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AbstractCalcium oxide supported on ZrO2 is a highly active catalyst for base‐catalyzed reactions such as aldol‐type reactions and transesterification reactions. The role of key parameters during preparation, that is, impregnation versus precipitation, heat treatment, and metal oxide loading on the basicity and catalytic activity were investigated for CaO supported on ZrO2. An impregnation of 10 wt % CaO on monoclinic zirconia followed by heat treatment at 600 °C resulted in high activity for the self‐condensation reaction of acetone. An evaluation of a series of CaO/ZrO2 samples with different loadings showed that the activity increased for impregnated amounts per gram catalyst of 0–10 wt % CaO, and at higher loading the activity decreased as a result of a decrease in dispersion. The number of strong base sites (calculated from CO2 desorbed at temperatures higher than 625 °C) correlated with the activity. For MgO, CaO, SrO, and BaO on zirconia the catalytic activity increased as the ionic radius of the metal cation increased, suggesting the impact of base strength on catalytic performance.

Abstract: This study evaluates the economic and environmental benefits of implementing the proposed REcovered Nitrogen from manURE (RENURE) criteria as mineral fertiliser into the Nitrates Directive (ND) to facilitate the utilisation of minerals from manure. Implementing the RENURE amendment could significantly contribute to sustainability goals in an economic way, offering a 4.8 % reduction in economic costs in livestock-dense regions including Brittany (-0.7 %), Lombardy (-2.3 %), Flanders (-2.6 %), Lower Saxony (-4.7 %), Catalonia (-4.8 %), North-Rhine Westphalia (-4.8 %), and the Netherlands (-5.0 %). Through spatially explicit multi-agent modeling, the study revealed that the RENURE amendment not only promises economic benefits, but also enhances nitrogen circularity by 1.3 % and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 6 % in these areas. These findings highlight the potential of nutrient recovery and reuse under RENURE to address both economic and environmental challenges, supporting the European Union's (EU) Farm-to-Fork strategy (F2F) goals of reducing nutrient emissions to the air and fertilizer use.

Environmental tax reform (ETR), a shift from labour to carbon taxes, has been mostly modelled using general equilibrium (GE) analysis. Since a low-carbon transition will require deep transformations, one will also have to address out-of-equilibrium dynamics and increased agent heterogeneity. Unlike GE models, agent-based models (ABMs) are well equipped to deal with this. We therefore replicate a recent GE model for ETR using an agent-based approach. This process, known as "agentization", allows assessing similarities as well as differences in policy impacts between the two modelling approaches, in turn providing a test of the robustness of the GE results. We find that the agent-based model is able to replicate many results of the general equilibrium analysis, while revealing strengths and weaknesses of both model types. We discuss concrete implementation steps and difficulties experienced in the GE-ABM translation process. We illustrate the potential of ABM by extending the model in several directions. We show that heterogeneous subsistence consumption can increase the space for combining a double dividend with an equity goal, and that overall macro-economic results can conceal important distributional impacts when green preferences and labour supply elasticities vary.

