In the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2030, the EU and its Member States have committed to implement more than 100 measures by 2030, including the EU Nature Restoration Plan to protect and restore at least 30% of the degraded and carbon-rich ecosystems by law.  In Austria as in most EU countries, conservative parties and ...

Human societies and biodiversity on Earth are under threat because human resource consumption is exceeding or threatening the physical and ecological boundaries of our planet.  To discuss and address the challenges, find solutions, and take urgent measures to tackle climate change, the terminology used in discussions a ...

Data centers house the critical servers, storage, and networking equipment that keep data flowing smoothly in local communities and around the world.  The development and operation of data centres require thorough assessment and consideration of land valuation, site analysis, power consumption and consumption capacity. ...

Four interactions – changes in climate affecting water runoff; changes in climate affecting vegetation cover; changes in vegetation cover affecting climate; and changes in vegetation cover affecting water runoff – are deemed of utmost importance for understanding the impact on the Earth system on policy-relevant timefr ...

The European Nature Restoration Law (NRL) establishes rules and procedures for the restoration and conservation of natural resources and ecosystems to compensate or offset damage to natural resources and promote sustainable development.  While center-right, far-right and conservative politicians such as Kai Mykkänen, F ...

The Austrian Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens) voted in defiance of the coalition partner to pass the EU’s Nature Restoration Law, thereby pushing it through by a narrow majority.  She decided that it was her duty to approve this central pillar of the EU’s efforts to reverse the major degradation of its l ...

Financial services are critical for corporate activities to regenerate and promote biosphere resilience as a key strategy to confront the new risk landscape and are essential to the transformation needed for a sustainable future. Current financial risk frameworks focus mainly on financial materiality and risks to the f ...

ESG and SDG cannot be used interchangeably to identify the sustainability of companies and their contribution to social development and the planet, although they are complementary.  Where sustainable investors aim to invest in companies that contribute to sustainable development, there is disagreement on how best to me ...

Numerous social and ecological benefits are associated with nature-based solutions (NBS).  This study gathered the views of stakeholders engaged in urban planning regarding the importance of nature-based solutions (NBS).  The findings revealed that stakeholders perceive numerous social and ecological advantages associa ...

Material circularity (MC) develops positively when a material is circulated through reuse, refurbishment, remanufacture, or recycling at its highest quality, it usually being measured through material flow analysis (MFA).  When economic value is generated as commonly measured through life cycle costing (LCC), economic ...

SDG 9 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) sets out eight targets and twelve indicators used to monitor the achievement of the goals. With more than half of the world's population living in cities, mass transport, renewable energy and carbon reduction call for solutions and new industries and information and ...

Sustainability has become a key corporate strategy inspiring companies to implement the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  This paper identifies the SDG priorities in the automotive industry worldwide, from the point of view of the geographic, cultural, social, and economic specifics of the countries in which th ...

Adaptation planning more effectively reduces climate risk when it identifies not only disparities in how people are affected by climate change but also the underlying causes of climate vulnerability.  Transformative adaptation involves consideration of the physical and social drivers of vulnerability and how they inter ...

Failure to transition will generate significant and widespread economic and financial risks. An economic forecast from Swiss Re, one of the world's largest reinsurers, projects a loss in global gross domestic product (GDP) of between 4.2 and 18.1 percentage points by mid-century, depending on different warming scenario ...

During the past decade, more renewable power was added to the grid annually than fossil fuel and nuclear power combined. Renewable technologies dominate the global energy market for new electricity generation capacity simply because they have become the cheapest sources of electricity in many markets. 260 gigawatts of ...