Could Cryptocurrency Policy Uncertainty Facilitate US Carbon Neutrality?

Investigating the essential impact of the cryptocurrency market on carbon emissions is significant for the U.S. to realize carbon neutrality. This exploration employs low-frequency vector auto-regression (LF-VAR) and mixed-frequency VAR (MF-VAR) models to capture the complicated interrelationship between cryptocurrency policy uncertainty (CPU) and carbon emission (CE) and to answer the question of whether cryptocurrency policy uncertainty could facilitate U.S. carbon neutrality. By comparison, the MF-VAR model possesses a higher explanatory power than the LF-VAR model;the former's impulse response indicates a negative CPU effect on CE, suggesting that cryptocurrency policy uncertainty is a promoter for the U.S. to realize the goal of carbon neutrality. In turn, CE positively impacts CPU, revealing that mass carbon emissions would raise public and national concerns about the environmental damages caused by cryptocurrency transactions and mining. Furthermore, CPU also has a mediation effect on CE;that is, CPU could affect CE through the oil price (OP). In the context of a more uncertain cryptocurrency market, valuable insights for the U.S. could be offered to realize carbon neutrality by reducing the traditional energy consumption and carbon emissions of cryptocurrency trading and mining.

Net neutrality in the USA during COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic provides an opportunity to review net neutrality and the notion that bright light rules are necessary to hold broadband providers from exercising market power. The 2015 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Open Internet Order asserted that broadband providers have the capability and incentive to harm their customers and third-party service providers. It imposed a set of rules to control broadband providers' offers, prices, and traffic management. The 2017 FCC vacated all but the transparency provisions of the OIO, restoring the oversight of broadband to the FTC. This paper offers a review of the evidence regarding the effects of net neutrality regulation, including an investigation of the incidence of violations, or lack thereof, during the 2020 pandemic in the United States. It provides a review of the net neutrality literature and the international research on broadband provider behaviour during COVID-19. The paper presents original research conducted with FCC and FTC reports and a survey of news stories. Brief reviews of federal data on network performance and broadband adoption provide additional context. Given the limited incidence of violations that could be uncovered for the period, the paper suggests why broadband providers behaved opposite to regulatory advocates' predictions. Contrary to many policy assertions, broadband providers did not block or throttle service, nor did they increase prices arbitrarily or decrease quality. Broadband providers appeared to expand availability, lower broadband prices, and make more networks available, frequently without customer charge. The paper suggests how policy could be updated to reflect the actual behaviour of broadband providers. © 2023 the authors.

Geographic Information Systems for Facilitating Audits of the Urban Built Environment

Data collection and large-scale urban audits are challenging and can be time consuming processes. Geographic information systems can extract and combine relevant data that can be used as input to calculation tools that provide results and quantify indicators with sufficient spatial analysis to facilitate the local decision-making process for building renovations and sustainability assessment. This work presents an open-access tool that offers an automated process that can be used to audit an urban area in order to extract relevant information about the characteristics of the built environment, analyze the building characteristics to evaluate energy performance, assess the potential for the installation of photovoltaics on available building rooftops, and quantify ground permeability. A case study is also presented to demonstrate data collection and processing for an urban city block, and the relevant results are elaborated upon. The method is easily replicable and is based on open data and non-commercial tools.

Avoidable heat risk under scenarios of carbon neutrality by mid-century.

