A framework for the exergy analysis of future transport pathways: Application for the United Kingdom transport system 2010-2050

Exergy analysis has been used to quantify the historical resource use efficiency and environmental impact of transport systems. However, few exergy studies have explored future transport pathways. This study aims to, (a) develop a conceptual framework for the exergy analysis of multiple future transport and electricity pathways, (b) apply this framework to quantify future resource consumption and service delivery patterns, (c) discuss the policy-relevant results that exergy studies of future transport systems can offer. Multiple transport and electricity pathways developed by the UK Government are used to explore changes in energy use, useful work delivery and greenhouse gas emissions. In passenger transport, ambitious electrification results in a 20% increase of useful work delivery, whilst reducing GHG emissions and energy consumption by 65%. For freight, international shipping and aviation, smaller exergy efficiency improvements make useful work delivery and greenhouse gas emissions highly dependent on transport demand. Passenger transport electrification brings a step-change in useful work delivery, which if accompanied by low-carbon electricity, significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions. The efficiency of low-carbon electricity systems is significant for useful work delivery, but not dominant across the scenarios explored. High penetration of renewables and electrified transport is the most resource-efficient combination in this context.EB was supported by Newcastle University with funding from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). AG acknowledges funding through a Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship (Project ABioPES, 302880) offered by the European Commission. AS commenced the research in this paper whilst at IN+ Center for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research, Instituto Superior Técnico - University of Lisbon with funding from FCT (PhD grant SFRH/BD/46794/2008), and finalized it while at the University of Cambridge (EPSRC grant EP/K011774/1).This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2015.07.02

Negligible impacts of early COVID-19 confinement on household carbon footprints in Japan

The rapid and extensive changes in household consumption patterns during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic can serve as a natural experiment for exploring the environmental outcomes of changing human behavior. Here, we assess the carbon footprint of household consumption in Japan during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic (January–May 2020), which were characterized by moderate confinement measures. The associated lifestyle changes did not have a significant effect on the overall household carbon footprint compared with 2015–2019 levels. However, there were significant trade-offs between individual consumption categories such that the carbon footprint increased for some categories (e.g., eating at home) or declined (e.g., eating out, transportation, clothing, and entertainment) or remained relatively unchanged (e.g., housing) for others. Furthermore, carbon footprint patterns between age groups were largely consistent with 2015–2019 levels. However, changes in food-related carbon footprints were visible for all age groups since March and, in some cases, since February

Sustainable but hungry? Food security outcomes of certification for cocoa and oil palm smallholders in Ghana

Open Access Journal; Published online: 14 Apr 2021Cocoa and oil palm are the major commodity crops produced in Ghana and livelihood options for hundreds of thousands of rural households. However, their production has negative environmental and socioeconomic impacts. Certification standards have been promoted as a market-led mechanism to ensure their sustainable production. Even though food security does not feature in the theory of change of most certification standards, there are interesting intersections. This paper assesses the food security outcomes of certification adoption among cocoa and oil palm smallholders in Ghana. We analyse 608 household surveys from two study sites using propensity score matching and multiple standardized metrics of food security such as the Food Consumption Score (FCS), the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) and the Coping Strategies Index. Certified cocoa/oil palm farmers are more food secure than uncertified farmers and food crop farmers across most indicators and group comparisons. However, the differences are for most indicators not substantial or statistically significant (except the HFIAS). In fact, 65% and 68% of the certified cocoa and oil palm farmers are vulnerable to food insecurity in terms of the FCS. These results suggest that even though certification adoption can improve the livelihoods and yields of farmers, in reality it has marginal effect on food security. Certification standards would need to emphasize food security in their guidelines, theories of change and support packages to smallholders if they are to enhance food security and have a truly positive effect on the sustainability of cocoa and oil palm production

Monthly direct and indirect greenhouse gases emissions from household consumption in the major Japanese cities

Urban household consumption contributes substantially to global greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions. Urban household emissions encompass both direct and indirect emissions, with the former associated with the direct use of fossil fuels and the latter with the emissions embodied in the consumed goods and services. However, there is a lack of consistent and comprehensive datasets outlining in great detail emissions from urban household consumption. To bridge this data gap, we construct an emission inventory of urban household emissions for 52 major cities in Japan that covers around 500 emission categories. The dataset spans from January 2011 to December 2015 and contains 12,384 data records for direct emissions and 1,543,128 records for indirect emissions. Direct emission intensity is provided in g-CO2/JPY to facilitate both future studies of household emission in Japan, as well as act as a reference for the development of detailed household emission inventories in other countries

Sustainability appraisal: Jack of all trades, master of none?

