Coffee and the effects of climate change

A collaborative study looks at how changing climate conditions might be affecting the taste, aroma, and overall quality of coffee

Peer-Reviewed Publication

TUFTS UNIVERSITY, HEALTH SCIENCES CAMPUS

Whether you prefer notes of berry and citrus or chocolate and nuts, dark roast or light, a good cup of coffee can be a simple pleasure. You probably would notice if some of your morning brew’s brightness disappeared, or if the familiar fruity aroma dulled a little. Changes like these might not stem from when the beans were roasted or ground, but from growing conditions.   

Coffee is grown on more than 27 million acres across 12.5 million largely smallholder farms in more than 50 countries. Many coffee-producing regions are increasingly experiencing changing climate conditions, whose impact on coffee’s taste, aroma, and even dietary quality is as much a concern as yields and sustainability. 

A new research review says that coffee quality is vulnerable to shifts in environmental factors associated with climate change. The review, led by researchers from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts and Montana State University, also finds that some current adaptation strategies to combat these effects provide hope for positive outcomes.  

“A subpar cup of coffee has economic implications as well as sensory. Factors that influence coffee production have great impacts on buyers’ interest, the price of coffee, and ultimately the livelihoods of the farmers who grow it,” says Sean Cash, an economist and the Bergstrom Foundation Professor in Global Nutrition at the Friedman School and senior author on the study, published in Frontiers in Plant Science.

“Climate change impacts on crops are already causing economic and political disruption in many parts of the world,” he says. “If we can understand the science of these changes, we might help farmers and other stakeholders better manage coffee production in the face of this and future challenges.”

In their analysis, the researchers looked at the effects of 10 prevalent environmental factors and management conditions associated with climate change and climate adaptation, respectively, across 73 published articles. 

The most consistent trends the team found were that farms at higher altitudes were associated with better coffee flavor and aroma, while too much light exposure was associated with a decrease in coffee quality. A synthesis of the evidence found that coffee quality is also susceptible to changes due to water stress and increased temperatures and carbon dioxide, although more research on these specific factors is needed.

Some current efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change, including shade management to control light exposure, selection and maintenance of climate-resilient wild coffee plants, and pest management, show promise and feasibility, but innovative solutions to support bean growth at all elevations need to be devised, the team says.   

“These strategies are giving some hope that coffee quality can be maintained or improved and will ultimately help farmers consider how to design evidence-based interventions to support their farms,” says Selena Ahmed, an ethnobotanist in the Food and Health Lab at Montana State University, who earlier was a postdoctoral scholar in the Tufts IRACDA program. “These impacts on crops are important to study in general, not just for coffee. Our food systems support our food security, nutrition and health.”

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JOURNAL

Frontiers in Plant Science

DOI

10.3389/fpls.2021.708013 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Systematic review

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Climate Change and Coffee Quality: Systematic Review on the Effects of Environmental and Management Variation on Secondary Metabolites and Sensory Attributes of Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

8-Oct-2021

Kick-start of a new generation of climate scientists

Meeting Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN - FACULTY OF SCIENCE

 

IMAGE: 15 INTERNATIONAL PHD STUDENTS ARE TRAINED IN AN INTERNATIONAL NETWORK OF 11 LEADING UNIVERSITIES AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS ACROSS EUROPE SUPPORTED BY 8 ADDITIONAL PARTNERS IN ACADEMIA, INDUSTRY, GOVERNMENTAL- AND NON-GOVERNMENTAL INSTITUTIONS. view more 

CREDIT: NBI/HP

The study of critical transitions or tipping points in the Earth system involves increasingly complex mathematical techniques and understanding of the Earth system. CriticalEarth, a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions - Innovative Training Network programme for young scientists, aims to prepare the next generation of climate scientists for this important task. The training of 15 PhD international students at 17 European research institutions begins this week, with a kick-off meeting in Denmark, hosted by Critical Earth partner the University of Copenhagen (Department of Physics of Ice, Climate and Earth at the Niels Bohr Institute).

