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The Marine Stewardship Council is the leader in seafood ecolabel certification. Despite its high impact in promoting sustainable fishing and securing price premiums, a large proportion of fisheries withdraw from the scheme during or after certification. We, therefore, investigate the factors influencing the likelihood of withdrawal. To achieve this, we analysed publicly available information from 301 fisheries that have embarked on the certification process using survival analysis methods to investigate the withdrawal rate. It was found that the fishing gear used, and geographical location were the principal factors affecting the likelihood of withdrawal and that the risk of withdrawal is greatest during the full-assessment process and the first five years of certification. Our study also reviews the uneven global expansion of MSC ecolabelling by region and identifies factors that influence withdrawal and need to be considered in fisheries entering MSC certification.

An experimental study was carried out on a fuel cell propulsion system for minibus application with the aim to investigate the main issues of energy management within the system in dynamic conditions. The fuel cell system (FCS), based on a 20 kW PEM stack, was integrated into the power train comprising DC–DC converter, Pb batteries as energy storage systems and asynchronous electric drive of 30kW. As reference vehicle a minibus for public transportation in historical centres was adopted. A preliminary experimental analysis was conducted on the FCS connected to a resistive load through a DC–DC converter, in order to verify the stack dynamic performance varying its power acceleration from 0.5 kW/s to about 4 kW/s. The experiments on the power train were conducted on a test bench able to simulate the vehicle parameters and road characteristics on specific driving cycles, in particular the European R40 cycle was adopted as reference. The “soft hybrid” configuration, which permitted the utilization of a minimum size energy storage system and implied the use of FCS mainly in dynamic operation, was compared with the “hard hybrid” solution, characterized by FCS operation at limited power in stationary conditions. Different control strategies of power flows between fuel cells, electric energy storage system and electric drive were adopted in order to verify the two above hybrid approaches during the vehicle mission, in terms of efficiencies of individual components and of the overall power train. The FCS was able to support the dynamic requirements typical of R40 cycle, but an increase of air flow rate during the fastest acceleration phases was necessary, with only a slight reduction of FCS efficiency. The FCS efficiency resulted comprised between 45 and 48%, while the overall power train efficiency reached 30% in conditions of constant stack power during the driving cycle.

The world of transportation is going through a period of significant change due to all the new environmental sustainability regulations being introduced globally. Therefore, this work aims to understand whether to replace the existing diesel buses with electric ones along a line in Ottawa. First, a model is built in order to evaluate the consumption, using strict assumptions in order to simulate as much as possible the conditions in Ontario. The electric bus that can be used to run a specific route is evaluated, considering the characteristics of the current fleet employed. The charging infrastructure is designed following the following assumptions, in particular: the fast charging of the depot is coupled with the fast charging of pantograph opportunities located at the airport stop. A Well-to-Wheel analysis, considering Ontario's energy mix, is performed to highlight the reduction in GreenHouse Gas - GHG emissions due to the use of electric buses. Finally, a brief cost analysis is developed to highlight the payback time of the investment.

Quantifying the emissions produced along different supply chains is an extremely difficult challenge. However, carbon-based emissions generated by the transport sector have an extremely significant impact on environmental sustainability.To address these issues, we propose a method for estimating the carbon foot-print as an indicator of the environmental sustainability of processes as it represents the total emissions produced within a given process.Therefore, the first problem we come across is developing a tool for calculating the logistic carbon footprint, which clearly defines the boundaries of application of the model and its scope of application. For this reason, the proposed tool will follow a standardized and uniform approach in order to streamline the calculation processes and make it even more efficient: the sources of emissions related to a supply chain are innumerable, so depending on the different approaches to calculating emissions, they can lead to extremely different results. In order to streamline the calculation process, the main sources of primary emissions and indirect emissions due to the supply of fuel oil have been used in a preponderant manner, and then an adjustment factor that takes into account all factors omitted from the model has been introduced. In this way, the calculation of the carbon footprint has been made uniform, homogeneous, and comparable as well as quantitatively reliable.Once themethod of elaboration of the carbon footprint is framed, we will proceed to use this synthetic indicator for the analysis of environmental sustainability for different logistic processes that consider the Port of Trieste as an intermodal exchange hub for intra-Mediterranean traffic and with destination the main markets of continental Europe, taking into account different modes of transport: road, rail, and maritime transport.

