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ReportTrask A, Hanna R, Rhodes A, 2022,
The future of home heating: The roles of heat pumps and hydrogen
, The Future of Home Heating: The Roles of Heat Pumps and HydrogenIn this Briefing Paper, the prospectsfor the future of home heating areanalysed with specific reference toheat pumps and hydrogen heating.The report is based on extensiveliterature surrounding the topic ofdecarbonisation of the heat sectorin the UK and will discuss thevarious advantages, challenges, andtechnicalities surrounding the twotechnologies. The evidence gatheredand discussed culminates in a set ofrecommendations that prioritise keyareas that require addressing overthe course of the next decade.
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Journal articleKonstantinoudis G, Cameletti M, Gómez-Rubio V, et al., 2022,
Regional excess mortality during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic in five European countries
, Nature Communications, Vol: 13, Pages: 1-11, ISSN: 2041-1723The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on excess mortality from all causes in 2020 varied across and within European countries. Using data for 2015-2019, we applied Bayesian spatio-temporal models to quantify the expected weekly deaths at the regional level had the pandemic not occurred in England, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland. With around 30%, Madrid, Castile-La Mancha, Castile-Leon (Spain) and Lombardia (Italy) were the regions with the highest excess mortality. In England, Greece and Switzerland, the regions most affected were Outer London and the West Midlands (England), Eastern, Western and Central Macedonia (Greece), and Ticino (Switzerland), with 15-20% excess mortality in 2020. Our study highlights the importance of the large transportation hubs for establishing community transmission in thefirst stages of the pandemic. Here, we show that acting promptly to limit transmission around these hubs is essential to prevent spread to other regions and countries.
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Journal articleVonrueti N, Rao R, Giordano L, et al., 2022,
Implications of Nonelectrochemical Reaction Steps on the Oxygen Evolution Reaction: Oxygen Dimer Formation on Perovskite Oxide and Oxynitride Surfaces
, ACS CATALYSIS, Vol: 12, Pages: 1433-1442, ISSN: 2155-5435 -
Working paperKonstantinoudis G, Gómez-Rubio V, Cameletti M, et al., 2022,
A framework for estimating and visualising excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic.
, Publisher: arXivCOVID-19 related deaths underestimate the pandemic burden on mortality because they suffer from completeness and accuracy issues. Excess mortality is a popular alternative, as it compares observed with expected deaths based on the assumption that the pandemic did not occur. Expected deaths had the pandemic not occurred depend on population trends, temperature, and spatio-temporal patterns. In addition to this, high geographical resolution is required to examine within country trends and the effectiveness of the different public health policies. In this tutorial, we propose a framework using R to estimate and visualise excess mortality at high geographical resolution. We show a case study estimating excess deaths during 2020 in Italy. The proposed framework is fast to implement and allows combining different models and presenting the results in any age, sex, spatial and temporal aggregation desired. This makes it particularly powerful and appealing for online monitoring of the pandemic burden and timely policy making.
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Journal articleTheokritoff E, Lise Dhaen SA, 2022,
How is science making its way into national climate change adaptation policy? Insights from Burkina Faso
, Climate and Development, Vol: 14, Pages: 857-865, ISSN: 1756-5529Burkina Faso is highly vulnerable to the increasing impacts of climate change and currently has large adaptation deficits. To improve adaptation planning at the national level, policies must, among other things, be informed by the current observed state of the environment as well as the best available projections of future climate change impacts. Scientific information has gradually been making its way into policies since 2007 but barriers still hinder the climate science-adaptation policy interface. A systematic policy document analysis, semi-structured interviews and participant observations were undertaken to explore how scientific information makes its way into national adaptation policy documents from its production to its inclusion into policies. The results suggest that overall, national adaptation policies are only to a limited extent informed by scientific information, due to insufficient availability of information, limited human and technical capacity and lack of finance. This highlights the need to build up national technical capacities to produce the required scientific information, by inter alia prioritizing it within ministerial budgets, reducing the dependency on international technical and financial partners. Further policy recommendations include capacity building and continuous formal collaboration protocols between producers and users, to ensure that usable scientific information is structurally integrated into policy-making processes.
