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The global agri-food system relies on synthetic nitrogen (N) fertilisation to increase crop yields, yet the use of synthetic N fertiliser is unsustainable. In this study we estimate global greenhouse (GHG) emissions due to synthetic N fertiliser manufacture, transportation, and field use in agricultural systems. By developing the largest field-level dataset available on N 2 O soil emissions we estimate national, regional and global N 2 O direct emission factors (EFs), while we retrieve from the literature the EFs for indirect N 2 O soil emissions, and for N fertiliser manufacturing and transportation. We find that the synthetic N fertiliser supply chain was responsible for estimated emissions of 1.13 GtCO 2 e in 2018, representing 10.6% of agricultural emissions and 2.1% of global GHG emissions. Synthetic N fertiliser production accounted for 38.8% of total synthetic N fertiliser-associated emissions, while field emissions accounted for 58.6% and transportation accounted for the remaining 2.6%. The top four emitters together, China, India, USA and EU28 accounted for 62% of the total. Historical trends reveal the great disparity in total and per capita N use in regional food production. Reducing overall production and use of synthetic N fertilisers offers large mitigation potential and in many cases realisable potential to reduce emissions., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

To achieve the goal of energy conservation and emission reduction, China has launched its national carbon-emission trading scheme (ETS). Therefore, it is of great significance to evaluate the implementation of ETS from the perspective of regional ecologicalization efficiency of industry. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces and cities from 2007 to 2019, this study takes the SBM-DEA model to measure the regional ecologicalization efficiency of industry, uses the Difference-in-Difference (DID) model to evaluate the influence of ETS on the regional ecologicalization efficiency of industry, and verifies the outcome by propensity score matching method and counterfactual test. The mediating effect model is used to test the acting pattern of ETS on the regional ecologicalization efficiency of industry. The results show that: (1) ETS can significantly improve the ecologicalization efficiency of industry and shows regional heterogeneity. (2) ETS promotes regional energy conservation, emission reduction, and economic development because of the upgrading of structural optimization, agglomeration of resource synergy, and optimization of ecology. This study offers penetrating insights into the positive operation of the carbon market and provides some useful hints for the development of China's regional economy., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Over the past couple of decades, the world has witnessed a rise in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and rising income inequality that threatens human well-being. Addressing these challenges and ensuring sustainable development become a pressing issue for policymakers. This paper investigates the impact of GHG emissions on income inequality in Africa. The study uses a panel data set from 49 countries from 1981 to 2015 and shows that GHG emission widens income inequality. The result is robust for alternative emission indicators. A direct implication is that climate change policy should be designed to narrow income inequality. It is emphasized that mitigation actions should focus on the agriculture sector. Hence, intervention towards energy-smart agriculture, land conservation practices, exploiting the job creation potential, and strengthening value addition in the agricultural sector is decisive. Reforming agriculture reduces emission, narrows income inequality, and realizes sustainable development on the continent., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The development of the energy sector has played a major role in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and pollution. The situation thus necessitates rigorous actions for climate compatible development (CCD). The energy sector is context-dependent, due to which response strategies for CCD are quite challenging particularly in the context of energy crises and the actors' capacity issue in developing countries. This study was aimed at exploring the role of government actors involved in governing the energy sector, with the objective to assess their capacity using a set of principles, criteria, and indicators (PCIs). The study attempted to answer the question: is the capacity of the line departments involved in energy governance adequate to achieve the targets set under SDG-7 and SDG-13? For this purpose, the study employed a combination of "Rules-based" and "Rights-based" governance approaches at all tiers of governance, i.e., federal, provincial, and district levels. Actors' capacity was assessed by developing a governance index based on the scoring of PCIs. Three hundred forty key informant interviews (KIIs) and 17 focus group discussions (FGD) were conducted at federal, provincial, and district levels where respondents were asked to score each of the indicators. Responses were then statistically analyzed and validated. The findings revealed that departments at the federal level are playing an effective role and are adequately equipped to align SDG-7 and SDG-13 with energy sector development. However, departments at the provincial and district levels are still lagging behind to achieve the desired objectives, which demonstrate the need to enhance the capacities of provincial and district line departments., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Climate change resulting from a rapid increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is adversely affecting humanity. If the GHG emission continues to rise at the current pace, humanity will face severe consequences and reverse all the progress made. This paper, therefore, uses relevant data from 14 developing countries in Asia from 1990 to 2018 to examine the potential impact of environmental innovation on CO 2 emissions by controlling globalization, urbanization, and economic growth. The number of environmental-related technology patents is used as a measure of environmental innovation. We employed a panel long-run regression model - FMOLS, PCSE, and FGLS to estimate the elasticity of CO 2 emissions. For causal association among variables, we used Dumitrescu-Hurlin Granger causality tests. Our results show that renewable energy consumption and globalization have a significant impact in reducing CO 2 emissions, while environmental technology innovations play a meager role in reducing emissions and only when economic growth support those type of investment. Furthermore, we found urbanization, oil consumption, and economic growth is detrimental to the environment, which is also evident in past studies. Therefore, countries should invest in renewable energy and environmental innovation aligned with the growth to reduce GHG emissions., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

In recent years, global warming has attracted extensive attention. The main cause of global warming is the emission of greenhouse gases, known as carbon emissions. Therefore, it is of great significance to explore the influencing factors of carbon emissions and accurately predict carbon emissions for reducing carbon emissions and slowing down climate warming. This paper takes the carbon emissions of Shanxi Province in China as the research object. Firstly, the emission factor method is used to calculate the carbon emissions, and then the grey correlation model is used to screen out the factors that have a greater impact on carbon emissions (per capita GDP, urbanization rate, resident population, energy consumption, expenditure on R&D projects). Then, an improved grey multi-variable convolution integral model (AGMC(1, N)) is used to accurately predict carbon emissions. The results show that the application of the AGMC(1,N) model to carbon emission prediction has a good prediction effect. In addition, the carbon emissions of Shanxi Province will increase with the growth rate of per capita GDP, energy consumption, resident population, and expenditure on R&D projects, while the carbon emissions will gradually decrease with the increase of urbanization level. The prediction results provide the direction for carbon emission reduction in Shanxi Province. At the same time, theAGMC(1,N) model can also be applied to the prediction of carbon emissions in other provinces or other fields., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

The USA and China have the world's largest GDP and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as having a significant proportion of the world's total population. These form part of the triumvirate of influencing factors which potentially detrimentally impact upon sustainability. How the triumvirate factors have impacted upon the sustainability of the USA and China has not been adequately determined quantitatively or holistically. Understanding this can strongly indicate how significant levels of population, economic growth, and greenhouse gas emissions impacts and influences the indicated levels, nature, and dynamics of sustainability occurring. Therefore, to contribute towards developing understanding of the issues outlined, the Sustainability Dynamics Framework is applied to conduct a sustainability dynamic assessment for the USA and China 1995-2018. The results indicate both countries are consistently unsustainable due to significant levels of triumvirate-based factors, with differing dynamic trends, characteristics, and potential outcomes. The current static nature of the USA's environment-human system provides the opportunity for a managed co-evolutionary strategy. China's dynamic trends indicate a significant increasingly stressed environment-human system, which is at risk of a potential systemic crisis or collapse unless stringent corrective measures are implemented. In order for both countries to return to sustainability, there needs to be population mitigation to return them to optimum levels, and the use of contractionary policies and rapid decarbonation of their economies and societies. Unless this occurs, then their continued reticence to undertaking the urgent and necessary measures required not only risking their own future, but the world as well., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Among alternative tillage practices, conservation tillage (CT) is a prominent greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation strategy advocated in wheat cultivation, largely because of its low energy consumption and minimum soil disturbance during cultural operations. This paper examines the agricultural production and GHG emission trade-off of CT vis-à-vis traditional tillage (TT) on wheat farms of Bangladesh. Using a directional distance function approach, the maximum reduction in GHG emissions was searched for within all available tillage technology options, while increasing wheat production as much as possible. The underlying institutional, technical, and other socio-economic factors determining the efficient use of CT were analyzed using a fractional regression model. The average meta-efficiency score for permanent bed planting (PBP) and strip tillage (ST) was  0.89, while that achieved using power tiller operated seeders (PTOS) is 0.87. This indicates that with the given input sets, there is potential to reduce GHG emissions by about 11% for ST and PTOS; that potential is 13% for farmers using PTOS. The largest share of TT farmers cultivate wheat at lower meta-efficiency levels (0.65-0.70) compared to that observed with farmers practicing CT (0.75-0.80). Fractional regression model estimates indicate that an optimal, timely dose of fertilizers with a balanced dose of nutrients is required to reduce GHG emissions. To develop climate smart sustainable intensification strategies in wheat cultivation, it is important to educate farmers on efficient input management and CT together. Agricultural development programs should focus on addressing heterogeneities in nutrient management in addition to tillage options within CT., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Computable general equilibrium models (CGE) are used to estimate the ex-ante quantitative impact of a change in economic policy. There is a bulk of research in the field of sustainable development applying it for testing implementation of carbon taxation, analyzing reductions of greenhouse gas (GHG), or addressing agricultural issues to work the land efficiently. The main objective of this review is to provide an exhaustive analysis of the literature about these models and their evolution over the last 50 years. The search was conducted in the main academic databases (Scopus and Web of Science), where 1353 articles were found from 1966 to 2019 related to the topic. The results of the descriptives, relational, and content analyses carried out show the current state of the-art, trends, subfields of research, and future gaps to fulfill. This article contributes to the literature that uses CGE models providing an overview of its different applications in the field of sustainability. It gives useful insights to academics who want to further research the field., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Non-continuous flooding is an effective practice for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and irrigation water use (IRR) in rice fields. However, advancing global implementation is hampered by the lack of comprehensive understanding of GHGs and IRR reduction benefits without compromising rice yield. Here, we present the largest observational data set for such effects as of yet. By using Random Forest regression models based on 636 field trials at 105 globally georeferenced sites, we identified the key drivers of effects of non-continuous flooding practices and mapped maximum GHGs or IRR reduction benefits under optimal non-continuous flooding strategies. The results show that variation in effects of non-continuous flooding practices are primarily explained by the UnFlooded days Ratio (UFR, that is the ratio of the number of days without standing water in the field to total days of the growing period). Non-continuous flooding practices could be feasible to be adopted in 76% of global rice harvested areas. This would reduce the global warming potential (GWP) of CH 4 and N 2 O combined from rice production by 47% or the total GWP by 7% and alleviate IRR by 25%, while maintaining yield levels. The identified UFR targets far exceed currently observed levels particularly in South and Southeast Asia, suggesting large opportunities for climate mitigation and water use conservation, associated with the rigorous implementation of non-continuous flooding practices in