The Chinese Carbon-Neutral Goal: Challenges and Prospects.

On 22 September 2020, within the backdrop of the COVID-19 global pandemic, China announced its climate goal for peak carbon emissions before 2030 and to reach carbon neutrality before 2060. This carbon-neutral goal is generally considered to cover all anthropogenic greenhouse gases. The planning effort is now in full swing in China, but the pathway to decarbonization is unclear. The needed transition towards non-fossil fuel energy and its impact on China and the world may be more profound than its reform and development over the past 40 years, but the challenges are enormous. Analysis of four representative scenarios shows significant differences in achieving the carbon-neutral goal, particularly the contribution of non-fossil fuel energy sources. The high target values for nuclear, wind, and bioenergy have approached their corresponding resource limitations, with solar energy being the exception, suggesting solar's critical role. We also found that the near-term policies that allow for a gradual transition, followed by more drastic changes after 2030, can eventually reach the carbon-neutral goal and lead to less of a reduction in cumulative emissions, thus inconsistent with the IPCC 1.5°C scenario. The challenges and prospects are discussed in the historical context of China's socio-economic reform, globalization, international collaboration, and development.

Natural Products and Nanotechnology Against Coronavirus Disease 2019.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a new and severe infectious disease and new global disaster and is spreading rapidly worldwide. Natural products have a long history and have been widely used to treat various acute, chronic, and even life-threatening diseases worldwide. However, the natural products have reduced bioavailability and availability as they have poor kinetic properties, such as large molecular weight, inability to cross lipid membranes, and weak absorption ability. With the rapid development of nanotechnology, using novel nanotechnology in conjunction with natural products can effectively eliminate the molecular restriction of the entry of nanoproducts into the body and can be used to diagnose and treat various diseases, including COVID-19, bringing new strategies and directions for medicine. This article reviews the role and implementation of natural products against COVID-19 based on nanotechnology.

The Chinese Carbon-Neutral Goal: Challenges and Prospects

On 22 September 2020, within the backdrop of the COVID-19 global pandemic, China announced its climate goal for peak carbon emissions before 2030 and to reach carbon neutrality before 2060. This carbon-neutral goal is generally considered to cover all anthropogenic greenhouse gases. The planning effort is now in full swing in China, but the pathway to decarbonization is unclear. The needed transition towards non-fossil fuel energy and its impact on China and the world may be more profound than its reform and development over the past 40 years, but the challenges are enormous. Analysis of four representative scenarios shows significant differences in achieving the carbon-neutral goal, particularly the contribution of non-fossil fuel energy sources. The high target values for nuclear, wind, and bioenergy have approached their corresponding resource limitations, with solar energy being the exception, suggesting solar's critical role. We also found that the near-term policies that allow for a gradual transition, followed by more drastic changes after 2030, can eventually reach the carbon-neutral goal and lead to less of a reduction in cumulative emissions, thus inconsistent with the IPCC 1.5°C scenario. The challenges and prospects are discussed in the historical context of China's socio-economic reform, globalization, international collaboration, and development. Electronic supplementary material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at 10.1007/s00376-021-1313-6.

Observed decreases in on-road CO2 concentrations in Beijing during COVID-19 restrictions

