Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is an old technology matrix with new concept to mitigate climate change while utilizing fossil fuels by advancing the technology. The various level of advancement in technology has been successfully demonstrated in some part of the world. However the technology has inherent uncertainty of not having commercial CCS plant. Efforts to make CCS commercially viable unfold uncertainties in numerous aspects of CCS technology. Beside the uncertainties in technology many barriers restrain CCS to become a successful climate mitigation technology. However the growing energy demand and urgent need to mitigate climate change through emission reduction favours CSS as transition to clean energy production. FutureGen 2.0 is the only large commercial scale CCS project, initiated in 2003 to test the commercial viability of the technology and to meet the U.S energy demands besides emission reductions target. The project resurrection in 2010 as FutureGen 2.0 after FutureGen termination in 2008 provides an opportunity to understand and analyse numerous uncertainties. However through document analysis only major three uncertainties i.e. policy and regulatory, economic and financial and public acceptance uncertainties are identified and analysed. The interlinkages between these uncertainties are also analysed. The study results show that above uncertainties constrained the project engendering new uncertainties i.e. timeframe uncertainties. This study also provides an insight about the sustainability implication of CCS by evaluating economic, environmental and social impact of CCS technology. It is still early to term the CCS as Sustainable technological innovation however for many years CCS would upset and restrain investment in other clean energy technologies like Renewable technology system. This study gives an input in sustainability of CCS and technological assessment study. This study is helpful in managing uncertainties and planning new CCS projects.

Miscanthus is a highly productive, low-input biofuel crop that supports agricultural diversification with improved performance for climate commitment, energy security, and water quality over first generation biofuels. Despite its high performance, no local or regional markets for the feedstock have formed in North America, and current climate-based productivity assessment methods lack the information farmers and decision-makers need to establish commercial scale bioenergy markets, programs, and thermal co-firing plans. This study develops a Miscanthus Suitability Rating and a transferable field-scale siting method, applied at 10 m resolution across the State of Iowa to assess miscanthus production potential and identify individual farms that are highly suitable for large-scale miscanthus cultivation while maintaining a majority of existing row cropping acreage. Results show that highly suitable fields within 50 miles (84 km) of each of Iowa’s coal-fired electrical generating units (EGUs) can displace up to 43% of current coal consumption. Every EGU in Iowa has land resource to produce local miscanthus to co-fire with other solid fuels at industry-leading levels without significantly impacting local row crop production. Seven of the state’s smaller facilities could even operate exclusively on local miscanthus with advancements in densification technology. The energy evaluation tool developed in this work estimates the energy return on investment (EROI) of Iowa miscanthus for existing thermal generation facilities between 37 and 59, depending on transportation requirements and chemical field applications. This transition would diversify local agribusiness and energy feedstocks, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide a sustainable, dispatchable, in-state fuel source to complement wind and solar energy.

Resilience and solar energy are separately growing in popularity for urban planners and similar professionals. This project links the two discrete terms together and examines the extent to which solar energy can improve local government resilience efforts. It includes a detailed literature review of both topics, as well as the methodology and findings related to a survey and interviews of local government officials and key stakeholders across the country related to hazard mitigation and energy assurance planning. This research finds that integrating the use of solar energy can improve local government resilience efforts related to mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery activities in the following ways: by being incorporated into hazard mitigation strategies as a means to maintain critical operations, thereby reducing loss of life and property; by being utilized in comprehensive planning efforts to increase capacity and decrease reliance and stress upon the grid, thereby reducing the likelihood of blackout events; by being used in tandem with backup storage systems as an integral part of energy assurance planning, which can help ensure critical functions continue in times of grid outage; by being used to provide power for response activities such as water purification, medicine storage and device charging; and by being used as an integral part of rebuilding communities in a more environmentally-conscious manner. The result of the research is a document entitled Solar Energy & Resilience Planning: a practical guide for local governments, a guidebook for local government officials wishing to have more information about incorporating solar energy into current resilience initiatives; it is included at the end of the report as Appendix C.

