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Climate change is a global problem, which affects the various geographical regions at different levels. It is also associated with a wide range of human health problems, which pose a burden to health systems, especially in regions such as Africa. Indeed, across the African continent public health systems are under severe pressure, partly due to their fragile socioeconomic conditions. This paper reports on a cross-sectional study in six African countries (Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Namibia, Ethiopia, and Kenya) aimed at assessing their vulnerabilities to climate change, focusing on its impacts on human health. The study evaluated the levels of information, knowledge, and perceptions of public health professionals. It also examined the health systems’ preparedness to cope with these health hazards, the available resources, and those needed to build resilience to the country’s vulnerable population, as perceived by health professionals. The results revealed that 63.1% of the total respondents reported that climate change had been extensively experienced in the past years, while 32% claimed that the sampled countries had experienced them to some extent. Nigerian respondents recorded the highest levels (67.7%), followed by Kenya with 66.6%. South Africa had the lowest level of impact as perceived by the respondents (50.0%) when compared with the other sampled countries. All respondents from Ghana and Namibia reported that health problems caused by climate change are common in the two countries. As perceived by the health professionals, the inadequate resources reiterate the need for infrastructural resources, medical equipment, emergency response resources, and technical support. The study’s recommendations include the need to improve current policies at all levels (i.e., national, regional, and local) on climate change and public health and to strengthen health professionals’ skills. Improving the basic knowledge of health institutions to better respond to a changing climate is also recommended. The study provides valuable insights which may be helpful to other nations in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Deltas are among the most productive and diverse global ecosystems. However, these regions are highly vulnerable to natural disasters and climate change. Nature-based solutions (Nbs) have been increasingly adopted in many deltas to improve their resilience. Among decision support tools, assessment of ecosystem services (ES) through spatially explicit modelling plays an important role in advocating for Nbs. This study explores the use of the Land Utilisation and Capability Indicator (LUCI) model, a high-resolution model originally developed in temperate hill country regions, to map changes in multiple ecosystem services (ES), along with their synergies and trade-offs, between 2010 and 2018 in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD). In so doing, this study contributes to the current knowledge in at least two aspects: high-resolution ES modelling in the VMD, and the combination of ES biophysical and economic values within the VMD to support Nbs implementation. To date, this is the highest resolution (5 by 5 m) ES modelling study ever conducted in the VMD, with ~1500 million elements generated per ES. In the process of trialling implementations of LUCI within the VMD’s unique environmental conditions and data contexts, we identify and suggest potential model enhancements to make the LUCI model more applicable to the VMD as well as other tropical deltaic regions. LUCI generated informative results in much of the VMD for the selected ES (flood mitigation, agriculture/aquaculture productivity, and climate regulation), but challenges arose around its application to a new agro-hydrological regime. To address these challenges, parameterising LUCI and reconceptualising some of the model’s mechanisms to specifically account for the productivity and flood mitigation capability of water-tolerant crops as well as flooding processes of deltaic regions will improve future ES modelling in tropical deltaic areas. The ES maps showed the spatial heterogeneity of ES across the VMD. Next, to at least somewhat account for the economic drivers which need to be considered alongside biophysical valuations for practical implementations of ES maps for nature-based solutions (Nbs) in the upstream VMD, economic values were assigned to different parcels using a benefit transfer approach. The spatially explicit ES economic value maps can inform the design of financing incentives for Nbs. The results and related work can be used to support the establishment of Nbs that ultimately contribute to the security of local farmers’ livelihoods and the sustainability of the VMD.

Abstract Bioenergy systems are expected to expand over the coming decades due to their potential to address energy security and environmental pollution challenges. Nevertheless, any renewable energy project can only survive if approved environmentally superior to its conventional counterparts. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is an internationally standardized and validated methodology to evaluate and quantify the environmental impacts of bioenergy systems. However, due to its methodological scope, the LCA method measures only the environmental consequences of the target products of energy systems. The LCA approach can neither allocate the environmental impacts at the component level nor measure the environmental impacts of intermediate products. These challenges can be substantially resolved by systematically integrating the LCA approach with the thermodynamically-rooted exergy, offering a powerful environmental sustainability assessment tool known as “exergoenvironmental analysis“. Due to the unique methodological and conceptual characteristics of exergoenvironmental analysis in revealing the possibilities and trends for improvement, it has recently received increasing attention to mitigate the environmental impacts of bioenergy systems. Therefore, this review is aimed to thoroughly summarize and critically discuss the evaluation of sustainability aspects of bioenergy systems based on exergoenvironmental analysis. The pros and cons of using exergoenvironmental analysis in bioenergy research are also outlined to identify possible future directions for the field. Overall, exergoenvironmental analysis can offer more detailed information on the environmental consequences of each flow and component of bioenergy production plants, thereby diagnosing the breakthrough points for additional environmental improvements.

