| 1. |
- Kehoe, Laura, et al.
(author)
-
Make EU trade with Brazil sustainable
- 2019
-
In: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 364:6438, s. 341-
-
Journal article (other academic/artistic)
|
|
| 2. |
|
|
| 3. |
- Battersby, C., et al.
(author)
-
The Origins Space Telescope
- 2018
-
In: Nature Astronomy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2397-3366. ; 2:8, s. 596-599
-
Journal article (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The Origins Space Telescope, one of four large Mission Concept Studies sponsored by NASA for review in the 2020 US Astrophysics Decadal Survey, will open unprecedented discovery space in the infrared, unveiling our cosmic origins.
|
|
| 4. |
- Bauer, Bjørn, et al.
(author)
-
Circular plastics in electrical and electronic equipment
- 2021
-
Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This report explores what the Nordic countries can do to promote the use of recyclable plastic components in electrical and electronic products, with particular focus on minimising their hazardous chemical component. The report provides an overview of the hazardous additives currently used in the plastic components of EEE, drawing on information available from legislation and supporting studies, research and academia, NGOs and market actors. The results presented here build upon input collected though a literature study, a policy analysis of EU and Nordic legislation and initiatives, interviews with experts across the value chain and an expert workshop. Together these inputs were used to assess and qualify possible future actions in the Nordic countries to minimise hazardous chemicals in plastic components of EEE.
|
|
| 5. |
- Bauer, Bjørn, et al.
(author)
-
Measuring waste prevention and reuse: digital opportunities : Using the digitalisation of society to inform policy
- 2022
-
Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The data generated in our digital society can be harnessed to generate policy-relevant indicators on waste prevention and reuse, and be used to fill in the gaps left by official data and statistics. This project elaborates where the greatest potentials lie for improving the monitoring of waste prevention and reuse, and presents a roadmap for improving the monitoring of waste prevention in the Nordic countries. This is based mapiping the EU reporting demands for waste prevention and reuse and the methods currently employed in the Nordic countries to measure waste prevention and reuse, as well as an investigation of the methods used in other European countries together with a suite of case studies of novel methods for measuring waste prevention and reuse.
|
|
| 6. |
- Bauer, Fredric, et al.
(author)
-
Petrochemicals and climate change: Powerful fossil fuel lock-ins and interventions for transformative change
- 2023
-
Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- With the risk of climate breakdown, pressure is increasing for all sectors of the economy to break with fossil fuel dependence and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In this context, the chemical industry requires more focused attention as it uses more fossil-fuel based energy than any other industry and the production of chemicals is associated with very large emissions. Beyond the climate crisis, the chemical industry significantly impacts several critical dimensions of sustainability, including the planetary boundaries for novel entities, biosphere integrity, and ocean acidification. In this report, we focus on the petrochemical sector, which represents the largest share of the chemicals industry and is generally understood to refer to the part of the industry that relies on fossil-fuel feedstocks from oil, gas, and coal. The petrochemicals sector produces chemicals mainly used for plastics and fertilisers, but the products also end up in paints, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and other applications. This report provides a critical exploration of the petrochemical sector to strengthen awareness of its relevance to the climate crisis and to provide tools and recommendations for decision-makers in different domains to initiate, support, and accelerate much-needed transformation. The report highlights the rapid expansion of the petrochemical sector as well as the range and growth of economic, infrastructural, and political interlinkages with the fossil fuel extraction sector. It argues that these developments and dynamics are crucial to understanding pathways, strategies, and interventions for a low-carbon transition for petrochemicals.
|
|
| 7. |
- Bauer, Fredric, et al.
