Climate Change 1995 is a scientific assessment that was generated by more than 1 000 contributors from over 50 nations. It was jointly co-ordinated through two international agencies; the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme. The assessment was completed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) with a primary aim of reviewing the current state of knowledge concerning the impacts of climate change on physical and ecological systems, human health, and socioeconomic factors. The second aim was to review the available information on the technical and economic feasibility of the potential mitigation and adaptation strategies.

Climate Change 1995

Over the past 50 years, humans have altered their environment to a significant extent, although human well-being is dependent on ecosystem functioning. Ecosystems are particularly affected by unsustainable use of resources, such as, food, water, and timber. Ecosystem functions depend on water, carbon, and other nutrients cycles. Human activities have modified these cycles in a number of way. Use of ecosystems for recreation, spiritual enrichment, cultural purposes, and for other short term benefits is growing continuously, although ecosystem capacity to provide such services has reported to be declined significantly. Human well-being depends on material welfare, health, good social relations, security and freedom, which are affected by changes in ecosystem services. Intensive ecosystem use often produces short-term advantage. Poverty level remains high in more than one billion people, who are dependent on ecosystems with an income of less than $1 per day as reported elsewhere. Regions including some parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America have the greatest ecosystemrelated problems and are facing developmental challenges. Habitat change occurs, for instance, when the area of land used for agriculture or cities is expanded. Instability and unproductivity including desertification, water logging, mineralization and many other unwanted outcomes throughout the world are continuing. Habitat fragmentation by roads, canals, power lines limits the species potential for dispersal and colonization. Indirect drivers, like changes in human population, economic activity and technology as well as socio-political and cultural factors affect ecosystems by influencing direct drivers. World climate has changed and continues to change, affecting temperature, rainfall and sea levels. Intensive fertilizer use has polluted ecosystems. Climate change and high nutrient levels in water are becoming increasing problems. Ecosystem management for shortterm benefits is increasing. Loss of biodiversity makes it difficult for ecosystems to recover from damage. Once an ecosystem has undergone an abrupt change, recovery to the original state is slow, costly, and sometimes impossible. Changes in ecosystems complexity- functioning relationships could diminish the stability, resistance and resilience of managed terrestrial ecosystems, and may jeopardize important food and fibre sources, and ability of natural ecosystems both to provide natural resources, and to remove pollutants from atmosphere. Ecological complexity and ecosystem functioning depend on factors that govern species coexistence. Complexity of landscapes is determined by number of ecosystem types, their characteristics, their sizes and shapes, and associated connectivity. Complexity at this scale would have large consequences on regional to global scale processes. Presence and arrangement of keystone ecosystem types, such as, wetlands often determine total carbon and nitrogen balance of a region. Changes in average or extreme environmental events and intense land use management are believed to increase species extinction rate in isolated habitat fragments. Loss of key species, such as, top predators, fruit dispersers and pollinators from habitat may severely disrupt ecosystems functioning. Land use changes due to expanding urbanization, concomitant landscape fragmentation and intensification of production systems. Such change results in transformation of an ecosystem, form one state to another state, via a transition phase. The combined value of 17 ecosystem services has been reported in the estimated range of US$16-54 trillion per year by Costanza and others. About 30% of modern medicines are developed from plants and animals, and 10 of the world's 25 topselling drugs in 1997 were reported to be derived from natural sources. Global market value of pharmaceuticals derived from genetic resources is estimated at US $ 75 000-150 000 million annually. Some 75% of the world's populations rely for health care on traditional medicines, which are derived directly from natural sources as recorded elsewhere. Socio-economic development of human civilization and human well-being depends on long-term health of environment including ecosystems. Environmental problems are generally addressed in isolation, but practically such problems are interrelated, and originate from the root cause of unsustainable development. Damage to natural ecosystems and release of environmental pollutants must be minimized for protecting natural ecosystem, and human well-being.

