• Energy Research
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• 12. Responsible consumption close
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Multiple techniques for soil decontamination were combined to enhance the phytoremediation efficiency of Eucalyptus globulese and alleviate the corresponding environmental risks. The approach constituted of chelating agent using, electrokinetic remediation, plant hormone foliar application and phytoremediation was designed to remediate multi-metal contaminated soils from a notorious e-waste recycling town. The decontamination ability of E. globulese increased from 1.35, 58.47 and 119.18 mg per plant for Cd, Pb and Cu in planting controls to 7.57, 198.68 and 174.34 mg per plant in individual EDTA treatments, respectively, but simultaneously, 0.9-11.5 times more metals leached from chelator treatments relative to controls. Low (2 V) and moderate (4 V) voltage electric fields provoked the growth of the species while high voltage (10 V) had an opposite effect and metal concentrations of the plants elevated with the increment of voltage. Volumes of the leachate decreased from 1224 to 134 mL with voltage increasing from 0 to 10 V due to electroosmosis and electrolysis. Comparing with individual phytoremediation, foliar cytokinin treatments produced 56% more biomass and intercepted 2.5 times more leachate attributed to the enhanced transpiration rate. The synergistic combination of the individuals resulted in the most biomass production and metal accumulation of the species under the stress condition relative to other methods. Time required for the multi-technique approach to decontaminate Cd, Pb and Cu from soil was 2.1-10.4 times less than individual chelator addition, electric field application or plant hormone utilization. It's especially important that nearly no leachate (60 mL in total) was collected from the multi-technique system. This approach is a suitable method to remediate metal polluted site considering its decontamination efficiency and associated environmental negligible risk.

Record climate extremes are reducing urban liveability, compounding inequality, and threatening infrastructure. Adaptation measures that integrate technological, nature-based, and social solutions can provide multiple co-benefits to address complex socioecological issues in cities while increasing resilience to potential impacts. However, there remain many challenges to developing and implementing integrated solutions. In this Viewpoint, we consider the value of integrating across the three solution sets, the challenges and potential enablers for integrating solution sets, and present examples of challenges and adopted solutions in three cities with different urban contexts and climates (Freiburg, Germany; Durban, South Africa; and Singapore). We conclude with a discussion of research directions and provide a road map to identify the actions that enable successful implementation of integrated climate solutions. We highlight the need for more systematic research that targets enabling environments for integration; achieving integrated solutions in different contexts to avoid maladaptation; simultaneously improving liveability, sustainability, and equality; and replicating via transfer and scale-up of local solutions. Cities in systematically disadvantaged countries (sometimes referred to as the Global South) are central to future urban development and must be prioritised. Helping decision makers and communities understand the potential opportunities associated with integrated solutions for climate change will encourage urgent and deliberate strides towards adapting cities to the dynamic climate reality.

There is a growing scientific consensus on climate change and the need for adaptation, yet an impasse on realizing development for the rural and urban poor. Emily Boyd et al. suggest that a resilience lens may assist development policy to consider pathways towards more successful livelihood transformations in the face of climate change. We recognize that there are also limitations to this approach.

