Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability

Energy pipelines are currently the best energy transmission infrastructure. Pipeline integrity is closely related to the sustainable development of modern industry and the well-being of people so that pipeline integrity management has been a topic of interest to regulators, practitioners, and scholars. Over the past four decades, pipeline integrity management has developed significantly. Nevertheless, climate change-induced extremes such as torrential rains, floods, and droughts have severely disrupted the safe pipeline operation and caused major failures with great consequences in public safety and energy security. Therefore, the pipeline integrity management program must cope with climate change, where developing a resilient pipeline is expected to be a solution. This work, therefore, focuses on capturing the approach from integrity management to the development of a resilient pipeline, by understanding (i) how climate change affects the safe operation of pipelines, (ii) what methods can be used to assess and manage pipeline integrity, (iii) how the pipeline adapts to climate change, and (iv) how pipeline integrity management develops into resilience management.

The issue of global climate change has become increasingly prominent. The reduction of fossil energy consumption and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions have attracted more and more attention from countries. Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technology is considered to have the synergistic effect of achieving large-scale greenhouse gas emission reduction and low-carbon utilization of fossil energy. It is one of the important technological choices for the global response to climate change in the future. It has attracted governments and enterprises from all over the world and the high attention of the academic community. This paper screened out 1890 scientific articles related to global CCUS from the Web of Science Core Collection and used the CiteSpace to analyze the knowledge graph of the papers since 2011. The paper visually displays the most productive institutions, authors, and sources in the CCUS research. In addition, the paper explains how research subjects have changed over time and analyzes research frontiers. The results show that: (1) CCUS research has accelerated globally in the past ten years, with the United States, the United Kingdom, and China ranking the top three. (2) Research hotspots mainly focus on engineering, energy and fuels, engineering chemistry, engineering environment, science and technology, green sustainable technology, environmental science, and ecology. (3) CCUS has become a multidisciplinary research, in which all research subjects related to CCUS have been cited and correlated. In general, this research is helpful for policy guidance and follow-up research.

Lake surface water temperature (LSWT), known as the sentinel of climate change, is also a significant factor affecting the water ecological environment. The study found that the LSWT of global lakes increased at 0.03–0.04 °C/a, close to or exceeding the warming trend of temperature, resulting in serious water ecological problems. Therefore, it is urgent to understand the change trend of LSWT, so as to provide basis for relevant departments to formulate water policies. Air2water model only correlates the LSWT with the air temperature (AT), which can accurately capture historical long-term trends and inter-annual fluctuations. It could be used to monitor the lakes in answer to climate change. In this article, using the monthly average AT data of the Lake Fuxian basin in Yunnan Province from 1981 to 2020 and the MOD11A2 LSWT of Lake FuXian data from 2005 to 2018, the air2water model was used to predict the 40-year LSWT. The experimental results show that there is an alternating phenomenon of warm and cold cycles in the 40-year research interval, and the overall trend is increasing. The AT increases at approximately 0.0279 °C/a, using air2water Simulation LSWT at 0.0142 °C/a, but MOD11A2 LSWT increases at approximately 0.0337 °C/a. The reason may be that factors other than climate factors, such as human activities, are not considered.

This study analyzed the composition and cooling effect of six green parks in Chaoyang City, China. Based on land surface temperature retrieved from Landsat 8 thermal images during different periods, the relationship between park composition and their temperature, and the cooling effect on surrounding environment were investigated through buffer analysis. The results indicated that the park with more healthy and robust trees had lower temperatures in hot seasons. Vegetation status was a main contributor to the park cooling effect which varied with seasons. Season had a large impact on the surface temperature and cooling effect of the park.