There are many opportunities for consumers to design their lives more sustainably. While a rapidly growing body of literature has investigated how consumers can reduce carbon footprints in key con- sumption areas, such as food, housing and mobility, an overall framework that allows structuring those options across all consumption areas is still missing. Hence, this paper presents a novel and systematic framework to identify improvement options that promote climate change mitigation and structure them based on their primary mode of impact on GHG emissions. The framework targets consumer practices and focuses on ambitious, but technically and socioeconomically feasible strategies for consumers to lower their carbon footprint. Four major categories for reducing consumption-based emissions form the basic framework, which are then subdivided into behavioural strategies and sub-strategies. The practical application of the framework is illustrated by using food consumption as an example. Systematically identifying improvement options can advance a holistic understanding of the range of behavioural strategies targeting consumer choices that operate at different stages in the supply chain. It thus provides a starting point for addressing critical questions related to the role of consumers in supporting climate change mitigation. (authors' abstract)

Climate change is currently one of the greatest challenges of our times. Due to the urgency of the issue, a cooperation on climate mitigation has been developing at different levels in order to reach reduction emission targets. In parallel, the European Union has developed interregional ties with other regions of the globe as a strategy to strengthen its power. More specifically, it has developed its relations with the region of Latin America and the Caribbean, in many fields including climate change mitigation. The interregional relationship between the European Union (EU) and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) on climate mitigation is of interest because it concerns two crucial regions in the field of climate change: the European Union is one of the world’s largest leaders in the fight against climate change and Latin America is of the richest regions in terms of biodiversity as well as resources, yet one of the most endangered by climate change. The present thesis analyses EU-LAC interregional relations on climate mitigation. It takes a specific case study analysis of the EU-LAC EUROCLIMA programme, the largest programme for climate mitigation between the EU and LAC. The objective of the article is to investigate the extent towards which EUROCLIMA can be considered as a practical example of EU-LAC interregional cooperation on climate mitigation, from a constructivist approach. The study is based on a discourse analysis of public reports and interviews on EUROCLIMA. The results of the empirical analysis of EUROCLIMA demonstrate that the programme features the main attributes of successful EU-LAC cooperation on climate mitigation and of EU-LAC complex interregionalism. Hence, EUROCLIMA can be considered as a clear example of EU-LAC interregional cooperation on climate mitigation. The paper draws new conclusions and implications on the way to define EUROCLIMA and provides a new perspective for the scholarship on EU-LAC relations. EUROCLIMA can be specifically defined as an EU-LAC complex interregional cooperation.

