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It is generally accepted that climate change is happening and that steps need to be taken to alleviate this. One action which has become prominent is that of achieving net zero, which has been interpreted in terms of emissions of CO2 and other gases. Net zero cannot be achieved by anyone, any organization or even any country acting alone: a great number of actions need to be taken by individuals and organisations and these will differ according to their location and the nature of the organization involved. Achieving Net Zero brings together chapters to examine these challenges from a range of perspectives, various regions and industries, each presenting unique outlooks. From steps on the journey to net zero and sustainability rhetoric, to case studies in Angola and Mauritius, this edited collection helps facilitate best practice that can be adopted on a global scale. Developments in Corporate Governance and Responsibility offers the latest research on topical issues international experts and has practical relevance to business managers.

This report outlines how the Bretton Woods Institutions can mitigate the effects of growing geoeconomic fragmentation on global net-zero targets.

The full proposition led by Pale Blue Dot Energy sets out how the Scotland's Net Zero Infrastructure (SNZI) project will help continue to enable decarbonisation of the Scottish Industrial Cluster, as well as supporting the decarbonisation of other UK and international industrial clusters. It will allow progress to be accelerated around Acorn CCS, a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project aimed at overcoming the high capital costs of CCS deployment, establishing the Acorn Hydrogen plant by 2025 and catalysing clean growth in the region more broadly. Crucially, the inclusion of CEP's wider economy focus in SNZI will enable progress on Acorn CCS to include full consideration of the role that the project can play in developing a large-scale CO2 management sector in servicing both domestic decarbonisation and a potential new export service in the Scottish and wider UK economy. The Centre for Energy Policy (CEP) based at the University of Strathclyde has a critical role to play and brings vital expertise and experience in understanding the gross and net societal costs of initiatives such as Acorn, and in building consensus around, and acceptance of, their value within a CO2 Transport and Storage (T&S) sector, potentially within a wider emerging CO2 management industry, that could bring net benefits at local, regional and national levels. Our involvement will ensure better understanding of the potential economy-wide consequences of different decarbonisation options, and specifically the potential role of a project like Acorn CCS within new industry development in the UK economy. This will enable action to effect consequences so that economically, socially and politically feasible outcomes can be identified around which traction can build with policy decision makers in key government departments such as Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and HM Treasury, and the devolved Scottish Government.

Carbon sequestration has long been discussed as an essential tool in our quest for net zero. Given that we will likely rely on carbon capture methods to offset over half of the UK's residual carbon footprint in 2050, it is important to examine the options available and the feasibility of their application over the coming decades. There are two categories of carbon capture techniques: natural and artificial. The main methods in the former category involve afforestation and reforestation. Given that planting a forest the size of Greater London would over 100 years only offset the next two years of UK carbon emissions, it seems appropriate to focus mainly on the second group. From extracting carbon dioxide from seawater in Devon, to heat-powered methods at Sizewell C, there are dozens of innovative carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) methods being funded by Government net zero investments. Issues only arise when we begin to evaluate the costs of these technologies versus the benefits they provide. There are two key figures to examine. Firstly, the social cost of carbon: the present value of the damage done by a tonne of CO2 released into the atmosphere. William Nordhaus, 2018 Nobel laureate in Economic Sciences for his work on the economic implications of climate change, has called this "The most important single economic concept in the economics of climate change", and estimated it in 2017 to be $31/tonne CO2. (It should be noted that there is disagreement around this figure, because of how we weigh impacts on future generations and developing countries. Most papers put the figure around $20-60.) Secondly, is the price of extracting one tonne of carbon from the atmosphere by these methods. A report cited in 2019 by the BEIS committee stated a cost of £80-160/tonne of CO2 prevented from entering the atmosphere at gas-powered electricity plants. Assuming a reduced dependence on fossil fuels, carbon capture will likely come from Direct Air Capture (DAC), rather than being attached to a power plant. A planned British DAC plant hopes to decrease costs to £200/tonne. The International Energy Agency has stated that in the best locations and using the best technology, DAC could fall below $100/tonne. These prices must therefore fall by 50-90% in the next two decades for carbon sequestration to be cost-effective. This is unlikely since most of the cost is from the electricity required by the process, and excepting a breakthrough in nuclear fusion, the price of electricity is unlikely to fall much in the UK, if at all. If this does not happen, capturing carbon could cost more than leaving it in the atmosphere. Given the number of people still sceptical about climate change, funding cost-ineffective policies which will hurt them more than climate change will is not the way to convince them of the very real harms caused by CO2.The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's latest report shows CCUS to be the most expensive of 31 mitigation options, and exhibiting the joint-lowest potential contributions to net emission reduction. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Government has not included any discussion whatsoever of CCUS prices across 550 pages of Net Zero, CCUS Strategy or Clean Growth Strategy documents. It is of course possible that we will succeed in reducing costs. However, there are currently no commercial applications of CCUS in the UK, and even if technology improves, the projects in Devon and at Sizewell C are predicted to bottom-out at £100 and £200/tonne of CO2 removed respectively. If new methods are to be developed and carbon capture is to become a serious and cost-effective method for reaching net zero, it is far more likely to happen in the Middle East or China, which have comparative advantages in developing this technology. Given the UK's reluctance to support large infrastructure developments within our own borders, it could be beneficial to partner with these nations and use British brains to aid them in developing these important technologies which, if successful, could then be applied here. Given these realities it appears that without significant technological breakthroughs to lower capture costs, or unlikely catastrophic climactic changes to increase carbon's costs, carbon sequestration is likely to be a net cost to our net zero strategy.

