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Three data files are provided for Case Study 1 in the openENTRANCE project: Full_potential.V9.csv, metaData.Full_Potential.csv, and acheivable_NUTS2_summary.csv. The data covers 10 residential devices on the NUTS2 level for the EU27 + UK +TR + NO + CH from 2020-2050. The devices included are storage heater, water heater with storage capabilitites, air conditiong, heat circulation pump, air-to-air heat pump, refreigeration (includes refrigerators and freezers), dish washer, washing machine, and tumble drier. Full_potential.V9.csv shows the NUTS2 level unadjusted loads for residential storage heater, water heater, air conditiong, circulation pump, air-to-air heat pump, refreigeration (includes refrigerators and freezers), dish washer, washing machine, and tumble drier using representative hours from 2020-2050. The loads provided here have not been adjusted with the direct load participation rates (see paper for more details). More details on the dataset can be found in the metaData.Full_Potential.csv file. The acheivable_NUTS2_summary.csv shows the NUTS2 level acheivable direct load control potentials for the average hour in the respective year (years - 2020, 2022,2030,2040, 2050).

Humanity’s role in changing the face of the earth is a long-standing concern, as is the human domination of ecosystems. Geologists are debating the introduction of a new geological epoch, the ‘anthropocene’, as humans are ‘overwhelming the great forces of nature’. In this context, the accumulation of artefacts, i.e., human-made physical objects, is a pervasive phenomenon. Variously dubbed ‘manufactured capital’, ‘technomass’, ‘human-made mass’, ‘in-use stocks’ or ‘socioeconomic material stocks’, they have become a major focus of sustainability sciences in the last decade. Globally, the mass of socioeconomic material stocks now exceeds 10e14 kg, which is roughly equal to the dry-matter equivalent of all biomass on earth. It is doubling roughly every 20 years, almost perfectly in line with ‘real’ (i.e. inflation-adjusted) GDP. In terms of mass, buildings and infrastructures (here collectively called ‘built structures’) represent the overwhelming majority of all socioeconomic material stocks. This dataset features a detailed map of material stocks in the CONUS on a 10m grid based on high resolution Earth Observation data (Sentinel-1 + Sentinel-2), crowd-sourced geodata (OSM) and material intensity factors. Spatial extent This subdataset covers the West Coast CONUS, i.e. CA OR WA For the remaining CONUS, see the related identifiers. Temporal extent The map is representative for ca. 2018. Data format The data are organized by states. Within each state, data are split into 100km x 100km tiles (EQUI7 grid), and mosaics are provided. Within each tile, images for area, volume, and mass at 10m spatial resolution are provided. Units are m², m³, and t, respectively. Each metric is split into buildings, other, rail and street (note: In the paper, other, rail, and street stocks are subsumed to mobility infrastructure). Each category is further split into subcategories (e.g. building types). Additionally, a grand total of all stocks is provided at multiple spatial resolutions and units, i.e. t at 10m x 10m kt at 100m x 100m Mt at 1km x 1km Gt at 10km x 10km For each state, mosaics of all above-described data are provided in GDAL VRT format, which can readily be opened in most Geographic Information Systems. File paths are relative, i.e. DO NOT change the file structure or file naming. Additionally, the grand total mass per state is tabulated for each county in mass_grand_total_t_10m2.tif.csv. County FIPS code and the ID in this table can be related via FIPS-dictionary_ENLOCALE.csv. Material layers Note that material-specific layers are not included in this repository because of upload limits. Only the totals are provided (i.e. the sum over all materials). However, these can easily be derived by re-applying the material intensity factors from (see related identifiers): A. Baumgart, D. Virág, D. Frantz, F. Schug, D. Wiedenhofer, Material intensity factors for buildings, roads and rail-based infrastructure in the United States. Zenodo (2022), doi:10.5281/zenodo.5045337. Further information For further information, please see the publication. A web-visualization of this dataset is available here. Visit our website to learn more about our project MAT_STOCKS - Understanding the Role of Material Stock Patterns for the Transformation to a Sustainable Society. Publication D. Frantz, F. Schug, D. Wiedenhofer, A. Baumgart, D. Virág, S. Cooper, C. Gomez-Medina, F. Lehmann, T. Udelhoven, S. van der Linden, P. Hostert, H. Haberl. Weighing the US Economy: Map of Built Structures Unveils Patterns in Human-Dominated Landscapes. In prep Funding This research was primarly funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (MAT_STOCKS, grant agreement No 741950). Workflow development was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation)—Project-ID 414984028-SFB 1404. Acknowledgments We thank the European Space Agency and the European Commission for freely and openly sharing Sentinel imagery; USGS for the National Land Cover Database; Microsoft for Building Footprints; Geofabrik and all contributors for OpenStreetMap.This dataset was partly produced on EODC - we thank Clement Atzberger for supporting the generation of this dataset by sharing disc space on EODC.

