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Der Klimawandel ist eine globale Herausforderung, wobei die geschätzten Kosten für seine Eindämmung zwischen 1,6 und 3,8 Billionen USD pro Jahr liegen. Als Pionier im Bereich des Klimaschutzes verfügt die Europäische Union über das weltweit umfangreichste Emissionshandelssystem (87 % des globalen Wertes von 865 Mrd. USD im Jahr 2022). Die kumulative Dissertation ist in drei Artikel unterteilt und beschäftigt sich mit der Rolle von forstwirtschaftlichen Kohlenstoffgutschriften sowohl auf den Verpflichtungsmärkten als auch auf den freiwilligen Kohlenstoffmärkten. Dabei werden Potenziale für forstwirtschaftliche Investitionen in diesen beiden Märkten untersucht. Im ersten Artikel wird ein Überblick über die Klimastrategie der Europäischen Union gegeben, wobei der Schwerpunkt auf der Entwicklung des EU-Emissionshandelssystems (EU ETS) und der Rolle von Waldkohlenstoffzertifikaten für Kompensationszwecke sowohl in der Europäischen Union als auch international liegt. Wir argumentieren, dass die Europäische Union weiterhin ein beträchtliches Potenzial der Wälder - insbesondere der tropischen Wälder - als natürliche Kohlenstoffsenken ungenutzt lässt. Im Gegensatz dazu zeigen wir auf, dass die Regulierungsbehörden aus den Erfahrungen und Verbesserungen der Vergangenheit, den Sustainable Carbon Cylces der Europäischen Union und der Fertigstellung und Entwicklung des Regelwerks für Artikel 6 des Pariser Abkommens lernen können. Wir unterbreiten einen Vorschlag zur Änderung der EU-ETS-Verordnung, indem wir die kürzlich im Trilog vereinbarte Gesetzgebung der Europäischen Kommission zur Erhöhung des linearen Reduktionsfaktors von 2,2 % auf 4,2 % auf die Anrechenbarkeit von Waldkohlenstoffgutschriften übertragen, was zu einem zusätzlichen Finanzierungspotenzial für Forstprojekte zur Erhöhung der notwendigen Kohlenstoffsenken führt. Gleichzeitig wird durch die Möglichkeit, in begrenztem Umfang in Neutralisierungsprojekte zu investieren, das Risiko gemindert, dass regulierte Unternehmen bei der Erreichung der Emissionsreduktionsziele überfordert werden. Das Überdenken des Status quo erfordert nicht nur eine Stärkung der Robustheit von Kohlenstoffprojekten, sondern kann auch den Widerstand von politischen Entscheidungsträgern und NGOs überwinden. Emissionsgutschriften aus Wäldern sind in den meisten Emissionshandelssystemen von Bedeutung, da sie ein kosteneffizientes Mittel zum Ausgleich von schwer zu kompensierenden Emissionen darstellen. Bislang war dies im Emissionshandelssystem der Europäischen Union (EU ETS) nicht der Fall. Da das Regelwerk des Pariser Abkommens nun fertiggestellt ist, könnte sich jedoch die Gelegenheit bieten, diesen Flexibilitätsmechanismus in der europäischen Klimapolitik wiederzubeleben. Auf der Grundlage von 24 Experteninterviews untersuchten wir im zweiten Artikel das forstwirtschaftliche Potenzial innerhalb des EU-Emissionshandelssystems über kurz-, mittel- und langfristige Zeiträume. Wir kamen zu dem Ergebnis, dass das Erfüllungssystem bis 2030 blockiert bleiben wird, dass aber langfristig ein Übergang zur Einbeziehung von forstbasierten Entnahmen und Reduktionen wahrscheinlicher ist. Obwohl forstwirtschaftliche Projekte in der EU auf große Zurückhaltung stoßen, herrscht Einigkeit darüber, wie wichtig sowohl technologische Lösungen als auch solche Initiativen für den Klimaschutz sind. Um das Potenzial der Forstwirtschaft in Zukunft voll auszuschöpfen, müssen andere Methoden und Instrumente (z. B. Haftungsregelungen), strengere Rechtsvorschriften für sozioökonomische Faktoren (z. B. Landnutzungsrechte), die Überwindung von Umsetzungshürden (z. B. keine Kompromisse bei der Abschreckung durch Abschwächung) und eine offene politische Haltung eingeführt werden. Diese Studie bietet eine umfassende Perspektive auf die Hindernisse und Potenziale von Forstprojekten im Rahmen des Compliance-Systems der EU, die bei der Wiederaufnahme der Diskussion über die künftige Förderfähigkeit unbedingt berücksichtigt werden muss. Die Ergebnisse der Studie legen nahe, die Hindernisse für die Bereitstellung von Emissionsgutschriften in der nächsten Phase des EU-Emissionshandelssystems ab 2030 unverzüglich zu beseitigen. Der freiwillige Kohlenstoffmarkt (Voluntary Carbon Market, VCM) hat in den letzten Jahren ein beispielloses Wachstum erlebt, das durch die Verpflichtungen der Unternehmen begünstigt wurde. Die künftige Entwicklung hängt jedoch von der Strategie des Pariser Abkommens ab, insbesondere von Artikel 6. Daher werden im dritten Artikel die verschiedenen vorgeschlagenen Mechanismen und ihre Auswirkungen auf den VCM analysiert. Von besonderer Bedeutung ist der Bedarf an entsprechenden Anpassungen (CA) und wie sich diese Anforderung auf den VCM auswirkt. Der "neue" Typ von Kohlenstoffgutschriften, der auf der CoP27 eingeführt wurde, nämlich die "Mitigation Contribution A6.4ERs", wird die Konsolidierung des VCM wahrscheinlich beschleunigen. Auf der Grundlage einer halbsystematischen Überprüfung und von Experteninterviews (N = 20) sprechen die derzeitigen kurzfristigen Aussichten (~2030) für ein weiteres Wachstum des VCM, trotz bestehender Unsicherheiten aufgrund der unvollständigen technischen Details des Rahmens. Darüber hinaus halten die meisten Experten den Artikel 6-Rahmen nach intensiven und gründlichen Verhandlungen für erfolgreich. Mittelfristig (~2030-2045) wird es wahrscheinlich zu einem Marktübergang kommen. Dementsprechend wird der VCM seine Nische finden und das gegenwärtig verwendete Ausgleichsinstrument