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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 Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) outlining their post-2020 climate action. Here we assess the effect of current INDCs on reducing aggregate greenhouse gas emissions, its implications for achieving the temperature objective of the Paris climate agreement, and potential options for overachievement. The INDCs collectively lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to where current policies stand, but still imply a median warming of 2.6–3.1 degrees Celsius by 2100. More can be achieved, because the agreement stipulates that targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions are strengthened over time, both in ambition and scope. Substantial enhancement or over-delivery on current INDCs by additional national, sub-national and non-state actions is required to maintain a reasonable chance of meeting the target of keeping warming well below 2 degrees Celsius. The objective of the Paris climate agreement is to limit global-average temperature increase to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to further pursue limiting it to 1.5 degrees Celsius; here, the adequacy of the national plans submitted in preparation for this agreement is assessed, and it is concluded that substantial enhancement or over-delivery on these plans is required to have a reasonable chance of achieving the Paris climate objective. Paris climate action plans assessed The principal climate goal of the Paris Agreement of December 2015 is to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. This Perspective assesses the national plans submitted to the Paris meeting for post-2020 action to reduce global greenhouse gas emission by 2030. It also provides projections for global mean temperature increase over the twenty-first century that would be consistent with the present national plans and discusses options that may help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to levels that are more consistent with maintaining a reasonable chance of meeting the well below 2 degrees Celsius climate target.

Climate policy needs to account for political and social acceptance. Current national climate policy plans proposed under the Paris Agreement lead to higher emissions until 2030 than cost-effective pathways towards the Agreements' long-term temperature goals would imply. Therefore, the current plans would require highly disruptive changes, prohibitive transition speeds, and large long-term deployment of risky mitigation measures for achieving the agreement's temperature goals after 2030. Since the prospects of introducing the cost-effective policy instrument, a global comprehensive carbon price in the near-term, are negligible, we study how a strengthening of existing plans by a global roll-out of regional policies can ease the implementation challenge of reaching the Paris temperature goals. The regional policies comprise a bundle of regulatory policies in energy supply, transport, buildings, industry, and land use and moderate, regionally differentiated carbon pricing. We find that a global roll-out of these policies could reduce global CO2 emissions by an additional 10 GtCO2eq in 2030 compared to current plans. It would lead to emissions pathways close to the levels of cost-effective likely below 2 °C scenarios until 2030, thereby reducing implementation challenges post 2030. Even though a gradual phase-in of a portfolio of regulatory policies might be less disruptive than immediate cost-effective carbon pricing, it would perform worse in other dimensions. In particular, it leads to higher economic impacts that could become major obstacles in the long-term. Hence, such policy packages should not be viewed as alternatives to carbon pricing, but rather as complements that provide entry points to achieve the Paris climate goals.

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 Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) outlining their post-2020 climate action. Here we assess the effect of current INDCs on reducing aggregate greenhouse gas emissions, its implications for achieving the temperature objective of the Paris climate agreement, and potential options for overachievement. The INDCs collectively lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to where current policies stand, but still imply a median warming of 2.6-3.1 degrees Celsius by 2100. More can be achieved, because the agreement stipulates that targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions are strengthened over time, both in ambition and scope. Substantial enhancement or over-delivery on current INDCs by additional national, sub-national and non-state actions is required to maintain a reasonable chance of meeting the target of keeping warming well below 2 degrees Celsius.

Progress Towards 2030 Benchmarks On Track: Change is occurringat or above the pace required to achieve the 2030 targets None Off Track: Change is heading in the right direction at a promising, but insufficient pace Share of renewables in electricity generation Share of electricity in the industrysector’s final energy demand Share of electric vehicles in light duty vehicle sales Share of battery and fuel cell electric vehicles in bus sales Crop yields Ruminant meat productivity Ruminant meat consumption in the Americas, Europe, and Oceania Total public financing for fossil fuels Well Off Track: Change is heading in the right direction, but well below the required pace Share of unabated coal in electricity generation Carbon intensity of electricity generation Energy intensity of building operations Low-carbon steel facilities in operation Green hydrogen production Share of electric vehicles in the light duty vehicle fleet Share of battery and fuel cell electric vehicles in medium- and heavy-duty vehicles sales Share of low-emissions fuels in the transport sector Share of sustainable aviation fuel in global aviation fuel supply Share of zero-emissions fuel in international shipping fuel supply Rate of technological carbon removal rate Reforestation Rate of carbon removal from reforestation Coastal wetlands restoration Total climate finance Public climate finance Private climate finance Stagnant: Change is stagnating, and a step change in action is needed Carbon intensity of globalcement production Carbon intensity of global steel production Share of global emissions covered by a carbon price of at least $135/tCO2e Wrong Direction: Change is heading in the wrong direction, and a U-turn is needed Share of trips made by privatelight duty vehicles Deforestation rate Agricultural production GHG emissions Insufficient Data: Data are insufficient to assess the gap in action required for 2030 Retrofitting rate of buildings Carbon intensity of building operations Carbon intensity of land-based transport Peatlands conversion rate Peatlands restoration Coastal wetlands conversion rate Share of foodproduction lost Food waste Corporate climate risk disclosure Importantly, many of the indicators assessed are interconnected, so progress made toward one can further (or hinder) progress on others. [...]progress is possible because adoption of new technologies often follow an S-curve: Initial uptake is quite low, but as technologies’ performance improves and their price falls, these innovations begin to diffuse rapidly across society; rates of adoption accelerate as positive, self-amplifying feedbacks — such as economies of scale or the advent and adoption of complementary technologies — kick in to help reinforce change. Eventually, growth in market share slows down as adoption nears a saturation point. Key supportive measures include significant investments in new technologies to improve crop breeding and new approaches to enhance soil and water management, expansion of agricultural extension programs to provide technical assistance to farmers and policy reforms to encourage smallholders to invest in productivity improvements by securing their land rights. 2.

