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This study seeks to examine whether the Corona pandemic has potential to serve as a focusing event for the problem of insufficient governmental action on climate change mitigation. The study is built on the Multiple Streams Framework by John W. Kingdon, with a main focus on the focusing event theory. According to this, focusing events can come in three forms: as crises and disasters, personal experiences of policymakers, and as symbols. Kingdon’s theoretical discussions, alongside my own developments of his work, provides the basis for a set of analytical questions through which the answer to the research question is provided. The analysis reveals that while the pandemic indeed can be considered a crisis or disaster and personal experiences of policymakers, establishing whether these could focus attention to the specific problem of insufficient governmental action on climate change mitigation requires further research, as the perceived cause of the crisis or disaster and personal experience must be established. However, the paper finds that the pandemic indeed has potential to serve as a symbol for the specific insufficient governmental action, for instance by stressing that deforestation increases the risk of zoonotic outbreaks, such as the Corona pandemic.

Since the industrial revolution, the atmospheric CO2 concentration has steadily increased due to the combustion of fossil fuels, reaching 410 ppm. According to the 2018 IPCC report, it was recognized that the anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activities are major drivers for global warming of 1.0 oC above the pre-industrial level. Due to the unprecedented scale of human driven CO2 emission and its environmental impact, the mitigation of climate change requires a wide range of multifaceted solutions. Thus, enormous global efforts have been placed on the development of Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) to mitigate CO2 emissions in the immediate future. Most recent reports by the U.S. National Academies and the Mission Innovation presented that ex-situ carbon mineralization is a CO2 utilization technology with a great carbon storage potential and a large market size. Also, fixing CO2 into a solid matrix of carbonate minerals is one of the most permanent methods for carbon storage. Although the ex-situ carbon mineralization presents many advantages and great potential as CCUS technology, its commercialization has been limited due to the mammoth scale of the process, slow reaction kinetic between CO2 and silicate minerals, and high energy and operating cost. In order to minimize energy and chemical (acid and base) consumption of this technology, recent researches have been focused on a two-step carbon mineralization via Pco2 swing using highly reactive heat-treated serpentine mineral. However, the elemental (Mg and Si) extractions from the complex silicate structures of heat-treated serpentine are still poorly understood and a more fundamental understanding of the Pco2 swing process is required to develop a commercial-scale plant. Thus, the objectives of this study are directed toward addressing these technical challenges. The effect of operating conditions, such as temperature, slurry density, and CO2 partial pressure, on the dissolution of heat-treated serpentine and subsequent Mg-carbonate precipitation behaviors, were studied to provide a fundamental understanding of the Pco2 swing carbon mineralization process of highly reactive silicate materials. The dissolution experiments with a wide range of temperature and slurry densities provided valuable insights into the formation of the Si-rich passivation layer and its role in the mass transfer limitation during mineral dissolution. The heat-treated serpentine dissolution behaviors with chemical additives (ligand) were also investigated to overcome the effect of the Si-rich passivation layer on Mg extraction kinetics. What is more, a unique internal grinding system was proposed and integrated with the Pco2 swing process to physically remove the Si-rich passivation layer. The diffusion-limited slow elemental (Mg and Si) extraction from the heat-treated serpentine silicate structures was significantly enhanced in the internal grinding system. A stress intensity, which is proportional to the energy transferred from grinding media to the heat-treated serpentine particles during a stress event, was used to describe the effect of the reaction parameters on the extent of the physical activation and the enhancements in mineral dissolution. For the fundamental understanding of the complex dissolution behaviors of heat-treated serpentine, the changes in the silicate structures (Q0 – Q4) of heat-treated Mg-bearing mineral (serpentine) exposed to a CO2-water system (carbonic acid) was investigated using 29Si MAS NMR and XRPD. The identified silicate structures were employed to provide insight into how Mg and Si are liberated from the different silicate structures during the dissolution process. Thermodynamic and kinetic modeling was performed to understand the Mg-carbonate precipitation behaviors in the Pco2 swing process. The effects of carbonic anhydrase, seed particles, and ligand (citrate) on precipitation behaviors were studied to improve the precipitation kinetics. This approach will bring a great paradigm shift in the energy and environmental field since the less energy-intensive and low-cost ex-situ carbon mineralization process via Pco2 swing will be able to allow long-term and sustainable carbon utilization.