neu bewerten müssen. Diese Neubewertung muss über eine reine Kohlenstoffperspektive hinausgehen und sich auf die Zusatznutzen konzentrieren, um die Legitimität des VCM zu erhalten. Langfristig (~2045) deuten die Ergebnisse auf einen Rückgang des VCM hin, da er möglicherweise mit Compliance-Märkten kombiniert wird. Die Infrastruktur und die Robustheit der Artikel-6-Regelwerke werden jedoch dazu beitragen, das volle Wachstumspotenzial des VCM zu gewährleisten. Climate change is a global challenge, with estimated mitigation costs ranging from USD1.6 to USD3.8 trillion per year. As a pioneer in climate action, the European Union has the most extensive emissions trading system worldwide (87% of the global value of USD865 billion in 2022). The cumulative PhD thesis is divided into three articles dealing with the role of forest carbon credits in both compliance and voluntary carbon markets as well as investigating further potentials for forest investments in both of these markets. In the first article, we review the European Union's climate strategy, emphasizing the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) development, and the role of forest carbon credits for offsetting purposes, both in the European Union but also internationally. We argue that the European Union continues to leave a significant potential of forests - in particular tropical forests - as natural carbon sinks unattended. In contrast, we reveal that the regulators can learn from the experiences and improvements made in the past, the European Union’s Sustainable Carbon Cylces and the finalization and development of the rulebook for Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. We present a proposal on changes to the EU ETS regulation by converting the European Commission's legislation, recently agreed in the trilogue, to increase the linear reduction factor from 2.2% to 4.2% to the eligibility of forest carbon credits, resulting in additional funding potential for forestry projects to increase necessary carbon sinks. Simultaneously, allowing flexibility of investing to a limited extent in neutralization projects mitigates the risk of overstressing regulated companies to reach the emission reduction targets. The re-thinking of the status quo will not only require strengthening the robustness of carbon projects, but may also overcome the resistance of policy makers and NGOs. Forest-based carbon credits are crucial in most Emissions Trading Schemes as they offer a cost-efficient means of offsetting hard-to-abate emissions. To date, this has not been the case in the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). However with the Paris Agreement rulebook now finalized, there could be an opportunity to revive this flexibility mechanism in European climate policy. Based on 24 expert interviews, we examined in the second article the forest potential within the EU ETS across short, medium, and long-term time frames. We found that the compliance system will remain blocked until 2030, but there is a greater likelihood of transitioning towards the inclusion of forest-based removals and reductions in the long term. Although forestry projects have faced significant reluctance in the EU, there is unanimous agreement on the importance of both technological solutions and such initiatives for climate protection. To fully leverage the potential of forest activity in the future, it will be necessary to adopt different methods and tools (e.g., liability regimes), stricter legislation on socio-economic factors (e.g., land use rights), overcoming implementation hurdles (e.g., do not compromise deterrence through mitigation), and maintaining an open political stance. This study provides a comprehensive perspective on the barriers and potentials of forestry projects within the compliance system of the EU which is essential to be addressed when re-opening the discussion on future eligibility. The implication of the findings suggest an immediate start to adopt to the barriers for carbon credit readiness in the next phase of the EU ETS beginning of 2030. The voluntary carbon market (VCM) has seen unprecedented growth over the past years, facilitated by corporate commitments. However, future development depends on the Paris Agreement strategy, in particular, Article 6. Therefore, the third article analyzes the various mechanisms suggested and their implications on the VCM. Of particular importance is the need for corresponding adjustments (CA) and how this requirement spills over to the VCM. The “new” type of carbon credits introduced during CoP27, that is, the “mitigation contribution A6.4ERs” will likely accelerate the consolidation of the VCM. Based on a semi-systematic review and expert interviews (N = 20), the current short-term (~2030) prospects support further growth of the VCM despite existing uncertainties caused by the incomplete technical details of the framework. Moreover, after intense and thorough negotiation, most experts deemed the Article 6 framework successful. In the mid-term (~2030-2045), a market transition will likely occur. Accordingly, the VCM will need to find its niche and reassess the current compensation tool used. This reassessment must go beyond a mere carbon perspective and focus on co-benefits to prolong the legitimacy of the VCM. Long-term (~2045) results indicate a decline in the VCM as it potentially combines with compliance markets. However, the infrastructure and robustness of Article 6 rulesets will help to ensure the full growth potential of the VCM.