To prevent the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic, restrictions such as “lockdowns” were conducted globally, which led to a significant reduction in fossil fuel emissions, especially in urban areas. However, CO2 concentrations in urban areas are affected by many factors, such as weather, biological sinks and background CO2 fluctuations. Thus, it is difficult to directly observe the CO2 reductions from sparse ground observations. Here, we focus on urban ground transportation emissions, which were dramatically affected by the restrictions, to determine the reduction signals. We conducted six series of on-road CO2 observations in Beijing using mobile platforms before (BC), during (DC) and after (AC) the implementation of COVID-19 restrictions. To reduce the impacts of weather conditions and background fluctuations, we analyze vehicle trips with the most similar weather conditions possible and calculated the enhancement metric, which is the difference between the on-road CO2 concentration and the “urban background” CO2 concentration measured at the tower of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP), Chinese Academy of Sciences. The results showed that the DC CO2 enhancement was decreased by 41 (±1.3) parts per million (ppm) and 26 (±6.2) ppm compared to those for the BC and AC trips, respectively. Detailed analysis showed that, during COVID-19 restrictions, there was no difference between weekdays and weekends during working hours (09:00–17:00 local standard time;LST). The enhancements during rush hours (07:00–09:00 and 17:00–20:00 LST) were almost twice those during working hours, indicating that emissions during rush hours were much higher. For DC and BC, the enhancement reductions during rush hours were much larger than those during working hours. Our findings showed a clear CO2 concentration decrease during COVID-19 restrictions, which is consistent with the CO2 emissions reductions due to the pandemic. The enhancement method used in this study is an effective method to reduce the impacts of weather and background fluctuations. Low-cost sensors, which are inexpensive and convenient, could play an important role in further on-road and other urban observations.

Assessing the recent impact of COVID-19 on carbon emissions from China using domestic economic data.

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused tremendous loss to human life and economic decline in China and worldwide. It has significantly reduced gross domestic product (GDP), power generation, industrial activity and transport volume; thus, it has reduced fossil-related and cement-induced carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in China. Due to time delays in obtaining activity data, traditional emissions inventories generally involve a 2-3-year lag. However, a timely assessment of COVID-19's impact on provincial CO2 emission reductions is crucial for accurately understanding the reduction and its implications for mitigation measures; furthermore, this information can provide constraints for modeling studies. Here, we used national and provincial GDP data and the China Emission Accounts and Datasets (CEADs) inventory to estimate the emission reductions in the first quarter (Q1) of 2020. We find a reduction of 257.7 Mt. CO2 (11.0%) over Q1 2019. The secondary industry contributed 186.8 Mt. CO2 (72.5%) to the total reduction, largely due to lower coal consumption and cement production. At the provincial level, Hubei contributed the most to the reductions (40.6 Mt) due to a notable decrease of 48.2% in the secondary industry. Moreover, transportation significantly contributed (65.1 Mt), with a change of -22.3% in freight transport and -59.1% in passenger transport compared with Q1 2019. We used a point, line and area sources (PLAS) method to test the GDP method, producing a close estimate (reduction of 10.6%). One policy implication is a change in people's working style and communication methods, realized by working from home and holding teleconferences, to reduce traffic emissions. Moreover, GDP is found to have potential merit in estimating emission changes when detailed energy activity data are unavailable. We provide provincial data that can serve as spatial disaggregation constraints for modeling studies and further support for both the carbon cycle community and policy makers.

Coronavirus Disease 2019: Coronaviruses and Kidney Injury.

PURPOSE: The first case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was identified and confirmed in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. COVID-19 is gradually posing a serious threat to global public health. In this review the characteristics and mechanism of kidney injury caused by SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 infection are summarized and contrasted. In particular, urine-oral transmission, prevention and management of the kidney injury caused by SARS-CoV-2 are emphasized. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We searched PubMed® for English language articles published since 2003 with the keywords "SARS," "MERS," "COVID-19" or "kidney injury." ClinicalTrials.gov was queried for ongoing studies. We also used relevant data from websites, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. RESULTS: Similar to 2 other coronaviruses including SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2 caused severe respiratory syndrome with rapid progression and kidney injury. The infection process of SARS-CoV-2 is mediated by specifically binding to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2. Cases of COVID-19 combined with kidney impairment are associated with a higher risk of mortality than those without comorbidities. The pathological changes of the kidney are mainly due to local SARS-CoV-2 replication or indirectly by pro-inflammatory cytokine response. In addition, studies have confirmed the isolation of infectious SARS-CoV-2 in urine, raising the possibility of urine-oral transmission. Ultimately this is significant for preventing potential urine-oral transmission and improving the cure rate of acute kidney injury with COVID-19. CONCLUSIONS: Emerging evidence supports that in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infections the prevalence of kidney injury is high and usually leads to a poor prognosis. Optimal prevention and management of kidney injury will benefit patients with COVID-19.