This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of sustainable urban regeneration projects in mitigating Urban Heat Island (UHI). A place-based approach utilizing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) integrates spatial data and satellite imagery on the urban environment, human ac-tivity, demographics, and climate conditions, facilitating a deeper understanding of UHI dy-namics. Data-driven modelling with Machine Learning algorithms were developed to identify key variables influencing UHI effects, such as building density, greening extent, and surfaces’ albedo. A comparative pre- and post-intervention analysis in Turin (Italy), focusing on the Teksid ex-industrial area, was investigated. This analysis reveals a reduction in surface UHI intensity of -0.94 in summer and -0.54 in winter, highlighting the positive impact of mitigation strategies employed in the regeneration plan. The implications for urban and territorial policies were in-vestigated, focusing on urban planning tools for UHI mitigation. Specifically, the Local Climate Zones method was examined and compared with actual urban morphologies to find more effective and tailored solutions for policy makers and urban planners. The combined approach of geo-graphical and satellite information, Machine Learning models and Local Climate Zones joins quantitative and qualitative data, allowing to find more tailored, effective and alternative solu-tions in critical contexts such as the urban ones.

This research presents a novel approach for estimating soil organic carbon (SOC) content in agricultural soils using a photocatalytic Chemical Oxygen Demand (PeCOD) analyzer integrated with Geographic Information System (GIS) technology for spatial analysis. The PeCOD method, which relies on photochemical oxidation of organic carbon, demonstrated an uncanny correlation between its values and SOC content, making it a quick and accurate way to estimate SOC levels. Finer materials, such as clayey soils, demonstrated higher SOC content compared to coarser ones and decreased with increasing soil depth. GIS georeferencing enabled precise mapping of SOC distribution and identification of hotspot areas with high SOC content. This study highlights the significance of soil texture and depth on SOC distribution and emphasizes its significance within geological context when studying soil properties. Research results have practical ramifications for sustainable agriculture, climate change mitigation and soil health management - providing farmers and land managers with strategies that increase carbon sequestration while simultaneously improving soil health. Integrating PeCOD analyzer technology with GIS technology offers promising avenues for advanced soil carbon monitoring practices that promote climate-smart agricultural practices.

Rainfall variability has resulted in extreme events like devastating floods and droughts which is the main cause of human vulnerability to precipitation in West Africa. Attempts have been made by previous studies to understand rainfall variability over Ghana but these have mostly focused on the major rainy season of April-July, leaving a gap in our understanding of the variability in the September-November season which is a very important aspect of the Ghanaian climate system. The current study seeks to close this knowledge gap by employing statistical tools to quantify variabilities in rainfall amounts, rain days, and extreme precipitation indices in the minor rainfall season over Ghana. We find extremely high variability in rainfall with a Coefficient of variation (CV) between 25.3% and 70.8%, and moderate to high variability in rain days (CV=14.0% - 48.8%). Rainfall amount was found to be higher over the middle sector (262.7 mm – 400.2 mm) but lowest over the east coast (125.2 mm – 181.8 mm). Analysis of the second rainfall season using the Mankandell Test presents a non-significant trend of rainfall amount and extreme indices (R10, R20, R99p, and R99p) for many places in southern Ghana. Rainfall Anomaly Indices show that the middle sector recorded above normal precipitation which is the opposite for areas in the transition zone. The result of this work provides a good understanding of rainfall in the minor rainfall season and may be used for planning purposes.

Humanity faces serious social and environmental problems, including climate change and biodiversity loss. Risks are increasing and conditions deteriorating. Increasingly, scientists, global policy experts, and the general public conclude that incremental approaches are insufficient and transformative change is needed across all sectors of society. However, the meaning of transformation is still unsettled in the literature, as is the proper role of science in fostering it. This paper is the first in a three-part series that adds to the discussion by proposing a novel science-driven research-and-development program aimed at societal transformation. More than a proposal, it offers a perspective and conceptual framework from which societal transformation might be approached and understood. While acknowledging the necessity of reform to existing societal systems (e.g., governance, economic, and financial systems), the focus of the series is on transformation understood as systems change or systems migration—the de novo development of and migration to new societal systems. The series provides definitions, aims, reasoning, worldview, and a theory of change, and discusses fitness metrics and design principles for new systems. This first paper proposes a worldview built using ideas from evolutionary biology, complex systems science, cognitive sciences, and information theory that is intended to serve as the foundation for the R&D program.

