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In the face of increasingly frequent extreme weather events, the need to manage climate risk becomes more urgent, especially for the most vulnerable countries and communities. With the aim of reducing vulnerability, climate risk transfer in the form of climate risk insurance (CRI) has been gaining attention in climate policy discussions. When properly designed, CRI acts as a safety net against climate change impacts by providing financial support after an extreme weather event. Two main types of insurance enable payouts: indemnity (traditional) insurance or predefined parameters (index-based) insurance. Individuals, groups, or even governments may take out policies with either type of insurance and receive payouts directly (insurer to beneficiary payout) or indirectly (insurer to aggregator to beneficiary payout). Direct insurance is usually implemented at the micro-level with individual policyholders. Indirect insurance is usually implemented through group contracts at the meso-level through risk aggregators and at the macro-level through the state. While promising, risk transfer in the form of CRI also has its share of challenges. Within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the lack of accessibility and affordability of CRI for poor and vulnerable groups have been identified as barriers to uptake. In light of climate justice, asking the poor and climate-vulnerable groups - most of whom do not contribute substantially to anthropogenic climate change - to solely carry the financial burden of risk transfer is anything but just. Employing a human rights-based approach to CRI may ensure that the resilience of poor and climate-vulnerable groups is enhanced in a climate-just manner. Indigenous peoples are some of the poorest and most climate vulnerable groups. Often marginalised, they rarely have access to social protection. The strong communal relationship of indigenous peoples facilitates their participation in community-based organisations (CBOs). CBOs are a suitable vehicle for meso-insurance, in which risk is aggregated and an insurance policy belongs to a group. In this way, CBOs can facilitate service provision that would otherwise be beyond the reach of individuals. Conclusions of this briefing paper draw on a conceptual analysis of meso-insurance and the results of field research conducted in March 2018 with indigenous Palaw’ans in the Philippines. We find that CRI needs to be attuned to the differential vulnerabilities and capacities of its beneficiaries. This is particularly true for poor and vulnerable people, for whom issues of accessibility and affordability need to be managed, and human rights and pro-poor approaches need to be ensured. In this context, meso-insurance is a promising approach when it provides accessibility and affordability and promotes a pro-poor and human rights-based approach of risk transfer by: Properly identifying and involving target beneficiaries and duty-bearers by employing pro-poor and human rights principles. Employing measures to improve the financial literacy of target beneficiaries. Designing insurance models from the bottom up. Briefing Paper

Endemic and imported vector- and rodent-borne infectious agents can be linked to high morbidity and mortality. Therefore, vector- and rodent-borne human diseases and the effects of climate change are important public health issues.For this review, the relevant literature was identified and evaluated according to the thematic aspects and supplemented with an analysis of surveillance data for Germany.Factors such as increasing temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, and human behaviour may influence the epidemiology of vector- and rodent-borne infectious diseases in Germany.The effects of climatic changes on the spread of vector- and rodent-borne infectious diseases need to be further studied in detail and considered in the context of climate adaptation measures.

In conjunction with the COVID-19 pandemic aftermath, Russian aggression on Ukraine has wide-ranging consequences for the EU, including high inflation, an immense energy cost increase, and a shortage of critical resources. All of these have pronounced effects on the sustainability and operations of research infrastructures (RIs), several of which face difficulties in providing continuous service. To address these topics, the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) has established a dedicated drafting group to look into the energy and supply challenges, also responding to a call by Competitiveness Council to do so. This report highlights the significant impact of the Russian aggression on Ukraine on the sustainability and operations of research infrastructures (RIs) in the EU. The energy crisis resulting from the Russian aggression poses a severe challenge to the RIs, predominantly analytical RIs, with energy-intensive RIs such as synchrotrons, computing centres, accelerator-driven particle sources, neutron facilities, research reactors, and lasers being the most affected. The shortage of critical resources and materials, such as some gases, rare isotopes, and permanent magnets, also presents a significant challenge to RIs, although they may not be a consequence of the war. The report presents recommendations to ESFRI, Member States, and the European Commission based on good practices from ESFRI member countries and the discussion within the drafting group to address these challenges and enhance the future resilience of RIs. The recommendations include allocating additional funds and energy price capping for the most energy-intensive RIs, developing response plans that include actions aimed at greening the operations of RIs, considering the needs of the RI communities in the activities linked to the Critical Raw Materials Regulation, and setting up specific measures to support the Ukrainian research community. The report emphasizes the importance of preparing for future crises, increasing the resilience and preparedness of European society to cope with any present and future crisis.

Starting from the relationship between urban planning and mobility management, TeMA has gradually expanded the view of the covered topics, always following a rigorous scientific in-depth analysis. This section of the Journal, Review Notes, is a continuous update about emerging topics concerning relationships among urban planning, mobility and environment thanks to a collection of short scientific papers written by young researchers. The Review Notes are made up of five parts. Each section examines a specific aspect of the broader information storage within the main interests of the TeMA Journal. In particular: The Town Planning International Rules and Legislation Overview section aims at presenting the latest updates in the territorial and urban legislative sphere. The Covid-19 pandemic is causing a major impact on energy systems. Improving the energy efficiency of urban areas is now the cornerstone of scientific community and the European Commission discussions. Thus, the content of this review note aims at carrying out an analysis of the latest documents of the European Commission before and during the slow recovery from Covid-19 with the aim of identifying the priorities and areas on which to intervene to reduce energy consumption in different territorial contexts. TeMA - Journal of Land Use, Mobility and Environment, Vol 14 No 1 (2021): The city challenges and external agents. Methods, tools and best practices

