to project these emissions using LEAP software. The results of this analysis allow us to better understand the emissions sources and evaluate the impact of different emission reduction policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the application and advantages of remote sensing, machine learning, and mid-infrared spectroscopy (MIR) as a popular proximal sensing spectroscopy tool in the estimation of soil organic carbon (SOC). It underscores the practical implications and benefits of the integrated approach combining machine learning, remote sensing, and proximal sensing for SOC estimation and prediction across a range of applications, including comprehensive soil health mapping and carbon credit assessment. These advanced technologies offer a promising pathway, reducing costs and resource utilization while improving the precision of SOC estimation. We conducted a comparative analysis between MIR-predicted SOC values and laboratory-measured SOC values using 36 soil samples. The results demonstrate a strong fit (R² = 0.83), underscoring the potential of this integrated approach. While acknowledging that our analysis is based on a limited sample size, these initial findings offer promise and serve as a foundation for future research. We will be providing updates when we obtain more data. Furthermore, this paper explores the potential for commercialising these technologies in Australia, with the aim of helping farmers harness the advantages of carbon markets. Based on our study's findings, coupled with insights from the existing literature, we suggest that adopting this integrated SOC measurement approach could significantly benefit local economies, enhance farmers' ability to monitor changes in soil health, and promote sustainable agricultural practices. These outcomes align with global climate change mitigation efforts. Furthermore, our study's approach, supported by other research, offers a potential template for regions worldwide seeking similar solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change impacts occur at varying spatial scales requiring appropriately scaled responses. In impoverished rural areas, adapting to or mitigating the effects of climate change is challenging, with any short-term impairment to precarious livelihoods likely triggering negative community responses even if people are aware of long-term benefits. The paper will discuss a community-based carbon sequestration project in eastern Iran. It started in 2003 and since then has been expanded widely. It was nominated by UNDP as one of 10 transformative projects in Asia/Pacific in 2016. Over the past 20 years, the project has targeted improving the livelihood of the local communities while addressing local measures to adapt to/mitigate climate change. The paper elaborates on the formation of village development groups as pivotal drivers of success by highlighting local income-generating schemes and project documentation. Key lessons for climate change adaptation can be learnt and are applicable to other developing countries. Extreme poverty in rural areas facing climate change could be tackled through implementing bottom-up approaches in which local communities can be respected and engaged in co-leadership and planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This editorial introduces the Special Issue on the role and use of discrete choice modelling in informing environmental and energy decision making and summarises the main insights provided. The papers collected in this Special Issue address a range of applications of discrete choice modelling, from energy decisions to climate change and transport choices, from tourism preferences for climate change mitigation to wildlife conservation strategies and ecosystem management. However, all the papers share the same fundamental aim of using novel methodological approaches in choice models to tackle conceptually and spatially specific policy questions and support decisions with robust empirical evidence. This is particularly relevant to enhance the real-world policy uptake of choice modelling results and develop a network of practice and capacity building to improve the quality of information that is provided to stakeholders and decision makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discussion on reducing emissions from deforestation in developing countries began at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties in 2005, and the agenda for "reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries (REDD+)" was introduced under the UNFCCC. The REDD+ framework was developed with the expectation that it would significantly contribute to climate change mitigation at a relatively low cost and produce benefits for both developed and developing countries. Finance is a key element of REDD+ implementation, and many financial sources, approaches, and mechanisms have supported REDD+-related activities in various developing countries. However, the comprehensive challenges and lessons learned for REDD+ finance and its governance have not been fully explored. This paper reviews the relevant literature to understand the challenges for REDD+ finance and its governance in two areas—(1) REDD+ finance aligned with the UNFCCC and (2) REDD+-related finance outside the UNFCCC—which have developed differently and have different implications. This paper first identifies the six key elements of REDD+ finance and its governance across the two fields, and then reviews the related challenges and lessons learned with respect to public and private finance. The challenges for REDD+ finance and its governance aligned with the UNFCCC include enhancing the performance of REDD+ finance using mainly public finance, such as results-based finance and the jurisdictional approach. In contrast, the challenges regarding REDD+-related finance outside the UNFCCC include enhancing the engagement of the private sector in REDD+ finance, mainly targeting the project level, and the relationship between voluntary carbon markets and other investment and finance mechanisms. This paper also identifies the common challenges across REDD+ finance and its governance in the two fields. These challenges include the need to enhance linkages between REDD+ and other objectives, such as carbon neutrality/net-zero, deforestation-free supply chains, and nature-based solutions, as well as the need to develop learning systems for REDD+ finance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Narratives and stories are important communication tools and as such essential subjects of social geography. This paper analyses the retelling of Greta Thunberg's sailing trip across the Atlantic to the Climate Action Summit in New York in 2019 in leading German newspapers and magazines and how her intentions are transformed through this reporting into different narratives. The research mainly focuses on examining the influence of space and place, as geographical research has revealed that spatial determinants are crucial in risk communication and knowledge generation on climate change but have yet to be studied considering stories. The paper, therefore, extends the story-based approach from communication sciences by geographical research on the role of space and place in action-based stories. Therefore, the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) is used to decode the spatial environment in narratives as an active element that shapes the narrative, and the way characters can (inter)act within these settings. The paper further develops the NPF framework through a geographical lens by focusing particularly on the selection options of spaces for social interactions and affective bonds. Thus, it becomes evident how spatial contexts and environments shape the interactions between individuals and crucially influence the types of narratives that emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policies to address climate change have been implemented worldwide in recent years. The core of these policies is to control greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which primarily stem from the consumption of fossil fuels. Consequently, the implementation of climate policies can affect other energy-related issues, such as energy poverty, a critical element of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This paper uses cross-country data from 2000 to 2020 to study the possible policy spillovers from climate actions to energy poverty. We show that a spillover effect does exist. In other words, a higher number of climate policies is associated with a lower level of energy poverty. The spillover is realized through improvements in energy efficiency, the promotion of renewable energy, and support for innovations. In addition, legislative policies are found to have stronger spillover effects. While the overall policy effects are positive for executive policies, regulations tend to have negative impacts on energy development. There is also evidence demonstrating heterogeneous effects between long-term and short-term policies, and between developed and developing countries. Discovering this spillover effect gives extra motivation for countries to adopt climate policies and actively seek synergies in achieving broader sustainable goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]