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| Open AccessEnergy requirements and carbon emissions for a low-carbon energy transition
A low-carbon energy transition consistent with 1.5 °C of warming may result in substantial carbon emissions. Moreover, the initial push to substitute fossil fuels with low-carbon alternatives will reduce the net energy available to society.
- Aljoša Slameršak
- , Giorgos Kallis
- & Daniel W. O’Neill
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| Open AccessEconomic interests cloud hazard reductions in the European regulation of substances of very high concern
The most important variable explaining the regulation of chemical substances of very high concern in the European REACH regulation is not how dangerous a chemical is but the fact that it is not produced nor imported into the European Economic Area.
- Jessica Coria
- , Erik Kristiansson
- & Mikael Gustavsson
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Article
| Open AccessUnequal airborne exposure to toxic metals associated with race, ethnicity, and segregation in the USA
A new study assesses differences in exposure to particulate air pollution between racially segregated and racially integrated communities in the U.S, and finds that segregated communities are exposed to higher proportions of toxic and carcinogenic metals.
- John K. Kodros
- , Michelle L. Bell
- & John Volckens
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| Open AccessThe impact of phosphorus on projected Sub-Saharan Africa food security futures
New research finds future rock fertiliser use as a contributor towards food security in Sub-Saharan Africa can be achieved with both sustainability-driven and fossil-fuel-driven economic growth.
- Daniel Magnone
- , Vahid J. Niasar
- & Sheida Z. Sattari
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| Open AccessImproving public support for climate action through multilateralism
A new study reports survey-experimental results suggesting that multilateral approaches to climate action increase domestic carbon tax approval. The appeal of multilateralism reflects improved sustainability beliefs about effectiveness, fairness, and reciprocity.
- Michael M. Bechtel
- , Kenneth F. Scheve
- & Elisabeth van Lieshout
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| Open AccessDrivers of global mangrove loss and gain in social-ecological systems
Mangrove forests protect communities from storms and support fisheries. Here, the authors show that the association with economic growth has shifted from negatively impacting mangroves to enabling mangrove expansion, and that community forestry is promoting mangrove expansion.
- Valerie Hagger
- , Thomas A. Worthington
- & Megan I. Saunders
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| Open AccessIntercomparison of regional loss estimates from global synthetic tropical cyclone models
Various synthetic tropical cyclone datasets exist for risk assessment purposes. Here, the authors conduct a global dataset comparison to assess their suitability and applicability in answering different impact-related questions.
- Simona Meiler
- , Thomas Vogt
- & David N. Bresch
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| Open AccessDeforestation intensifies daily temperature variability in the northern extratropics
A new study finds that deforestation in the northern extratropics can enhance horizontal temperature advection through biogeophysical processes, leading to higher local daily temperature variability, particularly in winter.
- Jun Ge
- , Qi Liu
- & Weidong Guo
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| Open AccessEconomic impacts of melting of the Antarctic Ice Sheet
Melting of the Antarctic Ice Sheet is projected to impose severe costs on Small Island Developing States, and increase the worldwide social cost of carbon emissions, but costs could be reduced dramatically by efficient, proactive coastal planning.
- Simon Dietz
- & Felix Koninx
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| Open AccessLand tenure drives Brazil’s deforestation rates across socio-environmental contexts
How land-tenure regimes affect deforestation remains ambiguous. This study shows how deforestation in Brazil is land-tenure dependent, and how strategies to effectively reduce deforestation can range from strengthening poorly defined rights to strengthening conservation-focused regimes.
- Andrea Pacheco
- & Carsten Meyer
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| Open AccessThe weather affects air conditioner purchases to fill the energy efficiency gap
The probability of purchasing an energy-efficient air conditioner increases as the temperature deviates from 20–22 °C in the United States, with the response varying by electricity price, background climate, and demographic characteristics.
- Pan He
- , Pengfei Liu
- & Lufan Liu
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| Open AccessUS cities increasingly integrate justice into climate planning and create policy tools for climate justice
Climate justice is rising: large cities in the U.S. are increasingly integrating justice into their climate mitigation plans and pioneer cities are developing tools to operationalize just climate policies on the ground.
- Claudia V. Diezmartínez
- & Anne G. Short Gianotti
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Article
| Open AccessCement substitution with secondary materials can reduce annual global CO2 emissions by up to 1.3 gigatons
In this paper we report the maximum potential for cement substitution with secondary materials to reduce CO2 emissions globally (1.3 Gt CO2-eq. in 2018) and on a country-by-country basis.
