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Abstract In this study, we investigate the driving forces behind the changes in residential energy consumption (REC) in China’s urban and rural areas over the 2001–2012 period. Based on the logarithmic mean Divisia index method, the REC changes are decomposed into seven driving forces, which are climate change, energy price, energy expenditure mix, energy cost share (in total expenditure), expenditure share (in income), per capita income and population effects. According to the results, climate effect due to increasing days with abnormal temperature, energy cost share effect characterized by more expenditure to be paid for energy use, income effect describing constant income growth in the residential sector definitely increase REC in both urban and rural areas. In contrast, energy prices and energy expenditure mix effects negatively contribute to the REC increase, respectively because of the increase in energy prices and the transition from the low-priced energy to high-priced energy. Expenditure share and population effects play opposite roles in urban and rural areas, and the reasons and implications are analysed in depth.

The repercussions of climate change will be felt in various ways throughout both natural and human systems in Sub-Saharan Africa. Climate change projections for this region point to a warming trend, particularly in the inland subtropics; frequent occurrence of extreme heat events; increasing aridity; and changes in rainfall—with a particularly pronounced decline in southern Africa and an increase in East Africa. The region could also experience as much as one meter of sea-level rise by the end of this century under a 4 °C warming scenario. Sub-Saharan Africa’s already high rates of undernutrition and infectious disease can be expected to increase compared to a scenario without climate change. Particularly vulnerable to these climatic changes are the rainfed agricultural systems on which the livelihoods of a large proportion of the region’s population currently depend. As agricultural livelihoods become more precarious, the rate of rural–urban migration may be expected to grow, adding to the already significant urbanization trend in the region. The movement of people into informal settlements may expose them to a variety of risks different but no less serious than those faced in their place of origin, including outbreaks of infectious disease, flash flooding and food price increases. Impacts across sectors are likely to amplify the overall effect but remain little understood.

China contributes 23 % of global carbon emissions, of which 26 % originate from the household sector. Due to vast variations in both climatic conditions and the affordability and accessibility of fuels, household carbon emissions (HCEs) differ significantly across China. This study compares HCEs (per person) from urban and rural regions in northern China with their counterparts in southern China. Annual macroeconomic data for the study period 2005 to 2012 were obtained from Chinese government sources, whereas the direct HCEs for different types of fossil fuels were obtained using the IPCC reference approach, and indirect HCEs were calculated by input-output analysis. Results suggest that HCEs from urban areas are higher than those from rural areas. Regardless of the regions, there is a similarity in per person HCEs in urban areas, but the rural areas of northern China had significantly higher HCEs than those from southern China. The reasons for the similarity between urban areas and differences between rural areas and the percentage share of direct and indirect HCEs from different sources are discussed. Similarly, the reasons and solutions to why decarbonising policies are working in urban areas but not in rural areas are discussed.

The rapid development of traditional agriculture in China was achieved at the expense of high energy consumption and investments. However, the global green development trend made it necessary for the country to transform its agricultural energy utilization. Energy efficiency changes are affected by many factors, particularly industrial agglomeration. In recent years, the Chinese government has introduced a series of policies, including setting major producing regions for grains and advantageous regions for characteristic agricultural product. These have caused significant changes to the spatial layout of the agriculture industry. However, there is still a lack of research on the impact of these changes on agricultural energy efficiency (AEE). In this study, panel data of 30 Chinese provinces from 2000 to 2016 were entered into stochastic frontier models to measure the country's AEE at the provincial level. A series of spatial econometric models were also used to analyze the impact of agricultural industrial agglomeration on China's AEE. The results indicated that the country's AEE exhibited obvious spatial gradients and correlations. After controlling the impacts of spatial correlation and other factors in the models, agricultural industrial agglomeration was found to have an overall positive impact on China's AEE. In the future, policies should be formulated to increase AEE by establishing agricultural functional areas, strengthening the innovation and sharing of green development technologies at the farm level, and promoting the optimization of energy structures in agricultural and rural areas.

