Consumption-based accounting of U.S. CO2 emissions from 1990 to 2010

To tackle global climate change, it is desirable to reduce CO2 emissions associated with household consumption in particular in developed countries, which tend to have much higher per capita household carbon footprints than less developed countries. Our results show that carbon intensity of different consumption categories in the U.S. varies significantly. The carbon footprint tends to increase with increasing income but at a decreasing rate due to additional income being spent on less carbon intensive consumption items. This general tendency is frequently compensated by higher frequency of international trips and higher housing related carbon emissions (larger houses and more space for consumption items). Our results also show that more than 30% of CO2 emissions associated with household consumption in the U.S. occur outside of the U.S. Given these facts, the design of carbon mitigation policies should take changing household consumption patterns and international trade into account

What to expect from a greater geographic dispersion of wind farms? - A risk portfolio approach

The UK, like many other industrialised countries, is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto Protocol. To achieve this goal the UK is increasingly turning towards wind power as a source of emissions free energy. However, the variable nature of wind power generation makes it an unreliable energy source, especially at higher rates of penetration. Likewise the aim of this paper is to measure the potential reduction in wind power variability that could be realised as a result of geographically dispersing the location of wind farm sites. To achieve this aim wind speed data will be used to simulate two scenarios. The first scenario involves locating a total of 2.7 gigawatts (GW) of wind power capacity in a single location within the UK while the second scenario consists of sharing the same amount of capacity amongst four different locations. A risk portfolio approach as used in financial appraisals is then applied in the second scenario to decide upon the allocation of wind power capacity, amongst the four wind farm sites, that succeeds in minimising overall variability for a given level of wind power generation. The findings of this paper indicate that reductions in the order of 36% in wind power variability are possible as a result of distributing wind power capacity

The Unintended Side Effects of Bioplastics:Carbon, Land, and Water Footprints

The environmental impacts of plastics have become an important political and academic topic. One of the main applications of plastics is packaging, a product with a very short service life, leading to a wide range of environmental problems. In this Perspective, we look at the potential environmental consequences (in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and land and water footprints) of substitution of petrochemical plastics used for packaging in Europe with bioplastics. The research is based on a review of life cycle impact assessment studies and additional calculations to assess the footprints of this substitution. The results demonstrate that currently it does not seem feasible to replace all the petrochemical plastic packaging with bioplastic because this will inevitably result in a considerable increase of land and water use. Unless we find ways to decrease plastic demand, most of the efforts to stop plastic pollution are likely to prove temporary and inadequate

Household carbon inequality in the U.S

Household carbon emissions are mainly affected by income and other key demographic factors. Understanding the contribution of these factors can inform climate responsibilities and potential demand side climate mitigation strategies. By linking US consumer expenditure survey data with a nested national within a global multi-regional input-output model, this study estimates consumption-based GHG emissions for 9 income groups and assesses the carbon inequality in the US for 2015. Our results show that the per capita carbon footprint (CF) of the highest income group (200 thousand USD per year) with 32.3 tons is about 2.6 times the per capita CF of the lowest income group

Erratum:The Unintended Side Effects of Bioplastics: Carbon, Land, and Water Footprints (One Earth (2020) 3(1) (45–53), (S2590332220303055), (10.1016/j.oneear.2020.06.016))

(One Earth 3, 45–53, July 24, 2020) In the originally published version of this article, the authors inadvertently used global volumes of bioplastics in plastic packaging instead of European volumes for Figure 1C. After noticing this, the authors recalculated European bioplastic packaging consumption, and as such, Figure 1 and its legend have been corrected in the online article (as shown below) to reflect all data sources used for estimating European bioplastic volumes in Figure 1C. In the Experimental Procedures, the Data and Code Availability section has been updated, and the section “Estimation of European Bioplastic Volumes” has been added. Additionally, reference 69 is new, and two incorrect citations of a Table 3 (which is not present in the article) have been changed to Figure 2 and Table 2 on pages 49 and 51, respectively. These changes do not affect the conclusions of the article because Figure 1 is not used in later calculations; it is rather an illustrative description of the role of bioplastics in the current European packaging market. The authors sincerely apologize to readers for any confusion that may have resulted from this oversight. [Figure presented] [Figure presented

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on surface passenger transport and related CO2 emissions during different waves