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Journal articleRai U, Oluleye G, Hawkes A, 2022,
An optimisation model to determine the capacity of a distributed energy resource to contract with a balancing services aggregator
, Applied Energy, Vol: 306, Pages: 1-22, ISSN: 0306-2619Electricity systems require a real-time balance between generation and demand for electricity. In the past, changing the output of larger generators has been the primary means of achieving this balance, but more recently, smaller distributed energy resources (DERs) are becoming a contributor. As electricity generation becomes more intermittent due to the uptake of renewables, the task of balancing the electricity system is becoming more challenging. As such, there will be a greater need for DERs for grid balancing in future. DERs may be delivered via aggregators for this purpose, where several individual resources are grouped to be traded in contracts with a System Operator (SO). This paper presents a novel framework for DERs aggregators to determine by optimisation the capacity of a generating unit to contract with the SO, using mixed integer non-linear programming (MINLP). Results show the site revenue increases between 6.2% and 29.8% compared to the heuristic approach previously employed. Sensitivity analysis is performed to assess the impact of temporal resolution of demand characterisation on results, showing that increased resolution improves accuracy significantly, and reduces the estimate of capacity that the site should contract with the aggregator.
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Journal articleKatayama Y, Kubota R, Rao RR, et al., 2021,
Direct Observation of Surface-Bound Intermediates During Methanol Oxidation on Platinum Under Alkaline Conditions
, JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY C, Vol: 125, Pages: 26321-26331, ISSN: 1932-7447- Author Web Link
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- Citations: 3
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Journal articleHeydari S, Konstantinoudis G, Behsoodi AW, 2021,
Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on bike-sharing demand and hire time: Evidence from Santander Cycles in London
, PLOS ONE, Vol: 16, ISSN: 1932-6203- Author Web Link
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- Citations: 22
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Journal articleBozal-Ginesta C, Rao RR, Mesa CA, et al., 2021,
Redox-state kinetics in water-oxidation IrOx electrocatalysts measured by operando spectroelectrochemistry
, ACS Catalysis, Vol: 11, Pages: 15013-15025, ISSN: 2155-5435Hydrous iridium oxides (IrOx) are the best oxygen evolution electrocatalysts available for operation in acidic environments. In this study, we employ time-resolved operando spectroelectrochemistry to investigate the redox-state kinetics of IrOx electrocatalyst films for both water and hydrogen peroxide oxidation. Three different redox species involving Ir3+, Ir3.x+, Ir4+, and Ir4.y+ are identified spectroscopically, and their concentrations are quantified as a function of applied potential. The generation of Ir4.y+ states is found to be the potential-determining step for catalytic water oxidation, while H2O2 oxidation is observed to be driven by the generation of Ir4+ states. The reaction kinetics for water oxidation, determined from the optical signal decays at open circuit, accelerates from ∼20 to <0.5 s with increasing applied potential above 1.3 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode [i.e., turnover frequencies (TOFs) per active Ir state increasing from 0.05 to 2 s–1]. In contrast, the reaction kinetics for H2O2 is found to be almost independent of the applied potential (increasing from 0.1 to 0.3 s–1 over a wider potential window), indicative of a first-order reaction mechanism. These spectroelectrochemical data quantify the increase of both the density of active Ir4.y+ states and the TOFs of these states with applied positive potential, resulting in the observed sharp turn on of catalytic water oxidation current. We reconcile these data with the broader literature while providing a unique kinetic insight into IrOx electrocatalytic reaction mechanisms, indicating a first-order reaction mechanism for H2O2 oxidation driven by Ir4+ states and a higher-order reaction mechanism involving the cooperative interaction of multiple Ir4.y+ states for water oxidation.
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Journal articleCorby S, Rao R, Steier L, et al., 2021,
The kinetics of metal oxide photoanodesfrom charge generation to catalysis
, Nature Reviews Materials, Vol: 6, Pages: 1136-1155, ISSN: 2058-8437Generating charge carriers with lifetimes long enough to drive catalysis is a critical aspect for both photoelectrochemical and photocatalytic systems and a key determinant of their efficiency. This review addresses the charge carrier dynamics underlying the performance of metal oxides as photoanodes and their ability to drive photoelectrochemical water oxidation, alongside wider comparison with metal oxide function in photocatalytic and electrocatalytic systems. We start by highlighting the disparity between the ps–ns lifetimes of electron and holes photoexcited in bulk metal oxides versus the ms –s timescale of water oxidation catalysis. We go onto review recent literature of the dominant kinetic processes determining photoanode performance, namely charge generation, polaron formation and charge trapping, bulk and surface recombination, charge separation and extraction, and finally the kinetics of water oxidation catalysis. With each topic, we review current understanding and note areas of remaining uncertainty or controversy. We discuss the potential for material selection and examine approaches such as doping, nanostructuring, junction formation and/or co-catalyst deposition to enhance performance. Critically, we examine how such performance enhancements can be understood from analyses of carrier dynamics and propose design guidelines for further material or device optimisation.
