A multi-scale modelling system was developed to provide hourly NOx concentration fields at a building-resolving scale in the urban area of Modena, a city in the middle of the Po Valley (Italy), one of the most polluted areas in Europe.
Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) is an emerging technology field that can replace fossil carbon value chains, and that has a significant potential to achieve emissions mitigation or even “negative emissions”—however in many cases with challeng
“Access and allocation” is one of the five analytical problems identified as key for analysing earth system governance in the first Earth System Governance Science and Implementation Plan officially published in 2009.
Der vorliegende Text verortet Nachhaltigkeit und Klimaschutz knapp in ihrem historischen Kontext und macht ihre aufeinander bezogene Entwicklung deutlich.
In demokratischen Gesellschaften sind weitreichende Politikmaßnahmen wie zur Energiewende oder zum Klimaschutz auf eine breite Legitimation im politischen Raum angewiesen.
Es sind die Beziehungen zu uns selbst, Anderen und unserem Kontext, die bestimmen, ob sich das Gesamtsystem in einen gesunden oder ungesunden Zustand entwickelt.
While the idea of extracting deep-seabed resources dates back to as early as the 1960s, it remained pure fiction for decades due to limited technical possibilities and prohibitive costs.
Eco-efficiency enhancement is an inherent requirement of green development and an important indicator of high-quality development in general. It aims to achieve the coordinated development of nature, the economy, and society.
This study, based on new and high quality in situ observations, quantifies for the first time, the individual contributions of light-absorbing aerosols (black carbon (BC), brown carbon (BrC) and dust) to aerosol absorption over the Indo-Gangetic P
Learning rates are a central concept in energy system models and integrated assessment models, as they allow researchers to project the future costs of new technologies and to optimize energy system costs.
This forum contribution explains how analyzing the creation, distribution, and destruction of contemporary credit money is placed centre stage in the emerging field of critical macro-finance.
The seasonal aerosol radiative forcing efficiency (ARFE) in the atmosphere was found high (>100 Wm-2) and consistent throughout the year over Dusanbe, the capital city of Tajikistan in central Asia.
This study reports comprehensive analysis of seasonal and inter-annual variations of aerosol properties (optical, physical and chemical) and radiative effects over Pokhara Valley in the foothills of central Himalayas in Nepal utilizing the high-qu
Until very recently, governments of many countries, as well as their supporting organizations, have primarily addressed the biological, technical and economic aspects of aquaculture.
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is an important process for evaluating the effects of development, and to assist decisions to effectively manage potential deep-sea mining (DSM).
Environmental concerns were raised from the very onset of discussions concerning the extraction of metalliferous ores from the deep sea, but most studies have targeted the expected impacts on the benthic communities only.
Wir leben noch immer in einer Autogesellschaft. Das macht eine nachhaltige Verkehrswende schwierig. Aber es gibt auch Optionen, die über den Status quo hinausweisen.
Industry 4.0 has had a strong influence on the debate on the digitalization of industrial processes, despite being criticized for lacking a proper definition.
Strew pellet production not only contribute to regional sustainable development and localized energy transition, but also help to mitigate global greenhouse gas emissions.
This article argues that the process of developing the regulations of commercial deep seabed mining operations presents a window of opportunity to actively and systematically address existing uncertainties regarding the environmental effects of se
The Kathmandu Valley in Nepal is a bowl-shaped urban basin that experiences severe air pollution that poses health risks to its 3.5 million inhabitants.
In der Klimadebatte kommen integrative Konzepte der Nachhaltigkeitsforschung kaum zum Zuge. Dies zeigt der Lausitzer Kohleausstieg beispielhaft: Soziales und Umwelt werden gegeneinander ausgespielt.
This study presents a comprehensive analysis of organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), and particularly the light absorption characteristics of EC and water-soluble brown carbon (WS–BrC) in total suspended particles in the Kathmandu Valley fr
As the forerunner and policy test field of the sustainable development, the sustainable development pilot zones are an important strategy for China to explore the mechanism and model of the coordinated development of human and land in different re
Die Lausitz steht vor einer doppelten Herausforderung in den nächsten Jahrzehnten. Mit dem Kohleausstieg wird eine zentrale Industrie wegbrechen und bereits heute erfährt die sich zunehmend radikalisierende AfD in der Region große Zustimmung.
Nach dem Strukturbruch der 1990er Jahren steht der Region mit dem Ausstieg aus der Braunkohle ein neuerlicher Wandel ins Haus. Dieser ist ein Anlass, damit Lausitzer*innen sich darüber verständigen können, in welcher Zukunft sie leben wollen.
The tropical tropopause layer (TTL) is the transition region between the well-mixed convective troposphere and the radiatively controlled stratosphere with air masses showing chemical and dynamical properties of both regions.
The very beginning of collaborative research endeavors often lies in politically difficult and practically challenging entanglements. The purpose of this paper is to empirically capture and theoretically conceptualize these entanglements.
Expertise in research integration and implementation is an essential but often overlooked component of tackling complex societal and environmental problems.
This paper investigates contestation of authority in EU energy policy, with a focus on natural gas. It argues that the main challenge centers on the EU’s goals and means of energy security policy, not the location and scope of authority.
Total suspended particles (TSP) were collected in Lumbini from April 2013 to March 2016 to better understand the characteristics of carbonaceous aerosol (CA) concentrations, compositions and sources and their light absorption properties in rural r
A convening of leading international sustainability experts met for the first time in Potsdam, Germany, in March 2019 to re-think sustainability primarily as a societal challenge.
The notion of systemic risks denominates the danger of destruction of a whole system by the mechanisms of nonlinear interactions between its agents in combination with circular causality between the system´s elementary dynamic processes and the ma
In this Open Access book, Sander van der Leeuw examines how the modern world has been caught in a socioeconomic dynamic that has generated the conundrum of sustainability.
