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Hospital waste dumpsites pose significant environmental and health risks due to the leachate generated, which contains a complex mixture of hazardous substances. This study investigates the biochemical effects of continuous exposure to hospital waste dumpsite leachate on Wistar rats, with a comparative analysis of the effects of abatement and discontinuation of leachate exposure. Male Wistar rats, aged 7 to 8 weeks, were randomly assigned to two groups and allowed to acclimatize for two weeks. Group A served as the control, while Group B was administered hospital waste leachate with an abatement agent for a duration of 30 days. Following this exposure period, both the control group and a subset of the treatment group were assessed and euthanized. Blood samples were collected for biochemical analysis. The remaining rats in the treatment group were then divided into two additional groups: Group C, where leachate administration was halted, and Group D, where leachate was continued alongside abatement. After an additional 30 days, the surviving rats were examined and sacrificed, with blood samples taken for biochemical analysis. The results indicated that continuous leachate exposure significantly elevated serum urea, hydrogen carbonate, sodium, chloride, total bilirubin (5.50±0.01 mg/dl), conjugated bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate transaminase (AST), and alanine transaminase (ALT) (5.50±0.01 mg/dl) levels, suggesting nephrotoxicity and hepatotoxicity. Upon discontinuation of leachate exposure, there was a marked recovery in most biochemical parameters, demonstrating the potential reversibility of some toxic effects. Conversely, abatement with a mixture of garlic extract, ginger extract, and honey also promoted recovery but to a lesser extent than discontinuation alone. The findings contribute to a better understanding of the toxicological impacts of leachate and provide a foundation for future research into mitigation measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Livestock production in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) reflects the inefficient smallholder 'keeper' system that has been slow to adapt to the rapidly expanding demand for animal protein-sourced foods in the region as urban economies have flourished and food preferences altered. The prolonged surge in demand, with only modest increases in local production, has increased the movement of animals and products into and from the GMS, accompanied by surging risks of transboundary animal disease (TAD) incursions, including the one health (OH) threats of zoonoses and antimicrobial resistance. As a consequence, the region has been subjected to epidemics of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), new strains of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus, with recent incursions of African swine fever (ASF), lumpy skin disease (LSD), porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) and risks of peste petits ruminants (OPR) occurring in Southeast Asia (SEA) and beyond. These incidents reflect inadequate biosecurity, a sustainability issue that was clearly of relevance in the covid-19 pandemic, reflecting ecosystem health (EH) deficits, including land-use issues and unregulated trading in wildlife-sourced and poorly processed foods through the predominant 'wet markets'. These challenges are increasingly confounded by slow adaption to the impacts of the climate crisis, including flooding, drought, crop failures and hypothermia episodes. The increase in animal and product movements enhances disease transmission risk, yet coincides with emerging concerns of greenhouse-gas emissions (GHGe) from livestock production, especially from large ruminants, as the world attempts to find pathways in managing the climate crisis. Despite the prolonged collaborative efforts of the SEA China FMD program from 1997 to 2023, a recent review confirmed persistent deficits in biosecurity, vaccine resourcing, disease surveillance, engagement of farmers, and national emergency disease-response capacities. A major project is about to fund major improvements in livestock value chains in Cambodia, including more effective biosecurity, surveillance and emergency disease-response capacities for TADs, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and zoonoses. Similarly, a private-sector investment in Laos has developed a more climate-resilient livestock-feeding system that decreases GHGe impacts from ruminant production. These developments are likely to extend beyond both countries and be potentially transformational for the livelihoods of many of the poorest citizens in the region. Increased movement of livestock and products in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) has enhanced disease transmission risk, increasing transboundary animal-disease (TAD) incursions and one health (OH) concerns. This has coincided with increasing awareness of greenhouse-gas emissions (GHGe) from livestock, especially contributions to ecosystem health (EH) concerns from large ruminants. Projects addressing biosecurity, vaccines, disease surveillance, feeding systems and national emergency disease-response capacities are required, and private-sector investments developing climate-resilient livestock systems to support the livelihoods of poor rural communities in the GMS should be encouraged. This article belongs to the Collection Sustainable Animal Agriculture for Developing Countries 2023. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers an N-firm oligopoly with abating and non-abating firms and analyses a dynamic setting in which the environmental regulator sets the tax rate to incentivise firms to undertake emission-reduction actions according to different hypotheses (fixed rule and optimal rule). The behaviour of the public authority sharply affects the firm's (individual) incentive to move towards the abatement activity over time. This changes the number of (non)abating firms on the market and the corresponding social welfare outcomes. The article eventually shows that the environmental policy may cause oscillations resulting in a coexistence of the two types of firms in the long term and pinpoints the welfare outcomes emerging in the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider the robust responses to environmental disasters in stochastic growth economies. The representative agent has imprecise knowledge about environmental disasters and exhibits ambiguity aversion to the jump arrival intensity. In the equilibrium, the optimal abatement expenditure is increasing in the level of ambiguity aversion, which overturns the effect of model uncertainty on capital investment. Because of mitigating future damages, the incremental abatement may enhance long-run economic growth. In addition, welfare gains from abatement technology and the social cost of carbon become more substantial under ambiguous circumstances. Finally, we extend the baseline model by considering emission stock and find the main results still hold in this extension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper characterizes an efficiency-inducing policy for a polluting oligopoly when pollution abatement is technologically feasible and when environmental damage depends on the pollution stock. Using a dynamic policy game between the regulator and the oligopolists, we show that a tax–subsidy scheme can implement the efficient outcome as a regulated market equilibrium. The scheme consists of a tax on production and a subsidy that can either be on abatement efforts or on abatement costs. Both schemes prescribe a different tax rule, but both implement the efficient outcome. If firms act strategically, taking into account the evolution of the pollution stock when they decide on abatement and production, the subsidy reflects the divergence between the social and private valuation of the pollution stock associated with the abatement decision. Consequently, the tax has to correct the two market failures associated with production: the market power of the firms and the negative externality caused by pollution. Using an LQ (differential) policy game, we show that the tax increases with the pollution stock for both schemes, and that the application of a subsidy on abatement costs leads to a laxer tax rule. Interestingly, it also yields a lower fiscal deficit at the steady state. Thus, from a fiscal perspective, the policy recommendation is the application of a subsidy on abatement costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electronics industry has made remarkable progress over the past 25 years in reducing the emission intensity of long-lived volatile fluorinated compounds (FCs) that typically represent 80 to 90% of uncontrolled direct (scope 1) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions during the manufacturing of semiconductor, display, and photovoltaic devices. However, while Normalized Emission Rates (NERs) have decreased in terms of CO2-equivalent emissions per surface area of electronic devices produced, absolute FC emissions from the sector have continued to grow at a compound annual rate of 3.4% between 1995 and 2020. Despite these trends, industry has not, to date, renewed their sectoral commitments to strengthen global FC emission reduction goals for the 2020–2030 decade, and it is unlikely that recently announced net-zero emission objectives from a few leading companies can reverse upwards industry emission trends in the near-term. Meanwhile, the persisting gap between "top-down" atmospheric measurements-based FC emission estimates and "bottom-up" emissions estimates is increasingly concerning as recent studies suggest that the gap is likely due, in part, to an underestimation of FC emissions from the electronics sector. Thus, the accuracy of industry-average (Tier 2) emission factors is increasingly questionable. Considering that most FCs essentially permanently persist in the atmosphere on a human time scale, the electronics industry needs to reassert its collective leadership on climate action, increase its ambition to reduce absolute emissions, and ground net-zero commitments in science by embarking on a concerted effort to monitor, report, and verify their process and abatement emission factors. To this effect, this article provides practicable solutions to cross-check bottom-up and top-down emission factors at the facility level and suggests that further implementing cost-effective FC abatement technologies, possibly in conjunction with a sectoral cap-and-trade mechanism, can help achieve residual FC emission levels compatible with net-zero neutralization principles and the 1.5 °C objective of the Paris Agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After tentative efforts during the 1990s, the past two decades have seen a rapid increase in the number of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions mitigation policies, initially in a few frontrunner countries and more recently spreading globally. Over the same period, GHG emissions have continued to rise, but the rate of growth has recently slowed. Are mitigation policies having an effect? To explore this question, we review and synthesize the empirical literature on the impact of mitigation