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Journal articleStevenson S, Collins A, Jennings N, et al., 2021,
A hybrid approach to identifying and assessing interactions between climate action (SDG13) policies and a range of SDGs in a UK context (vol 2, 43, 2021)
, DISCOVER SUSTAINABILITY, Vol: 2 -
Journal articleWang S, Toumi R, 2021,
Recent tropical cyclone changes inferred from ocean surface temperature cold wakes
, Scientific Reports, Vol: 11, ISSN: 2045-2322It has been challenging to detect trends of tropical cyclone (TC) properties due to temporal heterogeneities and short duration of the direct observations. TCs impact the ocean surface temperature by creating cold wakes as a “fingerprint”. Here we infer changes of the lifetime maximum intensity (LMI), size and integrated kinetic energy from the cold wakes for the period 1982–2019. We find a globally enhanced local cold wake amplitude 3 days after the LMI of − 0.12 ± 0.04 °C per decade whereas the cold wake size does not show any significant change. Multivariate regression models based on the observed ocean cooling, the TC translation speed and the ocean mixed layer depth are applied to infer LMI and TC size. The inferred annual mean global LMI has increased by 1.0 ± 0.7 m s−1 per decade. This inferred trend is between that found for two directly observed data sets. However, the TC size and the TC destructive potential measured by the integrated kinetic energy, have not altered significantly. This analysis provides new independent and indirect evidence of recent TC LMI increases, but a stable size and integrated kinetic energy.
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Journal articleBerrang-Ford L, Siders AR, Lesnikowski A, et al., 2021,
A systematic global stocktake of evidence on human adaptation to climate change
, Nature Climate Change, Vol: 11, Pages: 989-1000, ISSN: 1758-678XAssessing global progress on human adaptation to climate change is an urgent priority. Although the literature on adaptation to climate change is rapidly expanding, little is known about the actual extent of implementation. We systematically screened >48,000 articles using machine learning methods and a global network of 126 researchers. Our synthesis of the resulting 1,682 articles presents a systematic and comprehensive global stocktake of implemented human adaptation to climate change. Documented adaptations were largely fragmented, local and incremental, with limited evidence of transformational adaptation and negligible evidence of risk reduction outcomes. We identify eight priorities for global adaptation research: assess the effectiveness of adaptation responses, enhance the understanding of limits to adaptation, enable individuals and civil society to adapt, include missing places, scholars and scholarship, understand private sector responses, improve methods for synthesizing different forms of evidence, assess the adaptation at different temperature thresholds, and improve the inclusion of timescale and the dynamics of responses.
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Journal articleCrisan D, Holm DD, Street OD, 2021,
Wave-current interaction on a free surface
, STUDIES IN APPLIED MATHEMATICS, Vol: 147, Pages: 1277-1338, ISSN: 0022-2526- Author Web Link
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- Citations: 1
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Journal articleBrondizio ES, Lemos MC, Guan D, et al., 2021,
Global Environmental Change: 30 years of interdisciplinary research on the human and policy dimensions of environmental change
, Global Environmental Change, Vol: 71, Pages: 1-2, ISSN: 0959-3780 -
Journal articleCallaghan M, Schleussner C-F, Nath S, et al., 2021,
Machine-learning-based evidence and attribution mapping of 100,000 climate impact studies
, NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE, Vol: 11, Pages: 966-+, ISSN: 1758-678X -
Journal articleThomas A, Theokritoff E, 2021,
Debt-for-climate swaps for small islands
, NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE, Vol: 11, Pages: 889-891, ISSN: 1758-678X -
Journal articleHuang B, Rao RR, You S, et al., 2021,
Cation- and pH-Dependent Hydrogen Evolution and Oxidation Reaction Kinetics
, JACS AU, Vol: 1, Pages: 1674-1687- Author Web Link
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- Citations: 66
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Journal articleDucimetière Y-M, Gallaire F, Lefauve A, et al., 2021,
Effects of spanwise confinement on stratified shear instabilities
, Physical Review Fluids, Vol: 6 -
ReportChastin S, Jennings N, Toney J, et al., 2021,
Co-benefits of climate change mitigation and adaptation actions
, Co-Benefits of Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Actions -
ReportTrask A, Wills K, Green T, et al., 2021,
Impacts of COVID-19 on the Energy System
, Impacts of COVID-19 on the Energy SystemThis Briefing Paper explores the impactthe COVID-19 pandemic had on the UK’senergy sector over the course of thefirst government-mandated nationallockdown that began on 23 March 2020.Research from several aspects of theIntegrated Development of Low-carbonEnergy Systems (IDLES) programme atImperial College London is presented inone overarching paper. The main aim isto determine what lessons can be learntfrom that lockdown period, given theunique set of challenges it presented inour daily lives and the changes it broughtabout in energy demand, supply, anduse. Valuable insights are gained intohow working-from-home policies,electric vehicles, and low-carbon gridscan be implemented, incentivised, andmanaged effectively.