# Can niche plasticity mediate species persistence under ocean acidification? [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.x0k6djhtq](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.x0k6djhtq) This dataset originates from a study investigating the impact of ocean acidification on a temperate rocky reef fish assemblage using natural CO2 vents as analogues. The dataset covers various niche dimensions, including trophic, habitat, and behavioural niches. The study focused on how fish niches are modified in response to ocean acidification, assessing changes in breadth, shift, and overlap with other species between the acidified site and the control site. ## Description of the data and file structure #### Raw\_single\_niche\_data The “*Raw_single_niche_data*” dataset consists of seven spreadsheets, each sharing two essential columns: 'group' and 'community'. These columns are crucial for subsequent analysis using the SIBER framework. **group** = species * Common = common triplefin, *Forsterygion lapillum* * Yaldwyn = Yaldwyn’s triplefin, *Notoclinops yaldwyni* * Blue_eyed = blue-eyed triplefin, *Notoclinops segmentatus* * Blenny = crested blenny, *Parablennius laticlavius* **community** = treatment * C = control * V = CO2 vents **Description of the seven spreadsheets:** 1. **Isotopes -** the dataset includes ratios of 13C/12C and 15N/14N expressed in the conventional δ notation as parts per thousand deviation from international standards. Stable isotopes were derived from a total of 251 fishes collected across three years of sampling. iso1= δ13C iso2= δ15N 2. **Stomach volumetric** - The dataset includes estimated volumetric measures of stomach contents, where the volume contribution of each prey category relative to the total stomach content (100%) was visually estimated. Data were collected between 2018 and 2019. The stomach content was analysed with this method for common triplefin, Yaldwyn's triplefin, blue eyed triplefin and crested blenny. There are 19 prey categories. 3. **Stomach count** - All prey items were counted in 10 prey categories: copepods, ostracods, polychaetes, amphipods, gastropods, bivalves, tanaids, mites, isopods , and others. Digested items that were not identifiable were excluded from the analysis. The stomach content was analysed with this method for common triplefin, Yaldwyn's triplefin and blue eyed triplefin. 4. **Stomach biomass -** The dataset includes calculated biomass derived from the mass of prey subsamples within each category, multiplied by their count. 5. **Habitat** - The microhabitat occupied and habitat orientation (horizontal, angled and vertical) was recorded using free roaming visual surveys on SCUBA (February 2018). *Microhabitat types:* t. = turf algae <10 cm in height ca. = erect calcareous algae cca. = crustose coralline algae b. = bare rocky substratum sp. = encrusting fleshy green algae cobble. = cobbles (~0.5–2 cm in diameter) *Type of surface orientation:* hor = horizontal angle = angled vert = vertical 6. **Behaviour** - Behavioural variables quantified from underwater footage and expressed as rates per minute. The behaviours are: swimming, jumping, feeding, attacking and fleeing from an attack. 7. **Aquarium**: Data from an aquarium experiment involving *Forsterygion lapillum and Notoclinops yaldwyni*, showing the proportion of time spent in available habitat types to assess habitat preference in controlled conditions. Time in each habitat type and spent in activity was derived from video recordings of 10 minutes and expressed as a proportion of total observation time. Common = common triplefin, *Forsterygion lapillum* Yaldwyn = Yaldwyn’s triplefin, *Notoclinops yaldwyni* Common.c = common triplefin in presence of Yaldwyn’s triplefin Yaldwyn.c = Yaldwyn’s triplefin in presence of common triplefin turf.horizontal = time spent on horizontal turf substratum bare.horizontal = time spent on horizontal bare substratum turf.vertical = time spent on vertical turf substratum bottom = time spent on the bottom of the tank swimming = time spent swimming aquarium.wall = time spent on the walls of the tank switches = numbers of changes between habitats #### Unified\_overlap\_dataset The *“Unified_overlap_dataset”* consists of ten spreadsheets, each sharing “id”, “year”, “location” and “species “column (with few exceptions detailed). These first columns need to be factors for analysis using the Unified overlap framework. We used the R scripts provided in the original study ([Geange et al, 2011](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2041-210X.2010.00070.x)), as