policies on three key outcomes: GHG emissions, proximate emission drivers like energy intensity and land use, and low-carbon technologies. Our key contribution to the available literature lies in establishing an empirically based track record of climate action, focusing on methodologically sound ex post studies. We find that mitigation policies have had a discernible impact on emissions and multiple emission drivers. Most notably, they have led to reductions in energy use, declines in deforestation rates, as well as cost reductions and capacity expansions of low-carbon technologies in many instances. Furthermore, implemented policies to date are likely to have reduced global emissions by several billion tons of CO2eq per year compared to a world without mitigation policies. In the light of current ambitions on climate action falling short of what is required to limit global warming to the Paris temperature goals, we conclude that there is ample evidence of policy instruments with demonstrable impacts, but that efforts need to be hugely strengthened and expanded. Also, far more attention is required to policy monitoring, evaluation, and learning so as to strengthen the basis for future policy and the attribution of its impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BlueCAM is an Australian coastal wetland restoration methodology for estimating atmospheric warming abatement. However, BlueCAM is incomplete and contains conceptual and formulation errors. Conceptually, sequestration may be understated by not accounting for an increase in animal biomass and baseline ecosystems as heterotrophic carbon sources. Or, more likely, sequestration services are significantly overestimated by not considering: (1) remineralization of allochthonous carbon, supplied from surrounding ecosystems; (2) the subtraction of a notable intrinsically recalcitrant allochthonous carbon fraction; (3) whether baseline ecosystems are autotrophic carbon sinks; and (4) the reduction in air–sea flux during periods of submersion. Erroneously, BlueCAM: (1) implies that any remains of labile allochthonous carbon should be subtracted from stocks, not just the recalcitrant fraction; and (2) does not embed additional warming from CH4 emissions within components of net ecosystem production. Taken together, these errors are likely to greatly overestimate both wetland sequestration and warming abatement services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrogen oxides (NOx) gases, such as nitrous oxide (N2O), nitrogen oxide (NO), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), are considered the most hazardous exhausts exhaled by industries and stationary and non-stationary application engines. Investigation of catalytic decomposition of NO has been carried out on copper ion exchanged with different bases, such as COK12, Nb2O5, Y-zeolite, and ZSM5. The catalytic decomposition of NO is widely accepted as an excellent method for the abatement of NO. However, the catalyst that achieves the highest reactivity in terms of NO decomposition is still a matter of research. The present paper aims to extend the research on the reactivity of non-noble metal-based catalysts using the direct decomposition method to remove NO from diesel engine exhaust. The reactivity of catalysts was observed in a quartz fixed bed reactor of 10 mm diameter placed in a furnace maintained at a temperature of 200 °C to 600 °C. The flow of NO was controlled by a mass flow controller, and the gas chromatography technique was used to observe the reactivity of the catalysts. Analysis showed that adding Cu to COK12, Nb2O5, Y-zeolite, and ZSM5 supports resulted in a rise in NO decomposition compared to stand-alone supports. Further experimental trials on the performance of Cu-ZSM5 at varying flow rates of NO showed that the NO decomposition activity of the catalyst was higher at lower flow rates of NO.

The efficiency of Ireland’s grass-based livestock systems can be attributed to high outputs, low production costs and a low carbon footprint relative to housed systems. Methane (CH4) is a potent greenhouse gas (GHG) of which enteric fermentation from livestock production is a key source, being directly responsible for 57% of Irish agricultural GHG emissions. There are a number of strategies including dietary manipulation and breeding initiatives that have shown promising results as potential mitigation solutions for ruminant livestock production. However, the majority of international research has predominantly been conducted on confined systems. Given the economic viability of Irish livestock systems, it is vital that any mitigation methods are assessed at pasture. Such research cannot be completed without access to suitable equipment for measuring CH4 emissions at grazing. This review documents the current knowledge capacity in Ireland (publications and projects) and includes an inventory of equipment currently available to conduct research. A number of strategic research avenues are identified herein that warrant further investigation including breeding initiatives and dietary manipulation. It was notable that enteric CH4 research seems to be lacking in Ireland as it constituted 14% of Irish agricultural GHG research publications from 2016 to 2021. A number of key infrastructural deficits were identified including respiration chambers (there are none currently operational in the Republic of Ireland) and an urgent need for more pasture-based GreenFeed™ systems. These deficits will need to be addressed to enable inventory refinement, research progression and the development of effective solutions to enteric CH4 abatement in Ireland.

