Awareness of critical public health issues stemming from historical and contemporary environmental injustice has been growing, yet institutions are still working to identify how to respond. How do we transform University Health System infrastructure, in the built environment and affiliated community assets and human capital, to center equity and the lived experience of climate injustice in urban communities? Through the application of urban bioethical principles and examination of a public state-related university and its health system in a major U.S. city, I argue that the higher education institutional climate action planning process for medical schools and their attendant university health systems, in concert with public sector actors, can be a vehicle and accelerator for achieving health equity in urban communities and suggest what exactly that could or should look like. This thesis will look at the role of university health systems in addressing climate change and mitigating its impacts. More specifically, it looks to provide context for the influence of “meds and eds” in urban communities: how their status as anchor institutions and sites of economic development implicates their responsibility to anticipate the differentiated material experience of climate change. As sites of care delivery, medical education and training, and major employers these institutions have a duty to ameliorate the associated inequitable health outcomes of climate change. I provide a model for action by all urban university health system stakeholders with recommendations to sustain equitable resilience in the face of environmental crisis. / Urban Bioethics

No description available.

Forests represent both, one of the strongest drivers of, and solutions to, the rapid shift in the earth’s climate. Integrating the use of forests as a cost effective solution into emerging global carbon markets however has proven extremely difficult. The incentive for companies to utilize carbon credits as a means to offset emissions is heavily dependent upon the credibility of the project that created it. The difficulty proving the credibility of forest projects is largely due to the inherent variation associated with forest environments. British Columbia’s pine beetle epidemic provides an extreme example of just how quickly vast carbon sinks can suddenly become sources. As such, the creation of standards to ensure the security of carbon sequestered by forest projects has proven to be instrumental in encouraging their acceptance into the market. British Columbia has recognized that its forests play an integral role in its contribution to the global carbon cycle. As a result, heavy consideration is being made as to how this resource may be integrated as a source of carbon offsets for its own Cap-and-Trade market. This will mean establishing specific standards for forest projects in a BC context. This report reviews two regional standards from the states of Georgia and California, which could be applied as templates for a set of BC specific protocols for forest carbon sequestration projects. It is intended that through a comparison and analysis of these standards that potential problems faced in applying similar standards here will be identified.

The apparel and footwear industry’s contribution to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is one of the fifth largest per industry, equal to that of livestock, after electricity and heat, oil and gas, agriculture, and transportation (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2017). For industry-wide emissions reduction, investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency programs across highest impacting life cycle phases offer the most effective solution. However, identifying the highest impacting life cycles phases shows varied results depending on the particular type of business model under examination. This paper responds to the lack of existing data and empirical research on how to accurately measure, report and reduce carbon emissions across the highly complex and globally interconnected apparel value chain. This is done through a single case study investigation of an Icelandic fashion brand. A hybrid approach of a standard Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and the Sustainable Global Value Chain (SGVC) functions to produce a Hotspot Identification Tool (HIT) to establish a holistic portrayal of business operations in relation to emission impacts and level of controllability across Scopes. The conceptual analysis and qualitative results identify the most relevant emission hotspots to lie within the company’s privately owned manufacturing facilities, as well as the procurement phase, due to its direct connection with and influence on material production, user phase, and end-of-life. The main obstacle in this pursuit is identified as restriction of resources in terms of time, capital and expertise. It is suggested that this be overcome by joining a Multi-Stakeholder Initiative where resources and expertise is pooled in a pre-competitive manner to reach common objectives. The investigation further suggests a need for global fashion brands to leverage their influential position on down- and upstream activities across the value chain, i.e. with their supply chain partners and consumers. I argue that fashion brands play an integral role in supporting local efforts to build a decarbonisation pathway towards climate neutral economies on a global scale.

