The current economic and environmental crisis tells us that the time is ripe for governments around the world to implement a new kind of economy, which is resilient, sustainable, operates within the limits of our planet's resources and creates a fairer society. This thematic issue covers research which can help policy makers develop this Global Green Economy.

New research has identified 25 variables that influence noise in urban areas. By combining these into an equation, the study produced an accurate tool to describe urban sound environments that could be useful in urban planning.

Noise pollution in urban areas can harm our physical and mental wellbeing, and can have damaging effects on urban wildlife. Now, researchers from China have shown for the first time how a ‘land use regression method’ can be used to model urban noise and predict the effects of future planning decisions on noise levels.

Green roofs have the potential to significantly reduce road traffic noise in the urban environment, according to a new study. The results suggest that greening of roofs and walls with materials suitable for growing plants softens the urban environment keeping sound levels low, whereas hard, manmade structures tend to amplify traffic noise.

Researchers have developed a new energy map that traces the flow of global energy from the fuel sources to the final services provided. The study provides new insight into the potential of energy efficiency measures by focusing on technologies rather than economic sectors.

Biomass is increasingly used to make biofuels and generate electricity and is seen as a valuable source of renewable energy. A recent study has assessed the key factors relating to the sustainability of bioenergy production and suggests global biomass could potentially meet up to one third of the projected global energy demand in 2050.

Dire messages about the impact of global warming may increase scepticism because they contradict a commonly held belief that the world is a just and orderly place. This is the conclusion of new psychological research which investigated the reaction of individuals to messages about global warming.

There are no technical or economic barriers to providing all of the world’s energy from renewable sources, according to a recent study. With a concerted effort, including reduced demand and international cooperation, the researchers suggest that the world could be entirely reliant on renewable energy for electric power, transportation and heating/cooling by 2050.

Adaptation to climate change in urban regions is a major policy concern. Rather than focus specifically on risk reduction, a new report has reframed the adaptation challenge, giving it a broader focus of increasing an area’s resilience and performance and proposing local-level approaches to leveraging finance for adaptation initiatives.

Urban vegetation could have been overlooked as valuable above-ground carbon storage, according to researchers. They estimated that 231,521 tonnes of carbon were stored in above-ground vegetation in a UK city, the majority of which (97 per cent) in trees. This was 10 times the amount estimated from national figures for the same city area.

Reindeer herding has a long history in the Arctic, but climate change and industrial activity are bringing this important economic and cultural tradition to breaking point. In a unique initiative, reindeer herders across the Arctic are leading an international team of scientists in using modern technology to adapt to global change and empower indigenous communities.

Long-term urban planning is needed to adapt the urban environment and make it more resilient to climate change, according to a new European Environment Agency (EEA) report that aims to support urban policy development and decision making.

Climate change is likely to exacerbate the urban heat island (UHI) effect. A new study has therefore examined possible climate change adaptation measures that can alleviate the UHI effect and illustrated how these strategies can be practically applied. While the study provides real-life examples to demonstrate how the measures can be used, it does not include any quantitative assessment of their impacts.

Trees and other vegetation have an important influence on urban temperatures. To explore these effects, Japanese researchers have built and studied scale models of tree-lined streets. This approach could help designers and planners create urban environments that are cooler during summer months.

Some scientists have suggested that, when all potential inefficiencies are accounted for, local food distribution systems may be less sustainable than globalised systems. However, new research examining the behaviour of participants in local food networks in France suggests that they can be as energy efficient as globalised systems.

Increasing energy efficiency in Europe is vital to achieving a sustainable economy and tackling climate change. However, new research has shown that lack of capital and concerns about costs of disruption are major barriers to implementing energy efficiency measures in the foundry industry.

Green spaces in cities can have a cooling influence which helps reduce the ‘urban heat island effect’. New research from Portugal has demonstrated that even a small community garden can provide a significant cooling impact that can help efforts to adapt to climate change.

Climate change is a particular threat to island nations and effective adaptation is vital. A new analysis examines current adaptation measures in tropical Oceania and identifies guidelines for implementing resilient, ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA). Among its recommendations, local communities should be fully involved in planning adaptation measures.

Several barriers to upgrading existing social housing with innovative energy systems (IES) have been identified by a study of eight large-scale renovation projects in the Netherlands. These include a lack of trust between stakeholders, opposition from tenants on grounds of increased costs or delays, or poor experience with previous energy projects.

New research on climate-driven reductions in Arctic sea ice has predicted that, by 2040 to 2059, new shipping routes will become passable across the Arctic, linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. An increase in traffic has implications for the ecosystems of this fragile area.

Research from the US helps paint a clearer picture of the extent of global sea level rise, by considering new satellite data on the Earth’s gravity. Its findings support reports of accelerating ice melt and suggest that most of the change in sea levels is caused by receding polar ice sheets and mountain glaciers.

Crop pests and pathogens are moving into new habitats, towards the North and South Poles, as global warming progresses, new research suggests. Observation records from around the world show that many crop pests, including insect and bacterial pests, are moving towards the poles at an average rate of 2.7 km per year.

New areas of land suitable for agriculture will open up under climate change’s effects, new research predicts, particularly in far northern regions of the world. However, the overall quality of land for farming will decline and many regions, including Europe, could lose large areas of suitable land.

The damaging effects of sea-level rise on Black Sea beaches have been estimated in a new study. Diminishing river sediment supply caused by river dams is also an erosion threat. These new results suggest that erosion could cause over 90% of these beaches to retreat by at least 20% of their width. A publicly available database created by the researchers could be useful for developing coastal protection schemes.

Although low-income households consume less energy than wealthier households, they are still keen to learn how to save energy, for both economic and environmental reasons. This is the conclusion of a recent Swedish study which explored the energy-related behaviour of residents on low incomes. It provides insights which could help inform energy-awareness campaigns targeted at this section of the population.

A number of studies have shown that the public misunderstand global warming. Taking a fresh approach, this study investigated the willingness of the public to take part in activities that mitigate climate change. An international survey of 24 countries revealed that this is strongly related to personal experiences with global warming. The authors say linking actions to benefits could encourage climate change mitigation behaviour.

Driven by trade, the spread of alien species is increasing worldwide. This study combined 60 years of trade data with that on biodiversity and climate to model the spread of plant species across 147 countries. The model predicts significant increases in plant invasions in the next 20 years, especially for emerging economies. The authors say trade legislation must consider biological invasion and focus on regions at high risk.

The risk of drought in the Norrström drainage basin, Sweden, increased during the 20th century, a new study has found. As the frequency of the dry periods increased, less water was available in the landscape for agriculture and for the resupply of groundwater — despite an increase in precipitation in the area over the same period. The researchers reached this conclusion after screening soil moisture conditions in the basin over the course of the century.

The solar energy market is hampered by multiple barriers to adoption in the EU and worldwide, according to a new review. Researchers from Sweden and Spain found that lack of government commitment as well as various sociotechnical, management and economic barriers prevent photovoltaic technologies from being more readily adopted.

Researchers have proposed a global roadmap for decarbonisation over the coming decades. The roadmap is based on the idea of a simple heuristic, described by the researchers as ‘carbon law’, of halving carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions every decade from 2020 to 2050. The researchers say that, if combined with the development of new technologies and efforts to reduce CO2 emissions from land use, this target could lead to a carbon-neutral global economy by 2050.

Since the industrial revolution, the ocean has absorbed increased levels of carbon dioxide, leading to the ocean’s pH becoming more acidic. Effects of these pH changes on marine and estuarine biota is the focus of much research effort worldwide and the authors of this study focus on the larval habitat-choice process of a commercially important tropical marine fish species, Lates calcarifer, barramundi.

A better understanding of the social factors that affect market-based environmental policies could enhance their success, according to researchers. An analysis of reactions to a proposed waste disposal system in Greece indicated that both trust between citizens and trust in institutions could be highly influential in its implementation.

A recent international analysis of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) management has indicated that current practices will not be able to deal with future increases in WEEE. It calls for rapid, co-ordinated and bold responses that are both technical and non-technical to deal with this ever-increasing global issue.

A new study has investigated the possibility of a regional industrial symbiosis of metal industries across the Sweden-Finland border. The analysis suggests that it is technologically feasible, but that regulatory support may be inefficient, particularly with respect to changing the status of a waste product to a by-product.

Sustainable management of phosphorus requires better information on how it flows through the environment via consumption and waste. New research from Sweden has found that 40% of phosphorus released by Gothenburg to the environment is in sewage sludge and a further 40% is in incineration ash. This suggests that phosphorus could be recycled from solid waste as well as from wastewater.

Two of the biggest barriers for organisations refurbishing waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) for re-use are the availability of sufficient quantities of good quality used equipment and a lack of legislation that encourages or enforces re-use. These, and other barriers as well as success factors, were identified in a recent survey of re-use organisations in Africa, Latin America, North America and Europe.

The urban heat island (UHI) effect can be completely offset by using 'cool' and 'green' roofs, finds new research from the US. However, the study also found that different roofs may affect rainfall and energy demand, and that their efficiency varies with location.

Adding compost to compacted urban soils can provide a lasting effect that aids tree growth, new research indicates. Urban soils improved with added organic material are less compacted after five years compared with soils that have not been treated with organic composts, the study suggests.

Greening urban areas can reduce the number of people dying from heat-related health problems, according to a recent study. The researchers found that doubling vegetation cover in central Melbourne could reduce heat-related mortality of the elderly by up to 28% during heat waves.

The decline of urban populations and abandonment of buildings and land could provide an opportunity to promote ecosystem services, a new study suggests. The researchers examined the relationships between the use of abandoned land and ecosystem services, providing insight into the pros and cons of different urban planning policies.

Green walls, designed so they are covered in vegetation, could help cut the amount of noise that enters buildings, a new study has found. In lab. tests, researchers found that a modular green wall system reduced sound levels by 15 decibels (dB). This leads them to believe that it is a promising sound reduction device that could improve quality-of-life for city residents.

Doctors prescribe fewer antidepressants in urban areas with more trees on the street, according to recent UK research. The study examined the link between mental health and wellbeing and the presence of trees in London neighbourhoods. Its findings support the idea that maintaining a link to nature, even in an urban area, may help provide a healthy living environment.

Contact with nature in urban areas can have numerous health benefits, a new study finds. The researchers found people whose homes had views of different kinds of vegetation had significantly lower levels of stress hormones, indicating that green spaces play an important role in healthy cities.

Researchers have devised a blueprint to integrate the efficient use of waste wood throughout a bioeconomy system — part of the economy that uses renewable biological resources from land and sea. This study assessed the environmental sustainability of three scenarios for increasing targeted levels of industrial symbiosis within the wood-based bioeconomy of central Germany, and found that, in most cases, the three alternative future bioeconomy networks outperformed the selected fossil-based reference systems, mitigating environmental impacts by 25 to 130%.

IT company Cognizant announced it will acquire Collaborative Solutions, a privately-held global consultancy specialising in Workday enterprise cloud applications for finance and HR.

Uber said the layoffs included its customer support and recruiting teams, and expects to incur about $20 million in costs for severance and related charges.