detailed in the manuscript. Data for control and vents are in separate data sheets, with C = control and V = vent. **Id**: sample number **Year:** year the data were collected **Location:** North (n) or South (s), site location **Species**: fish species * Common = common triplefin, *Forsterygion lapillum* * Yaldwyn = Yaldwyn’s triplefin, *Notoclinops yaldwyni* * Blue_eyed = blue-eyed triplefin, *Notoclinops segmentatus* * Blenny = crested blenny, *Parablennius laticlavius* We used the same data as per previous section. **Isotopes C and Isotopes V:** * iso1= δ13C * iso2= δ15N **Diet V and Diet C:** For **stomach content**: we used only volumetric stomach content data as inclusive of all species of interest. It is not raw data, but we used the reduced dimension obtained from nonmetric multidimensional scaling (nMDS), thus the 2 columns resulting from this analysis are vol1 and vol2. Raw data are in the datasheet **Stomach volumetric** in the “*Raw_single_niche_data*” dataset. **Habitat association C and Habitat association V** / **Habitat - C and Habitat - V** For **Habitat association**, the columns are id, species, habitat and position. The habitat association for each species is categorical based on habitat occupied and position (e.g., turf - vertical). Information for Crested blenny were extracted from the behavioural video recordings (with each video being a replicate). The dataset is then linked to **Habitat cover** in both control (C) and vent (V) sites to determine the choice of the habitat based on habitat availability. Therefore, the habitat cover only presents the percentage cover of each habitat type at control and vent. *Habitat:* turf = turf algae <10 cm in height ca = erect calcareous algae cca = crustose coralline algae barren = bare rocky substratum sp = encrusting fleshy green algae cobble = cobbles (~0.5–2 cm in diameter) sand = sand *Position:* hor = horizontal angle = angled vert = vertical **Behaviour C and Behaviour V**: Behavioural variables quantified from underwater footage and expressed as rates per minute. The behaviours are: swimming, jumping, feeding, attacking and fleeing from an attack. Reference: Geange, S. W., Pledger, S., Burns, K. C., & Shima, J. S. (2011). A unified analysis of niche overlap incorporating data of different types. *Methods in Ecology and Evolution*, 2(2), 175-184. [https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2041-210X.2010.00070.x](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2041-210X.2010.00070.x) We used a small hand net and a mixture of ethanol and clove oil to collect the four species of interest (Forsterygion lapillum, Notoclinops yaldwyni, Notoclinops segmentatus and Parablennius laticlavius) at both control and vent sites over four years. For stable isotope analysis, white muscle tissue was extracted from each fish and oven-dried at 60 °C. The dried tissue was subsequently ground using a ball mill. Powdered muscle tissue from each fish was individually weighed into tin capsules and analysed for stable δ 15N and δ13C isotopes. Samples were combusted in an elemental analyser (EuroVector, EuroEA) coupled to a mass spectrometer (Nu Instruments Horizon) at the University of Adelaide. We then analysed the isotopic niche in SIBER. For stomach content analysis the entire gut was extracted from each fish. Using a stereomicroscope, for count and biomass, all prey items in the stomach were counted first. For each prey category, well-preserved individuals were photographed and their mass was calculated based on length and width. The average mass per individual for each category was then multiplied by the count to determine total prey biomass. For the volumetric method, the volume contribution of each prey category relative to the total stomach content was visually estimated (algae were accounted for). Digested items that were not identifiable were excluded from the analysis. Each stomach content dataset was reduced to two dimensions with non-metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) to be then analysed in SIBER. To assess habitat choice, visual surveys were conducted on SCUBA, to record the microhabitat type and orientation occupied by Forsterygion lapillum, Notoclinops yaldwyni and Notoclinops segmentatus. The resulting dataset comprised a total of 17 distinct combinations of habitat types and surface orientations. The dataset was simplified to two dimensions using correspondence analysis (CA) for subsequent SIBER analysis. Fish behaviour was assessed using GoPro cameras both in situ and during