Water management has become extremely challenging due to worst impacts of the climate change on the hydrological cycle due to unpredictable precipitation patterns. The harsh reality in some parts of the world today is that the daily showers and flushing of the toilets with the potable water has become unaffordable. Many cities in the world are facing the “Day zero” when millions of settlers are without adequate water both for households and industries. This scarcity is driven by ill-management of water resources by multiple parties, vulnerability to climate change, and the fast pace of economic and population growth. The single-biggest user of water worldwide is agriculture, followed by energy production, industry, and in last place household use. The climate crisis has multiple impacts, including from increasing heat and rising sea levels tied to global melting of the cryosphere. The draining of the aquifers and related saltwater intrusion from the oceans is already depleting freshwater resources at an increasing rate. While freshwater can be sourced via desalination, that path is expensive and energy intensive, effectively countering much of the good it might offer. It is for this reason efficient treatment and reuse of wastewater is the current best hope to mitigate this global crisis. Agriculture-based economies which are exporting “virtual waters” must increase the share of wastewater to meet their internal needs. This is even more imperative for the world’s most populated countries, India and China, as they work to stay the water scarcity crisis within their own lands. Besides that, these countries will benefit from just water resource alone, building into the process an energy recovery capability helps achieve sustainability in the water reclamation process. This paper presents how wastewater can be channelized into green energy resource such as biogas, microbial fuel cells, and biodiesel; and how it is transformed into various bio products, nutrients, food, and potable water in order to combat severe impacts of droughts. Furthermore, even while it has become the norm to measure carbon footprints to minimize global heating aspects of production and consumption, we propose instituting the new concept of calculating the “water footprint” for each of our future actions. This footprint includes consideration of what are referred to as green, blue, and grey water, as they related to intake from precipitation, the surface or groundwater, and polluted water at the point-source as well as runoff. Understanding of the water footprint is not only relevant for government bodies, policy makers, and industry, but also for us as individuals within our communities. Doing so could help transform our total available supply of water for all uses. It could also shift our thinking of water as something we consume to something which is genuinely renewable.

As an important environmental element, land surface temperature (LST) can be used as a reference for climate change, and it also has an important impact on agricultural production. It is significant to study LST changes for understanding climate change and guiding agricultural production. The data in this article uses the high-quality 2003–2017 MODIS LST data reconstructed by Zhao Bing’s team as the data source. Based on the climate tendency rate and geodetector, the characteristics and influencing factors of LST changes in Yunnan Province are analyzed. We finally got three results: (1) From the overall distribution of LST, the in Yunnan Province gradually increases from north to south. (2) The minimum LST varies greatly in each season, and the maximum LST varies less. Generally speaking, the LST of Yunnan Province is showing an upward trend. (3) The factor detector of the geodetector revealed that air temperature (q = 0.731), elevation (q = 0.657), and precipitation (q = 0.458) are the main factors affecting the LST of Yunnan Province. The interactive detector further revealed that temperature and precipitation (q = 0.762), temperature, and DEM (q = 0.745) jointly drive the characteristic pattern of LST in Yunnan Province. This study can provide a certain reference for related research, and it can also provide a certain reference for the agricultural planning of Yunnan Province.

Achieving carbon neutral consumer goods is dependent on reducing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from one of their major ingredients–palm oil. This crop has become one of the most controversial today because, despite its high productivity, high applicability and ability to alleviate poverty, palm oil development also comes at the cost of deforestation, which causes GHG emissions and biodiversity loss. This study aims to assess the possibility for the palm oil sector to move toward carbon neutrality to support the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 (climate action). In this paper we assess the pathways to reduce the GHG emissions from palm oil by using the tool Palm GHG Calculator from Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). The current Business as Usual (BAU) GHG emissions from palm oil are 0.6 tonCO₂eq./ton Crude Palm Oil (CPO). The study shows that in four scenarios: Land Use Change (LUC), Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) utilization technology, new planting materials, and nutrient (fertilizer) management could contribute to GHG emissions reduction. The estimated reductions are: 0.36 tonCO₂eq./ton CPO, 0.15 tonCO₂eq./ton CPO, 0.3 tonCO₂eq./ton CPO, and 0.06 tonCO₂eq./ton CPO, respectively. Altogether, those four scenarios suggest negative GHG emissions at value −0.37 tonCO₂eq./ton CPO. This study is useful as the guidelines to decarbonize palm oil industry derivates such as biofuels and oleochemicals industries.

Affected by urban overheating (UO), urban areas are suffering more frequent thermal threats. This problem has severe environmental, economic, social and health consequences, where UO damages critical infrastructure (CIE) such as blackout, roads melting, and others. The disorder of the CIE under UO conditions can further aggravate the threats to public health. There is a need to take mitigation approach for an environmentally sustainable interpretation of CIE for in the planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance processes. However, whilst there are some reports on the impact of UO on CIE, there is a lack of systematic understanding, particularly associated with the CIE development and management. Therefore, this study fills this research gap by analysing such impacts in transport, energy, water and emergency or healthcare services. This study further provides recommendations for future management of CIE, including the high-temperature-resistant design, the use of high-temperature-resistant materials and targeted follow-up maintenance and management based on CIs characteristics across studies. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the effect of UO on CIE, the suitability of various technologies to reduce the impacts and future perspectives. This review can be a start for researchers and practitioners to optimise CIE management, and in turn, improve urban wellbeing.

