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The database presents the scenario results of an exploratory research, carried out at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA): the Low Energy Demand (LED) study (Grubler et al. 2018). The LED scenario explored how far transformative changes that combine technological changes, end-use efficiency, and new business models for energy service provision can lead for lowering energy demand, and how these changes could drive deep decarbonisation in the long-term. The scenario development methodology included a bottom-up analysis of how currently existing, though often embryonic, social, institutional, and technological trends could become mainstream with resulting step-changes in efficiency and resulting lowered energy demand. The bottom-up demand estimations were then further explored for their supply side and emissions and climate implications with a top-down modeling framework drawing on the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP) framework (Riahi et al. 2017). The results show that global final energy demands can be drastically reduced in 2050, to around 245 EJ/yr, or 40% lower than today, whilst significantly expanding human welfare and reducing global development inequalities. According to the knowledge of the authors, LED is the lowest long-term global energy demand scenario ever published. The LED scenario meets the 1.5°C climate target in 2100 without overshoot and keeps the global mean temperature increase below 1.5°C with a probability of more than 60%, without requiring controversial negative emission technologies, such as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), that figure prominently in the emission scenario literature (Rogelj et al. 2015, Anderson and Peters 2016, Creutzig et al. 2016, Smith et al. 2016). Furthermore, the beneficial impacts of the LED scenario on a range of other sustainable development goals are also shown, demonstrating that efficiency of energy services provision plays a critical role in reaching low-energy futures without compromising increased living standards in the Global South, while at the same time reducing adverse social and environmental impacts of climate mitigation strategies that focus predominantly on large-scale supply-side transformations. The research is published in a peer-reviewed article in Nature Energy (Grubler et al. 2018) with ample supplementary information. Water consumption and withdrawal data are published in Parkinson et al. (2018). The data is available for download from the LED Database. The content of the LED database and any derived analysis may only be used for non-commercial scientific publications, articles, educational purposes, figures and data tables provided that the source reference pursuant to section 'Required citation' is included and all relevant publications are correctly cited. Partial reproductions of the database content may be stored in online repositories, if this is necessary to comply with a journal's data archiving and access requirements. Such reproductions must be limited to the scope of the manuscript in question, and must include a hyperlink to the source database hosted at https://db1.ene.iiasa.ac.at/LEDDB and the download date from the source database. However, any wholesale duplication, translation, reworking, processing, arrangement, transformation, or reproduction through the internet or any other channels, of the https://db1.ene.iiasa.ac.at/LEDDEB for commercial or non-commercial purposes is not permitted without the explicit written approval of IIASA.

1. Anthropogenic structures are mainly known to have negative impacts on wildlife populations but sometimes arethey can be beneficial. Power lines are a main driver of bird mortality through collision or electrocution, but electricity pylons are also commonly used for nest building by some species. Birds and nests cause power outages that need to be tackled by electricity companies. However, the use of pylons by threatened species provides an opportunity for conservation purposes. 2. In this study, we described an empirical modelling approach to predict the circumstances under which circumstances nesting birds use electricity pylons are used by nesting birds. We focused on white storks Ciconia ciconia, a species that has been increasingly using electricity pylons for nesting across Europe. 3. In a country-level census in Portugal, we found a total of 1348 white stork nests in 668 of the 8680 very high-tension power line pylons occurring in the distribution range of this colonial species, with spatial clustering in pylon occupation up to a distance of 30 km. The number of nests in each used pylon ranged from 1 to 21 (mean±SD= 2.2±2.06). 4. The main drivers of pylon use by nesting storks were distance to major feeding areas (rice fields, landfills and large wetlands), with more intensive use closer to these features, followed by land cover type surrounding each pylon. Pylon type and age, and stork population density in the region, had comparatively less importance. 5. Synthesis and applications. Our approach can be used to plan both for species conservation and minimising damage to infrastructures. For power lines, we outline: (i) planning power line routes to take account of the probability of pylon use; (ii) applying nesting deterrent devices (to reduce bird mortality and power outage risk) and providing nesting platforms (to promote bird use) on suitable pylons; and (iii) selecting adequate pylon types to promote or inhibit nesting. White stork nests in power line pylons and associated variablesNumber of nests of white storks in very high tension power line pylons in Portugal, in 2007, and associated variables to model the drivers of pylon use. Information on nest occurrence collected in the field, through aerial surveys. Explanatory variables from land cover information data, stork censuses and information provided by the power line company (REN).Data for storks paper.xlsx

