Ground source heat pumps (GSHPs) have been suggested to replace gas-based heating in urban environments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help to comply with the Paris Agreement. The emission reduction from GSHP depends on the carbon intensity of the electricity generation mix. Moreover, grid capacity may be limiting the introduction of these high-electricity demand GSHP systems. Photovoltaics (PV) systems help to provide additional emission reductions for residential GSHP systems.

In 2007, John Warner and Jim Babcock founded the Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry and, with Amy Cannon, founded the green chemistry education nonprofit organization Beyond Benign. John is the recipient of the 2004 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Mentoring and the 2014 Perkin Medal. In addition, John is one of the founders of the field of green chemistry and is co-author of the defining textbook Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice.

The authors work at the Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence (GCCE) at the University of York and are all currently involved in the H2020-BBI-funded project ReSolve for the development of safer bio-based solvents. Solvent applications for dihydrolevoglucosenone (Cyrene) and 2,2,5,5-tetramethyloxloane (TMO) are among their prominent discoveries. Dr. James Sherwood leads the Alternative Solvents Technology Platform at the GCCE. His research interests include solvent effects in organic synthesis and the substitution of hazardous solvents with novel bio-based solvents. Dr.

Bruce H. Lipshutz is currently a professor of chemistry at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research program has, for decades, focused mainly on the development of new reagents and methodologies that are especially general and useful for the synthetic community. Of late, his group pays special attention to synthetic chemistry that is environmentally responsible.

An increasing number of cities and local governments adhere to transnational initiatives on climate change mitigation, but quantification of their contribution to the Paris Agreement commitments is lacking. To address this, the climate mitigation trajectory to 2050 of Covenant of Mayors (CoM) signatories has been studied. As of October 2017 there are more than 7600 signatories covering 238 million inhabitants, mainly from European cities. Of these 533 have already reported on the implementation of their climate action plans and 207 signatories have declared a long term target beyond 2020.

Efforts to protect nature are facing a growing crisis, one that often revolves around the burgeoning impacts of roads and other infrastructure on biodiversity and ecosystems. Potential solutions are possible but they will involve serious trade-offs and the confrontation of deep misconceptions. Here, I identify some time-critical tactics to aid scientists in informing and influencing the global infrastructure debate.

This viewpoint emphasizes gendered perspectives and reflects on gender roles for sustainability-focused governance. It argues that when considering gender in this context, not only equity, or power-plays between genders are at stake; in addition, for effective ocean governance, an irreducible contribution of female voices is necessary. Some key contributions of women in the field of ocean governance-related research are described as examples. If women, for instance, are not included in fisheries management, we miss the complete picture of social-ecological linkages of marine ecosystems.

Mothers are often perceived as key agents in safeguarding the interests of children. If the assumption that women, given the opportunity, are more likely than men to see to the interests of children is true, children can be expected to be less exposed to severe forms of deprivation in countries where women have a relatively strong position in society. The hypotheses that fewer children are exposed to health deprivation and to severe forms of food deprivation in countries where there is a high degree of gender equity are tested.

About 7000 rare, or orphan, diseases affect more than 350 million people worldwide. Although these conditions collectively pose significant health care problems, drug companies seldom develop drugs for orphan diseases due to extremely limited individual markets. Consequently, developing new treatments for often life-threatening orphan diseases is primarily contingent on financial incentives from governments, special research grants, and private philanthropy.

The European Union implemented Ecodesign and Labelling Directives to support the market diffusion of energy efficient products. Accurate signals for consumers on energy efficiency (EE) are essential, as disinformation might lead to sub-optimal market allocations. Considering complex devices such as heat pumps (HPs), a conflict between simplicity of calculation on the one hand and accuracy on the other hand arises.