In a former study, a German lignite extract exhibited toxicity to Danio rerio and Caenorhabditis elegans and was shown to have mutagenic and dioxin-like activity. Besides the comparatively low content of known toxic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), highly intensive peaks of m/z 274 and m/z 324 were observed during the chromatographic analysis. These compounds are assumed to be alkylated chrysenes and picenes (3,3,7-trimethyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydrochrysene, 1,2-(1'-isopropylpropano)-7-methylchrysene and an isomer of the latter, 1,2,9-trimethyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropicene and 2,2,9-trimethyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropicene). These compounds are intermediates in the diagenetic formation of chrysene and picene from triterpenoids. Due to their general high abundance in lignites and the toxicity observed for the lignite extract, the mechanism-specific toxicity and bioavailability of these compounds were investigated in the present study using the approach of effect-directed analysis. After the separation of the compounds from other PAH, their mutagenic activity (Ames Fluctuation test) and dioxin-like activity (EROD activity) were studied. Both, mutation induction factor (up to 2.9±2.7) and dioxin-like activity (Bio-TEQ of 224±75 pg/g; represents the amount (pg) 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin per g coal that would provoke the same toxic effect) were rather low. Bioavailability estimated by the bioaccumulation test with Lumbriculus variegatus was also very limited. Based on the obtained results, the environmental risk of the highly abundant alkylated chrysenes and picenes in lignites is concluded to be low.

The energy transition and the expansion of renewable energies are central challenges to planning. In view of tightened climate protection targets and the associated rise in installation capacity, planning conflicts are likely to intensify further in the coming years. At the same time, democratic institutions are under increasing pressure. The expansion of wind energy must proceed swiftly while democratic participation must be ensured. Based on planning conflicts over wind turbines in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania and Brandenburg, this paper addresses the extent to which research on planning conflicts can benefit from a justice perspective, both in theoretical-conceptual and empirical terms. Drawing on concepts from research on spatial justice, energy justice, and planning justice, the paper uses a three-dimensional conception of justice to identify access points for dealing constructively with conflicts. First, conflicts have to be recognized as such and their productive potential has to be acknowledged. Second, strategies have to be established that allow conflicts to be dealt with constructively. In doing so, several dimensions of justice must be taken into account: distributive justice and the question of what is to be distributed according to which criteria, recognition justice and the reflexion on difference and needs beyond hegemonic majority opinion, and finally procedural justice, which is intended to ensure that recognition and fair distribution can be implemented. In this way, a proactive attitude towards planning conflicts can make a central contribution to sustainable and democratic planning.

The average antimony concentration in municipal solid waste is estimated to be about 10-60 ppm. Thermodynamical models predict a volatile behavior for antimony compounds, yet literature mass balances show that about 50% of the antimony input remains in the grate ashes. This fact can be explained by the formation of thermally stable antimonates in the fuel bed due to interactions with alkali or earth-alkali metals. Thermogravimetric experiments revealed an increased thermal stability for antimony oxide in presence of oxygen and calcium oxide. Spiking experiments on the test incinerator TAMARA showed that chlorination processes have a strong effect on antimony volatilization whereas high fuel-bed temperatures and addition of antimony oxide only have a moderate effect. In the grate ashes, antimony shows a pH-depending leaching property, which is typical for anionic species. This fact supports the thesis that antimony is present in the grate ashes in an anionic speciation.

Abstract Background Many governments take the view that voluntary national targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are sufficient to avoid negative climate effects. In the absence of independent verification, however, pledges are unlikely to be sufficient for a rapid and strong reduction of emissions. It is often claimed that a global carbon tax could be an effective instrument. However, such a tax is difficult to set and to collect, especially in countries with poor administrative infrastructure. Results Here, we formulate and discuss a novel approach, the Global Carbon Surcharge (GCS), that mimics a carbon tax but does not require tax collection by governments. We define GCS as a requirement or a voluntary commitment encompassing all companies extracting carbon-carrying raw materials, namely coal, oil, gas and limestone, with the aim to burden their extraction with costs proportional to their carbon intensity. GCS mandates all companies to store these materials immediately after mining for a given period of time in the vicinity of the production site. Thereby, GCS generates additional costs that propagate through all sectors of the global economy. We elucidate how the investment costs for the storage infrastructure translate into surcharges on the raw materials. Conclusions We show that by a proper choice of the storage time and the size of the storage unit, GCS becomes equivalent to a carbon tax in the range between 50 and 100 € per ton of CO2 that is assumed to be necessary for the transition to a carbon-neutral energy system. An attractive feature of GCS is that it can be verified, in particular by citizens themselves, using publicly available satellite data. Finally, if compulsory storage is coupled to blockchain-based smart contracts and a mandatory (expensive) mining of cryptocurrency, GCS can be operated without governmental protectionism, corruption and fraud. However, the main uncertainties of the GCS approach lie in the substantial expansion of infrastructure and the fact that the induced price effects must be sufficient to achieve a rapid and far-reaching substitution of fossil fuels.

Present-day and projected future changes in mean radiant temperature, T mrt in one northern, one mid-, and one southern European city (represented by Gothenburg, Frankfurt, and Porto), are presented, and the concept of hot spots is adopted. Air temperature, T a , increased in all cities by 2100, but changes in solar radiation due to changes in cloudiness counterbalanced or exacerbated the effects on T mrt. The number of days with high T mrt in Gothenburg was relatively unchanged at the end of the century (+1 day), whereas it more than doubled in Frankfurt and tripled in Porto. The use of street trees to reduce daytime radiant heat load was analyzed using hot spots to identify where trees could be most beneficial. Hot spots, although varying in intensity and frequency, were generally confined to near sunlit southeast-southwest facing walls, in northeast corner of courtyards, and in open spaces in all three cities. By adding trees in these spaces, the radiant heat load can be reduced, especially in spaces with no or few trees. A set of design principles for reducing the radiant heat load is outlined based on these findings and existing literature.