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Pollution and climate change constitute a combined, grave and pervasive threat to humans and to the life‐support systems on which they depend. Evidence shows a strong association between pollution and climate change on cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, and pulmonary vascular disease (PVD) is no exception. An increasing number of studies has documented the impact of environmental pollution and extreme temperatures on pulmonary circulation and the right heart, on the severity and outcomes of patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (PH), on the incidence of pulmonary embolism, and the prevalence and severity of diseases associated with PH. Furthermore, the downstream consequences of climate change impair health care systems' accessibility, which could pose unique obstacles in the case of PVD patients, who require a complex and sophisticated network of health interventions. Patients, caretakers and health care professionals should thus be included in the design of policies aimed at adaptation to and mitigation of current challenges, and prevention of further climate change. The purpose of this review is to summarize the available evidence concerning the impact of environmental pollution and climate change on the pulmonary circulation, and to propose measures at the individual, healthcare and community levels directed at protecting patients with PVD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change has become one of the main issues in the countries government agendas. The current effects demand effective climate actions which were set out in the Paris Agreement with the global goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, the main changes to face and mitigate climate change depend on each countrys decisions and not only on global agreements as the impacts and its magnitudes vary locally. One of the key components for an effective adaption and mitigation is the role that the behavior of the population may have over national politics and subsequent decisions. For this reason, the level of awareness and knowledge about climate change is vital. The objective of the current study was to compare the perception of Ecuadorian academics regarding global and national climate change with the scientific evidence and historical facts, and how it may affect their vulnerability to the climate change effects. The results show that Ecuadorian academics are well aware of globally known facts of climate change such as existence, gravity and responsibility of humans. However, there is limited awareness about the origin, since 67.2% believes that this is the first climate change in human history. The main effects of climate change in Ecuador exhibit heterogeneous perceptions, with the more frequent droughts (34.36%) and rarer but more intense rains (21.41%) as their greater concerns. Regarding the regions more affected in Ecuador, highlands and Inter-Andean valleys sum up 45.6% while Galapagos only reaches 1.6% despite being an ecological flagship with high climate vulnerability. It seems that respondents lack knowledge about the situation in other regions, and believe that their own environment is more impacted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four associations filed l'affaire du siècle, a climate legal action against the French State before the Administrative Court of Paris in May 2019. This lawsuit questions the State's actions and inactions in matters of climate change mitigation and adaptation. Even though the complaint is mainly based on legal constructions and theories that are well-known to French Courts, this paper focuses on three ground-breaking legal innovations brought by the plaintiffs: a pre-existing general State obligation to combat climate change, a pre-existing right to live in a sustainable climate system, and, eventually, the remediation of the pure ecological damage (préjudice écologique) linked to climate change through a formal demand for monetary compensation of one symbolic euro and an injunctive relief to take all measures to limit global warming under the 1.5 °C threshold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The amount of additional future temperature change following a complete cessation of CO2 emissions is a measure of the unrealized warming to which we are committed due to CO2 already emitted to the atmosphere. This "zero emissions commitment" (ZEC) is also an important quantity when estimating the remaining carbon budget – a limit on the total amount of CO2 emissions consistent with limiting global mean temperature at a particular level. In the recent IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 ∘ C, the carbon budget framework used to calculate the remaining carbon budget for 1.5 ∘ C included the assumption that the ZEC due to CO2 emissions is negligible and close to zero. Previous research has shown significant uncertainty even in the sign of the ZEC. To close this knowledge gap, we propose the Zero Emissions Commitment Model Intercomparison Project (ZECMIP), which will quantify the amount of unrealized temperature change that occurs after CO2 emissions cease and investigate the geophysical drivers behind this climate response. Quantitative information on ZEC is a key gap in our knowledge, and one that will not be addressed by currently planned CMIP6 simulations, yet