Abstract
Global greenhouse gas emissions have increased at a rate of nearly 2% per year since 1970, and the rate of increase has been increasing. The contribution of greenhouse gases to global warming constitutes an environmental management challenge requiring interdisciplinary effort and international cooperation. In an effort to meet this challenge, the Kyoto Protocol imposes limits on aggregate CO2-equivalent emissions of four greenhouse gases, although it permits countries to trade off one gas for another at specified rates. This requires a definition of trade-off rates, which the Protocol specifies as Global Warming Potentials, although these have been controversial since their introduction. The primary source of concern has been the constancy of the trade-off rates, both across countries and through time. We propose a new composite index that allows freely variable trade-off rates, thereby facilitating the design of efficient abatement policy. In a pair of exercises we compare our composite index with that used by the Protocol. In both exercises we reject the constancy of trade-off rates, although despite the significantly different weighting schemes we find a degree of concordance between the two greenhouse gas indices.
Highlights
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) tracks the growth of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions
nitrous oxide (N2 O) emissions result from fossil fuel combustion, fertilizer use, rainforest fires and animal waste; they account for barely 6% of total greenhouse gas emissions, they have still greater warming potential and have an expected lifetime of 100–150 years
Climate scientists have developed a rigorous weighting system based on the global warming potentials (GWPs) of greenhouse gases relative to that of CO2 that has been accepted by the IPCC for use in calculating trade-offs among greenhouse gas emissions
Summary
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) tracks the growth of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. N2 O emissions result from fossil fuel combustion, fertilizer use, rainforest fires and animal waste; they account for barely 6% of total greenhouse gas emissions, they have still greater warming potential and have an expected lifetime of 100–150 years. Climate scientists have developed a rigorous weighting system based on the global warming potentials (GWPs) of greenhouse gases relative to that of CO2 that has been accepted by the IPCC for use in calculating trade-offs among greenhouse gas emissions. It extends the FCCC efforts to respond to the threat of climate change by setting internationally binding emission reduction targets that aim to force countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions sufficiently to keep global warming this century beneath.
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