The global carbon cycle is a central part of the climate system which forms a direct link between human activity and climate change. This thesis presents my contribution to the field of research into the global carbon cycle with complex numerical models and its use to inform climate mitigation policy. Firstly, I present work I led to build, configure and apply the Hadley Centre Earth System Model, HadGEM2-ES, that successfully delivered the CMIP5 simulations. Then I present work that led to the design of the next generation of coupled carbon cycle intercomparison experiments. The aim of these experiments is to understand and quantify future centuryscale changes in land and ocean carbon storage and fluxes and their impact on climate projections. A set of ESM simulations was devised, with a common protocol, which all participating modelling centres should follow. A theoretical framework is commonly used to quantify carbon cycle feedbacks. I played an active role in its recommended use and definitions of terms. A feedback analysis I performed of future carbon cycle projections formed a central component of the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report. This is the first time that that the IPCC carbon cycle chapter had a section devoted to the feedbacks and future projections from coupled carbon cycle ESMs. Finally, I present three specific applications of my research and their relevance to climate mitigation policy. 1) I was the first to define the concept of committed ecosystem changes and demonstrate that ecosystems may continue to respond for many years or decades after climate is stabilised, leading to the recommendation that such committed change should be included in definitions of dangerous climate change. 2) I performed the first Earth System model analysis of the carbon emissions reductions required to follow the RCP pathways leading to the IPCC AR5 statement that, “For RCP2.6, an average 50% emission reduction is required by 2050 relative to 1990 levels”. 3) My research on carbon cycle feedbacks, especially the response of the carbon cycle to low CO2 pathways, found that models predict significant weakening, or even potential reversal, of natural carbon sinks in response to removal of CO2, which potentially hinders the effectiveness of the negative emissions. My research presented in this thesis has been influential in setting international research priorities in this field. It continues to inform global negotiations on climate mitigation policy.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T12:09:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 parte1.pdf: 3097129 bytes, checksum: 8ed85ce00044ac0edca48d9047de63c6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-09-26 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The urban spaces environmental quality is determined by the interaction between the natural elements and the man-made changes to adapt the environment to their physical, social and economic needs. In this context, is inserted the urban climate, result of the dialogic relationship between the morphology of the city, the human activities and the various local and global climate factors. The climate change, characteristic of urban space, causes several damages to most cities by increasing the rigors of local climate. In this sense, the study of urban space, in particular, the research about urban climatology, become fundamental to the search for environmental quality, as well as to achieve the energy efficiency in urban areas. In the city, the use of vegetation is an important strategy for mitigation of the local climate, however, is still unknown the potential of this contribution, requiring studies to evaluate the best ways of its application, in accordance with the morphology of the green space and urban space and the local climatic characteristics. The present study analyzed the extent and the magnitude of the influence of the Buraquinho s Forest, in João Pessoa/ PB, in the climatic characteristics of their surroundings by monitoring the temperature and the air s humidity in winter and summer periods, arranged in three transects in downwind of the forest, total of thirteen points of data collection, one of them located in forest interior. It was observed that among the points considered, in the summer, the averages air temperatures were in general 3°C higher than the winter and the relative humidity 15% lower. The temperature differences between points with higher and lower temperatures were similar in both periods, it was observed the main difference at 13h: 3° C in the winter and 2,8 °C in the summer. It was also discovered that the lowest temperatures were obtained in points located on the edge of the forest, whereas the higher temperatures were found in the farthest points, however, it wasn t possible to identify a linear tendency of temperature increase associated to the increased distance from the forest. / A qualidade ambiental do espaço urbano é determinada pela interação entre os elementos naturais e as transformações artificiais produzidas pelo homem na adaptação do meio às suas necessidades físicas, sociais e econômicas. Neste contexto, insere-se o clima urbano, fruto da relação dialógica entre a morfologia da cidade, as atividades humanas e os diversos fatores climáticos locais e globais. Por sua vez, a alteração climática no espaço urbano ocasiona diversos malefícios para grande parte das cidades ao intensificar os rigores climáticos locais. Neste sentido, o estudo do espaço urbano e, em especial, as pesquisas sobre climatologia urbana, tornam-se fundamentais para a busca da qualidade ambiental, assim como para o alcance da eficiência energética urbana. Na cidade, o uso de vegetação configura-se em uma importante estratégia para amenização climática local, porém, ainda é desconhecido o potencial dessa contribuição, necessitando-se de estudos que avaliem as melhores formas de sua aplicação, de acordo com a morfologia do espaço verde e do espaço urbano e as características climáticas locais. O presente estudo analisou o alcance e magnitude da influência da Mata do Buraquinho, em João Pessoa/ PB, nas características climáticas do seu entorno ao monitorar a temperatura e umidade do ar nos períodos de inverno e verão, em três transectos dispostos a sotavento da mata, totalizando treze pontos de coleta, sendo um deles localizado em seu interior. Observou-se que entre os pontos analisados, no período de verão, as temperaturas médias do ar foram em geral 3ºC superiores as de inverno e a umidade relativa do ar 15% inferior. As diferenças de temperatura entre pontos com maior e menor temperatura foram semelhantes nos dois períodos, observando-se a maior divergência às 13h, sendo 3°C no inverno e 2,8°C no verão. Constatou-se também, que as menores temperaturas foram obtidas nos pontos localizados na borda da mata, enquanto as maiores temperaturas foram encontradas nos pontos mais afastados, porém não foi possível identificar uma tendência linear de aumento de temperatura relacionada ao aumento do distanciamento da mata.

