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Metal use and modern society are intrinsically linked and it is no surprise that global processes of industrialization and urbanization have led to ever increasing amounts of metal use. In recent decades, global supply and demand networks for metals have become increasingly complex. Industrial Ecology research is well placed to unpack this complexity and to explore potential resource efficiencies for metals. This is especially important during the current period of rising ore prices. We examine patterns of supply and demand for iron ore and bauxite, and recent trends in resource productivity of these two important metal ores. We introduce a consumption perspective and compare the material footprint of metal ores to the GDP of countries to look at how much economic benefit countries achieve per unit of metal footprint. We find that for the past two decades global amounts of iron ore and bauxite extractions have risen faster than global GDP, that both supply and demand of iron ore and bauxite have been concentrated in a handful of countries and that resource productivity from a consumption perspective has fallen in developed nations, as well as globally. The research shows no saturation of metal ore consumption at any level of income. Policies will be required to enhance both the productivity of metal production and the economic productivity of consumption (GDP per metal footprint) through more efficient mining, product design, reuse and recycling.

The sustainable development goals (SDGs) provide an integrated, evidence-based framework of targets and indicators to support national planning and reporting. For countries to begin implementation of the SDGs, it is critical to build the evidence base for action. The integrated nature of the SDG targets mean that progress towards one target is also linked through complex feedbacks to other targets, placing demands on science and research to support national implementation. A range of different tools and approaches are recommended by experts, and an emerging challenge is to coherently apply and combine these different approaches to support decision-making. This study makes a significant contribution to filling this knowledge gap, adopting a novel integrated assessment approach to support the prioritisation of SDG targets through a case study for 22 countries in the Arab region. The research adopts a multi-criteria analysis decision framework which assesses and prioritises SDG targets based upon their ‘level of urgency’, ‘systemic impact’, and ‘policy gap’. A range of complementary evidence- and science-based approaches are applied within the assessment framework, including baseline assessment and benchmarking of indicators, systems and network analysis of target interlinkages, and mapping of policy alignment and gaps. The study highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each of these analytical approaches, and demonstrates how they can be rapidly combined and applied.

Land use is central to addressing sustainability issues, including biodiversity conservation, climate change, food security, poverty alleviation, and sustainable energy. In this paper, we synthesize knowledge accumulated in land system science, the integrated study of terrestrial social-ecological systems, into 10 hard truths that have strong, general, empirical support. These facts help to explain the challenges of achieving sustainability in land use and thus also point toward solutions. The 10 facts are as follows: 1) Meanings and values of land are socially constructed and contested; 2) land systems exhibit complex behaviors with abrupt, hard-to-predict changes; 3) irreversible changes and path dependence are common features of land systems; 4) some land uses have a small footprint but very large impacts; 5) drivers and impacts of land-use change are globally interconnected and spill over to distant locations; 6) humanity lives on a used planet where all land provides benefits to societies; 7) land-use change usually entails trade-offs between different benefits—"win–wins" are thus rare; 8) land tenure and land-use claims are often unclear, overlapping, and contested; 9) the benefits and burdens from land are unequally distributed; and 10) land users have multiple, sometimes conflicting, ideas of what social and environmental justice entails. The facts have implications for governance, but do not provide fixed answers. Instead they constitute a set of core principles which can guide scientists, policy makers, and practitioners toward meeting sustainability challenges in land use.

Abstract Many countries around the world are planning to reach 100% renewable energy (RE) use by 2050. In this context and due to the recent sharp increase in RE utilization in the global energy mix along with its progressive impact on the world energy sector, the evaluation and investigation of its effect on achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) are not covered sufficiently. Here, we present an assessment of the emerging role of RE utilization and artificial intelligence (AI) toward achieving SDGs. A total of 17 SDGs were divided into three groups, namely, environment, society, and economy, as per the three key pillars of sustainable development. The RE has a positive impact toward achieving 75 targets across all SDGs by using an expert elicitation method-based consensus. However, it may negatively affect the accomplishment of the 27 targets. In addition, the AI can help the RE to enable the attainment of 42 out of 169 targets. With the current exponential growth of RE share and AI development together with addressing certain present limitations, this impact may cover additional targets in the future. Nevertheless, the present research foci neglect significant facets. The exponential growth of RE share and rapid evolution of AI need to be accompanied through the requisite regulatory insight and technology regulation to cover additional targets in the future.

Whether China continues its current energy-intensive growth path or adopts a sustainable development prospect has significant implication for energy and climate governance. Building on a Ramsey-Cass-Koopmans growth model incorporating the mechanism of endogenous technological change and its interaction with fossil energy use and economic growth, this paper contributes to an economic exposition of China’s potential transition from an energy-intensive to an innovation-led growth path. We find that in China’s initial growth period the small amount of capital stock creates higher dynamic benefits of capital investment and incentives of capital stock accumulation rather than R&D-related innovation. Accumulation of energy-consuming capital stock along this non-innovation-led growth path thus leads to an intensive use of fossil energy - an energy-intensive growth pattern. To avoid this undesirable outcome, China’s social planner should consider locating a transition point to an innovation-led balanced growth path (BGP). When the growth dynamics reaches that transition point, China’s economy would embark on investment in physical capital and R&D simultaneously, and make a transition into the innovation-led BGP along which consumption, capital investment, and R&D have a balanced share. Also in this innovation-led BGP, consumption, physical capital stock, and knowledge stock all grow, fossil energy uses decline.

Plastic waste (PW) is one of the most rapid-growing waste streams in municipal solid waste all over the world. India has become a global player in the plastic value chain. Despite low consumption, domestic generation and imports create a significant burden on the overall waste management system, which requires in-depth understanding of the scenario and pathways that can mitigate the crisis. Although Indian researchers have widely researched technology-related issues in academic papers, a substantial knowledge gap exists in understanding the problem’s depth and possible solutions. This review article focuses on current plastic production, consumption, and waste generation in India. This review article mainly analyzes data and information regarding Indian PW management and highlights some critical issues such as reverse supply chain, effective PW management, source-specific recovery, and PW rules in India. Comprehensively, this review will help to identify implementable strategies for policymakers and research opportunities for future researchers in holistic PW management and recycling in India, focusing on the circular economy and sustainable development goals.

Abstract Energy poverty is prominent in rural Qinghai-Tibet region, China. In sacrifice of thermal comfort and health, residents adaptively choose the biomass fuels and cheap coal for heating and cooking, as an approach to energy expenditure reduction. Considering renewable energy utilization is effective to replace the utilization of conventional fuel, this paper aims to examine the potential of using solar house for energy poverty alleviation. Based on a novel hybrid heating system, we renovated a rural building into a solar house in Wangtun village, Qinghai-Tibet region. The energy consumption and indoor air temperature of the building before and after reconstruction were field measured and comparatively analysed. Results indicate that the energy consumed by solar house with the hybrid heating system was 153.3 kWh/day lower than that by the old building. The average air temperature of the living room and two bedrooms in the solar house reached 12.8°C, 11.0°C and 10.2°C, about 8.78°C, 7.61°C and 6.82°C higher than temperatures of the rooms in the old building. Overall, the solar house has considerably improved indoor environments and provided people with better thermal comfort. It is concluded that solar house can be an effective approach to mitigate domestic energy poverty of the rural Qinghai-Tibet region. The findings may also instruct other rural regions in either China or other developing countries to address the issue of energy poverty.