World-class research. World-class researchers. Condensed here.

International climate goals imply reaching net-zero global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by roughly mid-century. Among the most difficult emissions to avoid will be those from aviation.

Nature

Pathways to net-zero emissions from aviation

Hydrothermal carbonization of lignocellulosic biomass—the most abundant renewable feedstock—is a promising method for the production of carbon materials with negative carbon emissions. This method has attracted a great deal of attention over the past decade because it uses water which is inherently present in green biomass and non-toxic.

Phys.org

Breaking the temperature barrier of hydrothermal carbonization of lignocellulosic biomass

Not only could the research make catalytic converters less attractive to thieves, but it could also help the environment.


Science Daily

Researchers work to reduce the amount of precious metals in catalytic converters

Environmental injustices have exposed our current system of reliance on polluting and toxic chemicals and chemistries as untenable and one whose risks and burdens are disproportionately borne by those who are disadvantaged.

Green chemistry as just chemistry

A thesis by Connolly Wilkins for a Master of Architecture at the University of Sydney explores a possible socio-ecological approach to the climate crisis through the elements of degrowth design parameters. It proposes a housing scheme on the site of the abandoned White Bay Power Station in Roselle, Sydney, Australia.



Heliocene

The Architecture of Degrowth

Agricultural expansion to meet humanity’s growing needs for food and materials is a leading driver of land-use change, exacerbating climate change and biodiversity loss. Seaweed biomass farmed in the ocean could help reduce demand for terrestrial crops and reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions by providing a substitute or supplement for food, animal feed and biofuels. 

Reducing global land-use pressures with seaweed farming

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the wastewater sector are a major contributor to the overall GHG emissions of all countries, however, there is currently a lack of global, national-scale, detailed spatiotemporal emission data. 

Spatiotemporal pattern of greenhouse gas emissions in China’s wastewater sector and pathways towards carbon neutrality

Diamonds are supposedly abundantly present in different objects in the Universe including meteorites, carbon-rich stars as well as carbon-rich extrasolar planets.

Production of diamond using intense heavy ion beams at the FAIR facility and application to planetary physics

As the world transitions to net zero, energy storage is becoming increasingly important for applications such as electric vehicles, mini-grids, and utility-scale grid stability. The growing demand for storage will constrain raw battery materials, reduce the availability of new batteries, and increase the rate of battery retirement. 

Second-life battery systems for affordable energy access in Kenyan primary schools

Heavy industry can face challenges in choosing applicable climate change mitigation measures due to a lack of technical background and practical guidance. A better understanding of these determinants is needed to design region-specific climate policies that most effectively enable more ‘successful’ low carbon transitions.

A study of management decisions to adopt emission reduction measures in heavy industry in an emerging economy

Every year, the United States spends nearly a trillion dollars fighting metallic corrosion, an electrochemical reaction that occurs when metals oxidize and begin to rust. By taking on this surprisingly insidious issue, researchers have now estimated how much corrosion is gradually worsening global carbon emissions.



Reducing steel corrosion vital to combating climate change

Yannai Kashtan and his colleagues propose that universities should sever research links with fossil-fuel companies. We argue that collaboration in some areas is essential to ensure a timely transition to clean energy, given the substantial funding needed to quickly develop and scale up green technologies.



Fossil-fuel funding could speed energy transition

Intensively managed open croplands are highly productive but often have deleterious environmental impacts.  Temperate agroforestry potentially improves ecosystem functions, although comprehensive analysis is lacking.

Multifunctionality of temperate alley-cropping agroforestry outperforms open cropland and grassland

From tiny plankton to massive whales, microplastics have been found throughout the ocean food chain

Hand washing fabrics reduces microplastic release compared with machine washing

National climate institutions structure the process of climate mitigation policymaking and shape climate policy ambition and performance. Countries have, for example, been building science bodies, passing climate laws and creating new agencies. Here we provide the first systematic comparison of climate institutions across 21 of the largest emitters.

National models of climate governance among major emitters

A chemical used in the production of toilet paper and 'forever chemicals' have been found in the bodies of orcas in B.C. , including the endangered southern resident killer whales.

Toxic toilet paper and long-lasting chemicals found in endangered killer whales

Intact forests are important climate regulators and harbors of biodiversity, but they are rapidly disappearing. Agriculture is commonly considered to be the major culprit behind forest loss, but the authors of a new article show that agriculture isn't solely to blame.

Forests face fierce threats from multiple industries, not just agricultural expansion

Sustainable intensification needs to optimize irrigation and fertilization strategies while increasing crop yield.

