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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 is a constant threat to global food security. In Sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA), extended dry spells, heavy rainfall, flooding, and tropical storms have driven a large percentage of the population to a severe food crisis. Climate‐smart agriculture (CSA) is a potential comprehensive solution whose adoption can mitigate climate change and its ramifications on the state of food security in the region. CSA combines innovation, the use of technology, extensive research, stakeholder involvement, and data to increase food production, optimize resource allocation and utilization, and enhance the region's ability to feed its population. The adoption of CSA has succeeded in increasing agricultural productivity in several parts of SSA and will help towards the building of resilience food systems across the region amid constant and unpredictable climate change and its far‐reaching impacts in the region. For the sustained and universal adoption of CSA within the region, there is a need for more stakeholder involvement in its development and adaptation to the needs of specific communities. Furthermore, it is necessary to leverage the positive impact of the approach by expanding its scope beyond climate change mitigation to prevention and control, and ultimately help in achieving the United Nations SDG 2 and 13. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep eutectic solvents show great potential as CO2 absorbents, which is highly desirable for the sustainable development of CO2 reduction and prevention of global climate changes. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations in the isothermal–isobaric ensemble at pressures of 1 MPa and 5 MPa and at the corresponding experimental density are carried out to investigate the CO2 absorption in choline chloride: ethylene glycol deep eutectic solvent. Based on the structural analysis, there is a strong anion and hydrogen bond donor effect and a minor cation effect on CO2 solvation in the solvent. Instead of cooperation, a competition between the anion and the hydrogen bond donor (ethylene glycol) for the interaction with CO2 is indicated. While at a lower pressure, the ethylene glycol–CO2 interaction dominates, at a higher pressure, it is the chloride–CO2 interaction. Thus, it is possible to use the same advantages within the deep eutectic solvent as the CO2 absorbent as in ionic liquids, but in the hydrogen bond, a donor can be exploited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humanity is facing multiple possible apocalypses, with narratives that often miss an important point: The apocalypse probably won't be quick or final. It will be an environment, not an event or an end point for humanity. The apocalypse is more likely to bring misery than catharsis or salvation. Although worst-case scenarios theoretically make it easier to prevent dire outcomes, in the case of slow-moving apocalypses such as climate change, it's difficult for humans to envision the scale of the problem and to imagine how we will actually experience it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mount Everest (Qomolangma), the highest mountain on Earth, is an unrivaled natural research platform for understanding multispheric interactions over heterogeneous landscapes. The land--atmosphere interactions in this iconic mountain region have paramount importance for weather and climate predictions at both regional and global scales; however, observing and modeling these interactions is inherently challenging due to the extreme environment. The scarcity of multiscale observations hinders progress in this field. Thus, establishing a comprehensive network to systematically observe the land--atmosphere interactions across multiscales in this unrivaled region, is the basis for gaining a better understanding of weather, climate, and climate change. As one of the 69 national observation and research stations in China, the Qomolangma Special Atmospheric Processes and Environmental Changes (QOMS) observation network of land--atmosphere interactions has been established over the northern slope of Mount Everest since 2005. This network consists of six sites with different underlying surfaces, which significantly improves the observational capabilities for the climate system. These observations have promoted the understanding of land--atmosphere interactions and their impacts on multiscale weather patterns, atmospheric circulations, and climate and have provided data support for informing and guiding model development and remote sensing monitoring. Facing an unprecedented opportunity with enormous development possibilities, we emphasize the considerable potential of these observations for understanding and predicting weather and climate in the Himalayas and beyond. Additionally, we expect to extend the future focus to model--data fusion and to societally relevant applications, such as natural disaster prevention and climate change mitigation and adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the critical role of safety professionals in organizations. Topics include making organizations carbon-neutral by adopting approach with hierarchy of controls; adopting a safety and health framework to communicate climate change and mitigation; and leading their organizations towards sustainability and carbon neutrality.

This study examined the mediating role of the future time perspective in the relationship between climate change awareness and the hope of preventing the climate emergency. The study group consisted of 398 adults. The data were collected using the awareness scale of university students about global climate change, climate change hope scale, and the Zimbardo time perspective inventory future time perspective subscale. The data were analyzed by SPSS 25.0, LISREL 8.70, and PROCESS v3.4 for SPSS. The results showed that the mediating role of the future time perspective in the relationship between climate change awareness and the hope of preventing climate change was statistically significant. The results also demonstrated that the future time perspective should be taken into account in interventions to increase the awareness and hope of individuals about climate change. This may be particularly important in countries such as Turkey, where action plans to prevent climate change have only recently come into force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change has led to a multitude of ecological disruptions and downstream reproductive health consequences that impair our reproductive capacity and, in turn, harm the health and survival of future generations. Atmospheric changes, driven by anthropogenic emissions, expose global populations to droughts, heat waves, rising sea levels, and extreme weather events-posing major threats to public health and exacerbating environmental health disparities. Existing evidence demonstrates the potential for climate-driven events to impact reproductive health outcomes, yet very few studies have explored this relationship. Recently, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics released position statements regarding reproductive health and environmental exposures. Unfortunately, such initiatives have yielded little action within the health care system. To address this stagnation, health care workers must meld research findings into actionable preventive medicine strategies and transition to a more action-oriented approach to address the climate crisis. The objective of this article is to elucidate the urgency of the climate crisis in relation to reproductive health and push the health care workers to recognize their intrinsic opportunity as leaders in climate action at local, state, national, and international levels. We call on health care organizations and health care workers to leverage their inherent positions as climate action leaders to increase climate resilience and mitigate climate-related adverse reproductive health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the potential power of social presence on individuals' cognitive and affective responses, the current study hypothesizes that individuals' social presence differentiates the level of perceived subjective norms and societal injunctive norms for climate change prevention behaviors. Based on prior literature, users' threat perception is suggested as a moderating variable that can maximize the effects of social presence. To test these hypotheses, we conducted a 2 (social presence: present vs. absent) × 2 (threat: high vs. low) between-subjects factorial online experiment (N = 280). The results confirmed significant, positive effects of social presence on both normative beliefs. The effects of social presence were found to be stronger for participants in high threat conditions. Increased subjective norms led to more positive behavioral intentions toward global warming prevention actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author view on growing global warming in the United States including among Commonwealth countries, that urgent and ambitious action is needed to address climate change in order to, at the very least, achieve the legally binding goal set by the 196 countries that were signatories to the Paris Agreement set at COP21 in Paris in December 2015.

