• Energy Research
• Open Access close
• Open Source close
• Embargo close
• 12. Responsible consumption close
• AU close
• FR close

Comprehensive and reliable information on anthropogenic sources of greenhouse gas emissions is required to track progress towards keeping warming well below 2°C as agreed upon in the Paris Agreement. Here we provide a dataset on anthropogenic GHG emissions 1970-2019 with a broad country and sector coverage. We build the dataset from recent releases from the “Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research” (EDGAR) for CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and industry (FFI), CH4 emissions, N2O emissions, and fluorinated gases and use a well-established fast-track method to extend this dataset from 2018 to 2019. We complement this with information on net CO2 emissions from land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) from three available bookkeeping models.

A new environmental ban has forced the restructure of open dumps in China since 1 July 2011. A technical process was established in this study that is feasible for the upgrade of open dumps through restructuring. The feasibility of restructuring and the benefit of greenhouse gas emission reductions were assessed according to field surveys of five landfills and four dumps in Nanjing. The results showed that the daily processing capacities of the existing landfills have been unable to meet the growth of municipal solid waste (MSW), making restructuring of the landfills imperative. According to an assessment of the technical process, only four sites in Nanjing were suitable for upgrading. Restructuring the Jiaozishan landfill effectively reduced the leachate generation rate by 5.84% under its scale when expanded by 60.7% in 2015. CO2 emissions were reduced by approximately 55,000–86,000 tons per year, in which biogas power generation replaced fossil fuels Fossil fuels accounted for the largest proportion, up to 45,000–60,000 tons. Photovoltaic power generation on the overlying land has not only reduced CO2 emissions to 26,000–30,000 tons per year but has also brought in continuing income from the sale of electricity. The funds are essential for developing countries such as China, which lack long-term financial support for landfill management after closure.

Multistakeholder Meta-Organisations (MS-MOs) are often perceived as a ‘magic bullet’ that can tackle societal grand challenges in global supply chains. In this paper, we consider the case of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), and we investigate the extent to which an MS-MO reshapes the attribution of responsibility for sustainability in supply chains, especially in relation to underlying power dynamics. We conduct a multimodal critical discourse analysis of a broad range of sources, including videos and interviews. We show that through its discursive strategies, the RSPO allocates the responsibility for social and environmental issues to the two extremes of the supply chain: objectifying consumers at one end and smallholders at the other, hence reproducing and even exacerbating the traditional imbalanced power dynamics in supply chains. Our work contributes to the emerging, more critical strand of research investigating meta-organisations (MOs) and sustainable supply chain management.

Abstract This paper investigates the optimal choice of building energy efficiency (BEE) standard in the context of centralised urban district heating system in northern China. By employing a techno-economic analysis approach, we demonstrate that the current BEE standard implemented in the Chinese cities should be tightened further in order to achieve a socially optimal level. Without considering the externality costs associated with carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, current BEE standards need to be upgraded to the equivalent level of French RT2005 standard coupled with a properly designed district coal-fired Combined Heat and Power (CHP). In contrast, the equivalent efficiency standard of Swedish building code is preferably to be implemented in the case of explicit carbon emission restriction as long as the marginal cost of carbon emission (carbon price) is sufficiently high. The fuel-switching policy (from coal to natural gas) in the urban district heating system would result in significant increase in overall costs if the BEE upgrade is not taken into account simultaneously. It is also found that BEE improvements in northern Chinese cities are more cost-effective than investing in low-carbon technologies such as wind power or Carbon Capture and storage in the EU and US with regard to CO2 emissions mitigation.

This chapter focuses on the evaluation of adaptive capacities of community-level human systems related to agriculture and food security. It highlights findings regarding approaches and domains to monitor and evaluate behavioral changes from CGIAR’s research program on climate change, agriculture and food security (CCAFS). This program, implemented in five West African countries, is intended to enhance adaptive capacities in agriculture management of natural resources and food systems. In support of participatory action research on climate-smart agriculture, a monitoring and evaluation plan was designed with the participation of all stakeholders to track changes in behavior of the participating community members. Individuals’ and groups’ stories of changes were collected using most significant change tools. The collected stories of changes were substantiated through field visits and triangulation techniques. Frequencies of the occurrence of characteristics of behavioral changes in the stories were estimated. The results show that smallholder farmers in the intervention areas adopted various characteristics of behavior change grouped into five domains: knowledge, practices, access to assets, partnership and organization. These characteristics can help efforts to construct quantitative indicators of climate change adaptation at local level. Further, the results suggest that application of behavioral change theories can facilitate the development of climate change adaptation indicators that are complementary to indicators of development outcomes. We conclude that collecting stories on behavioral changes can contribute to biophysical adaptation monitoring and evaluation.