L'aquaculture est un secteur de production alimentaire de plus en plus important, fournissant des protéines pour la consommation humaine. Cependant, l'aquaculture marine lutte souvent pour l'espace en raison de la nature surpeuplée des activités humaines dans de nombreuses zones côtières marines, et en raison de l'attention limitée des gestionnaires de l'aménagement du territoire. Ici, nous évaluons la nécessité de l'aménagement du territoire côtier, en mettant l'accent sur la création de zones appropriées pour le développement de l'aquaculture marine, appelées zones allouées à l'aquaculture (AZA), dans lesquelles l'aquaculture a assuré l'utilisation et la priorité sur d'autres activités, et où les impacts environnementaux négatifs potentiels et les interactions négatives avec d'autres utilisateurs sont minimisés ou évités. Nous examinons les exemples existants de développement spatial de l'aquaculture marine dans le monde et discutons de la bonne utilisation de la sélection des sites par rapport aux différentes exigences légales et réglementaires. Les autorités nationales ou régionales chargées de la gestion des zones côtières devraient mener une planification spatiale définissant des sites optimaux pour l'aquaculture afin de promouvoir le développement d'une aquaculture marine durable et d'éviter les conflits avec d'autres utilisateurs, en suivant une approche participative et en adhérant aux principes de gestion écosystémique. La acuicultura es un sector de producción de alimentos cada vez más importante, que proporciona proteínas para el consumo humano. Sin embargo, la acuicultura marina a menudo lucha por el espacio debido a la naturaleza abarrotada de las actividades humanas en muchas áreas costeras marinas y debido a la atención limitada de los gerentes de planificación espacial. Aquí, evaluamos la necesidad de una planificación espacial costera, enfatizando el establecimiento de áreas adecuadas para el desarrollo de la acuicultura marina, denominadas Zonas Asignadas para la Acuicultura (AZA), en las que la acuicultura ha asegurado el uso y la prioridad sobre otras actividades, y donde se minimizan o evitan los posibles impactos ambientales adversos y las interacciones negativas con otros usuarios. Revisamos los ejemplos existentes de desarrollo espacial de la acuicultura marina en todo el mundo y discutimos el uso adecuado de la selección de sitios en relación con diferentes requisitos legales y reglamentarios. Las autoridades nacionales o regionales encargadas de la gestión de la zona costera deben llevar a cabo una planificación espacial que defina los sitios óptimos para la acuicultura para promover el desarrollo de la acuicultura marina sostenible y evitar conflictos con otros usuarios, siguiendo un enfoque participativo y adhiriéndose a los principios de gestión basada en los ecosistemas. Aquaculture is an increasingly important food-producing sector, providing protein for human consumption.However, marine aquaculture often struggles for space due to the crowded nature of human activities in many marine coastal areas, and because of limited attention from spatial planning managers.Here, we assess the need for coastal spatial planning, emphasising the establishment of suitable areas for the development of marine aquaculture, termed Allocated Zones for Aquaculture (AZAs), in which aquaculture has secured use and priority over other activities, and where potential adverse environmental impacts and negative interactions with other users are minimised or avoided.We review existing examples of marine aquaculture spatial development worldwide and discuss the proper use of site selection in relation to different legal and regulatory requirements.National or regional authorities in charge of coastal zone management should carry out spatial planning defining optimal sites for aquaculture to promote development of sustainable marine aquaculture and avoid conflict with other users, following a participatory approach and adhering to the principles of ecosystem-based management. تعد تربية الأحياء المائية قطاعًا متزايد الأهمية لإنتاج الأغذية، حيث توفر البروتين للاستهلاك البشري. ومع ذلك، غالبًا ما تكافح تربية الأحياء المائية البحرية من أجل الفضاء بسبب الطبيعة المزدحمة للأنشطة البشرية في العديد من المناطق الساحلية البحرية، وبسبب الاهتمام المحدود من مديري التخطيط المكاني. هنا، نقوم بتقييم الحاجة إلى التخطيط المكاني الساحلي، مع التركيز على إنشاء مناطق مناسبة لتطوير تربية الأحياء المائية البحرية، والتي يطلق عليها المناطق المخصصة لتربية الأحياء المائية (AZAs)، والتي ضمنت فيها تربية الأحياء المائية الاستخدام والأولوية على الأنشطة الأخرى، وحيث يتم تقليل أو تجنب الآثار البيئية السلبية المحتملة والتفاعلات السلبية مع المستخدمين الآخرين. نستعرض الأمثلة الحالية للتنمية المكانية لتربية الأحياء المائية البحرية في جميع أنحاء العالم ونناقش الاستخدام السليم لاختيار الموقع فيما يتعلق بالمتطلبات القانونية والتنظيمية المختلفة. يجب على السلطات الوطنية أو الإقليمية المسؤولة عن إدارة المناطق الساحلية تنفيذ التخطيط المكاني الذي يحدد المواقع المثلى لتربية الأحياء المائية لتعزيز تنمية تربية الأحياء المائية المستدامة وتجنب الصراع مع المستخدمين الآخرين، باتباع نهج تشاركي ومناسب لمبادئ الإدارة القائمة على النظام الإيكولوجي.

Green buildings refer to buildings that decrease adverse environmental effects and maintain natural resources. They can diminish energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, the usage of non-renewable materials, water consumption, and waste generation while improving occupants’ health and well-being. As such, several rating tools and benchmarks have been developed worldwide to assess green building performance (GBP), including the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) in the United Kingdom, German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB), Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) in the United States and Canada, Comprehensive Assessment System for Built Environment Efficiency (CASBEE) in Japan, Green Star in Australia, Green Mark in Singapore, and Green Building Index in Malaysia. Energy management (EM) during building operation could also improve GBP. One of the best approaches to evaluating the impact of EM on GBP is by using structural equation modelling (SEM). SEM is a commanding statistical method to model testing. One of the most used SEM variance-based approaches is partial least squares (PLS), which can be implemented in the SmartPLS application. PLS-SEM uses path coefficients to determine the strength and significance of the hypothesised relationships between the latent constructs.

To achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), actions are required at all global, national, and local scales. To ensure coordination between scales, local actions need to be carefully planned to be aligned with global and national priorities. Local planning for sustainability must be adaptive and heterogenous but also consistent and driven by the community. We describe an approach to co-create a local sustainability plan using the SDGs for a rural community in south-eastern Australia using participatory techniques for co-creation, data collection, and review. The community placed a high priority on infrastructure for achieving sustainable growth and social equity while preserving their unique environment. By articulating their priorities in this community-led plan, the community is empowered to advocate for the sustainable development of their town with decision-makers and funding bodies. If local communities create sustainability plans using the SDGs, then such planning will be consistent between and across geographic scales, and aligned with the global goals. This will also aid in achievement of the SDGs at national and global scales, as advocated by the United Nations in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The issues of cleaner production and socioeconomic advancements have taken a central stage due to the dynamism of the correlation between energy use and ecology. Given this background, the research delves into how to construct a framework to unravel diverse understandings of energy policy vis-a-vis green economy by examining the mediating role of financial inclusion. The analysis applied a non-radial DEA and longitudinal dataset model for the scenarios of thirty regions in China, relying on their longitudinal dataset from 2010-2017. The findings indicate that the Chinese regions' total green economic performance indicator (EPI) has advanced by 9.88% between 2010 and 2017. In addition, the econometric analyses prove that regional renewable energy policies and pollution abatement programs explicitly influence the improvement of the environmental performance index. Again, the results show that the probability figures of the individual specific limit equation and the dual limit values crossed the 1% significance analysis level simultaneously, indicating a dual limit impact. 0.74 to 1 is the range that marks the green EPI for Jiangsu, Shandong, Guangdong, Hainan, Zhejiang, Shanghai and Fujian. Ultimately, the analysis serves as a policy inference tool for policy formulators and regulators on encouraging green economic performance in China.