（中文）环境与社会发展

Teacher

Chaoji Chen

Hairong Cheng

Jie Chen

Erlantz Lizundia

Yohanes Kristianto Nugroho,Liandong Zhu

First day of classes

2024.7.1

Last day of classes

2024.7.10

Course Credit

1

Course Description

Course Introduction

1.Climate Change

With the development of industry and population increase, the consumption of fossil fuels increases rapidly, making the emission of combustion products. On the other hand, the massive destruction of forests reduces the amount of CO₂ absorbed by forests. All these factors lead to the "greenhouse effect", which is a pivotal role in the global warming. If the average temperature of the earth exceeds 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times, climate change will exceed the limits of human control, such as sea level rise, droughts, wildfires, and the extinction of large numbers of plants and animals. Facing this severeenvironmental situation, almost all countries around the world have developed energy conservation and emission reduction strategies to achieve the goals of carbon neutrality and carbon peak as soon as possible.

2. Complex Air Pollution

We are experiencing the most drastic change in air quality in China. Complex air pollution occurs when atmospheric pollutants couple under specific meteorological conditions, forming a complex air pollution system. The characteristics of the system include pollution from high concentrations of ozone and high concentrations of particulate matter, leading to substantial adverse impacts on the environment and human health. The course will introduce the sources, chemical processes and health effects of complex air pollution in China.

3. Water Pollution

This seminar will introduce the following three aspects:①Water resources and human society development;②Water pollution;③Wastewater treatment.

4.Polymers in a Circular Economy: Life cycle assessment for sustainable (bio)product development

The transition from conventional to environmentally sustainable polymeric materials and technologies urgently requires comprehensive works that evaluate their associated environmental impacts. This information, when disclosed in a transparent and comparable manner, enables making thorough choices on which choice is environmentally preferred. The environmental performance can be quantified by different means, where the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology holds a prevalent role givens its standardization. Obtained quantitative environmental impacts provide guidance toward optimization during (bio)product development, securing a long-term sustainability. Accordingly, this seminar will introduce the most relevant aspects to be considered when carrying out LCA studies. A Circular Economy perspective in the materials and chemicals sector will be included to frame the context. Besides, some of the well-recognized shortcomings of LCA, such as result comparability or scalability, will be discussed. The talk will result specially suitable for researchers and academia with interest in decoupling from fossil-carbon derived materials and chemicals.

5.Digitization of Waste Supply Chain

There is an emerging trend of digitizing waste management and treatment, which is mostly still in an infant stage. New digital technologies such as waste e-trading platforms, and waste-specific software and business analytics are emerging as new business models. The technologies can be found in all steps of the waste management process, with some already in widespread use. However, the scale of application of these technologies is unevenly distributed across the globe. There is a need of speeding up the digital transformation of the waste management sector. The digital transformation may improve recycling, facilitating the use of recyclates by producers, enabling better purchasing and sorting decisions by consumers, and improving waste sourcing options for recyclers.

Objective

1.The lecture session introduces the causes and consequences of global climate change, including greenhouse gas emissions, lethal 2 degrees Celsius, Evolution of the sustainability concept and sustainable development goals, and future challenges and opportunities to address this environmental problem, which can therefore be seen as one of the guidelines for developing future sustainable strategies to meet the requirements of worldwide sustainable development.

2.The rapid development of cities generates economic development, but it is also accompanied by the aggravation of urban pollution. Complex air pollution has become increasingly severe since the twentieth century in China. The objective of the course is to understand the sources, chemical processes and health effects of complex air pollution, and how to control it.

3.It introduces the concept of water resources development, utilization and protection.

4.Understand the causes and consequences of global climate change, and how to developCO₂capture and utilization technologies, which is circular for sustainable development goals.

5.The lecture session introduces some digitization of the waste industry including robotics, the internet of things, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and data analytics, that may impact future waste management logistics, and as a means to improve economic value of waste conversion into valuable products.

Assignments (essay or other forms)

Discussion during the lecture.

Text Books and Reading Materials

Not provided.