Copenhagen Climate Change Research Articles

Revisiting Copenhagen climate mitigation targets

Many economies set climate mitigation targets for 2020 at the 2009 15th Conference of the Parties conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen. Yet no retrospective review of the implementation and actual mitigation associated with these targets has materialized. Here we track the national CO2 emissions from both territory and consumption (trade adjusted) perspectives to assess socioeconomic factors affecting changes in emissions. Among the 34 countries analysed, 12 failed to meet their targets (among them Portugal, Spain and Japan) and 7 achieved the target for territorial emissions, albeit with carbon leakage through international trade to meet domestic demand while increasing emissions in other countries. Key factors in meeting targets were intensity reduction of energy and the improvement of the energy mix. However, many countries efforts fell short of their latest nationally determined contributions. Timely tracking and review of mitigation efforts are critical for meeting the Paris Agreement targets.

A licensing plan for coupling nuclear–renewable hybrid energy systems

South Africa committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 34% below "Business As Usual" levels by 2020 and 42% by 2025 at the Copenhagen climate change conference. However, global energy demand was projected to rise due to population and industrial growth, with energy usage expected to increase by 13% through 2040. In South Africa, a steady increase in electricity demand prompted the government to implement a new growth path (NGP), which prioritized job creation in all economic policies, including energy. To address the growing energy demand, an alternative energy source for combined heat and power was necessary, particularly for synthetic fuel production. The coupling of a high temperature reactor (HTR) with a chemical process plant could improve carbon and thermal efficiency, as seen in international organizations like the ARCHER (Advanced High-Temperature Reactors for Cogeneration of Heat and Electricity R&D) project. HTRs are still in their conceptual stages andaresuitable candidate forcouplingto an energy-intensiveindustrythat require process heat with sufficiently hightemperatures,with potential uses for NRHES (Nuclear-Renewable Hybrid Energy Systems). The South African team aimed to model the SASOL process, assess its financial viability, and develop a licensing plan.

The onset of BRICS cooperation on climate change: material change, ideational convergence and the road to Copenhagen 2009

What explains the convergence among Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) on climate change? While Brazil, India, China and South Africa caught attention due to their economic dynamism in the 1990s and accelerating momentum as of the early 2000s, Russia progressed to increase its influence in the twenty-first century. This shift in the material capabilities of BRICS has increased their significance in global climate governance. Merging governmentality and social constructivist approaches, this article argues that material changes in the post-Cold War period led Brazil, India, China and South Africa to experience a change in their ideational framework, repositioning themselves at the international level, recognising new responsibilities, and reaching a common point on the road to the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in 2009. Therefore, they went through a convergence process, bringing them closer to Russia, whose position invited major developing states to take tangible actions for emissions reduction. This process of convergence marked the onset of the future BRICS partnership on climate change.

Content Analysis of South African Sunday Newspaper Coverage of the Durban and Copenhagen Climate Change Conferences

Since the first United Nations climate change conference in 1995, newspapers have been vital in increasing coverage of climate change. Amidst growing number of events around climate change, the influence of international climate change conferences in newspaper coverage of climate change has not been fully interrogated in post-apartheid South Africa. This study aims to discover how three major South African Sunday broadsheet newspapers represented the Copenhagen conference (COP15) in 2009 and the Durban conference (COP17) in 2011. It used a national sample for the years 2009 and 2011, covering the City Press, The Sunday Independent and Sunday Times. The study carried out quantitative analysis of 58 articles published in the three leading Sunday newspapers between 01 January and 31 December. The direct involvement of South Africa on the Copenhagen and Durban climate change negotiations had an influence in the level of newspaper coverage. The frequency of articles published per month increased in November and December for all the years of interest. The dominantly reported main topics associated with COP are greenhouse gas emissions and the Kyoto Protocol. Both COP15 and COP17 were discussed frequently at a local level - domestic geographical scope. Overall, the article identified that South African print media is not consistent in the representation of COP. In order to better the reporting of international climate talks, print media has to be actively involved in integrative and collaborative engagement with COP relevant stakeholders.

Green Factory: Is it Improving Environmental Burden? Survey Result in Malaysia

Green Factory is a new and proactive approach to reduce environment burden. Physical development grew rapidly has effected major implications to environment. Environmental issues such as carbon dioxide, loss of biodiversity, degradation of natural resources, global warming, ozone layer depletion and deforestation have effected on the environment stability. Based on statistics, showing amount of carbon dioxide gas production in Malaysia was 29 million tonnes which Malaysia is ranked 26th (0.66%) of the 215 countries in the world. 110 world leaders including Malaysia has agreed to work for reducing carbon dioxide gas in the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit 2009. Accordingly, a study was conducted on companies that adopted Green Factory practices to assess its key performance criteria and practices for minimizing environmental problems. The samples were 300 companies in Malaysia. Finally, 20% response rate has been received, with 60 respondents. Five main criteria for Green Factory have been identified; (1) Solar power generation systems, (2) Fuel cells system, (3) Cogeneration systems, (4) Air conditioning units and (5) Recycling system. Based on descriptive result, recycling shows the highest level of practices, followed by solar power cogenerations system, air conditioning units and fuel cells system. This study result shows Green Factory has significant relationship with environment performance (r = 0.404, P < 0.05) and business performance (r = 0.38, P < 0.05). Overall, the survey result shows green factory practices is well implemented in Malaysia manufacturing companies. In conclusion, Green Factory can be used as effective tool for improving not only for environment performance but also for business performance.

