Sustain, Filip Sedefov, Ólöf Söebech and Eleanor Mateo able aviation fuels: common ground for a take-off. IES Policy Brief Issue 2017/05 • November 2017

Aviation biofuels remain a controversial topic. An analysis of stakeholder views reveals, however, that there is considerable common ground on the two central issues in short to medium term: sustainability and commercialisation. Stakeholders generally agree that sustainability must be based on objective, transparent and clearly defined criteria that demonstrate the environmental advantages of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) over fossil fuels. The measurement of impacts should use verified life-cycle analyses (LCA) throughout the supply chain. Sustainability standards should be strict, yet they should not be so rigid as to prevent the commercialisation of SAF, and they need to be tightened as the market evolves. For the commercialisation of SAF, the stakeholders reckon that the infrastructure and marketing models already exist: the remaining hurdle is the price gap between conventional fossil fuels and SAF. Active policies that include commercial and regulatory incentives are required to make sustainable aviation fuels competitive, and for the market to take off

Sustainable Aviation Fuels: Common Ground for a Take-off, IES Policy Brief No. 5, November 2017

Aviation biofuels remain a controversial topic. An analysis of stakeholder views reveals, however, that there is considerable common ground on the two central issues in short to medium term: sustainability and commercialisation. Stakeholders generally agree that sustainability must be based on objective, transparent and clearly defined criteria that demonstrate the environmental advantages of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) over fossil fuels. The measurement of impacts should use verified life-cycle analyses (LCA) throughout the supply chain. Sustainability standards should be strict, yet they should not be so rigid as to prevent the commercialisation of SAF, and they need to be tightened as the market evolves. For the commercialisation of SAF, the stakeholders reckon that the infrastructure and marketing models already exist: the remaining hurdle is the price gap between conventional fossil fuels and SAF. Active policies that include commercial and regulatory incentives are required to make sustainable aviation fuels competitive, and for the market to take off

How to rein in fossil fuel subsidies? : towards a New WTO Regime

Published online: 12 August 2021Fossil fuel subsidies have negative consequences on the climate change, public budgets and and the transition to an environmentally friendly economy. Nevertheless, governments do not keep up with their commitments to phase out fossil fuel subsidies but misallocate again COVID-19 recovery funds in fossil fuel subsidies. This article provides an analysis of the current obstacles for phasing out fossil fuel subsidies and the potential of the WTO to advance a reform on fossil fuel subsidies. It argues that the WTO can contribute to a fossil fuel subsidies reform by its technical expertise in regulating subsidies, by its broad membership and by its institutional setting. Under the current framework of the ASCM, WTO member can use existing mechanisms, such as the TPRM, to increase transparency in the short term and facilitate discussions on the scope of subsidies while mitigating impacts on vulnerable groups or sectors. This would provide the ground for governments to work towards a new and ambitious agreement to stop producer fossil fuels subsidies and phase out consumer fossil fuels subsidies in the mid-to-long-term. However, the phase out of consumer subsidies needs to be carefully designed and embedded, to avoid unintended consequences on energy access and vulnerable households

The Circular Economy and product policy

The aim of the ‘Circular Economy and Product Policy’ project was to explore how the objectives of a sustainable circular economy can be integrated into environmental product policy. Building on interviews and workshops with international and Finnish experts, the multidisciplinary project identified and examined in detail four areas of product policy in the rapidly evolving regulatory environment of the European Union: 1) the Ecodesign Directive, 2) extended producer responsibility (EPR), 3) product service systems (PSSs), and 4) environmental product claims. The review of the policy instruments in, e.g., the workshops showed that there is still room for improvement in existing product policy instruments, yet also a clear need for new instruments. In addition to recommendations on individual policy instruments, the project proposes cross-cutting measures: more systematic ex-post evaluations of the impacts of policy instruments, and attention to the coherence of the numerous and varied instruments, national policies, information systems, and environmental impacts. The circular economy is only a means to an end; environmental and other sustainability considerations must remain at the heart of product policy.This publication is part of the implementation of the Government Plan for Analysis, Assessment and Research (tietokayttoon.fi). The content is the responsibility of the producers of the information and does not necessarily represent the view of the Government

Hiili- ja ympäristöjalanjälki hankinnoissa : lainsäädäntö ja mittaaminen (HILMI)

