Myopic decision making in energy system decarbonisation pathways. A UK case study

With an application on the UK, this paper shows that myopic planning might result in delayed strategic investments and in considerably higher costs for achieving decarbonisation targets compared to estimates done with perfect foresight optimisation energy models. It also suggests that carbon prices obtained from perfect foresight energy models might be under-estimated. The study was performed using a combination of the standard UK Times Model (UKTM), a perfect foresight, bottom-up, technology-rich cost optimisation energy model, and its myopic foresight version: My-UKTM. This also demonstrates that using perfect foresight optimisation models in tandem with their myopic equivalents can provide valuable indications for policy design

Targeting climate adaptation to safeguard and advance the Sustainable Development Goals

The international community has committed to achieve 169 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets by 2030 and to enhance climate adaptation under the Paris Agreement. Despite the potential for synergies, aligning SDG and climate adaptation efforts is inhibited by an inadequate understanding of the complex relationship between SDG targets and adaptation to impacts of climate change. Here we propose a framework to conceptualise how ecosystems and socio-economic sectors mediate this relationship, which provides a more nuanced understanding of the impacts of climate change on all 169 SDG targets. Global application of the framework reveals that adaptation of wetlands, rivers, cropland, construction, water, electricity, and housing in the most vulnerable countries is required to safeguard achievement of 68% of SDG targets from near-term climate risk by 2030. We discuss how our framework can help align National Adaptation Plans with SDG targets, thus ensuring that adaptation advances, rather than detracts from, sustainable development

The Sustainable Development Goals and Aerospace Engineering: A critical note through Artificial Intelligence

The 2030 Agenda of the United Nations (UN) revolves around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A critical step towards that objective is identifying whether scientific production aligns with the SDGs' achievement. To assess this, funders and research managers need to manually estimate the impact of their funding agenda on the SDGs, focusing on accuracy, scalability, and objectiveness. With this objective in mind, in this work, we develop ASDG, an easy-to-use artificial-intelligence (AI)-based model for automatically identifying the potential impact of scientific papers on the UN SDGs. As a demonstrator of ASDG, we analyze the alignment of recent aerospace publications with the SDGs. The Aerospace data set analyzed in this paper consists of approximately 820,000 papers published in English from 2011 to 2020 and indexed in the Scopus database. The most-contributed SDGs are 7 (on clean energy), 9 (on industry), 11 (on sustainable cities) and 13 (on climate action). The establishment of the SDGs by the UN in the middle of the 2010 decade did not significantly affect the data. However, we find clear discrepancies among countries, likely indicative of different priorities. Also, different trends can be seen in the most and least cited papers, with clear differences in some SDGs. Finally, the number of abstracts the code cannot identify is decreasing with time, possibly showing the scientific community's awareness of SDG

The Sustainable Development Goals and Aerospace Engineering: A critical note through Artificial Intelligence

The 2030 Agenda of the United Nations (UN) revolves around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A critical step towards that objective is identifying whether scientific production aligns with the SDGs' achievement. To assess this, funders and research managers need to manually estimate the impact of their funding agenda on the SDGs, focusing on accuracy, scalability, and objectiveness. With this objective in mind, in this work, we develop ASDG, an easy-to-use Artificial-Intelligence-based model for automatically identifying the potential impact of scientific papers on the UN SDGs. As a demonstrator of ASDG, we analyze the alignment of recent aerospace publications with the SDGs. The Aerospace data set analyzed in this paper consists of approximately 820,000 papers published in English from 2011 to 2020 and indexed in the Scopus database. The most-contributed SDGs are 7 (on clean energy), 9 (on industry), 11 (on sustainable cities), and 13 (on climate action). The establishment of the SDGs by the UN in the middle of the 2010 decade did not significantly affect the data. However, we find clear discrepancies among countries, likely indicative of different priorities. Also, different trends can be seen in the most and least cited papers, with apparent differences in some SDGs. Finally, the number of abstracts the code cannot identify decreases with time, possibly showing the scientific community's awareness of SDG.RV and FFN acknowledge the support of the KTH Climate Action Centre and Digital Futures. SHC is partially funded by project PID2021-128676OB-I00 by Ministerio de Ciencia, innovación y Universidades / FEDER