This report analyzes the current greenhouse gas emissions inventory for The University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin), reviews the carbon reduction strategies being implemented at UT-Austin and other peer institutions, and offers recommendations for strategies that could reduce greenhouse gas emissions at UT-Austin in the future. / text

Climate change creates an urgency for action to be taken at government, corporate and individual level. Changing behaviours is a necessity to meet the global temperature goal of 2 °C increase, and companies have a significant role to play in this transformation. To change these behaviours, a change needs to happen in both attitudes and actions. Climate change education is one of many important methods to perform this transition. This study therefore aims to explore employee's perception of their ability to engage in their company's climate strategy and which development possibilities there are to increase their engagement. This is studied by looking at the effects of the game-based workshop, Climate Fresk, implemented in the Swedish sector of the global technical company Schneider Electric. Prior to collecting data, a pre research was conducted where background knowledge about Climate Fresk and Schneider was attained through observations of workshops and focus groups as well as an interview with the head of sustainability at Schneider. Data collection was thereafter made through 11 semi-constructed interviews with employees who had previously participated in Climate Fresk. The data given was processed through a thematic analysis to present three themes with eight sub themes, representing the results. These three themes visualizes employees' feelings, understandings and takeaways, as well as their perceived behavioural changes, attitude changes, hindrances and development suggestions for both Climate Fresk and involvement in Schneider’s climate strategy. The results show that employees have more understanding for climate change, feel more strengthened and more able to engage in Schneiders climate strategy after having participated in Climate Fresk. This is expressed both individually, but also collectively and with the support from role models and the positive climate change culture in Schneider. Still, some employees express credibility issues with Schneider due to high carbon-emitting activities. To make it easier for employees to engage in Schneiders climate strategy, development suggestions are made. Concretization of Schneiders goals for both employees and clients, a Schneider specific follow-up workshop and action accelerator programs both for collective climate change groups and individual aspiring climate role models within the company. / För att hindra klimatförändringarna behövs åtgärder tas på statlig, företagsmässig och individuell nivå. Omfattande beteendeförändringar är nödvändiga för att möta det globala målet på 2 °C, och företag har en stor roll att spela i den transformationen. För att förändra beteenden behöver tankar och attityder omformas, samt aktioner tas. Klimatrelaterad utbildning är en av de viktiga metoder som behövs för att genomföra transformationen. Denna studie syftar därför till att utforska anställdas uppfattning om möjligheterna att engagera sig i sitt företags klimatstrategi och vilka utvecklingsförslag som kan öka engagemanget. Detta studeras genom att se på effekterna av den spel-baserade workshopen, Climate Fresk, implementerad i den svenska sektorn av det globala, tekniska företaget Schneider Electric. Före datainsamling genomfördes en förundersökning om Climate Fresk och Schneider genom observation av en workshop, diskussion med en fokusgrupp av facilatorer samt en intervju med hållbarhetschefen på Schneider. Data insamlades därefter genom 11 semistrukturerade intervjuer med anställda som tidigare deltagit i Climate Fresk. Datan bearbetades genom en tematisk analys för att presentera tre teman och åtta underteman som representerar resultaten. Dessa tre teman innehåller uppfattningar kring medarbetarnas känslor, förståelser, beteendeförändringar, attitydförändringar, hinder och utvecklingsförslag för både Climate Fresk och Schneiders klimatstrategi.Resultaten visar att medarbetarna har större förståelse för klimatförändringar, känner sig mer stärkta och har större möjlighet att engagera sig i Schneiders klimatstrategi efter att ha deltagit i Climate Fresk. Detta kommer till uttryck både individuellt, men också kollektivt och med stöd av förebilder och den positiva hållbarhetsskulturen på Schneider. Fortfarande uttrycker vissa anställda trovärdighetsproblem med Schneider på grund av verksamheter med höga växthusgasutsläpp. För att göra det lättare för de anställda att engagera sig i Schneiders klimatstrategi ges flera utvecklingsförslag. Dessa är t.ex. konkretisering av Schneiders mål för både anställda och kunder, en Schneider-specifik uppföljande workshop och tillhandahållande av program både för kollektiva klimatförändringsgrupper och enskilda aspirerande klimatförebilder inom företaget.

