A method has been developed to compare how EU Member States have implemented the Energy Performance Buildings Directive. It suggests that implementation varies widely across Europe but that the Czech Republic, Finland, Portugal and Slovakia have kept to the Directive’s aims and guidelines most closely, based on data available in 2009.

New research has assessed the environmental impact of gold production using life cycle assessment and estimated embodied energy and greenhouse gases, embodied water and solid waste burden that each tonne of gold produces, using various processes.

The EU Joint Research Centre has produced a new part of the handbook that provides guidelines for developing and using Life Cycle Assessments (LCA), which evaluate the environmental impacts of products, focusing specifically on life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). It recommends that assessments should be comprehensive, accessible and easy to apply in order to make LCA a more mainstream concept in decision-making.

Using high-strength concrete in construction could help to reduce its impact on the environment, according to a study by French researchers. The researchers compared the environmental impacts of bridges built from ordinary and high-strength concrete and found that the high-strength solution had a lower impact on the environment overall.

Fish farms, and other forms of aquaculture, are seen as a potential solution to meeting increasing global demand for seafood. However, according to recent research, they must reduce their reliance on wild fish for animal feed if current production levels from both aquaculture and wild fisheries are to be maintained.

In a recent experiment in Norway, electrical appliance stores increased their sales of energy-efficient tumble driers when consumers were made aware of their cheaper lifetime operating costs by shop staff and a new product labelling system.

A new study indicates that ‘commitment’ interventions are effective in encouraging environmentally-friendly behaviour, both in the short- and long-term. However, to increase the effectiveness of such interventions, whereby people promise or pledge to perform certain behaviours, more research is needed on the psychological processes behind their effects.

There is a wide range of systems for assessing and communicating the sustainability of buildings, but the variation can be confusing. Recent research has analysed the elements needed for effective assessment and examined the needs of stakeholders to inform the presentation and communication of assessment results.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) can enhance the design of a building, reduce costs and save energy. However, little research has been carried out on its impact on sustainable practices. A US survey illustrates that many practitioners do not see sustainability as a primary application, suggesting that more effort is needed to encourage the integration of ‘green’ design and construction into BIM.

‘Payment for ecosystem services’ (PES) has become a commonly used term in recent years, yet the concept is not well defined. A new study reviewing PES theory, concepts and practice from around the world provides a valuable overview, concluding that more can be done to share learning.

Increasing the use of recycled materials could substantially reduce the carbon footprint of plastic packaging, research suggests. A new study of the life-cycle of plastic trays has shown that increasing the proportion of recycled material could lead to a significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

A new concrete-reinforcement system, used by the LIFE INSU-SHELL1 project, replaces steel rods with non-corrosive textile structures to reduce the amount of concrete needed in construction. This nearly halves the global warming potential of traditional steel-reinforced concrete which is the largest producer of CO2 emissions in the building industry.

Staff in buildings that have been certified as ‘green’ under the LEED scheme are just as satisfied with their indoor working environment as people working in non-LEED buildings, according to research on commercial buildings. The study suggests that investment in the thermal and acoustic aspects of buildings, however, would further improve occupant satisfaction.

Misreported fishing catches in the Baltic Sea have probably led to incorrect fishing quotas, new research suggests. The study found that total catches between 1996 and 2009 have been underestimated for a significant period, skewing quota calculations.

A bug is making it so users are unable to enable HDR video streaming after upgrading to Windows 10 1903 or later if they previously disabled the setting. [...]

Twitter is warning users impersonating unsupported browsers to enable the original site theme that the legacy version will be shut down on June 1st, 2020. [...]

Ransomware operators continue their worldwide attacks against healthcare organizations and businesses, while leaking the data of victims who do not pay a ransom. [...]

DEF CON and Black Hat announced today that their upcoming security conferences in Las Vegas this summer will no longer be in-person and are instead moving to an all-virtual event. [...]

Microsoft is now stating that they will fix mysterious and spontaneous cracks in Surface Laptop 3 displays as they may have been caused by a "foreign particle" introduced during manufacturing. [...]

International rail vehicle construction company, Stadler, disclosed that it was the victim of a cyberattack which might have also allowed the attackers to steal company and employee data. [...]

Microsoft Edge is now giving users the ability to hide those pesky browser notification dialog boxes that are commonly used by web sites to push their content, or even spam, on visitors. [...]

Hackers have hidden malware in a legitimate two-factor authentication (2FA) app for macOS to distribute Dacls, a remote access trojan associated with the North Korean Lazarus group. [...]

A hacking group has started to flood a dark web hacking marketplace with databases containing a combined total of 73.2 million user records over 11 different companies. [...]

A new global map of urban areas is available for use which shows that cities occupy less than 0.5 per cent of the world’s total land area.

A new study of attitudes towards transport and mobility has identified five groups of travellers. The groups differ significantly in their choice of transport, distance travelled and the impact their transport choices have on the environment in terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

New research from Sweden identifies the characteristics of substance flow analyses that make them useful to policy makers. Substance flow analyses that focus on measuring rather than modelling pollution and which are aligned to existing measures are more likely to influence policy.

Many citizens living in the countries surrounding the Baltic Sea consider the Sea to be an important recreational area but are concerned about its environmental status, with regard to litter, biodiversity loss, heavy metals and hazardous substances, oil spills and algal blooms. These are the findings of a survey of 9000 citizens, which indicates widespread support for the polluter pays principle to tackle environmental problems in the Baltic Sea.