Mapping synergies and trade-offs between energy and the Sustainable Development Goals

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development—including 17 interconnected Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets—is a global plan of action for people, planet and prosperity. SDG7 calls for action to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. Here we characterize synergies and trade-offs between efforts to achieve SDG7 and delivery of the 2030 Agenda as a whole. We identify 113 targets requiring actions to change energy systems, and published evidence of relationships between 143 targets (143 synergies, 65 trade-offs) and efforts to achieve SDG7. Synergies and trade-offs exist in three key domains, where decisions about SDG7 affect humanity’s ability to: realize aspirations of greater welfare and well-being; build physical and social infrastructures for sustainable development; and achieve sustainable management of the natural environment. There is an urgent need to better organize, connect and extend this evidence, to help all actors work together to achieve sustainable development. On 5 September 2015, the 193 members states of the United Nations (UN) adopted a new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The 2030 Agenda succeeds the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and features 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with 169 targets, which UN member states have committed to implement by 2030. Energy was not explicitly referred to in the MDGs, and came to be referred to as the ‘missing’ MDG. During the operational period of the MDGs and negotiation of the 2030 Agenda, it was increasingly recognized that energy underpins economic and social development, without which it would not be possible to eliminate poverty. This change in status made sustainable energy provision and access one of the central themes of the 2030 Agenda, whose preamble calls for “universal access to affordable, reliable and sustainable energy” and recognizes that “social and economic development depends of the sustainable management of our planet’s natural resources”. SDG7 is accompanied by five targets to be achieved by 2030: ensure universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services (7.1); increase the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix (7.2); double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency (7.3); enhance international cooperation to facilitate access to clean energy research and technology (7.a), and promote investment in energy infrastructure and clean energy technology (7.b). By understanding the complex links between the SDGs and their constituent targets, researchers can better support policymakers to think systematically about interactions between the different SDGs, including how actions to achieve each goal affect each other within and between sectors. Studies to date have lacked a target-level approach or have focussed on only a few of the SDGs. Here we present a formative attempt by an interdisciplinary group of researchers to identify the full range of goals and targets in the 2030 Agenda that call for changes in energy systems, and characterize evidence of synergies or trade-offs between delivery of each of the 169 targets and efforts focussed on pursuit of SDG7 and each of its constituent targets. The purpose of this Perspective is not to provide definitive answers. Instead we aim to lay a foundation for systematic (and context-specific) exploration of the interlinkages between each of the SDG targets, in the context of decision-making about development and the transformation of energy systems

Characterization of a new trabectedin-resistant myxoid liposarcoma cell line that shows collateral sensitivity to methylating agents

Myxoid Liposarcomas (MLS), characterized by the expression of FUS-CHOP fusion gene are clinically very sensitive to the DNA binding antitumor agent, trabectedin. However, resistance eventually occurs, preventing disease eradication. To investigate the mechanisms of resistance, a trabectedin resistant cell line, 402-91/ET, was developed. The resistance to trabectedin was not related to the expression of MDR related proteins, uptake/efflux of trabectedin or GSH levels that were similar in parental and resistant cells. The 402-91/ET cells were hypersensitive to UV light because of a nucleotide excision repair defect: XPG complementation decreased sensitivity to UV rays, but only partially to trabectedin. 402-91/ET cells showed collateral sensitivity to temozolomide due to the lack of O(6) -methylguanine-DNA-methyltransferase (MGMT) activity, related to the hypermethylation of MGMT promoter. In 402-91 cells chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays showed that FUS-CHOP was bound to the PTX3 and FN1 gene promoters, as previously described, and trabectedin caused FUS-CHOP detachment from DNA. Here we report that, in contrast, in 402-91/ET cells, FUS-CHOP was not bound to these promoters. Differences in the modulation of transcription of genes involved in different pathways including signal transduction, apoptosis and stress response between the two cell lines were found. Trabectedin activates the transcription of genes involved in the adipogenic-program such as c/EBPα and β, in 402-91 but not in 402-91/ET cell lines. The collateral sensitivity of 402-91/ET to temozolomide provides the rationale to investigate the potential use of methylating agents in MLS patients resistant to trabectedin