 

Climate tipping is a worrying concept. Abrupt transitions lead to accelerated climate change because the climate system or parts of it move from one stable state to another. Assessing the risk of encountering climate tipping points due to anthropogenic global warming is one of the most urgent challenges in climate science today.

 

Analyzing a complex system as the Earth's climate to a high enough precision for the prediction of critical transitions involves very different mathematical concepts like stochasticity, chaos theory and dynamical systems theory. The demand for expert understanding of the physical behaviour of the climate system is equally pressing.

 

The study of tipping points and critical transitions is therefore leading climate science into a field of increasingly advanced mathematics and physics, creating a need for highly-trained specialists. The upstart of the CriticalEarth project will hopefully aid this essential task.

 

CriticalEarth’s network of 15 PhD Fellows will be trained in new research methods for assessing the mechanisms and associated risks of critical transitions in the climate.

 

The focus will be on investigating how complex mathematics can be used to predict and avoid irreversible climate change. The positions will offer the students an excellent experience, working within a strong, cross-disciplinary network among 11 leading Universities and research institutions across Europe, and supported by 8 additional partners in academia, industry, governmental- and non-governmental institutions.

 

Professor Peter Ditlevsen, who is the leader of the CriticalEarth project : “It is extremely important that we fill the knowledge gap in the mathematical understanding of tipping points and abrupt climate change. This is a deep scientific challenge for the next generation of climate scientists and the reason for the European Commission in investing in the education of 15 excellent young researchers. I am really excited about the project and thrilled to see the development of these great young scientists and the buildup of the international scientific network in CriticalEarth.”

 

A Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions - Innovative Training Network is one of the most prestigious and competitive science programmes under the EU Horizon 2020 which fund CriticalEarth with more than 4 million Euros.

 

For more information, contact Peter Ditlevsen, pditlev@nbi.ku.dk or Henrik Prætorius henrik.praetorius@nbi.ku.dk.

 

CriticalEarth (grant agreement 956170) is funded by the EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie

Actions Research networks ITN - Innovative Training Networks For details please refer to:

ITN https://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions/actions/get-funding/innovative-trainingnetworks

 

Contributing universities and science institutions.

 

The Niels Bohr Institute, The University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Department of Mathematics, Technische Universität München, Germany.

Department of Mathematics, Norges Arktiske Universitet, Norway.

Department of Physics, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

Department of Mathematics, University of Exeter, Great Britain.

Department of Physics, University of Reading, Great Britain.

Department of Environmental Engineering, Politecnico di Torina, Italy.

Department of Atmospheric Science, Koninklijk Meteorologisch Instituut, The Netherlands.

Laboratoire de physique, ENS de Lyon, France.

Department of Earth Physics and Astrophysics, Universidad Complutense Madrid, Spain.

Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Germany.

 

Partner organisations

 

Department Mathematics and Computer Science, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany.

Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium

Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, France

Danish Meteorological Institute, Denmark

Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany
Climate Risk Analysis, Mudelsee, Germany
Amigo Climate, Italy

David Trads Consulting & Management, Denmark

Penn Medicine’s Pavilion marks a healthcare ‘first’ with prestigious LEED Gold Building Certification for Sustainability

New Penn hospital becomes largest LEED Healthcare certified project in the world to achieve this recognition for green design and construction

Grant and Award Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

 

IMAGE: PAVILION view more 

CREDIT: PENN MEDICINE

PHILADELPHIA – Penn Medicine’s new Pavilion on the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania’s campus has broken new ground for sustainable healthcare construction and design with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Healthcare Gold Certification. Incorporating sustainability efforts since the beginning of its development, the 17-story, future-ready patient facility is the largest certified project in the world to achieve Gold certification or higher in LEED Healthcare. At 1.5 million square feet, the Pavilion—which will open October 30—is also the first hospital in the United States of more than 1 million square feet to achieve certification in LEED Healthcare.

“At Penn Medicine, implementing sustainability measures in our buildings has been a key area of our leadership in the health care field, to not only conserve energy but also improve the way patient care is delivered,” Kevin B. Mahoney, CEO of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, said. “Our workforce is deeply committed to climate stewardship, and in the Pavilion, they can be proud to be part of a new era in conservation that puts medicine on the map as a force for improving the health of our planet.”