Precision agriculture management based on a surrogate model assisted multiobjective algorithmic framework

Small and Medium Forest Enterprises are considered promoters of local development and growth due to their contributions to over 50% of forest-based employment in some countries like Brazil, Uganda, and India. 

The characteristics and impact of small and medium forest enterprises on sustainable forest management in Ghana

Public opposition to new energy technology can harm the chances of successful deployment. 

Perception spillover from fracking onto public perceptions of novel energy technologies

While sustainability is at the centre of many government agendas, there is a great risk of entrusting strategic decisions to those lacking in sustainability expertise. It is therefore necessary to ensure that universities are the green engines of sustainable communities. 

Sustainable education and youth confidence as pillars of future civil society

A new study shows that global atmospheric dust -- microscopic airborne particles from desert dust storms -- has a slight overall cooling effect on the planet that has hidden the full amount of warming caused by greenhouse gases.

Increased atmospheric dust is masking greenhouse gases' warming effect

Researchers suggest that rising levels of humanmade chemicals, accumulating in marine plankton, might be used to monitor the impact of human activity on ecosystem health and perhaps study links between ocean pollution and land-based rates of childhood and adult chronic illnesses.

Marine plankton tell the long story of ocean health, and maybe human too

Chemical and environmental engineers detailed a method to convert plastic waste into a highly porous form of charcoal that has a whopping surface area of about 400 square meters per gram of mass.

Turning plastic waste into a valuable soil additive

An innovative technique is being developed by scientists that could allow Australia to lead the way in more sustainable manufacturing of fuels and chemicals.

Mirage

Catalyst for more efficient chemical production on horizon

Connections between climate and conflict have been the centre of critical debate and discussion. In this Viewpoint, five researchers provide their thoughts and opinions on the topic, outlining the types of conflict that can be linked to climate variability, and how these relationships might evolve with ongoing climate change.

nature reviews

Climate Change and Conflict

We feel 2023 is most likely the final opportunity for the energy sector to proactively reclaim the investment narrative. The regulatory environment generally moves at a glacier space, but once it settles on incremental regulatory measures, reversing course and retracting measures rarely occur.



Harvard Law School

The Top 15 Anticipated ESG-Related Considerations That Will Influence Strategy in 2023

On 19 December, nearly 200 countries signed a historic agreement to protect the world’s biodiversity at the COP15 UN summit in Montreal. WUR researchers Jelle Behagel, Sylvia Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen and Liesje Mommer closely followed the summit. What do they think of the outcome of the negotiations?

India EducationDiary

Wageningen University & Research Experts Step Up With Biodiversity Agreement

The internal soil nitrogen (N) cycle supplies N to plants and microorganisms but may induce N pollution in the environment. Understanding the variability of gross N cycling rates resulting from the global spatial heterogeneity of climatic and edaphic variables is essential for estimating the potential risk of N loss. 

Expanding agroforestry can increase nitrate retention and mitigate the global impact of a leaky nitrogen cycle in croplands

Climate change could overexpose rare underwater 'marimo' algae balls to sunlight, killing them off according to a new study

Massive 'marimo' algae balls at risk from deadly winter sunburn

Researchers have developed accurate nation-wide mapping of the carbon content of trees based on aerial images.


Rwandan tree carbon stock mapped from above

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Institute for Cooperative Upcycling of Plastics (iCOUP) have developed a new method for recycling high-density polyethylene (HDPE).



Scientists enhance recyclability of post-consumer plastic

The total amount of microplastics deposited on the bottom of oceans has tripled in the past two decades with a progression that corresponds to the type and volume of consumption of plastic products by society.


Microplastics deposited on the seafloor triple in 20 years

The Green Revolution of the 1960s pulled India from the brink of starvation, transformed the country’s ability to feed itself and turned it into a big food exporter. But the revolution also made India the world’s biggest extractor of groundwater.

The gains of water extraction are also tailing off; a 2019 study by the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, shows that over 39 million hectares (ha) of area in the country under wheat, rice and maize has not shown improvement in the past decade.

Down to Earth

Regenerative agriculture can help save water

In our recent analysis of the National Crime Victimization Survey, we found that the odds of being a violent hate crime victim for LGBTQ people was nine times greater than it was for cisgender and straight people from 2017 to 2019.

There were an average annual 6.6 violent hate crime victimizations per 1,000 LGBTQ people during this three year period.

In contrast, there were 0.6 violent hate crime victimizations per 1,000 cisgender and straight people.