Researchers have created a new Green Option Matrix (GOM) to describe and compare the ever growing number of options to develop green products and processes. The GOM was used to analyse 142 companies belonging to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index.

A new study finds that a quarter of fish products labelled as ‘cod’ or ‘haddock’ in Dublin, Ireland, are in fact completely different species of fish. This indicates that fish consumers are being misled by inaccurate labels, which could compromise sustainable fishing and consumption efforts.

The public can help assess the human impact on wild birds through amateur ‘citizen science’ networks, according to new research. Scientists evaluated the suitability of data collected by amateur bird-watchers for long-term monitoring of European bird populations. Their findings suggest that citizen data may significantly improve the accuracy of existing official survey methods, as well as help increase public awareness of wild bird conservation.

According to new research, improved communications and financial assistance could encourage private forest owners to engage more willingly in forest management. Personal economics, moral obligations, traditional ideas of how a forest should look and fear of forest fires were found to influence whether forest owners participate in management activities.

Higher public awareness of sustainable fishing practices, led by environmental NGOs, may have helped reduce the incidence of mislabelled fish in the UK, compared to Ireland, according to a recent study which assessed levels of fish fraudulently sold as ‘cod’ in these two countries.

The growing influence of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the seafood industry means that they now play a central role in setting standards for sustainable fisheries. In a new study, researchers used the Dutch Good Fish Guide to illustrate how NGOs can efficiently engage consumers, industry, fishermen and government.

A review of the community-led research programme Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) – a UK national programme that brings scientists and communities together to investigate environmental issues – concludes that it benefits both science and the public. The public’s involvement not only raises their awareness of their relationship with the environment, but also contributes to securing a sustainable future.

Researchers have used the psychological concept of ‘commitment’, normally used to understand relationships between people, to investigate our relationship with the environment. The results indicate that an individual’s commitment to the environment is important in their ecological behaviour, for example, their willingness to use public transport and make sacrifices for the environment.

Since the arrival of the European Soil Data Centre in 2006, assessing the state of soils at European level has never been easier, more efficient or more reliable, according to a new report by its designers. The database, which contains state-of-the-art scientific information for a range of key environmental concerns, was accessed 26,000 times in the first 11 months of operation.

People who are committed to reducing their environmental impact at home do not necessarily behave in the same way when on holiday, according to a new study. The study presents a more complex view of consumer environmental behaviour than is often used to inform policymaking.

The majority of respondents to a UK survey would like to see labels explaining the carbon footprint of the food they buy. 72% of the supermarket shoppers questioned were in favour of carbon labels on food. The survey also found that 42% had changed their shopping habits in the last 10 years in response to environmental concerns.

Standardised methods of categorising environmental data are needed at European and international levels for effective international policies. A recent study has concluded that a European framework that harmonises environmental data at the continental scale corresponds well with national classification systems, although some modifications may be needed to capture small-scale regional variations.

A new study from Denmark has indicated that a substantial proportion of farmers may place professional values above cost savings when making decisions about how much pesticide to use. This implies that agricultural policy should consider a broad array of policy instruments to reduce pesticide usage.

A new analysis of how to encourage pro-environmental behaviour highlights four effective techniques: goal-setting, prompts or reminders, witnessing the behaviour of others and introducing new behaviours that correspond with existing beliefs.

Public authorities in EU Member States are encouraged to purchase more environmentally-friendly goods and services through Green Public Procurement (GPP). A recent survey of purchasing managers in Italy has identified some factors that influence their adoption of this strategy, and suggests that a broad knowledge of GPP is key to its implementation.

A new study indicates that ‘commitment’ interventions are effective in encouraging environmentally-friendly behaviour, both in the short- and long-term. However, to increase the effectiveness of such interventions, whereby people promise or pledge to perform certain behaviours, more research is needed on the psychological processes behind their effects.

A recent study has investigated how waste disposal sites in southern Italy have affected residents living nearby. Villagers reported being annoyed by odours, but the perceptions of residents living in the village closest to the facilities were possibly influenced by receiving financial compensation for the presence of the facilities.

Providing information to consumers on the environmental and social impacts of their food purchases could help change their consumption choices, research from Norway suggests. In a psychological study, researchers noted an increase in the number of organic and fair trade products bought per week when participating consumers were informed of the products’ benefits for the environment and the wellbeing of producers.

A recent Swiss-US study of a short-term water saving campaign found that, although the programme successfully reduced water use, there was also an overall increase in electricity consumption by participants. The researchers suggest a ‘moral licensing’ effect may be in action, whereby people ‘trade’ a positive behaviour for a negative one.

Sustainable management of complex ecosystems requires clear understanding of uncertainty. However, scientific guidance documents show a lack of clarity and coherence regarding uncertainties and tend to focus solely on the need for more data or monitoring, new research indicates. The researchers suggest that scientific guidance should recognise uncertainty as an inherent part of any complex ecosystem.

An overview of research into ‘nudge’ theory and practices has recently been presented. While there is much evidence to show how humans make decisions, translating these psychological and economic insights into viable policy instruments that encourage behavioural change remains challenging, the authors conclude.

There is an ongoing debate over exploitation of the Dutch Wadden Sea, over issues including gas extraction and cockle fishing. According to a review analysing interactions between scientists and policymakers during these debates, the productivity of such discussions is substantially influenced by the policy setting, i.e. the level of government involved and the key decision-makers.

Campaigns which remind individuals of the environmentally-friendly actions they already perform may motivate them to even more pro-environmental behaviours, new research suggests. If people identify themselves as environmentally-friendly, they are more likely to carry out green actions, even in the absence of any incentive.