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Protein transition and circular food system transition are two proposed strategies for supporting food system sustainability. Here we model animal-sourced protein to plant-sourced protein ratios within a European circular food system, finding that maintaining the current animal-plant protein share while redesigning the system with circular principles resulted in the largest relative reduction of 44% in land use and 70% in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared with the current food system. Shifting from a 60:40 to a 40:60 ratio of animal-sourced proteins to plant-sourced proteins yielded a 60% reduction in land use and an 81% GHG emission reduction, while supporting nutritionally adequate diets. Differences between current and recommended total protein intake did not substantially impact minimal land use and GHG emissions. Micronutrient inadequacies occurred with less than 18 g animal protein per capita per day. Redesigning the food system varied depending on whether land use or GHG emissions were reduced-highlighting the need for a food system approach when designing policies to enhance human and planetary health., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

In Europe, there has been a significant shift in the movement of people and things. Nonetheless, despite the fact that transportation is an important component of the supply chain, its environmental consequences pose a severe threat to the ecosystem as a whole. As a result, we intend to explore the relationship between transportation, economy, and CO2 emissions. We used the Static method with Pooled OLS, then tested the Granger causality to validate the use of dynamic approach via the GMM system. The major findings revealed that GDP and trade openness had a considerable impact on CO2 emissions. Although the three modes of transportation have different effects on CO2 emissions, road density has a positive and considerable impact on CO2 emissions. The railway network is inversely connected to CO2 emissions. While the quantity of flight passengers has no substantial effect on emissions. In terms of the impulse response function, there is an initial shock in period 2 for the response of air passengers carried to CO2 emissions, followed by convergence back to zero in period 6, whereas road density has a slight decrease in period 2 with a post shock peak in period 4, followed by convergence back to zero in period 5. The variance decomposition results reveal a little increase until the fifth period for road density, air passengers, and trade openness with coefficients equal to 0.0893, 0.636, and 1.573, respectively, after which these three variables offer decreasing coefficients., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

People's sentiments and perceptions of greenhouse gas emission and renewable energy are important information to understand their reaction to the planned mitigation policy. Therefore, this research analyzes people's perceptions of greenhouse gas emissions and their preferences for renewable energy resources using a sample of Twitter data. We first identify themes of discussion using semantic text similarity and network analysis. Next, we measure people's interest in renewable energy resources based on the mentioned rate in Twitter and search interest in Google trends. Then, we measure people's sentiment toward these resources and compare the interest with sentiments to identify opportunities for policy improvement. The results indicate a minor influence of governmental assemblies on Twitter discourses compared to a very high influence of two renewable energy providers amounts to more than 40% of the tweeting activities related to renewable energy. The search interest analysis shows a slight shift in people's interest in favor of renewable energy. The interest in geothermal energy is decreasing while interest in biomass energy is increasing. The sentiment analysis shows that biomass energy has the highest positive sentiments while solar and wind energy have higher interest. Solar and wind energy are found to be the two most promising sources for the future energy transition. Our study implies that governments should practice a higher influence on promoting awareness of the environment and converging between people's interests and feasible energy solutions. We also advocate Twitter as a source for collecting real-time data about social preferences for environmental policy input., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

With growing concerns about climate change, global warming and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, environmental taxes, renewable energy consumption, and environmental technologies have caught attention from researchers, policymakers, and concerned organizations in developed and developing world. The environmental-related taxes and carbon and energy taxes are considered as effective tool and highly recommended by economists and environmental scientists in developed nations (e.g., European economies). To this end, the current study examines the role of environmental policies and regulations and cleaner energy consumption for GHG emissions across leading emitter countries in Europe. The study used annual data of variables from 1994 to 2018 for nine leading European economies. The empirical estimates of quantile regression, FMOLS, and DOLS revealed that environmental taxes and promotion of cleaner energy sources can be effective to reduce overall pollution efflux. The study reports new implications regarding sustainable development goals.

As a major source of pollution and the cause of climate change, greenhouse gas emissions are attracting the attention of scholars, policymakers, and governors in Europe and the world. This article assesses the impact of population, energy taxes, and energy prices on greenhouse gas emissions from the residential and industrial energy consumption in Europe. The paper establishes a theoretical framework that predicts that rising energy prices and increased energy taxes will reduce residential and industrial GHG emissions. According to this framework, it is expected that the labor force will have an impact on industrial greenhouse gas emissions depending on wages elasticity. Between 2007 and 2017, panel data from 21 European countries were used to test the proposed hypothesis. First, a complete sample test was conducted. The results confirmed the proposed hypothesis. In addition, it was found that the size of the population increased residential greenhouse gas emissions, while the urbanization process reduced these emissions. Next, the sample was divided according to the economic development level. The split sample analysis shows the regional heterogeneity of population factors and energy costs impacts on GHG emissions. Finally, the time-varying coefficient test indicates that during the study period, the negative impact of urbanization has decreased over time, while the positive impact of industrial production on greenhouse gas emissions has increased. We believe this article will contribute to the formulation of environmental policies and provide additional insights for environmentally sustainable development.

This study explored the long-run association among greenhouse gases (GHGs), financial development, forest area, improved sanitation, renewable energy, urbanization, and trade in 24 lower middle-income countries from Asia, Europe, Africa, and America (South and North) by using panel data from 1990 to 2015. Granger causality was tested by Toda and Yamamoto approach. The bi-directional causality was established among urbanization and GHGs (Asia), financial development and forest (Asia), energy use and renewable energy (Asia), renewable energy and forest (Asia), improved sanitation and forest (Asia, Africa, America), urbanization and forest (Asia), and improved sanitation and financial development (Europe). The GHG emission also shows one-way causality is running from financial development to GHG (America), energy to GHG (Asia), renewable energy to GHG (America), forest area to GHG (America), trade openness to GHG (Africa), urbanization to GHG (Europe), GHG to financial development (Europe), GHG to energy use (Europe, Africa, and America), and GHG to trade openness (Asia). On the basis of fully modified ordinary least square and generalized method of moment, the reciprocal relationship of GHGs was observed due to financial development in Asia and Africa; renewable energy in all panels; forest area in Asia, Europe, and America; improved sanitation in Asia, Africa, and America; trade openness in Africa; and urbanization in Europe and America. Policymakers should concentrate on these variables for the reduction in GHGs. The annual convergence towards long-run equilibrium was 50.5, 31.9, and 20.9% for America, Asia, and Africa, respectively.

