"Towards a sustainable low-emissions future: the role of low-carbon energy sources and Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) sector"

Convener: Fabio Carvalho

Co-conveners: Maša Zorana Ostrogović Sever, Doroteja Bitunjac, Anikó Kern, Quentin Lambert, Hrvoje Marjanovic, Grace Wu

This session will focus on long-term sustainable strategies to mitigate climate change and is split into two distinct, yet related sections.

The first section will deal with carbon emissions/removals estimates under Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) sector, with an emphasis on field measurements, remote sensing and modelling. Authors will present historical and future perspectives, as well as short- and long-term impacts of a variety of land uses on CO2 fluxes and carbon sequestration, from agricultural and semi-natural to natural environments. Presenters will showcase a variety of methods, from eddy covariance flux measurements to machine learning and aerial laser scanning techniques.

The second section will discuss the impacts and opportunities brought about by the transition to low-carbon energy for hosting ecosystems. Presentations will cover electric vehicles, solar energy and bioenergy, and highlight potential environmental, social and techno-economic challenges of energy transitions. Authors will showcase a variety of approaches to tackle these challenges, including life-cycle analyses and the use of multi-scale modelling frameworks using a wide range of scales, from global to regional and local studies.

This session should equip attendees with a broad overview of carbon fluxes under LULUCF sector and the energy-food-water-environment nexus, as well as provide more nuanced perspectives of the environmental implications of land use change for climate change mitigation.