controlled aquarium experiments. In the field, recordings lasted 30 minutes across 4 days, with analysis conducted using VLC. Initial acclimation and periodic intervals (10 minutes every 5 minutes) were excluded from analysis. In controlled aquarium settings, individuals of Forsterygion lapillum and Notoclinops yaldwyni were observed both in isolation and paired. Their habitat preference, surface orientation, and activity levels were recorded for 10 minutes to assess behaviour independent of external influences. Both datasets were dimensionally reduced for analysis in SIBER: non-metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) was applied to the in situ behavioral data, while principal component analysis (PCA) was used for the aquarium experiments. Unified analysis of niche overlap We quantified the local realised niche space for each fish species at control and vent along the four niche classes, adapting the data as follows: isotopes (continuous data): raw data. stomach content (continuous data): reduced dimension from the volumetric measure of the previous step. habitat association (elective score): habitat and orientation preference linked to Manly’s Alpha association matrix. behaviour (continuous data): raw data. Global change stressors can modify ecological niches of species, and hence alter ecological interactions within communities and food webs. Yet, some species might take advantage of a fast-changing environment, and allow species with high niche plasticity to thrive under climate change. We used natural CO2 vents to test the effects of ocean acidification on niche modifications of a temperate rocky reef fish assemblage. We quantified three ecological niche traits (overlap, shift, and breadth) across three key niche dimensions (trophic, habitat, and behavioural). Only one species increased its niche width along multiple niche dimensions (trophic and behavioural), shifted its niche in the remaining (habitat), and was the only species to experience a highly increased density (i.e. doubling) at vents. The other three species that showed slightly increased or declining densities at vents only displayed a niche width increase in one (habitat niche) out of seven niche metrics considered. This niche modification was likely in response to habitat simplification (transition to a system dominated by turf algae) under ocean acidification. We further show that at the vents, the less abundant fishes have a negligible competitive impact on the most abundant and common species. Hence, this species appears to expand its niche space overlapping with other species, consequently leading to lower abundances of the latter under elevated CO2. We conclude that niche plasticity across multiple dimensions could be a potential adaptation in fishes to benefit from a changing environment in a high-CO2 world. 

Humanity's role in changing the face of the earth is a long-standing concern, as is the human domination of ecosystems. Geologists are debating the introduction of a new geological epoch, the 'anthropocene', as humans are 'overwhelming the great forces of nature'. In this context, the accumulation of artefacts, i.e., human-made physical objects, is a pervasive phenomenon. Variously dubbed 'manufactured capital', 'technomass', 'human-made mass', 'in-use stocks' or 'socioeconomic material stocks', they have become a major focus of sustainability sciences in the last decade. Globally, the mass of socioeconomic material stocks now exceeds 10e14 kg, which is roughly equal to the dry-matter equivalent of all biomass on earth. It is doubling roughly every 20 years, almost perfectly in line with 'real' (i.e. inflation-adjusted) GDP. In terms of mass, buildings and infrastructures (here collectively called 'built structures') represent the overwhelming majority of all socioeconomic material stocks. This dataset features a detailed map of material stocks in the CONUS on a 10m grid based on high resolution Earth Observation data (Sentinel-1 + Sentinel-2), crowd-sourced geodata (OSM) and material intensity factors. Spatial extentThis subdataset covers the South CONUS, i.e. AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC SC TN VA WV For the remaining CONUS, see the related identifiers. Temporal extentThe map is representative for ca. 2018. Data formatThe data are organized by states. Within each state, data are split into 100km x 100km tiles (EQUI7 grid), and mosaics are provided. Within each tile, images for area, volume, and mass at 10m spatial resolution are provided. Units are m², m³, and t, respectively. Each