Achieving a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions has become a key challenge facing global society and its economies. Despite this, tourism policy and strategic planning rarely acknowledge carbon mitigation as a strategic objective and tourism as a sector is rarely recognised in low-carbon plans. This situation represents a substantial challenge, as tourism and travel have a high-carbon impact and carbon mitigation is hindered by lack of carbon data, and a continued drive for economic growth. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the effectiveness of carbon footprinting and scenario modelling to help examine the opportunities and challenges for implementing low-carbon tourism pathways in destinations, and to consider how the opportunities could be enabled. The 'REAP Tourism' footprint tool was used to investigate the carbon impact of visitors to destinations across South West England. The purpose was to estimate emissions, suggest a baseline footprint and offer alternative growth and mitigation scenarios of how tourism could more effectively reduce emissions. Through participatory workshops, evaluation questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, stakeholders identified the limitations and benefits of carbon modelling and the challenges and opportunities for a transition towards low-carbon tourism in destinations. The results demonstrated that the carbon footprint was a useful and informative indicator. The baseline data and scenarios provided a basis for constructive low-carbon dialogue with tourism stakeholders, which helped to challenge current thinking and facilitate the co-creation of ideas and potential interventions. A range of low-carbon opportunities and challenges were identified relating to the cultural, political and structural components of tourism governance. A conceptual low-carbon transition framework is proposed, to illustrate the opportunities. Stakeholder dialogue and debate, informed by quantitative and qualitative data, is central to the framework. Cultural, political and structural opportunities for change are also identified. Further investigation is needed to test the framework and examine the levels of influence and capabilities of different types of tourism stakeholders. The use of integrated environmental-economic indicators to inform national and local tourism policy and strategy, also require application. This thesis contributes to an emerging body of knowledge on the governance of low-carbon destinations, from a practical, methodological and conceptual basis.

The potential of utilizing boreal forests for carbon storage has gained momentum, a recognition reflected in both the Paris Agreement and science. Research on the consequences of climate policy on sustainable forest management delineate, rather inadequately, the complexities of policy-human-environment interactions. These studies are limited in terms of integrating various land user with different values sharing the same forest resource, such as indigenous peoples. This paper uses a semi-quantitative Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping (FCM) approach to capture interdisciplinary knowledge by comparing different scenarios regarding forest management strategies and power regimes, driven by the Paris Agreement or Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Given these scenarios, this paper aims to analyze the possible effects on quality of winter grazing grounds for reindeer relative to forest biomass yield. The findings of this study confirm that a scenario with more intensively managed forest is most likely to harm terrestrial and arboreal lichen availability, which is the basis for sustainable winter grazing for reindeer. The study also suggests that more indigenous influence would enhance the sustainability of reindeer herding. Based on these results and given this era of industrially intensified forest management, now partly justified by climate change mitigation, it can be argued that the livelihood of Sami herders is vulnerable due to multiple direct and indirect climate stressors. The results are discussed to explore possible policy implementations, as well as environmental decision making.   Keywords: climate policy, climate mitigation, boreal forests, indigenous herding, power regimes

The Swedish forest is currently being debated as to how it should be managed to provide climate mitigation. Forest management can contribute to climate mitigation in mainly two ways. Either through increased sequestration and storage of carbon in the forest or as a consequence of the substitution effect, through which emissions can be avoided by utilizing harvested wood products to replace other emission-intensive products. However, these two climate benefits are at odds with each other, as efforts to increase the sequestration of carbon in the forest by increased conservation will decrease the amount of harvested biomass available for substitution. This fact has led to a disagreement between scholars regarding the climate benefits of increased forest conservation versus the climate benefits of maintaining a high harvest level. The climate benefit of increased forest conservation is influenced by how much additional carbon the growing forest can sequester over time. The climate benefit of forest harvest is instead directly related to the level of achieved substitution effect. As the substitution level is dynamic, it may change in the future due to various technological, economic, and societal developments, which would influence the potential climate benefit of forest harvest. In addition, intensifying forest management as a means to increase forest growth is also commonly suggested as a possible measure for enhancing the climate mitigation potential of the Swedish forest. This study aimed to investigate how the climate mitigation potential of different forest management regimes develops over time based on different potential levels of achieved substitution effect. Based on input data from the National Forest Inventory, the Heureka RegWise system was used to simulate the impact on sequestration of carbon dioxide and the available harvested biomass to be used for substitution for the different forest management regimes over a 150-year period. The results indicate that increased forest conservation provides a higher climate mitigation potential throughout a majority of the 150-year period. However, the climate benefit of increased conservation does diminish over time due to the set-aside forests' declining ability to sequester additional carbon. The rate at which the forest management regimes without increased conservation can catch up is influenced on which level of substitution that is applied. The results also indicate that increased utilization of growth-enhancing practices increases the climate mitigation potential of forest management.