scholarly journals More Timber in Construction: Unanswered Questions and Future Challenges

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 3473 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Hart ◽  
Francesco Pomponi
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Land Allocation ◽  
Built Environments ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Environmental Loads ◽  
Environmental Product Declarations ◽  
Future Challenges ◽  
Life Options ◽  
Lower Carbon

The built environment is one of the greatest contributors to carbon emissions, climate change, and to the unsustainable pressure on the natural environment and its ecosystems. The use of more timber in construction is one possible response, and an authoritative contribution to this growing movement comes from the UK’s Committee on Climate Change, which identifies a “substantial increase in the use of wood in the construction of buildings” as a top priority. However, a global encouragement of such a strategy raises some difficult questions. Given the urgency of effective solutions for low-carbon built environments, and the likely continued growth in demand for timber in construction, this article reviews its sustainability and identifies future challenges and unanswered questions. Existing evidence points indeed towards timber as the lower carbon option when modelled through life cycle assessment without having to draw on arguments around carbon storage. Issues however remain on the timing of carbon emissions, land allocation, and the environmental loads and benefits associated with the end-of-life options: analysis of environmental product declarations for engineered timber suggests that landfill might either be the best or the worst option from a climate change perspective, depending on assumptions.

The Implementation Approach of LCCF Checklist in Development Control: Challenges for policymakers

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
T B A
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Local Authority ◽  
Survey Methods ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Control Process ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Development Control

Global warming, climate change is now affecting the world. The effort of the leaders to achieving the sustainable development is from New Urban Agenda (NUA), Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) and local level is local authorities.  SDG’s goal number 13 takes urgent action to combat climate change and its impact also SDG’s number 11 to sustainable cities and communities. The gap of this paper  Different cities face different challenges and issues. Local authorities will play a significant role in undertaking policy initiatives to combat carbon emissions of the city. Low Carbon Cities (LCC) is to reduce carbon emissions in all human activities in cities.  The objective of this paper is by applying the LCCF Checklist in planning permission for sustainable development. The methodology of this research is a mixed-method, namely quantitative and qualitative approach. The survey methods are by interview, questionnaire, and observation. Town planners are the subject matter expert in managing the planning permission submission for the development control of their areas. Descriptive statistical analysis will be used to show the willingness of the stakeholders, namely the developers and planning consultants in implementing of the LCCF. The contribution of this research will gauge readiness at the local authorities level. The findings of the LCCF checklist are identified as important in planning permission into the development control process. Surprisingly, that challenges and issues exist in multifaceted policy implementation the LCCF Checklist in a local authority. Finally based on Subang Jaya Municipal Councils, the existing approach in the application of the LCCF Checklist in the development control process will be useful for development control in a local authority towards sustainable development.  

scholarly journals Energy-Related Carbon Emissions of China’s Model Environmental Cities

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Kevin Lo
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Climate Mitigation ◽  
Accounting System ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Garden Cities ◽  
Annual Carbon ◽  
Per Capita

This paper identifies three types of model environmental cities in China and examines their levels of energy-related carbon emissions using a bottom-up accounting system. Model environmental cities are identified as those that have been recently awarded official recognition from the central government for their efforts in environmental protection. The findings show that, on average, the Low-Carbon Cities have lower annual carbon emissions, carbon intensities, and per capita emissions than the Eco-Garden Cities and the Environmental Protection Cities. Compared internationally, the Eco-Garden Cities and the Environmental Protection Cities have per capita emissions that are similar to those of American cities whereas per capita emissions from the Low-Carbon Cities are similar to those of European cities. The result indicates that addressing climate change is not a priority for some model environmental cities. Policy changes are needed to prioritize climate mitigation in these cities, considering that climate change is a cross-cutting environmental issue with wide-ranging impact.

Society and a low-carbon future: individual behaviour change or new social values and priorities?

2012 ◽  
Vol 103 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janette Webb
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Shared Understanding ◽  
Gradual Change ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Short Term

ABSTRACTAlthough Scottish and UK governments have ambitious targets for climate change mitigation, and there is increased understanding of the risks to future prosperity of fossil fuel energy dependence, limited practical progress has been made by the advanced economies in reducing carbon emissions, especially when embedded emissions in imported consumer goods are taken into account. Significant contributory factors are the social and cultural values, beliefs and practices, which result in risks of climate change being regarded as secondary to short-term pressures for economic growth and increased consumer spending. The result is that climate change and transition to a low-carbon society become ‘back of the mind’ issues. Current policy designed to lower carbon emissions from household consumption treats society as a series of individuals, each responding rationally to market incentives to maximise short-term personal gain. ‘Greener choices’ are incentivised and encouraged by social marketing, but, at best, this approach will achieve only very gradual change. An alternative model treats society as comprising historically evolving, dynamic social systems and cultures that are capable of dealing with transformational change, when there is a shared understanding of the reasons for acting. From this perspective, society can implement step changes in behaviour through collaborative action in the interests of the longer-term common good. Political momentum can be gathered for new legislative and/or taxation measures, as for example in the case of the strong programme for tobacco control legislation in Scotland and the UK. By focusing on social and technical infrastructures, the built environment, and the regeneration of local economies, rather than on individual behaviours, government investment can have far greater impact. A distinctively Scottish narrative for a low-carbon society can create momentum for transition through shared understanding of the risks of climate change, and its meanings for social life, cultures, economic relationships and values.