The Conversation

LGBTQ Americans are 9 times more likely to be victimized by a hate crime

Studying the empirical relationship between green technologies and industrial production at very fine-grained levels by employing Economic Complexity techniques.

The trickle down from environmental innovation to productive complexity

Hydrogen (H2) is expected to play a crucial role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, hydrogen losses to the atmosphere impact atmospheric chemistry, including positive feedback on methane (CH4), the second most important greenhouse gas.

Risk of the hydrogen economy for atmospheric methane

An international collaboration of scientists has created the first inventory of flora introduced to the tropics, filling a knowledge gap about invasive plants in the tropics.


Uncovering plant invasions in the tropics

Researchers calculated that 74 metric tons of microplastics are dropping out of the atmosphere onto the city annually, the equivalent of more than 3 million plastic bottles falling from the sky.


Microplastic pollution swirling in city air: Millions of plastic bottles per year

Racism in Aotearoa New Zealand has been increasingly under the spotlight in recent years. The 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks amplified conversations about racial equality that continued in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests.

But racism is a complicated topic and not all minorities experience it in the same way or to the same extent. As our recent research found, financial wealth and a person's ability to "pass" as white can have a significant impact on how they experience racism. 

A new study shows NZ's young minorities feel racism differently—wealth or 'passing' as white makes a difference

Researchers have used gold extracted from electronic waste as catalysts for reactions that could be applied to making medicines.



Recycled gold from SIM cards could help make drugs more sustainable

A six-month study concludes that the use of portable home air purifiers can improve some markers of cardiovascular health in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD


Household air cleaners improve heart health among individuals with COPD, researchers find

Thanks to new University of Colorado Boulder research, scientists see the impact of flushing the toilet in a whole new light -- and now, the world can as well.



Scientists shine a light on what comes up when you flush

The deployment of carbon dioxide removal is essential to reach global and national net-zero emissions targets, but little attention has been paid to its practical deployment by countries. Here, we analyse how carbon dioxide removal methods are integrated into 41 of the 50 Long-term Low Emission Development Strategies submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), before 2022.

Long-term national climate strategies bet on forests and soils to reach net-zero

Plastics show the strongest production growth of all bulk materials and are already responsible for 4.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions1,2.

Plastic futures and their CO2 emissions

An almost limitless supply of fresh water exists in the form of water vapor above Earth's oceans, yet remains untapped, researchers said. 

Researchers propose new structures to harvest untapped source of freshwater

Researchers have developed a new method for producing a key component of lithium-ion batteries. The result is a more affordable battery from a faster, less wasteful process that uses less toxic material.

New manufacturing process produces better, cheaper cathodes for lithium-ion batteries

Bullying disparities were particularly severe across sex and sexual identity. Female adolescents had nearly double the odds of being bullied compared to male adolescents. Adolescents who reported their sexual identity as bisexual, gay, lesbian, or “not sure” had similarly increased odds of being bullied compared to heterosexual peers. These disparities carried over to being bullied offline only, online only, or both. American Indian/Alaskan Native and non-Hispanic Multiracial were the racial/ethnic groups with the highest rates of being bullied.

Suicide attempts and bullying highest for sexual minorities and female teenagers

The UK may be more ethnically and racially diverse than ever, but minorities working in the financial services industry continue to face discrimination, according to a new study.

About 70% of ethnic minorities working in finance have experienced discrimination at work in the last year and four-fifths have experienced unwelcome comments based on their background.

Bloomberg

Most Ethnic Minorities in UK Finance Face Racism

The first global survey on experiences of violence and harassment at work aims to bring a better understanding and awareness of an issue rooted in complex economic, social and cultural factors.

International Labour Organization

Violence and harassment at work has affected more than one in five people

Academic | Research

Hydrogen, currently rather expensive, can be produced sustainably and generate both heat and electricity and the German national hydrogen strategy includes storage of hydrogen. In terms of sustainably generated energy and despite potential storage losses, peri-urban greenhouses can be heated sustainably even without access to circular city heat resources.

City or hinterland – site potentials for upscaled aquaponics in a Berlin case study

As the crisis at the Zaporizhzhia plant worsens, international agreements need to be extended to ensure nuclear safety during war.

Attacks on Ukrainian nuclear-power plants challenge treaties

In rivers around the world, hydropower development has altered the seasonal hydrological regime, which drives key ecosystem services.

Opportunities to curb hydrological alterations via dam re-operation in the Mekong

Hydrogen has the highest gravimetric energy density of any energy carrier and produces water as the only oxidation product, making it extremely attractive for both transportation and stationary power applications. However, its low volumetric energy density causes considerable difficulties, inspiring intense efforts to develop chemical-based storage using metal hydrides, liquid organic hydrogen carriers and sorbents.