- Izhar Hussain Shah
- , Sabbie A. Miller
- & Rupert J. Myers
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| Open AccessThe role of renewables for rapid transitioning of the power sector across states in India
A new study assesses the feasibility of a fully renewable based power system by 2050 across India, finding this option to be cost competitive with the status quo and with zero GHG emissions.
- Ashish Gulagi
- , Manish Ram
- & Christian Breyer
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| Open AccessComparing the levelized cost of electric vehicle charging options in Europe
Charging costs are important for the diffusion of electric vehicles as required to decarbonize transport. Here, the authors show large variance of electrical vehicle charging costs across 30 European countries and charging options, suggesting different policy options to reduce charging costs.
- Lukas Lanz
- , Bessie Noll
- & Bjarne Steffen
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| Open AccessLand use change and carbon emissions of a transformation to timber cities
Wood used in construction stores carbon and reduces the emissions from steel and cement production. Transformation to timber cities while protecting forest and biodiversity is possible without significant increase in competition for land.
- Abhijeet Mishra
- , Florian Humpenöder
- & Alexander Popp
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| Open AccessCo-benefits of CO2 emission reduction from China’s clean air actions between 2013-2020
China’s clean air action stimulated a net accumulative reduction of 2.43 Gt CO2 emission from 2013-2020. Phase-out and upgrades of outdated, polluting, and inefficient combustion facilities have promoted the transition of the country’s energy system.
- Qinren Shi
- , Bo Zheng
- & Qiang Zhang
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| Open AccessInequality can double the energy required to secure universal decent living
In exploring the energy required to provide decent living for all, the authors find the costs of inequality to be far greater than that of population growth. Nonetheless, population growth remains important for other reasons.
- Joel Millward-Hopkins
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| Open AccessSocial inequalities in climate change-attributed impacts of Hurricane Harvey
New study shows that up to 50% of properties flooded after hurricane Harvey flooded because of climate change, with low-income and Latina/x/o neighborhoods experiencing higher climate change-attributed impacts.
- Kevin T. Smiley
- , Ilan Noy
- & Oliver E. J. Wing
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| Open AccessIncreased energy use for adaptation significantly impacts mitigation pathways
A new study characterizes adaptation in mitigation pathways, and shows that climate adaptation can lead to higher energy demand, power system costs and carbon prices, with mitigation’s benefits compensating decarbonization costs.
- Francesco Pietro Colelli
- , Johannes Emmerling
- & Enrica De Cian
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| Open AccessHuman expansion into Asian highlands in the 21st Century and its effects
Most of the intensive human activities usually occur in lowlands. Here the authors report that human activity expansions also were widely distributed in Asian highlands in the 21st century and held dual effects, which provides new insights for regional human activity expansions.
- Chao Yang
- , Huizeng Liu
- & Guofeng Wu
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Article
| Open AccessAmericans experience a false social reality by underestimating popular climate policy support by nearly half
A new study finds that Americans underestimate how many are concerned about climate change as well as support for major climate policies by nearly half, with climate policy supporters significantly outnumbering non-supporters.
- Gregg Sparkman
- , Nathan Geiger
- & Elke U. Weber
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| Open AccessMeasuring corporate Paris Compliance using a strict science-based approach
New study defines key guidelines to accurately assess the alignment of companies with Paris goals, finding that current methods to evaluate performance are deficient with few companies assessed as Paris Compliant.
- S. Rekker
- , M. C. Ives
- & C. Greig
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| Open AccessContrasting inequality in human exposure to greenspace between cities of Global North and Global South
Through an analysis of global differences in human exposure to greenspace, a new study identifies a contrasting pattern of greenspace exposure between Global South and North cities and finds seasonal variations in greenspace exposure inequality.
- Bin Chen
- , Shengbiao Wu
- & Peng Gong
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| Open AccessTracing the origin of lithium in Li-ion batteries using lithium isotopes
Rechargeable Li-ion batteries play a key role in the energy transition towards clean energy. It is challenging for end users to ensure that Li comes from environmentally and responsible sources. Here the authors show that Li isotope ‘fingerprints’ are a useful tool for determining the origin of Li in battery.
- Anne-Marie Desaulty
- , Daniel Monfort Climent
- & Catherine Guerrot
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| Open AccessEfficient use of cement and concrete to reduce reliance on supply-side technologies for net-zero emissions
A new study finds supply-side efforts alone are unlikely to lead to net-zero emissions across the cement and concrete cycle by 2050, advocating for more efficient use of cement and concrete in the built environment and more strategic options for decarbonization.
