Including animal to plant protein shifts in climate change mitigation policy: a proposed three-step strategy

Strong and rapid greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions, far beyond those currently committed to, are required to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. This allows no sector to maintain business as usual practices, while application of the precautionary principle requires avoiding a reliance on negative emission technologies. Animal to plant-sourced protein shifts offer substantial potential for GHG emission reductions. Unabated, the livestock sector could take between 37% and 49% of the GHG budget allowable under the 2°C and 1.5°C targets, respectively, by 2030. Inaction in the livestock sector would require substantial GHG reductions, far beyond what are planned or realistic, from other sectors. This outlook article outlines why animal to plant-sourced protein shifts should be taken up by the Conference of the Parties (COP), and how they could feature as part of countries’ mitigation commitments under their updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to be adopted from 2020 onwards. The proposed framework includes an acknowledgment of ‘peak livestock’, followed by targets for large and rapid reductions in livestock numbers based on a combined ‘worst first’ and ‘best available food’ approach. Adequate support, including climate finance, is needed to facilitate countries in implementing animal to plant-sourced protein shifts.

Key policy insights

• Given the livestock sector’s significant contribution to global GHG emissions and methane dominance, animal to plant protein shifts make a necessary contribution to meeting the Paris temperature goals and reducing warming in the short term, while providing a suite of co-benefits.

• Without action, the livestock sector could take between 37% and 49% of the GHG budget allowable under the 2°C and 1.5°C targets, respectively, by 2030.

• Failure to implement animal to plant protein shifts increases the risk of exceeding temperate goals; requires additional GHG reductions from other sectors; and increases reliance on negative emissions technologies.

• COP 24 is an opportunity to bring animal to plant protein shifts to the climate mitigation table.

• Revised NDCs from 2020 should include animal to plant protein shifts, starting with a declaration of ‘peak livestock’, followed by a ‘worst first’ replacement approach, guided by ‘best available food’.

     

污水源热泵技术在城市住宅供暖中的应用研究

随着城市的发展和能源需求的增长,污水的热能回收利用越来越受到关注,开发污水源热泵技术对建筑节能降耗具有重要意义。本文就污水源热泵系统的工作原理、特点等方面进行了介绍,阐述了国内外污水源热泵技术的开发利用历程与工程现状,分析了城市污水热能资源潜力以及污水源热泵技术的发展前景,指出利用污水与环境的温差获取热能具有十分巨大的能量资源前景,适宜的热源距离是污水源热泵开发利用的先决条件,开发污水源热泵系统,可以充分利用城市污水处理厂的二级出水或城市污水作为水源,通过合理利用出水的流量和温差为城市住宅供暖。基于我国能源与环境的现状,污水源热泵系统具有良好的市场前景,是一种值得推广的能源开发利用方式。     

King Canute muses in the South Seas: Why aren’t Pacific Islands transitioning to low carbon sea transport futures?

Transition to low carbon sea transport is a logical response to the extreme dependency of the Pacific Islands region on imported fossil fuel, its significant vulnerability to the effects of climate change and the critical shipping needs of Pacific Island countries (PICs). Building on previous work in low carbon sea transport in the Pacific, this paper further considers the barriers to achieving such transition by assessing, through a ‘post-Paris Agreement’ lens, the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) submitted by PICs and contrasting these to the near total lack of investment and planning for low carbon transition in the transport sector with the parallel occurrence in the electricity sector where ~USD 2 billion of donor investment is deployed or queued despite electricity using only ~20% of fossil fuel across the region. Consistent with recent international studies, inadequate and inappropriate financing and policy have been identified as dominant transition barriers for low carbon sea transport development in PICs. This paper further examines the regional level barriers to policy development, and finds them inhibited by the silo nature of the major regional actors. The implications that the Paris Agreement has for climate financing to support the essential research and capacity development needed to underpin a successful low carbon sea transport transition strategy at any useful scale and speed are also considered in this paper.     

