Current and future technical, economic and environmental feasibility of maize and wheat residues supply for biomass energy application: Illustrated for South Africa
This study assessed the feasibility of mobilizing maize and wheat residues for large-scale bioenergy applications in South Africa by establishing sustainable residue removal rates and cost of supply…
Paris Agreement climate proposals need a boost to keep warming well below 2 °C
The Paris climate agreement aims at holding global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius and to 'pursue efforts' to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius. To accomplish this, countries have submitted…
Energy, land-use and greenhouse gas emissions trajectories under a green growth paradigm
This paper describes the possible developments in global energy use and production, land use, emissions and climate changes following the SSP1 (Shared Socioeconomic Pathways) storyline, a development…
Discussions on a long-term global goal to limit climate change, in the form of an upper limit to warming, were only partially resolved at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change…
The role of institutions in the morphology of housing areas
There are substantial differences in morphology between Dutch residential areas and those in the neighbouring regions of Flanders in Belgium and North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany, despite similar…
Smart, Green and Inclusive Urban Growth: Visualising Recent Developments in European Cities
Cities are expected to play a key role in delivering the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, green and inclusive growth. Concerning smart growth, cities are at the forefront of innovation. Moreover, the…
Deconstructing Economic, Ecologic and Social Urban Discourses for Innovation Policies
Worldwide, cities are called upon to help achieve a wide variety of policy goals, varying from economic growth, increased energy efficiency and the mitigation of global warming, to improving the…
The Europeanisation of spatial planning in the Netherlands
One of the priorities of the Dutch EU presidency is the European Better Regulation Agenda. A particular cause for concern within this agenda is the fragmentation of EU policy. In this context, PBL…
Hotspots of uncertainty in land-use and land-cover change projections: a global-scale model comparison
Model-based global projections of future land-use and land-cover (LULC) change are frequently used in environmental assessments to study the impact of LULC change on environmental services and to…
Investigating the challenges and opportunities for scaling up ecosystem restoration
Land degradation and restoration have become increasingly central to international policy discussions given the launch of Sustainable Development Goal 15 – Life on Land. This background report…