It is widely accepted that a market-based instrument such as a tax on greenhouse gas emissions is effective in motivating firms to improve energy efficiency, environmental management and invest in environmentally-related research and development (R&D). However, modern corporations tend to separate ownership and management, and decision-making executives who are myopic may not share the firm owners' concern about their firm's exposure to long-run costs and risks associated with climate change. Hence, executive wage contracts should include rewards for environmental performance, particularly in energy efficiency and developing R&D to reduce emissions. This paper examines the effect of implementing executive compensation that is partially indexed to abatement in a monopolist firm, in which decision-making is delegated to a manager under an emissions tax policy. In equilibrium, it is shown that the new wage compensation leads to more abatement, greater production of output, and higher wages for the manager compared with a conventional wage scheme where wages are solely indexed to profits. Hence, the government imposes a lower emissions tax on the firm. More importantly, this public–private joint mechanism results in net social welfare improvement in equilibrium. However, whether the monopolist's profit is higher in the new wage scheme depends non-monotonically on the abatement efficiency technology and the extent of wage indexation to profitability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fomesafen, a long residual diphenyl ether herbicide, is widely used for control of annual and perennial broadleaf weeds in peanut and soybean fields. With the development of agricultural production mechanization in China, the application of fomesafen has been rising. Long-term and large-scale application leads to obvious residues in the soil. As a consequence, the resulting ecological and environmental problems need urgent attention from the agricultural and environmental protection departments. We systematically reviewed the research progress about the residual characteristics, ecotoxicological effects and abatement process of fomesafen in farmland soil, and proposed some prospects from the residual formation mechanisms, safe application limit standard, abatement mechanism and technology, aiming to provide some new insights and ideas for solving the problem of residual injury of fomesafen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The challenge of environmental toxicity and the associated unrelenting efforts of man to abate or eradicate its hazards are lifelong efforts. The present study investigated the impact of Ikhueniro dumpsite leachate in Benin City, Nigeria on the hematological blood profile and blood film of Wistar rats. A total of 30 Wistar rats were acclimatized for two weeks and randomly distributed into three groups A to C; group A served as control, while groups B and C were orally administered Leachate only and Leachate + Abatement (Dialium guineenses aqueous leaf extract), respectively, once every 48 hours for 30 days. After the exposure period, the surviving rats in group A and half of the rats in group B and C were examined and sacrificed. The experiment continued with the remaining rats in groups B and C. Group B was given only clean water and C only abatement following ealier stated schedule, after which the surviving rats were sacrificed and samples collected. Hematological analysis showed that leachate administration in Wistar rats caused an increase in white blood cells (27.65%), platelet count (13.35%), and platelet crit (45.45%); with a decrease in red blood cell count (7.52%), hemoglobin (5.40%) and hematocrit (6.12%) of Wistar rats when compared to the control. Geimsa-stained blood film revealed the presence of polymorphs and basophils in the blood film of rats administered dumpsite leachate. Nevertheless, when leachate administration was stopped in the group of rats where it was previously administered, there was a slight improvement in some blood hematological indices. However, the administration of Dialiumguineense leaf extracts better-improved blood hematological indices. The findings of this study indicate that Ikhueniro dumpsite leachate negatively impacted blood hematological indices in Wistar rats. Dumpsite leachate should be handled and treated carefully to avoid potential health hazards in animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The challenge of environmental toxicity and the associated unrelenting efforts of man to abate or eradicate its hazards are lifelong efforts. The present study investigated the impact of Ikhueniro dumpsite leachate in Benin City, Nigeria on the hematological blood profile and blood film of Wistar rats. A total of 30 Wistar rats were acclimatized for two weeks and randomly distributed into three groups A to C; group A served as control, while groups B and C were orally administered Leachate only and Leachate + Abatement (Dialium guineenses aqueous leaf extract), respectively, once every 48 hours for 30 days. After the exposure period, the surviving rats in group A and half of the rats in group B and C were examined and sacrificed. The experiment continued with the remaining rats in groups B and C. Group B was given only clean water and C only abatement following ealier stated schedule, after which the surviving rats were sacrificed and samples collected. Hematological analysis showed that leachate administration in Wistar rats caused an increase in white blood cells (27.65%), platelet count (13.35%), and platelet crit (45.45%); with a decrease in red blood cell count (7.52%), hemoglobin (5.40%) and hematocrit (6.12%) of Wistar rats when compared to the control. Geimsa-stained blood film revealed the presence of polymorphs and basophils in the blood film of rats administered dumpsite leachate. Nevertheless, when leachate administration was stopped in the group of rats where it was previously administered, there was a slight improvement in some blood hematological indices. However, the administration of Dialiumguineense leaf extracts better-improved blood hematological indices. The findings of this study indicate that Ikhueniro dumpsite leachate negatively impacted blood hematological indices in Wistar rats. Dumpsite leachate should be handled and treated carefully to avoid potential health hazards in animals.

