Transforming US agriculture for carbon removal with enhanced weathering.

Enhanced weathering (EW) with agriculture uses crushed silicate rocks to drive carbon dioxide removal (CDR). If widely adopted on farmlands, it could help achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Here we show, with a detailed US state-specific carbon cycle analysis constrained by resource provision, that EW deployed on agricultural land could sequester 0.

Arresting environmental degradation to build wealth in Thailand.

Thailand aims to achieve high-income status by 2037 through the strategies developed in its 20-year National Strategy Preparation Act. Considerable friction is being generated through climate change and unsustainable natural resources management which are eroding Thailand's natural capital base, resilience and ability to generate wealth and progress toward its target. In this paper, we examine the impacts of ongoing environmental degradation including continued deforestation and climate change-induced impacts on flooding, productivity and sea-level rise.

The momentum of the solar energy transition.

Decarbonisation plans across the globe require zero-carbon energy sources to be widely deployed by 2050 or 2060. Solar energy is the most widely available energy resource on Earth, and its economic attractiveness is improving fast in a cycle of increasing investments. Here we use data-driven conditional technology and economic forecasting modelling to establish which zero carbon power sources could become dominant worldwide.

Non-equilibrium time-dependent solution to discrete choice with social interactions.

We solve the binary decision model of Brock and Durlauf (2001) in time using a method reliant on the resolvent of the master operator of the stochastic process. Our solution is valid when not at equilibrium and can be used to exemplify path-dependent behaviours of the binary decision model. The solution is computationally fast and is indistinguishable from Monte Carlo simulation.

Potential for large-scale CO removal via enhanced rock weathering with croplands.

Enhanced silicate rock weathering (ERW), deployable with croplands, has potential use for atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO) removal (CDR), which is now necessary to mitigate anthropogenic climate change. ERW also has possible co-benefits for improved food and soil security, and reduced ocean acidification. Here we use an integrated performance modelling approach to make an initial techno-economic assessment for 2050, quantifying how CDR potential and costs vary among nations in relation to business-as-usual energy policies and policies consistent with limiting future warming to 2 degrees Celsius.

Net emission reductions from electric cars and heat pumps in 59 world regions over time.

Electrification of passenger road transport and household heating features prominently in current and planned policy frameworks to achieve greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. However, since electricity generation involves using fossil fuels, it is not established where and when the replacement of fossil fuel-based technologies by electric cars and heat pumps can effectively reduce overall emissions. Could electrification policy backfire by promoting their diffusion before electricity is decarbonised? Here, we analyse current and future emissions trade-offs in 59 world regions with heterogeneous households, by combining forward-looking integrated assessment model simulations with bottom-up life-cycle assessment.

An assessment of Japanese carbon tax reform using the E3MG econometric model.

This paper analyses the potential economic and environmental effects of carbon taxation in Japan using the E3MG model, a global macroeconometric model constructed by the University of Cambridge and Cambridge Econometrics. The paper approaches the issues by considering first the impacts of the carbon tax in Japan introduced in 2012 and then the measures necessary to reduce Japan's emissions in line with its Copenhagen pledge of -25% compared to 1990 levels. The results from the model suggest that FY2012 Tax Reform has only a small impact on emission levels and no significant impact on GDP and employment.