Ecosystems and Human Well-Being

Biofuels are being promoted as a low-carbon alternative to fossil fuels as they could help to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the related climate change impact from transport. However, there are also concerns that their wider deployment could lead to unintended environmental consequences. Numerous life cycle assessment (LCA) studies have considered the climate change and other environmental impacts of biofuels. However, their findings are often conflicting, with a wide variation in the estimates. Thus, the aim of this paper is to review and analyse the latest available evidence to provide a greater clarity and understanding of the environmental impacts of different liquid biofuels. It is evident from the review that the outcomes of LCA studies are highly situational and dependent on many factors, including the type of feedstock, production routes, data variations and methodological choices. Despite this, the existing evidence suggests that, if no land-use change (LUC) is involved, first-generation biofuels can-on average-have lower GHG emissions than fossil fuels, but the reductions for most feedstocks are insufficient to meet the GHG savings required by the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED). However, second-generation biofuels have, in general, a greater potential to reduce the emissions, provided there is no LUC. Third-generation biofuels do not represent a feasible option at present state of development as their GHG emissions are higher than those from fossil fuels. As also discussed in the paper, several studies show that reductions in GHG emissions from biofuels are achieved at the expense of other impacts, such as acidification, eutrophication, water footprint and biodiversity loss. The paper also investigates the key methodological aspects and sources of uncertainty in the LCA of biofuels and provides recommendations to address these issues.

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspa.2020.0351

Environmental sustainability of biofuels: a review

Please note, we are currently updating the 2018 Journal Metrics. Environment, Development and Sustainability is an international, multidisciplinary journal covering all aspects of the environmental impacts of socio-economic development. Concerned with the complex interactions between development and environment, its purpose is to seek ways and means for achieving sustainability in all human activities aimed at such development. Coverage includes interactions among society, development and environment, and their implications for sustainable development; technical, economic, ethical and philosophical aspects of sustainable development; local, regional and global sustainability and their practical implementation; development and application of indicators of sustainability; development, verification, implementation and monitoring of policies for sustainable development; sustainable use of land, water, energy and biological resources in development; impacts of agriculture and forestry activities on soil and aquatic ecosystems and biodiversity, and much more. See Aims and Scope for more details. ***CALL FOR PAPERS***CALL FOR PAPERS***CALL FOR PAPERS*** CALL FOR PAPERS on Effects of Climate Change in Developing Countries The Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the IPCC regarding climate change indicated the paramount need to curb greenhouse gases for the sustainability of the planet. The journal recognizes the need for more evidence-based research to inform the discussion, particularly from the point of view of developing countries, which may suffer the most but are least equipped to cope.

Environment, Development, and Sustainability

In this article the environmental and socio-economical impacts of the production of ethanol from sugarcane in the state of Sao Paulo (Brazil) are evaluated. Subsequently, an attempt is made to determine to what extent these impacts are a bottleneck for a sustainable and certified ethanol production. Seventeen environmental and socio-economic areas of concern are analysed. Four parameters are used to evaluate if an area of concern is a bottleneck: (1) the importance of the area of concern, based on the severity of the impact and the frequency of which an aspect is mentioned in the literature as an area of concern, (2) the availability of indicators and criteria, (3) the necessity of improvement strategies to reach compliance with Brazilian and/or (inter) national legislation, standards, guidelines and sustainability criteria, and (4) the impact of these improvement strategies on the costs and potential of ethanol production. Fourteen areas of concern are classified as a minor or medium bottleneck. For 7 areas of concern the additional costs to avoid or reduce undesirable effects have been calculated at ⩽+10% for each area of concern. Due to higher yields and overlapping costs the total additional production costs of compliance with various environmental and socio-economic criteria are about +36%. This study also shows that the energy input to output ratio can be increased and the greenhouse gas emissions reduced by increasing the ethanol production per tonne cane and by increasing the use of sugarcane waste for electricity production. A major bottleneck for a sustainable and certified production is the increase in cane production and the possible impacts on biodiversity and the competition with food production. Genetically modified cane is presently being developed, but is at this moment not (yet) applied. Both a ban on and the allowance of the use of genetically modified cane could become a major bottleneck considering the potentially large benefits and disadvantages, that are both highly uncertain at this moment. The approach demonstrated in this report provides a useful framework for the development of a practically applicable certification system, but further monitoring and research is required to reduce gaps in knowledge in combination with stakeholder consultation (particularly with respect to the three bottlenecks identified in this article).

The sustainability of Brazilian ethanol - An assessment of the possibilities for certified production

The indirect effects of bioenergy and transport biofuels with a special focus on indirect land use changes (ILUC) and indirect impacts on resource use was studied. Three case studies were examined. First, a literature review of Brazilian sugarcane ethanol production is presented. Second, it was assessed how the increase in liquid biofuel production alters the allocation of land use patterns and other sources of non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions in Finland by using general equilibrium (CGE) modeling. Third, the influence of forest-based transportation biofuel production on the resource use in energy system and carbon stocks of forests in Finland was assessed by using partial equilibrium (PE) modeling. A variety of definitions, identification and quantification methods related to indirect effects presented in literature were compiled. However, in practice, it is often difficult to recognize the type of the effect in question, and what is the actual driver behind the change. The methods to assess the significance of ILUC were also reviewed. The monitoring data alone cannot be used to distinguish direct and indirect land use change emissions from each other, but it serve as a basis for various scenarios and assumptions on expected future development trends. To conclude, main problem in ILUC is the fact that deforestation mainly takes place in countries that are currently not committed to the binding targets for GHG emission limitations or reductions. Furthermore, ILUC is mainly promoted by increasing global demand and trade of agricultural products. Without effective policy measures there is a significant risk that the current biofuel promotion policies will increase ILUC and respective negative impacts. Both methodology to identify and quantify ILUC and management and policy approaches to mitigate negative LUC and ILUC impacts need to be further developed. System-level modeling can provide useful information on potential impacts of various policies and measures but probably too many uncertainties and inaccuracies are included in such modeling to be used to quantify the impacts in practice.

Identification and quantification of indirect land and resource use changes – Challenges caused by expanding liquid biofuel production

The European Union directive on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (RED) needs to be implemented into national legislation of the member states not later than 5 December 2010. The RED sets sustainability criteria for transportation biofuels and other bioliquids. The criteria concerning the origin of raw materials are qualitative where as quantitative criteria are set for greenhouse gas emissions of production/supply chains. For the determination of greenhouse gas emissions the RED provides default values, which can be used under certain conditions. In addition, a specific guidance on how to calculate GHG emission reductions is also given. This report explores and examines concepts and definitions associated with the qualitative and quantitative sustainability criteria given in the RED. In addition, features of the system capable to handle specific and problematic issues related to monitoring, reporting and verification of the sustainability data regarding supply chains of biofuels and other bioliquids are illustrated and discussed. ISBN 978-951-38-7491-9 (URL: http://www.vtt.fi/publications/index.jsp) Series title and ISSN Project number VTT Working Papers 1459-7683 (URL: http://www.vtt.fi/publications/index.jsp) 39728 Date Language Pages October 2010 Finnish, Engl. abstr. 130 p. + app. 7 p. Name of project Commissioned by Sustainability of biomass utilisation in changing operational environment (SUBICHOE) – WP1 IMPRESSIVE Tekes, TEM, MMM

EU:n uusiutuvien energialähteiden edistämisdirektiivin kestävyyskriteeristö: Näkemyksiä määritelmistä ja kestävyyden todentamisesta

Introduction Many rural municipalities aim energy self-sufficiency using renewable energy sources on regional level due to rising energy prices, reliability of steady supply and environmental pollution. A new draft directive of the EU in January 2008 triggers the efforts to raise the proportion of renewable sources in energy production by 20 % until 2020. This means that Finland should rise the proportion of renewable energy resources in energy production from about 28.5 % in 2005 to about 38.5 % until 2020 (Heinimö 2008) The objective of this paper is to find whether an example rural municipality can achieve this goal and whether there is the potential to become energy self-sufficient and to close material flows.

/pdf/towards-a-sustainable-low-carbon-rural-society-case-humppila-4irp0yepsg.pdf

Towards a sustainable low-carbon rural society : case Humppila

The use of biofuels in transportation is increasing and promoted in many areas with the aims of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector, securing the energy supply, and improving the self-sufficiency and employment. However, a number of recent studies have concluded that large-scale production of biofuels may cause significant environmental and social problems. Firstly, greenhouse benefits from substituting fossil fuels with biofuels may be questionable due to auxiliary material and energy inputs required, direct land-use impacts and, in particular, due to indirect system impacts e.g. land-use changes leading to deforestation. Secondly, other environmental impacts, such as nutrient losses, toxic emissions, and biodiversity losses, may also be significant and are not well known, in particular those related to technologies still under development. Thirdly, production of biofuels from raw materials that also are, suitable for food production, have been found to increase food prices, thus causing social problems. Consequently, research on and development of biofuels is more and more focusing on raw materials not directly competing with food production. In addition, a number of initiatives on sustainability criteria for biofuels have been announced by various institutions, with the aim of ensuring that the production of biofuels does not cause serious harm to the environment and society. A sustainability assessment is an extremely complicated and challenging task due to the lack of a unique, objective, and commonly agreed methodology, even though life cycle assessment (LCA) provides a generally accepted methodological background. The definitions of system boundary and reference scenario and other assumptions will have a significant impact on the results. In addition, the

Assessing the sustainability of liquid biofuels from evolving technologies : a Finnish approach

GHG emission performance of various liquid transportation biofuels in Finland in accordance with the EU sustainability criteria

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