Discrepancies between several South-Eastern European (SEE) countries and Nordic countries are investigated in this paper using an econometric analysis. Its aim is to examine the relationship between CO2 emissions, GDP per capita, urban population (URB) and electricity production from Renewable Energy Sources (RES) - EPREN, excluding hydroelectric for the two groups of EU countries located in the North and S-E of Europe. The data covers a period from 1990 to 2022, providing a comprehensive view over three decades. The relationship between the four variables is determined by various causality and cointegration tests. We check the unit root tests and conclude that the analyzed time series are stationary at first difference. Further, we estimate two models: Fully Modified and Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares and study causality and cointegration between variables. The results show that CO2 emissions are impacted by GDP, URB and EPREN for both regions. Testing causality, for SEE and Nordic countries, the bidirectional and causalities do exist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increase in global average temperature, mainly due to the high rate of greenhouse gas emissions, has triggered severe global warming and climate change. In Europe, the building sector accounts for a significant portion of emissions and energy consumption, prompting attention on nearly-zero-energy buildings (nZEBs) and zero-carbon buildings, as they play a pivotal role in reaching the goal of climate neutrality by 2050. Passive systems offer a promising solution, optimizing energy usage by better adapting buildings to their local climates. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art of passive heating and cooling techniques, exploring their contributions to contemporary architecture and showcasing their features and adaptability across different climates. Furthermore, the link between traditional and bioclimatic architecture is assessed. Recent years have witnessed a surge in publications on bioclimatic solar passive strategies, reflecting an intensified debate on climate change. Europe leads research in this area, aligned with initiatives like the Green Deal and Fit for 55. While dynamic simulation software is widely utilized for energy efficiency analysis, there remains limited integration of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and life cycle analysis (LCA) tools, which could enhance holistic assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the Positive Energy District Database (PED DB), a pivotal web tool developed collaboratively by the COST Action 'PED-EU-NET', in alignment with international initiatives such as JPI Urban Europe and IEA EBC Annex 83. The PED DB represents a crucial step towards sharing knowledge, promoting collaboration, reinforcing decision-making, and advancing the understanding of Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) in the pursuit of sustainable urban environments. The PED DB aims to comprehensively map and disseminate information on PEDs across Europe, serving as a dynamic resource for sustainable urban development according to the objective of making the EU climate-neutral by 2050. Indeed, PEDs imply an integrated approach for designing urban areas—the districts—where a cluster of interconnected buildings and energy communities produce net zero greenhouse gas emissions, managing an annual local/regional overflow production of renewable energy. The paper describes the collaborative step-by-step process leading to the PED DB implementation, the current results and potentials of the online platform, and introduces its future developments towards a more user-friendly and stakeholders-tailored tool. The interactive web map offers a customizable visualizations and filters on multiple information related to PED case studies, PED-relevant cases, and PED Labs. Users can access detailed information through a table view, facilitating comparisons across different PED projects and their implementation phase. The paper offers insights and detailed analysis from the initial dataset that includes 23 PED cases and 7 PED-related projects from 13 European countries, highlighting the key characteristics of surveyed PEDs. [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]

To assess the responses of nitrogen and greenhouse gas emissions to pan-European changes in land cover, land management and climate, an integrated dynamic model, INTEGRATOR, has been developed. This model includes both simple process-based descriptions and empirical relationships, and uses detailed GIS-based environmental and farming data in combination with various downscaling methods. This paper analyses the propagation of uncertainties in model inputs and model parameters to outputs of INTEGRATOR, using a Monte Carlo analysis. Uncertain model inputs and parameters were represented by probability distributions, while spatial correlation in these uncertainties was taken into account by assigning correlation coefficients at various spatial scales. The uncertainty propagation was analysed for the emissions of NH3, N2O and NOx and N leaching to groundwater and N surface runoff to surface water for the entire EU27 and for individual countries. Results show large uncertainties for N leaching and N runoff (relative errors of ~19% for Europe as a whole), and smaller uncertainties for emission of N2O, NH3 and NOx (relative errors of ~12%). Uncertainties for Europe as a whole were much smaller compared to uncertainties at Country level, because errors partly cancelled out due to spatial aggregation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methane is the second-most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide and accounts for around 10 % of total European Union greenhouse gas emissions. Given that the atmospheric methane budget over a region depends on its terrestrial and aquatic methane sources, inverse modelling techniques appear as powerful tools for identifying critical areas that can later be submitted to emission mitigation strategies. In this regard, an inverse modelling system of methane emissions for Europe is being implemented based on the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model: the Aarhus University Methane Inversion Algorithm (AUMIA) v1.0. The forward modelling component of AUMIA consists of the WRF model coupled to a multipurpose global database of methane anthropogenic emissions. To assure transport consistency during the inversion process, the backward modelling component will be based on the WRF model coupled to a Lagrangian particle dispersion module. A description of the modelling tools, input data sets, and 1-year forward modelling evaluation from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019 is provided in this paper. The a posteriori methane emission estimates, including a more focused inverse modelling for Denmark, will be provided in a second paper. A good general agreement is found between the modelling results and observations based on the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) onboard the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite. Model–observation discrepancies for the summer peak season are in line with previous studies conducted over urban areas in central Europe, with relative differences between simulated concentrations and observational data in this study ranging from 1 % to 2 %. Domain-wide correlation coefficients and root-mean-square errors for summer months ranged from 0.4 to 0.5 and from 27 to 30 ppb, respectively. On the other hand, model–observation discrepancies for winter months show a significant overestimation of anthropogenic emissions over the study region, with relative differences ranging from 2 % to 3 %. Domain-wide correlation coefficients and root-mean-square errors in this case ranged from 0.1 to 0.4 and from 33 to 50 ppb, respectively, indicating that a more refined inverse analysis assessment will be required for this season. According to modelling results, the methane enhancement above the background concentrations came almost entirely from anthropogenic sources; however, these sources contributed with only up to 2 % to the methane total-column concentration. Contributions from natural sources (wetlands and termites) and biomass burning were not relevant during the study period. The results found in this study contribute with a new model evaluation of methane concentrations over Europe and demonstrate a huge potential for methane inverse modelling using improved TROPOMI products in large-scale applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores business models for community energy storage (CES) and examines their potential and feasibility at the local level. By leveraging Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) approaches and real-world case studies in Europe and India, it presents insights into CES deployment opportunities, challenges, and best practices. Different business models, including community energy cooperatives, utility–community partnerships, demand response, energy services, and market mechanisms, are analyzed. The proposed method combines the MCDM method PROMETHEE II with the fuzzy set theory to obtain a complete CES business model ranking, addressing project uncertainties. The analysis emphasizes CES's role in balancing local renewable energy supply and demand, facilitating energy sharing, and achieving energy independence. Findings prioritize models like Community Cooperative, Energy Arbitrage, and Energy Arbitrage Peak Shaving for CES with renewables. Environmental benefits include reduced diesel use and greenhouse gas emissions. Efficient cooperatives are advocated to recover costs and enable competitive energy prices. The paper highlights the need for novel value propositions to boost the energy transition in local communities. This research contributes to the discourse on CES business models, fostering knowledge exchange and promoting effective strategies for sustainable energy systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This scientific paper provides an overview of the current state of