The recognition of the advantages and efficiencies implicit in an economy based upon theelectrochemical conversion of fuels has led to address intensive efforts toward the development of the fuel cell technology. On phosphoric acid fuel cells (PAFC) the CNR-TAE owns a full capability in PAFC technology and has built and tested 1kW power plant in an ENEA supported program. On molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFC) the CNR-TAEhas matured a sound experience on the modeling of energy balances of MCFC with external or internal reforming, screening design and testing of reforming catalysts, on mechanisms of components ageing, catalyst formulation and innovative method to control the catalyst poisoning by means of porous ceramic membranes. In solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) research, a comparison between steam internal and external reforming, exhaust gas recycling reforming and use of partial oxidation has been performed. Basich researches on the mechanism of conduction in solid and search for novel electrolytes are in course. In the field of fuel cells operating at low temperature, the activity is addressed to the development of low Pt loading electrodes for polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFC) and developmentof ternary catalyst supported on carbon black for electrochemical oxidation of methanol in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC). Further research in course is on the fuel cell utilizing a new type of electrolyte; in this field, an heteropolyacid lab-scale monocell has been realised and successful tested.

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is one of the top ten global public health threats facing humanity, alongside climate change. Here, we aim to summarise the effects of climate change (i.e. raise of temperature, change in humidity or precipitation) on spread of antibiotic resistance and on infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria in Germany.We conducted a literature search with articles published between January 2012 and July 2022. Two authors screened titles, abstracts and full texts and extracted the data systematically.From originally 2,389 titles, we identified six studies, which met our inclusion criteria. These studies show that an increase in temperature may lead to higher antibiotic resistance rates and an increased risk of colonisation as well as spread of pathogens. Furthermore, the number of healthcare-associated infections increases with increased temperature. Data indicate that higher antibiotic use is present in areas with warmer mean temperature.European data are scarce, but all studies identified point towards an increasing AMR burden due to climate change. However, further studies are needed to draw attention to the links between climatic factors and AMR and develop targeted preventive measures.

Food contamination is common during the production, distribution and consumption of processed and agricultural commodities all over the world. Knowledge of the mycobiota in crops and food is essential for understanding and prevention of spoilage. In addition to possible spoilage, the growth of filamentous fungi in food can result in the production of mycotoxins and other secondary metabolites, which may impact human and animal health. Therefore, among the food safety issues, the occurrence of fungal species able to produce toxic metabolites on the agro-food products has acquired great relevance (1). The production of mycotoxins is commonly species-specific, but it also influenced by other factors, like substrate, genetic variation, temperature, water activity etc. The knowledge of the molecular mechanisms that regulate these interactions remains very limited, however its understanding is fundamental to determine health risks associated with mold-spoiled foods and beverages. Mycotoxins are produced by a wide variety of molds, mainly Aspergillus, Fusarium and Penicillium. In general, five mycotoxins are the most significant agriculturally and have a worldwide distribution: aflatoxins, deoxynivalenol, fumonisins, ochratoxin A, and zearalenone. In addition, T-2 and HT-2 toxins can be a problem in cool temperate and generally wet areas, and Patulin is receiving increasing attention (2). Studies on toxigenic molds and its biodiversity have become highly relevant, due to the increased awareness of mycotoxins impact on human and animal health, the public concern for food safety and wastage, as well as the effects of climate change, which generate new combinations mycotoxins/host plants/geographical areas. Economic losses due to mycotoxins are high in both domestic and international trades. Also costs because affection of human and animal health are relevant and observed both in developed and developing Countries. Climate change also influence the physiology of the crops and the biodiversity of the fungi, and are modifying the risk maps of mycotoxin contamination. In this respect, recent advances confirm the importance of providing provisional models for mycotoxin occurrence in relation to climate change (3). In this context some important future challenges are in progress :i) impact reduction of fungi in staple food/feed chains; ii) new methodologies for detection and quantification; iii) new ecophysiology data in the context of climate change scenarios; iv) development of novel prevention strategies at different stages of the food and feed chains. Finally, over the past 50 years, diets in all countries have converged on a few sources of dietary starch, increasing the risk of exposure to mycotoxins, that can be evaluated by monitoring biological fluids such as blood and urine. The health risk from multi-mycotoxin exposure is still unclear since the additives and/or synergistic effects of mycotoxins have been poorly investigated. Nevertheless, the growing interest in understanding the combined effect of mycotoxin mixtures, will improve the current risk assessment capability at worldwide level.

The risks from converging crises of social-ecological change and health pandemics are particularly critical for countries already facing multiple drivers of fragility. Economic, social, environmental and political challenges make the Mediterranean region particularly vulnerable to EIDs and their negative consequences. At the same time, among the Mediterranean countries, there are profound differences in population growth rates, socio-economic conditions, political stability, natural resources availability and climate change impact, which disproportionally affect pandemic probability, preparedness, and mitigation capacity. The chapter aims to highlight the nexus between EIDs and Planetary Boundaries (PBs) in the Mediterranean region and the need for an integrated ecological public health approach, which recognizes the complex interactions between biological, behavioral, environmental, social and developmental factors. It suggests that reducing the environmental burden of EIDs is possible only through a holistic implementation of the health factor within the SDGs. This will be done within the integrated context of sustainable development, by tackling health in terms of social, economic and environmental aspects.

The paper focuses on the issue of obesi- ty, which has become one of the most insidious world epidemics and a serious threat to global health. The aim is to highlight the relationships between obesity and the sustainability of the food system and to discuss the effectiveness of different policies that could be implemented to address the problem. An empirical analysis has been carried out, aimed at assessing the relationship between price and energy density of foods and price premium for low-calorie foods. The main conclusion of the paper is that the aim of reducing obesity, which is a priority for food sustainability policies, cannot be achieved without regulatory intervention designed to reverse relative prices between obesogenic and healthy foods.