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Green ammonia is gaining momentum as a globally significant technology for deep decarbonisation. In this thesis, several models are developed across chemical, techno-economic, and energy system modelling disciplines to explore the future role of green ammonia. First, standalone models of production (i.e., power-to-ammonia) and re-electrification (i.e., ammonia-to-power) are developed and compared to competing technologies. Second, these models are integrated into a planning and dispatch energy system model (ESM) of India to 2050. The ESM has several novel additions including the sector coupling of hydrogen and ammonia, multiple years of granular weather data, and learning-curve-based technology cost forecasts. India is chosen as an ideal case study given its globally unmatched demand growth in all three relevant sectors: electricity, green hydrogen, and green ammonia. The projected electricity demands for green hydrogen and ammonia production account for 25% of the total Indian electricity demand in 2050, underscoring the transformational potential that green hydrogen and ammonia sector coupling can have on the Indian energy system. The results of the state-of-the-art ESM highlight synergistic effects of hydrogen and ammonia sector coupling with the power system. The least-cost system employs seasonal green ammonia production paired with up to 40 million tonnes (i.e., 200 TWh) of ammonia storage, as well as some re-electrification via gas turbines. Sector coupling reduces system curtailment, addresses challenges of long-duration storage, and improves system resilience to interannual weather variations. While India is a crucial case study from a global decarbonisation perspective, the methodology and findings are generally applicable, and it is the aim of this work to motivate and accelerate the wider research community into considering the potential impacts of green ammonia sector coupling on electricity grid design. Finally, this work highlights strategic technology development direction for ammonia producers and gas turbine manufacturers, as well as implications for policymakers.

In face of increased efforts to mitigate climate change, biofuels may be included in reduction plans forgreenhouse gas emissions. Feedstock for first generation biofuels and food crops both use arable land andmay compete for it. Also, fuel is an input for the production and transport of food. The purpose of thispaper is to quantify with empirical data how these two aspects affect market outcomes and to introduce acounterfactual setting where the latter aspect dominates the former. The setting allows an expansion ofbiofuel production to increase food production by lowering costs of production and transport. Namely,lower costs increase market access, allowing a higher utilization of idle production capacities for foodcrops. For this quantification, I develop an open market, welfare maximizing, partial equilibrium modelfor three interdependent goods fuel, fuel feedstock, and food (these goods are represented by diesel/biodiesel,palm oil, and cassava/maize respectively). The model is calibrated to Zambia, which exhibits the necessaryunderlying conditions of underutilized agricultural capacity, high transport costs, and low exports offood. Compared to a baseline, model results show the counterfactual switch from fossil diesel to biodieselto reduce the diesel price by51%. This increases food supply (cassava and maize combined) by0.4%and decreases related prices by3%. Overall welfare increases by9.9%. If additionally, a higher worldmarket price of maize renders exports just profitable, overall welfare continues to gain9.9%, domesticfood supply rises by0.3%, and related prices drop by2%, but food supply including exports grows by32%. Furthermore, the introduction of a palm oil based biodiesel sector eliminates import dependency onfossil diesel and palm oil.

Within the scope of sustainable development goals and climate change mitigation, this study focuses on investigating the effects of energy consumption, agriculture, and economic growth on CO 2 emissions in the top ten agricultural countries for the period 1997-2016. By investigating the validity of the agricultural induced environmental Kuznets curve (EKC), the study mainly aims to explore how agricultural activities affect environmental quality. In doing so, this study utilizes the augmented mean group (AMG) estimator that allows for heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence. The results of the AMG estimator suggest that the agricultural induced EKC hypothesis is valid for six out of the ten countries. The empirical results also indicate that agriculture reduces CO2 emissions, while energy consumption accelerates environmental degradation. All these results suggest that agricultural production and economic development can play an essential role in reducing environmental pollution.

The EU has set clear targets regarding energy conservation of buildings and heavily supports activities towards achieving these targets on a European scale. The Green Deal, renovation wave, Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) and Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) are some examples of EU's actions. For more than a decade, Energy Performance Certificates provide detailed data about the current energy needs of a building/building unit as well as information about the building construction and systems. A Building Renovation Passport (BRP) has, on a European level lately, been conceived as a tool that can stimulate cost-effective renovation in the form of a long-term basis, step-by-step deep renovation roadmap following defined quality criteria, and outline energy renovation measures that will improve the energy performance of the building. A Digital Building Logbook (DBL) is another tool that can serve as an archive where all building information can be stored and continuously updated. In this way, a full record of the building history will be electronically available with data regarding construction plans and permits, maintenance and system replacement activities, energy and heat consumption and production, etc. Building Renovation Passports and the Digital Building Logbook are tools that can help in achieving energy efficiency in existing buildings and contribute to reaching the EU renovation wave goals. The objective of this report is to investigate how the current EPC schemes best make the link towards the BRP and the DBL to further incentivise and stimulate cost-effective deep energy renovations of buildings across Europe. Three surveys were carried out to collect relevant information about the current status of the EPC data records and to identify stakeholders' potential needs, perceptions, thoughts and expectations, regarding a future connection between the EPC and the BRP or DBL. These surveys were prepared in two forms: using an excel file format circulated via email, and through an online questionnaire. Their completion was carried out by 16 countries. Regarding the EPCs, the state or regional energy agencies are the owner of the EPC data records and make full use of them. Their current main usage is for statistical reasons in the majority of the countries and their access is publicly available in half of the responding countries. Many common data is stored in the EPC database which can be linked with other tools (half of the EPC databases are already linked with another source). Regarding the BRP, a review of existing European schemes showed that successful BRPs have combined the renovation advice with financial support, legal requirements and/or communication campaigns. An important factor of the BRP is that it should be issued by a qualified expert and should provide customised measures for the specific building together with the investment costs per renovation measure(s). The DBL analysis showed that it should provide access to building information and contribute to better decision-making for future interventions as well as operation, use and maintenance records. The building owner/user is proposed to have full access to the logbook and provide/input about energy bills and building plans/construction materials info. An important aspect is that every time the building undergoes intervention works, the DBL should be updated accordingly. The most important barrier is the lack of motivation to update the DBL contents followed by the absence of synergies and consistency with other tools. Another interesting finding is that both BRP and DBL should be fed automatically by EPC data without any user interference. There is a clear possible interconnection between EPC data and BRP and DBL future contents. In addition, BRP can be an instrument to increase the renovation rates and DBLs are necessary for the management of buildings' information. The linkage of EPC data and BRP and DBL can be strengthened by introducing BRP and DBL as voluntary schemes under national incentives and should be fully implemented once they have demonstrated acceptance by the stakeholders.