El articulo discute sobre el panel de alto nivel sobre desplazamiento y el impacto de los desastres y los efectos adversos del cambio climático. El articulo también discute sobre la planificación de soluciones en el contexto de los desplazamientos relacionadas con el cambio climático y los desastres las soluciones de las programas de organización de las naciones unidas y la Estrategia Nacional sobre la prevención del cambio climático en Desplazamiento Interno.

Anthropogenic climate change is increasingly threatening interpersonal violence, yet global evidence for related impacts and potential transmission mechanisms remains limited. We examine whether and how climate change, particularly climate extremes, affects interpersonal violence. Using the panel data of 140 countries and regions from 2000 to 2019, we find that hot and wet extremes precipitated increase in homicide rates globally. Economic level, inequality, and resources scarcity were important intermediaries through which climate extremes affected homicide, while the direct effects still dominated the total effects. We then reveal the heterogeneous effects of climate extremes, further suggesting that poor countries and regions with relatively small contributions to climate change were particularly sensitive to climate extremes. These findings elucidate a strong climate-violence link, helping explain implications of facilitating violence prevention and mitigating climate change. • We provide global evidence of how climate change affects interpersonal violence. • We use global high-resolution CEIs data to yield more accurate results. • We provide an in-depth investigation of the impact mechanisms. • We find evidence of significant climate-violence links. • We find heterogeneous effects across different countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trends in global, regional and national CO2 emissions and removals from forest for the period 1990-2020, are estimated for the first time using data from the Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) 2020, providing new information with respect to the previous FRA 2015. Estimates indicate significant reduction of deforestation emissions over the study period, albeit more slowly than previously assessed, from an average of 4.3 Gt CO2 yr-1 during 1991-2000, to an average of 2.9 Gt CO2 yr-1 during 2016-2020. Remaining forest land was a significant net carbon sink globally and over the entire period, albeit decreasing in strength, from -3.4 Gt CO2 yr-1 in 1991-2000 to -2.5 Gt CO2 yr-1 during 2016-2020. The overall net contribution of forests to atmospheric CO2(i.e., the combined effect of deforestation and forest emissions/removals) was an overall emission source of roughly 0.4 Gt CO2 yr-1 on average during 1991-2020, more than one-third less than previously estimated. Remarkably, the new data also suggest an overall net sink of about -0.7 Gt CO2 yr-1 during 2011-2015, never reported before. Forest emissions/removals data independently reported by countries to the United Nations Framework on Climate Change were in excellent agreement with the FAO estimates over the entire period 1990-2020, confirming a large sink on forest land estimated for 2011-2015. Data are made available as open access via the Zenodo portal (Tubiello, 2020), with DOI 10.5281/zenodo.3941973. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local governments have a key role to play in implementing climate innovations as they have jurisdiction over a significant portion of greenhouse gas emissions. Meeting the Climate Change Challenge (MC3) is the first longitudinal study exploring climate innovation in Canadian municipalities. A tri-university research collaborative, it focuses on British Columbia (BC), whose voluntary efforts to set and meet climate change goals were far more ambitious than those offered by the federal government (and almost any other province in North America at the time). These efforts included introducing a carbon tax and the Climate Action Charter voluntary agreement in 2007. Since then, 187 of the 190 local governments in BC have signed the Charter to take action on climate change. Research in the first phase of MC3explored the dynamics of innovative local responses to the coordinated suite of government legislation, complimentary policy instruments, financial incentives and partnerships with quasi-institutional partners. In the second phase, the 11 original case studies were revisited to explore the nature of transformative change in development paths and indicators of change. Methods include sentiment analysis, decomposition analysis of regional/local emissions, and modelling relationships between climate action co-benefits and trade-offs. This paper provides a synthesis of research outcomes and their implications for environmental governance at multiple scales and the potential of policy innovations to accelerate transformation towards carbon neutral economies. Key policy insights Local governments are on the front line of identifying indicators of change in current development paths and policy innovations to effect the necessary changes for transformation to carbon neutral economies. Barriers to transformational change include lack of coordination or concerted action across multiple scales of governance, electoral cycles and large swings in leadership, and lack of policy coherence across governance levels. Drivers of climate innovation include leadership at multiple levels of governance. Understanding the co-benefits (and trade-offs) of climate actions is important for integrated strategies that achieve broader sustainability goals, as well as accelerating more innovations on climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Limiting climate change to less than 2°C is the focus of international policy under the climate convention (UNFCCC), and is essential to preventing extinctions, a focus of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The post‐2020 biodiversity framework drafted by the CBD proposes conserving 30% of both land and oceans by 2030. However, the combined impact on extinction risk of species from limiting climate change and increasing the extent of protected and conserved areas has not been assessed. Here we create conservation spatial plans to minimize extinction risk in the tropics using data on 289 219 species and modeling two future greenhouse gas concentration pathways (RCP2.6 and 8.5) while varying the extent of terrestrial protected land and conserved areas from <17% to 50%. We find that limiting climate change to 2°C and conserving 30% of terrestrial area could more than halve aggregate extinction risk compared with uncontrolled climate change and no increase in conserved area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The worldwide rise of climate skeptical political leaders endangers sorely needed political efforts to mitigate climate change. In addition, climate skepticism expressed by the political elites may spread to the electorate, thus ultimately affecting mitigation actions at the population level. It is crucial to better understand the psychological mechanisms underlying elite influences on public opinion formation and polarization. Here we show how affective processes contribute to these top-down influences using longitudinal data in the context of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Findings revealed a general decrease in climate change beliefs immediately after the