Mitigating climate change necessitates a rapid transition away from fossil fuels and toward renewable carbon-neutral energy sources such as wind and solar. This doctoral research addresses fundamental limitations of first-principles computational methods for the design and discovery of new processes and materials to accelerate industrial decarbonization and the global transition to a clean and sustainable energy economy by developing practical methods that build on thermodynamics and leverage foundational advances in machine learning. Recent breakthroughs in artificial intelligence for materials design and discovery aim to screen entire material libraries for desirable properties and to predict novel materials with target properties. Because of the scarcity of available thermodynamic data, designing materials for thermodynamic conditions far away from absolute zero temperature and pressure has proven particularly challenging. In principle, machine learning can speed up materials modeling by providing surrogate models, learning the relationship between structure/composition features and material properties, and training the model to predict desired properties. Due to a lack of experimental data, these models rely heavily on synthetic data from first-principles approaches such as electronic density functional theory. Designing high-temperature processes is also problematic because of the intrinsic limitations of conventional density functional theory calculations, which are strictly correct only at zero temperature. To overcome these data and methodological limitations, I integrated thermodynamic relationships with machine learning models to augment results from first-principles calculations. Additionally, I identified materials descriptor spaces that provide natural representations of structures and compositions for materials discovery. Chapter 1 introduces in more detail the motivation for this doctoral research and for the combination of computational materials thermodynamics and machine learning. Chapter 2 reviews computational materials science methods that I employed. Chapter 3 showcases how the melting temperatures of materials can be predicted with a combination of electronic structure theory and machine learning. In Chapter 4, our approach for Gibbs free energy predictions is discussed. Chapter 5 deals with the representation learning of materials, dimensionality reduction, quantifying the information content of materials representation spaces, and constructing property-aware materials descriptors. I conclude the thesis with a summary and a discussion of future directions.

Bibliography: leaves 135-145 / Climate Change poses a great risk to our future as species on Earth. The impacts thereof will have far reaching consequences on every aspect of our daily lives and ultimately on our ability to survive and thrive as humans. It is therefore important, particularly in urban areas where most of the human population live, for the investment of resources and expertise into mitigating these impacts and ensuring the resilience of urban areas. The urban forest provides climate change mitigation benefits for urban areas through carbon sequestration. In order to encourage investment and protection of the urban forest, this benefit must be quantified and afforded a monetary value. This study calculated the amount of carbon dioxide sequestrated by the Jacaranda mimosifolia street tree in the City of Tshwane and afforded this amount a monetary value in both South African Rands and American Dollars through the South African Carbon Tax Bill. This study followed the baseline study by Stoffberg (2006) looking at how much carbon dioxide had been sequestrated by the Jacaranda trees over the past 15 years post the baseline study and what monetary value do the trees now have through legislation that was not available during the baseline study. The study also observed the variables that may have affected the amount of carbon dioxide sequestrated by the trees. Although some areas saw a drop in the Total Carbon Dioxide Equivalent sequestrated since 2004, the total amount for the whole city remained stable. Through the Carbon Tax Bill, the value of these trees has increased significantly encouraging the municipality to invest in the maintenance and protection of the Jacaranda street trees in the City of Tshwane in order to preserve their carbon sequestration benefits / Environmental Sciences / M. Sc. (Environmental management)