LEED, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), is the most widely used green building rating system in the world and an international symbol of excellence. The LEED Healthcare rating system focuses on green initiatives at inpatient, outpatient and licensed long-term care facilities, medical offices, assisted living facilities, and medical education and research centers. To become LEED certified, a building must earn a threshold of points across multiple measurements for green building excellence, from sustainable site development to energy efficiency and water savings.

Conservation initiatives during the Pavilion project included recycling materials that were collected after the demolition of Penn Tower, which formerly stood on the new hospital’s site, including 291 tons of scrap steel and 17,000 tons of concrete. In addition, during the Pavilion’s construction, about 25 percent of materials were prefabricated and manufactured off-site, including more than 570 mechanical/electrical/plumbing racks and all 504 bathrooms for each patient room. This process minimized on-site waste, reduced traffic impact and site congestion, increased quality, and lowered cost.

Overall, the energy efficiency efforts in the Pavilion are anticipated to save more than 14 percent in annual energy costs compared to merely a code-compliant hospital. The building itself also uses 100 percent outside air through its HVAC system, using energy recovery wheels to capture and repurpose waste energy.

Along with saving energy, the facility was constructed to cut 30 percent of typical indoor water use through the installation of select fixtures and designs that use significantly less water, such as low-flow and low-flush toilets, sinks, and showers. In addition, more than 20 percent of the water required for the building’s HVAC equipment is provided by water captured and reused on site, such as rainwater, condensate, and foundation dewatering. Two cisterns, to help supply the chilled water system, are projected to process 7 million gallons of captured non-potable water each year.

The Pavilion’s property also includes an acre of greenery through landscaping surrounding the facility—including ground-level greenery that helps “bring the outside in” to patients and employees through abundant windows—and green roofs. Landscaped areas will feature native and hardy species that require minimal watering and maintenance.

The facility’s eco-friendly finishes extend to enabling green transit options for the thousands who will work and visit the Pavilion each day. In the 690-space underground parking garage, 2 percent of parking spaces have access to electric vehicle recharging stations, and to promote cycling and walking, 352 new bicycle parking spots have been installed at various locations surrounding the Pavilion. A new pedestrian pathway connecting the facility to Penn Medicine Station makes for easily accessible train travel for staff and visitors who use public transportation.

Design and planning for the Pavilion was orchestrated by PennFIRST, an integrated project delivery (IPD) team comprised of Penn Medicine employees, health care design firm HDR, architects Foster + Partners, engineering firm BR+A, and construction managers L.F. Driscoll and Balfour Beatty.

“An integral part of Penn’s campus development plan is to mindfully consider how our projects respond to our sustainability goals. In earning a LEED Gold designation, the Penn Medicine Pavilion exceeds this important consideration while adding to the transformation of our spectacular urban campus,” said Anne Papageorge, Vice President for Facilities and Real Estate Services at the University of Pennsylvania.

Every new building and major renovation project currently under design at Penn is registered with the USGBC and is targeting LEED Silver rating or higher. The Pavilion is one of nearly 40 Penn buildings to achieve LEED certification, including Penn Medicine’s Valley Forge location, Penn Medicine Radnor, the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, and Penn Medicine’s University City Office Tower.

Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $8.9 billion enterprise.

The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top medical schools in the United States for more than 20 years, according to U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $496 million awarded in the 2020 fiscal year.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System’s patient care facilities include: the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center—which are recognized as one of the nation’s top “Honor Roll” hospitals by U.S. News & World Report—Chester County Hospital; Lancaster General Health; Penn Medicine Princeton Health; and Pennsylvania Hospital, the nation’s first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine at Home, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.

Penn Medicine is powered by a talented and dedicated workforce of more than 44,000 people. The organization also has alliances with top community health systems across both Southeastern Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey, creating more options for patients no matter where they live.

Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2020, Penn Medicine provided more than $563 million to benefit our community.