presidential election (November 2016). We moreover found an increase in positive emotions and a decrease in negative emotions toward the Republican Party after the election of President Trump. Most importantly, the positive emotional shift towards the Republican Party mediated the decrease in climate change beliefs: Individuals with pronounced increases in positive emotions toward the Republican Party most strongly reduced their belief in climate change after the presidential election. The effect was intensified among Republican partisans, pointing towards a mechanism underlying political polarization. Using data based on a major real-world political event, our findings illustrate how partisans update their beliefs by referring to the positions of relevant political authorities. We moreover demonstrate how emotions drive top-down influences of political leaders on partisans' opinions and beliefs. Finally, our findings reveal how intensified emotions can contribute to the aggravation of the public climate change divide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Malaria remains a major tropical vector-borne disease of immense public health concern owing to its debilitating effects in sub-Saharan Africa. Over the past 30 years, the high altitude areas in Eastern Africa have been reported to experience increased cases of malaria. Governments including that of the Republic of Uganda have responded through intensifying programs that can potentially minimize malaria transmission while reducing associated fatalities. However, malaria patterns following these intensified control and prevention interventions in the changing climate remains widely unexplored in East African highland regions. This study thus analyzed malaria patterns across altitudinal zones of Mount Elgon, Uganda.Methods: Times-series data on malaria cases (2011-2017) from five level III local health centers occurring across three altitudinal zones; low, mid and high altitude was utilized. Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) interpolation regression and Mann Kendall trend test were used to analyze malaria patterns. Vegetation attributes from the three altitudinal zones were analyzed using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was used to determine the Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model was used to project malaria patterns for a 7 year period.Results: Malaria across the three zones declined over the study period. The hotspots for malaria were highly variable over time in all the three zones. Rainfall played a significant role in influencing malaria burdens across the three zones. Vegetation had a significant influence on malaria in the higher altitudes. Meanwhile, in the lower altitude, human population had a significant positive correlation with malaria cases.Conclusions: Despite observed decline in malaria cases across the three altitudinal zones, the high altitude zone became a malaria hotspot as cases variably occurred in the zone. Rainfall played the biggest role in malaria trends. Human population appeared to influence malaria incidences in the low altitude areas partly due to population concentration in this zone. Malaria control interventions ought to be strengthened and strategically designed to achieve no malaria cases across all the altitudinal zones. Integration of climate information within malaria interventions can also strengthen eradication strategies of malaria in such differentiated altitudinal zones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of human carbon emissions on climate has generated widespread global concern. We selected 24 countries as research objects and analysed the changes in carbon emissions in different countries between the establishment of emission reduction actions in 1990 and 2014. Then, we selected 19 factors representing four categories (economy, population, technology and energy) to explore the key factors that led to changes in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in different countries. Emission reduction actions since 1990 did not lead to marked improvements, and only five countries (Russia, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy and France) achieved reductions in carbon emissions. The factors that influenced CO2 emissions varied among countries. In most developing countries, reductions in CO2 emissions were caused by reductions in poverty and inherent natural conditions. Moreover, the extent of influence of a given factor on CO2 emissions differed among countries. The global economic crisis may cause similar fluctuations in CO2 emissions in many countries. Adjustments to energy and industrial structures are the main reason for the reduction in carbon emissions, whereas economic growth and urbanization are the two major contributors to the growth of carbon emissions. According to historical carbon emissions data, a green energy revolution must be implemented to address global climate change and ensure the sustainable development of human societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The IPCC 1.5°C Report lists identifying local capacity needs as key for enabling multi-level governance to effectively respond to climate change. Mauritius, as a Small Island State, is disproportionately affected by climate change, primarily due to its exposure to impacts, as well as various constraints in size and resources. Identifying and integrating local capacity needs into recommendations for policy measures is therefore urgently required to support the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its National Adaptation Plan process. This study carries out a local governance assessment based on evaluative criteria to identify local capacity needs for implementing climate change adaptation in Mauritius. Results from the assessment indicate that local governance suffers from issues inherent to Small Island States, such as lack of technical know-how, financial and human resources, stringent legislation and effective monitoring mechanisms, preventing effective climate change adaptation. Through participatory, bottom-up stakeholder engagement with local and national government representatives, eight recommendations for policy formulation were then co-developed to address the identified capacity needs, and to improve cooperation between local and national institutions for more effective implementation of climate change adaptation. Key policy insights Local climate change adaptation needs have to be integrated into policy formulation for an effective response to climate change impacts. Roles and responsibilities of government levels for climate change adaptation in Mauritius are currently in need of clarification. Capacity building measures at the local level for implementing climate change actions from national government are urgently required. Stringent legislation and effective monitoring mechanisms need to be implemented to ensure planning regulations are adhered to. Increased collaboration between local and national levels of government in Mauritius is necessary for synthesizing a common approach to climate change adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate engineering (CE) measures are increasingly discussed when dealing with the adverse impacts of climate change. While much research has focused on individual methods, few studies attempt to compare and rank the effectiveness of these measures. Furthermore, model uncertainties are seldom