New and enhanced processes will not be the only drivers toward a sustainable chemical industry. Implementing climate policies will impact all components of the chemical supply chain over the following decades, making improvements in energy generation, material extraction, or transportation contribute to reducing the overall impacts of chemical technologies. Including this synergistic effect when comparing technologies offers a clearer vision of their future potential and may allow researchers to support their sustainability propositions more strongly. Ammonia and methanol production account for more than fifty percent of the CO emissions in this industry and are, therefore, excellent case studies. This work performs a prospective life cycle assessment until 2050 for fossil, blue, wind, and solar-based technologies under climate policies aiming to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 °C, 2 °C, or 3.5 °C. The first finding is the inability of fossil-based routes to reduce their CO emissions beyond 10% by 2050 without tailored decarbonisation strategies, regardless of the chemical and climate policy considered. In contrast, green routes may produce chemicals with around 90% fewer emissions than today and even with net negative emissions (on a cradle-to-gate basis), as in the case of methanol (up to -1.4 kg CO-eq per kg), mainly due to the contributions of technology development and increasing penetration of renewable energies. Overall, the combined production of these chemicals could be net-zero by 2050 despite their predicted two to fivefold increase in demand. Lastly, we propose a roadmap for progressive implementation by 2050 of green routes in 26 regions worldwide, applying the criterion of at least 80% reduction in climate change impacts when compared to their fossil alternatives. Furthermore, an exploratory prospective techno-economic assessment showed that by 2050, green routes could become more economically attractive. This work offers quantitative arguments to reinforce research, development, and policymaking efforts on green chemical routes reliant on renewable energies.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/d4gc00392f | DOI Listing |
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int
December 2024
School of Management, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611130, China.
Agricultural productivity remains pivotal to the sustenance of the economies and livelihoods of Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. However, the emerging threat of climate change poses a significant challenge to these agricultural-dependent economies. Sub-Saharan African countries are at risk of experiencing the severe effects of climate change on their agricultural productivity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPeople have known that El Niño events are associated with low rainfall in Southern Africa for a century, and seasonal rainfall forecasts are now available in agricultural advisories for farmers. While there is abundant theory as to how farmers might (or should) use seasonal rainfall information on their farms, little is known about whether this information has been widely used or has had widespread benefit. In this study, we use subnational data on cropping area and yield to see if we can detect any macro-level patterns in agricultural choices or outcomes that are related to knowledge of the El Niño Southern Oscillation or seasonal forecast information in Southern Africa.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Sci Ecotechnol
January 2025
State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.
The response to climate change and air pollution control demonstrates strong synergy across scientific mechanisms, targets, strategies, and governance systems. This report, based on a monitoring indicator system for coordinated governance of air pollution and climate change, employs an interdisciplinary approach combining natural and social sciences. It establishes 20 indicators across five key areas: air pollution and climate change, governance systems and practices, structural transformation and technologies, atmospheric components and emission reduction pathways, and health impacts and co-benefits.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFiScience
December 2024
KU Leuven, ECOOM, Department of Managerial Economics, Strategy and Innovation, Faculty of Economics and Business, Naamsestraat 69, BE-3000 Leuven, Belgium.
Climate modeling suggests that achieving international climate goals requires a reduction in current CO emissions by over 90%, with any remaining emissions to be addressed through carbon dioxide removal (CDR) solutions. Sixteen CDR strategies are evaluated by integrating technical potential, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria, along with sequestration permanence. This evaluation, conducted by ENGIE's scientific council using an interdisciplinary Delphi panel methodology, proposes a "quality" measure for each technology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFiScience
December 2024
Institute of Energy and Process Engineering, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland.
Short-term planning of myopic decision-makers jeopardizes the long-term energy transition, especially since constraints in deploying clean energy technologies further inhibit their rapid scale-up. Here, we show that the European energy transition followed myopic decision-making in the past and investigate how policy-based tools can secure the energy transition against myopic planning. Short-term decision-making in the European energy transition may fail to comply with climate goals and lead to substantial over-capacities.
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