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Developing Asia is the driver of today’s emissions intensive global economy. As the principle source of future emissions, the region is critical to the task of global climate change mitigation. Reflecting this global reality and a range of related domestic issues, the governments of the People’s Republic of China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Viet Nam have embarked upon an ambitious policy agenda. This report reviews the present and future policy settings for climate change mitigation and green growth in Asia’s major emerging economies.

SummaryHigh biomass crops have recently attracted significant attention as an alternative platform for the renewable production of high energy storage lipids such as triacylglycerol (TAG). While TAG typically accumulates in seeds as storage compounds fuelling subsequent germination, levels in vegetative tissues are generally low. Here, we report the accumulation of more than 15% TAG (17.7% total lipids) by dry weight in Nicotiana tabacum (tobacco) leaves by the co‐expression of three genes involved in different aspects of TAG production without severely impacting plant development. These yields far exceed the levels found in wild‐type leaf tissue as well as previously reported engineered TAG yields in vegetative tissues of Arabidopsis thaliana and N. tabacum. When translated to a high biomass crop, the current levels would translate to an oil yield per hectare that exceeds those of most cultivated oilseed crops. Confocal fluorescence microscopy and mass spectrometry imaging confirmed the accumulation of TAG within leaf mesophyll cells. In addition, we explored the applicability of several existing oil‐processing methods using fresh leaf tissue. Our results demonstrate the technical feasibility of a vegetative plant oil production platform and provide for a step change in the bioenergy landscape, opening new prospects for sustainable food, high energy forage, biofuel and biomaterial applications.

While substance use disorders (SUD) continue to be a global concern, harm reduction approaches can provide sustainable harm minimization to people who inject drugs (PWID) without requiring abstinence. Yet, the evidence for the sustainable implementation of harm reduction approaches is newly emerging. This scoping review sought to map the evidence on implementation qualities of sustainable harm reduction needle and syringe programs (NSPs). We searched the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, PubMed, ProQuest Central, and Directory of Open Access Journals for empirical studies (a) with an explicit focus on harm minimization NSPs, (b) with a clearly identified study population, (c) that described the specific NSP implementation protocol, (d) that provided information on accessibility, affordability, and feasibility, and (e) were published in English between 2000–2020. Following narrative qualitative synthesis, the evidence suggests individual implementer characteristics directly influenced sustainable availability and scope of NSP provision while implementation processes explained the predictability and continuity of service provision across services. External factors including community perceptions of NSPs and policing activity influenced the sustainability of NSP implementation. The emerging evidence suggests that sustainable NSP programs for PWID require provider, consumer, and community engagement, supported by enabling health policies.

Phase 1 of isotopes in the Project for Intercomparison of Land-surface Parameterization Schemes (iPILPS) compares the simulation of two stable water isotopologues (1H218O and 1H2H16O) at the land–atmosphere interface. The simulations are offline, with forcing from an isotopically enabled regional model for three locations selected to offer contrasting climates and ecotypes: an evergreen tropical forest, a sclerophyll eucalypt forest and a mixed deciduous wood. Here, we report on the experimental framework, the quality control undertaken on the simulation results and the method of intercomparisons employed. The small number of available isotopically enabled land-surface schemes (ILSSs) limits the drawing of strong conclusions, but, despite this, there is shown to be benefit in undertaking this type of isotopic intercomparison. Although validation of isotopic simulations at the land surface must await more and much more complete, observational campaigns, we find that the empirically based Craig-Gordon parameterization (of isotopic fractionation during evaporation) gives adequately realistic isotopic simulations when incorporated in a wide range of land-surface codes. By introducing two new tools for understanding isotopic variability from the land surface, the isotope transfer function and the iPILPS plot, we show that different hydrological parameterizations cause very different isotopic responses. We show that ILSS-simulated isotopic equilibrium is independent of the total water and energy budget (with respect to both equilibration time and state), but interestingly the partitioning of available energy and water is a function of the models' complexity.

AbstractTwenty-five years since foundational publications on valuing ecosystem services for human well-being1,2, addressing the global biodiversity crisis3 still implies confronting barriers to incorporating nature’s diverse values into decision-making. These barriers include powerful interests supported by current norms and legal rules such as property rights, which determine whose values and which values of nature are acted on. A better understanding of how and why nature is (under)valued is more urgent than ever4. Notwithstanding agreements to incorporate nature’s values into actions, including the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF)5 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals6, predominant environmental and development policies still prioritize a subset of values, particularly those linked to markets, and ignore other ways people relate to and benefit from nature7. Arguably, a ‘values crisis’ underpins the intertwined crises of biodiversity loss and climate change8, pandemic emergence9 and socio-environmental injustices10. On the basis of more than 50,000 scientific publications, policy documents and Indigenous and local knowledge sources, the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) assessed knowledge on nature’s diverse values and valuation methods to gain insights into their role in policymaking and fuller integration into decisions7,11. Applying this evidence, combinations of values-centred approaches are proposed to improve valuation and address barriers to uptake, ultimately leveraging transformative changes towards more just (that is, fair treatment of people and nature, including inter- and intragenerational equity) and sustainable futures.