- Takuma Watari
- , Zhi Cao
- & Keisuke Nansai
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| Open AccessResponding to eruptive transitions during the 2020–2021 eruption of La Soufrière volcano, St. Vincent
The 2020 – 2021 eruption of La Soufrière volcano transitioned from an effusive to explosive eruption style. Here the authors show that input from multiple monitoring datasets and an evolving conceptual model were key to anticipating and responding to the eruptive transition at the La Soufrière volcano, St. Vincent, in a resource-constrained setting.
- E. P. Joseph
- , M. Camejo-Harry
- & R. S. J. Sparks
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| Open AccessContrasting suitability and ambition in regional carbon mitigation
New study finds geographical mismatch in cross-regional ranking between cost and benefit of carbon mitigation, as well as spatial mismatch between relative suitability of mitigation and mitigation ambition of emitters.
- Yu Liu
- , Mingxi Du
- & Klaus Hubacek
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| Open AccessShallow subsurface heat recycling is a sustainable global space heating alternative
Using shallow geothermal energy systems to recycle the heat accumulating in the subsurface due to climate change and urbanization is a feasible, sustainable, and opportunistic alternative to conventional space heating in the face of climate change
- Susanne A. Benz
- , Kathrin Menberg
- & Barret L. Kurylyk
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Article
| Open AccessGreen gentrification in European and North American cities
The relationship between new greenspaces and gentrification is an important one for urbanization. Here the authors show a positive relationship for at least one decade between greening in the 1990s–2000s and gentrification that occurred between 2000–2016 in 17 of 28 studied cities in North America and Europe.
- Isabelle Anguelovski
- , James J. T. Connolly
- & Joaquin Martinez Minaya
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| Open AccessGlobal exposure to flood risk and poverty
Flooding is a pervasive natural hazard, with new research demonstrating that more than one in five people around the world live in areas directly exposed to 1-in-100 year flood risk. Exposure to such flood risk is particularly concentrated amongst lower income households worldwide.
- Thomas K. J. McDermott
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Article
| Open AccessSharing the effort of the European Green Deal among countries
An ethically-based method for allocating climate change mitigation effort among subsidiaries, applicable worldwide, is proposed. Applied to the EU Green Deal, this results in a wider range of targets than the Commission’s proposal of 2021.
- Karl W. Steininger
- , Keith Williges
- & Keywan Riahi
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| Open AccessCross-cutting scenarios and strategies for designing decarbonization pathways in the transport sector toward carbon neutrality
New study shows how region-specific policy under the Avoid–Shift–Improve framework may aid in realizing a deep decarbonization in the transport sector and assist in achieving China’s carbon neutrality goals.
- Runsen Zhang
- & Tatsuya Hanaoka
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| Open AccessTargeting climate adaptation to safeguard and advance the Sustainable Development Goals
Without targeted climate adaptation, impacts of climate change threaten achievement of all 169 SDG targets. Fuldauer et al. provide an actionable framework to assess these impacts and help systematically align national adaptation plans with the SDGs.
- Lena I. Fuldauer
- , Scott Thacker
- & Jim W. Hall
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| Open AccessMeeting sustainable development goals via robotics and autonomous systems
A horizon scan was used to explore possible impacts of robotics and automated systems on achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Positive effects are likely. Iterative regulatory processes and continued dialogue could help avoid environmental damages and increases in inequality.
- Solène Guenat
- , Phil Purnell
- & Martin Dallimer
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| Open AccessSolving groundwater depletion in India while achieving food security
Using optimization models with climate, crop & economic data, the authors show that India can stop groundwater depletion, reduce energy use and meet food/nutrition targets by changing where it sources crops for its food procurement and distribution system.
- Naresh Devineni
- , Shama Perveen
- & Upmanu Lall
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| Open AccessExploring disaster impacts on adaptation actions in 549 cities worldwide
Here the authors explore the effects of disasters on adaptation actions in 549 cities, finding that the effects of disaster frequency and severity are modest and depend on action type, population size, and adaptive capacity.
- Daniel Nohrstedt
- , Jacob Hileman
- & Charles F. Parker
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| Open AccessResilience of urban public electric vehicle charging infrastructure to flooding
A study of how the Greater London electric vehicle charging network is affected by flooding reveals disproportionate impacts on already-stressed parts of the network, peaking as far as over 10 km away from the flooded regions.