Measurements: Rainfall - Total monthly rainfall including all precipitation (snow, rain, mist and fog) captured in a 12.7 cm rain gauge (mm per month); numbers of days with rain (0.2mm or more); the day with the maximum daily rainfall for that month. Sun shine: the total hours of sunshine recorded for the month; the day with most hours of sunshine; days when no sunshine recorded. Air temperature: the average maximum and average minimum air temperature (degrees C) for the month; the warmest day; the coldest day for the month. Frost: Numbers of air or ground frosts. The average refers to the 30-year mean 1981-2010. The summary report is derived from daily data measured at Rothamsted Research. Teses original raw data are available from the e-RA database. Daily data verification includes checks for instrument errors, missing data and outliers. These weather summaries are reported in the local Harpenden press on a monthly basis. Monthly and summaries and annual summary of rainfall, temperature, sun hours and numbers of ground frosts for 2013. Variation noted in comparison to 30-year means 1981-2010. This report consists of the monthly and annual summaries of meteorological data measured at Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, UK, from January 2013 until December 2013. Daily measurements are taken at Rothamsted Meteorological Station. These data are summarised monthly and annually as a report.

The use of microalgae culture to convert CO2 from power plant flue gases into biomass that are readily converted into biofuels offers a new frame of opportunities to enhance, compliment or replace fossil-fuel-use. Apart from being renewable, microalgae also have the capacity to utilise materials from a variety of wastewater and the ability to yield both liquid and gaseous biofuels. However, the processes of cultivation, incorporation of a production system for power plant waste flue gas use, algae harvesting, and oil extraction from the biomass have many challenges. Using SimaPro software, Life cycle Assessment (LCA) of the challenges limiting the microalgae (Chlorella vulgaris) biofuel production process was performed to study algae-based pathway for producing biofuels. Attention was paid to material use, energy consumed and the environmental burdens associated with the production processes. The goal was to determine the weak spots within the production system and identify changes in particular data-set that can lead to and lower material use, energy consumption and lower environmental impacts than the baseline microalgae biofuel production system. The analysis considered a hypothetical transesterification and Anaerobic Digestion (AD) transformation of algae-to- biofuel process. Life cycle Inventory (LCI) characterisation results of the baseline biodiesel (BD) transesterification scenario indicates that heating to get the biomass to 90% DWB accounts for 64% of the total input energy, while electrical energy and fertilizer obligations represents 19% and 16% respectively. Also, Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) results of the baseline BD production scenario show high proportional contribution of electricity and heat energy obligations for most impact categories considered relative to other resources. This is attributed to the concentration/drying requirement of algae biomass in order to ease downstream processes of lipid extraction and subsequent transesterification of extracted lipids into BD. Thus, four prospective alternative production scenarios were successfully characterised to evaluate the extent of their impact scenarios on the production system with regards to lowering material use, lower energy consumption and lower environmental burdens than the standard algae biofuel production system. A 55.3% reduction in mineral use obligation was evaluated as the most significant impact reduction due to the integration of 100% recycling of production harvest water for the AD production system. Recycling also saw water demand reduced from 3726 kg (freshwater).kgBD- 1 to 591kg (freshwater).kgBD- 1 after accounting for evaporative losses/biomass drying for the BD transesterification production process. Also, the use of wastewater/sea water as alternative growth media for the BD production system, indicated potential savings of: 4.2 MJ (11.8%) in electricity/heat obligation, 10.7% reductions for climate change impact, and 87% offset in mineral use requirement relative to the baseline production system. Likewise, LCIA characterisation comparison results comparing the baseline production scenarios with that of a set-up with co-product economic allocation consideration show very interesting outcomes. Indicating -12 MJ surplus (-33%) reductions for fossil fuels resource use impact category, 52.7% impact reductions for mineral use impact and 56.6% reductions for land use impact categories relative to the baseline BD production process model. These results show the importance of allocation consideration to LCA as a decision support tool. Overall, process improvements that are needed to optimise economic viability also improve the life cycle environmental impacts or sustainability of the production systems. Results obtained have been observed to agree reasonably with Monte Carlo sensitivity analysis, with the production scenario proposing the exploitation of wastewater/sea water to culture algae biomass offering the best result outcome. This study may have implications for additional resources such as production facility and its construction process, feedstock processing logistics and transport infrastructure which are excluded. Future LCA study will require extensive consideration of these additional resources such as: facility size and its construction, better engineering data for water transfer, combined heat and power plant efficiency estimates and the fate of long-term emissions such as organic nitrogen in the AD digestate. Conclusions were drawn and suggestions proffered for further study.