acknowledged and lesser still, estimated when CE scenarios are assessed. In this work, we quantify the variance in outcomes due to poorly constrained model parameters under several idealized CE scenarios. The four scenarios considered are (1) warming under the high emission scenario Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 without CE applied and the same emission scenario with (2) afforestation,(3) solar radiation management, and (4) artificial ocean alkalinization. By considering the parametric uncertainty in model outputs, we demonstrate the problems with comparing these scenarios using a single parameter setting. Using statistical emulation, we estimate the probability distributions of several model outcomes. Based on such distributions, we suggest an approach to ranking the effectiveness of the scenarios considered according to their probability of avoiding climate thresholds. Plain Language Summary: Various intervention techniques have been proposed to manipulate the climate system at a large scale to combat the adverse effects of climate change. While many studies have focused on specific techniques, relatively little has been done to compare and rank the effectiveness of these methods within a single model. Furthermore, the uncertainties arising from the use of climate models are seldom acknowledged or assessed. In this work, we analyze the uncertainty in the model's simulated outcomes caused by poorly constrained model settings under four idealized future scenarios, with and without climate interventions. Our results highlight the importance of taking into account the model's uncertainty when analyzing or communicating the simulated outcomes. Moreover, we suggest an approach to ranking the effectiveness of the interventions considered based on goals of societal importance. Key Points: We demonstrate how uncertainty analysis can become an essential part in comparative studies on climate engineeringModel outcomes are probability distributions and should be treated as such when communicating the effects and impacts of climate engineeringThe probability of avoiding dangerous threshold is calculated for various climate engineering scenarios [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change science is unequivocal on the link between fossil fuels and climate change. Yet, some governments – including those in Australia – fail to meet agreed targets and continue to invest in the coal industry. Scientists and other scholars have expressed concern that the science is not prompting shifts in policy adequate to address current and future effects of climate change. Many have called for other tools – specifically, the arts and social sciences – to investigate and communicate about the environmental and social changes underway. In this context, this article explores the potential of interdisciplinary collaborative song-writing as research practice. Beginning on a boat on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the research team adopted singing and song-writing as a method for coming together to reflect upon our research aims and motivations, to explore and express the delight and grief we were experiencing in this climate-changing land and seascape and potentially to reach new audiences and create different affects. Our multidisciplinary expertise offered impetus to pursue a hybrid form: an original song written, professionally recorded and vinyl pressed; scholarly notes to expand on our song lyrics; visual presentation of our music as annotated score; and written reflections on the process and its contribution to knowledge. Here, we present and explore the possibilities of song-writing as creative geographical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the severity of the triple challenges of global inequality, climate change and biodiversity loss becomes clearer, governments and international development institutions must find effective policy instruments to respond. We examine the potential of social assistance policies in this context. Social assistance refers to transfers to poor, vulnerable andmarginalized groups to reduce their vulnerability and livelihood risks, and to enhance their rights and status. Substantial public funds support social assistance programmes globally. Collectively, lower- and middle-income countries spend approximately 1.5% of their GDP on social assistance annually. We focus on the potential of paid employment schemes to promote effective ecosystem stewardship. Available evidence suggests such programmes can offer multiple benefits in terms of improvements in local ecosystems and natural capital, carbon sequestration and local biodiversity conservation. We review evidence from three key case studies: in India (the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme), Ethiopia (the Productive Safety Nets Programme) and Mexico (the Temporary Employment Programme). We conclude that, to realize the potential of employment-based social assistance for ecosystem benefits it will be necessary to address two challenges: first, the weak design and maintenance of local public works outputs in many schemes, and second, the concern that social protection schemes may become less effective if they are overburdened with additional objectives. Overcoming these challenges requires an evolution of institutional systems for delivering social assistance to enable a more effective combination of social and environmental objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Waste production is associated with human inhabitation and its rate is increasing over time. Globally, the major proportion of waste is disposed of through landfilling and open dumping, which is environmentally unsafe due to emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Thus, in order to avoid emission of GHGs from wastes it is important to use techniques that can convert wastes to energy/nutrients on eco-friendly economical way. Furthermore, quantification of the impacts of these waste management techniques on ecosystem is also needed through the application of tools like modeling, remote sensing, geographical information system (GIS), Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and life cycle assessments (LCA). Thus, this review was conducted by considering focus on potential of nutrient and energy recovery techniques from various types of wastes and approaches to enhance the efficiency of the process. The outcomes depicted that the aerobic and anaerobic digestion is suitable to deal with biodegradable and organic fraction of the waste, but anaerobic digestion seem to be more sustainable waste management techniques. Additionally, the review covers the techniques to drive energy and recover nutrient from non-biodegradable proportion. Different modern analytical tools; such as remote sensing, GIS and simple/dynamic models could be useful tool to help in the decision-making processes for waste managements. These tools can help us to design integrated solid waste management processes. Finally, we suggest that LCA should be considered to determine the environmental load of material/product from its production to final disposal (from cradle to grave). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global efforts to combat climate change has led to the establishment of the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation program (REDD+). This study concerns the implementation of REDD+ among local landscapes and communities in Vietnam. How do affected forest-dependent households perceive their roles in sustainable forest management and REDD+ and how do these perceptions and attitudes influence the (potential) socio-ecological performance of REDD+? Two communes consisting of forest-dependent and indigenous communities in Central Vietnam were selected for this study–the former involved in the UN-REDD program and the latter involved in a REDD+ program of Fauna and Flora International (FFI). Here, we differentiated between a 'do no harm' and pro-carbon (UN-REDD), and pro-poor (FFI-REDD+) approach to REDD+. Employing an applied socio-ecological systems framework, we conducted household surveys (n = 102) and we adopted qualitative research methods. This study identified the importance of traditional ecological knowledge systems in sustainable forest management. While pro-poor REDD+ was more inclusive, both REDD+ programs in our study were implemented in a top down manner. Lastly, households' attitudes and perceptions towards rulemaking, sanctioning, monitoring, cultural capital (beliefs and worldviews) and forest protection technology were identified as (potential) local drivers for successful REDD+ implementation in both communes. [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]

The Paris Agreement is a multinational initiative to combat climate change by keeping a global temperature increase in this century to 2°C above preindustrial levels while pursuing efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C. Until recently, ensembles of coupled climate simulations producing temporal dynamics of climate en route to stable global mean temperature at 1.5 and 2°C above preindustrial levels were not available. Hence, the few studies that have assessed the ecological impact of the Paris Agreement used ad‐hoc approaches. The development of new specific mitigation climate simulations now provides an unprecedented opportunity to inform ecological impact assessments. Here we project the dynamics of all known emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) colonies under new climate change scenarios meeting the Paris Agreement objectives using a climate‐dependent‐metapopulation model. Our model includes various dispersal behaviors so that penguins could modulate climate effects through movement and habitat selection. Under business‐as‐usual greenhouse gas emissions, we show that 80% of the colonies are projected to be quasiextinct by 2100, thus the total abundance of emperor penguins is projected to decline by at least 81% relative to its initial size, regardless of dispersal abilities. In contrast, if the Paris Agreement objectives are met, viable emperor penguin refuges will exist in Antarctica, and only 19% and 31% colonies are projected to be quasiextinct by 2100 under the Paris 1.5 and 2 climate scenarios respectively. As a result, the global population is projected to decline by at least by 31% under Paris 1.5 and 44% under Paris 2. However, population growth rates stabilize in 2060 such that the global population will be only declining at 0.07% under Paris 1.5 and 0.34% under Paris 2, thereby halting the global population decline. Hence, global climate policy has a larger capacity to safeguard the future of emperor penguins than their intrinsic dispersal abilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite several decades of research on more effectively communicating climate change to the general public, there is only limited knowledge about how older adults engage with an issue that will shape and define future generations. We focus on two key factors that may motivate younger and older adults to engage in climate change action, legacy concern and place attachment, and assess whether older adults differ in any appreciable way from the general population in this domain. We randomly exposed participants of different ages to either a Legacy, Place, or control writing induction task before they completed various self-report measures. Both induction conditions were associated with significantly greater pro-environmental behavioral intentions and donations for all age groups when compared to the control condition. Legacy motivation and biophilia were used as manipulation checks and found to partially mediate these effects. Findings suggest that legacy and place message framing may be useful in prompting adults of all ages to take action to help combat climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU's work on climate change is key to the regional and international fight against the problem, and disruptions to it have global implications. When analyzing the effects of the UK's decision to leave the EU (Brexit) on EU climate action, this paper looks at two types of impact. The first is related to UK absence from EU climate policy, finance and diplomacy following the actual UK departure from the EU. The second is related to the costs attached to the withdrawal process, including the additional costs and uncertainty created by the delayed UK departure. These latter implications of Brexit have been less explored by the literature, although the last years provide plenty of evidence for them. The paper finds that the impact of Brexit on EU climate action is mainly negative, without denying some potential positive impact and while acknowledging the limitations of a study that entails forecasting in an uncertain political context. Key policy insights Following Brexit, the EU will lose a member that supported its climate action internally and internationally through commitment to high emissions reduction targets at the EU level, policy solutions, and financial and diplomatic support. The withdrawal process itself has had a negative impact on EU climate action: Brexit has hijacked the EU agenda, captured EU human and administrative resources and increased the uncertainty in which investors and businesses operate. Planning for separate European Councils to deal with Brexit could prevent agenda hijacking. Both the EU and UK also need to provide businesses with a clear regulatory framework. A repeatedly postponed Brexit has caused additional damage, by prolonging uncertainty. Continuing to work with the UK on climate during the Brexit negotiations and after the UK departure should be a priority for the EU, as well as ensuring the willingness to cooperate is not spoiled by mutual resentment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global climate change greatly impedes the sustainable development of human society. And severe consequences could arise unless effective measures are taken to prevent them under the condition that we have a clear understanding of the trend of climate change. Currently, the most practical way to predict trend of climate change is GCM. However, GCM is unavailable in predicting detailed regional climate due to the lack of regional information and a relatively low spatial resolution of GCM. Such shortcoming is supplemented by the methods of downscaling which fall into three types: dynamical downscaling, statistical downscaling and the combination of statistical and dynamic downscaling. This paper aims at explaining in detail the methods of downscaling mentioned above and comparing their advantages and disadvantages in the hope of offering a reference for global climate prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scenario‐based biodiversity modelling is a powerful approach to evaluate how possible future socio‐economic