metric is split into buildings, other, rail and street (note: In the paper, other, rail, and street stocks are subsumed to mobility infrastructure). Each category is further split into subcategories (e.g. building types). Additionally, a grand total of all stocks is provided at multiple spatial resolutions and units, i.e. t at 10m x 10m kt at 100m x 100m Mt at 1km x 1km Gt at 10km x 10km For each state, mosaics of all above-described data are provided in GDAL VRT format, which can readily be opened in most Geographic Information Systems. File paths are relative, i.e. DO NOT change the file structure or file naming. Additionally, the grand total mass per state is tabulated for each county in mass_grand_total_t_10m2.tif.csv. County FIPS code and the ID in this table can be related via FIPS-dictionary_ENLOCALE.csv. Material layersNote that material-specific layers are not included in this repository because of upload limits. Only the totals are provided (i.e. the sum over all materials). However, these can easily be derived by re-applying the material intensity factors from (see related identifiers): A. Baumgart, D. Virág, D. Frantz, F. Schug, D. Wiedenhofer, Material intensity factors for buildings, roads and rail-based infrastructure in the United States. Zenodo (2022), doi:10.5281/zenodo.5045337. Further informationFor further information, please see the publication.A web-visualization of this dataset is available here.Visit our website to learn more about our project MAT_STOCKS - Understanding the Role of Material Stock Patterns for the Transformation to a Sustainable Society. PublicationD. Frantz, F. Schug, D. Wiedenhofer, A. Baumgart, D. Virág, S. Cooper, C. Gómez-Medina, F. Lehmann, T. Udelhoven, S. van der Linden, P. Hostert, and H. Haberl (2023): Unveiling patterns in human dominated landscapes through mapping the mass of US built structures. Nature Communications 14, 8014. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-43755-5 FundingThis research was primarly funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (MAT_STOCKS, grant agreement No 741950). Workflow development was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation)—Project-ID 414984028-SFB 1404. AcknowledgmentsWe thank the European Space Agency and the European Commission for freely and openly sharing Sentinel imagery; USGS for the National Land Cover Database; Microsoft for Building Footprints; Geofabrik and all contributors for OpenStreetMap.This dataset was partly produced on EODC - we thank Clement Atzberger for supporting the generation of this dataset by sharing disc space on EODC.

Project: GCOS Earth Heat Inventory - A study under the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) concerted international effort to update the Earth heat inventory (EHI), and presents an updated international assessment of ocean warming estimates, and new and updated estimates of heat gain in the atmosphere, cryosphere and land over the period from 1960 to present. Summary: The file “GCOS_EHI_1960-2020_Earth_Heat_Inventory_Ocean_Heat_Content_data.nc” contains a consistent long-term Earth system heat inventory over the period 1960-2020. Human-induced atmospheric composition changes cause a radiative imbalance at the top-of-atmosphere which is driving global warming. Understanding the heat gain of the Earth system from this accumulated heat – and particularly how much and where the heat is distributed in the Earth system - is fundamental to understanding how this affects warming oceans, atmosphere and land, rising temperatures and sea level, and loss of grounded and floating ice, which are fundamental concerns for society. This dataset is based on a study under the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) concerted international effort to update the Earth heat inventory published in von Schuckmann et al. (2020), and presents an updated international assessment of ocean warming estimates, and new and updated estimates of heat gain in the atmosphere, cryosphere and land over the period 1960-2020. The dataset also contains estimates for global ocean heat content over 1960-2020 for different depth layers, i.e., 0-300m, 0-700m, 700-2000m, 0-2000m, 2000-bottom, which are described in von Schuckmann et al. (2022). This version includes an update of heat storage of global ocean heat content, where one additional product (Li et al., 2022) had been included to the initial estimate. The Earth heat inventory had been updated accordingly, considering also the update for continental heat content (Cuesta-Valero et al., 2023).