Household CO&amp;lt;sub&amp;gt;2&amp;lt;/sub&amp;gt; emissions: An assessment based a large sample survey in China

Household consumption and energy usage have increased with the improved per capita income and advancing living standard. CO2 emissions are also increasing from the household sector including direct CO2 emissions from energy usage and indirect CO2 emissions from household consumption. For example, household appliances, electronic products and private cars are increasingly widespread, which brings higher CO2 emissions from households. At the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, China, as the largest developing country and largest total emitting country in the world, promised to reduce its carbon emission intensity (CO2 emissions per GDP) in the year 2020 by 40%–45% compared to 2005. China also promised to achieve its carbon emissions peak value around 2030 at Paris Climate Change Conference. The analysis of determinants of household CO2 emissions is a significant way to give effective low-carbon measures for governments and energy policy-makers. Based on survey data of household CO2 emissions (HCEs) in Mainland China, we calculated HCEs at the per household and per capita levels, and evaluated the carbon emissions structure level both in urban and rural areas in eight research regions by using IPCC Reference Approach and Input-Output Analysis and Consumer Lifestyle Approach. Our conclusions are as follows: (1) China’s HCEs are very low both from per household and per capita perspectives, at 8.05 t CO2/household and 2.47 t CO2/person, respectively. (2) There are great differences on HCEs between urban and rural areas in China. HCEs per household in urban and rural areas are 9.54 and 6.43 t CO2, respectively. HCEs per household in urban areas are 1.48 times as much as in rural areas. HCEs per capita in urban and rural areas are 3.25 and 1.78 t CO2, respectively. HCEs per capita in urban areas are 1.82 times as much as in rural areas. (3) There are great regional differences in HCEs. Southwest China has the lowest HCEs both per household and per capita, which are 6.89 t CO2/household and 2.06 t CO2/person, respectively. Shanxi-Shaanxi- Inner Mongolia Area has the greatest per household HCEs, which are 9.52 t CO2/household. Northeast China has the greatest per capita HCEs, which are 3.15 t CO2/person. (4) There are great differences in HCEs between direct and indirect forms of emissions. Comparing HCEs per household from direct energy usage and indirect household consumption, direct HCEs accounted for 23.51%, 15.80% and 35.88% in the all of China, urban areas, and rural areas, respectively. Indirect household consumption contributed to the balances of HCEs. (5) There are great differences in HCEs between different carbon emissions sources. Comparing HCEs from the point of carbon emissions, health care, heating, coal, food and electricity were the main contributors to HCEs both in the whole region, and both urban and rural areas. The results revealed the current situation and the development trend of HCEs both in urban areas and rural areas in China, as well as an analysis of both regional and urban/rural differences in HCEs. Our results show that different consuming behaviors played different roles in rising HCEs. Low-carbon policies, including enhancing the residents’ awareness on energy saving and carbon emission reduction, encouraging multi-generation members to live together and mastering green and low-carbon construction systems, were provided, which also gave data support and scientific evidence for achieving 40%–45% reduction targets in 2020 and the peak value targets around 2030.

The role of Greater Copenhagen Utility in implementing the city's Cloudburst Management Plan

This paper describes Greater Copenhagen Utility's role in planning, coordinating and implementing Copenhagen's Climate Change Adaptation Plan and Cloudburst management strategy. Detailed hydraulic modelling of the seven catchments in the city resulted in the preparation of a cloudburst management plan with more than 350 interventions, at a budget of EUR 1.3 billion. Among the planned projects are designated cloudburst boulevards, retention spaces, green roads and cloudburst tunnels. The joint efforts in coordinating climate change adaptation with city planning and infrastructure implementation, are shown to be key to succeeding with the projects. Stakeholder involvement in preparing the cloudburst management strategy is important in identifying the optimal solutions.

The EU and the Negotiation of Global Development Norms: The Case of Aid Effectiveness

The EU is a major donor of development aid, so it can be argued to have a major role in shaping global development norms. By examining the EU normative leadership role in the Busan Forum on Aid Effectiveness using four leadership categories we argue that the EU could be seen to be playing a more subtle leadership role than in previous aid summits, reflecting some issues regarding the ability of the EU to construct and support unified agendas in this field, but also showing some evidence of having learnt from other international summits, such as the Copenhagen climate change summit, and adapting its position towards the emerging donors accordingly. This case study both inform our understanding of the EU’s global leadership in development aid but also adds to the growing literature on the EU’s relations with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development – Development Assistance Committee (OECD-DAC) and the relationship between the DAC and the so-called Non-DAC donors.