To prevent anthropogenic warming of the climate system above dangerous thresholds, governments are required by the Paris Agreement to peak global anthropogenic CO2 emissions and to reach a net zero CO2 emissions level (also known as carbon neutrality). Growing concerns are being expressed about the increasing heat stress caused by the interaction of changes in temperature and humidity in the context of global warming. Although much effort has been made to examine future changes in heat stress and associated risks, gaps remain in understanding the quantitative benefits of heat-risk avoidance from carbon-neutral policies, limited by the traditional climate projections from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6). Here we quantify the avoided heat risk during 2040-2049 under two scenarios of global carbon neutrality by 2060 and 2050, i.e., moderate green (MODGREEN) and strong green (STRGREEN) recovery scenarios, relative to the baseline scenario (FOSSIL), based on multi-model large ensemble climate projections from a new climate model intercomparison project (CovidMIP) that endorsed by CMIP6. We show that global population exposure to extreme heat stress increases by approximately four times its current level during 2040-2049 under the FOSSIL scenario, whereas the heat exposure could be reduced by as much as 12 % and 23 % under the MODGREEN and STRGREEN scenarios, respectively. Moreover, global mean heat-related mortality risk is mitigated by 14 % (24 %) under the MODGREEN (STRGREEN) scenario during 2040-2049 relative to the FOSSIL scenario. Additionally, the aggravating heat risk could be mitigated by around a tenth by achieving carbon neutrality 10 years earlier (2050 versus 2060). In terms of spatial pattern, this heat-risk avoidance from low-carbon policies is typically greater in low-income countries. Our findings assist governments in advancing early climate change mitigation policy-making.

ACHIEVING EMPLOYMENT DIVIDEND IN THE POST-COVID-19 ERA: AN EXPLORATION FROM CHINA'S CARBON MARKET

Under the pressure of economic uncertainty and environmental protection in the post-COVID-19 era, achieving a new round of employment dividends has become one practical choice. Using the panel data of 30 Chinese provinces from 2007 to 2019, this study estimates the employment outcomes of carbon ETS pilots based on the difference-in-differences model. The findings of this study indicate the following: (1) Carbon ETS pilots can positively increase employment scales with an average effect of 7.12%. (2) This promoting effect will become more significant in provinces with high education levels, provinces with high average wages, and eastern region provinces. But there is no obvious difference between gender. (3) This positive effect can be transferred and enhanced by market competition and energy consumption. At the crossroads of green economic recovery, it will be greatly beneficial to formulate the national carbon market development roadmap under the carbon neutrality strategy.

SYRIA-Everybody's War: The Politics of Aid in the Syria Crisis

Gabiam reviews Everybody's War: The Politics of Aid in the Syria Crisis edited by Jehan Bseiso, Michiel Hofman, and Jonathan Whittall.

Carbon Footprint Analysis of Tourism Life Cycle: The Case of Guilin from 2011 to 2022

Low-carbon tourism is an important way for the tourism industry to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. In order to promote the development of Guilin as a world-class tourism city and ensure the sustainable development of the tourism industry in Guilin, this paper combines the concept of carbon footprint and the theory of life cycle to build a tourists' carbon footprint life cycle analysis model of Guilin. Taking tourists in Guilin as an example, the composition and changes of tourists' carbon footprint are dynamically analyzed. The research shows that: (1) The overall tourism carbon footprint of Guilin showed an upward trend during 2011–2019. From 2020 to 2022, due to the impact of COVID-19, Guilin's tourism carbon footprint has decreased significantly. The per capita carbon footprint of tourism in Guilin showed a downward trend from 2011 to 2022;(2) The order of the size of Guilin's tourism carbon footprint is tourism transportation > tourism catering > tourism accommodation > tourism activities;(3) From 2011 to 2022, the carbon footprint of tourism transportation in Guilin showed an obvious narrowing state, while the carbon footprint of tourism accommodation, tourism activities, and tourism catering showed an obvious expanding trend. Based on the characteristics of the carbon footprint of Guilin's tourism and the current situation of the development of Guilin's tourism, this paper puts forward suggestions on reducing carbon emissions, forms a new tool for evaluating and constructing low-carbon tourism, and provides a scientific basis and practical reference significance for the sustainable development of low-carbon tourism in Guilin.