Eureka! A cost effective and quick way to find groundwater in arid regions

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Water is a scarce commodity in many countries worldwide, but new cost-effective technology pioneered by researchers in Australia, Egypt and Saudi Arabia could ensure sustainable water supplies for decades to come.

University of South Australia researcher Dr Alaa Ahmed and colleagues from the Desert Research Centre in Egypt, and King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, have used the iconic Flinders Ranges to demonstrate how precious groundwater can be found without expensive drilling.

Using satellite imagery, geospatial techniques and adding information on drainage, rock types, fractures, topography and rainfall, Dr Ahmed has mapped the Hawker region in the Flinders Ranges into three distinct classifications for groundwater stored in fractured rock aquifers: good, moderate and low.

His study indicates that the most effective groundwater recharge zones (where surface water collects as it moves downwards) are located where there are numerous rock fractures, low drainage and a gentle slope.

Conversely, the least effective areas to find groundwater are underlain by shale and siltstone.

“The remote sensing doesn’t cost us anything because existing satellites located above Australia are already taking photos of the topography. We also have the software – GIS – to analyse and map all the data,” Dr Ahmed says.

Existing methods to assess groundwater sources involve extensive drilling, which is expensive, time consuming and often inaccurate.

Using a combination of remote sensing, GIS and information and other geological factors, hydrologists should be able to find precise groundwater locations at a fraction of the cost, he says.

“Groundwater makes up approximately 17 per cent of Australia’s available water resources, 30 per cent of its consumption and is found across 60 per cent of the continent.

“But prolonged droughts have led to higher salinity and pumping costs and fewer groundwater sites.

“We urgently need to find faster and cheaper ways to locate groundwater because water supplies are limited in so many parts of the country. By creating satellite maps showing where groundwater is more likely to be found, we can go a long way towards improving our water resources,” he says.

Groundwater is the main source of fresh water in the Flinders Ranges and is affected by the type, thickness and structural fabric of the underlying rocks, erosion, topography, drainage and the climate.

While the central Flinders Ranges lies north of Goyder’s Line, deemed unsuitable for cropping, sheep and cattle farming still needs a reliable source of water, as do the townships of Hawker and Parachilna.

Both towns are reliant on groundwater from fractured rock aquifers for their water supply and are dependent on limited production wells.

While this study was undertaken in South Australia, the same technique could be used to detect groundwater in any arid region across the world, including Egypt, where Dr Ahmed has carried out similar research.

“Water shortages and high salinity affect many countries. With global warming, we can expect to see more droughts and so water will become an even scarcer resource. Hopefully this technology will help ensure we have sustainable water supplies for decades to come.

“It will enable policymakers to decide potential sites for recharging the groundwater aquifers without depleting or harming the environment,” he says.

Dr Ahmed’s study has been published in the journal Water, with contributions from colleagues in the Desert Research Centre, Egypt, and King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia.

 

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JOURNAL

Water

DOI

10.3390/w13182571 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Imaging analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Identification of Groundwater Potential Recharge Zones in Flinders Ranges, South Australia Using Remote Sensing, GIS, and MIF Techniques

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

17-Sep-2021

Gardening for wildlife enhances bird diversity beyond your own back yard

Peer-Reviewed Publication

USDA FOREST SERVICE - NORTHERN RESEARCH STATION

 

IMAGE: A USDA FOREST SERVICE SCIENTIST WAS PART OF A TEAM THAT EXPLORED THE VALUE OF THE BIGGEST CHUNK OF GREEN SPACE FOUND IN CITIES - RESIDENTIAL YARDS - AS WILDLIFE HABITAT. PHOTO SHOWS COREOPSIS, BEE BALM, AND PURPLE CONEFLOWER NEAR A RESIDENTIAL MAILBOX. view more 

CREDIT: PHOTO BY DAVID MIZEJEWSKI, NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION.

MADISON, WI, Oct. 25, 2021 — Households manage their yards in diverse ways and new research has found that their landscaping and management decisions have the potential to increase wild bird habitat and influence bird biodiversity in their yard and also at the neighborhood and city scale.