The 2022 World Cup organised by the International Association Football Federation (International Olympic Committee, 2021) and hosted by Qatar was billed to be the tournament that would completely revolutionise football, both on and off the field. It garnered acclaim in being the first World Cup held outside its customary months of June-July as well as in pioneering net zero carbon emissions in the sport - an assertion that ultimately proved largely unfounded(Ralston, 2022) with high reputational consequences for the country and the game. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs), like the Carbon Market Watch that works with the European Union amongst others, claimed that “carbon emissions created by the new stadiums could be as much as eight times higher than the figures contained in Qatar’s analysis” (MacInnes, 2022). Against the backdrop of mounting sustainability concerns expressed by policymakers and enthusiasts alike, this essay examines the environmental hazards associated with major sporting events, like the 2022 FIFA World Cup whilst delving into adaptations that organisers could make for future sporting bonanzas that would give their green aspirations wings that could fly without getting burned like the fabled Icarus whose own pride and arrogance led him to ignore the rising temperatures and ultimately cause his demise. Essex Student Journal Volume 14 Issue S1 2023

Wave energy is an important renewable energy source. Previous studies of wave energy conversion (WEC) have focused on the maximum power take-off (PTO) techniques of a single machine. However, there is a lack of research on the energy and power quality of wave farm systems. Owing to the pulsating nature of ocean waves and popular PTO devices, the generated electrical power suffers from severe fluctuations. Existing solutions require extra energy storage and overrated power converters for wave power integration. In this study, we developed a master-slave wave farm system with rotor inertia energy storage; this system delivers self-smoothed power output to the grid and reduces the number of converters. Two control methods based on the moving average filter (MAF) and energy filter (EF) are proposed to smooth the output power of wave farms. RTDS simulations show that the proposed systems and control methods facilitate simple and smooth grid integration of wave energy. Keywords: Wave farm, Energy storage, Power smoothing, Power quality, Energy quality

A fundamental change in societal values and economic structures is required to address increasing pressures on ecosystems and natural resources. Transition research has developed in the last decades to analyze the co-dynamics of technological, institutional, social and economic elements in the provision of key functions such as energy, water and food supply. This doctoral dissertation provides conceptual and methodological contributions to the pro-active governance of sustainability transitions. Three research gaps are identified that are addressed in this dissertation. First, a comprehensive conceptualization of learning in sustainability transitions is currently missing that comprises learning at multiple societal levels (ranging from individuals to policy-actors). Learning concepts are often not explicitly discussed in transition research even though learning is considered as fundamental for innovation processes, niche formation and development as well as breakthrough and diffusion of innovations. Second, methods for the analysis and design of transition governance processes are lacking that specify case-specific intervention points and roles of actors in the implementation of innovations. Third, participatory modeling approaches are only applied to a limited extent in transition research despite a high potential for supporting communication and learning. The conceptualization of multi-level learning developed in this doctoral research conceptualizes learning at different societal levels as specific learning contexts ranging from individual and group contexts to organizational and policy contexts. The conceptual framework further differentiates between learning processes, intensity, objects, outcomes, subjects and factors, allowing for a more detailed analysis of learning within and across learning contexts. Thus, learning contexts can be linked by processes that involve actors from different learning contexts (e.g., community groups and policy-makers), as well as exchanges of physical aspects, institutions ...