Who Drives Carbon Neutrality in China? Text Mining and Network Analysis

China has recently declared its role as a leading developing country in actively practicing carbon neutrality. In fact, its carbon-neutral policy has accelerated from a gradual and macroscopic perspective and has been actively pursued given the changes not only in the overall social system but also in its impact on various stakeholders. This study analyzed the patterns of carbon neutrality (CN) and the actors of policy promotion in China from a long-term perspective. It collected policy discourses related to CN posted on Chinese websites from 2000 to 2022 and conducted text mining and network analysis. The results revealed that the pattern of CN promotion in China followed an exploration-demonstration-industrialization-digitalization model, similar to other policies. Moreover, the policy promotion sector developed in the direction of unification-diversification-specialization. Analysis of policy promotion actors found that enterprises are the key driver of continuous CN. In addition, the public emerged as a critical actor in promoting CN during the 12th-13th Five-Year Plans (2011-2020). Moreover, the central government emerged as a key driving actor of CN during the 14th Five-Year Plan. This was a result of the emphasis on efficiency in the timing and mission process of achieving CN. Furthermore, based on the experience of COVID-19, the rapid transition of Chinese society toward CN emphasizes the need for a central government with strong executive power. Based on these results, this study presents constructive suggestions for carbon-neutral development in China.

Energy-environmental-economic assessment of green retrofit policy to achieve 2050 carbon-neutrality in South Korea: Focused on residential buildings

To achieve carbon emission reduction target (CERT) by 2030 and carbon-neutrality in 2050, it is important to actively reduce the emission gap in the private building sector. However, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukraine war are threatening the green remodeling policy (GRP) worldwide. Therefore, this study analyzed energy consumption savings, GHG emission reduction, and net present value when applying green remodeling to a private building to predict whether or not the current GRP could achieve 2030 CERT and 2050 carbon-neutrality. The main findings are as follows. First, yearly electricity and gas consumption of 84.97 m2 type households can be reduced by 6.19% and 15.58% through green remodeling. Second, based on the energy saving, yearly GHG emission can be reduced about 0.34tCO2eq. Third, the economic feasibility of green remodeling cannot be achieved via the current policy, and NPV17 decreases up to USD-51,485 depending on the credit loan interest rate and the green remodeling interest subsidy program. In other words, it is difficult to reach 2030 CERT and 2050 carbon-neutrality via the current policy. Therefore, the South Korean government is required to reorganize financial policies, establish active systems, increase public awareness of the policy, and improve energy efficiency technology. © 2023 Elsevier B.V.

Urban Transportation Concept and Sustainable Urban Mobility in Smart Cities: A Review

In order to create a sustainable future for the urban environment in s=Smart cities, it is necessary to develop a concept of urban transport, partially reduce the use of traditional transport, primarily cars, as well as the environmental pressure on society, which is essential to move to a sustainable urban future. In the latest discussions on the future of the urban transport system, the quality of the environment, and the possibility of its improvement are discussed, this issue became especially relevant with the onset of the pandemic, when the lockdowns were introduced. The problem of sustainable transport in urban areas has been recognized in academic studies, searching for appropriate models and solutions. The article presents the latest literature review and illustrates the newest trends with several examples. VOS Viewer software has been used to classify the different keywords, according to their co-citation, following clustering techniques. By analyzing the research conducted by other researchers, it has been possible to structure the ecosystem and trends in the Urban Transportation Concept, also mentioning likely future trends. Based on the literature analysis of the Sustainable Urban Transport, the authors of the study found that a large group of researchers deal with technical solutions and innovative business models, while the essential behavioral aspects are examined in less detail. Extensive literature analysis allowed the authors to select several solutions to achieve the transformation towards sustainable transportation in urban areas: new vehicle technologies and their environmental factors' analysis, geographic information systems, the analytic hierarchy process method, the time series analysis of road traffic accidents using multiplicative models, electrification and use of Friedman Analysis of Variance by Ranks, as well as innovations in sharing mobility.

An Evaluation of ASEAN Renewable Energy Path to Carbon Neutrality

Maintaining our standard of living and keeping the economy running smoothly is heavily reliant on a consistent supply of energy. Renewable energy systems create abundant energy by utilizing resources such as the sun, wind, earth, and plants. The demand for renewable energy is increasing, despite power scarcity, pollution, and climate change posing challenges to long-term development in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which has seen significant social and economic growth in recent years. To achieve its 23% renewable energy (RE) target, ASEAN can develop solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity. Members of the ASEAN have established regulations and incentives to encourage individuals and businesses to use renewable energy in the future. This paper explores Southeast Asian countries' comprehensive fossil-free energy options, the region's renewable energy potential, current capacity, goals, and energy needs. Through the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation (APAEC) 2016–2025 and the ASEAN Declaration on Renewable Energy, ASEAN is committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions and promoting sustainable development aligning with the Paris Agreement's aim to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Results show that decarbonizing the region's energy system is possible, but current policies and actions must be altered to reach that target level. Further research is necessary to optimize the ASEAN region's renewable resource technical potential and commercial viability with available technology.