(author)
-
Petrochemicals and Climate Change : Tracing Globally Growing Emissions and Key Blind Spots in a Fossil-Based Industry
- 2022
-
Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- With the risk of climate breakdown becoming ever more pressing as the world is on track for 2.7 degrees warming, pressure is increasing on all sectors of the economy to break with fossil fuel dependence and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In this context, the chemical industry and the production of important basic chemicals is a key sector to consider. Although historically a driver of economic development, the sector is highly dependent on fossil resources for use as both feedstock and fuel in the production of as well organic as inorganic chemicals. The chemical industry demands both petroleum fractions and natural gas. Petroleum fractions such as naphtha and petroleum gases are used as feedstocks for building block chemicals and polymers (e.g., benzene and polyethylene), while natural gas is used for methanol and ammonia. Indeed, the sector is associated with both large process emissions as well as energy related emissions. Our results demonstrate that in 2020 direct GHG emissions from the petrochemical sector amounted to 1.8 Gt CO2eq which is equivalent to 4% of global GHG emissions. Indirect GHG emissions resulting from the activities in other industries supplying inputs for the petrochemical industry accounted for another 3.8 Gt CO2eq. The petrochemical industry is thus associated with a total of 5.6Gt CO2eq of GHG emissions, equivalent to ~10% of global emissions. Over the past 25 years, emissions associated with petrochemicals have doubled and the sector is the third most GHG emitting industry. This increase is fueled by large growth of petrochemicals production as well as growth in regions with high indirect emissions, i.e., in energy systems with high dependence on coal and other fossil fuels. Over the past decades, the industry has grown rapidly in the Asia-Pacific region especially in China which in 2020 was the source for about 47% of global GHG emissions associated with petrochemicals. USA accounts for 6% of the emissions from the industry and Europe for 5%. The BRIC group of countries, which except for China also includes Brazil, India, and Russia, currently accounts for 57% of GHG emissions from petrochemicals, showing that the emissions from this sector are more geographically clustered in these countries than emissions from other sectors.Proper disaggregated and comparative analyses of key products is currently not possible. Data confidentiality and a high reliance on proxy data limit the reliability of LCA and stands in the way of mapping climate impacts. A strong demand of chemicals life cycle inventory (LCI) data for environmental footprinting has resulted in a general increase of chemicals data in many LCI databases, but the energy demands both for heat and electricity are typically not well-documented for production processes outside the main bulk chemicals. If incinerated at end-of-life plastics and other chemical products will emit embodied carbon as CO2 and if landfilled there is a risk of slow degradation with associated methane emissions. Global estimates based on most LCA datasets will thus significantly underestimate emissions from the chemical industry.The multitude of value chains dependent on the petrochemical industry makes it an important contribution to life cycle emissions in many sectors of the economy. Petrochemicals are used as an intermediate input in many industries and the emissions associated with them thus propagate through the economy, with final demand in manufacturing industries and services being associated with the largest shares of emissions from chemicals. The impacts and emissions downstream in value chains is however poorly understood and disclosure by petrochemical producers is lacking and insufficient. While disclosure of emissions in the industry has increased over the past decades, it remains partial and shows inconsistencies over time. This is due to issues such as different reporting standards, large discrepancies in the extent of disclosure as well as various other gaps and inconsistencies in reporting. This holds for all scopes, although Scope 1 emissions are better covered. Only some firms disclose information about downstream Scope 3 emissions including end-of-life for final products. Emission targets set by firms in the industry do not correspond to the challenge of large and rapid emission reductions. Many targets include only parts of operations and transparent, standardized target-setting is lacking. Reported emission reduction initiatives to achieve targets are far from sufficient focusing mainly on efficiency improvements or insubstantial parts of the operation. Shifting to renewable energy is a key for rapid emission reductions in the industry, yet few firms report strategic targets for this shift. As the industry has historically been closely linked to and integrated with the energy sector it holds a great potential for engaging with the deployment and adoption of renewable energy, although this implies a transformation of the knowledge base and resource allocation in the industry which is still focused on fossil fuels. Roadmaps and scenario analyses show that apart from a shift to renewable energy, a transformation of the industry relies on the deployment of key technologies which are not yet fully developed. This includes new technologies for hydrogen production, e.g., electrolytic (green) hydrogen or hydrogen produced with carbon capture and storage (CCS). New chemical synthesis pathways based on captured carbon, so called carbon capture and utilization (CCU) is also highlighted, but the massive demand for renewable energy associated with this pathway is a significant barrier to its adoption in the near term. The report shows how efficiency improvements continues to be the main focus for reducing the climate impact of petrochemicals, but that this is a completely inadequate approach for achieving the emissions reductions necessary in the coming decades. Breakthrough technologies are unlikely to be deployed at a rate consistent with international climate targets, and there is a great risk in relying on the promises of technologies which are yet to be proven at scale. The large knowledge gaps that remain are key barriers for effective governance of the transition.
|
|
| 8. |
|
|
| 9. |
- Bauer, Ingrid, et al.