Climate change is a pressing problem and substantial reductions in the greenhouse gas emissions that cause it are necessary to avert the worst impacts predicted. The UK has targeted an 80% reduction from 1990 emissions levels by 2050. This thesis investigates how to promote behavioural changes that will reduce emissions associated with individuals’ lifestyles, which comprise a significant proportion of the UK total. The thesis begins by appraising whether and how climate change communications, specifically films, can succeed in changing attitudes and behaviour. The impacts on viewers of the film The Age of Stupid were assessed using a fourstage panel survey. Increased concern, motivation to act, and sense of agency felt immediately after seeing the film did not persist, but respondents reported some behavioural changes. The longer-term follow-up suggests that behavioural intentions do not necessarily translate into action, but also revealed issues concerning the reliability of participants’ causal attributions of their behaviour. These and other challenges of conducting longitudinal studies of behavioural change related to climate change communications are discussed. The thesis then uses a model of behavioural change transposed from health psychology to analyse the processes of change employed or depicted by four climate change films, in order to identify more generally the strengths and limitations of films as means to promote mitigation action, and to demonstrate the potential utility of the model in the field of proenvironmental behaviour change. The issue is then considered from the opposite angle, with an examination of what has motivated individuals who have already adopted lower-carbon lifestyles. Qualitative research reveals that protecting ‘the environment’ per se is not the primary value stimulating most interviewees’ action; typically they were more concerned about the impacts of climate change on people in developing countries. Although analysis of a survey instrument showed that biospheric values are important to the participants, they tended to score altruistic values significantly higher. Thus it may not be necessary to promote biospheric values to encourage lower-carbon lifestyles. The final element of the work involved researching the opinions of members of Carbon Rationing Action Groups, seeking to understand what can be learned from their experiences of living with a carbon allowance, and the implications that the findings may have for potential government policies, especially personal carbon trading. The thesis concludes that, given the scale of action required, the difficulties individuals face when considering whether and how to adopt lower-carbon behaviours, and the limited impact of initiatives such as Carbon Rationing Action Groups and The Age of Stupid beyond a relatively small circle of people who tend to exhibit particular traits (such as a preference for frugality), significant UK emissions reductions will necessitate far-reaching legislation that will impact on everyday practices and behaviour.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Responding appropriately to anthropogenic climate change presents a considerable challenge to humankind. Projected changes in climate are anticipated to affect the world's natural systems, human health and economies in many ways. Consequently, there is an urgent need to implement climate change mitigation and adaptation measures that are appropriate and efficient. This dissertation focuses on aspects of risk and feasibility associated with land use based climate change mitigation. First, it reviews policy, implementation and incentive issues that are key to promoting permanence and reducing the risk of leakage associated with reducing emissions from deforestation and forest deforestation (REDD1) in sub-Saharan Africa. Secondly, it assesses the transaction costs associated with the implementation of avoided deforestation and reforestation activities and their effect on the financial feasibility of ventures located in woodland and rangeland systems. Thirdly, it explores the potential impact of biophysical risk factors (such as fire) on the outcome of REDD activities in two chapters. The first risk chapter introduces the notion of biophysical risk and reviews the risk of fire to REDD activities located in important African vegetation types. The second chapter on risk uses the Century Ecosystem Program and published climate projection data to assess the effect of projected changes in temperature, rainfall and atmospheric carbon dioxide on the outcome of REDD activities. The results indicate that, among the biophysical risk variables assessed, fire may not present a major risk to REDD activities located in African woodland, savanna and grassland systems. In contrast, fire may present a significant risk in moist forests where unprecedented dry periods may allow fire to occur in a system where it has previously been absent. The analysis of the affect of climate change found that changes in climate are generally predicted to lead to an increase in carbon stocks and sequestration rates for the vegetation types assessed. Exceptions do occur, such as the modeled effect on nutrient-rich savannas, which require