global rice cultivation., (© 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Vietnam has been one of the nations strongly affected by climate change; hence, finding and promoting solutions in order to adapt and proactively respond to climate change have played an extremely significant role. A strategy of developing a low-carbon economy with eco-friendly production and consumption models, limiting the use of fossil fuels, and rising clean as well as renewable energy have been built with the aim to reduce total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by roughly 8% by the year 2030 compared to the business-as-usual (BAU) scenario under the Paris Agreement 2015, in particular, focusing on producing a plan to drop considerably methane (CH 4 ) emission and recover energy from landfill sites as the waste sector has been the third-highest GHG contributor in Vietnam. This study concentrates on forecasting and evaluating CH 4 , CO, H 2 S, and CH 3 SH emissions for a case study in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam: in specific, two dumping sites of Thanh Hoa and Kien Tuong according to four different scenarios so that the landfill gas (LFG) emissions are controlled under the local authority orientation of installing a gas collection system and treating captured gases by an LFG flaring approach from 2021 to 2030. Quantification of the generated LFG is carried out using a mathematical modeling method having validation with field measured data, which is a WebGIS software named EnLandFill with integrated mathematical models, environmental information, and databases allowing analysis of the main influence of two L 0 and k factors on LFG emission levels. On the one hand, based on the development planning of Long An province from 2021 to 2030, the municipal solid waste (MSW) volume is estimated at around 3.5 million tonnes and the potential waste generation index is predicted between 0.7 and 1.2 kg person -1 day -1 . A large amount of CH 4 emissions are considered to be a remarkable contributor to GHG emissions. It can be seen that there are about 32.1-253.6 million m 3 CH 4 (or equivalent to 512-589 thousand tCO 2 -eq) and 1.0-5.1 million m 3 CH 4 (or equivalent to 16-81 thousand tCO2-eq) created at Thanh Hoa and Kien Tuong dumping sites, respectively, under the established scenarios in the 2021-2030 period. On the other hand, the proposal of scenario 4 is found to be the optimal solution for GHG emission control and decline from this study area in the next years. Furthermore, the obtained study outcomes are considered as a basis for planning and managing the issues of MSW in Long An province until 2050 towards a circular economy., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Much of the existing research analyses on emissions and climate policy are dominantly based on emissions data provided by production-based accounting (PBA) system. However, PBA provides an incomplete picture of driving forces behind these emission changes and impact of global trade on emissions, simply by neglecting the environmental impacts of consumption. To remedy this problem, several studies propose to consider national emissions calculated by consumption-based accounting (CBA) systems in greenhouse gas (GHG) assessments for progress and comparisons among the countries. In this article, we question the relevance of PBA's dominance. To this end, we, firstly, try to assess and compare PBA with CBA adopted in greenhouse gas emissions accounting systems in climate change debates on several issues and to discuss the policy implications of the choice of approach. Secondly, we investigate the convergence patterns in production-based and consumption-based emissions in 35 Annex B countries for the period between 1990 and 2015. This study, for the first time, puts all these arguments together and discusses possible outcomes of convergence analysis by employing both the production- and consumption-based CO 2 per capita emissions data. The empirical results found some important conclusions which challenge most of the existing CO 2 convergence studies.

More attention has been paid to environmental regulation of greenhouse gas emissions in the energy industry under the transformation of industrial structure. This paper takes microdata of Chinese energy enterprises from 1998 to 2012 as a sample to build a duty-sharing model, analyzes the effect of environmental regulations on the industrial chain, and explains the "double growth" phenomenon that occurred in China, which is nothing short of miraculous in terms of the environment and economy. In the industrial chain, the environmental obligations and responsibilities will be shared between upstream and downstream enterprises due to trade linkages. This paper finds that environmental responsibilities will move forward through the industrial chain when environmental regulations are strengthened. Downstream companies will loosen "relative" control constraints, thereby expanding output but increasing demand for upstream products. Different from the existing research, we claim that, since environmental regulation has a differential effect on the industrial chain, it will promote the growth of output in the entire chain, in contrast to the theory of "cost compliance", which claims that environmental regulation will inevitably lead to the output. Based on this research, this paper puts forward some suggestions and insights on how the government implements environmental regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aquaculture is increasing globally, providing protein to a growing population, but little is known regarding the nutrient budgets in aquaculture. To obtain insight into how management practices impact nutrient fluxes in freshwater aquaculture earthen ponds worldwide, we conducted a literature review. Our literature search yielded 23 papers in which nutrient budgets were reported. Our results showed that the main nutrient inputs are inlet water, feed, and fertilizers, but they varied according to location and management practices. Overall, feed and fertilizers constituted the predominant nutrient sources, accounting for up to 99% of the total inputs. The most quantified outputs were outlet water, fish, and sedimentation. Our findings indicate that only up to 20% of carbon, 45% of nitrogen, and 60% of phosphorus are assimilated by the fish. In some systems, up to 80% of carbon, 80% of nitrogen, and 60% of phosphorus accumulate in pond bottoms; in other systems, the outflow represents substantial losses of up to 16% of carbon, 76% of nitrogen, and 55% of phosphorus. More insight into nutrients' fate in fishponds is crucial from a sustainability perspective, as feed and fertilizer use can likely be optimized, reducing operational costs and the potential impact on the surrounding environment and atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is an editorial from the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers: Engineering Sustainability. The editorial discusses the role of new technologies and techniques in construction materials and management in promoting sustainable development. It highlights three research papers that explore the use of fly-ash as a more environmentally sustainable building material. The papers discuss the use of alternative alkali activators to enhance the strength of fly-ash in construction. The editorial also includes other papers that focus on sustainable construction processes, project management, and the acceptance of autonomous vehicles. Overall, the document emphasizes the importance of continued innovation and sustainable practices in transitioning towards a more sustainable future. [Extracted from the article]