The impact of social media use on body image and disordered eating behaviors: Content matters more than duration of exposure.

Social media use is rapidly expanding in terms of frequency, duration, and the diversity of platforms available. Given evidence for associations between social media use, body image disturbances, and disordered eating it is important to identify potentially harmful aspects of social media use that could serve as intervention targets. This study surveyed two demographically diverse undergraduate student cohorts in 2015 and 2022 to compare patterns in social media use, body image, and disordered eating behaviors between samples, including as a function of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to test the hypothesized moderating role of specific content consumed in the association between social media use and maladaptive outcomes. Participants in 2022 reported greater body image disturbances, more frequent vomiting and laxative use, and more time spent on a greater number of social media accounts, with significantly greater use of image-based platforms such as Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube. Moderated regression analyses suggest that type of content consumed, but not the amount of time spent on social media or diversity of platforms utilized, is associated with body image disturbances and disordered eating behaviors after controlling for gender and body mass index. Specifically, exposure to weight loss content was associated with lower body appreciation, greater fears of negative appearance evaluation, and more frequent binge eating. Contrary to initial hypotheses, exposure to body positivity/neutrality content did not have protective effects. Findings suggest that interventions targeting negative consequences of social media use should focus on addressing content consumed, rather than time spent on social media platforms.

Mongolia in 2022: From the COVID-19 Lockdown to Opening the Border

As in 2020, the biggest stories in Mongolia in 2021 and 2022 were elections, COVID-19, and how to cope with the contracting economy. At the end of the year, Mongolia was struggling to meet public health challenges and to recover from the economic downturn. Both the government that was elected in 2020 and the president who took office in 2021 have promised to improve corruption, which is endemic in Mongolia, but people have yet to see much change. Popular dissatisfaction led to a huge public protest in December 2022 that demanded the government ensure more transparency in the coal trade. Thirty years after a peaceful transition to democracy, Mongolia is facing its greatest challenge: how to maintain and develop a transparent democracy that truly cares about public opinion and people's livelihoods.

Towards a socially fair green transition in the EU? An analysis of the Just Transition Fund using the Multiple Streams Framework

The Just Transition Fund was introduced in 2021 as part of the European Union's Green New Deal and aims to assuage some of the painful social consequences of the green transition. Relying on the Multiple Streams Framework, this article reconstructs the JTF's institution. It identifies 2018–2019 as a key conjuncture in the European Union when various social, ideational and political preconditions enabling policy innovation converged. Subsequently, the need to publicly finance a just transition emerged in relation to some Eastern European states' reluctance to work towards the 2050 climate neutrality target. After a Polish-led configuration of actors propelled the JTF onto the agenda, the von der Leyen Commission assumed the task of designing a less transparently self-serving policy instrument necessary to garner wider political support. The final JTF emerged from the interplay between two policy entrepreneurs in the context of the negotiations on the 2021–2027 European Union budget and the dislocations provoked by the COVID-19 crisis.

Hydrocarbon Security Strategy and Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutral Strategy: Relationship and Path

A century of changes combined with the COVID-19 pandemic has sounded the alarm on energy security around the world. How to deeply understand the relationship between energy transition and energy security, and how to explore the path of China's energy security and the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality (abbreviated as "dual carbon”) strategy have become a major problem. Based on detailed analyses of China's energy consumption predictions and dual carbon strategy requirements, this study proposes: (1) Energy security is the foundation of energy transition. The oil and gas shortage situation in China may persist for a long time. The "dual carbon” goal does not conflict with hydrocarbon security strategy. (2) China's hydrocarbon security needs to be considered at two levels. The deployment needs to be made in the near-, medium-and long-term. First, it is necessary to continue exploring traditional oil and gas resources, including land and sea, conventional and unconventional resources. The second is to actively explore at new areas of oil and gas resources, and focus on organizing the "three revolutions” of in-situ conversion of medium-low mature shale oil, thermal conversion and utilization of oil-rich coal and underground coal gasification to prepare for large-scale increase of oil and gas production. (3) The "dual carbon” strategy is an extensive and profound system revolution. The withdrawal of fossil energy must be based on energy security. The clean use of fossil energy, the increased use of renewable energy, the construction of flexible smart grids, the construction of energy storage infrastructure and the improvement of efficiency in energy utilization, must be paid close attention to simultaneously. On the basis of ensuring energy security, the goal of "carbon neutrality” can be achieved through multiple ways relying on technological progress. © 2023, Science Press. All rights reserved.