Solar energy -- Wind energy -- The smart electrical grid -- Reliability -- The electrification of transportation -- Heating, cooling and lighting buildings -- Agriculture and global food systems -- The complex role of hydrogen -- Economics and policies for sustainable energy -- Tables -- Humans in the loop : decision making processes -- International sustainable development : collective action, war, and peace -- Conclusions : recent developments -- A moment of truth.

none ; 1 ; Authors: Aelenei L., Aelenei D., Goncalves H., Lollini R., Musall E., Scognamiglio A., Cubi E., Noguchi M. ; Net Zero-Energy Buildings (NZEBs) have received increased attention in recent years as a result of constant concerns about energy supply constraints, decreasing energy resources, increasing energy costs and the rising impact of greenhouse gases on world climate. Promoting whole building strategies that employ passive measures together with energy efficient systems and technologies using renewable energy became a European political strategy following the publication of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive recast in May 2010 by the European Parliament and Council. However designing successful NZEBs represents a challenge because the definitions are somewhat generic while assessment methods and monitoring approaches remain under development and the literature is relatively scarce about the best sets of solutions for different typologies and climates likely to deliver an actual and reliable performance in terms of energy balance (consumed vs generated) on a cost-effective basis. Additionally the lessons learned from existing NZEB examples are relatively scarce. The authors of this paper, who are participants in the IEA SHC Task 40-ECBCS Annex 52, "Towards Net Zero Energy Solar Buildings", are willing to share insights from on-going research work on some best practice leading NZEB residential buildings. Although there is no standard approach for designing a Net Zero-Energy Building (there are many different possible combinations of passive and efficient active measures, utility equipment and on-site energy generation technologies able to achieve the net-zero energy performance), a close examination of the chosen strategies and the relative performance indicators of the selected case studies reveal that it is possible to achieve zero-energy performance using well known strategies adjusted so as to balance climate drivendemand for space heating/cooling, lighting, ventilation and other energy ...

Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (México). Unidad Azcapotzalco. ; Las ciudades y edificios del siglo XXI tenderán cada vez más a ser neutras en su consumo de energía y servicios, debido a que en varias partes del mundo se están organizando movimientos sociales, económicos, ambientales y políticos que propician estos cambios, facilitando el desarrollo de tecnología y modificando el comportamiento individual y colectivo de las personas. Un edificio "Net Zero" es aquel que es capaz de producir en un ciclo anual la energía que consume y ser autosuficiente en sus servicios. Una ciudad, un barrio o una aldea "net zero" es capaz de hacer lo mismo, pero a una escala urbana. ; Cities and buildings of the 21st century will increasingly tend to be neutral in their energy consumption and services. For this purpose, social, economic, environmental and political movements that promote these changes, facilitate the development of technology and modify the individual and collective behavior of people are happening in different parts of the world. A "Net Zero" building is one that can produce in an annual cycle the energy it consumes and be self-sufficient in its services. A city, a neighborhood or a "net zero" village can do the same, but on an urban scale.