Background: There has been growing interest in the development of waste-specific decay factors for estimation of greenhouse gas emissions from landfills in national greenhouse gas inventories. Although engineered wood products (EWPs) and paper represent a substantial component of the solid waste stream, there is limited information available on their carbon dynamics in landfills. The objective of this study was to determine the extent of carbon loss for EWPs and paper products commonly used in Australia. Experiments were conducted under laboratory conditions designed to simulate optimal anaerobic biodegradation in a landfill.Results: Methane generation rates over incubations of 307-677 days ranged from zero for medium-density fibreboard (MDF) to 326 mL CH4 g−1 for copy paper. Carbon losses for particleboard and MDF ranged from 0.7 to 1.6%, consistent with previous estimates. Carbon loss for the exterior wall panel product (2.8%) was consistent with the expected value for blackbutt, the main wood type used in its manufacture. Carbon loss for bamboo (11.4%) was significantly higher than for EWPs. Carbon losses for the three types of copy paper tested ranged from 72.4 to 82.5%, and were significantly higher than for cardboard (27.3-43.8%). Cardboard that had been buried in landfill for 20 years had a carbon loss of 27.3%—indicating that environmental conditions in the landfill did not support complete decomposition of the available carbon. Thus carbon losses for paper products as measured in bioreactors clearly overestimate those in actual landfills. Carbon losses, as estimated by gas generation, were on average lower than those derived by mass balance. The low carbon loss for particleboard and MDF is consistent with carbon loss for Australian wood types described in previous studies. A factor for carbon loss for combined EWPs and wood in landfills in Australia of 1.3% and for paper of 48% is proposed.Conclusions: The new suggested combined decay factor for wood and EWPs represents a significant reduction from the current factor used in the Australian greenhouse gas inventory; whereas the suggested decay factor for paper is similar to the current decay factor. Our results improve current understanding of the carbon dynamics of harvested wood products, and allow more refined estimates of methane emissions from landfills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mitigating the effects of human-induced climate change requires the reduction of greenhouse gases. Policymakers must balance the need for mitigation with the need to sustain and develop the economy. To make informed decisions regarding mitigation strategies, policymakers rely on estimates of the social cost of carbon (SCC), which represents the marginal damage from increased emissions; the SCC must be greater than the marginal abatement cost for mitigation to be economically desirable. To determine the SCC, damage functions translate projections of carbon and temperature into economic losses. We examine the impact that four damage functions commonly employed in the literature have on the SCC. Rather than using an economic growth model, we convert the CO 2 pathways from the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) into temperature projections using a three-layer, energy balance model and subsequently estimate damages under each RCP using the damage functions. We estimate marginal damages for 2020-2100, finding significant variability in SCC estimates between damage functions. Despite the uncertainty in choosing a specific damage function, comparing the SCC estimates to estimates of marginal abatement costs from the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) indicates that reducing emissions beyond RCP6.0 is economically beneficial under all scenarios. Reducing emissions beyond RCP4.5 is also likely to be economically desirable under certain damage functions and SSP scenarios. However, future work must resolve the uncertainty surrounding the form of damage function and the SSP estimates of marginal abatement costs to better estimate the economic impacts of climate change and the benefits of mitigating it., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

This study aims to examine the relationship between military expenditure and environmental sustainability in developed Mediterranean countries: Greece, France, Italy, and Spain. Sustainable economic growth is strictly related to energy consumption which leads to producing a higher level of carbon emissions. Besides, there may be a nexus between military expenditures and environmental pollution. This study focuses on developed Mediterranean countries since carbon emissions and greenhouse gas emissions are relatively high in these countries. Furthermore, France and Italy are the top countries in terms of total military spending. We investigate the relationship between military expenditure and carbon emissions using the Global Vector Autoregression model proposed by Pesaran et al. (J Bus Econ Stat 22 129:162, Pesaran et al., J Bus Econ Stat 22:129-162, 2004) and Dees et al. (J Appl Econ 22(1):38, Dees et al., J Appl Econ 22:1-38, 2007) between 1965 and 2019. The empirical findings indicated that the relationship between carbon emission and military expenditure should be taken into account from a global perspective for environmental sustainability, and an increase in the global military expenditure seems to be very harmful to the global environment. It can be concluded that country-based prevention cannot provide the desired solution in combating environmental pollution., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Cover cropping is used to improve soil quality and increase N inputs in agricultural systems, but it also may enhance greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. Here, a 47-d incubation study was conducted to track the decomposition process and evaluate GHG emissions and its drivers and to calculate the C costs of residue-derived N released following the addition of residues from cover crops (pigeon pea, cowpea, lablab bean, vetch, and black oat) and maize under two water-filled pore space (WFPS) levels (40 and 70%). For both WFPS levels, the increase in cumulative CO 2 fluxes in plots that received residues is mainly related with the increment of potentially mineralizable C. Crop residues increased the global warming potential (GWP) under both WFPS levels, with CO 2 emissions accounting for ≥98% of the GWP at 40% WFPS. At 70% WFPS, the GPW increment was driven by a notable increase in N 2 O emissions. The contribution of CH 4 in the GWP emissions was negligible for all the crop residues evaluated. Principal component analysis highlighted that the optimal conditions for production and release are specific for each GHG. The cleaner N source was cowpea at 40% WFPS, which produced only 17.7 kg CO 2 -eq kg -1 N mineralized, compared with vetch residues, which produced 233 kg CO 2 -eq kg -1 N mineralized. To integrate agronomic and climate change mitigation perspectives, we suggest considering the C costs of the residue-N released when choosing a cover crop., (© 2022 The Authors. Journal of Environmental Quality © 2022 American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.)