further investigation. The analysis of transaction costs associated with REDD activities illustrated that such costs may inhibit the feasibility of smaller-scale activities, especially in ecosystems outside of moist forests with relatively low carbon stocks and associated revenues. Whereas the proposed creation of national-scale capacity may reduce some transaction costs to a certain extent, there is a clear need to better understand the true cost of REDD activities. In terms of required supporting policy and implementation capacity, it is noted 1) that multi-criteria land use planning is particularly important in reducing permanence risk, 2) that the scope of recognized land use activities that reduce atmospheric GHG needs to be expanded if the benefits of REDD are to be fully realised and 3) that informal land tenure may not require transformation prior to successful, sustainable implementation. A review of the appropriateness of community-based forest carbon monitoring found that such an approach presents significant cost savings while providing local employment and incentive opportunities. Exposure to such initiatives to date indicated that the quality of data collected is adequate and sufficiently robust to fulfill project and national-scale reporting and verification requirements. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Antropogeniese klimaatsverandering hou daadwerklike uitdagings vir die mensdom in. Huidige voorspellings dui daarop dat klimaatsverandering natuurlike sisteme, gesondheid en die ekonomie op 'n verskeidenheid van vlakke gaan beinvloed. Daar is dus 'n dringende nood aan korrekte en effektiewe aanpassings- en mitigasie maatstawwe wat geimplementeer kan word. Hierdie proefskrif fokus op die risiko en lewensvatbaarheid van grondgebruiksgebaseerde klimaatsverandering mitigasie. Eerstens gee dit 'n oorsig van die beleids en implementasie dryfvere wat noodsaaklik is vir die bevordering van permanentheid en die verlaging van die risiko van lekkasie wat geassosieer word met verlaagde emissies vanwee degradasie en ontbossing (VEDO2) in sub-Sahara Afrika. Tweedens analiseer dit die transaksiekoste wat geassosieer word met die vermyding van ontbossing en herbebossing en die effek daarvan op die finansiele lewensvatbaarheid van sulke aktiwiteite in bosveld en weiveld. Derdens ondersoek die proefskrif die biofisiese risiko faktore (soos vuur) op die uitslag van VEDO aktiwiteite in twee hoofstukke. Die eerste hoofstuk word ingelei deur 'n ontleding en verklaring van biofisiese risiko en gee dan 'n oorsig oor die risiko van vuur op VEDO projekte in belangrike plantegroei-tipes in Afrika. Die tweede hoofstuk maak gebruik van die Century Ekostelsel Program om die impak van voorspelde veranderings in temperatuur, reenval en atmosferiese koolstofdioksied op VEDO aktiwiteite te evalueer. Die resultate dui aan dat onder die biofisiese risiko faktore wat ondersoek is, vuur nie so „n belangrike risiko inhou vir VEDO projekte in die bosveld, savanna en grasveld plantegroeitipes in Afrika nie. In teenstelling hou vuur 'n groot risiko in vir nat woude waar ongekende droeë tydperke kan veroorsaak dat vuur wel mag voorkom in „n stelsel waar dit voorheen afwesig was. Die analise op die effek van klimaatsverandering het bevind dat veranderinge in klimaat tipies sal lei tot a toename in koolstof voorrade en verhoogde sekwestrasie tempos vir die plantegroeitipes wat geevalueer is. Daar was egter uitsonderings, soos byvoorbeeld die gemodeleerde impakte op nutrientryke savannas wat verdere ondersoek benodig. Die analise ten opsigte van die transaksiekoste wat gepaardgaan met VEDO aktiwiteite illustreer dat sulke kostes dalk die lewensvatbaarheid van kleinerskaal projekte mag benadeel, veral in ekostelsels anders as nat woude met relatief lae koolstof voorrade en geassosieerde inkomste. Die voorgestelde skepping van kapasiteit op 'n nasionale vlak mag dalk transaksie koste verlaag tot 'n mate, maar daar is duidelik 'n behoefte om beter insigte te verkry oor die ware kostes van VEDO aktiwiteite. Wat betref die vereiste ondersteunende beleid en implimentasie kapasiteit is daar bevind dat 1) multi-kriteria grondgebruik beplanning uiters belangrik is in die verlaging van permanentheidsrisiko, 2) die omvang van erkende grondgebruiks aktiwiteite moet uitgebrei word om ten volle voordeel te trek uit VEDO, 3) dat informele grondbesit dalk nie transformasie vereis voor suksesvolle, volhoubare implementasie nie. „n Oorsig oor die aanvaarbaarheid van gemeenskapsgebaseerde woudkoolstofmonitering het gevind dat so 'n benadering tot groot kostebesparings lei terwyl dit ook plaaslike werkskepping bevorder en dien as dryfveer vir projekte. Blootstelling aan sulke inisiatiewe tot op hede dui aan dat die kwaliteit van die data wat ingesamel is voldoen aan projek- sowel as nasionale vlak verslaggewingsvereistes.