pyrolysis in Europe, with a focus on mapping the key research areas and technologies employed. This research relied on search equations that centered on the utilization of biomass and plastics as primary feedstocks in pyrolysis, with a particular emphasis on biochar generation and different technologies applied. The results showed that both plastic and biomass pyrolysis can contribute to reducing waste and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. However, plastic pyrolysis can release harmful pollutants due to the presence of chlorine and other additives in plastics, which requires sophisticated emission control systems to be implemented. The production of biochar from sewage sludge is identified as a promising approach for phosphorus recovery, which can subsequently be utilized as a valuable fertilizer in agricultural applications. The data from this study contribute to exploring future applications at pilot and industrial scales for pyrolysis, with a critical assessment of the use of feedstocks. Moreover, this work provides information about current companies that are already operating on a large scale with pyrolysis and a map of the principal countries in Europe engaged in pyrolysis research, correlating the characteristics of the pyrolysis processes investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summer heatwaves over Europe, which can cause many deaths and severe damage, have become increasingly frequent over central and eastern Europe and western Russia in recent decades. In this paper, we estimate the contributions of the warming due to increased greenhouse gases (GHG) and nonlinear variations correlated with the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) to the observed heatwave trend over Europe during 1980–2021, when the GHG‐induced warming over Europe exhibits a linear trend. It is found that GHG‐induced warming contributes to ∼57% of the European heatwave trend over 1980–2021, while the cold‐to‐warm phase shift of the AMO‐like variations accounts for ∼43% of the trend via the intensification of midlatitude North Atlantic jet. The recent trend of heatwaves over western and northern Europe is mainly due to GHG‐induced warming, while that over central and eastern Europe and western Russia is primarily related to the combined effect of the AMO‐like variations and GHG‐induced warming. To some extent, GHG‐induced warming is an amplifier of the increasing trend of recent AMO‐related European heatwaves. Moreover, European blocking (Ural blocking, UB) is shown to contribute to 55% (42%) of the AMO‐related heatwave trend via the influence of midlatitude North Atlantic jet. In the presence of a strong North Atlantic jet during the recent warm AMO phase, UB events concurrent with positive‐phase North Atlantic Oscillation can cause intense, persistent and widespread heatwaves over Europe such as that observed in the summer of 2022. Plain Language Summary: In recent decades, severe summer heatwaves frequently occurred in Eurasia and North America. However, what leads to the increased European heatwaves in recent decades is still debated. In this paper, we quantify the contributions of greenhouse gases (GHG)‐induced warming and the multidecadal variations correlated with the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) to increased European heatwaves in recent decades by assuming that GHG‐induced warming shows a linear upward trend. It is revealed that GHG‐induced warming contributes to ∼57% of the recent European heatwave trend during 1980–2021, whereas the cold‐to‐warm transition of the AMO‐like variations contributes to ∼43% of the trend via strengthening the midlatitude North Atlantic jet. In particular, European blocking (EB) (Ural blocking, UB) accounts for ∼55% (42%) of the AMO‐related heatwave trend, even though the area extent and intensity of European heat waves depend strongly on whether the EB or UB is concurrent with the positive phase of NAO and whether the midlatitude North Atlantic jet is strong. Key Points: Severe summer heatwaves frequently occurred in central and eastern Europe and western Russia in recent decadesThe greenhouse gases‐induced warming and the positive phase of Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation favor increased European heatwavesThe increased quasi‐stationarity, persistence, zonal scale, and slow decay of the European blocking and Ural blocking favor increased duration, extent and intensity of the European heatwaves [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The production of bioenergy in Europe is one of the strategies conceived to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The suitability of the land use change from a cropland (REF site) to a short rotation coppice plantation of hybrid poplar (SRC site) was investigated by comparing the GHG budgets of these two systems over 24 months in Viterbo, Italy. Eddy covariance measurements were carried out to quantify the net ecosystem exchange of CO2 (...), whereas chambers were used to measure N2O and CH4 emissions from soil. Soil organic carbon (SOC) of an older poplar plantation was used to estimate via a regression the SOC loss due to SRC establishment. Emissions from tractors and from production and transport of agricultural inputs (FMAN) were modelled and GHG emission offset due to fossil fuel substitution was credited to the SRC site considering the C intensity of natural gas. Emissions due to the use of the biomass (FEXP) were also considered. The suitability was finally assessed comparing the GHG budgets of the two sites. ... was the higher flux in the SRC site (-3512±224 gCO2 eq m-2 in two years), while in the REF site it was -1838 ± 107 g CO2 m-2 in two years. FEXP was equal to 1858±240 gCO2 m-2 in 24 months in the REF site, thus basically compensating ..., while it was 1118±521 gCO2 eq m-2 in 24 months in the SRC site. This latter could offset -379.7±175.1 gCO2 eq m-2 from fossil fuel displacement. Soil CH4 and N2O fluxes were negligible. FMAN weighed 2 and 4% in the GHG budgets of SRC and REF sites respectively, while the SOC loss weighed 455±524 gCO2 m-2 in two years. Overall, the REF site was close to neutrality in a GHG perspective (156±264 gCO2 eq m-2), while the SRC site was a net sink of -2202±792 gCO2 eq m-2. In conclusion the experiment led to a positive evaluation of the conversion of cropland to bioenergy SRC from a GHG viewpoint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methane (CH 4 ) is an important climate forcer, contributing about 17% of the total radiative forcing by long living greenhouse gases. The Po basin is one of the most polluted and densely populated areas in Europe representing an important source region for CH 4 . The aim of this work was to test an inter-species correlation approach to derive estimates of anthropogenic CH 4 emissions for the period 2015-2019 from the Po basin by combining CO bottom-up inventory data and continuous CH 4 and CO observations from a mountain site in the northern Italy. The tested methodology suggested lower emissions in respect to EDGAR (-17%) and the Italian National Inventory (-40%) for the Po basin. However, despite the two bottom-up inventories, the emissions derived from the atmospheric observations reported an increasing tendency from 2015 to 2019 for the CH 4 emissions. A sensitivity study revealed that using different subsets of the atmospheric observations implied a difference of 26% in the CH 4 emission estimates. The highest agreement with two bottom-up CH 4 inventories (EDGAR and the Italian national inventory) were obtained when atmospheric data were strictly selected for periods representative of air mass transport from the Po basin. Our study identified various challenges when using this methodology as a benchmark to verify bottom-up CH 4 inventories. Issues could be attributed to the annual aggregation of the proxies used to derive the emission amounts, to the CO bottom-up inventory used as input information and to the relatively high sensitivity of the results to the different subsets of the atmospheric observations. However, the use of different bottom-up inventories as input data for CO emissions can potentially provide information that should be carefully considered for the purpose of integrating CH 4 bottom-up inventories., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Climate change and air pollution, interact with altering forest management and landuse change to produce short and long-term changes to forest in Europe. The impact of these changes on the forest greenhouse gas (GHG) balance is currently difficult to predict. To improve the mechanistic understanding of the ongoing changes, we studied the response of GHG (N2O, CH4) exchange from forest soils at twelve experimental or natural gradient forest sites, representing anticipated future forest change. The experimental manipulations one or more per site included nitrogen (N) addition (4 sites), changes of climate (temperature, 1 site; precipitation, 2 sites), soil hydrology (3 sites), harvest intensity (1 site), wood ash fertilization (1 site), pH gradient in peat (1 site) and afforestation of cropland (1 site). In most of the investigated treatments N2O emissions increased by 7±3 (range 0-30) µg N2O-N m-2 h-1 across all treatments on mineral soils, but by up to 10 times the mineral soil maximum on an acidic organic soil. Soil moisture together with mineral soil C/N ratio and pH were found to significantly influence N2O emissions across all treatments. Emissions increased with N availability and decreased with soil C/N ratio, especially in interaction with increased soil moisture. High pH reduced the formation of N2O, even under otherwise favourable soil conditions. Oxidation (uptake) of CH4 was reduced from 16±2 to 4±6 µg CH4-C m-2 h-1 by the investigated treatments. The CH4 exchange was significantly influenced by soil moisture and soil C/N ratio across all treatments, and CH4 emissions occurred only in wet or water-saturated conditions. For most of the investigated forest manipulations or natural gradients, the response of both N2O and CH4 fluxes was towards reducing the overall GHG forest sink. The most resilient forests were dry Mediterranean forests, as well as forests with high soil C/N ratio or high soil pH. Mitigation strategies may focus on (I) sustainable management of wet forest areas and forested peat lands, (ii) continuous forest cover management, (iii) reducing atmospheric N input and, thus, N availability, and (iv) improving neutralisation capacity of acid soils (e.g. wood ash application). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we compare annual fluxes of methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and soil respiratory carbon dioxide (CO2) measured at nine European peatlands (n = 4) and shrublands (n = 5). The sites range from northern Sweden to Spain, covering a span in mean annual air temperature from 0 to 16 C, and in annual precipitation from 300 to 1300mmyr-1. The effects of climate change, including temperature increase and prolonged drought, were tested at five shrubland sites. At one peatland site, the longterm (> 30 yr) effect of drainage was assessed, while increased nitrogen deposition was investigated at three peatland sites. The shrublands were generally sinks for atmospheric CH4 whereas the peatlands were CH4 sources, with fluxes ranging from -519 to +6890mg CH4-Cm-2 yr-1 across the studied ecosystems. At the peatland sites, annual CH4 emission increased with mean annual air temperature, while a negative relationship was found between net CH4 uptake and the soil carbon stock at the shrubland sites. Annual N2O fluxes were generally small ranging from -14 to 42mg N2O-Nm-2 yr-1. Highest N2O emission oc- curred at the sites that had highest concentration of nitrate (NO-3 ) in soil water. Furthermore, experimentally increased NO-3 deposition led to increased N2O efflux, whereas prolonged drought and long-term drainage reduced the N2O efflux. Soil CO2 emissions in control plots ranged from 310 to 732 g CO2-Cm-2 yr-1. Drought and long-term drainage generally reduced the soil CO2 efflux, except at a hydric shrubland where drought tended to increase soil respiration. When comparing the fractional importance of each greenhouse gas to the total numerical global warming response, the change in CO2 efflux dominated the response in all treatments (ranging 71--96 %), except for NO-3 addition where 89% was due to change in CH4 emissions. Thus, in European peatlands and shrublands the feedback to global warming induced by the investigated anthropogenic disturbances will be dominated by variations in soil CO2 fluxes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing emissions from fluorinated gases (F-gases) is considered one of the key conditions for the European Union (EU) to be able to meet the requirements of the European Green Deal, primary objectives of which are the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 and the gradual transition to net climate neutrality by 2050. To this end, a quota system for hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) is already in place, introduced through the updated F-Gas Regulation (517/2014). The aim of this paper is to review an innovative scheme currently under development that strongly promotes the Recovery, Recycling and Reuse (3R) of F-gases extracted from the heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC-R) equipment of the building sector, thus offering a sustainable alternative source for refrigerant supplies. Therefore, the basic operating principles of the so-called "3R ECOSYSTEM" are outlined and especially its three main components, which are: the self-certification/self-declaration platform, the F-gas identification and recycling units (prototypes) and the Retradeables marketplace. In addition, an overview of both the demonstration phase and the scheduled replication phase of the 3R ECOSYSTEM is provided, including the estimated impact on carbon dioxide (CO2) savings due to the progressive uptake of the circular use of existing F-gases across Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a solution to mitigate the effects of climate change, scientists have been looking for more environmentally friendly energy production alternatives, so, since the 2000s, renewable energy production has increased across Europe. Climate change has a negative impact on our planet, with increased emissions of greenhouse gases contributing to global warming. In this context, biogas has become a promising solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving environmental quality. The purpose of the study is to review the evolution of research and development in this field, identify trends and gaps in existing knowledge, and assess the impact and significance of published research. In this sense, a bibliometric analysis was carried out, based on the topics "renewable energy" and "biogas", in which VosViewer software was used to create maps. The research results show that existing policies worldwide encourage transfer and synergy between researchers from different countries, achieving important results. Practically, researches and examples of good practise show that biogas can be a viable solution to mitigate the effects of climate change, and in the coming decades, under the conditions of the population growth estimates materialization, we will most likely witness an intensification of agriculture to ensure the population's food needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Green Deal has set a target for Europe to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, necessitating a transition to more sustainable energy sources. Hydrogen gas (H 2) has emerged as a promising solution, with methane pyrolysis presenting a viable method for its production. This study explores the optimization of methane plasma pyrolysis for hydrogen and high-quality carbon production. Employing a statistical approach by a design of experiment software, critical process parameters are systematically analyzed to predict their impact within a defined range. Additionally, the paper conducts comprehensive characterization of the solid carbon produced during pyrolysis using imaging, spectroscopic and elemental analysis, and gas sorption analysis methods. The experimental investigation was conducted using a thermal plasma reactor with several settings of influential parameters including methane gas (CH 4) content in the plasma gas, electric current, and arc length. The DC-transferred plasma arc is formed using a variable gas mixture of argon gas (Ar) and CH 4, with a constant flow rate of 5 Nl/min. Thirteen tests were designed, evaluating responses such as power input, process stability, and H 2 yield. The H 2 yield indicates the hydrogen produced from CH 4 , with 100% representing total conversion. While the process exhibited inconstancy, attributed to reactor design constraints, a high H 2 yield of 67%–100% was achieved. The results indicate that a higher CH 4 content in the plasma gas and extended arc lengths disturb the plasma arc, hence reducing the H 2 yield. Increased power input, achieved through higher amperage levels, and a wider reaction zone eased by extending the arc length both led to an improved H 2 yield. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) revealed microstructural differences, with carbon samples from the filter exhibiting finer textures and carbon samples from the reactor larger sizes and dendritic particles. Raman spectroscopy confirmed crystalline graphitic-like structures with low defect concentrations, a finding supported by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS) analysis confirmed high-purity carbon with slight impurities from initial filter contamination. Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) specific surface area calculations based on gas sorption analysis showed significant variations, with filter-collected samples exhibiting 40–170 m2/g and reactor-collected ones showing 7–30 m2/g. [Display omitted] • This study investigates a unique approach to optimizing the thermal plasma pyrolysis of methane. • A H 2 yield of 67%–100% was achieved utilizing a DC-transferred plasma arc furnace and an Ar and CH 4 mixture plasma gas. • A lower CH 4 content in the plasma gas and an optimized arc length improve the plasma arc and the H 2 yield. • The carbon shows crystalline graphitic-like structures with low defect concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The long-term carbon balance (NBP) of grasslands is estimated by combining scarce multi-year eddy-covariance observations at ecosystem observation sites where information on carbon inputs and harvesting removals is available. Following accounting for carbon leached to rivers, we estimated grasslands to be net carbon sinks of 74±10 g C m-2 yr-1. Uncertainties arise from the small number of sites and the short measurement period. Only 11 sites, out of a total of 20 grassland sites in Europe where eddy covariance systems are installed, were set-up for estimating NBP. These 11 selected sites are representative of intensive management practice and we lack information on disturbance history, such as plowing. This suggests that the grassland NBP estimate is likely biased towards overestimating the sink, compared to the European average. Direct measurements of Net Primary Productivity (NPP) are not possible in grasslands given permanent biomass removal by grazing and mowing, uncertainties in rhizodeposition and production of volatile organic carbon compounds lost to the atmosphere. Therefore, the grassland process-based ecosystem model PASIM was used to estimate the spatial-temporal distribution of NPP, providing a European average value of 750±150 g C across extensively grazed, intensively grazed pastures, and forage production systems. In Europe the NPP of grasslands seems higher than that of croplands and forests. The carbon sequestration efficiency of grasslands, defined as the ratio of NBP to NPP, amounts to 0.09±0.10. Therefore, per unit of carbon input, grasslands sequester 3-4 times more carbon in the soil than forests do, making them a good candidate for managing onsite carbon sinks. When using the 100 yr greenhouse warming potential for CH4 and N2O, their emissions due to management of grasslands together offset roughly 70-80% of the carbon sink. Uncertainties on the European grassland greenhouse gas balance, including CO2, CH4 and N2O fluxes are likely to be reduced in the near future, with data being collected from more sites, and improved up-scaling methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the analysis of some indicators that capture important aspects regarding the protection of the environment. The indicators chosen were: environmental protection investment of total economy, area of wooded land, protected areas and protected forest, as well as air emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases from production activities and households. The results showed that the reduction of pollution both from the productive activity and from the households of the population can lead to the mitigation of polluting emissions as well as to the preservation of biodiversity. Environmental protection investment is also an important help against pollution if they are applied effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carsharing is often included in packages of measures to encourage a more sustainable mobility. In this paper we determine the key trends and challenges in European carsharing research and innovation. We assess the status and future potential of European carsharing and identify additional research needs. The results show a steady increase in European funding to support urban carsharing projects. This is true for projects studying Information Technology development (i.e. Apps, websites, connected cars, etc). City authorities should conduct an ex-ante analysis before implementing carsharing schemes to ensure it is coordinated with public transport. Monitoring is crucial since carsharing services should contribute to reducing the overall environmental impact of the transport system. City authorities and private providers should collaborate to provide sustainable carsharing schemes that facilitate multimodal travel, lower greenhouse gas emissions, improve urban air quality and provides accessible mobility for all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The challenges imposed by climate change and the limited nature of resources generate paradigm shifts at the level of economic, social, and environmental policies and strategies. Promoting the principles of sustainable development and the circular economy is a priority worldwide. Thus, the motivation of this research is to explore the European countries' path toward sustainable development by analysing the relationship between green environment, economic growth, and circular economy issues. In order to explore this relationship in the case of European countries, the analysis takes into consideration specific variables: final energy consumption, GDP, capital gross fixed capital formation, greenhouse gas emissions, SOx emissions, NOx emissions, and generation of municipal waste per capita. This study is focused on the period 2009-2020 for 31 European countries, with data being provided by Eurostat and World Bank databases. The panel data analysis was used in order to examine the relationship between a green environment, economic growth and a circular economy. The results of the study suggest that gross fixed capital formation and total greenhouse gas emissions lead to decreasing generation of municipal waste; instead, final energy consumption, GDP, SOx emissions and NOx emissions generate an increase in the generation of municipal waste. The novelty of our paper consists of associating green environment, economic growth, and circular economy in the case of European countries, the results allowing the proposal of economic policy measures to favor the green transition process considering the potential of the circular economy.

Glass packaging gives rise to major environmental concerns because it develops more greenhouse gas emissions than plastic packaging and its improper discarding causes the loss of high-quality desired resources. The reuse and recycling of glass packaging reduces greenhouse gas emissions and the use of newly extracted resources sand and soda. To mitigate the environmental impacts of glass packaging, countries have set-up various collection and recycling systems, which are often organized and financed through extended producer responsibility schemes. The most common collection systems are deposit-refund systems (DRS), separate collection in drop-off containers and comingled collection with lightweight packaging waste. By the end of 2035 a minimum of 65 % of glass packaging waste must be prepared for re-use and/or recycled within the EU Member States and thus proper policies and solutions should be adopted to achieve this target. In this sense, the present study aims at verifying if deposit-refund systems and their different configurations affect glass packaging waste reduction and recycling/recovery. To achieve this aim, annual data regarding consumption and recycling/recovery of glass packaging for each European Economic Area/European Free Trade Association (EEA/EFTA) country were extracted over the time period 2010-2019. By using the selected European countries as units of analysis, a hybrid methodology was developed which includes the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and other descriptive statistics. Findings show that the different waste management systems affect neither the amount of glass packaging consumption nor the glass packaging recycling/recovery. In countries which adopt DRS, not more glass packaging per capita was retrieved than in countries which adopt other collection and management systems. In fact, it turns out to be a mechanism that allows for high quality glass packaging collection avoiding its ending up in landfills, but it does not influence consumption choices and the subsequent potential waste production. The adoption of DRS-based collections does not result necessarily in a successful management model for glass packaging. Since setting up additional drop-off collection points and recovering mechanically glass from municipal solid waste (MSW) does not result in glass qualities to be used in glass packaging, DRS represent still the sole progress towards a more circular economy., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide, and accounts for around 10 % of total European Union greenhouse gases emissions. Given that the atmospheric methane budget over a region depends on its terrestrial and aquatic methane sources, inverse modeling techniques appear as a powerful tools for identifying critical areas that can later be submitted to emission mitigation strategies. In this regard, an inverse modeling system of methane emissions for Europe is being implemented based on the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model: the Aarhus University Methane Inversion Algorithm (AUMIA) v1.0. The forward modeling component of AUMIA consists of the WRF model coupled to a multipurpose global database of methane anthropogenic emissions. To assure transport consistency during the inversion process, the backward modeling component will be based on the WRF model coupled to a lagrangian particle dispersion module. A description of the modeling tools, input data sets and one-year forward modeling evaluation from April 01, 2018 to March 31, 2019 is provided in this paper. The a posteriori methane emission estimates, including a more focused inverse modeling for Denmark, will be provided in a second paper. A good general agreement is found between the modeling results and observations based on the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) onboard the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite. Model-observation discrepancies for summer peak season are in line with previous studies conducted over urban areas in central Europe, with relative differences between simulated concentrations and observational data in this study ranging from 1 to 2%. Domain-wide correlation coefficients and root-mean-square-errors for summer months ranged from 0.4 to 0.5 and from 27 to 30 ppb, respectively. For winter months, otherwise, model-observation discrepancies show a significant overestimation of anthropogenic emissions over the study region, with relative differences ranging from 2 to 3%. Domain-wide correlation coefficients and root-mean-square-errors in this case ranged from 0.1 to 0.4 and from 33 to 50 ppb, respectively, indicating that a more refined inverse analysis assessment will be required for this season. According to modeling results, the methane enhancement above the background concentrations came almost entirely from anthropogenicsources; however, these sources contributed with only up to 2 % to the methane total column concentration. Contributions from natural sources (wetlands and termites) and biomass burning were not relevant during the study period. The results found in this study contribute with a new model evaluation of methane concentrations over Europe, and demonstrate a huge and under explored potential for methane inverse modeling using improved TROPOMI products in large-scale applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Offshoring of pulpwood production outside Europe is more and more common, which increases transport distances and also changes production technologies, raw material supply and energy production profiles. In this paper, we aim to compare the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of pulp production from Finnish boreal hardwood and from South American eucalyptus. Special emphasis was placed on analysing the contribution of transport to overall climate impacts. Materials and methods: A life cycle assessment (LCA) was used as the system modelling tool. The impact assessment was limited to climate change. Finnish and South American industrial data were combined with data from LCA databases in the life cycle inventory (LCI). Results and discussion: Based on the results, offshoring of pulp production would decrease the global greenhouse gas emissions of pulp production itself. However, transport to Europe outweighs the benefit even if transported by energy efficient