The impacts of climate change are expected to create numerous challenges for cities. This report synthesizes key points raised in a series of discussions among “adaptation leaders” from fourteen cities around the world. Critical issues for urban adaptation that emerged from the discussions...

This paper presents a brief literature review concerning the costs and benefits of electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles, highlighting their advantages in terms of greenhouse gas emissions reductions. Even though electric and electro-hybrid vehicles must still overcome many cultural and...

The proliferation of plastic has generated wide-ranging consequences in terms of waste management, pollution, human and animal health, the economy and the environment. This report reviews the literature on the impacts of plastic, both positive and negative. We begin with a brief explanation of...

The report summarizes first-year research of a three-year study of pathways to urban sustainability. The research team selected the STAR Communities assessment model as the backbone for its analysis. This framework offers a menu-based system for enabling city managers and leaders to build paths...

We’ve been encouraged to think that climate change is just caused by the excess anthropogenic emission of carbon dioxide and methane, and that the impacts can be mitigated by reducing our emission of the greenhouse gases. This is not going to work…..The entire world has over-focused on...

Vintage-differentiated regulation (VDR) is a common feature of many environmental and other regulatory policies, wherein standards for regulated units are fixed in terms of the units' respective dates of entry, with later entrants facing more stringent regulation. In the most common application,...

Vintage-differentiated regulations (VDRs) are standards that are fixed with respect to the date of entry of regulated units, with later vintages facing more stringent standards. VDRs play prominent roles under major Federal, state, and local environmental laws. This paper synthesizes what is...

The pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is rapidly spreading all over the world, generating a high number of total deaths. One of the current questions is: how atmospheric factor of wind, in the presence of high levels of air pollution, affects the diffusion of COVID-19? This study...

Global warming and the acute domestic air pollution in China have necessitated transition to a sustainable energy system away from coal-dominated energy production. Through a systematic review of the national policy documents, this study investigates the policy mix adopted by the Chinese...