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Journal articleStevenson S, Collins A, Jennings N, et al., 2021,
A hybrid approach to identifying and assessing interactions between climate action (SDG13) policies and a range of SDGs in a UK context
, Discover Sustainability, Vol: 2, ISSN: 2662-9984In 2015 the United Nations drafted the Paris Agreement and established the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for all nations. A question of increasing relevance is the extent to which the pursuit of climate action (SDG 13) interacts both positively and negatively with other SDGs. We tackle this question through a two-pronged approach: a novel, automated keyword search to identify linkages between SDGs and UK climate-relevant policies; and a detailed expert survey to evaluate these linkages through specific examples. We consider a particular subset of SDGs relating to health, economic growth, affordable and clean energy and sustainable cities and communities. Overall, we find that of the 89 UK climate-relevant policies assessed, most are particularly interlinked with the delivery of SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and that certain UK policies, like the Industrial Strategy and 25-Year Environment Plan, interlink with a wide range of SDGs. Focusing on these climate-relevant policies is therefore likely to deliver a wide range of synergies across SDGs 3 (Good Health and Well-being), 7, 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), 11, 14 (Life Below Water) and 15 (Life on Land). The expert survey demonstrates that in addition to the range of mostly synergistic interlinkages identified in the keyword search, there are also important potential trade-offs to consider. Our analysis provides an important new toolkit for the research and policy communities to consider interactions between SDGs, which can be employed across a range of national and international contexts.
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Journal articleKe Q, Yin J, Bricker JD, et al., 2021,
An integrated framework of coastal flood modelling under the failures of sea dikes: a case study in Shanghai
, Natural Hazards, Vol: 109, Pages: 671-703, ISSN: 0921-030XClimate change leads to sea level rise worldwide, as well as increases in the intensity and frequency of tropical cyclones (TCs). Storm surge induced by TC’s, together with spring tides, threatens to cause failure of flood defenses, resulting in massive flooding in low-lying coastal areas. However, limited research has been done on the combined effects of the increasing intensity of TCs and sea level rise on the characteristics of coastal flooding due to the failure of sea dikes. This paper investigates the spatial variation of coastal flooding due to the failure of sea dikes subject to past and future TC climatology and sea level rise, via a case study of a low-lying deltaic city- Shanghai, China. Using a hydrodynamic model and a spectral wave model, storm tide and wave parameters were calculated as input for an empirical model of overtopping discharge rate. The results show that the change of storm climatology together with relative sea level rise (RSLR) largely exacerbates the coastal hazard for Shanghai in the future, in which RSLR is likely to have a larger effect than the TC climatology change on future coastal flooding in Shanghai. In addition, the coastal flood hazard will increase to a large extent in terms of the flood water volume for each corresponding given return period. The approach developed in this paper can also be utilized to investigate future flood risk for other low-lying coastal regions.
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Journal articleWang S, Toumi R, Ye Q, et al., 2021,
Is the tropical cyclone surge in Shanghai more sensitive to landfall location or intensity change?
, Atmospheric Science Letters, Vol: 22, ISSN: 1530-261XIt has been shown that the proportion of intense tropical cyclones (TCs) has been increasing together with a poleward migration of TC track. However, their relative importance to TC surge at landfall remains unknown. Here we examine the sensitivity of TC surge in Shanghai to landfall location and intensity with a new dynamical modelling framework. We find a surge sensitivity of 0.8 m (°N)−1 to landfall location, and 0.1 m (m s−1)−1 to wind speed in Shanghai during landfall. The landfall location and intensity are comparably important to surge variation. However, based on a plausible range of reported trends of TC poleward migration and intensity, the potential surge hazard due to poleward migration is estimated to be about three times larger than that by intensity change. The long-term surge risk in Shanghai is therefore substantially more sensitive to changes of TC track and landfall location than intensity. This may also be true elsewhere and in the future.
