The Ocean as a Solution to Climate Change: Five Opportunities for Action

Abstract

The ocean is a dominant feature of our planet, covering 70% of its surface and driving its climate and biosphere. The ocean sustains life on earth and yet is in peril from climate change.

Fuzzy-Set QCA on Performance and Sustainability Determinants of Ports Supporting Floating Offshore Wind Farms

“…The findings of the authors are confirmed [1,4], highlighting the importance of the port location to maximize the utilization of offshore wind potential, emphasizing that welllocated ports facilitate logistics operations and reduce costs, corroborating Hypothesis 1, that location is a crucial factor for the performance and sustainability of ports associated with floating wind turbines. The statements discussing the need for specialized port infrastructures equipped with quays to support high-capacity cranes and support for offshore vessels to efficiently support the operations of floating wind turbines [19,32] were validated, confirming Hypothesis 2, that infrastructure is fundamental for the performance and sustainability.…”

“…The offshore energy sector has witnessed remarkable growth and attention in recent years, primarily driven by global concerns over energy and issues related to climate change [1]. In this context, various nations have formulated policies to explore renewable energy sources and meet the growing energy demand [2,3].…”

“…In this context, various nations have formulated policies to explore renewable energy sources and meet the growing energy demand [2,3]. There is an increasing importance of offshore energy in addressing global energy challenges and environmental sustainability issues [1], and, on the other hand, the research clarifies the development and implementation of port policies aimed at harnessing renewable energy sources, including offshore wind energy [2,3].…”

“…This study aims to understand the relationship of the characteristics with the performance and sustainability of new ports supporting the logistic production chains of the new floating offshore wind farms. The objectives are as follows: (1) to analyze the effect of the location of ports associated with floating offshore wind farms on the performance and sustainability; (2) to analyze the importance of the infrastructure of ports associated with floating offshore wind farms on the performance and sustainability; (3) to analyze the role of the superstructure of ports supporting floating offshore wind farms on the performance and sustainability; (4) to analyze the influence of the planning and governance model of ports associated with floating offshore wind farms on the performance and sustainability. The innovation of this study lies in addressing a literature gap identified by the authors, focusing on analyzing the shifts induced by the burgeoning floating wind industry in Europe and America, which places more demanding requirements on ports for the construction of large floating structures [3,4].…”

Methane and Nitrous Oxide Emissions Complicate Coastal Blue Carbon Assessments

“…For example, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is based on a 100 year time horizon, whereas most current national climate policies, formalized through NDCs, are on shorter timescales. Many estimates of the potential contribution of nature-based solutions to climate mitigation (Hoegh-Guldberg et al, 2019) are also based on their role in helping to close the emissions gap by 2030 or 2050. For such time periods, the sustained-flux GWP (SGWP) and sustained-flux global cooling potential (SGCP) for CH 4 emissions is around twice as high as end of century values; however, there is little difference for N 2 O (Neubauer & Megonigal, 2015).…”