HILMI-hankkeen tavoitteena oli selvittää, miten lainsäädäntöä ja muita ohjauskeinoja tulisi kehittää, ja miten seurata ja mitata hankintojen toteutumista, jotta julkisten hankintojen hiili- ja ympäristöjalanjälkeä voitaisiin pienentää kustannustehokkaasti. Hanke toteutettiin kolmessa vaiheessa. Hankkeessa laadittiin ensinnäkin julkisten hankintojen tuoteryhmien luokittelu niiden ’ympäristövaikutuspotentiaalin’ perusteella. Näin tunnistettiin tuoteryhmät, joihin hankintojen ohjauskeinojen tulee ensisijaisesti keskittyä. Toiseksi, HILMI-hankkeessa selvitettiin, miten eri ohjauskeinoja olisi kehitettävä ympäristönäkökulmien huomioimiseksi julkisissa hankinnoissa. Tämä onnistuu parhaiten keskittymällä viiteen teemaan: 1) ympäristövaikutuksiltaan merkittävimpien tuoteryhmien listan laatiminen ja ylläpito 2) näille tuoteryhmille räätälöityjen ohjauskeinoyhdistelmien kehittäminen 3) kestävien hankintojen tekemistä tukevien rakenteiden luominen 4) tiedolla tukemisen ja mittaamisen kehittäminen ja resursointi 5) kestävien hankintojen hankintastrategiat hankintayksiköille. HILMI-hankkeen kolmannen osa-alueen, mittaamisen ja raportoinnin, suhteen tutkimusryhmä esittää systemaattista hankinnan panosten (tarjouspyynnöt eli input), tulosten (voittanut tarjous eli output) ja vaikutusten (hankittujen tuotteiden aiheuttamat päästöt eli impact) ympäristönäkökulmien arviointia. Suomeen tulee tässä tarkoituksessa rakentaa vaiheittain kansallinen tietojärjestelmä, jossa hyödynnetään tekoälyä ympäristövaikutusten mittaamisessa.Tämä julkaisu on toteutettu osana valtioneuvoston selvitys- ja tutkimussuunnitelman toimeenpanoa. (tietokayttoon.fi) Julkaisun sisällöstä vastaavat tiedon tuottajat, eikä tekstisisältö välttämättä edusta valtioneuvoston näkemystä

Radical Immersions: Navigating between virtual/physical environments and information bubbles - DRHA 2019 Conference Proceedings

This publication consists of the peer-reviewed papers and posters presented at the DRHA 2019 Conference "Radical Immersions: navigating between virtual / physical environments and information bubbles". The conference was held at Watermans Arts Centre, London (8-10 September 2019). For further information: http://www.2019.drha.uk

New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution.

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms

Antibody-induced nonapoptotic cell death in human lymphoma and leukemia cells is mediated through a novel reactive oxygen species-dependent pathway.

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have revolutionized the treatment of B-cell malignancies. Although Fc-dependent mechanisms of mAb-mediated tumor clearance have been extensively studied, the ability of mAbs to directly evoke programmed cell death (PCD) in the target cell and the underlying mechanisms involved remain under-investigated. We recently demonstrated that certain mAbs (type II anti-CD20 and anti-HLA DR mAbs) potently evoked PCD through an actin-dependent, lysosome-mediated process. Here, we reveal that the induction of PCD by these mAbs, including the type II anti-CD20 mAb GA101 (obinutuzumab), directly correlates with their ability to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) in human B-lymphoma cell lines and primary B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells. ROS scavengers abrogated mAb-induced PCD indicating that ROS are required for the execution of cell death. ROS were generated downstream of mAb-induced actin cytoskeletal reorganization and lysosome membrane permeabilization. ROS production was independent of mitochondria and unaffected by BCL-2 overexpression. Instead, ROS generation was mediated by nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase. These findings provide further insights into a previously unrecognized role for NADPH oxidase-derived ROS in mediating nonapoptotic PCD evoked by mAbs in B-cell malignancies. This newly characterized cell death pathway may potentially be exploited to eliminate malignant cells, which are refractory to conventional chemotherapy and immunotherapy

Genome-wide meta-analysis identifies 11 new loci for anthropometric traits and provides insights into genetic architecture

Approaches exploiting trait distribution extremes may be used to identify loci associated with common traits, but it is unknown whether these loci are generalizable to the broader population. In a genome-wide search for loci associated with the upper versus the lower 5th percentiles of body mass index, height and waist-to-hip ratio, as well as clinical classes of obesity, including up to 263,407 individuals of European ancestry, we identified 4 new loci (IGFBP4, H6PD, RSRC1 and PPP2R2A) influencing height detected in the distribution tails and 7 new loci (HNF4G, RPTOR, GNAT2, MRPS33P4, ADCY9, HS6ST3 and ZZZ3) for clinical classes of obesity. Further, we find a large overlap in genetic structure and the distribution of variants between traits based on extremes and the general population and little etiological heterogeneity between obesity subgroups