Sustainable development is a commonly quoted goal for decision making and supports a large number of other discourses. Sustainability appraisal has a stated goal of supporting decision making for sustainable development. We suggest that the inherent flexibility of sustainability appraisal facilitates outcomes that often do not adhere to the three goals enshrined in most definitions of sustainable development: economic growth, environmental protection and enhancement, and the wellbeing of the human population. Current practice is for sustainable development to be disenfranchised through the interpretation of sustainability, whereby the best alternative is good enough even when unsustainable. Practitioners must carefully and transparently review the frameworks applied during sustainability appraisal to ensure that outcomes will meet the three goals, rather than focusing on a discourse that emphasises one or more goals at the expense of the other(s)

Spatial variability in sustainable development trajectories in South Africa:provincial level safe and just operating spaces

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represents the first globally agreed framework to address human development and environmental stewardship in an integrated way. One approach to summarising national SDG status is our “barometer for inclusive sustainable development in South Africa”. The barometer downscales global social and planetary boundaries to provide status and trends for 20 critical indicators of environmental stress and social deprivation. In this paper, we explore the sub-national heterogeneity in sustainable development indicators by creating barometers defining the ‘safe and just operating space’ for South Africa’s nine provinces. Our results show that environmental stress varies significantly and provinces need to focus on quite different issues. Although generally environmental stress is increasing, there are areas where it is decreasing, most notably, marine harvesting. Social deprivation results show more of a pattern with high levels of deprivation in employment, income and safety across the provinces, and historically disadvantaged provinces showing the most deprivation overall. Although deprivation is generally decreasing, there are notable exceptions such as food security in six provinces. Our provincial barometers and trend plots are novel in that they present comparable environmental and social data on key indicators over time for all South Africa’s provinces. They are visual tools that communicate the range of key challenges and risks that provincial governments face, and are non-specialist and accessible to a range of audiences. In addition, the paper provides a critical case study of spatial disaggregation of national data that is required for the SDGs implementation

A Soil Management Assessment Framework (SMAF) Evaluation of Brazilian Sugarcane Expansion on Soil Quality

The Soil Management Assessment Framework (SMAF) was developed to evaluate impacts of land use and management practices on soil quality (SQ), but its suitability for Brazilian tropical soils was unknown. We hypothesized that SMAF would be sensitive enough to detect SQ changes associated with sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) expansion for ethanol production. Field studies were performed at three sites across the south-central region of Brazil, aiming to quantify the impacts of a land use change sequence (i.e., native vegetation–pasture–sugarcane) on SQ. Eight soil indicators were individually scored using SMAF curves developed primarily for North American soils and integrated into an overall Soil Quality Index (SQI) and its chemical, physical, and biological sectors. The SMAF scores were correlated with two other approaches used to assess SQ changes, soil organic C (SOC) stocks and Visual Evaluation of Soil Structure (VESS) scores. Our findings showed that the SMAF was an efficient tool for assessing land use change effects on the SQ of Brazilian tropical soils. The SMAF scoring curves developed using robust algorithms allowed proper assignment of scores for the soil chemical, physical, and biological indicators assessed. The SQI scores were significantly correlated with SOC stocks and VESS scores. Long-term transition from native vegetation to extensive pasture promoted significant decreases in soil chemical, physical, and biological indicators. Overall SQI suggested that soils under native vegetation were functioning at 87% of their potential capacity, while pasture soils were functioning at 70%. Conversions of pasture to sugarcane induced slight improvements in SQ, primarily because of improved soil fertility. Sugarcane soils are functioning at 74% of their potential capacity. Based on this study, management strategies were developed to improve SQ and the sustainability of sugarcane production in Brazil