The paper discusses a case study of the Trás-os-Montes region to assess the resilience and sustainability of the local sheep sector. The area is a low-density mountainous region where small ruminant production is a relevant sector of the economy and is mainly based on natural resources. The study employed a mixed methodological approach to identify the socio-economic profile of different actors and the main obstacles and opportunities of this livestock activity. The research found that the main strength of the sector is the intrinsic quality of the products with origin in the various indigenous sheep breeds. However, marketing channels associated with this mechanism are generally limited, and its market shares are minimal. The analysis highlights the constraints resulting from the holdings’ small average size, the advanced age of most farmers, the lack of successors, the low profitability of the lamb meat, and producers’ weak bargaining power. Also, wool's lack of economic interest is an economic and environmental problem for farmers. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Resposta à Audiência Pública - Discussion Paper and comment letters: Proposed Targeted Amendments to the IFRS Foundation Constitution to Accommodate an International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) to Set IFRS Sustainability Standards.

Bio-based and biodegradable plastics (BBPs) are innovative materials, wholly or partially produced from biomass, with the potential to enhance the circulation of resources in the biological cycle of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s butterfly diagram. Although BBPs are generally considered more environmental-friendly than conventional plastics, robust scientific evidence is still missing. The lack of tools and metrics to assess the circularity and sustainability of the BBPs industry poses relevant challenges for its upscaling and contribution to climate neutrality goals in Europe. It calls for adopting system and life cycle thinking, guided by multi-level and multi-dimensional examinations, which led researchers to build a comprehensive picture of trends, gaps and future orientations that may boost a sustainable circular bioeconomy in the sector. The value- chain based and multi-faceted SWOT analysis that emerged from the intersection of system and corporate data reveals the need to establish a combined circular bioeconomy strategy where incentives to integrated local supply chain, dedicated EPR scheme, eco-design guidelines, revised EoL standards, new clear labelling schemes and harmonised sustainability criteria should be prioritized and conjointly pursued to accelerate the transition towards a sustainable circular bioeconomy of the BBPs value chain. European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy, V. 4 N. 2 (2023)

Most plastic products in circulation worldwide are based on fossil petroleum and are not biodegradable,which is known to be one of the biggest burdens and threats to the environment. One possible solution to this problem could be the use of bio-based and biodegradable polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB). Undernitrogen and phosphate depletion, Synechocystis sp. PCC 6714 produces PHB. As a positive side-effect,this method also binds the greenhouse gas CO2 through photosynthesis.This thesis analyses the results of a series of experiments carried out as part of basic research to better understand a possible PHB production process. The main goal was to investigate the effects of different lactose concentrations between 1 and 10 g/L from concentrated whey on the microorganism,particularly on the PHB production. The following three main results were obtained:Firstly, the cyanobacterium strain used could not metabolise lactose and even showed lower growth andPHB content of 2.2% at 1 g/L lactose compared to 4.2% without the addition of whey in the shake flaskexperiment. When upscaling in a photobioreactor, the same ratios were observed between cultivationswith and without whey, with the PHB content doubling to 6.5 and 10.5% (volumetric productivity 7.7and 21.1 mg/L/day).Secondly, the standard hydrolysation method for PHB quantification with concentrated sulfuric acid was compared with the alkaline sodium hydroxide method using a multivariate data analysis.Subsequently, the more promising acidic method was further optimised to reduce viscosity of sulfuricacid, gaining an optimum at 160 min, 14 M H2SO4, 100°C.Thirdly, as an alternative to the state of the art methods for recovering PHB, which use, e.g. the harmful chloroform, three ionic liquids based on the cation 1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium with three differentanions Dimethylphosphate, Acetate or Chloride were tested to dissolve the biomass but not thebiopolymer. 1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium Dimethylphosphate completely dissolved the biomass at75°C after 1 h and did not decompose or dissolve the PHB so that it could be implemented in a complete recovery process.