Project: Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) datasets - These data have been generated as part of the internationally-coordinated Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6; see also GMD Special Issue: http://www.geosci-model-dev.net/special_issue590.html). The simulation data provides a basis for climate research designed to answer fundamental science questions and serves as resource for authors of the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC-AR6). CMIP6 is a project coordinated by the Working Group on Coupled Modelling (WGCM) as part of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). Phase 6 builds on previous phases executed under the leadership of the Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison (PCMDI) and relies on the Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF) and the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) along with numerous related activities for implementation. The original data is hosted and partially replicated on a federated collection of data nodes, and most of the data relied on by the IPCC is being archived for long-term preservation at the IPCC Data Distribution Centre (IPCC DDC) hosted by the German Climate Computing Center (DKRZ). The project includes simulations from about 120 global climate models and around 45 institutions and organizations worldwide. Summary: These data include the subset used by IPCC AR6 WGI authors of the datasets originally published in ESGF for 'CMIP6.ScenarioMIP.CSIRO-ARCCSS.ACCESS-CM2.ssp245' with the full Data Reference Syntax following the template 'mip_era.activity_id.institution_id.source_id.experiment_id.member_id.table_id.variable_id.grid_label.version'. The Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator Climate Model Version 2 climate model, released in 2019, includes the following components: aerosol: UKCA-GLOMAP-mode, atmos: MetUM-HadGEM3-GA7.1 (N96; 192 x 144 longitude/latitude; 85 levels; top level 85 km), land: CABLE2.5, ocean: ACCESS-OM2 (GFDL-MOM5, tripolar primarily 1deg; 360 x 300 longitude/latitude; 50 levels; top grid cell 0-10 m), seaIce: CICE5.1.2 (same grid as ocean). The model was run by the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Aspendale, Victoria 3195, Australia), ARCCSS (Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science). Mailing address: CSIRO, c/o Simon J. Marsland, 107-121 Station Street, Aspendale, Victoria 3195, Australia (CSIRO-ARCCSS) in native nominal resolutions: aerosol: 250 km, atmos: 250 km, land: 250 km, ocean: 100 km, seaIce: 100 km.

Dynamics of societal material stocks such as buildings and infrastructures and their spatial patterns drive surging resource use and emissions. Building up and maintaining stocks requires large amounts of resources; currently stock-building materials amount to almost 60% of all materials used by humanity. Buildings, infrastructures and machinery shape social practices of production and consumption, thereby creating path dependencies for future resource use. They constitute the physical basis of the spatial organization of most socio-economic activities, for example as mobility networks, urbanization and settlement patterns and various other infrastructures. This dataset features a detailed map of material stocks for the whole of Germany on a 10m grid based on high resolution Earth Observation data (Sentinel-1 + Sentinel-2), crowd-sourced geodata (OSM) and material intensity factors. Temporal extent The map is representative for ca. 2018. Data format Per federal state, the data come in tiles of 30x30km (see shapefile). The projection is EPSG:3035. The images are compressed GeoTiff files (*.tif). There is a mosaic in GDAL Virtual format (*.vrt), which can readily be opened in most Geographic Information Systems. The dataset features area and mass for different street types area and mass for different rail types area and mass for other infrastructure area, volume and mass for different building types Masses are reported as total values, and per material category. Units area in m² height in m volume in m³ mass in t for infrastructure and buildings Further information For further information, please see the publication or contact Helmut Haberl (helmut.haberl@boku.ac.at). A web-visualization of this dataset is available here. Visit our website to learn more about our project MAT_STOCKS - Understanding the Role of Material Stock Patterns for the Transformation to a Sustainable Society. Publication Haberl, H., Wiedenhofer, D., Schug, F., Frantz, D., Virág, D., Plutzar, C., Gruhler, K., Lederer, J., Schiller, G. , Fishman, T., Lanau, M., Gattringer, A., Kemper, T., Liu, G., Tanikawa, H., van der Linden, S., Hostert, P. (accepted): High-resolution maps of material stocks in buildings and infrastructures in Austria and Germany. Environmental Science & Technology Funding This research was primarly funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (MAT_STOCKS, grant agreement No 741950). ML and GL acknowledge funding by the Independent Research Fund Denmark (CityWeight, 6111-00555B), ML thanks the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC; project Multi-Scale, Circular Economic Potential of Non-Residential Building Scale, EP/S029273/1), JL acknowledges funding by the Vienna Science and Technology Fund (WWTF), project ESR17-067, TF acknowledges the Israel Science Foundation grant no. 2706/19.

Freight transport has emerged as one of the most critical and dynamic aspects of the transport sector where change has become the norm. It is now the main element supporting global commodity and more generally supply chains. Yet the lack of seamlessness and inefficiencies in general as well as the rising costs and complexities of shipping and delivering goods are adding to profit pressures faced by manufacturers across the globe. Our paper first discusses the concept of seamlessness, and then examines some of the consequences of the lack of seamlessness in terms of freight transport inefficiencies. We then begin to examine the new developments in which intermodality, technology (e-commerce), and logistics are changing and will have the impact of heightening competitive advantage and reducing constraint points in production value chains and global production networks. Finally the intent is to show how research on this theme might be advanced in a trans-Atlantic framework.