Tree species concerning key canopy and leaf characteristics play important role in mitigating microclimate on pedestrian walkways. In this study, we investigated the impact of leaf area index (LAI) and tree crown width on microclimate conditions and human thermal comfort characterized by physiological equivalent temperature (PET) through field measurements from 07:00 to 19:00 local standard time (LST) in summer in a street canyon of Wuhan, China. Results showed that LAI is the most critical factor in determining microclimate and PET benefits between different tree species. The mean radiant temperature and PET were reduced by up to 5.4 and 12.1 °C at 15:00 LST under the high-LAI (value: 3.03) canopy compared with the canopy with low-LAI (value: 1.83) with the same tree species and crown width. Tree canopy and leaf characteristics could not determine the microclimatic and PET benefits with the similar LAI. These findings may help landscape designers and decision makers to achieve optimal tree planting and management in street canyons in regard to outdoor thermal comfort regulation.

The community as the smallest unit of the city, in the context of urban renewal, urban disaster prevention and mitigation, and ecological construction, it is of great significance to study the space resilience assessment and space optimization of old community in city. Based on this, this paper first constructed a space resilience assessment indicator system of old community from multiple dimensions such as existing buildings, infrastructure, and public space. The unascertained measure theory and combination weighting method were introduced to establish the space resilience assessment model of old community. Then, the space optimization strategy was proposed, such as the isolation of existing building disaster, the improvement of infrastructure function and the beautification of redundant public space. Finally, a community was taken as an example to conduct space resilience assessment and space optimization, hoping that the disaster resilience, safety, ecology, and livability of old community can be improved.

Green roof has been widely recognized as the solution to many urban environmental problems, while the implementation of green roof is not extensive. Accordingly, many cities around the world have released relevant policies and regulations to promote green roof implementation. To understand international policy and regulatory landscapes, this study analyzed 20 policies and regulations on green roof in six countries to compare the main contents and motivations of green roof policies in advanced countries/cities, classify the measures of incentive policies, and guide the trendency of incentive policies of green roofs. The results indicate that previous green roof policies have been mainly focused on controlling UHI, water runoff, and atmospheric hygiene, and so on. There are four aspects of incentive policies of green roof implementation: information and advocacy, unenforced intervention, enforced intervention, and economic subsidies. The “5I” trends were proposed to explore direction for making incentive policies of green roof and to cope with future popularization and construction.

Wetlands are vulnerable and sensitive to climate change and human activities. Based on literature research, this paper analyzes the characteristics of wetland evolution in China. The results show that the current researches mainly focus on the wetlands of East China and North China, especially key river valleys and protected areas have attracted extensive attention. The main research methods include remote sensing, GIS, landscape index and mathematical model etc., which are still relatively simple. The area of China's natural wetland reduced by a mean of 0.19–1.67% per year, and some wetlands reach 5.56%. The constructed wetland area increased by a mean of 1.80–5.95% per year, with the increase of paddy field area. Meanwhile, the degree of fragmentation of natural wetlands in China increased by human factors. This paper analyzes China's natural wetlands generally show a trend of obvious degradation, and the relevant research results provide an important basis for wetland protection, and at the same time to provide reference for relevant policy making.

Wind is a good regulator of urban temperature and outdoor thermal comfort. Urban ventilation, urban temperature and outdoor thermal comfort are affected by urban morphology. However, relationships among wind, temperature and outdoor thermal comfort have not been well documented, constraining urban planners and architects’ capability of regulating urban morphology for enhancing urban ventilation and its associated potential for cooling. To address this challenge, therefore, this chapter aims to develop an analytical framework to reveal inter-relationships among urban morphology, urban ventilation performance, urban heat island (UHI) effects and outdoor thermal comfort. The framework consists of five components including physio-morphological characteristics, external meteorological conditions, precinct ventilation performance, UHI effects and outdoor thermal comfort. Through this framework, first, combined impacts of physio-morphological characteristics, external meteorological conditions on precinct ventilation performance were presented. Second, co-impacts of urban physio-morphological characteristics and precinct ventilation performance on UHI effects were explained. Third, associated impacts of urban ventilation performance and UHI effects on outdoor thermal comfort were analyzed. Overall, the analytical framework can inform of knowledge about future studies on urban morphology, local ventilation, UHI effects and outdoor thermal comfort. Meanwhile, the analytical framework can suggest urban planners and policy makers with rational decisions on urban modification for UHI mitigation.