scholarly journals Climate change risk perception in the USA and alignment with sustainable travel behaviours

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. e0244545
Author(s):  
Jean Fletcher ◽  
James Higham ◽  
Nancy Longnecker
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Climate Change Risk ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Climate Change Concern ◽  
Change Climate ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Global Threat ◽  
Lower Carbon

In an online survey of 1071 Americans conducted in October 2016, we found technological optimism, environmental beliefs, and gender to be better predictors of climate change concern than respondents’ perceived ability to visualize the year 2050 and their future optimism. An important finding from this study is that in October 2016, just before the 2016 Presidential election, 74% of responding Americans were concerned about climate change. Climate change ranked as their second most serious global threat (behind terrorism). However, when asked to describe travel in the year 2050 only 29% of participants discussed lower carbon options, suggesting that actively envisioning a sustainable future was less prevalent than climate change concern. Enabling expectations and active anticipation of a low carbon future may help facilitate mitigation efforts.

scholarly journals Upcycle: As A New Preference in the Art of Climate Change

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-113
Author(s):  
Centaury Harjani
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Material Processing ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Contemporary Art ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Environmentally Friendly ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
New Materials ◽  
Zero Waste ◽  
Practice Based Research

The most common inspiration used in the art of climate change is global warming. Indeed, the greenhouse effect that leads to a global temperature rise is the cause of global warming. This effect occurs due to increasing levels of carbon released into the air. Upon this, an artist needs to reduce carbon emissions for the sake of a better environment. One of the effective ways is by using the principles of environmentally friendly (low-carbon emissions) artwork. The way that can be chosen is upcycling in the making of an artwork. Upcycled is the upgraded version of Recycling. Upcycle will help reduce carbon emissions by utilizing old goods as materials to create an artwork. Upcycle does not use new materials, and it uses the method of material processing with a short phase compared to recycling. The contemporary art of climate change raises many issues on global warming as its inspiration. Therefore, it should pay attention to the material used in the making of environmentally friendly artwork. This paper will discuss the upcycle as a preference to produce that artwork. Practice-based research methods and literature studies are used in this study. This research will also discuss creative strategies in upcycling deadstock to become part of climate change contemporary artwork. The preliminary result from this study is that the upcycle will be optimal when combined with the principle of zero-waste. Upcycle: Preferensi Baru dalam Seni Perubahan Iklim ABSTRAK Inspirasi yang paling banyak digunakan pada seni perubahan iklim adalah pemanasan global. Sesungguhnya, efek rumah kaca adalah penyebab utama adanya peningkatan suhu secara global sehingga terjadi pemanasan global. Efek ini terjadi disebabkan oleh peningkatan jumlah karbon yang dilepaskan ke udara. Karena itu, seniman perlu berpartisipasi mengurangi jumlah gas buang karbon demi lingkungan yang lebih baik. Satu cara efektif yang dapat dilakukan adalah menggunakan prinsip karya seni ramah lingkungan yang tingkat gas buang karbonnya rendah. Cara yang dapat dipilih adalah melakukan upcycle dalam pembuatan karya seni. Upcylce ini adalah peningkatan versi dari Recycle. Upcycle akan membantu mengurangi gas buang karbon dengan memanfaatkan barang-barang lama sebagai bahan baku pada proses pembuatan karya seni. Upcycle tidak menggunakan material baru dan memiliki proses pengolahan material yang lebih pendek jika dibandingkan dengan metode recycle. Seni kontemporer terkait perubahan iklim mengangkat banyak isu mengenai pemanasan global. Karena itu, seni ini perlu memperhatikan bahan baku yang digunakan untuk memperoleh karya seni yang ramah lingkungan. Makalah ini akan membahas upcycle sebagai preferensi untuk menghasilkan karya seni tersebut. Metode penelitian berbasis praktik dan studi literatur digunakan dalam penelitian ini. Penelitian ini juga akan membahas strategi kreatif dalam melakukan upcycling bahan baku deadstock karya seni kontemporer perubahan iklim. Kesimpulan awal dari penelitian ini, penggunaan upcycle akan lebih optimal jika dipadukan dengan prinsip zero-waste.

scholarly journals An investigation of barriers and enablers to energy efficiency retrofitting of social housing in London

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
James Peel ◽  
Vian Ahmed ◽  
Sara Saboor
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Social Housing ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emission ◽  
Housing Stock ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
International Treaties ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Barriers And Enablers