This thesis focuses on the relationship between the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) economies and global climate change mitigation policies with a view to determining the energy exports demand security risks of OPEC member states. The successful implementation of a universally adopted climate regime has been marred with controversies as different interest groups have raised their concerns about all the options presented so far. OPEC as the major crude oil exporting group in the world has been in the forefront of these debates and negotiations. OPEC’s major concern is the envisaged adverse impacts of the industrialised countries carbon reductions on its members' economies. Several studies have shown that when industrialised countries adopt carbon dioxide emissions reduction policies in line with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, such as carbon taxes and energy efficiency strategies, OPEC’s net price of crude oil decreases at the same time as a reduction in the quantity of crude oil products sold. OPEC believes that such climate change policy-induced fall in crude oil exports revenues would have a significant negative effect on its members' economies. With the limitations related to the assumptions of the existing energy economy models on the impacts of climate change mitigation policies on OPEC’s economies (Barnett et al, 2004), this study opts for a risk based model. This model quantifies the energy exports demand security risks of OPEC members with special interest on crude oil. This study also investigates the effects of carbon reduction policies on crude oil prices vis-à-vis the impacts of crude oil prices on OPEC’s economies. To address these three main issues, this thesis adopts a three-prong approach. The first paper addresses the impacts of climate change mitigation on crude oil prices using a dynamic panel model. Results from the estimated dynamic panel model show that the relationship between crude oil prices and climate change mitigation is positive. The results also indicate that a 1% change in carbon intensity causes a 1.6% and 8.4% changes in crude oil prices in the short run and long run, respectively. The second paper focuses on the impacts of crude oil prices on OPEC economies using a panel vector auto regression (VAR) approach, highlighting the exposure of OPEC members to the volatile crude oil prices. The findings from the panel VAR model show that the relationship between OPEC members’ economic growth and crude oil prices is positive and economic growth in OPEC member states respond positively and significantly to a 10% deviation in crude oil prices by 1.4% in the short run and 1.7% in the long run. The third paper creates an index of the risks OPEC members face when there is a decline in the demand for their crude oil exports. To show these risks, this study develops two indexes to show the country level risks and the contributions to the OPEC-wide risks exposure. The results from the indexes show that OPEC members that are more dependent on crude oil exports are faced with more energy exports demand risks. The findings from this thesis are relevant for the development of a new OPEC energy policy that should accommodate the realities of a sustainable global climate regime. They are also useful to the respective governments of the countries that are members of OPEC and non-OPEC crude oil exporting countries. Finally, the outcomes of this thesis also contribute to the climate change and energy economics literature, especially for academic and subsequent research purposes.

Contending with a changing climate presents a necessary push for planning. Although climate change is considered a global environmental problem requiring a global commitment and trans-national action, more and more, policymakers are recognizing the vital need for action at the local level. In the US, especially in the absence of national climate legislation, many local governments have begun developing strategic plans, or climate action plans (CAPs), to address adapting to impacts of climate change and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. This thesis involves case studies of Portland, OR and Chicago, IL, cities with recently adopted CAPs and with considerable recognition in the field. The analysis involves an evaluation each city’s CAP and an evaluation of its implementation. The studies help elicit an understanding of the measures cites are employing to mitigate climate change and determine ways the planning profession can better assist communities in climate policy development and its prompt implementation.

Trends in streamflow extremes at a regional scale linked to the possible influences of four major oceanic-atmospheric oscillations are analyzed in this study. Oscillations considered include: El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The main emphasis is low flows in the South-Atlantic Gulf region of the United States. Several standard drought indices of low flow extremes during two different phases (warm/positive and cool/negative) of these oscillations are evaluated. Long-term streamflow data at 43 USGS sites in the region from the Hydro-Climatic Data Network that are least affected by anthropogenic influences are used for analysis. Results show that for ENSO, low flow indices were more likely to occur during La Niña phase; however, longer deficits were more likely during El Niño phase. Results also show that for PDO (AMO), all (most) low flow indices occur during the cool (warm) phase. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection