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Emerging economies, low- and middle-income countries experiencing rapid population and GDP growth, face the challenge of improving their living standards while stabilizing CO 2 emissions to meet net-zero goals. In this study, we quantify the CO 2 emissions required for achieving decent living standards (DLS) in emerging economies. The results show that, compared to other regions, achieving DLS in emerging Asian and African economies will result in more additional CO 2 emissions, particularly in the DLS indicators of Mobility and Electricity. Achievement of DLS in emerging economies will result in 8.6 Gt of additional CO 2 emissions, which should not jeopardize global climate targets. However, a concerning trend arises as more than half of the emerging economies (62 out of 121) will face substantial challenges in aligning their expected emission growth for achieving DLS with their national emission mitigation targets. Achieving decent living standards for global emerging economies is estimated to lead to an additional 8.6 Gt of CO 2 emission with more than half of emerging economies emitting additional CO 2 more than the value of their emission reduction commitments

International trade affects CO 2 emissions by redistributing production activities to places where the emission intensities are different from the place of consumption. This study focuses on the net emission change as the result of the narrowing gap in emission intensities between the exporter and importer. Here we show that the relocation of production activities from the global North (developed countries) to the global South (developing countries) in the early 2000s leads to an increase in global emissions due to the higher emission intensities in China and India. The related net emissions are about one-third of the total emissions embodied in the South-North trade. However, the narrowing emission intensities between South-North and the changing trade patterns results in declining net emissions in trade in the past decade. The convergence of emission intensities in the global South alleviates concerns that increasing South-South trade would lead to increased carbon leakage and carbon emissions. The mitigation opportunity to green the supply chain lies in sectors such as electricity, mineral products and chemical products, but calls for a universal assessment of emission intensities and concerted effort. International trade redistributes production activities to regions with varying emission intensities. This study finds that the convergence of emission intensities between the global South - North and changes in trade patterns have resulted in declining net emissions in trade in the past decade.

Countries have sought to stop the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by severely restricting travel and in-person commercial activities. Here, we analyse the supply-chain effects of a set of idealized lockdown scenarios, using the latest global trade modelling framework. We find that supply-chain losses that are related to initial COVID-19 lockdowns are largely dependent on the number of countries imposing restrictions and that losses are more sensitive to the duration of a lockdown than its strictness. However, a longer containment that can eradicate the disease imposes a smaller loss than shorter ones. Earlier, stricter and shorter lockdowns can minimize overall losses. A ‘go-slow’ approach to lifting restrictions may reduce overall damages if it avoids the need for further lockdowns. Regardless of the strategy, the complexity of global supply chains will magnify losses beyond the direct effects of COVID-19. Thus, pandemic control is a public good that requires collective efforts and support to lower-capacity countries. Guan et al. analyse the impacts of COVID-19 restrictions on global supply chains. Earlier, stricter and shorter lockdowns can minimize overall losses. A ‘go-slow’ approach to lifting restrictions may reduce overall damages if it avoids the need for further lockdowns.

Economic growth is principally powered by energy fuels. While the potential energy transition pathways in developed countries are clear, they have not been well explored for developing countries. Here, we study the average annual growth rate of energy consumption in 12 aggregated regions during 2001–2017 and the driving factors behind that growth. The countries with high energy consumption growth rates were concentrated in Asia and North Africa and four of the top five regions were in Asia, while the energy consumption in developed countries was stable or even declined in that period. Therefore, based on a comprehensive consideration of factors such as population and economic development, to quantify the role of renewable energy, we analyze the long time series of energy consumption for China, India, Indonesia, Myanmar and Bangladesh since the 1970s. Despite economic development and population growth accelerating energy consumption substantially upward, energy intensity made energy consumption decrease. Coal and oil dominated the energy transition pathway in China and India, while biomass and natural gas dominated in Indonesia, Myanmar and Bangladesh. The amount of CO 2 emissions in different countries was closely related to the amount and type of the energy they used. Our research results emphasize the importance of improving energy efficiency and adjusting energy structure to reduce energy consumption and achieve sustainable development.

Carbon reduction during the operational phase of buildings is a critical component in achieving global carbon neutrality objectives. Current emission estimation methods often overlook building-level heterogeneity, limiting precise retrofit strategies. Here, we develop a building-based emissions accounting framework incorporating building typology, function, and geometry, augmented by facility-level power plant data. We propose tailored operational-phase mitigation technologies, analyzing 2020-2050 pathways through baseline, regulatory, and blueprint scenarios. Demand-side strategies target energy behavior modification (e.g., efficient lighting), while supply-side interventions prioritize coal-to-biomass conversion and fossil plant retirement. Applied to Nanjing (534,000 buildings across 101 streets), results show commercial buildings exhibit 3.9 times higher carbon intensity than residential units. End-use efficiency upgrades (HVAC, lighting, appliances) prove most effective for commercial sectors, whereas supply-side gains derive primarily from accelerated coal plant phaseout before 2045 and renewable integration (solar/wind/nuclear). This approach provides actionable building-specific decarbonization pathways, offering policymakers science-backed strategies for urban energy transitions. In order to achieve net zeros in our urban areas, buildings need to adapt. This paper demonstrates a transferable building-scale model for net zero transitions in Nanjing. China.

