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Dynamics of societal material stocks such as buildings and infrastructures and their spatial patterns drive surging resource use and emissions. Building up and maintaining stocks requires large amounts of resources; currently stock-building materials amount to almost 60% of all materials used by humanity. Buildings, infrastructures and machinery shape social practices of production and consumption, thereby creating path dependencies for future resource use. They constitute the physical basis of the spatial organization of most socio-economic activities, for example as mobility networks, urbanization and settlement patterns and various other infrastructures. This dataset features a detailed map of material stocks for the whole of Germany on a 10m grid based on high resolution Earth Observation data (Sentinel-1 + Sentinel-2), crowd-sourced geodata (OSM) and material intensity factors. Temporal extent The map is representative for ca. 2018. Data format Per federal state, the data come in tiles of 30x30km (see shapefile). The projection is EPSG:3035. The images are compressed GeoTiff files (*.tif). There is a mosaic in GDAL Virtual format (*.vrt), which can readily be opened in most Geographic Information Systems. The dataset features area and mass for different street types area and mass for different rail types area and mass for other infrastructure area, volume and mass for different building types Masses are reported as total values, and per material category. Units area in m² height in m volume in m³ mass in t for infrastructure and buildings Further information For further information, please see the publication or contact Helmut Haberl (helmut.haberl@boku.ac.at). A web-visualization of this dataset is available here. Visit our website to learn more about our project MAT_STOCKS - Understanding the Role of Material Stock Patterns for the Transformation to a Sustainable Society. Publication Haberl, H., Wiedenhofer, D., Schug, F., Frantz, D., Virág, D., Plutzar, C., Gruhler, K., Lederer, J., Schiller, G. , Fishman, T., Lanau, M., Gattringer, A., Kemper, T., Liu, G., Tanikawa, H., van der Linden, S., Hostert, P. (accepted): High-resolution maps of material stocks in buildings and infrastructures in Austria and Germany. Environmental Science & Technology Funding This research was primarly funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (MAT_STOCKS, grant agreement No 741950). ML and GL acknowledge funding by the Independent Research Fund Denmark (CityWeight, 6111-00555B), ML thanks the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC; project Multi-Scale, Circular Economic Potential of Non-Residential Building Scale, EP/S029273/1), JL acknowledges funding by the Vienna Science and Technology Fund (WWTF), project ESR17-067, TF acknowledges the Israel Science Foundation grant no. 2706/19.

Transport can play a key role in mitigating climate change, through reducing traffic, emissions and dependency on private vehicles. Transport is also crucial to connect remote areas to central or urban areas. Yet, sustainable and flexible transport is among the greatest challenges for rural areas and rural–urban regions. Innovative transport concepts and approaches are urgently needed to foster sustainable and integrated regional development. This article addresses challenges of sustainability, accessibility, and connectivity through examining complementary systems to existing public transport, including demand-responsive transport and multimodal mobility. We draw upon case studies from the Metropolitan Area of Styria, Ljubljana Urban Region and rural Wales (GUSTmobil, REGIOtim, EURBAN, Bicikelj, Bwcabus, Grass Routes). In-depth analysis through a mixed-methods case study design captures the complexity behind these chosen examples, which form a basis for analysing the effects of services on accessibility for different groups, connectivity to public transport and usability as a “first and last mile” feeder. We further explore the weaknesses of complementary transport systems, including legal, organisational and financial barriers, and offer potential solutions to structure and communicate complementary transport systems to improve access and use. Looking ahead, we use the case studies to anticipate innovative, sustainable “mobility as a service” (MaaS) solutions within and between urban and rural areas and consider how future public policy orientations and arrangements can enable positive change. A main concern of our article and the contribution to scientific literature is through exploring the benefit of well-established multi-level governance arrangements when introducing smaller-scale mobility solutions to improve rural–urban accessibility. It becomes clear that not a one-size-fits-all model but placed-based and tailored approaches lead to successful and sustainable concepts.

Market penetration of electric vehicles is nowadays gaining considerable momentum and so is the move towards increasingly distributed clean and renewable electricity sources. The penetration rate varies among countries due to several factors, including the social and technical readiness of the community to adopt and use this technology. In addition, the increasing complexity of power grids, growing demand as well as environmental and energy sustainability concerns intensify the need for energy management solutions and energy demand reduction strategies. Hence, integration strategies for energy-efficiency in the building and transport sector are of increasing importance. The present study analyses key parameters leading to Electric Vehicle adoption, utilizing background data from countries where Electric Vehicles have already been introduced and adopted in everyday living, and presents a case study of an energy management scheme in Greece, where the penetration rate is still low. Based on the above, an optimization algorithm is proposed, where buildings, photovoltaic plants, storage systems, and Electric Vehicles (utilization of Vehicle to Grid technology) can efficiently meet the energy requirements and peak-hour energy demand, in both economic and sustainability terms. The study proposes a hybrid approach, based on Analytic Hierarchy Process methodology and Genetic algorithms, aiming to foster the diffusion of the Vehicle to Grid concept to support building energy demand.