Modelling solar radiation data at a high spatiotemporal resolution for an urban environment can inform many different applications related to climate action, such as urban agriculture, forest, building, and renewable energy studies. However, the complexity of urban form, vastness of city-wide coverage, and general dearth of climatological information pose unique challenges doing so. To address some climate action goals related to reducing building emissions in the City of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, applied geomatics and climatology were used to model solar radiation data suitable for informing renewable energy feasibility studies, including photovoltaic system sizing, costing, carbon offsets, and financial payback. The research presents a comprehensive review of solar radiation attenuates, as well as methods of accounting for them, specifically in urban environments. A novel methodology is derived from the review and integrates existing models, data, and tools – those typically available to a local government. Using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), a solar climatology, Esri’s ArcGIS Solar Analyst tool, and Python scripting, daily insolation (kWh/m2) maps are produced for the city of Victoria. Particular attention is paid to the derivation of daily diffuse fraction from atmospheric clearness indices, as well as LiDAR classification and generation of a Digital Surface Model (DSM). Novel and significant improvements in computation time are realized through parallel processing. Model results exhibit strong correlation with empirical data and support the use of Solar Analyst for urban solar assessments when great care is taken to accurately and consistently represent model inputs and outputs integrated in a methodological approach. / Graduate

No description available.

The thesis aims to analyse the relations of non-governmental organisations towards the European integration process, which creates an additional platform for their interest representation. This case study focuses on how Czech non-profit organisations, which are dealing in long term with the topic of climate change, try to use the instruments and channels available at the EU level to promote their idea of the 2030 Climate and Energy Framework targets and how the EU climate action policy translates to their understanding of the topic. The thesis is based on the Europeanization theory that assumes that non-state actors are adjusting their behaviour to the existence of another platform of decision making and interest representation. I, therefore, assume, that the selected sample of Czech ecological NGOs tries to actively use the opportunity to participate in the EU decision making - especially because a climate policy is decided mostly at the EU level and therefore the outcomes, such as the 2030 Framework, present another tool to achieve change in the climate policy of the Czech Republic. I conclude that from the perspective of selected NGOs the European climate policy is perceived as an important driver behind the development in this field in both Czech Republic and global negotiations - even though...