Rapid increase in urbanization and industrialization due to increase in human population has led to increase in global warming resulting to climate change that affects the ecosystem. Unusual natural disasters such as cyclones, storms, floods, weather fluctuations, rising seal levels, transitional ecosystems and coastal disruptions are major adverse effects of climate change. There are huge worrisome concerns and uncertainties about the future of the planet earth due to climate change caused by high carbon emissions. Global aggressive policies in control of Carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions from several combustion mechanisms have paved way for alternative/ clean energy sources. Green hydrogen is a promising means of clean energy sources for commercial power generation stations and other crucial systems such as hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (HFCVs) , motors, drives, backup power for buildings, and also serving as a source of electrical energy for remote locations. The goal of this study is to review the current level of Sub-Saharan African nations’ preparedness to adopt green hydrogen as a way to mitigate local energy supply issues and strengthen their individual economies.

The amendment or removal of superfluous government support policies is typically difficult, yet in the ever more important debate on low-carbon (i.e. clean) marine energy policy under the international law of climate action, the law of the sea, and international investment protection, there are additional dimensions of legal or economic peril. Coastal states enact policies subsidising clean energy investments, such as offshore wind energy generation, in their exclusive economic zones or continental shelves. Investors are attracted to the prospect that policies granting subsidies for ostensibly new industries are sufficiently durable. Are such subsidy policies salient or stale? In principle, the purpose of regulatory policy is the promotion of social welfare, and hence there is an optimal incidence, magnitude, and duration of the subsidy, in essence, an ideal strategy for starting, altering, or exiting such policy. We aim to introduce the concept of optimisation to the design and implementation of regulatory policy in this context. Our contribution is to offer three maxims of optimal clean marine energy law and policy: the efficiency and equity of alternative regulatory arrangements; the continuous optimisation of such arrangements; and the recognition of linguistic entanglements in the law. We test these maxims against the case of clean marine energy policy on offshore wind energy generation. One legal implication for international investment protection is that coastal states should establish a policy exit clause in their investment contracts. Our analysis of policy optimisation is generalisable across policies supporting the transition to sustainable energy forms.

Arctic sea ice characteristics have been changing rapidly and significantly in the last few decades. Using a long-term time series of sea ice products from satellite observations - the extended AVHRR Polar Pathfinder (APP-x), trends in sea ice concentration, ice extent, ice thickness, and ice volume in the Arctic from 1982 to 2020 are investigated. Results show that the Arctic has become less ice-covered in all seasons, especially in summer and autumn. Arctic sea ice thickness has been decreasing at the rate of -3.24 cm per year, resulting in about a 52% reduction in thickness from 2.35 m in 1982 to 1.13 m in 2020. Arctic sea ice volume has been decreasing at the rate of -467.7 km³ per year, resulting in about a 63% reduction in volume, from 27590.4 km³ in 1982 to 10305.5 km³ in 2020. These trends are further examined from a new perspective, where the Arctic Ocean is classified into open water, perennial, and seasonal sea ice-covered areas based on the sea ice persistence. The loss of the perennial sea ice-covered area is the major factor in the total sea ice loss in all seasons. If the current rates of sea ice changes in extent, concentration, and thickness continue, the Arctic is expected to have ice-free summer by the early 2060s.

As humanity confronts the existential threats of climate change, biodiversity loss, and growing socioeconomic inequalities, the need for transformative, systemic change has never been more urgent. Conventional innovation approaches, often focused on technological solutionism and market imperatives, have consistently fallen short in delivering the comprehensive, equitable, and sustainable solutions required to navigate these interconnected crises. This pioneering article explores the profound intersection between speculative fiction, sustainable innovation, and the burgeoning field of innovationology. By harnessing the transformative power of imaginative narratives, the integrated praxis of innovationology and sustainability science can challenge existing mental models, spark collective imagination, and foster agency to co-create sustainable futures. Through a rigorous examination of cutting-edge research, empirical evidence, and case studies, this article positions speculative fiction as a critical lever for catalyzing the systemic changes required for a more just, regenerative, and resilient future.