it is crucial for verifying whether carbon budgets need to be adjusted to account for any unrealized temperature change resulting from past CO2 emissions. We request only one top-priority simulation from comprehensive general circulation Earth system models (ESMs) and Earth system models of intermediate complexity (EMICs) – a branch from the 1 % CO2 run with CO2 emissions set to zero at the point of 1000 PgC of total CO2 emissions in the simulation – with the possibility for additional simulations, if resources allow. ZECMIP is part of CMIP6, under joint sponsorship by C4MIP and CDRMIP, with associated experiment names to enable data submissions to the Earth System Grid Federation. All data will be published and made freely available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This paper is concerned with innovative approaches to renewable energy sources computation methodologies, which provide more refined results than the classical alternatives. Such refinements provide additional improvements especially for replacement of fossil energy usages that emit greenhouse gas (GHG) into the atmosphere leading to climate change impact. Current knowledge gap among each renewable energy source calculation is rather missing fundamentals of plausible, rational, and logical explanations for the interpretation of results. In the literature, there are rather complicated and mechanically applicable methodologies, which require input and output measurement data match with missing physical explanations. The view taken in this review paper is to concentrate on quite plausible, logical, rational, and effectively applicable innovative energy calculation methodologies with simplistic fundamentals. For this purpose, a set of renewable energy methodological approaches is revisited with their innovative structures concerning solar, wind, hydro, current, and geothermal energy resources. With the increase in the renewable energy utilizations to combat the undesirable impacts of global warming and climate change, there is a need for better models that will include physical environmental conditions and data properties in the probabilistic, statistical, stochastic, logical, and rational senses leading to refined and more reliable estimations with application examples in the text. Finally, new research directions are also recommended for more refined innovative energy system calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The amount of additional future temperature change following a complete cessation of CO2 emissions is a measure of the unrealized warming to which we are committed due to CO2 already emitted to the atmosphere. This "Zero Emissions Commitment" (ZEC) is also an important quantity when estimating the remaining carbon budget - a limit on the total amount of CO2 emissions consistent with limiting global mean temperature at a particular level. In the recent IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C, the carbon budget framework used to calculate the remaining carbon budget for 1.5 °C included the assumption that the ZEC due to CO2 emissions is negligible and close to zero. Previous research has shown significant uncertainty even in the sign of the ZEC. To close this knowledge gap, we propose the Zero Emissions Commitment Model Intercomparison Project (ZECMIP), which will quantify the amount of unrealized temperature change that occurs after CO2 emissions cease and investigate the geophysical drivers behind this climate response. Quantitative information on ZEC is a key gap in our knowledge, and one that will not be addressed by currently planned CMIP6 simulations, yet it is crucial for verifying whether carbon budgets need to be adjusted to account for any unrealized temperature change resulting from past CO2 emissions. We request only one top priority simulation from comprehensive general circulation Earth System Models (ESMs) and Earth System Models of Intermediate Complexity (EMICs) - a branch from the 1 % CO2 run with CO2 emissions set to zero at the point of 1000 PgC of total CO2 emissions in the simulation - with the possibility for additional simulations, if resources allow. ZECMIP is part of CMIP6, under joint sponsorship by C4MIP and CDRMIP, with associated experiment names to enable data submissions to Earth System Grid Federation. All data will be published and made freely available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information on a report released by the United Nations (UN) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on October 9, 2018 which concludes that only 12 years are left to readjust for the 1.5-degree Celsius climate change option. Topics include possible means for observing the climate target, estimated value of investment needed from 2015-2050 to implement means to limit global warming to a 1.5-degree Celsius rise, and concerns on some methods of climate engineering.

The article discusses the potential climate change and social tipping points in 2020. Topics discussed include the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, arguments of China and Russia against meeting their 2020 targets for carbon emission, issues that were not addressed during the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations (UN) Climate Convention in Madrid, Spain and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's reports in actions to be taken to limit global warming.