- Gururaghav Raman
- , Gurupraanesh Raman
- & Jimmy Chih-Hsien Peng
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Article
| Open AccessCost increase in the electricity supply to achieve carbon neutrality in China
This study indicates that approximately 5.8 TW of wind and solar photovoltaic capacity would be required to achieve carbon neutrality in China’s power system by 2050. The electricity supply costs would increase by 19.9% or 9.6 CNY¢/kWh.
- Zhenyu Zhuo
- , Ershun Du
- & Chongqing Kang
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| Open AccessThe delusive accuracy of global irrigation water withdrawal estimates
Miscalculating the volumes of water withdrawn for irrigation, the largest consumer of freshwater in the world, jeopardizes sustainable water management. Hydrological models quantify water withdrawals, but their estimates are unduly precise. Model imperfections need to be appreciated to avoid policy misjudgements.
- Arnald Puy
- , Razi Sheikholeslami
- & Andrea Saltelli
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| Open AccessPathway to a land-neutral expansion of Brazilian renewable fuel production
Fuel output of Brazilian sugarcane ethanol facilities may be increased by over 40% without using additional land if production is combined with synthetic fuel processes. This amounts to 100TWh of fuel, sparing 27,000 km2 of land.
- Luis Ramirez Camargo
- , Gabriel Castro
- & Johannes Schmidt
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| Open AccessAmplification of downstream flood stage due to damming of fine-grained rivers
Dams constructed on fine-grained rivers cause an increase in flow resistance downstream, thereby amplifying, rather than reducing, flood stage.
- Hongbo Ma
- , Jeffrey A. Nittrouer
- & Baosheng Wu
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Matters Arising
| Open AccessMarine abundance and its prehistoric past in the Baltic
- Niklas Hausmann
- , Harry K. Robson
- & Geoff Bailey
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Article
| Open AccessEstimating global economic well-being with unlit settlements
Nighttime lights from satellite are combined with a map of human settlements, showing that 19% of these areas, mainly in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, have no detectable artificial light. These data were then used in models to predict well-being.
- Ian McCallum
- , Christopher Conrad Maximillian Kyba
- & Steffen Fritz
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| Open AccessContrasting influences of biogeophysical and biogeochemical impacts of historical land use on global economic inequality
Historical land use impacts climate by biogeophysical and biogeochemical effects. Their combined effects on mean and extreme temperature may harm economically disadvantaged countries but benefit those in rich countries, raising questions of equality.
- Shu Liu
- , Yong Wang
- & Le Yu
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| Open AccessIndigenous oyster fisheries persisted for millennia and should inform future management
‘Commercial fisheries have decimated keystone species, including oysters in the past 200 years. Here, the authors examine how Indigenous oyster harvest in North America and Australia was managed across 10,000 years, advocating for effective future stewardship of oyster reefs by centering Indigenous peoples.’
- Leslie Reeder-Myers
- , Todd J. Braje
- & Torben C. Rick
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| Open AccessUnlocking bimetallic active sites via a desalination strategy for photocatalytic reduction of atmospheric carbon dioxide
Ultrathin two-dimensional metal oxyhalides show excellent photocatalytic properties with unique electronic and interfacial structures. Here, the authors develop a top-down desalination strategy to engineer ultrathin bimetallic two-dimensional material for photocatalytic atmospheric carbon dioxide reduction.
- Xuezhen Feng
- , Renji Zheng
- & Hong Chen
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Article
| Open AccessReversible Power-to-Gas systems for energy conversion and storage
Reversible Power-to-Gas systems can convert electricity to hydrogen at times of ample and inexpensive power supply and operate in reverse to deliver electricity during times when power is relatively scarce. Here, the authors show that such systems can already be economically viable relative to current hydrogen prices in the context of the German and Texas electricity markets.
- Gunther Glenk
- & Stefan Reichelstein
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Article
| Open AccessRevealing global risks of labor abuse and illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing
Taking action to reduce risks of labor abuse and illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the fishing sector is hindered by a lack of spatially explicit data and an understanding of different drivers of risks. Here the authors combine expert assessments with satellite information to map and quantify risks of labor abuse and IUU fishing at port, at sea and associated with transshipment globally.
- Elizabeth R. Selig
- , Shinnosuke Nakayama
- & Jessica L. Decker Sparks