Tesis por compendio / [ES] Actualmente, los responsables de tomar decisiones contra el cambio climático carecen de herramientas para desarrollar inventarios de emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero (GEI) con suficiente rigor científico-técnico y precisión para priorizar e invertir los recursos disponibles de manera eficiente en las medidas necesarias para luchar contra el cambio climático. Por ello, en esta tesis se expone el desarrollo de un sistema de información territorial y sectorial (SITE) para monitorear las emisiones de GEI que sirva como herramienta de gobernanza climática local y regional. SITE combina las ventajas de los enfoques metodológicos descendente o top-down (de arriba hacia abajo) y ascendente o bottom-up (de abajo hacia arriba), para lograr un enfoque híbrido innovador para contabilizar y gestionar de manera eficiente las emisiones de GEI. Por tanto, en esta tesis se definen los diferentes desarrollos metodológicos, tanto generales como específicos de sectores clave del Panel Intergubernamental de Cambio Climático (IPPC) (edificación, transporte, sector forestal, etc.), un desarrollo informático para la parte de SITE que se ejecuta del lado del servidor, que de ahora en adelante denominaremos back-end del sistema, y siete implementaciones como casos de estudio representativos, a diferentes escalas y aplicados sobre diferentes sectores. Estas implementaciones a diferentes escalas y sectores demuestran el potencial del sistema como herramienta de apoyo en la toma de decisión contra el cambio climático a nivel regional y local. Las diferentes implementaciones en casos piloto representativos, tanto a nivel regional en la Comunitat Valenciana como a nivel local en municipios grandes (València) y medianos (Quart de Poblet y Llíria) muestran el potencial de adaptación territorial y sectorial que tiene la herramienta. Las metodologías desarrolladas para los sectores específicos de tráfico rodado, edificación o sector forestal, ofrecen cuantificaciones con una resolución espacial con gran capacidad de optimizar las políticas locales y regionales. Por tanto, la herramienta cuenta con un gran potencial de escalabilidad y gran capacidad de mejora continua mediante la inclusión de nuevos enfoques metodológicos, adaptación de las metodologías a la disponibilidad de datos, metodologías concretas para sectores clave y actualización a las mejores metodologías disponibles derivadas de actividades de investigación de la comunidad científica. / [CA] Actualment, els responsables de prendre decisions contra el canvi climàtic no tenen eines per aconseguir inventaris d'emissions de gasos d'efecte hivernacle (GEH) amb prou cientificotècnic rigor, precisió i integritat per invertir els recursos disponibles de manera eficient en les mesures necessàries contra el canvi climàtic. Per això, en aquesta tesis se exposa el desenvolupa un sistema d'informació territorial i sectorial (SITE) per monitoritzar les emissions de GEH com a eina de governança climàtica local i regional. Aquest sistema combina els avantatges dels enfocaments metodològics descendent o top-down (de dalt a baix) i ascendent o bottom-up (de baix a dalt), per aconseguir un enfocament híbrid innovador per comptabilitzar i gestionar de manera eficient les emissions de GEH. Per tant, en aquesta tesi doctoral es descriuen els diferents desenvolupaments metodològics, tant generals com específics de sectors clau del Panel Intergovernamental contra el Canvi Climàtic (edificació, transport, forestal, etc.), un desenvolupament informàtic per al back-end del sistema i set implementacions com a casos d'estudi representatius, a diferents escales, amb els diferents enfocaments metodològics i aplicats sobre diferents sectors. Això queda descrit en sis capítols. Aquestes implementacions a diferents escales i sectors demostren el potencial del sistema com a eina de suport en la presa de decisió contra el canvi climàtic a nivell regional i local. Les diferents implementacions en casos pilot representatius, tant a nivell regional a la Comunitat Valenciana com a nivell local en municipis grans (València) i mitjans (Quart de Poblet i Llíria,) mostren el potencial d'adaptació territorial i sectorial que té l'eina. Les metodologies desenvolupades per als sectors específics de trànsit rodat, edificació i forestal, ofereixen quantificacions amb una resolució espacial amb gran capacitat d'optimitzar les polítiques locals i regionals. Per tant, l'eina compta amb un gran potencial d'escalabilitat i gran capacitat de millora contínua mitjançant la inclusió de nous enfocaments metodològics, adaptació de les metodologies a la disponibilitat de dades, metodologies concretes per a sectors clau, i actualització a les millors metodologies disponibles derivades de activitats de investigació de la comunitat científica. / [EN] Currently, regional and local decision-makers lack of tools to achieve greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions inventories with enough rigor, accuracy and completeness in order to prioritize available resources efficiently against climate change. Thus, in this thesis the development of a territorial and sectoral information system (SITE) to monitor GHG emissions as a local and regional climate governance tool is exposed. This system combines the advantages of both, top-down and bottom-up approaches, to achieve an innovative hybrid approach to account and manage efficiently GHG emissions. Furthermore, this thesis defines the methodologies developed, a computer proposal for the back-end of the system and seven implementations as representative case studies at different scales (local and regional level), with the different methodological approaches and applied to different sectors. Thus, these implementations demonstrate the potential of the system as decision-making tool against climate change at the regional and local level as climate governance tool. The different implementations in representative pilot cases, both at the regional level in the Valencian Community and at the local level in large (Valencia) and medium-sized municipalities (Quart de Poblet and Llíria) demonstrate the potential for territorial and sectoral adaptation of the system developed. The methodologies developed for the specific sectors of road transport, building and forestry, offer quantifications with a spatial resolution with a great capacity to optimize local and regional policies. Therefore, the tool has a great potential for scalability and a great capacity for continuous improvement through the inclusion of new methodological approaches, adapting the methodologies to the availability of data, specific methodologies for key sectors, and updating to the best methodologies available in the scientific community. / Lorenzo Sáez, E. (2022). Desarrollo de una herramienta integral de gestión de gases de efecto invernadero para la toma de decisión contra el cambio climático a nivel regional y local en la Comunitat Valenciana [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/181662 / TESIS / Compendio