This research puts forward İstanbul’s problematics as one of the largest Metropolitan in the world and the process of paradoxically the transformation from a historical city to a sustainable city. The aim of this study presents an updated dialogue about Istanbul’s problems today which was changed to the mass agglomeration by the overpopulation and the examination of determination of “residential areas” and “industrial areas” in the context of sustainability. Even though recent public popularity of sustainability that initiated in the last quarter of the twentieth century but awareness of the people of Istanbul would take long years. Industrial zones that developed on the outskirts of the city for many years interwoven with slum areas, (gecekondu) where the worker’s factories lived right next to it, and densely formed a wide hinterland that defined the borders of Istanbul today. Furthermore, Istanbul had to deal with inner problems in years such as natural hazards, earthquakes, and migrations which was triggered the housing problem. Even though many research on Istanbul city it was observed that the previous research did not involve the issue of sustainability in the context of “industrial areas” and “housing” was examined as separated matters lacked the integrative link within recent problematics and consequences. Recently in the new and innovative design, the discursive, and practical contexts in the climate change, some old urban planning techniques were came-back in urban planning dialectic as the new research object. These old discursive ideas and old zones (zoning) method based on separating “industrial”, “residential”, and “green” areas since the beginning of the twentieth century became major criteria again in the research for future planning of the cities. Establishing an updated historical connection between French architect-planner Henri Prost’s Paris and Istanbul Master plans and his previous zoning planning principles which were used in these plans to determine “residential” and “industrial” and “green areas” was examined.  Istanbul city re-examined in this study within a new perspective with a method based on multiple morphological and epistemological identifications also included old planning techniques and innovative methods.

Since the late 1980s climate change as an incessant controversial topic has occupied the agenda of the top economies, sparking a heated debate among researchers, policy-makers, and international organizations. IMF argued that climate change imposes a huge threat on the long-run development and growth of world nations. While trying to capture the real drivers behind it, the United Nations (UN) reveals that CO₂ emissions that contribute to more than 66% of the greenhouse gases can be claimed responsible. Hence, uncovering the relationship between CO₂ emissions and countries’ economic growth is vital. To assess the relationship between CO₂ emissions and economic growth, the paper will use the Environmental Kuznets’ Hypothesis (EKC). The previous empirical findings on EKC hypothesis found a bidirectional relationship between CO₂ emissions and growth. Thus, a new functional form is introduced to capture the empirical literature as well as test the normal functional form. Using ARDLand stability testing as econometric techniques. Employing time-series data approaches for 60 years from 1960 to 2018 for the low-income countries group. The results are robust and support the presence of both EKC and its extended version in the long-run in some low-income countries.

For decades, societies have been planting the seed of their own destruction. The environmental degradation catastrophe has become so voluminous and complex, seen in many forms and extending across various dimensions of nature. Air pollution, water pollution, and soil pollution have caused tremendous amounts of damage. Species extinction and the loss of various forms of life have been massively increasing at an unprecedented rate. It is calculated that approximately 0.01–0.1% of all known species will become extinct each year. This raises a major concern: Could biodiversity loss affect the wellbeing of nations through hindering economic growth? If so, to what extent? This is the question that this study aims to investigate. The case of COVID-19 has been a powerful example enabling the world to witness how biodiversity loss could affect economic growth, which has posed as an economic threat to all nations. This study, therefore, investigates the relationship between biodiversity and economic growth utilizing a fixed effects panel regression conducted using a selected sample of OECD countries. Findings of this study indicate that biodiversity does in fact hinder GDP growth in the long run.