Global warming and climate change have become one of the most embarrassing and explosive problems/challenges all over the world, especially in third-world countries. It is due to a rapid increase in industrialization and urbanization process that has given the boost to the volume of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions. In this regard, carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is considered a significant driver of GHGs and is the major contributing factor for global warming. Considering the goal of mitigating environmental pollution, this research has applied multiple methods such as neural network time series nonlinear autoregressive, Gaussian Process Regression, and Holt's methods for forecasting CO 2 emission. It attempts to forecast the CO 2 emission of Bahrain. These methods are evaluated for performance. The neural network model has the root mean square errors (RMSE) of merely 0.206, while the Gaussian Process Regression Rational Quadratic (GPR-RQ) Model has RMSE of 1.0171, and Holt's method has RMSE of 1.4096. Therefore, it can be concluded that the neural network time series nonlinear autoregressive model has performed better for forecasting the CO 2 emission in the case of Bahrain., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The ambition and effectiveness of climate policies will be essential in determining greenhouse gas emissions and, as a consequence, the scale of climate change impacts 1,2 . However, the socio-politico-technical processes that will determine climate policy and emissions trajectories are treated as exogenous in almost all climate change modelling 3,4 . Here we identify relevant feedback processes documented across a range of disciplines and connect them in a stylized model of the climate-social system. An analysis of model behaviour reveals the potential for nonlinearities and tipping points that are particularly associated with connections across the individual, community, national and global scales represented. These connections can be decisive for determining policy and emissions outcomes. After partly constraining the model parameter space using observations, we simulate 100,000 possible future policy and emissions trajectories. These fall into 5 clusters with warming in 2100 ranging between 1.8 °C and 3.6 °C above the 1880-1910 average. Public perceptions of climate change, the future cost and effectiveness of mitigation technologies, and the responsiveness of political institutions emerge as important in explaining variation in emissions pathways and therefore the constraints on warming over the twenty-first century., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)

Power generation by variable renewable energy (VRE) is expected to expand for decarbonization, although it is difficult to ensure stabilization of the energy demand due to fluctuations in the power output from VRE. To accelerate VRE implementation, wind-powered thermal energy systems (WT th -ES), which can provide dispatchable power using wind–thermal energy converter (WEC th) and thermal energy storage (TES), have been proposed. In this study, we are tackling the installation of VRE, i.e., wind energy, by TES with WEC th compared with wind turbine (WT p) in paper mills to demonstrate the applicability of TES in an industrial sector. Conventional and alternative energy systems in paper mills with TES were mathematically modeled and simulated to analyze the transmittable power output and the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by life cycle assessment. With the installation of TES and wind energy, transmittable power could be increased with GHG emissions reduction. However, their excess installation or unbalanced combination resulted in an increase in GHG emissions and a decrease in transmittable power. By comparing the cases, the combination of paper mill, TES, and WEC th could convert thermal energy efficiently and mitigate fossil fuel consumption for multiple production of paper and power from the paper mill. • A wind-thermal energy converter (WEC th) and a wind turbine (WT p) were compared. • Energy flows and GHG emissions of paper mills with TES and wind were simulated. • Paper mills reduced GHG of power generation less than fossil fuel-fired power plants. • Excess TES reduces dispatchable power generation and increases GHG emissions. • Paper mills with WEC th s and TES have the potential to be regional energy suppliers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Web of Science Core Collection platform was used to withdraw the papers included in this study. The studied period comprised from inception till 2018. Trends in research, journals of publication, subject areas of research, keywords most frequently used, countries of publication, international collaboration, and trends of funding research were also analyzed. A total of 3902 articles were published, most of them (52.5%) during the five-year period 2014–2018. The area with the highest number of papers was environmental sciences (41%), followed by energy fuels (16.6%) and engineering environmental (15.7%). "Nitrous oxide emissions" was the most frequent word, followed by "Carbon dioxide emissions" and "Methane emissions". Other words that stood out were "Life cycle assessment", "Climate change" and "Environmental impacts". The United States was the country with the highest productivity (27.9%), followed by China (12.8%) and the United Kingdom (9.6%). There was a concentration of research in recent years, as more than 80% of the papers were published in the last 10 years. The journals that published the largest number of publications were devoted mainly to environmental studies (sciences and engineering), sustainable and green science and technology, energy and fuels, economics, and agriculture. Half of the works were published in Europe and the other half between North America and Asia. Two thirds of the works (67%) were financed compared to a third that were not financed. The percentage of funded works has been increasing over the last decade, which is seen as an indication of the importance of GHGE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mangroves play an essential role in the global carbon cycle. However, they are highly vulnerable to degradation with little-known effects on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study compared seasonal soil carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), methane (CH 4 ), and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) fluxes from a black mangrove (Avicennia germinans) forest in the Tampamachoco coastal lagoon, Veracruz, Mexico, in areas subjected to different degrees of environmental degradation (full canopy, transitional and dead mangrove), caused by hydrological perturbation. Furthermore, we aimed at determining the environmental factors driving seasonal fluxes. There was a combined effect of seasonality and degradation on CH 4 fluxes, highest during the rainy season in the dead mangrove (0.93 ± 0.18 mg CH 4 m -2 h -1 ). CO 2 fluxes were highest during the dry season (220 ± 23 mg CO 2 m -2 h -1 ), with no significant differences among degradation levels. N 2 O fluxes did not vary among seasons or degradation levels (- 3.8 to 2.9 mg N 2 O m -2 h -1 ). The overall CO 2 -eq emission rate was 15.3 ± 2.7 Mg CO 2 -eq ha -1 year -1 , with CO 2 as the main gas contributing to total emissions. The main factors controlling CH 4 fluxes were seasonal porewater salinity and the availability of NO 2 - , NO 3 - , and SO 4 -2 in the soil, favored by high water level and temperature in the absence of pneumatophores. The main determining factors controlling CO 2 fluxes were water level, porewater redox potential, and soil Cl - and SO 4 -2 concentration. Finally, N 2 O fluxes were related to NO 2 - , NO 3 - , and SO 4 -2 soil concentrations. This study contributes to improving the knowledge of soil GHG fluxes dynamics in mangroves and the effect of degradation of these ecosystems on the coastal biogeochemical cycles, which may bring important insights for assessing accurate ways to mitigate climate change protecting and restoring these ecosystems., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

CO 2 emission performance evaluation is crucial to make abatement policies. Knowledge about the potential and costs of CO 2 reduction could provide information guides for policymakers and help them implement targeted measures. However, relevant studies are rarely subdivided into detailed industrial sectors, and results are lack of inter-industry comparisons. To fill this gap, this study estimates provincial technical inefficiency, abatement potential, and shadow price of CO 2 from fuel combustion in China's 25 industries in 2001-2017. Results show that China's industry could ideally reduce CO 2 emissions by a further 22.01-33.27%, averaging 1645.96 MtCO 2 . Technical efficiency, abatement potential, and cost vary across provinces and industries and should therefore be fully considered when designing emission reduction targets and control policies. Provinces and industries with low technical efficiency, large-scale emissions, great abatement potential and low shadow price are the key to emission reduction. We thus identify key provinces and industries that need to take on more abatement responsibility. Those findings are of great significance to the formulation of carbon reduction targets and the implementation of abatement policies, and prove the feasibility of China's trans-regional carbon trading. It is suggested to prioritize key industries into the trading system and further promote inter-provincial cooperation through carbon trading., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