巴黎气候会议对全球长期目标的新发展

巴黎气候会议（COP21）达成了包括《巴黎协定》在内的重要成果,丰富和深化了应对气候变化的一揽子长期目标。1.5℃温升控制目标意味着全球管控气候风险的政治意愿得到强化,减缓温室气体排放的路径得到初步勾勒。在未来的科学评估和政治谈判中,全球各区域甚至是各个排放大国的排放空间、排放路径和减缓需求将会进一步清晰化和定量化,还会丰富和深化自上而下的国际气候合作规则,结合当前以国家自主决定贡献（INDC）为特征的、主要以自下而上方式推进全球气候治理的新模式,将对发展中国家、尤其是发展中排放大国的排放配额与发展空间产生重要影响,并进一步影响各国制定其国家贡献目标与行动的自主性。     

基于COP方法的徐州城市规划区内岩溶水脆弱性评价

基于欧洲模式中针对岩溶含水层脆弱性的评价方法—COP法,根据区内实际水文地质条件,建立徐州城市规划区岩溶水脆弱性评价模型。评价结果表明,脆弱性级别高区、脆弱性级别较高区占徐州城市规划区总面积的23.12%、13.73%;脆弱性级别中等区占总面积的7.85%;脆弱性级别较低区和低区分别占总面积的11.57%、43.73%。总体来看,区内岩溶含水层脆弱性整体较低,不容易被污染;脆弱性高区主要分布在基岩裸露区及其周围地区。     

多功能变工况热泵干燥装置的设计分析

设计了可同时实现开式、闭式和半开式干燥介质循环,可在干燥过程中转换工艺、调节工况的热泵干燥装置,以热泵工质R134a为例进行了1匹热泵干燥装置的设计计算,就同一装置在变工况下的性能进行理论分析。结果表明,蒸发温度的提高可有效提高装置的性能及除湿能耗比,冷凝温度的降低可使装置的COP值升高,除湿能耗比下降。     

The role of non-nation-state actors and side events in the international climate negotiations

United Nations climate change conferences have attracted an increasing number and range of observer participants, often outnumbering national delegates. The interactions between the formal and informal spaces of climate governance at the Conference of the Parties (COP) are explored by investigating why non-nation state actors (NNSAs) attend them and by measuring to what extent official UN Side Events provide relevant information for the formal negotiations. Based on primary empirical research at recent COPs, it is found that 60–75% of Side Events have related directly to items under negotiation in the post-2012 climate negotiations. In this regard, Side Events that facilitate informal exchange between stakeholders not only provide input into the negotiations but also allow issues beyond the realm of the negotiations to be discussed, reflecting the scope of climate change. Although Side Events are an effective forum to exchange ideas and network, their current format and purpose as being events ‘on the side’ does not offer a sufficient framework for coordination between the work of NNSAs and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process.     

‘Great Powers’ in climate politics

The concept of ‘Great Powers’ extends well beyond its nineteenth century origins to current business in, for example, the EU, the UN Security Council, and the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Such core groups can be crucial to finding agreement in complex and fractured negotiations. Climate change was not initially seen as an issue for the Great Power-type architecture. The problem was of universal concern, requiring universal involvement. Moreover, climate's natural great powers (the EU, the US, China, Japan, Russia, Brazil, India, and Canada) split into three antagonistic camps: the EU pressing for sharp emissions reductions; the US, with the other developed powers, much more cautious; and China, India, and Brazil determined that action should be confined to the developed world. These divisions contributed hugely to the ineffectiveness of both the 1992 Rio convention and the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. In addition, as non-Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; particularly Chinese) emissions fast outgrew OECD emissions, their exclusion from any constraint became visibly untenable. So, from 2005 on, the Great Powers began to meet more closely in what became the Major Economies Forum. That cooperation contributed significantly to the 2009 Copenhagen Accord. The climate problem is of course far from being solved, but maintaining Great Power cooperation will be crucial to further progress.     

Convergence or divergence?: Status and prospects for US climate strategy

The objective of this paper is to assess recent developments and prospects for future changes in United States (US) climate strategy. In doing so, the paper explores some of the key factors that have shaped strategies and policies to date, distinguishing between factors related to institutional and governance structures, linkages between science and policy, energy technology and the role of interest groups. Against this background, the paper attempts to explore future development paths for US climate policy. More specifically, the paper assesses opportunities for policy changes compared to the preferences of the current administration, and the prospects for future linkages between US and international climate change strategies. In brief, the paper argues that substantial changes are unlikely to take place in the near to medium term, leaving open, however, the possibility of wide-ranging changes in domestic politics or major incidents that could facilitate a shift in the perceived need for near-term action.     

冷库系统变工况性能的理论分析

对氨冷库蒸汽压缩制冷系统进行理论分析。通过改变环境温度,改变蒸发器和冷凝器压力降,建模计算了冷库系统的损失、效率和制冷系数COP,结果表明,系统各设备的损失随着环境温度升高而变化,系统设备性能随着压力降升高而变化。认为减少蒸发器和冷凝器的传热温差,减少压缩机内不可逆损失,减少蒸发器的压力降等可以提高系统性能。