Challenges to developing materials for the transport and storage of hydrogen

Cobalt, widely used in the layered oxide cathodes needed for long-range electric vehicles (EVs), has been identified as a key EV supply bottleneck. Many reports have proposed that nickel-rich, cobalt-free cathodes can—in addition to supply chain benefits—herald significant increases in energy density and reductions in EV cost if they can be stabilized

The predicted persistence of cobalt in lithium-ion batteries

Transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources is a critical global challenge; it demands advances — at the materials, devices and systems levels — for the efficient harvesting, storage, conversion and management of renewable energy. Energy researchers have begun to incorporate machine learning (ML) techniques to accelerate these advances.

Machine learning for a sustainable energy future

Plastic waste from food deliveries is rapidly polluting the environment. An alternative that has emerged is bioplastic, which is also called biodegradable plastic. Recently, a Korea-Spain joint research team recreated bioplastic from waste byproducts from gas fermentation from steel mills.

Steel mill gases transformed into bioplastic

The extraction of cobalt ions from the aqueous phase with the absence and the presence of other ions was investigated using polyethylene glycol, and ammonium sulfate salt without using an extractant. The efficiency was evaluated using operating parameters such as aqueous pH, salt and polymer concentrations, phase volume ratio, and initial metal concentration. The higher temperature, and the lower aqueous pH showed a maximum transfer rate for cobalt ions into the PEG1000 phase

An efficiency strategy for cobalt recovery from simulated wastewater by biphasic system with polyethylene glycol and ammonium sulfate

With electric vehicles sales soaring worldwide, potential buyers are not just weighing up the price tag, but also the logistics and expense of charging the planet-friendly cars. A new study shows households with solar panels and batteries will be the big winners.

More reasons to go solar when gearing up for a greener drive

Electric vehicles will contribute to emissions reductions in the United States, but their charging may challenge electricity grid operations. We present a data-driven, realistic model of charging demand that captures the diverse charging behaviours of future adopters in the US Western Interconnection. 

Charging infrastructure access and operation to reduce the grid impacts of deep electric vehicle adoption

 Our new investigation details the role of oil and gas companies in hijacking science at elite universities in the US, mimicking the tactics of tobacco companies. By demanding more science, not less, and, crucially, influencing science to counter research that shows smoking to be harmful, the tobacco companies pulled off a “public relations masterstroke.” It’s a success that oil and gas companies have sought to emulate since the turn of the millennium.

The BMJ

How Big Oil is manipulating climate science

Paul Thacker examines how oil and gas companies have funded research to try to weaken messages on climate change and protect their interests

Stealing from the tobacco playbook, fossil fuel companies pour money into elite American universities

The growing demand for nickel, copper, cobalt, and zinc -- raw materials for solar panels and batteries -- puts the mining and metals sector in the spotlight of climate change mitigation. But how does the sector itself fare when it comes to meeting the sustainable development goals? Researchers analyzed the global trends of patents related to climate change mitigation technology filed by the mining and metals sectors to find out.


Digging through patents to make mining greener

Images of damaged coastlines, oily sheens, containment booms and endangered wildlife are part of every offshore oil spill. And while a response team arrives and the clean up gets underway, researchers are now exploring how to effectively handle the waste created from that spill.


What happens to the waste after an oil spill clean up?

Increasing inertia is widely considered to be the solution to resolving unstable interactions between coupled oscillators. In power grids, Virtual Synchronous Generators (VSGs) are proposed to compensate for reducing inertia as rotating fossil-fuel-based generators are being phased out.

Coupled power generators require stability buffers in addition to inertia

This study analyses the potential for expanding renewable and nuclear energy use in Cambodia. They surveyed officials from the government and various institutions to derive practical recommendations for the political sector. 

Taylor & Francis Online

An analysis of Cambodia’s policy-maker’s acceptance of renewable and nuclear energy

Among the rechargeable batteries, aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs), due to their safety, low cost, eco-friendly, and simplicity in construction, have received much attentions. One of the most critical parts of the battery technology is the electrolyte additives, which have been less studied against their essential roles.

artaric acid as a novel additive for approaching high-performance capacity retention in zinc-ion battery

A group of public health experts from several universities and organizations is urging adoption of a multi-layered approach when developing policies to mitigate the impact of gas and oil production operations.