Across the United States, bird populations are declining due to decreases in availability of habitat.  Recently, a team of scientists explored the value of the biggest chunk of green space found in cities – residential yards –as wildlife habitat.  A new study, “Residential yard management and landscape cover affect urban bird community diversity across the continental USA,” was published this month in the journal Ecological Applications.  The research was co-led by USDA Forest Service Research Ecologist Susannah Lerman and Post-Doctoral Researcher Desirée L. Narango from City University of New York and University of Massachusetts.  Together with partners they conducted bird diversity observations in four residential yard types and in natural parks in six cities with distinctly different climate conditions: Baltimore, MD; Boston, MA; Los Angeles, CA; Miami, FL; Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN; and Phoenix, AZ.  The researchers found similar patterns in all six cities; although urban parks support more species of conservation concern (an official designation of species whose long-term persistence is in question) compared with yards, yards certified as wildlife habitat through the National Wildlife Federation’s certification program support a wider variety of bird species compared with more traditional yard landscaping (e.g., lawn-dominated yards.) This suggests that landscape management for wildlife can contribute to region-wide bird diversity. The study also considered public interest levels based on Google searches and bird sightings and found that yards supported more popular species compared with parks.

“This study shows that when people landscape with wildlife in mind, householders can contribute to conservation right in their own back yards,” said Lerman, who is with the Forest Service’s Northern Research Station. “And our yards often support some of our most beloved backyard birds.”

“Scientists are finding that we can’t study cities in isolation.  It will improve bird conservation efforts if we can understand which management practices are effective across regions and nationally, and which are effective at a more local level, “ said Narango.

In addition to Lerman and Narango, co-authors include Meghan L. Avolio, Johns Hopkins University; Anika R. Bratt, Duke University and Davidson College; Jesse M. Engebretson, University of Minnesota; Peter M. Groffman, City University of New York and Cary Institute; Sharon J. Hall, Arizona State University; James B. Heffernan, Duke University; Sarah E. Hobbie, University of Minnesota; Kelli L. Larson, Arizona State University; Dexter H. Locke, USDA Forest Service; Christopher Neill, Woodwell Climate Research Center; Kristen C. Nelson, University of Minnesota; Josep Padullés Cubino, University of Minnesota and Masaryk University; and Tara L. E. Trammell, University of Delaware.

 

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USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender.

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JOURNAL

Ecological Applications

DOI

10.1002/eap.2455 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Residential yard management and landscape cover affect urban bird community diversity across the continental USA

Warmer water, less nutrition

The nutritional value of giant kelp decreases as sea temperatures increase

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - SANTA BARBARA

As a foundational species, giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) is vital to the ecosystem of the temperate, shallow, nearshore waters where it grows. When the kelp flourishes, so do the communities that rely on the fast-growing species for food and shelter.

Giant kelp has proven resilient (so far) to some stressors brought on by climate change, including severe storms and ocean heatwaves — an encouraging development for those interested in the alga’s ability to maintain the legions of fish, invertebrates, mammals and birds that depend on it for their survival. But in a recent study published in the journal Oikos, UC Santa Barbara researchers reveal that giant kelp’s ability to take a temperature hit may come at the cost of its nutritional value.

“The nutritional quality, or the amount of nutrients in the kelp tissue seems to be changing,” said the study’s lead author Heili Lowman, a biogeochemist with the University of Nevada, Reno, who conducted this research as a Ph.D. student in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology at UC Santa Barbara. “We found that those changes were associated or correlated with changing seawater temperatures. From a big-picture standpoint, that’s pretty important because there are a lot of things that rely on kelp as the primary food source.”

“I guess you could call it one of the more hidden effects of ocean warming,” said study co-author and graduate student researcher Kyle Emery. “We haven’t necessarily lost kelp in places that have had these big temperature increases, but the kelp there has declined in terms of its nutritional content. So although it’s still there, it’s not able to provide the same function as when temperatures are lower.”

These findings of ocean warming’s hidden effects on kelp come from long-term data gathered at UCSB’s Santa Barbara Coastal Long-Term Ecological Research (SBC-LTER) site, which consists of several kelp forests located in the Santa Barbara Channel. Thanks to data collected over almost two decades, researchers have been able to track patterns of nutrient content, which fluctuate seasonally, and identify significant trends.