developments may affect biodiversity. Here, we evaluated the changes in terrestrial biodiversity intactness, expressed by the mean species abundance (MSA) metric, resulting from three of the shared socio‐economic pathways (SSPs) combined with different levels of climate change (according to representative concentration pathways [RCPs]): a future oriented towards sustainability (SSP1xRCP2.6), a future determined by a politically divided world (SSP3xRCP6.0) and a future with continued global dependency on fossil fuels (SSP5xRCP8.5). To this end, we first updated the GLOBIO model, which now runs at a spatial resolution of 10 arc‐seconds (~300 m), contains new modules for downscaling land use and for quantifying impacts of hunting in the tropics, and updated modules to quantify impacts of climate change, land use, habitat fragmentation and nitrogen pollution. We then used the updated model to project terrestrial biodiversity intactness from 2015 to 2050 as a function of land use and climate changes corresponding with the selected scenarios. We estimated a global area‐weighted mean MSA of 0.56 for 2015. Biodiversity intactness declined in all three scenarios, yet the decline was smaller in the sustainability scenario (−0.02) than the regional rivalry and fossil‐fuelled development scenarios (−0.06 and −0.05 respectively). We further found considerable variation in projected biodiversity change among different world regions, with large future losses particularly for sub‐Saharan Africa. In some scenario‐region combinations, we projected future biodiversity recovery due to reduced demands for agricultural land, yet this recovery was counteracted by increased impacts of other pressures (notably climate change and road disturbance). Effective measures to halt or reverse the decline of terrestrial biodiversity should not only reduce land demand (e.g. by increasing agricultural productivity and dietary changes) but also focus on reducing or mitigating the impacts of other pressures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change has become one of the signature issues that divide the American public. Numerous empirical studies of the past two decades have identified the politicization of this issue. In recent years, the concurrence of rising extreme weather events and uptick in public concern for climate change has led to common speculation that the former may drive up the latter. Using a nationally representative survey dataset combined with climate extremes data including extreme heat, extreme precipitation, and mild drought or worse, we use Structural Equation Modeling to examine how politics and climate extremes altogether shape American public concern for climate change. In addition to confirming politicization of climate change, we find that approval of President Trump not only promotes skeptical climate change perceptions but also serves as an intervening amplifier of these perceptions for Republicans and conservatives. Thus, one's concern for climate change is partially explained by their political identification and partially explained by their levels of approval of Trump. With the 2020 presidential election underway, it remains to be seen how attitudes towards presidential candidates can affect climate change perceptions and support for climate policies. The widely speculated role of climate extremes however fails to show significant effects in views towards climate change. We provide explanations for this insignificant finding. The study ends by calling for more studies to further investigate the drivers of formation of opinions towards climate change. [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]

Last year's conference of the global climate change regime took place from 2 until 15 December 2019 in Madrid, Spain. Despite marking a new record for overtime in the history of the UNFCCC, the conference did not only fail to meet the increasing public demand for swift and strong climate action, it also failed on its formal mandate to finalise the Paris rulebook. A record number of issues were left unresolved and shelved for the next session. COP25 thereby highlighted how much work still lies ahead both domestically and internationally if 2020 is to see a step-up in climate action that is consistent with the long-term goal of the Paris Agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insect declines are being reported worldwide for flying, ground, and aquatic lineages. Most reports come from western and northern Europe, where the insect fauna is well-studied and there are considerable demographic data for many taxonomically disparate lineages. Additional cases of faunal losses have been noted from Asia, North America, the Arctic, the Neotropics, and elsewhere. While this review addresses both species loss and population declines, its emphasis is on the latter. Declines of abundant species can be especially worrisome, given that they anchor trophic interactions and shoulder many of the essential ecosystem services of their respective communities. A review of the factors believed to be responsible for observed collapses and those perceived to be especially threatening to insects form the core of this treatment. In addition to widely recognized threats to insect biodiversity, e.g., habitat destruction, agricultural intensification (including pesticide use), climate change, and invasive species, this assessment highlights a few less commonly considered factors such as atmospheric nitrification from the burning of fossil fuels and the effects of droughts and changing precipitation patterns. Because the geographic extent and magnitude of insect declines are largely unknown, there is an urgent need for monitoring efforts, especially across ecological gradients, which will help to identify important causal factors in declines. This review also considers the status of vertebrate insectivores, reporting bias, challenges inherent in collecting and interpreting insect demographic data, and cases of increasing insect abundance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change leads to changes in cloud‐radiative heating, which previous work showed have a substantial impact on the response of the atmospheric circulation to climate change. We here compare to what extent this cloud‐radiative impact in models can be diagnosed by the locking method and the Cookie method. We show that the locking method reliably diagnoses the cloud‐radiative impact. In contrast, the Cookie method, which is easier to use and valuable for studying how the presence of clouds affects the present‐day circulation, is inadequate in the context of climate change. It misdiagnoses the cloud‐radiative impact and misses robust aspects of it, including the poleward circulation expansion. We argue that this is related to strong changes in the control climate and water vapor that arise from making clouds transparent to radiation. Our results highlight the need for dedicated locking simulations in the context of climate change. Plain Language Summary: Clouds are an important component of the climate system. They modify the atmospheric circulation via radiative heating and cooling, both in the present‐day climate and in future climates. We compare two methods that aim at diagnosing how radiative changes in clouds, which occur as part of climate change (i.e., cloud feedbacks), impact the atmospheric circulation response to climate change. For the first method, the locking method, cloud