Highlights: -/- • Breastfeeding and breastfeeding support can contribute to mitigating climate change. • Achieving global nutrition targets will save more emissions than fuel-switching. • Breastfeeding support programmes support a just transition. • This work can support the expansion of mitigation options in energy system models. -/- Abstract: -/- Renewable gas has been proposed as a solution to decarbonise industrial processes, specifically heat demand. As part of this effort, the breast-milk substitutes industry is proposing to use renewable gas as a (...) substitute for fossil natural gas. However, decarbonising the industrial processing of breast-milk substitutes can increase social license for these products, potentially undermining breastfeeding. World Health Organisation nutrition targets aim to increase exclusive breastfeeding to at least 50% globally by 2025 to improve maternal, infant, and young child health and nutrition. This target will have implications for the energy transition. A weakness of existing energy models is that demands for end-use products such as breast-milk substitutes are typically not considered explicitly. This paper develops an analytical framework for explicitly representing infant feeding methods in energy systems models. We compare the emissions saved in Ireland from decarbonising the industrial processing of breast-milk substitutes with renewable gas with the emissions saved by an increase in exclusive breastfeeding to 50% in both Ireland and a key export market, China. We demonstrate that the emissions saved from achieving the minimum global breastfeeding target are greater than when renewable gas is used to displace natural gas in the production of breast-milk substitutes in Ireland. We discuss the decarbonisation of breast-milk substitutes in relation to the principle of justice as non-maleficence, a principle based on the commitment to avoid harm, a novel application of a principle of justice. We conclude that breastfeeding support can be considered a demand-side measure for mitigating climate change by reducing the demand for energy services to produce breast-milk substitutes. A key recommendation is to position breastfeeding support as both a public health and a climate justice issue that is relevant for a just transition. The framework developed for this paper could be applied to support the inclusion of a wider range of mitigation options with social justice outcomes in energy system models. [Open access]. (shrink)

As the devastation of climate change makes the need to decarbonise clearer by the day, countries face the question of what to do with their old fossil fuel infrastructure. While some environmental activists have taken to sabotaging the carbon economy on the back of its emissions in the Global North, the picture is different in oil-producing countries of the Global South, where energy infrastructure has fed communities for decades. There, the emphasis is placed on memory and institutionalisation.

The multifactorial development of the global maritime trade market determines both the complexity of managing individual processes and the need for constant clarification of the factors and directions of changes in the basic state. This, in turn, determines the risks and complexity of adopting and implementing relevant investment and management decisions. It should be noted that the sea trade market actually functions outside of national legal aspects. At the same time, it is the national capital assets that reflect the technical (...) and economic level of vessels of a certain nationality that form entrepreneurial and macroeconomic efficiency. In this way, the legal conditions for the emergence of multi-level integration processes are formed. At the same time, a different principle of interaction should be distinguished. The nature of participation in the distribution of cargo flows between companies and routes should be considered as a special form of integration processes. This is due to the requirement of the unconditional provision of global needs, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the differentiation of adequate enterprise participation in the availability segments according to different characteristics. The actual situation of the maritime trade market in the system of the international division of labour determines the priorities of innovative strategies that guarantee a certain balanced development. The development of innovative strategies in the maritime trade market requires an understanding of the specifics of the industry, including the need for investments in sustainable development and decarbonisation. The increasing role of maritime transport enterprises in the international division of labor requires the optimization of the condition of the national merchant fleet and ports to ensure market relations. However, this optimization should not be pursued at the expense of other national priorities or in contradiction with international principles. Therefore, effective positioning of maritime transport enterprises requires taking into account transformational factors and balancing the technical and economic aspects of production with cost-effectiveness criteria. By adopting a thorough approach to managing the balance of individual maritime transport enterprises, it is possible to ensure a certain period of adequacy in relation to the external situation, thus minimizing risks and maximizing efficiency. (shrink)