Ensuring a more equitable distribution of vaccines worldwide is an effective strategy to control global pandemics and support economic recovery. We analyze the socioeconomic effects - defined as health gains, lockdown-easing effect, and supply-chain rebuilding benefit - of a set of idealized COVID-19 vaccine distribution scenarios. We find that an equitable vaccine distribution across the world would increase global economic benefits by 11.7% ($950 billion per year), compared to a scenario focusing on vaccinating the entire population within vaccine-producing countries first and then distributing vaccines to non-vaccine-producing countries. With limited doses among low-income countries, prioritizing the elderly who are at high risk of dying, together with the key front-line workforce who are at high risk of exposure is projected to be economically beneficial (e.g., 0.9%~3.4% annual GDP in India). Our results reveal how equitable distributions would cascade more protection of vaccines to people and ways to improve vaccine equity and accessibility globally through international collaboration. A more equitable global distribution of vaccines can benefit the world, while a multilateral benefit-sharing instrument needs to be developed to remove some of the disincentives for early equitable vaccines distribution globally.

Salinity has been recognized as one of the major environmental stresses that restrict the growth and quality of celery (Apium graveolens L.). Therefore, this study investigates the impact of different NaCl concentrations on celery growth and photosynthetic characteristics, as well as the potential regulatory role of exogenous trehalose application in mitigating the stress-induced effects. The results indicated that an increase in NaCl concentration from 50 to 200 mM markedly inhibited the growth of celery plants compared to that under control conditions. The application of different concentrations of trehalose mitigated the inhibitory effects of salt stress (100 mM NaCl) on celery growth and photosynthesis. Among the different trehalose treatments, T3 (10 mM trehalose) exhibited the most significant effects, increasing the aboveground biomass, belowground biomass, plant height, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll, and net photosynthetic rate compared to that of salt stress alone, respectively. Furthermore, trehalose treatments enhanced the various fluorescence parameters, including the maximum efficiency of PSII photochemistry (Fv/Fm), coefficient of photochemical quenching (qP), fluorescence intensity, and photosynthetic performance index (PIabs) under salt stress. Meanwhile, trehalose reduced intercellular carbon dioxide concentration, excess excitation energy (1-qP)/NPQ, heat dissipation per unit area (DIo/CSm), and energy dissipated per reaction center (DIo/RC). Additionally, the results of principal component analysis (PCA) and membership function comprehensive evaluation indicate that an appropriate concentration of trehalose positively alleviates the salnitiy-induced effects in celery. Overall, the T3 demonstrated the most promising effects on mitigating the effects of salt stress by decreasing the excess excitation energy of PSII in celery leaves through the heat dissipation pathway. This reduction lowers the excitation pressure on the reaction centers, enhances the activity of PSII reaction centers per unit cross-section, and improves photosynthesis activity, thereby improving the growth of celery plants under salt stress.

Water scarcity is a global challenge in many emerging economies, including China. China is one of the most extensive freshwater users and has set water efficiency improvement goals for 2030 at the prefecture level. However, no systematic water use and savings comparison exists across prefectures and sectors. Here, we used datasets of water withdrawal for 10,608 industrial and 1715 agricultural sub-sectors for 343 prefectures, and explored the opportunities to reduce water use. Results show that 10% of the least water-efficient industrial sub-sectors represent a disproportionate 46% water use. 18.9 km 3 (±3.2%) water saving in industry and 50.3 km 3 (±2.3%) in agriculture could be achieved, equivalent to Russia’s annual demand. A minority of sectors, including cloth(ing)- and chemical-manufacturing, rice-, vegetable- and fruit-cultivation, could contribute the most to water savings. Our study is essential for identifying water use and efficiency information for individual prefectures and sectors. In China, about 10 percent of industrial sectors are the least efficient water users across 343 prefectures, and water savings opportunities exist in agriculture, the clothing and chemical industry, according to an analysis that uses water withdrawal data.

Consumption behaviours exert pressure on water resources both locally and globally through interconnected supply chains, hindering the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals 6 (Clean water and sanitation) and 12 (Responsible consumption and production). However, it is challenging to link hotspots of water depletion across spatial scales to final consumption while reflecting intersectoral competition for water. In this study, we estimated the global exceedance of regional freshwater boundaries (RFBs) due to human water withdrawal at a 5-arcmin grid scale using 2015 data, enabling the identification of hotspots across different spatial scales. To reduce uncertainty, we used average estimates from 15 global hydrological models and 5 environmental flow requirement methods. We further attributed the hotspots of exceedance to final consumption across 245 economies and 134 sectors via the multi-region input–output model EMERGING. Our refined framework revealed previously unknown connections between regional hotspots and consumption through international trade. Notably, we found that 24% of grid-level RFB exceedance (718 km 3  yr −1 ; 95% confidence interval of 659–776 km 3  yr −1 ) was outsourced through trade, with the largest flows (52 km 3  yr −1 ; 95% confidence interval of 47–56 km 3  yr −1 ) from water-stressed South and Central Asia to arid West Asia. The demand for cereals and other agricultural products dominated global consumption-based RFB exceedance (29%), while the exports of textiles and machinery and equipment exacerbated territorial exceedance in manufacturing hubs within emerging economies. Our methodology facilitates the tracing of global hotspots of water scarcity along supply chains and the assignment of responsibilities at finer scales. Global consumption drives freshwater overuse at production sites along supply chains, of which 24% is outsourced via trade. Agricultural demand is a key driver, while manufacturing exports exacerbate water stress in emerging economies.