properties are prescribed to the models in the radiation calculations. This method is able to reliably diagnose the cloud‐radiative impact. For the second method, the Cookie method, the radiation calculations in the models do not know about the presence of clouds ("transparent clouds"). While this method is well suited to study how the presence of cloud‐radiative heating affects the circulation in the present‐day climate, it fails to diagnose the cloud‐radiative impact in a changing climate. We show that this is due to changes in the present‐day climate when clouds are made transparent as well as changes in water vapor. Our results clarify that the locking method should be used to study the cloud‐radiative impact on the atmospheric circulation response to climate change. Key Points: Two methods are compared for cloud‐radiative impact on the circulation response to climate changeLocking method reliably quantifies the cloud impact, preserves the present‐day climate, and can be linked to circulation theoriesCookie method is unsuitable, as changes in present‐day climate and water‐vapor response to climate change inhibit a separation of cloud impact [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flood-risk is affected by both climatic and anthropogenic factors. In this study, we assess changes in flood risk induced by a combination of climate change and flood prevention sets in the Baiyangdian (BYD) Lake area of China. Extreme storm events are analysed by the bias-corrected climate data from global climate models. A hydrological model is implemented and integrated with a hydrodynamic model to assess flood risk under three scenarios. The streamflow into the BYD was validated against historical flash-flood events. The results indicate that the changing climate increased extreme precipitation, upstream total inflow and the flood risk at the core region of Xiong'an New Area (XNA), the newly announced special economic zone in the BYD area. However, flood prevention measures can effectively mitigate the climatic effect. The research highlights the severe flash-flood risk at BYD and demonstrates the urgent need for a climate-resilient plan for XNA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greenhouse gas emission scenarios are key to analyse of human interference with the climate system. They are mainly produced by one category of computer models: Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs). We analyse how IAM research organised into a community around the production of socio-economic scenarios during the preparation of the IPCC AR5 (2005-2014). We seek to describe the co-emergence of a research community, its instruments, and its domain of applicability. We highlight the role of the IPCC process in the making of the IAM community, showing how IAMs worked their way to an influent position. We then survey three elements of the repertoire that served to organise collective work on scenarios in interaction with the IPCC and the European Union, and which now frames the community and its epistemic practices. This repertoire needs to articulate epistemic practices with the pursuit of policy relevance, which shows how epistemic communities and patterns of co-production materialise in practical arrangements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studying the spatiotemporal variation of precipitation in China under the background of climate change and its impact on surface dry-wet conditions is of great significance in revealing the dynamic responses and changes of land surface systems to climate change and disaster prevention and mitigation. Based on measured meteorological data from 1961 to 2010, the spatiotemporal variations of precipitation and surface dry-wet conditions were analyzed. Furthermore, sensitivity and contribution analysis were used to quantify the impact of precipitation on dry-wet conditions. Results showed that the annual precipitation in national scale showed a slight increasing trend over the past 50 years, but the variations of annual precipitation in different temperature zones were significant, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (Plateau sub-cold zone and Plateau temperate zone), the northwestern (the west of both Medium temperate zone and Warm temperate zone) and southern regions of China (Subtropical zone and Tropical zone) showed an increasing trend, while the northeastern (Cold temperate zone and the east of Medium temperate zone) and northern regions of China (middle and east of Medium temperate zone and east of Warm temperate zone) showed a decreasing trend. In terms of dry-wet conditions, it varied greatly in different regions, the northern and northeastern regions of China got dried while the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the northwestern and the southern regions got wet. The dry-wet conditions were sensitive to the change of precipitation (mean annual sensitivity coefficient: - 1.13). The dry-wet index was negatively correlated with precipitation. In the inland arid regions, precipitation contributed more to the change of dry and wet conditions than that in humid regions, and some of the regions exceeded 60%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this study is to analyze and compare greenhouse gas emission profiles, dynamics thereof, and the climate change mitigation efforts of the major players in the global climate change arena, namely the G7 and BRICS countries that are accounting for more than 60% of the world greenhouse gas emissions as in 2017. Given that the energy sector is the major source of the greenhouse emissions in these countries, the framework of sustainable energy development indicators was applied to the comparative analysis. The analysis revealed the differences among the groups of countries in terms of greenhouse gas emission profiles and development trends of these profiles. The convergence of greenhouse gas emission profiles can be noticed between G7 and BRICS countries during 1990–2017 period. Greenhouse gas emissions per capita has decreased in G7 countries and increased in BRICS countries. Energy intensity, economic growth and carbon factor are the main drivers of greenhouse gas emissions per capita growth in both groups of countries. Carbon factor represents carbon intensity of a country's energy sector and is measured by greenhouse gas emissions per unit of total primary energy supply. The impact of carbon factor was least significant among the main drivers in both groups. Energy intensity was the major driver of decrease in greenhouse gas emissions per capita for both groups, however, the economic growth exceeded the contribution of energy intensity in BRICS countries and greenhouse gas emissions have increased in this group during investigated period. The comparative analysis of greenhouse gas emission profiles development trends and the main drivers of these trends in both groups of countries provides important insights in shaping future climate change mitigation policies and developing greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. Due to the high greenhouse gas profiles, low GHG reduction commitments and insufficient climate change mitigation the Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) scheme in India efforts in both groups there is danger of postponing implementation of Paris commitments and achieving the 1.5° target. The policies implemented in high ranked countries, like or Integrated Resources