Challenges of coal transitions : a comparative study on the status quo and future prospects of coal mining and coal use in Indonesia, Colombia and Viet Nam

Today more than 45 % of all energy-related CO2 emissions come from burning coal. Thus, reducing CO2 emissions from coal use is a necessity for reaching the targets of the Paris Agreement. This will not only pose challenges for coal consumers (restructuring of the energy system), but also for countries whose economy is strongly depending on the production of coal. This paper examines the role of coal in three countries, which are or were in recent years among the top coal exporters: Indonesia, Colombia and Vietnam. Understanding challenges and possible transition pathways in these countries will help to develop global strategies to reduce CO2 emissions from coal in the short to mid-term

Középiskolai tanárok Magyarországon 1900-1950 = Secondary school teachers. Hungary, 1900-1945

Az empirikus történetszociológiai források közül a korabeli statisztikák elemzése volt az első teendő. A népszámlálások kéziratos tábláiból, a statisztikai évkönyvekből és a rétegstatisztikákból építettünk adatbázist. Személysoros adatbázis készült valamennyi középfokú iskola tanárnépességéről - 18 mintaévvel kapcsolatban. Ebből az iskolák és iskolatípusok közötti mozgás, hely, fenntartó, névjelleg, nem, pozíció specifikusan tanulmányozható a nagy kiépülés éveire (1886-1896) évenként, egyébként évtizedenként. Az 1906, 1922, 1928, 1936, 1942 tanári zsebkönyvekből épült statisztikai adatbázist összeépítettük a koloszvári bölcsészkar anyakönyvi, az 1918 előtti Budapest diplomakönyveivel, valamint az 1918 utáni négy egyetem anyakönyveivel és diplomakönyveivel. Néhány bibliográfiai adatbázis összeállításával a publikáló tanárokat, tudós tanárok csoportját egyaránt megragadhatóvá tettük. A magyar oktatástörténetben először ezzel rekonstruálhatóvá vált a magyar középiskolai tanárság pályaíve, nemcsak a szociodemográfiai háttértényezők függvényében, de az egyetemistaként mutatott tanulmányi kiválóság, ill a felnőttként mutatott publikkálási aktivtiást függvényében is. A kutatás eredményeit számos tanulmány és konferenciaelőadás használta már. A monográfia készülőben van. | Our first job was to study the statistical sources. The original - non published - tables of national censuses, the statistical yearbooks and the special surveys served as a source for the 1 st database building. An other database - in which the cases were the individuals - were built about the teachers (not only secondary school teachers) of 18 selected years. The carrier routes between schools, schooltype is studiable in the relation of place of school, ethnical sign of surnames, school position, in time axis. We can describe the slite moving in the years of great expansion (1886-1896 year by year) and a great overview in every tenth year, approcimately. The teachers pocket book of 1906,1922, 1928, 2936, 1942 served as a source of a third new database. They were combined with the inscription files anf final exam papers of the universitioes. Some bibliographical databases have been built into this database - aiming to difine the most active groop of teachers. That is the first time in the history of Hungarian educational historiography, that we can reconstruate the carrier route of teachers combining not only with the socio demographical background, but university marks and activities in the publications. The outcome of the project have been used in several studies and conference presentations. A monography in is writing

Attachment of Primary Mouse Astroglial Cells on Neural Implant Surfaces

In vitro micro- and nanofabricated test chips were used to investigate mouse primary cortical astroglial cell reactions to different surfaces of a multichannel neural microelectrode implant. The following surface types were fabricated by MEMS technology and characterized by scanning electron microscopy: poly-Si, Pt, nanostructured Si and nanostructured Pt. Survival of primary cortical mouse astroglial cells was analysed by fluorescent microscopy 24 hours after seeding. Our results show that the nanostructured surfaces are not toxic to the primary mouse astroglial cells

Are the G20 economies making enough progress to meet their NDC targets?