ships. In this case study, transportation accounted for 27% of the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of South American pulp shipped to Europe. Conclusions: Outsourcing of biomass production offers opportunities for emission reductions. Such a conclusion may be valid if the distances between biomass production and upgrading processes were relatively short. However, this study reveals that the offshoring of biomass production contributes to a significant growth of transport emissions. The trend of offshoring provides challenges for the implementation of emission trading since the responsibility of countries to transoceanic transport is still unclear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adopting soil and crop management practices that conserve or enhance soil structure is critical for supporting the sustainable adaptation of agriculture to climate change, as it should help maintain agricultural production in the face of increasing drought or water excess without impairing environmental quality. In this paper, we evaluate the evidence for this assertion by synthesizing the results of 34 published meta-analyses of the effects of such practices on soil physical and hydraulic properties relevant for climate change adaptation in European agriculture. We also review an additional 127 meta-analyses that investigated synergies and trade-offs or help to explain the effects of soil and crop management in terms of the underlying processes and mechanisms. Finally, we identify how responses to alternative soil–crop management systems vary under contrasting agro-environmental conditions across Europe. This information may help practitioners and policymakers to draw context-specific conclusions concerning the efficacy of management practices as climate adaptation tools. Our synthesis demonstrates that organic soil amendments and the adoption of practices that maintain "continuous living cover" result in significant benefits for the water regulation function of soils, mostly arising from the additional carbon inputs to soil and the stimulation of biological processes. These effects are clearly related to improved soil aggregation and enhanced bio-porosity, both of which reduce surface runoff and increase infiltration. One potentially negative consequence of these systems is a reduction in soil water storage and groundwater recharge, which may be problematic in dry climates. Some important synergies are reductions in nitrate leaching to groundwater and greenhouse gas emissions for nonleguminous cover crop systems. The benefits of reducing tillage intensity appear much less clear-cut. Increases in soil bulk density due to traffic compaction are commonly reported. However, biological activity is enhanced under reduced tillage intensity, which should improve soil structure and infiltration capacity and reduce surface runoff and the losses of agro-chemicals to surface water. However, the evidence for these beneficial effects is inconclusive, while significant trade-offs include yield penalties and increases in greenhouse gas emissions and the risks of leaching of pesticides and nitrate. Our synthesis also highlights important knowledge gaps on the effects of management practices on root growth and transpiration. Thus, conclusions related to the impacts of management on the crop water supply and other water regulation functions are necessarily based on inferences derived from proxy variables. Based on these knowledge gaps, we outlined several key avenues for future research on this topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every type of agricultural production is a burden for the natural environment. The paper's objective is to assess the energy use efficiency, GHG emissions, and provide an economic analysis of buckwheat production for Central Europe (Poland). The analysis and comparison involved two production systems: low-input and high-input ones. The experiment involved three varieties of buckwheat, Panda, Volma, and Mancan. The yields for analysis were obtained from the field experiment which was set up in 3k-p fractional design was applied in two replications in which at the same time five factors were tested (A—variety, B—mineral fertilisation, C—sowing rate, D—weed control, E—growth regulator). A quartile was used as a statistical tool to select production systems. A high-input buckwheat production regime required, on average, 74.00% more energy than a low-input system. The total mean energy input for three varieties ranged from 7532.7 to 13,106.9 MJ ha−1 for low- and high-input systems, respectively. The results show that the energy use efficiency, specific energy, and net energy gain for the low-input system were on average 1.51, 9.6 MJ kg−1, and 3878.8 MJ ha−1, respectively, for the investigated varieties. For the high-input system, it was 1.35, 10.9 MJ kg−1, 4529.9 MJ ha−1, respectively. The total CO2 equivalent emissions during buckwheat production were higher for the high-input system than for the low-input system by more than 40%. The economic analysis demonstrated that the high-input system had better economic efficiency (without EU payment), 1.01 on average, than the low-input system, 1.07 on average. The international literature does not offer research on energy analysis for the production of common buckwheat and GHG emissions. The findings of this study demonstrate how the production systems affect energy and economic efficiency as well as GHG emissions. The authors suggest further research in Europe and globally, particularly on the energy use efficiency and GHG emissions in the production of common buckwheat, to verify the present results and improve production technologies (reduce inputs and costs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Vehicle emission regulations in Europe and many Asian countries include a particle number limit. The number concentration is measured, typically, with condensation particle counters (CPCs). For research purposes, the size distributions provide useful information. Scanning mobility particle sizers (SMPSs) accurately provide the size distribution but are not suitable for transient aerosol. Engine (fast) exhaust particle sizers (EEPSs) cover this gap, but with less accuracy. Fast size distribution instruments are commonly used in the research and development of engines. In the last few years, instrument algorithms have been improved, but studies assessing the improvements are limited, in particular in their lower size range, around 10–20 nm, and for soot-like aerosol. In this paper, we compared the three instruments using salt, silver, diffusion flame soot (CAST), and spark discharge graphite particles. Moreover, vehicle exhaust number concentration measurements with EEPSs over a seven-year period were presented. In terms of particle concentration, EEPS overestimated, on average, 25% compared to CPC, in agreement with previous studies. Its accuracy for mean particle size determination was better than 5 nm compared to SMPS. The agreement between the instruments was satisfactory but the uncertainty increased at low concentrations and larger particle sizes, showing that there is still room for further improvements. Experimental challenges, such as low concentration levels of modern vehicles, losses in the diluters, use of photometric mode by the CPCs, and the material impact, are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nitrogen applied (N-input) to cropping systems supports a high yield but generates major environmental pollution in the form of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and losses to land and water (N-surplus). This paper examines the scope to meet both GHG emission targets and zero N-surplus in high-intensity, mainly cereal, cropping in a region of the Atlantic zone in Europe. A regional survey provides background to crops grown at an experimental farm platform over a run of 5 years. For three main cereal crops under standard management (mean N-input 154 kg ha−1), N-surplus remained well above zero (single year maximum 55% of N-input, five-year mean 27%), but was reduced to near zero by crop diversification (three cereals, one oilseed and one grain legume) and converted to a net nitrogen gain (+39 kg ha−1, 25 crop-years) by implementing low nitrification management in all fields. Up-scaling N-input to the agricultural region indicated the government GHG emissions target of 70% of the 1990 mean could only be met with a combination of low nitrification management and raising the proportion of grain legumes from the current 1–2% to at least 10% at the expense of high-input cereals. Major strategic change in the agri-food system of the region is therefore needed to meet GHG emissions targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the evolution of eco-efficiency for the 27 European Union (EU) countries over the period 2008-2018, provided the traditional high concerns of the EU concerning the economic growth-environmental performance relationship. The EU has triggered several initiatives and regulations regarding environmental protection over the years, but as well the Sustainable Development Goals demand it. Under this setting, we conduct a two-stage analysis, which computes eco-efficiency scores in the first stage for each of the pairs EU 27-year, through the nonparametric method data envelopment analysis (DEA), considering the ratio GDP per capita and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). In the second stage, scores are used as a dependent variable in the proposed fractional regression model (FRM), whose determinants considered were eight pollutants (three greenhouse gases and five atmospheric pollutants). CO 2 /area and N 2 O/area effects are negative and significant, improving the eco-efficiency of the EU 27 countries. When the efficient European countries are excluded from the estimations, the results evidence that CO 2 /area and CH 4 /area decrease the DEA score. The country with the lowest GHG emissions and pollutant gases was Ireland, being the country within the considered period that mostly reduced emissions, particularly SOx and PM10, increasing its score.