There are some studies that either examine the convergence or spillover effect of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs) at the country or multiple country level but research on the spillover effect of GHGEs is very limited particularly for the agriculture sector across the major continents. Therefore, this study examined the connectedness across the five major continents namely Asia, Africa, Europe, Oceania and Americas for the period 1961-2018. To achieve the objective, this study applies a very recent time-varying parameter vector autoregressive (TVP-VAR) model. The results obtained from TVP-VAR model indicate that all the five continents are highly interconnected in GHGEs. In particular, the findings show that Asia, Africa and Americas are the main transmitters and Europe and Oceania are the main receivers of GHGEs. The findings suggest that Asia, Africa and Americas should use the economic profits received from the economic integration for the environmental protection policies with more attention. This might help for high economic growth and development with a clean environment., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Drained agricultural peatlands emit significantly higher amounts of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per hectare than mineral soils. GHG abatement costs for representative cereals (CF) and dairy (DF) farms in southwestern Finland were estimated by integrating an emission-based tax together with an option to invest in a subsidized adjustable drainage system on peat soils in a farm-level dynamic optimization model. With an average 10% share of peat soils from overall farm area, emissions tax rates over 15 (CF) and 19 (DF) €/tCO 2 e triggered adjustable drainage investments with a significant reduction in GHG emissions per ha, when assuming no crop-yield effect from the adjustable drainage. Abatement costs for emissions tax rates €12-50/tCO 2 e/ha were €16-44/tCO 2 e (CF) and €26-51/tCO 2 e (DF) for whole farm-soil emissions, depending on the share of peatlands on the farm, on the yield effects of adjustable drainage, and on crop prices. High emissions tax rates imply higher abatement costs since farms have a limited capability to adjust their production and land use. Thus, emissions reductions from peatlands can be achieved at reasonable costs when investing in adjustable drainage on peatlands. The income losses due to emissions tax, however, are high, but they can be compensated for farmers by lumpsum payments independent of their production decisions. Since existing agricultural policies such as the EU CAP system may have limited effectiveness on GHG emissions, the emissions tax and adjustable drainage on peatlands could promote GHG abatement significantly on farms and areas with abundant peatlands., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

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.)

Cement industry is one of the main contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, specifically carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). This paper presents the cement production and the CO 2 emissions from the cement industry in Nepal. We compute emissions for the process-related, combustion-related (fuel use), and electricity-related activities during the cement production. We used eight emission factors (EFs) for the process-related, two EFs for the combustion or fuel-related, and two for the electricity-related activities using the previous researches. We computed the emissions as a product of the activities and the EFs. The estimated CO 2 emission in 2019 from the cement production is 3.45 ± 0.50 million metric tons (mMt) for Nepal. In 2019, the emissions are 1.87 ± 0.16 mMt from the process-related, 1.52 ± 0.34 mMt from the combustion-related, and 0.062 ± 0.004 mMt from the electricity use activities during the cement production in Nepal. Cumulative CO 2 emission was 22.73 ± 3.82 mMt from 1987 to 2019. Per capita CO 2 emission is 0.12 mMt for Nepal in 2019. Nepal contributes about 0.06% CO 2 emission from cement production to the global CO 2 emission (2.08 Gt) from the cement industry. By evaluating per capita gross domestic product (GDP) (from 1987/1988 to 2019/2020) and the human development index (HDI) (from 1990 to 2019) with the cement production, the result shows that cement production increases significantly (p < 0.01) with an increase in the GDP and the HDI. We emphasize that the study's outputs are directly relevant to the country's emission inventory, mitigation planning, and developing a strategy for cleaner production., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Climate change caused by different anthropogenic activities is a subject of attention globally. There is a concern on how to maintain a clean environment and at the same time achieve optimal use of land. To this end, this study examines the causal effects of land use including agricultural, forestry, and other land categories on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The data for China is collected over the period 1990 to 2012 for the empirical examination. By employing vector error correction model (VECM), it is found that there is significant long-run causality among variables. However, in the short run expectedly, only land under agriculture has strong causality with the GHG emissions. The results in case of variance decomposition analysis highlight that land under agriculture and other use significantly causes the GHG emissions in the long run. Further, impulse responses of variables are also measured with the Cholesky one standard deviation. The results are robust and support the argument that different land uses cause GHG emissions in China. The study provides insights for policy makers to improve the activities occurring on agricultural and other land uses. Assessment of overall potential, including bio energy, needs to include analysis of trade-offs and feedbacks with land-use competition. Many positive linkages with sustainable development and with adaptation exist but are case and site specific as they depend on scale, scope, and pace of implementation., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Globally, the production of vast volumes of municipal solid waste impacts public health and the climate. Greening the solid waste sector could contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Therefore, this study assessed how the potential electricity and environmental benefits of recycling paper and plastic wastes could contribute to the achievement of the SDGs. The study used model equations methods to estimate the electricity consumption, diesel consumption, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions saved due to recycling. The key findings show that the 132.4 thousand toe/day of electricity saved globally in 2012 soared to 182.3 thousand toe/day in 2025. In 2012 and 2025, an average of 63.6% of electricity was saved. Globally, recycling saved a record of 1.4 million ktons CO 2 eq/day of GHG emissions in 2012 and 1.9 million ktons CO 2 eq/day in 2025. It was further realized that the overall volume of diesel fuel saved in 2012 grew from 511,146 to 703,887 million Liters/day in 2025, representing a rise of 37.7%. The sensitivity analysis shows an increase in the waste collection rate, the fraction of paper waste, the fraction of plastic waste, and the recycling rate in 2025 will boost recyclable resources' energy and environmental benefits. The findings of this study could offer scientific guidance for the achievement of the SDGs related to solid waste recycling and management., 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 © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The calculation of marginal abatement costs of CO 2 plays a vital role in meeting China's 2020 emission reduction targets by providing reference for determining carbon tax and carbon trading pricing. However, most existing researches only used one method to discuss regional and industrial marginal abatement costs, and almost no studies predicted future marginal abatement costs from the perspective of CO 2 emission efficiency. To make up for the gaps, this paper first estimates marginal abatement costs of CO 2 in three major industries of 30 provinces in China from 2005 to 2015 based on three assumptions. Second, based on the principle of fairness and efficiency, China's 2020 emission reduction targets are decomposed by province. Based on the ZSG-C-DDF model, the marginal abatement costs of CO 2 in all provinces in China in 2020 are estimated and compared with the marginal abatement costs of 2005 to 2015. The results show that (1) from 2005 to 2015, marginal abatement costs of CO 2 in all provinces show a fluctuating upward trend; (2) compared with the marginal abatement costs of primary industry or tertiary industry, most provinces have lower marginal abatement costs for secondary industry; and (3) the average marginal abatement costs of CO 2 for China in 2020 are 2766.882 Yuan/tonne for the 40% carbon intensity reduction target and 3334.836 Yuan/tonne for the 45% target, showing that the higher the emission reduction target, the higher the marginal abatement costs of CO 2 . (4) Overall, the average marginal abatement costs of CO 2 in China by 2020 are higher than those in 2005-2015. The empirical analysis in this paper can provide multiple references for environmental policy makers.