Under the Paris Agreement, countries committed to a variety of climate actions, including post-2020 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets. This study compares projected GHG emissions in the G20 economies under current climate policies to those under the GHG targets outlined in the nationally determined contributions (NDCs). It is based on an assessment of official governmental estimates and independent national and global studies. The study concludes that six G20 members (China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Russia and Turkey) are projected to meet their unconditional NDC targets with current policies. Eight members (Argentina, Australia, Canada, the European Union, Republic of Korea, South Africa and the United States) require further action to achieve their targets. Insufficient information is available for Saudi Arabia, and emission projections for Brazil and Mexico are subject to considerable uncertainty. The study also presents high-level decarbonisation indicators to better understand the current progress towards meeting the NDCs – Saudi Arabia and South Africa were found to continue increasing both emission intensity per unit GDP and emissions per capita under current policies by 2030 from 2015 levels.</p

A review of successful climate change mitigation policies in major emitting economies and the potential of global replication

This article reviews climate change mitigation policies implemented in five major emitting economies: China, the European Union, India, Japan and the United States. It analyses their historical performance in terms of energy system and greenhouse gas emissions indicators. In cases where policies aim to reduce future emissions, their target performance levels are assessed. The review centres on the sectors of electricity generation, passenger vehicles, freight transport, forestry, industry, buildings, agriculture, and oil and gas production. Most focus countries have implemented successful policies for renewable energy, fuel efficiency, electrification of passenger vehicles, and forestry. For other sectors, information is limited or very heterogeneous (e.g. buildings, appliances, agriculture) or there are few comprehensive policies in place (e.g. industry). The article further presents an explorative emissions scenario developed under the assumption that all countries will replicate both the observed trends in sector-level indicators and the trends that policies for future emissions reductions aspire to achieve. It shows that the global replication of sector progress would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 by about 20% compared to a current policies scenario. All countries analysed would overachieve the emissions reduction targets in their post-2020 climate targets. However, the resulting reduction in global emissions by 2030 would still not be sufficient to keep the world on track for a global cost-effective pathway that keeps temperature increase below 2°C. The findings of this study emphasise the need for transformative policies to keep the Paris Agreement temperature limit within reach

Twenty years of climate policy: G20 coverage and gaps

The number and coverage of climate change mitigation policies have increased in the past twenty years, but important policy adoption gaps remain. To analyse sectoral climate policy in the G20 over time (2000–2019), we compiled a dataset of climate change mitigation-relevant policies and identified 50 key policy options that constitute a comprehensive sectoral climate policy package. Approximately half of these policy options are not widely adopted. Adoption is particularly low for policies that aim to: phase out coal and oil and mandate energy reductions in electricity and heat supply; reduce industrial process emissions and incentivise fuel switch in industry; design urban planning strategies for retrofits; and support the use of renewable energy for cooking and heating/cooling purposes in buildings. Policies to remove fossil fuel subsidies and support carbon dioxide removal also need substantial improvement. However, many policy adoption gaps exist as the coverage of at least one policy option could be improved in each sector. Policy adoption gaps leave at least one-tenth of the G20’s emissions completely uncovered. Filling these gaps is fundamental to realize the full mitigation potential of existing policy options and to advance the transition towards global net zero greenhouse gas emissions. Key policy insights: Mitigation-related policy options can be presented as a matrix by sector to shed light on what constitutes a comprehensive climate policy package; looking across sectoral climate policies helps to unpack and clarify the status of adoption. Policy adoption gaps exist in all sectors. Increasing the sectoral coverage of climate policies will help to ensure that all relevant sectoral emissions and mitigation areas are considered in national mitigation efforts. Even if an increase in policy coverage alone does not ensure emission reductions, the absence of policy coverage indicates that emissions can still be further reduced and that a portion of global emissions remain uncovered by policies. Despite the observed increase in the number and coverage of climate policies, slow progress towards reducing global emissions and meeting the collective Paris climate goals calls for more comprehensive climate change mitigation policies. Filling policy adoption gaps presents a concrete strategy to improve sectoral, national and global climate policy

Virulence factors and in-host selection on phenotypes in infectious probiotic yeast isolates (Saccharomyces ‘boulardii’)