“The temperature of the seawater and nutrient availability are really closely coupled in the Santa Barbara Channel, and we’ve known that for some time,” Lowman said. Generally, the cooler temperatures bring nutrient-rich waters up from the deep, but during the warmer seasons, nutrients in the shallows and upper ocean — particularly nitrogen — become more scarce.

“Physiologically, kelp plants can’t store nitrogen for longer than a couple weeks, so whatever’s happening around them in the water they’re going to respond to very quickly because they need a constant supply of nitrogen to grow, and to continue to reproduce,” she said.

Knowing this pattern, the researchers then sought out how nutrient content might play out over a longer period of time, as ocean temperatures rose. They did so by looking at data from the primary productivity sampling that is conducted in the waters at the SBC LTER on a monthly basis.

“As part of that sampling, kelp blades are collected from these sites, brought back to the lab and then processed for carbon and nitrogen content,” Emery explained.

Over the 19-year period covered by the SBC LTER, according to the paper, nitrogen content of the giant kelp tissue declined by 18%, with a proportional increase in carbon content, according to the paper.

This apparent decline in nutritional content does not bode well for the consumers of kelp in and around the Santa Barbara Channel, which include sea urchins and abalone in the water, and intertidal beach hoppers and other invertebrates that consume the kelp wrack that washes up on the shore.

“As a result, urchins, for example, might go in search of a lot more kelp and that could cause a shift in certain places, potentially from a kelp forest to an urchin barren, if they’re just mowing down the reef looking for more food,” Lowman said. Animals that feed on kelp might also expend more energy trying to eat enough to fulfill their nutritional requirements.

While urchins have the ability to go searching for more food, Emery added, the consumers on the shore are stuck with what they get.

“If you have greater demand, but there’s not more kelp coming in, that poses a pretty challenging situation for them, whether it’s being underfed or through population declines,” he said.

In both cases, the effects could ripple out to the rest of the food web, the researchers said: Lower-nutrition kelp could mean smaller, fewer, perhaps less healthy beach hoppers, for instance, which would lead to less food for the shorebirds that eat them. In the water, less nutrition for urchins and abalone could mean less food for their consumers, including fish, lobster, sea otters and humans.

“Our results raise a lot of really interesting open-ended questions and suggest a lot of far-reaching effects,” Emery said.

Having explored the potential relationships of seawater temperature to nutritional content, the researchers are considering broadening the spatial scale of the study.

“The next step would be thinking about what all is playing into determining the nutritional content and then how might we then be able to predict it into the future,” Lowman said.

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JOURNAL

Oikos

ARTICLE TITLE

Nutritional quality of giant kelp declines due to warming ocean temperatures

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

26-Oct-2021

WHY ISN'T THIS FRONT PAGE NEWS

Affordable policy which could stop fossil fuels causing global warming - report

Stop fossil fuels causing global warming within a generation... The Carbon Takeback Obligation could do just that

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

Imagine a single policy, imposed on one industry, which would, if enforced consistently, stop fossil fuels causing global warming within a generation. The Carbon Takeback Obligation could do just that. It requires fossil fuel extractors and importers to dispose safely and permanently of a rising fraction of the CO2 they generate, with that fraction rising to 100% by the year of net-zero. Critically, this would include carbon dioxide generated by the products they sell.

A ground-breaking study by the Universities of Oxford and Edinburgh, published Tuesday [embargoed to 11am US ET] in the international energy journal Joule, explores the economic implications of imposing a carbon takeback obligation on the global fossil fuel industry, and shows it provides an affordable and low-risk route to net zero emissions, particularly if complemented by conventional measures to reduce near-term fossil fuel demand.

Oxford researcher Stuart Jenkins, lead author of the study, explains, ‘Despite the perceived high cost of carbon dioxide capture and storage, we show that the cost to the world economy of a Carbon Takeback Obligation, even if entirely passed on to fossil fuel consumers, is no higher than the cost of mitigation in conventional scenarios meeting similar goals driven by a global carbon price.’