An Algorithm for Transport Optimization as the Effect of the European Green Deal and Climate Neutrality Goals

The exponential growth of the worldpopulation in the last decades (approx. eight billion people in 2022), corroborated with spectacular development of various sectors of activity such as transport, construction, information, and communication technology, etc. exert a worrying pressure on limited natural resources. Moreover, climate change, environmental degradation, increasing pollution, recent armed conflicts are increasingly real existential threats to the global population in general and to the old continent in particular. In this context, the European Green Deal (EGD) comes to counteract such unhealthy developments and proposes to transform Europe into a society with a modern, high performing and resource-efficient economy, with a goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050. EGD involves a series of legislative measures that will support and implement policies on financial and competitive issues related to climate, energy, industry, sustainable and smart mobility, agriculture and biodiversity conservation and protection. From the EGD perspective, the objectives of this research have focused on the transport sector, with a view to ensuring safe, sustainable, green, and smart mobility. The main result of the research consists of the optimization algorithm developed and implemented by authors at one of the largest alliances transport, which calculates the best option for the delivery of goods, respecting the price lists and the proposed carbon dioxide emissions targets. At the same time, in the light of the results and conclusions of the research, the general implications regarding the financial and competitive aspects of the EGD are analysed, as well as the particular ones, specific to the alliance that is the object of the case study.

Carbon Tax: Moving Towards a Net-Zero Emissions Future

In the wake of the 21st century, climate change has emerged as the biggest lifethreatening challenge with a potential of evolving into the largest, if not the most complex, economic opportunity since the industrial revolution. While narrowing down its focus to carbon tax as a regulatory fiscal aspect of international economic law, this article explores the potential role of the tax in moulding this economic opportunity in line with the commitments assumed by countries under the 2015 Paris Agreement. The issue is whether imposition of carbon tax or restructuring tax rates can have a significant impact in regulating carbon emissions by rationally pushing consumers, investors, and producers, towards an environmentally sound direction. To answer this, the article investigates three carbon-tax implementation case studies;British Columbia, South Africa, and the revision of European Union Energy Taxation Directive in the context of aviation, with the aim to explore the scope of contributing factors – from adequate tax rate determination to optimum tax revenue use – in successfully curbing carbon-based emissions. Drawing upon the policy-efforts of the countries in the case studies, the challenges and the solutions, the article proposes a suggestive policy model of carbon-tax in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, as the way forward in ensuring global carbon-neutrality.Alternate :In the wake of the 21st century, climate change has emerged as the biggest lifethreatening challenge with a potential of evolving into the largest, if not the most complex, economic opportunity since the industrial revolution. While narrowing down its focus to carbon tax as a regulatory fiscal aspect of international economic law, this article explores the potential role of the tax in moulding this economic opportunity in line with the commitments assumed by countries under the 2015 Paris Agreement. The issue is whether imposition of carbon tax or restructuring tax rates can have a significant impact in regulating carbon emissions by rationally pushing consumers, investors, and producers, towards an environmentally sound direction. To answer this, the article investigates three carbon-tax implementation case studies;British Columbia, South Africa, and the revision of European Union Energy Taxation Directive in the context of aviation, with the aim to explore the scope of contributing factors – from adequate tax rate determination to optimum tax revenue use – in successfully curbing carbon-based emissions. Drawing upon the policy-efforts of the countries in the case studies, the challenges and the solutions, the article proposes a suggestive policy model of carbon-tax in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, as the way forward in ensuring global carbon-neutrality.

