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As part of the Copenhagen Accord, individual countries have submitted greenhouse gas reduction proposals for the year 2020. This paper analyses the implications for emission reductions, the carbon price, and abatement costs of these submissions. The submissions of the Annex I (industrialised) countries are estimated to lead to a total reduction target of 12-18% below 1990 levels. The submissions of the seven major emerging economies are estimated to lead to an 11-14% reduction below baseline emissions, depending on international (financial) support. Global abatement costs in 2020 are estimated at about USD 60-100 billion, assuming that at least two-thirds of Annex I emission reduction targets need to be achieved domestically. The largest share of these costs are incurred by Annex I countries, although the costs as share of GDP are similar for Annex I as a group and the seven emerging economies as a group, even when assuming substantial international transfers from Annex I countries to the emerging economies to finance their abatement costs. If the restriction of achieving two-thirds of the emission reduction target domestically is abandoned, it would more than double the international carbon price and at the same time reduce global abatement costs by almost 25%.

The prevailing need for a more sustainable management of natural resources depends not only on the decisions made by governments and the will of the population, but also on the knowledge of the role of energy in our society and the relevance of preserving natural resources. In this sense, critical work is being done to instill key concepts—such as the circular economy and sustainable energy—in higher education institutions. In this way, it is expected that future professionals and managers will be aware of the importance of energy optimization, and will learn a series of computational methods that can support the decision-making process. In the context of higher education, this paper reviews the main trends and challenges related to the concepts of circular economy and sustainable energy. Besides, we analyze the role of simulation and serious games as a learning tool for the aforementioned concepts. Finally, the paper provides insights and discusses open research opportunities regarding the use of these computational tools to incorporate circular economy concepts in higher education degrees. Our findings show that, while efforts are being made to include these concepts in current programs, there is still much work to be done, especially from the point of view of university management. In addition, the analysis of the teaching methodologies analyzed shows that, although their implementation has been successful in favoring the active learning of students, their use (especially that of serious games) is not yet widespread.

Global energy consumption has risen enormously over the past century due to population growth and increasing energy use per person. Industrial production consumes a significant portion of global energy resources. Thus, industrial sector’s investment in energy efficiency is critical to a sustainable future. For most global enterprises the consumption of energy and natural resources represents a major overhead and developing sustainable energy policies can represent a significant competitive advantage due to the growing price of energy and volatility of supply. This symbiotic relationship can lead to the mutual benefits of increasing industrial efficiency whilst allowing the transition to a sustainable renewables-based energy future and needs to be significantly harnessed. This paper describes a decision support framework to help industrial organisations make positive investment decisions on energy performance improvement projects.

Abstract Long distance power transmission is commonly considered as an option for reducing carbon footprint in future electricity systems. Accordingly, this article presents economic insights in a transcontinental power interconnection linking four Asian countries with Europe. Enhanced electricity trade through the interconnected countries is assessed via techno-economic modelling. For this purpose two electricity system scenarios are developed for the year 2040: (i) a Reference Scenario, where electricity system development follows the plans of the involved system operators and (ii) a so-called Trans-Asia Scenario, where additional power transmission capacities are added to strengthen the electricity trading route crossing the interconnected countries: Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. Economic benefits arising from the proposed Trans-Asia Scenario are estimated as a change in social welfare in the electricity system. Modelling results show a 140 M€ increase in annual social welfare for the Trans-Asia Scenario. The subsequent cost-benefit analysis results in a net present value in the range of −221 M€ to 534 M€, at a discount rate of 4%. This implies that over a life-cycle period of 40 years, the evaluated economic benefit may compensate investments between 1598 M€ and 3251 M€ needed for the additional power transmission capacities.