There has been a tremendous increase in the level of human activity on Earth since the start Industrial Revolution which has promoted great development within societies. However, recent scientific studies have shown that our actions have caused detrimental damage to our environment resulting in the observable phenomenon known as climate change. Some of the adverse effects of climate change include the destruction of habitats, changes in weather patterns and propagation of diseases ��� to name a few. This trend impacts all systems inhabiting our planet and has very grievous implications for the future if no action is taken. A major contributor to climate change is the transport sector which causes significant CO2 and green house gas pollution ��� due the heavy reliance on consuming fossil fuels. These harmful gases have been proven to facilitate global warming. The international community has recognised these undeniable facts and therefore is taking decisive steps to ensure that all sectors to become sustainable. There is a strong advocacy by the global community to promote "sustainable Transport" and ensure that the transport sector becomes emission free and less carbon intensive. An innovative solution to facilitate this transition to sustainable transport is the adoption of electric vehicles (EV���s) which are environmentally friendly and very efficient. EV���s are developing at a rapid pace and the EU is taking a lead in this revolution. Within the EU, the Netherlands has taken proactive steps to deploy as many EV within the country and has set ambitious goal to go all-electric by 2030. Given this bold target; this prompted the question that if the EV market share is forecasted to increase in the Netherlands, how much will it cost to install the appropriate infrastructure to accompany these vehicles? Hence the scope is to answer the following research question: ���To determine the financial viability of installing public electric vehicle charging infrastructure (Level 2 and 3) in the Netherlands���. It was concluded that public charging infrastructure is capital intensive and the associated costs cannot be borne by the government alone - effective financial co-operation between the public and private sectors is required. To get a holistic view to address this research question, global EV trends, the Dutch EV market and Dutch policies have been included.

Sustainable transport, such as using inland waterway transport (IWT), represents a major pillar of the European Green Deal to reduce global warming. To evaluate the different inland transport modes (road, rail, IWT), it is crucial to know the external costs of these modes. The goal of this paper is a critical review of external cost categories (e.g., accidents, noise, emissions) and external cost calculation methods of IWT to provide ideas for future research. We identified 13 relevant papers in a literature review dealing with external costs of IWT. In a meta-analysis, the papers were assigned to the seven external cost categories: accident, noise, congestion, habitat damage, air pollution, climate change and well-to-tank emissions. The most investigated external cost categories are climate change, air pollution and accidents. Two studies were identified as the major external cost calculation methods for IWT in the abstract. Our paper shows that the data basis of IWT is significantly lower than for road/rail. The measurement of energy consumption and related emissions of IWT needs to be qualitatively and quantitatively improved and brought up to the level of road traffic, to ensure an accurate comparison with other modes of transport.

Abstract. Accurate assessment of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and their redistribution among the atmosphere, ocean, and terrestrial biosphere in a changing climate – the “global carbon budget” – is important to better understand the global carbon cycle, support the development of climate policies, and project future climate change. Here we describe and synthesize data sets and methodology to quantify the five major components of the global carbon budget and their uncertainties. Fossil CO2 emissions (EFOS) are based on energy statistics and cement production data, while emissions from land-use change (ELUC), mainly deforestation, are based on land use and land-use change data and bookkeeping models. Atmospheric CO2 concentration is measured directly and its growth rate (GATM) is computed from the annual changes in concentration. The ocean CO2 sink (SOCEAN) and terrestrial CO2 sink (SLAND) are estimated with global process models constrained by observations. The resulting carbon budget imbalance (BIM), the difference between the estimated total emissions and the estimated changes in the atmosphere, ocean, and terrestrial biosphere, is a measure of imperfect data and understanding of the contemporary carbon cycle. All uncertainties are reported as ±1σ. For the last decade available (2010–2019), EFOS was 9.6 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1 excluding the cement carbonation sink (9.4 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1 when the cement carbonation sink is included), and ELUC was 1.6 ± 0.7 GtC yr−1. For the same decade, GATM was 5.1 ± 0.02 GtC yr−1 (2.4 ± 0.01 ppm yr−1), SOCEAN 2.5 ± 0.6 GtC yr−1, and SLAND 3.4 ± 0.9 GtC yr−1, with a budget imbalance BIM of −0.1 GtC yr−1 indicating a near balance between estimated sources and sinks over the last decade. For the year 2019 alone, the growth in EFOS was only about 0.1 % with fossil emissions increasing to 9.9 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1 excluding the cement carbonation sink (9.7 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1 when cement carbonation sink is included), and ELUC was 1.8 ± 0.7 GtC yr−1, for total anthropogenic CO2 emissions of 11.5 ± 0.9 GtC yr−1 (42.2 ± 3.3 GtCO2). Also for 2019, GATM was 5.4 ± 0.2 GtC yr−1 (2.5 ± 0.1 ppm yr−1), SOCEAN was 2.6 ± 0.6 GtC yr−1, and SLAND was 3.1 ± 1.2 GtC yr−1, with a BIM of 0.3 GtC. The global atmospheric CO2 concentration reached 409.85 ± 0.1 ppm averaged over 2019. Preliminary data for 2020, accounting for the COVID-19-induced changes in emissions, suggest a decrease in EFOS relative to 2019 of about −7 % (median estimate) based on individual estimates from four studies of −6 %, −7 %, −7 % (−3 % to −11 %), and −13 %. Overall, the mean and trend in the components of the global carbon budget are consistently estimated over the period 1959–2019, but discrepancies of up to 1 GtC yr−1 persist for the representation of semi-decadal variability in CO2 fluxes. Comparison of estimates from diverse approaches and observations shows (1) no consensus in the mean and trend in land-use change emissions over the last decade, (2) a persistent low agreement between the different methods on the magnitude of the land CO2 flux in the northern extra-tropics, and (3) an apparent discrepancy between the different methods for the ocean sink outside the tropics, particularly in the Southern Ocean. This living data update documents changes in the methods and data sets used in this new global carbon budget and the progress in understanding of the global carbon cycle compared with previous publications of this data set (Friedlingstein et al., 2019; Le Quéré et al., 2018b, a, 2016, 2015b, a, 2014, 2013). The data presented in this work are available at https://doi.org/10.18160/gcp-2020 (Friedlingstein et al., 2020).