Do communities struck by disaster build back better, or not? Recent small and medium N studies have shown mixed effects. This mixed methods study tests the effect of disasters on the adoption of solar power, as a key form of building back better and adapting to climate change. To text this effect, we apply a large-N longitudinal matching experiment on cities affected and unaffected by disaster paired with qualitative case studies, focusing on the 2011 triple disaster in Japan and Hurricane Sandy in 2012 in the US. We find that disaster hit cities can and do adopt more solar farms and rooftop solar than cities unaffected by crisis, and that the community resources of these disaster hit communities shapes their adoption patterns. By clarifying the effects of disasters on the build-back-better phenomenon in comparative cases, this study aims to guide recovery priorities after large scale shocks. All data will be released for replication upon publication.

Many studies have examined the impact of climatic variability on agricultural productivity, although an understanding of these effects on farmland values and their relationship to farmers’ decisions to adapt and modify their land-use practices remains nascent in developing nations. We estimated the impacts of the deviation in our study year's (2012) temperature and precipitation patterns from medium-term (1980–2011) climatic patterns on farmland values in Pakistan. This was accomplished by employing a modified form of a Ricardian regression model. We also examined farmers’ perceptions of climate change during this period, as well as their perceptions of climate change impacts on farm productivity, in addition to past and anticipated farm adaptation strategies. Our results indicate that positive temperature deviation from the medium-term mean – indicative of climatic change – affects farmland values in Pakistan. Deviation in annual cumulative precipitation conversely appears to have no significant impact. Estimates of the marginal impact of temperature deviation suggested a slight but negative linear relationship with farmland values. The location of farms in areas where farmers can avail financial or extension services conversely had a positive impact on farmland values, as did the availability of irrigation facilities. Our analysis of farmers’ perceptions of climate change and their consequent adaptation behavior indicated a relatively high degree of awareness of climatic variability that influenced a number of proactive and future anticipated farm adaptation strategies. Examples included increased use of irrigation and farm enterprise diversification, as well as land-use change, including shifting from agriculture into alternative land uses. National policy in Pakistan underscores the importance of maintaining a productive rural agricultural sector. Our findings consequently highlight the importance of appropriate adaptation strategies to maintain both farm productivity and farmland values in much of Pakistan. The implications of increased extension and financial services to enhance farmers’ potential for climate change adaptation are discussed.

When cities agree to build divisive facilities in communities to provide key public goods, do those policy decisions convey unexpected effects on the civic culture of their communities? While planners, residents, and activists have suggested this for years, the literature has not rigorously tested this hypothesis. This mixed methods study introduces a new 37-year panel dataset of indicators of civic culture including voter turnout, crime rates, total migration, and the number of community centers across all 1741 Japanese municipalities. This study uses matching experiments and case studies of 2 nuclear power plant host communities to test whether the policy decision to build nuclear power plants in towns altered their civic culture over time. The result shows that the choice to build a divisive facility nuclear power plants unexpectedly alters the trajectory of a towns' social capital, relative to what they would have experienced otherwise. The findings provide a roadmap for policymakers to plan for and anticipate changes in the social capital of their communities, and demonstrate how policy scholars can further contribute to decisions on which carbon neutral power sources governments should invest in.

A CGE model of South Africa is used to find the potential for a double or triple dividend if the revenues raised from an energy-related environmental tax are recycled to households and industry through lowering existing taxes. Four environmental taxes and three revenue-recycling schemes are compared. The environmental taxes are (i) a tax on greenhouse gas emissions, (ii) a fuel tax, (iii) a tax on electricity use, and (iv) an energy tax. The four taxes are constructed such that they have a comparable effect on emissions. The revenue is recycled through either (i) a direct tax break on both labour and capital, (ii) an indirect tax break to all households, or (iii) a reduction in the price of food. A triple dividend is found - decreasing emissions, increasing GDP, and decreasing poverty - when any one of the environmental taxes is recycled through a reduction in food prices.