Professor Stuart Haszeldine of the University of Edinburgh, a report co-author, says, ‘Investment in carbon dioxide capture and geological storage has, to date, been dependent on state subsidies, and consistently far below what is required to meet Paris climate goals. Carbon Takeback provides the fossil fuel industry itself with the strongest possible incentive to make amends: survival.’

Oxford’s Professor Myles Allen, another co-author adds, ‘Carbon Takeback has consistently been dismissed by the climate policy establishment as much more expensive and risky than the alternative of driving down consumption by changing consumer behaviour or through a global carbon price. But these options are hardly risk-free. Getting to net zero means carbon prices rising to $1000 per tonne of CO2 by 2050: 100 times the hike that brought out the gilets jaunes.’

Margriet Kuijper, an independent expert in carbon capture and storage who reviewed the work, comments, ‘A Carbon Takeback policy as proposed in this paper will provide a safety net to make sure we achieve net zero emissions even if we don’t manage to reduce the use of fossil fuels quickly enough. It extends the responsibility of producers to take care of the waste generated by the use of their products. The polluter pays to clean up. And the costs are included in the product price. As it should be.’

Notes to Editors:

The paper: Upstream decarbonisation through a Carbon Takeback Obligation: an affordable backstop climate policy is the Climate & Energy highlight of this week’s issue of the journal Joule published Tuesday, October 26, embargoed to 11am US ET. It will be available on https://www.cell.com/joule/fulltext/S2542-4351(21)00489-X when the embargo lifts

True Planet: Oxford research for a changing world

The world around us is changing, and Oxford researchers are at the forefront of trying to understand better the reasons for global temperature and sea level increases, extreme weather events, plastic waste proliferation and threats to biodiversity.

Our researchers are working with partners in industry, government, the third sector and at other universities to address these challenges and to propose innovative approaches and solutions. Find out more about our True Planet campaign.

The University of Oxford

Oxford University has been placed number one in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for the fifth year running, and at the heart of this success is our ground-breaking research and innovation. Oxford is world-famous for research excellence and home to some of the most talented people from across the globe. Our work helps the lives of millions, solving real-world problems through a huge network of partnerships and collaborations. The breadth and interdisciplinary nature of our research sparks imaginative and inventive insights and solutions.

 

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JOURNAL

Joule

DOI

doi: S2542-4351(21)00489-X 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Upstream decarbonisation through a Carbon Takeback Obligation: an affordable backstop climate policy

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

26-Oct-2021

UBC researchers are helping communities prepare for the effects of climate change

Business Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

 

IMAGE: AN EXAMPLE SCREENSHOT OF THE CANADIAN HAZARDS EMERGENCY RESPONSE AND PREPAREDNESS MOBILE APP (CHERP) APP. view more 

CREDIT: CHERP RESEARCH TEAM

The 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) takes place next week and one of its four goals is to help countries adapt to climate change in order to protect communities and natural habitats.

From creating disaster preparedness apps to training local climate champions, UBC researchers are already working with communities to help them prepare for the effects of climate change.

App-daptation for disasters and hazards

Planning for a disaster can be scary, but UBC researchers are making it easier with a new app tailored to individual households.

Dr. Ryan Reynolds, a postdoctoral researcher in the faculty of applied science's school of community and regional planning, found residents in Port Alberni were confused as to which households were at risk and where to find information following a tsunami warning and evacuation in 2018.

Hoping to address this gap, his team has created the Canadian Hazards Emergency Response and Preparedness Mobile App (CHERP) app, which will be piloted in seven communities on Vancouver Island starting next month. “I know from speaking with people post-disaster that anything we can do to reduce that confusion goes a long way to building trust in emergency responses.”

The app helps residents create preparedness, communication, evacuation and on-the-day emergency response plans for local hazards and potential disasters such as sea level rise or coastal flooding. Not sure if your household is in the inundation zone for a tsunami warning? The app will tell you based on your location.

A thorough list of inputs helps individualize plans for each household, including whether someone menstruates, has anxiety, accessibility issues, is part of the LGBTQ+ community, signs, is a refugee or in Canada on a temporary visa. And pets aren’t forgotten: users can input the number of animals in their household.

