The motion of plates is called plate kinematics. It can be relative or absolute, and both are explained in this chapter. Surface movements can be measured from space, and the results show that active deformation, volcanism and seismicity are focused along plate boundaries. This chapter emphasizes that the Earth‘s inner seismic structure confirms that the mantle is dynamic and in constant motion. Convective mantle flow has been suggested for a century and are a major field of research because of its indirect association with plate motions. Plumes represent more localized columns of upward moving hot mantle that generate crustal magmatism and volcanoes. They work together like a big internal machinery with implications for many geologic, geophysical and biologic processes. This chapter summarizes plate tectonics and the deeper plume and hotspot processes, and how it is possible to constrain and reconstruct plate motion into the past and, to some extent, also into the future.

It is, by now, beyond dispute that climate change presents the single greatest environmental challenge of our times. It is equally likely that this challenge will only be met by sustained and iterative cycles of global policy formation, administrative rule-making, regulatory action, and impact assessment. The second and third of these steps, broadly speaking, constitute the process of policy implementation. While the scholarly study of policy implementation is not new, it has yet to receive serious attention in the area of climate change regulation. The reasons for this are relatively simple.

First, the policy formation stage is still ongoing. As the recent meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Dubai vividly demonstrates, major outstanding disagreements on the basic structure of global climate policy remain.1

This chapter aims to inform reflection on business self-regulation (or corporate social responsibility, CSR) in addressing climate change by drawing on developments in ‘business and human rights’ and the experience accumulated in the European Union (EU). Despite dissimilarities in addressing the environmental and human right impacts of business operations, there are commonalities around incentives, impacts and regulatory dynamics of CSR that help clarify its expected place in global governance. This analysis revisits long-standing claims about CSR in light of current legal and market evolutions. The main finding is that the notion of CSR has been fundamentally transformed in the last 20 years. What is the change, what are the drivers enabling such change, and what are the expected impacts on corporate compliance and sustainability performance? The analysis contributes to the regulatory governance area, including regarding climate change, and promotes cross-fertilisation among the social and environmental areas in CSR.

The impact of a wide range of post-Keplerian perturbing accelerations, of whatever physical origin, on different types of observation-related quantities (Keplerian orbital elements, anomalistic, draconitic, and sidereal orbital periods, two-body range and range rate, radial velocity curve and radial velocity semiamplitude of spectroscopic binaries, astrometric angles RA and dec., times of arrival of binary pulsars, characteristic timescales of transiting exoplanets along with their sky-projected spin-orbit angle) is analytically calculated with standard perturbative techniques in a unified and consistent framework. Both instantaneous and averaged orbital shifts are worked out to the first and second order in the perturbing acceleration. Also, mixed effects, due to the simultaneous action of at least two perturbing accelerations, are treated.

The precessions of the Keplerian orbital elements induced by several modified models of gravity are calculated. The latter ones are Yukawa, power-law, logarithmic, dark matter density profiles (exponential and power-law), once per revolution accelerations, constant accelerations, and Lorentz-violating symmetry.

A comparative analysis of worldwide climate policies, taking the European Green Deal as a yardstick, shows only a limited degree of convergence. While the European Union (EU), the United States, Japan and People’s Republic of China (PRC) have set between 2050 and 2060 as a time limit to achieve climate neutrality, global practices aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to their implications are still largely ineffective and unco-ordinated. Despite significant efforts, rather than displaying a harmonious framework, climate policies spanning the EU, the United States, PRC, Latin America, Middle East, Asia-Pacific, and Africa appear as a fragmented patchwork. This is true not only from the standpoint of external relations, comparing and contrasting the policy of different States and sovereign entities, but also internally, owing to such divisions as polycentric regulatory powers in federal States; asymmetric interests in geopolitical blocs such as the East, West, and Middle East; and different degrees of social cohesion in developing countries.

The orbital precessions of the Keplerian orbital elements induced by the 1pN gravitomagnetic spin octupole moment of a rigidly rotating oblate spheroid are calculated in their full generality for an arbitrary orientation of the primary’s spin axis and a general orbital configuration of the test particle.

This chapter describes how rifting may lead to continental break-up and the formation of a new ocean bound by passive continental margins. Passive continental margins define the transition from continental crust of normal thickness to oceanic crust. They are results of continental rifting that has caused the crust to break and give space to a new ocean. The break-up splits the rift into two, often unequal, parts that become tectonically inactive (passive) as the ocean starts to spread and widen. It is shown how some passive margins are magmatic with large amounts of volcanic activity, while other margins are magma-poor. Some margins are narrow, while others are wide and strongly thinned. The chapter also discusses hyperextended margins, where continental crust has been extended to the point that mantle rocks are exposed at sea bottom. This chapter presents these different settings and discusses how passive margin types are related to the final stages of rifting or initial stages of break-up. The type of magmatism involved is discussed, as are the depositional patterns that characterize the different kinds of passive margins. A number of natural examples are presented in this chapter, particularly from the south and north Atlantic margins.

The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) represents a well-known area of astrobiology. This chapter is dedicated to technosignatures, that is, markers produced by extraterrestrial intelligences (ETIs). The famous Drake equation for roughly estimating the number of communicative ETIs is introduced, its various factors are defined, and some of its shortcomings and implications for detecting technosignatures are discussed. Next, the Fermi paradox is delineated: if ETIs are widespread, where are they? Three major classes of solutions to this classic paradox (e.g., we are effectively alone) are considered, along with their accompanying ramifications. After a brief segue into the Kardashev scale for grouping ETIs, the final segment of the chapter categorises the diverse landscape of technosignatures – ranging from artificial radio and optical signals to atmospheric pollutants and waste heat arising from energy harvesting and dissipation – and outlines the current limits derived for the frequency of technosignatures, as well as the anticipated future constraints in this context.