This opinion article offers insights into the geopolitics of the ongoing global energy transition. In doing so, it draws heavily on a workshop in Berlin in late 2018, and a subsequent paper in the journal Nature. Four scenarios are presented.
Best Paths, the largest research project in the field of energy financed under the European Union's 7th Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration, explored new avenues for delivering reliable power in Europe thr
The involvement of early career researchers (ECRs) has been limited during the past Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment cycles. We conducted a global survey among ECRs and interviewed key experts of the IPCC process.
The use of carbon dioxide as a feedstock for a broad range of products can help mitigate the effects of climate change through long‐term removal of carbon or as part of a circular carbon economy.
The challenge facing humanity is to live sustainably within both the ecological and physical limits of our planet and the societal boundaries needed for social cohesion and well-being.
Gene editing tools are ‘revolutionizing’ microbiological research. Much of the public debate focuses on the possibility of human germ line applications.
The ocean crisis is urgent and central to human wellbeing and life on Earth; past and current activities are damaging the planet's main life support system for future generations.
Climate change has been labelled the human rights challenge of the twenty-first century. Loss and damage resulting from climate change, in particular, poses a severe threat to the human rights of affected communities.
Grand societal challenges call for a sustainability transition away from a fossil-based society toward a bioeconomy, in which energy and manufacturing production processes are based on sustainable biological resources.
Sufficiency is one important strategy for sustainable development. At an individual level, we need a better understanding of the relationship between sufficiency attitude and CO2 footprint.
Digitalisierung und Globalisierung sind eng mit den Bemühungen um nachhaltige Entwicklung verknüpft, aber sie werden diese nur fördern, wenn sie bewusst nach Prinzipien der Nachhaltigkeit gestaltet werden.
Die Digitalisierung wird zunehmend nicht mehr nur als Chance, sondern auch als Risiko für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung und die Überwindung globaler Ungleichheiten wahrgenommen.
International cooperation in support of a global energy transition is on the rise, and official development assistance (ODA) in the energy sector is increasingly being directed to renewable energy sources.
Risk communication efforts to mitigate the second cause of lung cancer worldwide (after tobacco smoking) – the radioactive gas radon in buildings – are often ineffective.
To understand what digital democracy is, this article suggests looking at the individual level of democratic subjectivity. Who is the democratic subject and how is it constituted in digital democracy?
Modern societies are confronted with ‘systemic risks’ which challenge conventional risk analysis and management. The phrase ‘systemic risks’ denotes risk phenomena which are exceedingly complex and interdependent.
Energy poverty has become one of the major challenges faced by the world's energy system. However, there is no consensus on the measure of energy poverty.
In the framework of the EURODELTA-Trends (EDT) modeling experiment, several chemical transport models (CTMs) were applied for the 1990–2010 period to investigate air quality changes in Europe as well as the capability of the models to reproduce ob
This article analyses the narratives of impact-driven transition research in the field of sustainability studies. It reconstructs patterns of narrations at a discourse level.
The lack of a comprehensive, up-to-date emission inventory for the Himalayan region is a major challenge in understanding the extensive regional air pollution, including its causes, impacts and mitigation pathways.
The Southern Ocean and coastal Antarctica provide a variety of ecosystem services with benefits for humankind that are of regional and global importance.
Profound societal transformations are needed to move society from unsustainability to greater sustainability under continually changing social and environmental conditions.
Proposed as an advanced conceptualization of how to handle risk, risk governance begins with the critique and expansion of the traditional idea and standard practices of risk analysis.
Five U.S. B-52 Bombers were conducting a training mission on March 28 high over the Norwegian Sea in the Arctic Ocean. F-16 fighter jets from Norway were also aloft, part of joint NATO exercises involving 10,000 troops in northern Sweden.
Cross-city convergence in green space coverage could contribute to our understanding of the law of motion of distribution dynamics of environmental sustainability across cities and provide crucial information for designing policies regarding compl
Air pollution remains a problem in German cities. In particular, the nitrogen dioxide (NO2) annual limit-value set by the European Union of 40 µg/m3 was not met at ~40% of roadside monitoring stations across German cities in 2018.
In der Rubrik BildungsPraxis hat Susanne Offen, Mitglied der Journal-Redaktion, ein Interview mit David Löw Beer vom Institut für transformative Nachhaltigkeitsforschung geführt, in dem insbesondere auf demokratische Prozesse, gesellschaftliche Ma
Identification of atmospheric aerosol types and characterization of absorbing aerosols, based on AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) data collected during 2013-2014 over two sites in Nepal: Lumbini in the northernmost part of central Indo-Gangetic P
In den letzten Jahren war viel die Rede von einem Mangel an Utopien. Ohne mögliche
Alternativen aber erscheint die Zukunft verschlossen. Der Artikel liefert einen Überblick
über die Utopiedebatten der 2010er Jahre.
Despite the expectation of potentially vast petroleum resources in the offshore Arctic over the last decade, actual exploration and production rates are rather low.
The shale gas debate has taken center stage over the past decade in many European countries due to its purported climate advantages over coal and the implications for domestic energy security.
Climate models aiming to explore how global warming can be limited to the Paris Agreement targets of 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius usually invoke sweeping technical and societal transformations, including the extensive use of carbon dioxide removal tec
Die Lebensweise breiter Bevölkerungsschichten im Globalen Norden ist ursächlich verantwortlich für gravierende globale Probleme, wie die Zerstörung unserer Lebensgrundlagen, Krieg, Gewalt und Vertreibung.
There is wide agreement that a nexus or integrated approach to managing and governing natural resources such as land, water, and energy can improve environmental, climate, human, and political security.