(author)
-
White paper on Next Generation Metrics
- 2020
-
Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- We - the writers - of this paper summarise a methodological debate amongst experts from our Members on ´traditional´ and ´next generation metrics´ for science, education and innovation in the light of the developments and expectations towards greater ´openness´ to realise long-term ecological, economic and social sustainability and benefit to citizens and to the world. A broad range of indicators from various sources were discussed in terms of feasibility in different contexts, as well as their suitability to serve diverse purposes. Rather than presenting a formal position on behalf of CESAER, we present our synthesis of this debate. In chapter one, we provide the definitions, describe the methodology used and set the scope of this paper, thus setting the scene for the following chapters. In chapter two, we report on our findings on metrics dealing with (open) science. Ever since E. Garfield’s Journal Impact Factor (JIF) came into use in the mid-70s, and certainly with the h-index proposed by the physicist J. E. Hirsch in 2005, the rise of quantitative metrics in the assessment of research has seemed to be unstoppable - up to the use of ´views´, ´likes´ and ´tweets´. While in times of accountability and competing for visibility and funds, it is only reasonable to focus on the measurability and comparability of metrics as efficient means to display performance, the limitations of doing so are obvious. As a result, in the past years, a countermovement criticising this practice and questioning the validity of the metrics and reliability of the data used has become stronger. Moreover, there are strong (political) expectations to make science more open. Metrics for (open) education and training are the topic of chapter three. In many (global) rankings of higher education institutions, the indicators used reflect the model of traditional, established, wealthy and largely English-speaking research universities (Hazelkorn, 2015). They are, therefore, ill-suited to truly give an idea about the quality or the performance of higher education more broadly, and they are limited in helping universities to set priorities. They do, however, reveal that there is still a lack of meaningful internationally comparable information on these matters. By covering (open) innovation in chapter four, we complete the discussion of the mission of our Members. Open innovation promotes approaches that boost disruptive innovation rather than incremental, stimulate inventions produced by outsiders and founders in start-ups, and is based on a view on the world of widely distributed knowledge. We synthesised our findings on the confrontation between ´traditional´ and ´next generation metrics´ and present ten each for science, education and innovation for use mainly within our Members and to monitor the desired progress over time (see annexe I). While this might be interpreted as sufficient responsiveness to external expectations on our behalf, we instead advanced further and in chapter five suggest that universities strive towards ´progressive metrics´ and highlight the need to acknowledge knowledge as a common good, promote a culture of quality, risk-taking and trust and measure the contribution to sustainability. That is why we conclude this paper with ideas for progressive indicators in annexe II, outlining an agenda for future work to stay at the forefront of science, education and innovation; to benchmark against like-minded institutions; and to pursue institutional development paths; and - ultimately - to optimise our contributions to society and the world.
|
|
| 10. |
- Hibbett, David S., et al.
(author)
-
Agaricomycetes
- 2014
-
In: The Mycota. - Berlin : Springer. - 9783642553172 ; , s. 373-429
-
Book chapter (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Agaricomycetes includes ca. 21,000 described species of mushroom-forming fungi that function as decayers, pathogens, and mutualists in both terrestrial and aquatic habitats. The morphological diversity of Agaricomycete fruiting bodies is unparalleled in any other group of fungi, ranging from simple corticioid forms to complex, developmentally integrated forms (e.g., stinkhorns). In recent years, understanding of the phylogenetic relationships and biodiversity of Agaricomycetes has advanced dramatically, through a combination of polymerase chain reaction-based multilocus phylogenetics, phylogenomics, and molecular environmental surveys. Agaricomycetes is strongly supported as a clade and includes several groups formerly regarded as Heterobasidiomycetes, namely the Auriculariales, Sebacinales, and certain Cantharellales (Tulasnellaceae and Ceratobasidiaceae). The Agaricomycetes can be divided into 20 mutually exclusive clades that have been treated as orders. This chapter presents an overview of the phylogenetic diversity of Agaricomycetes, emphasizing recent molecular phylogenetic studies.
|
|
