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Background: The pulp and paper industry (P&PI) is undergoing significant disruption driven by global megatrends that necessitate advanced tools for predicting future behavior and adapting strategies accordingly. Methods: This work utilizes a multi-criteria framework to quantify the effects of digitalization, changes in social behavior, and sustainability as three major megatrends transforming the P&PI industry, with a specific focus on hygiene tissue products. Thus, the research combines a comprehensive literature review, insights from a Delphi study, and topic modeling to qualitatively and quantitatively assess the present and future impacts of these global megatrends. Results: The findings suggest an urgent need to identify alternative raw materials to prevent potential supply chain disruptions. Moreover, due to shifts in social behavior, it becomes critical for businesses to substantiate their sustainability claims with hard data to avoid the risk of a “greenwashing” perception among consumers. Conclusions: This study provides decision support for strategic planning by highlighting actionable insights, quantitative predictions, and trend analysis, alongside the examination of consumer and market trends. It aims to incorporate diverse stakeholder perspectives and criteria into decision-making processes, thereby enriching the strategic planning and sustainability efforts within the P&PI industry.

The Climate Pact was launched in December 2020, with hope that the upcoming vaccine would help us overcome the COVID-19 pandemic “storm”. Even though humans are in the canter of the Covid pandemic storm, it is still important not to forget the climate change challenge, as it is a highly active “factory”. Unfortunately, there is no vaccine for the climate change process and biodiversity crises. The Climate Pact is an opportunity to create a European-wide movement that supports, encourages and acknowledges individual climate achievements. According to SDG 13 (climate action), Climate Pact encourages actions such as: green areas, green transport, green buildings and green skills. Also, it is important to expand sustainable consumption and production, the quality of soil, healthy food and sustainable diets, oceans, and rural and coastal areas. Therefore, Climate Pact is a driver for Sustainable Development Goals, and it is based on the ideas and contributions of all interested individuals and various organisations. Climate Pact Ambassadors are representatives of civil society and citizens with the strength for action (despite the Covid 19 pandemic “storm”) and collaboration among themselves as well as with researchers, academic citizens and policy makers to beat climate change and give contribution to SDG 13.

The repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change - two major current global crises - are far-reaching, the parallels between the two are striking, and their influence on one another are significant. Based on the wealth of evidence that has emerged from the scientific literature during the first two years of the pandemic, this study argues that these two global crises require holistic multisectoral mitigation strategies. Despite being different in nature, neither crisis can be effectively mitigated without considering their interdependencies. Herein, significant interactions between these two crises are highlighted and discussed. Major implications related to the economy, energy, technology, environment, food systems and agriculture sector, health systems, policy, management, and communities are detailed via a review of existing joint literature. Based on these outcomes, practical recommendations for future research and management are provided. While the joint timing of these crises has created a global conundrum, the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated opportunities and lessons for devising sustainable recovery plans in relation to the climate crisis. The findings indicated that governments should work collaboratively to develop durable and adjustable strategies in line with long-term, global decarbonisation targets, promote renewable energy resources, integrate climate change into environmental policies, prioritise climate-smart agriculture and local food systems, and ensure public and ecosystem health. Further, differences in geographic distributions of climate change and COVID-19 related death cases revealed that these crises pose different threats to different parts of the world. These learnings provide insights to address the climate emergency - and potential future global problems with similar characteristics - if international countries act urgently and collectively.

Significance Plague is a devastating infectious disease that has caused three pandemics during the last millennia. Today, plague still causes sporadic cases every year and even some outbreaks. In this paper, we analyze how factors associated with climate change and globalization affect the spread of plague worldwide. Such information is important with respect to global disease prevention and control. For this purpose, we first constructed a global plague database of the Third Pandemic, and then analyzed the association of spatiotemporal environmental factors with spreading velocity. Our results provide insight into the global transmission and suggest strategies for preventing plague transmission under accelerated global change.

COVID-19 patients may present mild symptoms. The identification of paucisymptomatic patients is paramount in order to interrupt the transmission chain of the virus. Olfactory loss could be one of those early symptoms which might help in the diagnosis of COVID-19 patients. In this study, we aim to develop and validate a fast, inexpensive, reliable and easy-to-perform olfactory test for the screening of suspected COVID-19 patients.Phase I was a case-control study and Phase II a transversal descriptive study.Olfaction was assessed with the ethyl alcohol threshold test and symptoms with visual analogue scales. The study was designed in two phases: In Phase I, we compared confirmed COVID-19 patients and healthy controls. In Phase II, patients with suspected COVID-19 infection referred for testing were studied.275 participants were included in Phase I, 135 in Phase II. The ROC curve showed an AUC of 0.749 in Phase I, 0.737 in Phase II. The cutoff value which offered the highest amount of correctly classified patients was ≥ 2 (10% alcohol) for all age intervals. The odds ratio was 8.19 in Phase I, 6.56 in Phase II with a 75% sensitivity. When cases report normal sense of smell (VAS < 4), it misdiagnoses 57.89% of patients detected by the alcohol threshold test.The olfactory loss assessed with the alcohol threshold test has shown high sensitivity and odds ratio in both patients with confirmed COVID-19 illness and participants with suspected SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Fullerene-free organic photovoltaics have recently reached impressive power conversion efficiencies above 14% for single junctions, increasing their competitiveness with respect to alternative thin-film technologies. In most record devices, electron-donating conjugated polymers are combined with novel generation small molecule acceptors. All-polymer organic solar cells, on the other hand, still lag behind in efficiency, although they have specific advantages in terms of ink formulation and long-term operational stability. Another point of attention is the synthetic complexity of the active layer materials, notably on the side of the new acceptor molecules. Therefore, the present study focuses on the implementation of the stable and cost-effective perylene diimide structure as the key component of high-performance electron-accepting polymers. The synthesis, structural and optoelectronic characterization of four push-pull type copolymers containing the electron-deficient bis(perylene diimide) (bis-PDI) unit is reported, as well as the photovoltaic analysis of these acceptor materials in combination with a well-known donor polymer (PTB7-Th). The acceptor polymers differ in the electron-rich part of the alternating push-pull structure and their solar cell power conversion efficiencies range from 3.2 to 4.7%. The maximum efficiency - the best performance achieved with a bis-PDI polymer so far - is obtained for the structurally most simple polymer, containing merely thiophene as the electron-rich building block. Controlled degradation under blue light in air is monitored by the bleaching of the relevant UV–Vis absorption bands, demonstrating high stability for the bis-PDI-thiophene containing polymers as compared to some prototype small molecule acceptors (FBR and ITIC).

In this policy brief, we examine the impact of COVID-19 on sustainability initiatives in the fashion industry. We ask whether COVID-19 is likely to support the transition to a more sustainable fashion industry. In answering this question, we utilize a framework for examining sustainability along the fashion-supply chain, highlighting the opportunities and challenges for a sustainable transition with respect to design, production, retail, consumption, and end-of-life. At each step, we also consider socioeconomic dimensions with regard to social impacts, employment, and gender. In doing so, we argue that any meaningful shift toward sustainability and a just transition must recognize social and environmental challenges as interconnected, addressing structural inequalities.