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We are living in a new human-dominated geological epoch, the Anthropocene. Human activity is the dominant cause of most contemporary environment change. At the same time, digital transformation is changing our societies. The intersection of both processes compels us to harness the potential of new technological systems to transform how humanity manages its environmental footprint. However, our interaction with the environment is not the only interaction we have to change. New technologies can automatically monitor animal welfare. These management processes will increase stakeholder confidence and therefore the reputation of food companies. Since corporate governance is key for corporate sustainability, new monitoring processes should begin to be included in the animal welfare questionnaires. This research highlights the disruptive potential of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies applied on farms. Like the sustainability questionnaires, the Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare (BBFAW) have shortcomings. However, animal welfare indices are very useful tools to measure the performance of companies and can be easily improved by following the recommendations of this research. The importance of a formalised system of responsibilities and the advances offered by audio-visual and smart technologies, that provide real-time data, will be a key dimension for the farm of the future and therefore should be part of the BBFAW questionnaires

Spain has been pinpointed as one of the European countries at major risk of extreme urban events. Thus, Spanish cities pursue new urban plans to increase their resilience. In this scenario, experiences in the implementation of Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) have increased substantially. Nevertheless, few cities have developed a global urban strategy for SUDS, lacking, in many cases, a method to identify strategic areas to maximize their synergetic benefits. Furthermore, there is still a need for a holistic Multicriteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) framework that considers the four pillars of SUDS design. The city of Gijón, NW Spain, has been selected as a case study due to its environmental and climatic stresses. This research presents the methodology developed for this city, which aims to analyze the need for SUDS implementation throughout the identification of strategic areas. With this aim, a combination of Geographic Information System (GIS) software and the MCDA Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) were proposed. The results show the potential for SUDS’ implementation, according to nine criteria related to the SUDS’ design pillars. We found that the areas where the implementation of SUDS would bring the greatest functional, environmental and social benefits are mainly located in consolidated urban areas.

Renewable energies will represent an increasing share of the electricity supply, while flue and gasification-derived gases can be a promising CO2 feedstock with a heat load. In this study, microbial electrosynthesis of organic compounds from CO2 at high temperature was proposed as an alternative for valorising energy surplus and decarbonizing the economy. The unremitting fluctuation of renewable energy sources was assessed using two bioreactors at 50 °C, under circumstances of continuous and intermittent power supply (ON-OFF; 8-16 h), simulating an off-grid photovoltaic system. Results highlighted that maximum acetate production rate (43.27 g m-2 d-1) and columbic efficiency (98%) were achieved by working with an intermittent energy supply, while current density was reduced three times. This boosted the production of acetate per unit of electricity provided up to 138 g kWh-1 and reinforced the robustness of the technology by showing resilience to tolerate perturbations and returning to its initial state.

For more than a decade we have lived in a period where the so-called “sustainability” is crucial and is motivated primarily by the social awareness of achieving a balance between human development and the conservation of the environment. This philosophy has a direct and inevitable impact on business and politics. Governments have long since been developing standards and encouraging various diverse initiatives whose aim is to defend the environment. In recent times, the global debate on the environment has been centred on CO2 emissions. This gas is the major cause of the “greenhouse effect” and people are more concerned with the idea that the emissions of this gas should be minimized. As a result of this concern, the Kyoto Protocol was enacted and subscribed to by many countries, setting the maximum gas emissions for them. Fossil fuels are a major source of CO2 emissions. In 2003 the European Union (EU) directive 2003/30/EC [2003/30/EC Directive of the European Parliament and the Council—8th may 2003. On the promotion of the use of biofuels or other renewable fuels for transport] was developed with the aim of promoting the use of biofuels as a substitute for diesel or petrol among European Union countries as well as to contribute to fulfilling the commitments on climate change, security of supply in environmentally friendly conditions and the promotion of renewable energy sources. In order to achieve these goals, the directive forces all EU members to ensure that at least 5.75% of all petrol and diesel fuels sold for transport purposes are biofuels before December 31 of 2010. European Union countries have social and economic characteristics unique to themselves. The energy dependence from foreign sources, the features of the agricultural sector or the degree of industrialization varies greatly from one country to another. In this context, it is questionable whether the obligation imposed by this directive applies to achieve uniform and/or identical goals in each of the countries involved and whether the actions of the various governments are also aligned with these goals.

In recent years, solar price drops and regulations have helped residential users to invest in grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) facilities. In Spain, a novel law promotes self-consumption by discounting electricity fed into the grid from the utility bill. However, the performance of PV-based facilities depends on diverse factors. The contribution of this paper is to evaluate the techno-economic performance of such installations for different considerations linked to the Spanish law. A simulation model is used to examine different representative cities, load profiles and alternative objectives: maximising profitability and self-sufficiency. For profit maximisation, results show that load profile variations entail PV size changes up to 5 kWp for the same location, together with huge economic and self-sufficiency differences. In contrast, the solar radiation and compensation rate have a more limited influence. For self-sufficiency maximisation, the economic performance drops close to EUR 0, as benefits are used to double the PV size, buy batteries and reach close to 70% self-sufficiency. Finally, a sensitivity analysis shows a limited impact of the utility tariff and the technology cost on the PV size, but a relevant influence on the benefits. These results can help investors and families to quantify the risks and benefits of domestic self-consumption facilities.

The objective of this research is to contribute to the scientific debate on “complementary monetary systems” (CMSs), what strategies may be the best for allowing the implementation of a CMS in a territory and that optimise the potential that it seems to have to strengthen processes of sustainable local development and urban resilience. For this, the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats-Analytic Hierarchy Process methodology (SWOT-AHP) has been used, which has allowed us to identify four strategies: (1) build a social, economic and political consensus, (2) create a community observatory for “complementary social monetary systems” (CSMSs), (3) define communication tools for raising awareness and education in ethical finance and (4) promote the alignment of the CSMS with sustainable local development strategies. These strategies have been formulated so that that they can be implemented by any entity, public or private, and for any of the types of CMS that may be part of a CSMS.

What present-day foragers do for their living and what they eat have long been privileged areas for exploring human behavior, global health, and human evolution. While many studies have focused on hunting and meat acquisition, less attention has been given to gathering and plant foods. Despite evidence of variation in both nutritional quality and energetic costs of gathering different plants, the overall effort spent on gathering in relation to other subsistence tasks is still under explored. In the current context of economic, climate, and social changes, many forager societies also rely on other subsistence strategies, including agriculture and wage labor. In this study, we aim to explore the place of gathering in the livelihood of a mixed economy society, the Baka forager-horticulturalists of southeastern Cameroon, by comparing the involvement and the costs of activities related to food acquisition. From a pool of 153 adult participants (97 women and 56 men), we collected 246 daily records using a GPS (Global Positioning System) tracker combined with heart rate monitor and time allocation recalls. We compared the duration, distance traveled, and the intensity of work, measured by calculating the metabolic equivalent of task (MET), of subsistence activities related to food acquisition. Results from this work show that gathering activities, performed by both women and men, are energetically costly, with higher MET values than hunting and fishing activities. Furthermore, the MET values vary depending on the targeted plant foods. We discuss these insights in the overall framework of subsistence patterns, merging them with the socio-cultural and environmental factors that might explain Baka livelihood and subsistence strategy.