Simple Summary: Urgent responses to the climate change crisis are required, with concerns that cattle and buffalo are contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, particularly in developing countries where large ruminant production is inefficient. Recent studies in Lao PDR demonstrated that ad libitum supplementation of smallholder large ruminants with high-quality molasses nutrient blocks (MNB, 20 kg) with and without anthelmintics and 8% or 10% urea, provided from Australia (Four Seasons Pty Ltd., Brisbane, Qld, Australia), significantly improved productivity, average daily gains and milk production for MNB-supplemented animals compared to controls. 'Emissions control molasses blocks (n = 200) were then formulated and distributed to beef farmers (n = 60) and two institutional farms to obtain block consumption rates (156 g/day) and farmer acceptance data. Modelling of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGe) intensity using Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Inventory software model V 2.69 of the recently published data on use of molasses nutrient blocks demonstrated a conservative net abatement of 350 kg CO2e over a 200-day feeding period, whereas modelling of the Emissions control molasses blocks identified an abatement of 470 kg CO2e per block consumed. We conclude that provision of high-quality molasses blocks to smallholder large ruminants may achieve impressive productivity gains and inclusion of greenhouse gas reducing agents improves the likely abatement of greenhouse gases during rumen fermentation. Large ruminant production in developing countries is inefficient with low growth rates and likely high greenhouse gas emissions per unit of meat or milk produced. Trials conducted in Lao PDR from 2017 to 2020, studied ad libitum supplementation for 12 weeks with 20 kg high-quality molasses nutrient blocks (Four Seasons Pty Ltd., Brisbane, Australia), that were either non-medicated; fenbendazole-medicated (Panacur100®, Coopers Australia, 5 g/kg); triclabendazole-medicated (Fasinex®, Novartis Australia, 5 g/kg or 10 g/kg, respectively); or formulated with urea (8% or 10% urea, respectively). Average daily gains were determined for access to all molasses blocks and compared with access to control blocks, no supplementation, or previously determined free-grazing baseline average daily gains (55–84 g in cattle; 92–106 g in buffalo). Productivity was significantly improved following access to all molasses blocks. Average daily gains following access to 8% urea and control blocks were calculated for three age cohorts of cattle: young calves <8 m (238–298 g), growing cattle (143–214 g) and lactating cows (179–191 g). Modelling using IPCC Inventory software model V 2.69 of published data demonstrated a conservative net abatement of 350 kg CO2e was achievable over a 200-day feeding period. An additional trial of Emissions control blocks (n = 200) distributed to farmers (n = 60) and two educational institutions were conducted. Consumption rates (156 g/day) and farmer and institutional acceptance of these blocks were similar to our published findings with other molasses blocks, confirming all formulations of blocks improved animal productivity and body condition score, with healthier animals that were easier to manage. Modelling of changes in greenhouse gas emissions intensity identified an abatement of 470 kg CO2e per Emissions control blocks consumed, delivering a total project emissions abatement of 94 t CO2e. Provision of high-quality molasses blocks significantly improved smallholder large ruminant productivity and addition of greenhouse gas reducing agents is likely to achieve impressive abatement of greenhouse gas emissions due to improved efficiency of rumen fermentation and productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy PointsIn 2021, four major pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors reached a proposed settlement agreement with 46 state Attorneys General of $26 billion to address their liabilities in fueling the US opioid epidemic. It raises important questions about abatement conceptualization and measurement for allocating settlement funds among substate entities.We outline the political economy tensions undergirding the settlement and allocation, introduce an abatement conceptual framework, describe how an abatement formula was developed for Pennsylvania to allocate settlement funds, and summarize considerations for future settlement allocation efforts.Documenting the challenges and experiences of this task is essential to inform future efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrogen oxides (NOx) gases, such as nitrous oxide (N2O), nitrogen oxide (NO), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), are considered the most hazardous exhausts exhaled by industries and stationary and non-stationary application engines. Investigation of catalytic decomposition of NO has been carried out on copper ion exchanged with different bases, such as COK12, Nb2O5, Y-zeolite, and ZSM5. The catalytic decomposition of NO is widely accepted as an excellent method for the abatement of NO. However, the catalyst that achieves the highest reactivity in terms of NO decomposition is still a matter of research. The present paper aims to extend the research on the reactivity of non-noble metal-based catalysts using the direct decomposition method to remove NO from diesel engine exhaust. The reactivity of catalysts was observed in a quartz fixed bed reactor of 10 mm diameter placed in a furnace maintained at a temperature of 200 °C to 600 °C. The flow of NO was controlled by a mass flow controller, and the gas chromatography technique was used to observe the reactivity of the catalysts. Analysis showed that adding Cu to COK12, Nb2O5, Y-zeolite, and ZSM5 supports resulted in a rise in NO decomposition compared to stand-alone supports. Further experimental trials on the performance of Cu-ZSM5 at varying flow rates of NO showed that the NO decomposition activity of the catalyst was higher at lower flow rates of NO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We develop a model for pollution abatement that distinguishes between prevention and treatment technologies, in order to better understand the optimal mix of abatement measures. Our model separates the production process into two stages, an initial production and prevention stage and a final treatment (or cure) stage. We allow for reallocation of abatement investment across the production stages, in order to improve overall abatement and production and to better understand the tradeoffs