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The mid-term review of the Sustainable Land Management Project in Churia, Nepal, rates the project as 'Moderately Satisfactory'. While output-level performance in livestock husbandry, bio-engineering, and community forestry is good, the report identifies significant failures in the implementation of Sloping Land Agriculture Technology (SALT) and the establishment of Open Grazing Free Zones (OGFZ). Key challenges include a top-down project design, weak inter-sectoral coordination at the operational level, and disruptions caused by the 2015 Nepal earthquake and political unrest (Madhesh Band). The review recommends a no-cost extension, a revision of the 2016 work plan to prioritize successful interventions, and a shift toward Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) to replace the outdated SALT approach.

Hammarby Sjöstad is a sustainable urban district in Stockholm developed on a former industrial brownfield. The project utilizes the 'Hammarby Model,' a closed-loop system integrating waste, energy, and water cycles to minimize environmental impact. While the district achieved significant success in soil remediation, transit-oriented development, and waste management—including a vacuum waste system that reduced landfill use to 0.7%—it did not fully meet its original energy consumption targets. Economically, the project demonstrated that high environmental standards can increase property values, with a 25% increase in value despite 5% higher construction costs. The development was characterized by a 'triple helix' collaboration between government, private developers, and academia.

The Union of Concerned Scientists evaluated the ten largest publicly owned utilities (POUs) in California based on their 2010 compliance with the state's Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS). While these utilities collectively increased their RPS-eligible investments from 4.1% of retail sales in 2003 to 18.8% in 2010, the report finds significant disparity in how this was achieved. Some utilities, such as Silicon Valley Power and Modesto Irrigation District, are categorized as "running ahead," while others, like Roseville Electric and Imperial Irrigation District, are labeled as having a "false start" due to a reliance on short-term contracts that do not promote new clean energy development. The report emphasizes that long-term contracts and ownership of facilities are essential to meet the increased 33% RPS requirement for 2020 and to reduce the state's continued heavy reliance on fossil fuels.

The Global Ecology Center (GEC) at Stanford University is an 11,000-square-foot laboratory building designed using RMI's '10xE' whole-system thinking. By challenging conventional design assumptions and employing an interdisciplinary process, the project achieved a 72 percent reduction in electricity for HVAC and lighting compared to a 2001 California Title 24-compliant building. Key innovations include a night-sky cooling system that uses roof sprays to chill water, radiant floor cooling, and a 'cascading' ventilation system that reduces outside air needs by 20 percent. The building also reduced its concrete carbon footprint by 31 percent through the use of high-volume fly-ash concrete and decreased water usage by 33 percent. Despite challenges with standard energy-modeling software and some valve leaks, the GEC demonstrated that high efficiency can be achieved with a modest capital cost premium, resulting in operating costs approximately 56 percent lower than a comparable existing building.

The Union of Concerned Scientists finds that genetic engineering has contributed minimally to U.S. crop yield increases, with the majority of gains attributed to traditional breeding and other agricultural methods. The briefing distinguishes between intrinsic yield (potential) and operational yield (actual), concluding that GE crops have not increased intrinsic yield and provided only marginal operational gains, primarily in specific insect-resistant corn varieties. It advocates for shifting research and funding toward traditional breeding, genomic approaches, and agro-ecological farming, particularly for developing regions.

The report concludes that genetic engineering has failed to increase the intrinsic yield of any major food or feed crops and has provided only minimal gains in operational yield, primarily through Bt corn. Most yield increases in U.S. agriculture are attributed to traditional breeding and improved agricultural practices rather than GE traits.

The study identifies two primary sources of in-cabin pollution in conventional school buses: the tailpipe and the engine crankcase. It finds that while diesel particulate filters (DPF) combined with ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) eliminate ultrafine particles, black carbon, and PAH, they do not reduce fine particulate matter (PM2.5) because that pollutant originates from the crankcase. The most effective solution for comprehensive elimination of all measured particles is the combination of a DPF, ULSD, and a Donaldson Spiracle closed-crankcase filtration device.

This document is a Pollution Prevention Plan (PPP) Progress Report submitted by ArcelorMittal South Africa Limited (AMSA) to the South African Minister of Environmental Affairs on 29 March 2019. The report covers the period from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2018, evaluating the company's actual greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions against the mitigation measures specified in its approved PPP.

Climate Central has released CoastalDEM v2.1, a near-global digital elevation model (DEM) for ocean coastal areas. Developed using a new neural network architecture and NASA's ICESat-2 satellite lidar as ground truth, the model significantly reduces vertical bias compared to its predecessor and other leading publicly available DEMs. It is specifically optimized for the 0-5m elevation band to better evaluate coastal flood risk from sea level rise.

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) assessed the Centre de Suivi Ecologique (CSE) for re-accreditation. While the GCF recommends re-accreditation for a second term, it did not grant the requested upgrade to 'small' project size or 'medium risk' (category B) status, maintaining the entity's 'micro' size and 'minimal to no risk' (category C) status. The assessment found that CSE aligns with GCF's strategic goals, particularly in climate change adaptation in Senegal, but identified gaps in its internal audit functions, risk management, and grievance redress mechanisms. Re-accreditation is subject to several conditions, including the operationalization of an independent internal audit function and the appointment of an independent observer for its grievance mechanism.