Integrated Assessment of Swiss GHG Mitigation Policies After 2012

The residential sector presents a great potential for greenhouse gases (GHG) mitigation. We perform an integrated assessment of different mitigation policies for Switzerland focusing on the residential sector. We analyze the case of pure incentive taxes and technical regulations. For our analysis, we have coupled a general equilibrium model with a Swiss residential energy model. We find that a progressive GHG tax of more than 200 USD2000/tCO₂ eq is necessary to reach a target of 50% reduction of GHG emissions in 2050. Finally, we also find that efficiency-based technical regulations provide limited additional abatement incentives.     

Transfer of the insecticide [<Superscript>14</Superscript>C] imidacloprid from soil to tomato plants

The fate of imidacloprid was investigated in tomato plants during 75 days in soil contaminated by ¹⁴C-imidacloprid. Leaves and fruits were separately analysed for total radioactivity and metabolites. Almost 85% of plant radioactivity was translocated to shoots. Radioactivity concentrations decreased from bottom leaves to top leaves. Desnitro-imidacloprid was the main metabolite in leaves. Nevertheless, more than 50% of the leave radioactivity corresponded to imidacloprid. Residue concentrations were similar in all fruits (62.9 ng g⁻¹), irrespective of their position on plant. In fruits more than 85% of the radioactivity was due to imidacloprid. The small fraction of residues translocated to fruits depended on the low xylem flow in fruits.