between abatement measures. This framework is relevant in practice for numerous industrial production processes, including manufacturing and energy, which employ different abatement measures at different stages of production. In our application to Sweden's pulp and paper sector, we find the industry could achieve further gains to both production and emissions reductions, beyond those estimated using more common single-stage technology estimation methods, by reallocating abatement investments. These results could be used to improve firm environmental management decisions, and to better target policy incentives to specific forms of abatement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrated assessment models are tools largely used to investigate the benefit of reducing polluting emissions and limiting the anthropogenic mean temperature rise. However, they have been often criticized for their underlying assumptions, often leading to low levels of abatement. Countries and regions that are generally the actors in these models are usually depicted as having standard concave utility functions in consumption. This, however, disregards a potentially important aspect of environmental negotiations, namely its distributive implications. The present paper tries to fill this gap assuming that countries/regions have Fehr and Schmidt (The Quarterly Journal of Economics 114(3):817–868, 1999) (F&S) utility functions, specifically tailored for including inequality aversion. By adopting the RICE model, we compare its standard results with the ones obtained introducing F&S utility functions, showing that, under optimal cooperation, the level of temperature rise is lower in the last scenario. In particular, the peak temperature, reached in 2155 under standard assumptions and one or two decades later under F&S preferences with, respectively, heterogeneous and homogeneous F&S inequality aversion parameters (α and β), is of 2.86 ∘C in the former scenario and of 2.65 ∘C and 2.67 ∘C in the latter two. Furthermore, it is shown that potentially stable coalitions are easier to be achieved when F&S preferences are assumed. However, potentially stable coalitions are far from reaching environmental targets close to limiting the mean temperature rise below 2 ∘C despite the adoption of F&S utility functions. The 2 ∘C target is almost achieved in all scenarios when the payoffs in the F&S utility function are given by the per-capita consumption rather than utility of consumption, with F&S preferences and heterogeneous F&S inequality aversion parameters leading to a peak temperature rise of 2.04 ∘C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the possibilities to abate greenhouse gas emissions in the value chain of plastics with special emphasis on efficiency improvements in the virgin plastics production and to recycle or reuse/regenerate plastics from waste streams. The study is restricted to the plastics and their intermediates produced in annual quantities over 20 million tons (Mt) on global scale. The chemicals and polymers considered include intermediate feedstocks ammonia, methanol, ethene and propene, polyolefins polyethylene and polypropylene, and other included polymers are polyester, polyamide and acrylic fibres, polyvinylchloride, polyethylene terephthalate, polyurethane resin and polystyrene. Improved efficiency in the virgin plastic value chain has the potential to reduce global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 531 Mt CO2eq/y, provided that all of the current global production is upgraded to meet the European Union's best benchmarked facilities. These improvements would mean a 15.4% reduction of all global chemical sector emissions. The evaluation of probability for all global production facilities to reach the EU benchmarked values is excluded as unclear. Increasing the global recycling rate of plastics from the current 18% to 42% would reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 142.3 Mt CO2eq /a, provided that the segregation of recyclable materials is improved, and that incineration is not increased. These downstream improvements would mean a 4% reduction of all global chemical sector emissions and reduce the accumulation of plastics not only on land but also in the oceans.

This paper studies the environmental consequences of firm's participation in the global value chain, based on a unique firm‐level data set from 2000 to 2007 by combining several large and representative databases in China. We propose a novel global value chain (GVC) engagement index that properly characterizes Chinese firm's importing patterns. By estimating fixed‐effects models with a rich set of firm‐level and industry‐level controls, our results robustly show that firm's engagement in GVC leads to decreased SO2 emission. The identified effects are stronger for firms with domestic ownership, firms of higher pollution intensity, and firms exposed to more stringent place‐based environmental regulation. We further demonstrate that the pollution reduction effects induced by firm's GVC engagement is attributable to lower SO2 intensity, which is likely to be achieved via the attenuated use of fossil fuels and the increased adoption of abatement devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we analyze the collaboration between an environmental group (EG) and polluting firms when they are asymmetric in their abatement costs. We find that, as firms become more asymmetric, the EG collaborates more with the firm suffering from an abatement cost disadvantage, but this additional collaboration does not overcome firms' cost asymmetry, producing an overall decrease in total abatement and an increase in total emissions. We also evaluate the welfare effects of introducing an EG and/or a regulator, finding that the latter generally yields larger welfare gains than the former when neither are present. Unlike previous studies, we show that the welfare benefit from a second agent is, under most settings, largest when firms are more asymmetric in their abatement costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article develops a non-cooperative game with managerial quantity-setting firms in which owners choose whether to delegate output and abatement decisions to managers through a contract based on emissions (conventionally denoted as 'green' delegation, GD) instead of sales (sales delegation, SD), and the government levies an emissions tax to incentivise firms' emissions-reduction actions. First, it compares the Nash equilibrium outcomes between GD and SD and then contrasts them also with profit maximisation (PM). A plethora of Nash