Most people think climate change and sustainability are important problems, but too few global citizens engaged in high-greenhouse-gas-emitting behavior are engaged in enough mitigating behavior to stem the increasing flow of greenhouse gases and other environmental problems. Why is that? Structural barriers such as a climate-averse infrastructure are part of the answer, but psychological barriers also impede behavioral choices that would facilitate mitigation, adaptation, and environmental sustainabilily. Although many individuals are engaged in some ameliorative action, most could do more, but they are hindered by seven categories of psychological barriers, or "dragons of inaction": limited cognition about the problem, ideological worldviews that tend to preclude pro-environmental attitudes and behavior, comparisons with key other people, sunk costs and behavioral momentum, discredence toward experts and authorities, perceived risks of change, and positive but inadequate behavior change. Structural barriers must be removed wherever possible, but this is unlikely to be sufficient. Psychologists must work with other scientists, technical experts, and policymakers to help citizens overcome these psychological barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accelerated rate of increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration in recent years has revived the idea of stabilizing the global climate through geoengineering schemes. Majority of the proposed geoengineering schemes will attempt to reduce the amount of solar radiation absorbed by our planet. Climate modelling studies of these so called 'sunshade geoengineering schemes' show that global warming from increasing concentrations of CO2 can be mitigated by intentionally manipulating the amount of sunlight absorbed by the climate system. These studies also suggest that the residual changes could be large on regional scales, so that climate change may not be mitigated on a local basis. More recent modelling studies have shown that these schemes could lead to a slowdown in the global hydrological cycle. Other problems such as changes in the terrestrial carbon cycle and ocean acidification remain unsolved by sunshade geoengineering schemes. In this article, I review the proposed geoengineering schemes, results from climate models and discuss why geoengineering is not the best option to deal with climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the tools for reducing the release of carbon dioxide (CO2), the largest component of greenhouse gas emissions, is carbon sequestration--the accumulation of carbon in terrestrial forms. This paper explores options to mitigate global climate change through forestry, constraints to forestry's applicability, secondary environmental and social benefits, and techniques established to monitor and verify results. Twenty-five current carbon sequestration projects are listed totaling an estimated 193 million tons of carbon at an average price of approximately $2.18 per ton. However, modeling exercises demonstrate that even the theoretical upper limit of carbon sequestration through forestry is not enough to stabilize carbon emissions in the atmosphere. Non-forestry CO2 reduction measures must be taken as well. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Climate change is unequivocal. The fourth assessment report of the Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change has recently projected that global average surface temperature will increase by 1.1 to 6.4°C by 2100. Anthropogenic warming during the twenty-first century would be much greater than that observed in the twentieth century. Most of the warming observed over the last six decades is attributable to human activities. Climate change is already affecting, and will increasingly have profound effects on human health and well-being. Therefore, there is an urgent need for societies to take both pre-emptive and adaptive actions to protect human populations from adverse health consequences of climate change. It is time to mainstream health risks and their prevention in relation to the effects of climate change on the medical research and policy agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is the biggest global threat of our time. As a signatory nation of the Paris Agreement, Brazil has made a climate action commitment, and expressed its nationally determined contribution to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 37%. The Brazilian population is highly urban, and Brazilian cities are mostly responsible for greenhouse gas emissions, and the worst effects of global warming are experienced in cities. Hence, the fulfillment of the Brazilian climate commitments depends on the active engagement of municipalities. Nevertheless, the Brazilian national government does not monitor local climate actions, and it is not clear how local urban policy is aligned with climate action. In order to bridge this gap, this study tackles the question of: "Are, and if yes how, cities considering the climate emergency in their local planning mechanisms?" This question is investigated by placing five major Brazilian cities under the microscope. The methodological approach includes literature review and applied qualitative analysis to scrutinize how climate issues and actions are factored in urban planning regulations to verify if and to what extent local policies contribute to the fulfillment of the Brazilian nationally determined contribution, and sustainable development goals. The results disclose that investigated cities have adequately incorporated climatic issues in their urban planning mechanisms. However, policy concentrates more on adaptation rather than mitigation, and policy implementation yet to be realized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The AVOID2 programme provided evidence for UK Government on what might constitute dangerous climate change and the feasibility of avoiding it. The programme quantified some of the benefits of moving from a world that warms by around 4-5°C to one limiting global warming to below or well below 2°C. Whilst there is evidence that this transition is feasible, it will require early action to reduce emissions and to develop the potential for large-scale deployment of a range of low carbon technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]