A Systems Biology Approach to Characterize the Regulatory Networks Leading to Trabectedin Resistance in an In Vitro Model of Myxoid Liposarcoma

Trabectedin, a new antitumor compound originally derived from a marine tunicate, is clinically effective in soft tissue sarcoma. The drug has shown a high selectivity for myxoid liposarcoma, characterized by the translocation t(12;16)(q13; p11) leading to the expression of FUS-CHOP fusion gene. Trabectedin appears to act interfering with mechanisms of transcription regulation. In particular, the transactivating activity of FUS-CHOP was found to be impaired by trabectedin treatment. Even after prolonged response resistance occurs and thus it is important to elucidate the mechanisms of resistance to trabectedin. To this end we developed and characterized a myxoid liposarcoma cell line resistant to trabectedin (402-91/ET), obtained by exposing the parental 402-91 cell line to stepwise increases in drug concentration. The aim of this study was to compare mRNAs, miRNAs and proteins profiles of 402-91 and 402-91/ET cells through a systems biology approach. We identified 3,083 genes, 47 miRNAs and 336 proteins differentially expressed between 402-91 and 402-91/ET cell lines. Interestingly three miRNAs among those differentially expressed, miR-130a, miR-21 and miR-7, harbored CHOP binding sites in their promoter region. We used computational approaches to integrate the three regulatory layers and to generate a molecular map describing the altered circuits in sensitive and resistant cell lines. By combining transcriptomic and proteomic data, we reconstructed two different networks, i.e. apoptosis and cell cycle regulation, that could play a key role in modulating trabectedin resistance. This approach highlights the central role of genes such as CCDN1, RB1, E2F4, TNF, CDKN1C and ABL1 in both pre- and post-transcriptional regulatory network. The validation of these results in in vivo models might be clinically relevant to stratify myxoid liposarcoma patients with different sensitivity to trabectedin treatment

Connecting the sustainable development goals by their energy inter-linkages

The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide guide-posts to society as it attempts to respond to an array of pressing challenges. One of these challenges is energy; thus, the SDGs have become paramount for energy policy-making. Yet, while governments throughout the world have already declared the SDGs to be 'integrated and indivisible', there are still knowledge gaps surrounding how the interactions between the energy SDG targets and those of the non-energy-focused SDGs might play out in different contexts. In this review, we report on a large-scale assessment of the relevant energy literature, which we conducted to better our understanding of key energy-related interactions between SDGs, as well as their context-dependencies (relating to time, geography, governance, technology, and directionality). By (i) evaluating the nature and strength of the interactions identified, (ii) indicating the robustness of the evidence base, the agreement of that evidence, and our confidence in it, and (iii) highlighting critical areas where better understanding is needed or context dependencies should be considered, our review points to potential ways forward for both the policy making and scientific communities. First, we find that positive interactions between the SDGs outweigh the negative ones, both in number and magnitude. Second, of relevance for the scientific community, in order to fill knowledge gaps in critical areas, there is an urgent need for interdisciplinary research geared toward developing new data, scientific tools, and fresh perspectives. Third, of relevance for policy-making, wider efforts to promote policy coherence and integrated assessments are required to address potential policy spillovers across sectors, sustainability domains, and geographic and temporal boundaries. The task of conducting comprehensive science-to-policy assessments covering all SDGs, such as for the UN's Global Sustainable Development Report, remains manageable pending the availability of systematic reviews focusing on a limited number of SDG dimensions in each case