SLOs are the CGIAR's highest level goals, aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To access CGIAR's Strategy and Results Framework

Sustainability has emerged, arguably, as the premiere mission of contemporary architecture. Green assessment tools abound, consultancy services flourish, buildings are marketed on the basis of sustainability performance, and government, media, and corporations seem preoccupied with assessing the quality of the built environment through a green lens. Yet for all the effort, and indeed for all the progress made, fundamental issues resistant to the structural change that is essential for genuine sustainability remain. This paper reviews the state of play of sustainability across the urban landscape. It considers the road travelled so far, and points out some of the major challenges that lie ahead.

These data are part of a data portal that accompanies the special issue ‘Climate change adaptation needs a science of culture,’ published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B in 2023. To access the data portal, please visit: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.bnzs7h4h4. This code represents a computational model investigating the dynamics of coupled and decoupled resource use and efficiency gains. It can be used to simulate the effects of exploration-exploitation strategies on efficiency, consumption and sustainability, considering different levels of direct and indirect rebound effects. The model simulates a population of agents who make decisions on whether to explore or exploit a natural resource. These agents become more efficient over time based on their chosen strategy, affecting resource consumption. Different scenarios are considered, including various rebound effects, which influence how efficiency gains impact resource use. The key elements of the model include agents' uncertainty about the efficiency of their actions, the operationalization of efficiency as a reward, and the calculation of resource consumption based on efficiency gains and rebound effects. The model provides insights into how agents' decisions and resource use evolve over time under different conditions. This computational framework offers a valuable tool for exploring the complex dynamics of resource consumption and management in the face of environmental challenges. It can be applied to gain a deeper understanding of the Jevons Paradox and its implications for sustainable resource use. This computational model simulates the dynamics of exploration and exploitation strategies within a population of agents. These agents make decisions on whether to explore new solutions or exploit existing ones, with a focus on maximizing efficiency. The model employs a N-armed bandit problem approach, where agents select actions to maximize efficiency gains. Efficiency is operationalized as a reward, and agents use sample means to estimate expected efficiency. A balance between exploration and exploitation is maintained through a probability-based algorithm. The code also encompasses resource domains, representing different resources and their dynamics, along with computations of resource consumption, existing resources, and sustainability indices. The simulations consider various parameter combinations to examine the model's behavior. Overall, the code serves as a tool for studying the interplay between exploration, exploitation, efficiency, and resource consumption within a population of agents across different scenarios, making it valuable for investigating the effects of rebound effects on resource consumption and sustainability. The simulations run a comprehensive set of parameter combinations to explore the model's behavior thoroughly. # Code from: Efficiency traps beyond the climate crisis: Exploration-exploitation tradeoffs and rebound effects. Python scripts to run the model, as described in: Segovia-Martin J, Creutzig F, Winters J. 2023 Efficiency traps beyond the climate crisis: exploration–exploitation tradeoffs and rebound effects. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 378: 20220405. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2022.0405 The code and supplementary materials are all freely accessible at the following link: [https://github.com/School-of-Collective-Intelligence/Jevons-Paradox-and-Cultural-Evolution](https://github.com/School-of-Collective-Intelligence/Jevons-Paradox-and-Cultural-Evolution) The simulator can be accessed via the following links: [https://jevons-collectiveintelligence.pythonanywhere.com/](https://jevons-collectiveintelligence.pythonanywhere.com/) or [https://jsegoviamartin.pythonanywhere.com/](https://jsegoviamartin.pythonanywhere.com/) The DOI of this Dryad repository: [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.qjq2bvqnk](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.qjq2bvqnk) ##