Planning in South Africa or measures under Energy efficiency directive in EU can be applied in low ranked countries by providing the substantial contribution to the country's climate targets. Image 1 • The GHG profiles of G7 and BRICS were converging during 1990–2017. • GHG/capita has decreased in G7 countries and increased in BRICS countries. • Energy intensity, economic growth and carbon factor - the main drivers of GHG/capita. • Energy intensity - the major driver of decrease in GHG/capita for both groups. • However, the economic growth exceeded the contribution of energy intensity in BRICS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change has been led to the increasing magnitude of frequency and severity of extreme weather, causing serious damage to overall economy of a country and individual economy of enterprises. Only relying on government subsidy to combat the impact of climate change, the work could be in vain. This study tries to use recycling action as mitigation strategies of climate change, and analyze the dominant influencing factors that affect recycling intention. This study stands in the perspective of green education in universities, regards the recycling intentions in response to climate change as pro-environmental behaviors, and revises and verifies the citizen pro-environmental behavior model. The green educations programs can communicate, promote, active and internalize the environmental citizenship through resource recycling intentions. Students learn about the importance of advocacy and activism to environmental citizenship, then generate environmentally sustainable and recycling intentions, and achieve the goal of improving the environment and mitigating to climate change. Image 1 • Exploring the determinants of recycling intention to mitigate climate change is a complex task. • The NEP values are conceptualized as connectedness to nature and environmental concerns constructs. • The advocacy and activism are viewed as adopting environmental citizenship behaviors. • Under the NEP, connection to nature and environmental concern affect individual to become an advocate. • The ECBOs and ECBIs significantly support advocacy and change recycling intentions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Circular economy (CE) aims at sustainable development (SD) by focusing more on renewable sources of energy and precise management of waste to i) guarantee the secure access to resources, ii) combat climate change and global warming. Environmental issues arising from energy use and lack of policies to monitor them challenge sustainable development. Circular economy emphasizes the economic development with the least amount of undesirable environmental impacts. To evaluate the environmental performance of decision-making units (DMUs) with data envelopment analysis (DEA), this paper develops a common set of weights (CSW) model using the ideal point method. Therefore, energy and environmental efficiency of the organization for economic cooperation and development (OECD) countries is analyzed using the Malmquist productivity index (MPI) during 2012–2015. Although Switzerland has the highest energy and environmental efficiency during 2012–2014, findings indicate that Ireland and the USA have continuously improved their energy and environmental efficiency. • Developing common set of weight models based on ideal point method. • Common weight analysis of Malmquist productivity index. • Guaranteeing the unique optimal solution for policy making. • Analysing the energy and environmental performance of OECD countries. • Dealing with undesirable outputs for efficiency analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We model the future evolution of the largest glacier of the European Alps – Great Aletsch Glacier, Switzerland – during the 21st century. For that purpose we use a detailed three-dimensional model, which combines full Stokes ice dynamics and surface mass balance forced with the most recent climate projections (CH2018), as well as with climate data of the last decades. As a result, all CH2018 climate scenarios yield a major glacier retreat: Results range from a loss of 60% of today's ice volume by 2100 for a moderate CO2 emission scenario (RCP2.6) being in line with the Paris agreement to an almost complete wastage of the ice for the most extreme emission scenario (RCP8.5). Our model results also provide evidence that half of the mass loss is already committed under the climate conditions of the last decade. [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]

Climate change is perhaps the most important phenomenon to have dominated the discourse of sustainable development at this time. They add that in order to adapt to climate change, people need adaptive capacities to mobilse the social and physical resources they need to cope with climate change (Heeks & Ospina, [2]). In adaptation to climate change, the role of ICTs is in offering systemic resilience to climate change. Heeks and Ospina ([2]) suggest that ICTs offer adaptive capacity to climate change by helping strengthen physical preparedness through technologies such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS). [Extracted from the article]

Policymakers at different government levels develop integrated adaptation strategy processes (ASPs), which are supposed to prepare a particular region, country or municipality for the impacts of climate change. The adaptation literature suggests that coordination of these efforts promises comprehensive climate change adaptation, because it allows making use of synergies and avoiding maladaptation. Nonetheless, we lack evidence about the coordination of multiple levels and its potential to actually facilitate climate change adaptation. Based on an examination of 14 integrated ASPs, the author asks how they interact with each other, if they reconcile the priorities of other levels, and if they are an adequate tool for coordinating climate change adaptation. The study reveals a considerable gap between theory and practice. It demonstrates that the call for coordination is not reflected in current adaptation policy and questions whether (more) coordination is what we need to be better prepared for the impacts of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy is crucial to economic and social development and improves quality of life. However, fossil fuel energy produces greenhouse gases (GHGs) and cannot be sustained for a long time. It is essential to tackle these problems by moving towards renewable and sustainable energy. Some countries, including those in the Arabian Gulf region, are still in the appraisal stage of adopting different forms of renewable energy. This paper reviews the business potential and likely GHG reductions associated with adopting renewable energy in Oman. It is revealed that 1·9 Mt of annual carbon dioxide emissions could be cut by producing 10% of the country's electricity from renewables. The paper further discusses the global sustainable energy commitment under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and reviews the 2030 targets of some countries that are high producers of GHGs. It is anticipated that if all these planned targets are achieved, the total sustainable energy contribution could grow by nearly 11 000 TWh by 2030. These plans provide guidance for those countries still preparing to submit their plans to the UN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]