Estimating pros and cons of statistical downscaling based on EQM bias adjustment as a complementary method to dynamical downscaling.

The increasing availability of coarse-scale climate simulations and the need for ready-to-use high-resolution variables drive the climate community to the challenge of reducing computational resources and time for downscaling purposes. To this end, statistical downscaling is gaining interest as a potential strategy for integrating high-resolution climate information obtained through dynamical downscaling over limited years, providing a clear understanding of the gains and losses in combining dynamical and statistical downscaling. In this regard, several questions can be raised: (i) what is the performance of statistical downscaling, assuming dynamical downscaling as a reference over a shared time window; (ii) how much the performance of statistical downscaling is affected by changes in the number of years available for training; (iii) how does the climate normal considered for the training affect the predictions.

Weather- and climate-driven power supply and demand time series for power and energy system analyses.

Reaching net-zero carbon emissions requires large shares of intermittent renewable energy and the electrification of end-use consumption, such as heating, making the future energy system highly dependent on weather variability and climate change. Weather exhibits fluctuations on temporal scales ranging from sub-hourly to yearly while climate variations occur on decadal scales. To investigate the intricate interplay between weather patterns, climate variations, and power systems, we developed a database of time series of wind and solar power generation, hydropower inflow, heating and cooling demand using an internally consistent modeling framework.

Reducing the cost of capital to finance the energy transition in developing countries.

Climate stabilization requires the mobilization of substantial investments in low- and zero-carbon technologies, especially in emerging and developing economies. However, access to stable and affordable finance varies dramatically across countries. Models used to evaluate the energy transition do not differentiate regional financing costs and therefore cannot study risk-sharing mechanisms for renewable electricity generation.

A GIS-MCDA approach to map environmental suitability of Posidonia oceanica meadows as blue nature-based solutions in the Mediterranean eco-region.

The growing environmental risks induced by interacting climate and human-induced pressures threaten the survival and growth of marine coastal ecosystems (MCEs) and the ecosystem services they provide. Nature-based solutions (NBS), consisting of ecosystem-based approaches, have emerged as vital tools for climate adaptation and mitigation facing biodiversity loss and societal challenges. Identifying suitable environmental conditions for implementing Blue-NBS in marine coastal areas is a key priority to drive robust and cost-effective nature-based adaptation pathways.

Scientific Data Spaces - Experiences from the EGI-ACE project.

This paper presents the approach adopted by the EGI-ACE project for the setup and delivery of Data Spaces for various scientific domains. The work was implemented by members of the EGI e-infrastructure and of several European Research Infrastructures in the context of the European Open Science Cloud programme. Our results are several Data Space services that enable the reuse and exploitation of open, scientific big data for compute intensive use cases.

Toward Enhancing Wastewater Treatment with Resource Recovery in Integrated Assessment and Computable General Equilibrium Models.

Sustainable water management is essential to increasing water availability and decreasing water pollution. The wastewater sector is expanding globally and beginning to incorporate technologies that recover nutrients from wastewater. Nutrient recovery increases energy consumption but may reduce the demand for nutrients from virgin sources.

On the cost-effectiveness of Nature-based Solutions for reducing disaster risk.

The potential of ecosystem-based interventions, also known as Nature-based Solutions (NbS), for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) is now recognized by major national policies and international framework agreements. However, there is limited scientific evidence about their economic viability and equity impacts. We examined English-language peer-reviewed studies, published between 2000 and 2021, which undertook economic evaluations of NbS for DRR and CCA.

Addressing ocean planning challenges in a highly crowded sea space: a case study for the regional sea of Catalonia (Western Mediterranean).

Background: This study performs an exploratory analysis of current-future sustainability challenges for ocean planning for the regional seas of Catalonia located in the Western Mediterranean (Spain).

Methods: To address the challenges we develop an Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP)-oriented geodatabase of maritime activities and deploy three spatial models: 1) an analysis of regional contribution to the 30% protection commitment with Biodiversity Strategy 2030; 2) a spatial Maritime Use Conflict (MUC) analysis to address current and future maritime activities interactions and 3) the StressorGenerator QGIS application to locate current and anticipate future sea areas of highest anthropogenic stress.

Results & Conclusions: Results show that the i) study area is one of the most protected sea areas in the Mediterranean (44-51% of sea space protected); ii) anthropogenic stressors are highest in 1-4 nautical miles coastal areas, where maritime activities agglomerate, in the Gulf of Roses and Gulf of Saint Jordi.