The coronavirus pandemic has severely impacted our day-to-day activities and brought about significant change in all major sectors, especially surface passenger transport. Lockdowns and stay-at-home restrictions have significantly reduced energy demand and consequently CO2 emissions of surface passenger transport. The change in CO2 emissions is calculated from near-real-time activity change data as a function of 3 confinement levels. The activity change and related emission trends reflect changes in mode of transport during different waves, this can be used to understand mobility trend and patterns when stringent measures are imposed. Consequently, constructive use of this data can help prepare and develop the transport sector in case of another epidemic outbreak or other unprecedented calamities and to build a resilient transport infrastructure post- COVID-19 This study estimates and analyzes the changes in CO2 emissions associated with the public (bus and rail) and private surface passenger transport from March 1st, 2020 to Jan 31st, 2021 in 21 countries. The research period covers the 1st and the 2nd waves of COVID-19 in these countries. A higher activity reduction and consequently CO2 emission reduction is displayed during the 1st wave compared to the 2nd for most countries despite implementing stringent measures during both waves. This is in line with countries adapting to the "new normal" and restarting socio-economic activities. Similarly, public transport recovery is slower than private transport recovery, making it essential to focus on reinforcement and adaptation of public transport infrastructure for the future. The results show that a cumulative 510 Mt CO2 has been reduced over 11 months in 21 countries, compared to pre-pandemic levels. This reduction brings about a 6% drop in transport CO2 emissions and a 1.5% drop in global CO2 emissions. This analysis sheds light on mobility trends and travel behavior of surface passenger transport modes and related CO2 emissions in different countries which can be used to exemplify the path to recovery based on near-real-tim

Implications of COVID-19 lockdowns on surface passenger mobility and related CO₂ emission changes in Europe

The coronavirus pandemic has severely affected our daily lives, with direct consequences on passenger transport. This in turn has strongly impacted the energy demand of the transport sector and associated CO(2) emissions. We analyse near real-time passenger mobility and related emission trends in Europe between 21 January and 21 September 2020. We compiled a dataset of country-, sector- and lockdown- specific values, representing daily activity changes in private, public, and active passenger transport. In the aggregate, surface passenger transport emissions fell by 11.2% corresponding to 40.3 MtCO(2) in Europe. This decline was predominantly due to the reduction of private passenger transport in five European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK). During the first lockdown in April 2020, CO(2) emissions from surface passenger transport declined by 50% in Europe, resulting in a 7.1% reduction in total CO(2) emissions. After April 2020, private passenger travel recovered rapidly, while public passenger flows remained low. Solely prompted by the private sector, a rebound in total emissions and surface passenger transport emissions of 1.5% and 10.7%, respectively, was estimated at the end of the study period. The resulting situation of increased private and decreased public passenger transport is in contradiction to major climate goals, and without reversing these trends, emission reductions, as stated in the European Green Deal are unlikely to be achieved. Our study provides an analysis based on a detailed and timely set of data of surface passenger transport and points to options to grasp the momentum for innovative changes in passenger mobility

Developing a panarchy model of landscape conservation and management of alpine-mountain grassland in Northern Italy.

This paper explores methods of applying resilience theory to a case study of natural resource management and the cultural landscape of upland and alpine pasture in northern Italy. We identify that the close interaction between alpine pastures and its managers offers a strong fit with the concept of a social-ecological system that maintains the cultural landscape. We first considered a descriptive approach looking historically at socio-economic development in the study area. We explored whether this can be related to resilience phenomena such as regime shifts, thresholds and/or regime stability through adaptive processes. However, we found it difficult at this overarching level to conceptually combine natural and social capital of alpine pastures and their managers in any quantitative way. We also interpreted our data through considering economic, social and ecological information as acting within separate but interacting domains. This led us to construct conceptual models of adaptive cycles to describe the alpine mountain grassland ecosystem of our study site and to conclude that a panarchy model can offer a powerful metaphor for its ecological dynamics. This has practical implications both for the management of Natura 2000 interest and the maintenance of the cultural landscape in which this Alpine interest occurs. We suggest that Resilience theory through its dynamic approach of interacting scales of adaptive cycles offers useful insights into the resource management (of valued cultural and natural attributes) but that care is needed in distinguishing between descriptive metaphor and predictive model or "real" system.natural resource management, natural and social capital