equilibria emerges, especially in the case GD versus PM (the 'green delegation game'), depending on the public awareness toward environmental quality, ranging from the coordination game to the 'green' prisoner's dilemma. Second, though the contract under GD incentivises managers for emissions, the environmental damage is lower than under SD. This is because the optimal tax more than compensates the incentive for emissions. These findings suggest that designing GD contracts paradoxically favours environmental quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines green alliances between environmental groups (EGs) and polluting firms, which have become more common in the last decades, and analyzes how they affect policy design. We first show that the activities of regulators and EGs are strategic substitutes, giving rise to free-riding incentives on both agents. Nonetheless, the presence of the EG yields smaller welfare benefits when firms are subject to regulation than when they are not. In addition, the introduction of environmental policy yields large welfare gains when the EG is absent but small benefits when the EG is already present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cover crops can generate both on-farm and water-quality benefits. However, their use in Iowa remains subdued, partly due to implementation costs faced by farmers. We tested the hypothesis that monetary incentives through cost-share programs are effective at increasing the area of farmland planted to cover crops in Iowa, as opposed to the alternative in which the participants of cost-share programs would have planted the same cover-crop acreage in the absence of payment. We found that cost-share payments induced a 15 percentage-point expansion in cover-crop acreage beyond what would have been planted in the absence of payment, among farmers who participated in cost-share programs. The estimated additionality rate was 54%, suggesting at least half of cost-share expenditures funded cover-crop acreage that would not have been planted without payment. Furthermore, we estimated the public cost to reduce nitrogen loads to Iowa waterways via cover crop, beyond what would have occurred in the absence of cost-share programs, to be $1.72–$4.70 lb−1 N ($3.79–$10.36 kg−1 N). Farmers absorbed about 70% of those costs as private losses, and cost-share payments offset the remaining 30%. Although the additionality rate estimated in this study is less than what has been found in other states, the cost-share programs in Iowa have been relatively cost-effective, due to their lower payment rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the possibilities to abate greenhouse gas emissions in the value chain of plastics with special emphasis on efficiency improvements in the virgin plastics production and to recycle or reuse/regenerate plastics from waste streams. The study is restricted to the plastics and their intermediates produced in annual quantities over 20 million tons (Mt) on global scale. The chemicals and polymers considered include intermediate feedstocks ammonia, methanol, ethene and propene, polyolefins polyethylene and polypropylene, and other included polymers are polyester, polyamide and acrylic fibres, polyvinylchloride, polyethylene terephthalate, polyurethane resin and polystyrene. Improved efficiency in the virgin plastic value chain has the potential to reduce global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 531 Mt CO2eq/y, provided that all of the current global production is upgraded to meet the European Union's best benchmarked facilities. These improvements would mean a 15.4% reduction of all global chemical sector emissions. The evaluation of probability for all global production facilities to reach the EU benchmarked values is excluded as unclear. Increasing the global recycling rate of plastics from the current 18% to 42% would reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 142.3 Mt CO2eq/a, provided that the segregation of recyclable materials is improved, and that incineration is not increased. These downstream improvements would mean a 4% reduction of all global chemical sector emissions and reduce the accumulation of plastics not only on land but also in the oceans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, pure ZnO and g-C3N4 were synthesized using coprecipitation and simple calcination methods, respectively. Further, ZnO is impregnated on a g-C3N4 surface with 10, 20 & 30 weight percentages, respectively. Besides, these materials are characterized by various physicochemical techniques such as PXRD, UV-Vis-DRS, TEM, PL, and FT-IR, etc. Vitally, as-prepared materials, catalytic activity was tested for removal of Rhodamine B and 4-nitrophenol from the wastewater under visible light irradiation. Among all these catalysts, 20 wt% ZnO/g-C3N4 showed better activity and showed 67% and 75% mineralization. The graphical abstract simply represents the proposed mechanism for photocatalytic removal of 4-nitrophenol and Rhodamine B with ZnO/g-C3N4 composite. ZnO was a hexagonal plate type structure and g-C3N4 shows a sheet-type structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study environmental policy in a stylized economy–ecology model featuring multiple deterministic stable steady-state ecological equilibria. The economy–ecology does not settle in either of the deterministic steady states as the environmental system is hit by random shocks. Individuals live for two periods and derive utility from the (stochastic) quality of the environment. They feature warm-glow preferences and engage in private abatement in order to weakly influence the stochastic process governing environmental quality. The government may also conduct abatement activities or introduce environmental taxes. We solve for the market equilibrium abstracting from public abatement and taxes and show that the ecological process may get stuck for extended periods of time fluctuating around the heavily polluted (low quality) deterministic steady state. These epochs are called environmental catastrophes. They are not irreversible, however, as the system typically switches back to the basin of attraction associated with the good (high quality) deterministic steady state. The paper also compares the stationary distributions for environmental quality and individuals' welfare arising under the unmanaged economy and in the first-best social optimum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is a firm's ability to export an important determinant of environmental performance? To answer this question, we construct a unique microdata