Ecological Society is based on socioeconomic systems directed to the equilibrium of inter-relationships between environment, climate, production systems, technologies and human communities to promote the overall well-being of people and the Earth planet. It has a main goal for supporting sustainable development and equitable societies and achieving optimal health outcomes recognizing the interconnection between people, technologies, animals, plants, and their shared environment for the one health. Using data of scientific publications and patents until the year 2024, this study shows new technologies that can support the energy transition with the shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources in an effort to reduce CO₂ emissions for an ecological society having, whenever possible, zero-carbon economies to reduce environmental pollution and climate change and foster health and wellbeing of people. Results reveal that sustainable technologies supporting the transformation of the energy sector, economies and societies, and having a rapid growth, are blue hydrogen, floating photovoltaic systems, carbon capture and utilization, green hydrogen and liquid metal batteries. These findings can guide decisions of policymakers and stakeholders towards fruitful investments driving the transition from fossil-based to zero-carbon socioeconomic systems to have a long-run sustainable development of overall world system that has to direct towards an ecological society associated with one health.

Individuals with low health literacy (HL) are known to have poorer health outcomes and to have higher mortality rates compared to individuals with higher HL: hence, the improvement of HL is a key outcome in modern healthcare systems. Healthcare providers are therefore asked to support patients’ literacy skills by encouraging the implementation of autonomy-supportive patient centered communication (PCC), which in turn requires the enhancement of patient engagement. Our main hypothesis is that the well-known relationship between autonomy-supportive PCC and HL is mediated by patient engagement which is known to play a role in HL promotion and that is related to PCC as well. The purpose of this study was to formulate a hypothetical structural equation model (SEM) linking PCC to patient engagement and HL. A cross-sectional survey design was employed involving 1007 Italian chronic patients. The hypothetical model was tested using SEM to verify the hypothesized mediation of patient engagement between PCC and HL. Results show that the theoretical model has a good fit indexes and that patient engagement fully mediates the relationship between PCC and HL. This finding suggests healthcare systems to implement a new paradigm where patients are supported to play an autonomous role in their own healthcare.

Forest carbon sequestration is a widely accepted natural climate solution, however, methods to determine net carbon offsets are limited to commercial carbon proxies and CO2 eddy covariance research. Non-CO2 greenhouse gases (GHG) (e.g., CH4, N2O) receive less attention in the context of forests, in part, due to emphasis on CO2 and the operational requirements and cost for three-gas eddy covariance platforms. In this study, Howland forest flux tower (CO2, CH4) and soil flux data (CO2, CH4, N2O), representing net emission reductions, are linked to their respective social costs to estimate commercial revenue if sold as a GHG social cost forest offset product (GHG-SCF). Estimated annual revenue for GHG-SCF products, applicable to realization of a Green New Deal, range from 120,000 covering the site area of 557 acres in 2021, to 12,000,000 for extrapolation to 40,000 acres in 2040, assuming a 3% discount rate. The Howland Forest CO2 flux record for two adjacent towers is compared to California Air Resources Board forest carbon proxy data for compliance sequestration offsets, the only project site where these approaches overlap. Overcrediting, incomplete carbon accounting with annual errors of up to 2,256%, inadequate third-party verification, and limited application to non-CO2 GHG’s are established. In contrast, direct measurement of one or more GHG’s offers new forest products and revenue incentives to restore and conserve forests worldwide.

As a result of decades of austerity, the economies of the Eurozone are experiencing under-investment and crumbling infrastructures in an era of extremely severe emergencies as the cli-mate change and aggressive global competition. The private savings glut of the rich and the strict fiscal rules suggest a crowding-in approach in partnership with big finance in a new age of in-fra-structures. If governments mint public infrastructures into investable assets, they can gen-erate steady returns for investors and asset managers who look after pensions and insurances schemes and unlock trillions now devoted to welfare state. For the big finance to accept to be partner, however, governments must take the task of de-risking returns. Innovation technology and macro-financial literacy can synergically act to enhance this new de-risking role to address in a financially sustainable way the intense phenomena of Natural Hazards (NHs) that can severely compromise economic growth. This is precisely the aim of our Public-Private Partnership (PPP) among the Department of Economics, Management and Institutions of the University of Naples and a Knowledge Transfert Management, the Department of Engineering and the Aca-demic Spin-Off “STRAIN”, of the University of Campania. Our PPP has been contributing to the eval-uation and mitigation of NHs such as floods, landslides and earthquakes since 2012. The ex-tremely advanced results of this multi-stakeholder partnership ensure a better knowledge of NHs which, as evidenced in the paper, is the fundamental input for the desired Public-Private In-surance Programmes (PIPPs).