Background. Laws that enable a circular economy (CE) are being enacted globally, but reliable standardized and digitized CE data about products is scarce, and many CE platforms have differing exclusive formats. In response to these challenges, the Ministry of The Economy of Luxembourg launched the Circularity Dataset Standardization Initiative to develop a globalized open-source industry standard to allow the exchange of standardized data throughout the supply cycle, based on these objectives: (a) Provide basic product circularity data about products. (b) Improve circularity data sharing efficiency. (c) Encourage improved product circularity performance. A policy objective was to have the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) voted to create a working group. Methods. A state-of-play analysis was performed concurrently with consultations with industry, auditors, data experts, and data aggregation platforms. Results. Problem statements were generated. Based on those, a solution called Product Circularity Data Sheet (PCDS) was formulated. A proof of concept (POC) template and guidance were developed and piloted with manufacturers and platforms, thus fulfilling objective (a). For objective (b), IT ecosystem requirements were developed, and aspects are being piloted in third party aggregation platforms. Objective (c) awaits implementation of the IT ecosystem. The policy objective related to the ISO was met. Conclusions and future research. In order to fully test the PCDS, it is necessary to: conduct more pilots, define governance, and establish auditing and authentication procedures.

This paper analyses the role of barriers preventing the worldwide take-up of a clean technology: the electrical arc furnace. It also identifies which barriers affect a parameter that summarises the combined effect of all of them. The first step, determination of the combined effect of the barriers, is carried out using a novel approach to model the diffusion of innovations. This new approach is composed only by terms that account for the driver of innovations and the parameter that summarises the effect of barriers. The objective quantification of the effect of barriers in the diffusion of innovations opens up new opportunities for designing policies to overcome the barriers identified as the most relevant, for identifying the effect of existing policies, for relating innovation indicators with those barriers or for better incorporating the effect of barriers in bottom-up models that forecast the technological evolution of the economy.

Abstract Energy consumption of the iron and steel industry is examined in seven countries (Brazil, China, France, Germany, Japan, Poland and the United States) for the period 1980–1991. Using a decomposition analysis based on physical indicators for process type and product mix, we decompose intra-sectoral structural changes and efficiency improvements. Specific energy consumption decreased in all countries except Poland. Efficiency improvement played a key role in Brazil, China, Germany and the US, while structural changes were the main driver for energy savings in France and Japan. We also compare the use of various economic indicators to physical indicators and find that they do not track physical developments well in Poland or the developing countries we studied. In the industrialized countries, value added based energy intensity indicators generally reflect the specific energy consumption better than other economic indicators, although large differences occur in individual years. We found a smaller correlation between other economic indicators (gross output and value of shipments) and specific energy consumption. We conclude that use of physical energy intensity indicators improves comparability between countries, provides greater information for policy-makers regarding intra-sectoral structural changes, and provides detailed explanations for observed changes in energy intensity.

Current industrial production is driven by increasing globalization, which has led to a steady increase in production volumes and complexity of products aimed at the pursuit of meeting the needs of customers. In this context, one of the main tools in the management of customer value is Lean Manufacturing or Production, though it is considered primarily as a set of tools to reduce the total cost of the resources needed to achieve such needs. This philosophy has recently been enriched in the literature with case studies that link Lean Management (LM) with the improvement of environmental sustainability. The consequence is an expansion of the Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM); indeed, CIM, currently, combining and integrating the key business functions (e.g., business, engineering, manufacturing, and information management) with a view of the life cycle, does not highlight the strategic role of the environmental aspects. In order to deal with the increasingly rapid environmental degradation that is reflected in society, in terms of both economy and quality of life, Industrial Ecology (IE) introduced a new paradigm of principles and instruments of analysis and decision support (e.g., Life Cycle Assessment—LCA, Social Life Cycle Assessment -SLCA, Material Flow Account—MFA, etc.) that can be considered as the main basis for integrating the environmental aspects in each strategy, design, production, final product, and end of life management, through the re-engineering of processes and activities towards the development of an eco-industrial system. This paper presents the preliminary observations based on a analysis of both theories (LM-IE) and provides a possible assessment of the key factors relevant to their integration in a “lean environmental management”, highlighting both positives (lights) and possible barriers (shadows).