set that merged two rich manufacturing firm‐level data sets for China for 2007. When combining this new data set with well‐received empirical specifications, we found that both export status and export intensity are associated with lower sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions intensity. In addition to the traditional OLS estimation, we verified this association by using the propensity score matching method. Our findings show that the baseline result still holds. In short, exporters are more environmentally friendly than nonexporters, which is in line with previous evidence reported for developed economies. We further discuss potential mechanisms that explain the observed pattern and show that exporters realise higher abatement efforts compared to nonexporters. This study complements the literature in terms of providing China's microevidence on SO2 abatement efforts. It also serves as a first step towards a better understanding of the impact of trade on the environment, especially in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing the use of perfluorocarbons (PFCs) in semiconductors and other industries is a key issue. To this end, to date combustion methods have often been implemented for large abatement systems. However, plasma could potentially be used to develop a compact system that operates at a low gas flow rate. Here, atmospheric direct current (DC) plasma generated in gas bubbles in water was demonstrated to remove C2F6 and CF4. Using nitrogen-based 1% C2F6 a removal rate of 90.6% was achieved at 35 mA and 0.071 standard liters per minute (SLM). Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis indicated that the byproduct ratio of CF4 to C2F6 was below 1%; thus, almost all CF4 was decomposed by the DC plasma. The decomposition characteristics of CF4 were studied by changing the base gas, such as nitrogen and argon. The gas temperatures in both plasmas were approximately the same. However, the argon-based plasma showed a higher mean electron energy (by approximately 2 eV) and a higher removal rate at the same plasma power. In conclusion, both thermal and impact collision processes occur during the decomposition of CF4. The difference in the removal rate was possibly caused by the metastable atoms and ions in the argon-based scrubbers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the first time, the co‐presence in the saponite structure of luminescent EuIII and catalytic NbV metal sites was exploited for the simultaneous detection and catalytic abatement of sulfur‐containing blister chemical warfare agents. Metal centers were introduced in structural positions of the saponite (in the interlayer space or inside the inorganic framework) following two different synthetic methodologies. The functionalized saponites were able to reveal the presence of a sulfur mustard simulant (2‐chloroethyl)ethyl sulfide (CEES) after few seconds of contact time and more than 80 % of the substrate was catalytically decomposed after 24 h in the presence of aqueous hydrogen peroxide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many smog episodes occurred during the nineteenth century because of the steadily rising consumption of coal for industrial furnaces, commercial ovens and domestic hearths, but the few legislative efforts to abate black smoke proved ineffectual. It was only in 1956, and following the major London smog episode of 1952, that the government was finally forced into action and parliament approved the Clean Air Act. But two important elements of the 1956 legislation were key parts of an earlier campaign conducted by Alfred Fletcher between 1864 and 1896 and while he was working for the Alkali Inspectorate. The Inspectorate had expected black smoke to be added to the list of regulated noxious vapours but governments and parliament resisted. Access to Fletcher's private diaries reveal how he remained a leading advocate for abatement of black smoke, and used his position as Chief Inspector from 1884 to conduct a multi-pronged campaign both inside and outside the Inspectorate that included promoting gas as a fuel and the technical evaluation of cleaner appliances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the operational phase of public-private partnership (PPP) contracts, undue delay in addressing real needs may lead to poor service outcomes; conversely, commencing variations to a PPP agreement on the whim of end-user runs the risk of reducing the value created by detailed structuring and considerations undertaken in establishing agreement. This difficulty is exasperated as there is generally a lack of understanding by the end-user as to the specifics of service delivery performance requirements contracted. In order to address this question, this study, for the first time, develops a reliability-based decision support framework (RDSF) that incorporates end-user's perceived service quality (i.e., how satisfied it is with the space, operation and maintenance activities) with those specified in the PPP agreement, and further identifies when the gap between end-user's expectations and contractual obligations warrants reconsideration. This developed framework is then implemented to test the data gathered from three PPP schools in Australia based on both a current snapshot of performance data, i.e., abatements as gathered through contract documents and end-user's perception through in-depth interviews, and a projected scenario of the future as well. Reliability analysis used here compares time-dependent risk profiles of current and expected performance and thereby identifies major changes in a PPP contract that would sensibly require reconsideration. The specific results indicate there is no current difficulty between end-user's perception and the contract. However, the projected long-term scenario demonstrates how the decision framework can identify areas for review and changes if end-users are more dissatisfied with the service being achieved. The RDSF is capable of quantifying current service performance, considering the engagement of the end-user. Thus it enriches theories in the field of performance management system (PMS), and also contributes to knowledge regarding an evidence-based test for justifying possible agreement modifications or additional works in social PPPs operations. In addition, guidance for performance improvement strategies in aspects of the dissatisfied area is also provided. Application of this approach would assist in maintaining the long-term value for money of social infrastructure PPP agreements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]