Carbon emissions, being hazardous, are triggering social concerns which have led to the creation of international treaties to address climate change. Similarly, the United Kingdom under the Climate Change Act (2008) has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emission by at least 80% over 1990 levels by 2050.  However, being the oldest member of the EU states (before Brexit), the UK has the oldest housing stock, which contributes to 45% of its carbon emissions due to the older dwellings. To address this issue low carbon retrofitting is needed. Therefore, this paper seeks to investigate the barriers and enablers to energy efficiency retrofitting in social housing in London, UK based on the perception of experts employed in National and construction companies with an experience that ranges between 6 to 16 years. Initial literature suggested that the problem of energy efficiency retrofitting in the general building stock has been addressed, however little has been reported on its application to social housing. This paper, therefore, groups the barriers and enablers into seven categories that include: financial matters, Technical, IT, Government policy and regulation, social factors (including awareness of the energy efficiency agenda), quality of workmanship and disruption to residents, using literature review, interviews and surveys with key stakeholders within the housing sector, and draws recommendations to enable effective and efficient retrofitting for social housing projects. 

scholarly journals Prediction on the Peak of the CO2 Emissions in China Using the STIRPAT Model

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Li ◽  
Yalin Lei ◽  
Chunyan He ◽  
Sanmang Wu ◽  
Jiabin Chen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Capital Investment ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Service Industries ◽  
Energy Structure ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Stirpat Model ◽  
Improve Energy Efficiency

Climate change has threatened our economic, environmental, and social sustainability seriously. The world has taken active measures in dealing with climate change to mitigate carbon emissions. Predicting the carbon emissions peak has become a global focus, as well as a leading target for China’s low carbon development. China has promised its carbon emissions will have peaked by around 2030, with the intention of peaking earlier. Scholars generally have studied the influencing factors of carbon emissions. However, research on carbon emissions peaks is not extensive. Therefore, by setting a low scenario, a middle scenario, and a high scenario, this paper predicts China’s carbon emissions peak from 2015 to 2035 based on the data from 1998 to 2014 using the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology (STIRPAT) model. The results show that in the low, middle, and high scenarios China will reach its carbon emissions peak in 2024, 2027, and 2030, respectively. Thus, this paper puts forward the large-scale application of technology innovation to improve energy efficiency and optimize energy structure and supply and demand. China should use industrial policy and human capital investment to stimulate the rapid development of low carbon industries and modern agriculture and service industries to help China to reach its carbon emissions peak by around 2030 or earlier.

scholarly journals The path to sustainability

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-96
Author(s):  
Faizah Darus ◽  
Hidayatul Izati Mohd Zuki ◽  
Haslinda Yusoff
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Listed Companies ◽  
Governance Structure ◽  
Emerging Economy ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Change Initiatives ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Climate change has become an increasingly important issue globally, and organisations are being urged to be more carbon friendly by taking initiatives to reduce carbon emissions in their business operations. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which climate change has been addressed and the influence of financial strength and corporate governance structure on the disclosure of carbon information. Design/methodology/approach The research process consists of an investigation via content analysis of the annual and sustainability reports of the top 100 public-listed companies in Malaysia for the year 2017. Findings The results of the study revealed that carbon information on carbon emissions accounting had the highest disclosure and that climate change risks and opportunities had the lowest disclosure. The results of the multiple regression analysis revealed that profitability is positively significant with carbon disclosure while leverage is negatively significant. However, the governance structure does not seem to have any influence on the disclosure of carbon information. Research limitations/implications The conclusions drawn from the study must be interpreted with caution as the sample companies only comprise of the top 100 public-listed companies in Malaysia to provide an initial insight into the situation in Malaysia. Furthermore, the interpretations and conclusions drawn from this study are based solely on a cross-sectional analysis of the data for only one year. Practical implications This finding is a significant contribution to regulatory bodies and policymakers regarding the drivers of climate change initiatives in an emerging economy such as Malaysia. This finding suggests that in the Malaysian setting, financial structure influence decisions on climate change initiatives. Social implications The commitment by business leaders of the impact on climate from the production processes would contribute towards a low carbon economy and subsequently improve the quality of life of the community. Originality/value The findings of the study provide insight of the business attitude towards climate change in an emerging economy such as Malaysia.

scholarly journals Aeromobilities in Transition, From quick and dirty to slow and sexy

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rob Bongaerts ◽  
Jeroen Nawijn ◽  
Eke Eijgelaar ◽  
Paul Peeters
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Emission Reduction ◽  
Air Travel ◽  
Rail Transport ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Carbon Cost ◽  
Regional Tourism ◽  
Sharp Growth

In this chapter we discuss the current impacts of aviation on the environment and climate change. The sharp growth of this industry will lead to an even greater future impact. Therefore, we come with some suggestions to reduce the carbon emissions of the industry. We conclude that a combination of economical, behavioural and technological measures is the only way to go if a decrease of carbon in a growing industry is to be achieved. Price mechanisms like increasing taxes and introducing real carbon cost should lead to less demand for air travel. Furthermore, promoting regional tourism and de-marketing long haul destinations contributes to a sharp emission reduction. Short haul and regional travel should be combined with promoting low carbon travel modes, like rail transport. If decision makers can combine these measures and force their airlines to adopt the latest technological standards on aircraft, we believe that the industry can transform from a ‘quick and dirty’ way of transport to a ‘slow and sexy’ one.

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