Periglacial alluvial fans are common in northwestern and central Europe and their pre-Holocene stratigraphic records typically date back to late Middle Pleniglacial and Late Pleniglacial (late MIS3 and 2). Preserved stratigraphic records that include an entire interglacial-glacial cycle have, so far, not been described and it is thus unknown how periglacial alluvial fans responded during a full cycle of interglacial-glacial climate changes. In this paper, we reconstruct the evolution of the Eerbeek periglacial alluvial fan in the Netherlands which was deposited during the late Saalian (MIS 6) to late Weichselian (MIS 2) period, including the entire last interglacial–glacial cycle (MIS 5-2). Our reconstruction is based on 48, up-to 45-m deep borehole and Cone Penetration Test (CPT) logs that allowed the construction of an 8-km long longitudinal and a 7-km long transverse cross section over the Eerbeek periglacial alluvial fan. Age control was provided by means of 17, previously published, Optically Stimulated Luminescence ages of two boreholes on the fan, and 14 14C ages from three boreholes and a nearby, now abandoned, quarry.Overlying a thick, late Saalian (MIS 6) alluvial fan record, is a 4- to 18-m thick alternation of distinct organic (mainly peat and humic clays), siliciclastic alluvial fan (coarse- and medium-grained sands), Rhine (coarse- and medium grained sands), and aeolian (mainly medium-grained sands) stratigraphic units. Organic levels indicate fan stability during the Eemian interglacial (MIS 5e), and Brørup (MIS 5c), Odderade–Ognon interstadial complex (MIS 5a), and Middle Pleniglacial (MIS 3) interstadials 14, 13, 12 and 11 as well as late MIS 2 interstadial 1a. Clastic sediments indicate alluvial fan activity during the Herning (MIS 5d), Rederstall (MIS 5b), Ognon stadial complex (late MIS 5a), Early Pleniglacial (MIS 4) and upper Middle Pleniglacial (upper MIS 3) stadials 13, 12 and 11. Sediments from the coldest and driest period of the Last Glacial (late MIS 3 and MIS 2) are absent and following a phase of aeolian activity, the fan was only reactivated at the MIS 2 to MIS 1 transition (stadial 1). We attribute the absence of fan activity during the coldest period of the last interglacial-glacial cycle to the eastward orientation of the fan making it less sensitive to permafrost melt.The colder MIS substages and stadials in which the Eerbeek fan was active coincided with the presence of permafrost and/or a seasonal, deeply frozen soil, and a relatively humid climate during which vegetation was largely absent. The presence of channels that dissect the underlying organic units suggests that the Eerbeek fan initially responded to the changes from interstadials to stadials by means of erosion. As climate cooled and permafrost/deep frost developed, the fan switched to alluvial aggradation. The consistent presence of coarsening-fining upward sequences suggests a relation with cycles of increased overland flow due to increasingly more frozen subsoil conditions. The fan stratigraphy therefore shows the direct coupling between warmer-colder MIS substages and interstadial-stadial climate cyclicity and alluvial fan response over the entire last interglacial-glacial cycle.

National net zero emission targets could, if fully implemented, reduce best estimates of projected global average temperature increase to 2.0–2.4 °C by 2100, bringing the Paris Agreement temperature goal within reach. A total of 131 countries are discussing, have announced or have adopted net zero targets, covering 72% of global emissions. These targets could substantially lower projected warming as compared to currently implemented policies (2.9–3.2 °C) or pledges submitted to the Paris Agreement (2.4–2.9 °C). Current pledges for emissions cuts are insufficient to meet the Paris Agreement temperature goal. The wave of net zero targets being discussed and adopted could make the Paris goal possible if further countries follow suit.

This article explores how the medium of ‘para-legal’ performance art offers scope to experiment with legal conventions pertaining to climate change using the case study of the Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes. Through a series of performative trials, staged in Framer Framed gallery in Amsterdam, Netherlands, the Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes proposed comradeship as a legal concept to foster the emergence of intergenerational, intragenerational and interspecies solidarities. I argue that actors involved in the performance of the Court ‘carve space’ to realise these solidarities through distinct practices of spatial production and re-organisation. However, by engaging with interviewees’ accounts of the trial performances, I suggest that comradeship was expressed lopsidedly – with focus predominantly on the intragenerational inequalities implicated in climate change. Through critical reflection on the material and performative spatialities of the Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes, I contribute to discussions surrounding the political capacities of art in times of climate breakdown, and emerging legal possibilities for climate justice.

ABSTRACTPromoting food security, fostering economic growth, and building resilience to climate change are crucial priorities in Africa, where the health and fertility of soils play a key role. Raising awareness about soil‐related issues and finding potential solutions are vital for addressing the complex interplay of factors affecting soils across the African continent. This paper is written in three parts. The first part highlights and discusses the current problems which include soil erosion, desertification, nutrient imbalances, acidity, salinization, deforestation, and soil compaction. The second part highlights the effects of the identified causes on soil and agricultural productivity, and human health, which included but was not limited to loss of fertile land and biodiversity, increased carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, nutrient depletion, loss of ecosystem services, malnutrition, and other human health issues. The third part proffers potential solutions to tackle soil degradation in Africa. Some of the suggested solutions include afforestation of degraded land, integrated landscape management that involves innovative soil fertility and rangeland management, and effective soil conservation measures to combat erosion. Strengthening policy implementation at regional and country levels, such as awareness creation, education, and community engagement on soils as the basis of human existence, is also crucial. We concluded that no single solution fits all while addressing soil degradation in Africa, but integrated approaches that promote sustainable soil management, such as conservation agriculture, crop rotation, agroforestry, afforestation, organic farming, and community engagement, would have a significant impact in resolving the menace of soil degradation.

With the concept of climate services rapidly climbing research and research-funding agendas worldwide, the time is ripe for a debate about the objectives, scope and content of such services.