The disturbing change in climate and its associated risks are putting dire pressure on the ability of humanity to feed itself. Empirical findings are forecasting that the window to address this threat is closing rapidly. This could be contributed to the unprecedented increasing rates of environmental deterioration and resources exploitation. Since the eighteenth century, human activities seen in industrial processes, burning of fossil fuels, and deforestation have released huge amounts of gases into the atmosphere. Leading to the phenomena of global warming, the increase in temperature is affecting the entire globe, and Egypt is not any different. Recent evidence suggests that nation’s 3.1 million hectares of agricultural land are at high risk of complete destruction in the foreseeable future. Starting 2009, the remarkable rise in desertification problem is placing a great burden on Egypt’s progress, with an estimated annual loss of 11,736 hectares of agricultural land. Until the 1960s, agriculture was Egypt leading economic sector with export value constituting around 87% of total goods. Nowadays, agriculture is still one of the main contributors to the GDP with around 14.5% of its total value and provides 28% of all jobs in the market, and 45% of women employment. This paper has two folds, firstly, it quantifies the long-term impact of increasing temperature on production activities and secondly, determine the exact threshold point after which production activities are threatened by temperature change in Egypt over a time period of almost 100 years using a threshold model. The results reveal interesting and unique relationship. If the temperature is between 22.4 and 22.9, GDP will have a positive trend, while if the temperature is below 22.8 Co, GDP will follow a negative trend. The negative trend is bigger with a higher temperature than with the lower one. What we learn from this threshold regression is that the economy needs an “optimal” temperature.

Environmental issues are known to be caused by human activities. To overcome this, children must be exposed to environmental education from a young age. The subject of environmental issues, on the other hand, is vast, making it difficult for adults to convey and even more difficult for children to comprehend. The focus of this study is two-fold: to investigate the level of environmental knowledge amongst preschool children in Malaysia and to integrate multimedia learning in environmental education. A conclusive descriptive research design using a semi-structured interview was initiated, and the results indicated that preschool children have more awareness of common environmental issues but lack a deeper understanding of their causal relationship. The result also finds that preschool children can comprehend complex environmental issues, and there is potential to improve environmental education standards in their curriculum. Finally, this study supported the idea that multimedia learning helps preschool children understand complicated topics whilst also providing positive engagement and enjoyment.

Sustainability development aims to promote cities that can respond to different climatic, social and economic challenges. In the discipline of architecture and urban design, green architecture is one of the key aims that sustainability development aspires to achieve by bringing frameworks that support the architecture profession and architects in developing environmentally friendly buildings and cities that meet the triple bottom line of sustainability development (economic, social and environmental pillars). Algeria is a North African Mediterranean country that covers different climatic zones. There have been different attempts to develop green architecture practices. However, these attempts have not contributed yet to a holistic solution that feeds into the architecture and urban design professions in this regard, and there is no framework that can manage the development of green architecture practices in the country. Therefore, this article explores the question of why environmental assessment methods are essential to promote the green architectural practices in the country’s different climatic zones. This is done through discussing the sustainability development pillars and critically analysing and evaluating previous sustainability development approaches in Algeria, reflecting by doing so on their positive and negative attributes and highlighting the limitations that push the sustainable and green architecture practices backward. In addition, these limitations are used to develop the discussion around the sufficiency of an environmental assessment method in responding to these short comes. By analysing relevant precedence (Environmental Assessment methods) which highlights critical gaps in current assessment methods and informs the construction of an opening statement to the importance of geographically, environmentally and socially routed assessment methods to develop the culture of green architecture in the country.

Recently, there has been a growing interest in ecological issues worldwide. On the contrary, scientists have demonstrated that humans face two significant problems; first, many natural resources that we consider their presence for granted are now near to depletion. Second, the environment suffers from the ever-increasing pollution levels due to the enormous production processes and associated waste that we produce, affecting the planet’s well-being and its inhabitants. Therefore, ecological conservation is a significant issue in various fields, particularly architecture. The aim of this research is to focus on the critical role of buildings envelope in improving the visual image of buildings and how we can use it to promote the ecological balance. Furthermore, the research focused on existing buildings because they account for a significant percentage of the building stock. In order to achieve this, the research hypothesized that there are treatments that could be used in existing buildings envelope to preserve the environment, energy and reduce emissions.

Conflicts in the Arab world have produced multiple waves of refugees in the past decades. Jordan amongst has received a massive number of refugees located in different camps and considered to be the heaven of refugees. The new state of the camp became negatively impacting the host country and the environment in different layers. This research identified these various layers of impact; water, waste, electricity, soil, medical waste and social, which may not meet the sustainability requirements, disregarding their use as temporary panacea. This study aims at tracing the various environmental layers of impact in Al Zaatari camp. The paper then moves to focus on suggesting sustainable development tactics for each of these identified layers of impact. The methodology that has been used, to identify the various layers of impact and recommending their sustainable solutions or approaches, through tracing the literature and looking at other case studies related to our case. Finally, the paper concludes through generating some reflections about the identified layers and their solutions, recommending what is needed to be done to enhance the current camp status quo as well as future instant cities.