Waste paper mill sludges originating from different effluent treatment and de-inking installations are complex mixtures of inorganic and organic particles. Due to their favourable physico-chemical, and microbiological characteristics, they may be conveniently reused for different purposes as such or after appropriate pretreatment. Sludges from the Slovenian paper industry were extensively tested for their chemical, stability and sealing properties. During the biodegradability tests, evolutions of greenhouse gases CO2, CH4 and H2S as well as the concentrations of released volatile organic acids, such as acetic, propionic, butyric, lactic and glycollic acids as the typical degradation products of organic materials, were measured. Some other important parameters of water leachates such as pH, redox potential, content of starch and leachable ions were also evaluated. The results indicate that most of them can be efficiently applied as alternative hydraulic barrier layers for landfill construction and covering instead of the more expensive clay due to their good geomechanical properties, chemical inertness and microbiological stability. Such replacement brings about considerable economical and ecological benefits as the waste is reprocessed as secondary raw material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Logistics sustainability is increasingly becoming a central focus of businesses, when most societies are aware of the influence of industry on both the environment and human health. To address the drawbacks of the way logistics systems have been designed, a new logistics system called Physical Internet has been proposed. This system relies on the creation of hyperconnected logistics systems. It aims to improve in an order of magnitude the way physical objects are transported, handled, stored, supplied, realized, and used to be more sustainable and efficient economically, environmentally, and socially. This paper focuses on the product realization using a hyperconnected mobile production mode in the context of Physical Internet, an open global logistics system. It addresses its dynamic deployment of production modules and resource allocation and sharing. It then proposes a make-to-order bi-objective optimization model which minimizes costs and greenhouse gases (GHGs) related to the product realization of a manufacturer to serve its customers given the availability of the open fabs. Experimental results are presented to identify the computational performance of the established model, as well as the economic and environmental benefits of using the facilities enabled by the PI. Finally, it concludes and provides directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global net emissions of the Kyoto Protocol greenhouse gases (GHG), such as carbon dioxide (CO2), fluorinated gases, methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O), remain substantially high, despite concerted efforts to reduce them. Thermal treatment of solid waste contributes at least 2.8-4% of the GHG in part due to increased generation of municipal solid waste (MSW) and inefficient treatment processes, such as incineration and landfill. Thermal treatment processes, such as gasification and pyrolysis, are valuable ways to convert solid materials, such as wastes into syngas, liquids, and chars, for power generation, fuels, or for the bioremediation of soils. SubcoalTM is a commercial product based on paper and plastics from the source segregated waste that is not readily recyclable and that would otherwise potentially find its way in to landfills. This paper looks at the kinetic parameters associated with this product in pyrolysis, gasification, and combustion conditions for consideration as a fuel for power generation or as a reductant in the blast furnace ironmaking process. Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) in Nitrogen (N2), CO2, and in air, was used to measure and compare the reaction kinetics. The activation energy (Ea) and pre-exponential factor A were measured at different heating rates using non-isothermal Ozawa Flynn Wall and (OFW) and Kissinger-Akahira-Sonuse (KAS) model-free techniques. The TGA curves showed that the thermal degradation of SubcoalTM comprises three main processes: dehydration, devolatilization, and char and ash formation. In addition, the heating rate drifts the devolatilization temperature to a higher value. Likewise, the derivative thermogravimetry (DTG) results stated that Tm degradation increased as the heating rate increased. Substantial variance in Ea was noted between the four stages of thermal decomposition of SubcoalTM on both methods. The Ea for gasification reached 200.2 ± 33.6 kJ/mol by OFW and 179.0 ± 31.9 kJ/mol by KAS. Pyrolysis registered Ea values of 161.7 ± 24.7 kJ/mol by OFW and 142.6 ± 23.5 kJ/mol by KAS. Combustion returned the lowest Ea values for both OFW (76.74 ± 15.4 kJ/mol) and KAS (71.0 ± 4.4 kJ/mol). The low Ea values in combustion indicate shorter reaction time for Subcoal™ degradation compared to gasification and pyrolysis. Generally, TGA kinetics analysis using KAS and OFW methods show good consistency in evaluating Arrhenius constants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change mitigation and adaptation are common global challenges, and how to accelerate carbon neutrality and green recovery is a major global issue. Market-oriented emission reduction policy has been widely concerned for its unique advantages, but most of the current market-oriented emission reduction policies are based on the consideration of end-of-pipe governance and lack of effective control of source reduction. Energy quota trading (EQT) is an innovation of an energy-saving and emission reduction system, which is based on the idea of source reduction. However, it is unknown about the evaluation of the effect of the EQT policy from the macro perspective. Based on the related statistical data of energy consumption, combined with the ARIMA model, STIRPAT model, and the synthetic control method (SCM), this paper analyzes the energy consumption distribution in China from 2001 to 2020 and comprehensively evaluates the effect of EQT in the pilots. The results show that: (1) The overall energy consumption in China shows a steady upward trend, and its distribution is unbalanced. (2) In absolute perspective, EQT can realize the "double control" of the total amount and intensity