Freight movement is a significant and growing contributor to transportation emissions globally. Modal shifts in freight, that is, moving freight from a higher emission mode to one associated with lower emissions, are discussed as a strategy to reduce emissions of criteria pollutants and greenhouse gases (GHGs). However, there is limited knowledge of the magnitude of potential benefits and their impacts on human health. The overall goal of this study is to identify and characterize the potential of modal shifts in freight transport for mitigating air pollutant emissions, air pollutant concentrations, population exposure to air pollutants, and health impacts. The analysis was conducted in the Canadian context, with a focus on land-based freight such as trucks, trains, and pipelines, as well as marine shipping for inland and coastal waters. A structured review of the existing literature database, and a critical assessment of the findings was conducted, using a weight-of-evidence approach. The assessment took into consideration potential local and regional variables for Canada. The results indicated that there is limited evidence that road-to-rail, road-to-marine, and rail-to-marine modal shifts could reduce pollutant and GHG emissions. There was insufficient evidence on modal shifts involving the pipeline mode, and on the air quality, population exposure, and health impacts related to any modal shift. Several research gaps remain, which must be addressed establish the emissions, air quality, and health impacts of freight modal shifts.

In the paper different strategies are presented which are able to manage the operation of a microgrid characterized by the presence of datacenters, electric vehicles and distributed generation. Datacenters are considered to use the batteries within the uninterruptible power sources for providing active power support. The electric vehicles are considered to control their charge in the most convenient way. Distributed generation units are considered to maximize the use of renewable energy within the grid operation constraints. Also the reactive power support of all the resources is considered. Based on single-objective formulations, the proposed strategies allow to operate these resources in order to gain some services such as cost minimization, power quality or energy savings. Several numerical applications are made and the results demonstrate the effectiveness of each single-objective strategy.

In several Pacific Island countries and territories (PICTs), rapid population growth and inadequate management of coastal fish habitats and stocks is causing a gap to emerge between the amount of fish recommended for good nutrition and sustainable harvests from coastal fisheries. The effects of ocean warming and acidification on coral reefs, and the effects of climate change on mangrove and seagrass habitats, are expected to widen this gap. To optimise the contributions of small-scale fisheries to food security in PICTs, adaptations are needed to minimise and fill the gap. Key measures to minimise the gap include community-based approaches to: manage catchment vegetation to reduce sedimentation; maintain the structural complexity of fish habitats; allow landward migration of mangroves as sea level rises; sustain recruitment and production of demersal fish by managing ‘source’ populations; and diversify fishing methods to increase catches of species favoured by climate change. The main adaptions to help fill the gap in fish supply include: transferring some fishing effort from coral reefs to tuna and other large pelagic fish by scaling-up the use of nearshore fish aggregating devices; developing fisheries for small pelagic species; and extending the shelf life of catches by improving post-harvest methods. Modelling the effects of climate change on the distribution of yellowfin tuna, skipjack tuna, wahoo and mahi mahi, indicates that these species are likely to remain abundant enough to implement these adaptations in most PICTs until 2050. We conclude by outlining the policies needed to support the recommended adaptations.

Climate change adversely affects aquatic food systems, causing livelihood challenges and other socioeconomic complexities. We use the case of the oyster sector in The Gambia to explore the awareness of climate change impacts and its effect on youth participation decisions. The paper also examines how family ties to oyster activities, climate adaptation strategies, capacity development opportunities, and introductions of climate-smart innovations influence youths’ decisions to engage in oyster value chain activities. We conducted focus group discussions (FGDs) with youths to explore the factors affecting their participation decisions in the oyster sector. We then used information from the FGDs to design a survey questionnaire to collect data from 312 youths through a simple random sampling technique. Through the probit model, the results show that awareness and training opportunities on climate change, discussions about climate change with family members, training on oyster management, awareness on the use of climate-smart tools, decisions to stay or leave the oyster harvesting community, family ties to oyster harvesting, and awareness of climate change adaptation strategies, positively influenced youths’ decisions to succeed in oyster activities. The educational level and climate-related stressors negatively influenced youths’ succession decisions. This paper contributes to the existing literature on the need to improve the human capital of youths through relevant skills and capacity-building opportunities to encourage their participation in aquatic food systems. The study suggests that the successful engagement of youths in the oyster sector requires an enabling environment supporting the recruitment and retention of youths despite the challenges of climate change. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd This work was funded by an International Development Research Center ( IDRC ) Doctoral Research Award Grant# 109418-016 and an award from the Robin Rigby Trust for Collaborative Coastal Research at St Mary's University, Canada International Development Research Centre, IDRC: 109418-016