All data were collected by the authors according to standardised protocols. Soil was sampled on 22nd - 24th July 2019 by taking soil cores (Ø = 2 cm, depth = 10 cm) using a steel corer from five random locations in each plot (plot size = 2m x 2m). Soil cores from the same plot were pooled and homogenised, any vegetation or litter was separated and discarded. Sub-samples (approx. 200 mg) were directly taken and lysed in the field for molecular analyses. Soil samples were sieved (4 mm), stored at 4°C for up to 2 weeks, and shipped to The University of Manchester (UK) Soil and Ecosystem Ecology Lab for extracellular soil enzyme and biogeochemical analyses. Lysed soil samples for molecular analyses were stored at -80°C and shipped to UKCEH Wallingford for DNA extraction and sequencing. We ensured all measured values fit within those of calibration standards. All calculations were checked for errors before data was accepted and data were checked for any anomalies. Data comprise soil microbial and biogeochemical data collected during a climate and vegetation change experiment conducted across three valleys in Tyrol, in the Austrian Alps. Sites were located near the villages of Obergurgl (lat., long. = 46.844833, 11.023783; mean elevation = 2279m), Soelden (46.978367, 10.972217, mean elevation = 2469m) and Vent (46.863217, 10.896800, mean elevation = 2472m). Soil microbial data include phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analyses, and bacterial (16S Small subunit ribosomal RNA) and fungal (internal transcribed spacer region 2) high throughput sequences. Soil biogeochemical data include soil extracellular enzyme activities, soil pH, gravimetric moisture content and various C and N pools and fluxes. The experiment was funded by NERC project NE/N009452/1.

Tourism is the third largest socio-economic activity in the EU and thus it can be considered an engine for development, producing many positive impacts, from trade sector to employment. At the same time, it can produce many negative impacts because it is configured according to the model of linear economy. A deep analysis of impacts produced by tourism sector and its great potential in contributing to the achievement of SDGs are presented. The aim of this paper is to identify a tourism development/management model able to produce multidimensional benefits and, simultaneously, reduce (environmental, social and economic) costs. In this perspective, the circular economy is proposed as a model able to contribute to make tourism more sustainable. This model necessarily requires appropriate evaluation tools, indicators and knowledge. Aestimum, Aestimum 70 (2017)

Abstract. The net flux of carbon from land use and land-cover change (LULCC) accounted for 12.5% of anthropogenic carbon emissions from 1990 to 2010. This net flux is the most uncertain term in the global carbon budget, not only because of uncertainties in rates of deforestation and forestation, but also because of uncertainties in the carbon density of the lands actually undergoing change. Furthermore, there are differences in approaches used to determine the flux that introduce variability into estimates in ways that are difficult to evaluate, and not all analyses consider the same types of management activities. Thirteen recent estimates of net carbon emissions from LULCC are summarized here. In addition to deforestation, all analyses considered changes in the area of agricultural lands (croplands and pastures). Some considered, also, forest management (wood harvest, shifting cultivation). None included emissions from the degradation of tropical peatlands. Means and standard deviations across the thirteen model estimates of annual emissions for the 1980s and 1990s, respectively, are 1.14 ± 0.23 and 1.12 ± 0.25 Pg C yr−1 (1 Pg = 1015 g carbon). Four studies also considered the period 2000–2009, and the mean and standard deviations across these four for the three decades are 1.14 ± 0.39, 1.17 ± 0.32, and 1.10 ± 0.11 Pg C yr−1. For the period 1990–2009 the mean global emissions from LULCC are 1.14 ± 0.18 Pg C yr−1. The standard deviations across model means shown here are smaller than previous estimates of uncertainty as they do not account for the errors that result from data uncertainty and from an incomplete understanding of all the processes affecting the net flux of carbon from LULCC. Although these errors have not been systematically evaluated, based on partial analyses available in the literature and expert opinion, they are estimated to be on the order of ± 0.5 Pg C yr−1.

Italian harbours assume a decisive role in order to develop a Euro-Mediterranean web for maritime transportation. The geostrategic position of the Italian peninsula can be seen as a logistic platform at the centre of the maritime trades in the Mediterranean area, giving to its port cities the role of gateway of economic flows. The port poles, meant as hubs, are able to attract investments and create economic growth and territorial development through new operative models of urban usage and management. The management policies have to consider the environmental characteristics and distinctive features, respecting the identity of the places as concrete evidence of history, a source of intellectual development and therefore, cultural richness. In this sense, the current strategic plan “Palermo capital of the Euro-Mediterranean area” imagines the whole city, and not just its harbour, as a “gate city”, a sustainable and cosmopolitan city in the view of a recentralization of the Mediterranean area. The research tests an evaluation method in support of urban planning, which increases the active role of stakeholders in terms of participation and access to the decision-making process of urban renewal strategies for Palermo to the Euro-Mediterranean.

Environmentally extended multiregional input-output (MRIO) analysis can be used to investigate final production and consumption attributions of emissions. As the distinction between the two attributions has been brought to the attention of policy-makers, there is an ever greater need to understand how and why they differ, by analyzing the connections between production and consumption activities. Seeking to meet this need, we present an approach for mapping flows of embodied emissions through a Leontief production system. The approach, seen as an extension of Structural Path Analysis (SPA), provides an exhaustive map of supply chain linkages between final production and consumption attributions of emissions. Whereas SPA is traditionally used to extract and rank individual supply chains according to the emissions occurring at the end of each chain, the mapping approach considers emissions embodied in the flows of intermediate products linking different economic sectors along supply chains. Illustrative results are presented from a global MRIO model and CO(2) emissions for 2004. The emissions embodied in a sector's total output of products is also of interest: a method for calculating this is presented and shown to provide further insight into where in the production system a sector's overall emissions impact is concentrated.

The authors would like to make the following corrections to the published paper [...]