Multi-layered strategies needed to protect public health from oil and gas drilling impacts

The 2015 Paris Climate Agreement is an international legally binding treaty aimed at limiting global warming to below 2 °C, preferably 1.5 °C, compared to pre-industrial levels. To achieve the aims of the Climate Agreement, the transition to a decarbonized economy is necessary by switching to renewable energies. This article will look at solar energy, including its advantages and disadvantages.

AZO Cleantech

Advantages and Disadvantages of Solar Energy

The study builds upon earlier work by identifying the pixel z-score – a statistical measurement of a pixel’s illumination relative to its history – as a key method for detecting electricity outages from the often-noisy nightlights dataset.

Science Direct

Exploring power grid inconsistencies using satellite data in Accra, Ghana

A new market for trading available network capacity could be vital to limiting the impacts of curtailment, and connection delays for future wind and solar projects, the Clean Energy Council has suggested in response to a proposed overhaul of transmission network access.


Renew Economy

 New market to trade network access could help solve congestion issues, CEC says

Next-generation batteries have long been heralded as a transition toward more sustainable storage technology. Now, the need to enable these lithium-ion alternatives is more pressing than ever.

Time for lithium-ion alternatives

Scientists mapping oil pollution across the Earth's oceans have found that more than 90% of chronic oil slicks come from human sources, a much higher proportion than previously estimated.


Humans responsible for over 90% of world's oil slicks

A new study argues that renewable energy certificates -- a market-based tool that certifies the bearer owns one megawatt hour of electricity produced from renewable energy sources -- generally do not reduce emissions and firms using them are overstating their climate mitigation claims.

Companies’ use of renewable energy certificates masks inaction on carbon emissions

The sprawl of distribution system towards the need of smart grid, demands better sustenance and adaptation strategies to deal with high-impact low-frequency (HILF) events. 

Hybrid data-driven resilience assessment and enhancement of distribution system for cyclone susceptible zones

The study develops a power system expansion model to comprehensively evaluate changes in the electricity supply costs over a 30-year transition to carbon neutrality.

Cost increase in the electricity supply to achieve carbon neutrality in China

Compared with conventional conductive additives, the flexible conductive polymer can solve the insufficient electrical contact between active materials and the conductive agent, thus providing the integral conductive network, which is extremely important for stable electrochemical performance. 

MDPI

Water-Soluble Conductive Composite Binder for High-Performance Silicon Anode in Lithium-Ion Batteries

The European Union’s plan to phase out Russian natural gas imports by 2027 rests partly on increasing near-term imports of US liquefied natural gas. This will require a coordinated policy response that includes securing supplies from major exporters, global diplomacy, expanding import capacity, and alignment with Europe’s climate goals.

The US role in securing the European Union’s near-term natural gas supply

Efficient and environmentally friendly solar cells are required for a transition to a fossil-free energy supply. Researchers at have now mapped how energy flows in organic solar cells, something that previously had been unknown.

New light on organic solar cells

In this paper, a review of various charging infrastructures of electric vehicles that are existing and emerging are discussed

IOP Science

A Comprehensive Study on Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure

The article identifies and evaluates the roles of energy law in the energy transition, concluding with a summary of the implications of the role of energy law for the energy transition and for energy research.

Elsevier

The contribution of energy law to the energy transition and energy research

Britain will have excess electricity supplies for more than half of the year by 2030 as a huge expansion of wind and solar power transforms the energy system, a new analysis suggests.

The Times

Wind and solar boom will bring energy surplus

Indonesia's power sector development could reconcile climate mitigation with reducing the overall costs of electricity.

Coal vs. renewables: Least-cost optimization of the Indonesian power sector

Green investment in sustainable energy can overcome the dependence on fossil fuels worldwide. Renewable energy policies have become the key issue in both developing and developed countries; there is a need to focus on energy-related policies by regulatory authorities of these countries

Frontiers

Green Investment for Sustainable Business Development: The Influence of Policy Instruments on Solar Technology Adoption

This paper investigates the relationship between energy prices and economic performance in South Africa for the period 1994 to 2019.

Energy prices and economic performance in South Africa

Green investment in sustainable energy can overcome the dependence on fossil fuels worldwide

Removing the greenhouse gas from the air will likely be necessary, along with radical emissions cuts, to keep temperatures from rising 2˚C.

MIT Technology Review

UN climate report: Carbon removal is now “essential”

Petrochemicals. You might not have heard of them, but you certainly use them every day. These chemicals, made from oil, are in almost everything – plastics, medicines, clothes, toothpaste, even the insulation in your home. 

You can’t miss it!

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