Counterpoint: Epidemiology's Dual Social Commitment-Science and Health.

Matching epidemiology's aspirations to actual delivery of goods valuable for population health depends both on the scientific and operational capabilities of epidemiology and on the degree to which the goods meet its contract with society. Epidemiology's capabilities have advanced remarkably in recent decades, although research gaps have appeared during the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Epidemiology's social contract reflecting a dual commitment to science and health could arguably be entirely met by producing research results under conditions variously described as objective, impartial, neutral, or independent and handing such results to decision makers and the public at large. However, a closer examination shows that those four terms address sharply distinct issues, with distinct practical implications, and that the epidemiologist responsibility is de facto involved beyond providing research results. Hence the epidemiologist's engagement should encompass arguing from a science-for-health viewpoint and proactively driving the results into decision processes on public health issues.

Energy signature-based clustering using open data for urban building energy analysis toward carbon neutrality: A case study on electricity change under COVID-19

Under the necessity for urban energy savings and the importance of energy demand changes, this paper proposes energy analytics of urban buildings using a novel clustering method with open data. In the proposed method, the concept of energy signatures is introduced, and the signatures are defined as the representative symbols in the symbolic hierarchical clustering. This method can advance the existing clustering method or symbolic aggregate approximation (SAX) with limited energy usage patterns by introducing energy signatures with various pieces of energy information into the symbolic transformation. The proposed method can scientifically support tracking building energy usage and patterns, evaluating the existing concepts (such as green retrofitting and zero energy buildings) and advanced technologies, and the decision-making process for new policies under the global carbon neutrality scenarios. In a case study applied to a city using open energy data (in South Korea), the proposed method determined five representative clusters/areas, revealing the open data quality problems (anomaly and missing data), energy usage changes (e.g., energy usage polarization) caused by COVID-19, and the necessity of classifying building types in terms of energy usage patterns. Specifically, the cluster for decreasing energy patterns accounted for approximately 37%, and the increasing patterns accounted for 25%. Educational buildings accounted for 70% of the decreasing patterns, and technical and medical research facilities accounted for 76% of the increasing patterns under the COVID-19. Approximately 93% of missing data was found in the residential buildings. Anomaly data accounted for 10.9% in the total data.

Tracking long-term population exposure risks to PM2.5 and ozone in urban agglomerations of China 2015-2021.

China has experienced severe air pollution in the past decade, especially PM2.5 and emerging ozone pollution recently. In this study, we comprehensively analyzed long-term population exposure risks to PM2.5 and ozone in urban agglomerations of China during 2015-2021 regarding two-stage clean-air actions based on the Ministry of Ecology and the Environment (MEE) air monitoring network. Overall, the ratio of the population living in the regions exceeding the Chinese National Ambient Air Quality Standard (35 µg/m3) decreases by 29.9 % for PM2.5 from 2015 to 2021, driven by high proportions in the Middle Plain (MP, 42.3 %) and Lan-Xi (35.0 %) regions. However, this ratio almost remains unchanged for ozone and even increases by 1.5 % in the MP region. As expected, the improved air quality leads to 234.7 × 103 avoided premature mortality (ΔMort), mainly ascribed to the reduction in PM2.5 concentration. COVID-19 pandemic may influence the annual variation of PM2.5-related ΔMort as it affects the shape of the population exposure curve to become much steeper. Although all eleven urban agglomerations share stroke (43.6 %) and ischaemic heart disease (IHD, 30.1 %) as the two largest contributors to total ΔMort, cause-specific ΔMort is highly regional heterogeneous, in which ozone-related ΔMort is significantly higher (21 %) in the Tibet region than other urban agglomeration. Despite ozone-related ΔMort being one order of magnitude lower than PM2.5-related ΔMort from 2015 to 2021, ozone-related ΔMort is predicted to increase in major urban agglomerations initially along with a continuous decline for PM2.5-related ΔMort from 2020 to 2060, highlighting the importance of ozone control. Coordinated controls of PM2.5 and O3 are warranted for reducing health burdens in China during achieving carbon neutrality.