Global projections of heat exposure of older adults.

The global population is aging at the same time as heat exposures are increasing due to climate change. Age structure, and its biological and socio-economic drivers, determine populations' vulnerability to high temperatures. Here we combine age-stratified demographic projections with downscaled temperature projections to mid-century and find that chronic exposure to heat doubles across all warming scenarios.

The political fallout of air pollution.

This paper studies the effect of air pollution on voting outcomes. We use data from 60 federal and state elections in Germany from 2000 to 2018 and exploit plausibly exogenous fluctuations in ambient air pollution within counties across election dates. Higher air pollution on election day shifts votes away from incumbent parties and toward opposition parties.

Using biochar for environmental recovery and boosting the yield of valuable non-food crops: The case of hemp in a soil contaminated by potentially toxic elements (PTEs).

Hemp ( L.) is known to tolerate high concentrations of soil contaminants which however can limit its biomass yield. On the other hand, organic-based amendments such as biochar can immobilize soil contaminants and assist hemp growth in soils contaminated by potentially toxic elements (PTEs), allowing for environmental recovery and income generation, e.

The visual effect of wind turbines on property values is small and diminishing in space and time.

Renewable power generation is the key to decarbonizing the electricity system. Wind power is the fastest-growing renewable source of electricity in the United States. However, expanding wind capacity often faces local opposition, partly due to a perceived visual disamenity from large wind turbines.

The impacts of incentive policies on improving private investment for rural electrification in Nigeria - A geospatial study.

In Nigeria, 86 million people lack electricity access, the highest number worldwide, predominantly in rural areas. Despite government efforts, constrained budgets necessitate private investors, who, without adequate incentives, are hesitant to commit capital due to perceived high risks. This study identifies three existing incentive policies-concessionary loans, capital subsidy, and financing productive use equipment-aimed at promoting rural electrification in Nigeria.

An integrated approach for the benthic habitat mapping based on innovative surveying technologies and ecosystem functioning measurements.

Among marine ecosystems globally, those in the Mediterranean Sea, are facing many threats. New technologies are crucial for enhancing our understanding of marine habitats and ecosystems, which can be complex and resource-intensive to analyse using traditional techniques. We tested, for the first time, an integrated multi-platform approach for mapping the coastal benthic habitat in the Civitavecchia (northern Latium, Italy) coastal area.

Impacts of climate change on water quality, benthic mussels, and suspended mussel culture in a shallow, eutrophic estuary.

Climate change is a global problem that causes severe local changes to marine biota, ecosystem functioning, and ecosystem services. The Limfjorden is a shallow, eutrophic estuary influenced by episodic summer hypoxia with an important mussel fishery and suspended mussel culture industry. Three future climate change scenarios ranging from low greenhouse gas emissions (SSP1-2.

Rethinking the effect of ESG practices on profitability through cross-dimensional substitutability.

Over the last thirty years, sustainable business practices and ESG ratings have become increasingly popular in the business context and academic debate. Nonetheless, due to differences in methodological and theoretical approaches, more consensus has yet to be reached in the economic literature on the relationship between ESG practices and financial performance at the firm level. This work addresses the question empirically, focusing on a sample of firms listed in the Euro Stoxx 300 index.

Statistically downscaled CMIP6 ocean variables for European waters.

Climate change impact studies need climate projections for different scenarios and at scales relevant to planning and management, preferably for a variety of models and realizations to capture the uncertainty in these models. To address current gaps, we statistically downscaled (SD) 3-7 CMIP6 models for five key indicators of marine habitat conditions: temperature, salinity, pH, oxygen, and chlorophyll across European waters for three climate scenarios SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.

The 2023 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: the imperative for a health-centred response in a world facing irreversible harms.

Unlabelled: The Countdown is an international research collaboration that independently monitors the evolving impacts of climate change on health, and the emerging health opportunities of climate action. In its eighth iteration, this 2023 report draws on the expertise of 114 scientists and health practitioners from 52 research institutions and UN agencies worldwide to provide its most comprehensive assessment yet. In 2022, the Countdown warned that people’s health is at the mercy of fossil fuels and stressed the transformative opportunity of jointly tackling the concurrent climate change, energy, cost-of-living, and health crises for human health and wellbeing.