The current nationally determined contributions of the Parties to the Paris Agree-ment are far from being sufficient to achieve the long-term goal to limit global warming. Therefore, the question of how to distribute the global mitigation burden among the Parties in a fair and cost-effective way remains topical. In this paper, approaches based on different fairness criteria and the criterion of cost-effective-ness are applied to a global emission budget compatible with the Paris targets and evaluated for the globally largest emitters including the EU as well as Ger-many. The results show that domestic mitigation efforts need to be increased in the majority of those countries even more than for the below-2êC limit of the Can-cun Agreements. Moreover, even if the cost-effective level is assumed to be reached, there remains a strong need for support by the historical large emitters to others from a fairness perspective.

Multilateral development banks (MDBs) can play a critical role in limiting climate change and helping communities adapt to its impacts. Since 2011, they have provided nearly $200 billion in finance for climate change mitigation and adaptation (so-called “climate finance”). The World Bank Group’s recent announcement that it will increase its climate-related investments means this number is likely to grow. Some have also promised to stop funding certain types of highly-emitting technologies, like coal-fired power plants.

Saccharomyces yeast probiotics (S. ‘boulardii’) have long been applied in the treatment of several gastrointestinal conditions. Despite their widespread use, they are rare opportunistic pathogens responsible for a high proportion of Saccharomyces mycosis cases. The potential virulence attributes of S. ‘boulardii’ as well as its interactions with the human immune system have been studied, however, no information is available on how these yeasts may change due to in-host evolution. To fill this gap, we compared the general phenotypic characteristics, cell morphology, virulence factors, epithelial and immunological interactions, and pathogenicity of four probiotic product samples, two mycosis, and eight non-mycosis samples of S. ‘boulardii’. We assessed the characteristics related to major steps of yeast infections. Mycosis and non-mycosis isolates both displayed novel characters when compared to the product isolates, but in the case of most virulence factors and in pathogenicity, differences were negligible or, surprisingly, the yeasts from products showed elevated levels. No isolates inflicted considerable damage to the epithelial model or bore the hallmarks of immune evasion. Our results show that strains in probiotic products possess characteristics that enable them to act as pathogens upon permissive conditions, and their entry into the bloodstream is not due to active mechanisms but depends on the host. Survival in the host is dependent on yeast phenotypic characteristics which may change in many ways once they start evolving in the host. These facts call attention to the shortcomings of virulence phenotyping in yeast research, and the need for a more thorough assessment of probiotic use.

This research investigates the application of plastic fiber reinforcement in pre-tensioned reinforced concrete railway sleepers, conducting an in-depth examination in both experimental and computational aspects. Utilizing 3-point bending tests and the GOM ARAMIS system for Digital Image Correlation, this study meticulously evaluates the structural responses and crack development in conventional and plastic fiber-reinforced sleepers under varying bending moments. Complementing these tests, the investigation employs ABAQUS’ advanced finite element modeling to enhance the analysis, ensuring precise calibration and validation of the numerical models. This dual approach comprehensively explains the mechanical behavior differences and stresses within the examined structures. The incorporation of plastic fibers not only demonstrates a significant improvement in mechanical strength and crack resistance but paves the way for advancements in railway sleeper technology. By shedding light on the enhanced durability and performance of reinforced concrete structures, this study makes a significant contribution to civil engineering materials science, highlighting the potential for innovative material applications in the construction industry.

Agrobacterium tutnefaciens-derived crown galls of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) contain elevated levels of unsaturated fatty acids and strongly express two fatty acid desaturase genes, ω3 FATTY ACID DESATURASE3 (FAD3) and STEAROYL-ACYL CARRIER PROTEIN Δ⁹-DESATURASE6 (SAD6). The fad3-2 mutant with impaired a-linolenic acid synthesis developed significantly smaller crown galls under normal, but not under high, relative humidity. This strongly suggests that FAD3 plays a role in increasing drought stress tolerance of crown galls. SAD6 is a member of the SAD family of as yet unknown function. Expression of the SAD6 gene is limited to hypoxia, a physiological condition found in crown galls. As no sad6 mutant exists and to link the function of SAD6 with fatty acid desaturation in crown galls, the lipid pattern was analyzed of plants with constitutive SAD6 overexpression (SAD6-OE). SAD6-OE plants contained lower stearic acid and higher oleic acid levels, which upon reduction of SAD6 overexpression by RNA interference (SAD6-OE-RNAi) regained wild-type-like levels. The development of crown galls was not affected either in SAD6-OE or SAD6-OE-RNAi or by RNA interference in crown galls. Since biochemical analysis of SAD6 in yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and Escherichia coli failed, SAD6 was ectopically expressed in the background of the well-known suppressor of salicylic acid-insensitivel (ssi2-2) mutant to confirm the desaturase function of SAD6. All known ssi2-2 phenotypes were rescued, including the high stearic acid level. Thus, our findings suggest that SAD6 functions as a Δ⁹-desaturase, and together with FAD3 it increases the levels of unsaturated fatty acids in crown galls under hypoxia and drought stress conditions.