Decreased greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) are urgently needed in view of global health threat represented by climate change. The goal of this paper is to test the validity of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis, considering less common measures of environmental burden. For that, four different estimations are done, one considering total GHG emissions, and three more taking into account, individually, the three main GHG gases-carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), nitrous oxide (N 2 O), and methane gas (CH 4 )-considering the oldest and most recent economies adhering to the EU27 (the EU 15 (Old Europe) and the EU 12 (New Europe)) separately. Using panel dynamic fixed effects (DFE), dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS), and fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) techniques, we validate the existence of a U-shaped relationship for all emission proxies considered, and groups of countries in the short-run. Some evidence of this effect also exists in the long-run. However, we were only able to validate the EKC hypothesis for the short-run in EU 12 under DOLS and the short and long-run using FMOLS. Confirmed is the fact that results are sensitive to models and measures adopted. Externalization of problems globally takes a longer period for national policies to correct, turning global measures harder and local environmental proxies more suitable to deeply explore the EKC hypothesis.

The demand for inland freight transport in Europe is mainly met by road transport, leading to unsustainable impacts such as air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and congestion. Since rail transport has lower externalities than road transport, a modal shift from road to rail is an accepted policy goal for achieving a more sustainable and competitive transport system. However, intermodal road-rail transport is mainly competitive for long-distance transport, and as a consequence, the potential for modal shift is limited. The cost efficiency of road-rail intermodal transport is particularly sensitive to pre- and post-haulage (PPH) costs, since this activity typically has a larger cost compared with its share of the total distance in the transport chain. For intermodal transportation over shorter distances, for example, below 300 km and where there are substantial PPH activities at both ends of the chain, the competitiveness of the intermodal transport system compared with that of direct road is low. Improving the efficiency of PPH activities is, therefore, of utmost importance for the competitiveness of the intermodal transport system. This paper looks into the issue of improving the cost efficiency of an intermodal transport chain by implementing an innovative and flexible legal framework regarding the PPH activities in the chain. By extending the legal framework with exemptions for longer vehicles in PPH, the cost efficiency could be greatly improved. The purpose of such a framework is to allow and enable, for PPH exclusively, the use of 2 × 40 foot or even two semi-trailers using only one vehicle in the context of the Swedish regulatory framework. This paper develops a strategic calculation model for assessing and investigating the consequences of such a framework and investigates the framework's potential in terms of cost efficiency. The model in combination with a sensitivity analysis of input variables gives a comprehensive understanding of the effects of PPH under different circumstances. From the results, it is evident that there are substantial positive effects associated with a PPH framework of longer vehicles. Results indicate that a typical shipper may experience cost reductions of about 5-10% of the total costs of the intermodal transport chain. In summary, a more innovative and flexible legal framework regarding vehicle length in the PPH links can contribute to a greater modal shift, improved cost efficiency and more environmentally friendly transportation systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the residential sector building typology, thermal energy balance, and scenarios prepared at several levels of sector segmentation to assist the design of low-carbon development policies for Albania, Serbia, and Montenegro. The research is breakthrough for developing Europe and could be replicated in its countries. The paper describes methodological steps and selected results. First, representative building types were identified; their energy performances by end-use, retrofit packages, as well as associated costs were assessed. Second, this information was inserted into a bottom-up simulation model prepared in the Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning System (LEAP) software. Using it, sector energy balances, the reference scenario, as well as moderate and advanced low-carbon high-thermal-comfort scenarios were prepared. The low-carbon scenarios assumed ambitious regulatory and financial policies. It was found that due to fuel poverty partial and intermittent heating is a typical situation; therefore, the thermal demand as predicted by the models applied to the different segments of the dwelling stock is much higher than its actual consumption. Also, actual consumption by energy source was found not fitting official energy balances because households use more wood and more heating systems than officially reported. In 2030, the moderate and ambitious scenarios lead to a reduction of CO2 emissions by 23-73% and 16-73% respectively versus the reference, offering however at the same time higher thermal comfort. The priority is to retrofit small buildings constructed after 1991 in Albania and those built in 1971-1990 in Montenegro and Serbia. Assuming the discount rate of 4% and counting saved energy costs as benefits, almost all scenarios are cost-effective as a whole on the country level, however not for many building categories. Therefore, not only saved energy costs but also other benefits should be monetized and compared to the scenario costs that present the next research opportunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2018, an agreement between the key EU institutions--the Commission, the European Parliament, and the European Council--was reached after a long-lasting discourse over the 2030 EU climate and energy policy package. This paper offers a comprehensive assessment of the EU package, with its three main targets: lower greenhouse gas emissions, higher renewable share in final energy consumption, and improved energy efficiency. We find that the renewable and energy efficiency targets have been set so high that the derived emissions reduction (50 percent) exceeds the EU climate target (40 percent). Hence, there is no need for an EU climate policy, for example, to use carbon prices to reach the EU climate goals. It is, however, not cost-efficient to achieve the climate target by imposing the three EU targets. We demonstrate that a cost-efficient policy that obtains a 50 percent GHG emissions reduction would increase annual welfare (relative to the Reference scenario) by an amount corresponding to 0.6 percent of GDP in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the suitability of free carbon calculators aimed at the agricultural industry, for use in greenhouse gas (GHG) emission benchmarking, using the European dairy industry as an example.Design/methodology/approach Carbon calculators which were claimed to be applicable to European dairy farms were identified and tested using six production scenarios based on data from real European farms supplemented using published literature. The resulting GHG emission estimates, together with estimates apportioned using three functional units, were then compared to determine the robustness of the benchmarking results.Findings It was found that although there was a degree of agreement between the seven identified carbon calculators in terms of benchmarking total farm emissions, once a suitable functional unit was applied little agreement remained. Tools often ranked farms in different orders, thereby calling into question the robustness of benchmarking in the studied sector.Research limitations/implications The scenario-based approach taken has identified issues liable to result in a lack of benchmarking robustness within this sector; however, there remains considerable scope to evaluate these findings in the field, both within this sector and others in the agricultural industry.Practical implications The results suggest that there are significant hurdles to overcome if GHG emission benchmarking is to aid in driving forward the environmental performance of the dairy industry. In addition, eco-labelling foods based on GHG benchmarking may be of questionable value.Originality/value At a time when environmental benchmarking is of increasing importance, this paper seeks to evaluate its applicability to sectors in which there is considerable scope for variation in the results obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The widespread adoption of low GWP alternative refrigerants across Europe is critical to achieving long-term carbon reduction emissions from the Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heat Pump (RACHP) sector. The RACHP sector has been identified as being responsible for significant greenhouse gas emissions through direct emission (leakage of high GWP refrigerants) and indirect emissions (energy use). The changes to EU's Fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-gas) regulation No 517/2014, which came to force since 1st January 2015, has enacted restrictions on the use of halocarbon refrigerants in certain applications with the intent of reducing the F-gas associated emissions in the EU region. There are currently inconsistent levels of knowledge and awareness of how alternative refrigerants can be sustainably procured and utilised. This paper provides an understanding of the needs