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Journal articlePhillipson LM, Toumi R, 2021,
A physical interpretation of recent tropical cyclone post‐landfall decay
, Geophysical Research Letters, Vol: 48, Pages: 1-9, ISSN: 0094-8276The decay of landfalling tropical cyclones is important to the damage caused. We examine a simple physically based decay model of maximum surface winds driven by frictional turbulent drag and a modification accounting for partial to complete land roughness. The model fits an algebraic decay with a parameter determined by the ratio of the surface drag coefficient to the effective vortex depth. This parameter has been decreasing from 1980 to 2018. There is also a global mean increase of wind speed 24 h after landfall of +1.13 m/s per decade. We cannot exclude the possibility that this trend is driven by the initial wind speed increase, but it is most likely due to a slowing of the decay. This weaker decay amounts to an additional 7 h of gale force winds for a typical Category 1 at landfall.
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Journal articleLok CCF, Chan JCL, Toumi R, 2021,
Tropical cyclones near landfall can induce their own intensification through feedbacks on radiative forcing
, Communications Earth & Environment, Vol: 2, ISSN: 2662-4435Rapid intensification of near-landfall tropical cyclones is very difficult to predict, and yet has far-reaching consequences due to their disastrous impact to the coastal areas. The focus for improving predictions of rapid intensification has so far been on environmental conditions. Here we use the Coupled-Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-Sediment Transport Modeling System to simulate tropical cyclones making landfall in South China: Nida (2016), Hato (2107) and Mangkhut (2018). Two smaller storms (Hato and Nida) undergo intensification, which is induced by the storms themselves through their extensive subsidence ahead of the storms, leading to clear skies and strong solar heating of the near-shore sea water over a shallow continental shelf. This heating provides latent heat to the storms, and subsequently intensification occurs. In contrast, such heating does not occur in the larger storm (Mangkhut) due to its widespread cloud cover. This results imply that to improve the prediction of tropical cyclone intensity changes prior to landfall, it is necessary to correctly simulate the short-term evolution of near-shore ocean conditions.
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Journal articleThomas A, Theokritoff E, Lesnikowski A, et al., 2021,
Global evidence of constraints and limits to human adaptation
, Regional Environmental Change, Vol: 21, ISSN: 1436-3798Constraints and limits to adaptation are critical to understanding the extent to which human and natural systems can successfully adapt to climate change. We conduct a systematic review of 1,682 academic studies on human adaptation responses to identify patterns in constraints and limits to adaptation for different regions, sectors, hazards, adaptation response types, and actors. Using definitions of constraints and limits provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), we find that most literature identifies constraints to adaptation but that there is limited literature focused on limits to adaptation. Central and South America and Small Islands generally report greater constraints and both hard and soft limits to adaptation. Technological, infrastructural, and ecosystem-based adaptation suggest more evidence of constraints and hard limits than other types of responses. Individuals and households face economic and socio-cultural constraints which also inhibit behavioral adaptation responses and may lead to limits. Finance, governance, institutional, and policy constraints are most prevalent globally. These findings provide early signposts for boundaries of human adaptation and are of high relevance for guiding proactive adaptation financing and governance from local to global scales.
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Journal articleWang T, Zhang Y, Huang B, et al., 2021,
Enhancing oxygen reduction electrocatalysis by tuning interfacial hydrogen bonds
, NATURE CATALYSIS, Vol: 4, Pages: 753-762, ISSN: 2520-1158- Author Web Link
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- Citations: 81
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Journal articleTsui EYL, Toumi R, 2021,
Hurricanes as an enabler of Amazon fires
, Scientific Reports, Vol: 11, Pages: 1-8, ISSN: 2045-2322A teleconnection between North Atlantic tropical storms and Amazon fires is investigated as a possible case of compound remote extreme events. The seasonal cycles of the storms and fires are in phase with a maximum around September and have significant inter-annual correlation. Years of high Amazon fire activity are associated with atmospheric conditions over the Atlantic which favour tropical cyclones. We propose that anomalous precipitation and latent heating in the Caribbean, partly caused by tropical storms, leads to a thermal circulation response which creates anomalous subsidence and enhances surface solar heating over the Amazon. The Caribbean storms and precipitation anomalies could thus promote favourable atmospheric conditions for Amazon fire.
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ReportAinalis D, Bardhan R, Bell K, et al., 2021,
Net-zero solutions and research priorities in the 2020s
, Net-Zero Solutions and Research Priorities in the 2020sKey messages• Technological, societal and nature-based solutions should work together to enable systemic change towards a regenerative society, and to deliver net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.• Prioritise research into efficient, low-carbon and carbon-negative solutions for sectors that are difficult to decarbonise; i.e. energy storage, road transport, shipping, aviation and grid infrastructure.• Each solution should be assessed with respect to GHG emissions reductions, energy efficiency and societal implications to provide a basis for developing long-term policies, maximising positive impact of investment and research effort, and guiding industry investors in safe and responsible planning.
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