Solar power appears to be one of the most promising resources to meet the medium and long term renewable energy targets. The integration of large amounts of photovoltaic (PV) generation into distribution networks faces some limitations due to the network constraints. The PV community became well aware of these limitations in the last years. While first solutions have been pointed out mainly for large installations connected to the medium voltage network, the specificities of low voltage networks are still not fully understood. This paper aims at explaining the challenges associated to the planning and operation of low voltage network with high PV penetration. The actual impact of PV infeed is quantified on the basis of real and accurate network, load and generation data. Results from unsymmetrical load-flow computations are presented and the implementation of reactive power-based voltage control is shortly discussed. 26th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition; 4469-4478

Given the highly climate-sensitive character of agricultural production, climate change has obvious and important ramifications for agricultural commercialisation, which in turn has a bearing on poverty, gender empowerment, and food and nutrition security. The nature and extent of climate change implications for agricultural commercialisation will depend on: the magnitude of the climate impacts that farmers have to deal with; and, the extent to which sustainable intensification processes can be pursued in ways which strengthen, rather than weaken, adaptive capacity and resilience in the face of climate change. This brief provides a summary of a longer working paper, which offers a review of recent literature on the implications of climate change for agricultural commercialisation and APRA’s research in this area.

The importance of wind energy has progressed rapidly in the last years. Although Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWT) are most well-spread, there is an increasing interest in Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWT), especially in the H-Darrieus concept, as these rotors are omni-directional and affordable. However, the physics of these rotors is more complex; they can only be analyzed using transient CFD simulations. Due to the finite aspect ratio of the rotors, a wingtip vortex is created, which generates losses. Optimizing the wingtip geometry could be advantageous for increasing the efficiency of the rotors: this can only be achieved with three-dimensional turbulent transient simulations. For the optimization of winglets, the whole process (mesh generation, CFD computation, post-processing) has to be automated. This is achieved using the OPtimization Algorithm Library++ (OPAL++), a custom C++ code for the description of blended and canted winglets, coupled with a CD-Adapco StarCCM+ JAVA script for the automatization of the mesh generation and CFD computations. To check the viability of the present concept, two parameters have been varied in the simulations. As shown in what follows, an efficient automatic optimization of wind turbine wingtips can be implemented in this manner.

Increasing agricultural productivity is one of the most important aims of modern biotechnology. One way to enhance the productivity of crop species is to enhance the efficiency of photosynthesis. In C3 plants the oxygenase activity of Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCo) limits the photosynthetic efficiency. The green microalgae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii has evolved a CO2 concentration mechanism (CCM) by increasing the CO2 concentration in the chloroplast stroma where RuBisCO is located. Four independent transgenic tobacco genotypes (LA, LB, C1 and C3) were generated producing the low CO2-inducible protein A and B (LCIA and LCIB) or the carbonic anhydrases I and III (CAH1 and CAH3) from C. reinhardtii CCM in the envelope, stroma, intermembrane space or thylakoid lumen of tobacco chloroplasts, respectively. All four recombinant proteins were active in planta, which had a substantial impact on carbon and nitrogen metabolism. Increasing the CO2 concentration near RuBisCO resulted in an enhanced rate of photosynthesis (by up to 15%), efficiency of photosystem II (by up to 18%) and chlorophyll content (by up to 19%). Although to differing extents, all four transgenic genotypes grew faster than wild-type plants, produced more shoot biomass (up to 45% more fresh weight or 38% more dry weight in the LA lines) and accumulated more photosynthetic end products, reflecting the higher rate of photosynthetic CO2 fixation. The proteome analysis revealed that the proteins changed in the transgenic genotypes compared to the wild-type plants were primarily associated with the regulation of the Calvin cycle and the amino acid biosynthesis. Metabolic analysis of the transgenic LA, LB and C3 plants revealed an increase in the levels of carbohydrates and also of most amino acids. Furthermore, transgenic LA and LB plants could maintain the enhanced biomass under low nitrogen conditions, where similarly-treated wild-type plants grew more slowly. The data generated in the present study confirmed that even single Chlamydomonas CCM components can be integrated into C3 plants to increase biomass, suggesting that transgenic lines combining multiple components or even a complete CCM could further increase the productivity and yield of C3 crops. RWTH Aachen University, Diss., 2017; Aachen, 1 Online-Ressource (151 Seiten) : Illustrationen, Diagramme(2017). = RWTH Aachen University, Diss., 2017 Published by Aachen