Saccharomyces yeast probiotics (S. ‘boulardii’) have long been applied in the treatment of several gastrointestinal conditions. Despite their widespread use, they are rare opportunistic pathogens responsible for a high proportion of Saccharomyces mycosis cases. The potential virulence attributes of S. ‘boulardii’ as well as its interactions with the human immune system have been studied, however, no information is available on how these yeasts may change due to in-host evolution. To fill this gap, we compared the general phenotypic characteristics, cell morphology, virulence factors, epithelial and immunological interactions, and pathogenicity of four probiotic product samples, two mycosis, and eight non-mycosis samples of S. ‘boulardii’. We assessed the characteristics related to major steps of yeast infections. Mycosis and non-mycosis isolates both displayed novel characters when compared to the product isolates, but in the case of most virulence factors and in pathogenicity, differences were negligible or, surprisingly, the yeasts from products showed elevated levels. No isolates inflicted considerable damage to the epithelial model or bore the hallmarks of immune evasion. Our results show that strains in probiotic products possess characteristics that enable them to act as pathogens upon permissive conditions, and their entry into the bloodstream is not due to active mechanisms but depends on the host. Survival in the host is dependent on yeast phenotypic characteristics which may change in many ways once they start evolving in the host. These facts call attention to the shortcomings of virulence phenotyping in yeast research, and the need for a more thorough assessment of probiotic use

Short term policies to keep the door open for Paris climate goals

Climate policy needs to account for political and social acceptance. Current national climate policy plans proposed under the Paris Agreement lead to higher emissions until 2030 than cost-effective pathways towards the Agreements’ long-term temperature goals would imply. Therefore, the current plans would require highly disruptive changes, prohibitive transition speeds, and large long-term deployment of risky mitigation measures for achieving the agreement’s temperature goals after 2030. Since the prospects of introducing the cost-effective policy instrument, a global comprehensive carbon price in the near-term, are negligible, we study how a strengthening of existing plans by a global roll-out of regional policies can ease the implementation challenge of reaching the Paris temperature goals. The regional policies comprise a bundle of regulatory policies in energy supply, transport, buildings, industry, and land use and moderate, regionally differentiated carbon pricing. We find that a global roll-out of these policies could reduce global CO2 emissions by an additional 10 GtCO2eq in 2030 compared to current plans. It would lead to emissions pathways close to the levels of cost-effective likely below 2 °C scenarios until 2030, thereby reducing implementation challenges post 2030. Even though a gradual phase-in of a portfolio of regulatory policies might be less disruptive than immediate cost-effective carbon pricing, it would perform worse in other dimensions. In particular, it leads to higher economic impacts that could become major obstacles in the long-term. Hence, such policy packages should not be viewed as alternatives to carbon pricing, but rather as complements that provide entry points to achieve the Paris climate goals

Greenhouse gas emission scenarios in nine key non-G20 countries: An assessment of progress toward 2030 climate targets

This study compares greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions projections in 2030 under current policies and those under 2030 mitigation targets for nine key non-G20 countries, that collectively account for about 5 % of global total emissions today. These include the four largest non-G20 fossil CO2 emitting Parties to the UN climate convention pre- Paris Agreement (Iran, Kazakhstan, Thailand and Ukraine) and one of the largest land-use GHG emitters in the world (Democratic Republic of the Congo). Other countries assessed include major economies in their respective regions (Chile, Colombia, Morocco and the Philippines). In addition to economy-wide GHG emissions projections, we also assessed the projected GHG emissions peak year and the progression of per capita GHG emissions up to 2030. Our GHG emissions projections are also compared with previous studies. On economy-wide GHG emissions, Colombia, Iran, Morocco, and Ukraine were projected to likely meet or significantly overachieve their unconditional 2030 targets with existing policies, while DRC and Thailand would come very close to their targets. Kazakhstan and the Philippines would need to strengthen their action to meet their targets, while Chile recently raised its 2030 target ambition. Only Colombia and Ukraine are projected to have peaked their emissions by 2030. Per capita GHG emissions excluding land-use under current policies were projected to increase in all countries from 2010 levels by 8 % to over 40 % depending on the country. While the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on 2030 emissions is highly uncertain, our assessment on the target achievement would not change for most countries when the emission reductions estimated for 2020 in the literature were assumed to remain in 2030. The findings of this study highlight the importance of enhanced and frequent progress-tracking of climate action of major emitters outside G20, as is currently done for G20 members, to ensure that the global collective progress will become aligned with the pathways toward Paris climate goals