for skills in some European countries, specifically covering the general overview of the "as installed" RAC use, the current training provision, the potential use and status of alternative refrigerants and recommendations on procurement process. Furthermore, the paper discusses the availability of skills and existing training materials and template in specific European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air quality in European cities is still a challenge, with various urban areas frequently exceeding the PM 2.5 and NO 2 concentration levels allowed by the European Union Air Quality Standards. This is a problem both in terms of legislation compliance, but also in terms of health of citizens, as it has been recently estimated that 400 to 450 thousand people die prematurely every year due to poor air quality. Air quality in cities can be improved with a number of interventions, at different sectoral (industry, traffic, residential, etc …) and geographical (international, European, national, local, etc.) levels. In this paper we explore the potential of city level plans to improve mobility and air quality (excluding electro-mobility options, not considered in this study). We applied the "Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans" (SUMPs) framework to 642 cities in Europe and modelled how the measures they include may impact at first on mobility and emissions at urban level, and then on urban background concentrations of PM2.5 and NO2. Results show that annual averages moderately improve for both pollutants, with reductions of urban background concentrations up to 2% for PM 2.5 and close to 4% for NO 2 . The impact on NO 2 at street level (that will be higher than on urban background) is not evaluated in this work. The air quality improvement of the simulated SUMP would only partially alleviate air quality problems in urban areas, but such a reduction in the emissions of air pollutants should still be considered as a positive result of SUMPs, given that they correspond to a set of low-cost measures that can be implemented at local level. Furthermore, the introduction of electro-mobility options (not considered here) would increase the impact on air quality. Other types of benefits, such as reduced fuel consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, higher impact at street level or accident rates reduction further add to the overall positive impact., (Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

In the future liquid biofuels will need to be renewable, sustainable, as well as technically and economically viable. This paper provides an overview of the challenges that the biochemical production of cellulosic ethanol process still faces. The main emphasis of the paper is on challenges that emerge from the scale of liquid biofuel production. These challenges include raw material availability, other consumables, and side stream handling. The pretreatment, C5 fermentation, and concentration of sugars in processing need improvements, too. Sustainability issues and greenhouse gas reduction also pose a challenge for implementation and require development of internationally recognized sustainability principles and standards, and certification of sustainable operation. Economics of cellulosic ethanol processes are still also an area under development and debate. Yet, the Energy Independence and Security Act mandate together with the European Union Renewable Energy Directive and other local targets are driving the development and implementation forward towards more significant contribution of biofuels in the transportation sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change mainly caused by increased greenhouse gases and reduced fossil fuel reserves, have launched a more intensive use of renewable energy on a global scale. One of the oldest types of the renewable sources is well known small hydro electric facility. In this paper description of small hydro plant location, selection of the turbine, sizing of the plant, connecting plant to the grid, as well as the legal aspect and environmental impact of the future facility in Serbia are presented and discussed. Besides, techno-economic analysis of future small hydro electric plant is presented and discussed. The main contribution of this paper is multidisciplinary approach to complex analysis of building, integration, economic performance and environmental impact of a small hydro-plant demonstrated on the specific site in Serbia. Finally, major barriers and threats for the growth of the small hydro-electric power capacity have been identified and proposals to increase the penetration level of the small hydro and other renewable sources into the grid in Serbia are made. To increase the contribution of the small hydro and other renewables in Serbia and South-East Europe countries, the gouverments should remove all the bariers and strongly encourage the investment in the renewable energy sector. • Choice of small hydro plant location, sizing of the plant and the environmental impact are presented and discussed. • Verification of the requirements for connecting small hydro plant to the grid is presented. • Techno-economic analysis of small hydro electric plant is presented and discussed. • Major barriers and threats for the growth of the small hydro-electric power capacity have been identified. • Proposals to increase the penetration level of the small hydro plants into the grid in Serbia are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building a hydrogen economy is perceived as a way to achieve the decarbonization goals set out in the Paris Agreement to limit global warming, as well as to meet the goals resulting from the European Green Deal for the decarbonization of Europe. This article presents a literature review of various aspects of this economy. The full added value chain of hydrogen was analyzed, from its production through to storage, transport, distribution and use in various economic sectors. The current state of knowledge about hydrogen is presented, with particular emphasis on its features that may determine the positives and negatives of its development. It was noted that although hydrogen has been known for many years, its production methods are mainly related to fossil fuels, which result in greenhouse gas emissions. The area of interest of modern science is limited to green hydrogen, produced as a result of electrolysis from electricity produced from renewable energy sources. The development of a clean hydrogen economy is limited by many factors, the most important of which are the excessive costs of producing clean hydrogen. Research and development on all elements of the hydrogen production and use chain is necessary to contribute to increasing the scale of production and use of this raw material and thus reducing costs as a result of the efficiencies of scale and experience gained. The development of the hydrogen economy will be related to the development of the hydrogen trade, and the centers of this trade will differ significantly from the current centers of energy carrier trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Road-based transport is a significant contributor to global transport emissions of greenhouse gases and local pollutants, thus contributing to the environmental impact of the mobility of people and goods. In order to develop strategies to mitigate this impact, it is necessary to build reliable emission inventories that include sector-specific emissions. Furthermore, the methods for creating these inventories should be applicable for forecasts and scenario calculations to facilitate the evaluation of pathways towards a more sustainable transport system. The study at hand proposes a model-based framework to predict travel demand and its spatial distribution for a bottom-up calculation of road transport emissions in Europe. With this framework, it is possible to calculate emissions based on the road network structure, traffic flows and vehicle types. In order to demonstrate the applicability of the framework for scenario calculations, it is applied to three exemplary scenarios where population data is modified. With the developed methodology, a tool for the large-scale assessment of emissions from road transport is provided, which is able to simulate the impact of socio-economic and economic changes on these emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Movement-friendly environments with infrastructure favouring active mobility are important for promoting physical activity. This scoping literature review aims at identifying the current evidence for links between mobility infrastructures and (a) behaviour regarding active mobility, (b) health outcomes and (c) co-benefits. Method: This review was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA scoping review guidelines using PubMed and EMBASE databases. Studies included in this review were conducted in Europe, and published between 2000 and March 2023. Results: 146 scientific articles and grey literature reports were identified. Connectivity of sidewalks, walkability, and accessibility of shops, services and work are associated with walking. Cycling is positively associated with cycle-paths, separation of cycling from traffic and proximity to greenspaces, and negatively associated with traffic danger. Increased active transportation has a protective effect on cardiovascular and respiratory health, obesity, fitness, and quality of life. Co-benefits result from the reduction of individual motorized transportation including reduced environmental pollution and projected healthcare expenditure. Conclusion: Mobility infrastructure combined with social and educational incentives are effective in promoting active travel and reducing future healthcare expenses. A shift to active transportation would increase both individual and community health and decrease greenhouse gas emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]