in energy saving and emission reduction, and the intensity control effect is better than the total amount control effect. (3) In relative perspective, EQT can enhance the potential of energy saving and emission reduction in the pilots, in which it needs to take the regional characteristics into account. The policy effect is still significant when eliminating some unobservable factors, which indicate that the policy is effective and can be replicated nationwide. The study comprehensively evaluates the effect of ETS from multiple perspectives, which can effectively avoid the misjudgment of the policy effectiveness caused by the single dimension evaluation, while it can also be used as a reference for the government to perfect the policies of energy management system and emission control system. Furthermore, the development of EQT is an important catalyst for policymakers to coordinate policies to accelerate the achievement of carbon-neutral targets and a more resilient low-carbon development model., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Agricultural peatlands are estimated to emit approximately one third of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from croplands, but the temporal dynamics and controls of these emissions are poorly understood, particularly for nitrous oxide (N 2 O). We used cavity ring-down spectroscopy and automated chambers in a drained agricultural peatland to measure over 70,000 individual N 2 O, methane (CH 4 ), and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) fluxes over 3 years. Our results showed that N 2 O fluxes were high, contributing 26% (annual range: 16%-35%) of annual CO 2 e emissions. Total N 2 O fluxes averaged 26 ± 0.5 kg N 2 O-N ha -1 y -1 and exhibited significant inter- and intra-annual variability with a maximum annual flux of 42 ± 1.8 kg N 2 O-N ha -1 y -1 . Hot moments of N 2 O and CH 4 emissions represented 1.1 ± 0.2 and 1.3 ± 0.2% of measurements, respectively, but contributed to 45 ± 1% of mean annual N 2 O fluxes and to 140 ± 9% of mean annual CH 4  fluxes. Soil moisture, soil temperature, and bulk soil oxygen (O 2 ) concentrations were strongly correlated with soil N 2 O and CH 4 emissions; soil nitrate ( NO 3 - ) concentrations were also significantly correlated with soil N 2 O emissions. These results suggest that IPCC benchmarks underestimate N 2 O emissions from these high emitting agricultural peatlands by up to 70%. Scaling to regional agricultural peatlands with similar management suggests these ecosystems could emit up to 1.86 Tg CO 2 e y -1 (range: 1.58-2.21 Tg CO 2 e y -1 ). Data suggest that these agricultural peatlands are large sources of GHGs, and that short-term hot moments of N 2 O and CH 4 are a significant fraction of total greenhouse budgets., (© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The theme of the environmental upgrades and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations is "Better Environment, Better tomorrow." This study uses regulatory quality (RgQ) and energy consumption per capita (EC) as explanatory variables and foreign direct investment (FDI) as an integrating variable with RgQ and EC and examines their impacts on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from 2001 to 2018 in panel Asian economies. The findings indicate that EC negatively impacts GHG emissions, while RgQ positively promotes the reduction of GHG emissions in Asia. In addition, FDI has an integrating role, as sufficient FDI inflows significantly enhance clean energy use and EC efficiency. Such inflows also support and improve Asia's regulation quality by upgrading standardization investments and technology deployment to enhance institutional quality and achieve SDGs. FDI inflows have thus been vital in environment upgrading in Asia and regional sustainable environmental development., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to identify at what extent e-book reading reduces global warming potential (GWP) of book reading activities relative to that of reading only paper books. Past studies assume e-books and paper books are interchangeable during consumption, but adopting e-book reading can alter reading patterns in reality. This research comparatively assessed the GWP of reading only paper books and that of reading pattern of after e-reader adoption of consumer segments.Methods: We computed GWP of book reading activities of consumer segments that include a life cycle of paper book, e-book, and e-book reading device. Two e-book devices were considered: a designated e-book device (e-reader) and a tablet. The functional units are book reading activities per person and per person-book, which account the number of books purchased or acquired and the reading hours per person. We collected data through a web survey in the USA. Consumer segmentation was performed by analyzing the level of importance in the aspects of book reading activities as a measurement variable. To observe the changes in reading patterns upon e-reader adoption within the same population, we conducted a 3-month social experiment involving e-readers in the USA.Results and discussion: Adopting e-readers was discovered to reduce both the GWP per person and the GWP per person-book of book reading activities. The GWP of e-books read with an e-reader and the GWP of paper books were found to break even at 4.7 books per year, provided consumers read less than 11 h a day. According to the web survey, e-reader users purchase more than seven e-books annually on average, which resulted in a smaller GWP per person-book relative to that of one paper book. Furthermore, the GWP per person in the social experiment was smaller for e-reader adopters than those who only read paper books because they substituted e-books for paper books. The overall book reading volume remains unchanged upon e-reader adoption.Conclusions: Adoption of e-readers reduces the GWP from book reading activities with only paper books, provided more than 4.7 paper books are substituted by e-books annually, and provided consumers’ total consumption volume remain unchanged. E-reader adopters read sufficient number of e-books to break even with paper books. However, most e-reader adopters are yet to fully abandon paper books for e-books. Analyzing the differences in the reading experience between e-books and paper books is a future task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]