Preparing for emergencies is like insurance, says Dr. Reynolds. “You do a little bit of work now and hopefully reap the benefits down the road. We know things like sea level rise, coastal flooding, tsunamis, are going to happen and we can put steps in place to prepare.”

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An example screenshot of the Canadian Hazards Emergency Response and Preparedness Mobile App (CHERP) app.

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CHERP research team

Wine, cheese and climate change

Tackling climate change over wine and cheese with your neighbours sounds too good to be true. But Dr. Stephen Sheppard, a professor emeritus in the department of forest resources management in the faculty of forestry, says local climate change action should be fun. “If you can get people to do things together, you get safer, more resilient neighbourhoods but also stronger communities. You could go to the pub, have some fun with it – it’s got to be fun, or no one will do it.” 

Over the next 12 months, his team will train local residents for Cool 'Hood Champs, a free program hosted by four Vancouver community centres. In a series of three workshops, participants learn to identify local climate targets, impacts and solutions, and craft their own climate action plans with practical actions, ranging from installing a shade for a vegetable garden to watering neighbourhood trees during a drought.

This year’s program is an extension of a pilot from last year, where 29 out of 37 participants completed all the workshops, and 70 per cent chose to take home trees to plant in their yards. Local action is vital, says Dr. Sheppard, because individual behavioural decisions affect whether governments achieve emissions targets, and practical solutions can help people feel better. “What can you do about climate change? You can ignore it, worry about it, or do something about it, using processes you can control.’

Dr. Sheppard and his team are also piloting a three-year program with Oak Bay council, where citizen workshops will be hosted through community hubs including schools, churches, and volunteer programs, with funding and staff support. “The pilot will show with backing and funding, citizens themselves can run workshops, take local action and involve others, sustainably.” 

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An example screenshot of the Canadian Hazards Emergency Response and Preparedness Mobile App (CHERP) app.

CREDIT

CHERP research team

Adaptation, not maladaptation

However, climate adaptation interventions are not automatically positive, says Dr. Sameer Shah (he/him), a sessional lecturer at the UBC Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES) in the faculty of science. When applied without consideration of the social context, they can deepen inequities.

In a study published in June, Dr. Shah and colleagues looked into the Government of Maharashtra’s campaign in India to make 25,000 villages drought-free by 2019, a campaign that cost nearly US$1.3 billion.

The team interviewed households in three villages, as well as government officials and key informants, and found that government interests had led to a narrow focus on certain types of water conservation interventions. These benefited a particular group of people, generally those who were already well-off, and often excluded those who didn’t have enough land or money to invest in water-related adaptations, or were located further away from waterbodies, including members of historically disadvantaged groups.

According to a 2020 report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, the campaign had little impact in achieving water neutrality and increasing groundwater level.  Here, technical solutions are not enough, says Dr. Shah, and interventions need to incorporate the social context in which they occur. “As researchers, we can’t just say ‘this is the science’ for an intervention, and then hang up our hats. We need to be focused on issues of governance and distribution.”

Getting the global community involved

When it comes to climate action on mitigation and adaptation, we need everyone involved, says Dr. Jiaying Zhao, Canada Research Chair in Behavioral Sustainability and associate professor at IRES and the department of psychology in the faculty of arts.

She and her colleagues have posited a set of interventions to target different subsets of the entire population to make sure no one is left behind.

Two of these five groups, the “late majority” and the “laggards”, make up 50 per cent of the population and are often overlooked by behaviour change interventions, the authors say.

The “late majority" are characterized as adopting climate actions to fit in with others. Interventions include using social norms, peer pressure, and peer influence to encourage climate action. The “laggards”, or those most reluctant to act, need peer role models to deliver messages and to endorse climate action, says Dr. Zhao. “You need to use the right messenger to deliver the right message.”

Policy makers and researchers should acknowledge these different groups of people and their distinct motivations for climate action, and tailor interventions to each group, she says. “We should get everyone onboard, not just the keeners, as soon as possible.”