TRAGEDY OF CLIMATE AGREEMENTS IN POST-KYOTO PHASE: COPENHAGEN AND BEYOND

Climate change is a global environmental problem that is caused due to human-induced increasing levels of the Greenhouse Gases (GHGs). The consequences of climate change are so severe that no country is immune from it. The problem of climate change has created a profound dilemma. There is no global treaty on climate change that can effectively reduce GHGs emission, fix the responsibilities and recompense damages caused to the environment. However, the contentious issue is: To what extent the developed countries should assist the poor countries in meeting the cost of adaptation? The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has emphasized on assisting poor and the most vulnerable developing countries. During the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, various countries adopted Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) to stabilize their emissions of the GHGs. The key intention behind this collective action was to limit the level of temperature below 2oC over pre-industrial level in coming years. But mere pledges are not enough. In fact, more effective measures are needed to cope with rising global temperature. Moreover, significant changes are required in existing climate change policies and programmes. The United Nations (UN) emphasized the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibility at the Kyoto, Bali, and Copenhagen conferences but the biggest contributors have refused to accept and abide by this principle. At the same time, things are not quite simple as limitation on CO2 mean limitations on economic growth. This has made climate negotiations a very contentious political issue as a result of which the very object of the UN to limit GHG emissions have turned into a tug of war. There is no serious political will to support climate change endeavours. Hundreds of measures have been negotiated in this direction, yet, most of these face problem of implementation. We should act efficiently and quickly to adapt to adverse consequences as projected by the Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The effective mitigation measures must be taken, worldwide, to tackle climate change urgently. The time is running out. The climate change is the greatest challenge that requires immediate solution. The present paper critically analyses progress made in the field of climate change in the post-Kyoto period and provides to what extent treaties, like, Copenhagen Accord has been successful in dealing with climate change. The work of paper is primarily based on analytical and empirical approach. The significance of the study lies in the fact that climate change is a burning phenomena that the world community facing today. In fact, its solution is required. In this paper authors argue that no country in an isolated manner can cope with the problem of climatic change. In fact, global efforts based on cooperation of all states are very important.

Effects of a Carbon Tax and Wind Power Penetration on CO2 Emissions in Wholesale Electric Power Markets

During the December 2009 Copenhagen Climate Change Summit, President Barack Obama committed the U.S. to a 83% reduction below 2005 levels in CO2 emissions by 2050. The U.S. Federal Government is thus currently considering several policy options to reduce CO2 emissions. In the U.S. the largest source of CO2 emissions is the electricity sector; in 2012 it was responsible for 32% of total CO2 emissions. This paper develops an empirically-based computational test bed of a wholesale electric power market to analyze how the imposition of a carbon tax and the increased penetration of wind power in such markets could impact CO2 emissions and other key outcomes, such as energy demands, energy prices, market participant profits (by fuel type), and government tax revenues. The test bed captures core features of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), the central manager of one of the world's largest energy and operating reserve markets covering parts of fifteen U.S. states and the Canadian province of Manitoba. Another innovation of this paper is that the effects of increases in a carbon tax and wind power penetration are studied jointly. It is shown, for example, that CO2 emissions decrease from 0.23% to 6.17% as the carbon tax and the degree of wind penetration are systematically varied from a base case of zero tax and zero wind. The profits of coal- and oil-fired generation systematically decrease with increases in the carbon tax and/or increases in wind penetration, but the profits of other types of generation exhibit a more complex response. Comparisons with current MISO conditions are also given, and key policy implications are discussed.

Representing Global Public Concern: A Critical Analysis of the Danish Participatory Experiment on Climate Change

Drawing on the recognition that questions of discourse and power are vital components in analysing the public participation in environmental governance, this paper examines the ways in which dominant scientific discourses about the Earth's climate inform the types of public talk facilitated in and by mini-publics, particularly when they are ‘scaled up’ to address environmental issues such as climate change. World Wide Views on Global Warming (WWViews) serves as a case study. Conceived and organised by the Danish Board of Technology, WWViews was a historically unprecedented public forum in which participants, invited from a range of nations, were given the opportunity to deliberate on key themes addressed in the negotiations taking place during the United Nations Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen (COP 15). The overarching purpose of this analysis is to invite reflection on the practices and assumptions that serve to make up publics in relation to issues that have been framed, predominantly, as scientific, universal and global.

Branding China to the World: A Pilot Study on China in the 2009 UN Copenhagen Climate Change Conference

This study pilots an appraisal analysis of news articles on environmental reports from China Daily, with its twofold purpose to 1) examine the ideological discursive construction of China’s image in China Daily, and 2) show how attitudes encoded in news articles can be unveiled through the use of linguistic tools provided by the appraisal theory of Martin and White. The results showed that the contrast of a positive China vs. a negative US constituted a dominant pattern in the analyzed article on Copenhagen conference, which coincided with the "otherization" strategy in Western press. It is also showed that the appraisal analysis conducted in this paper was very productive and strong in revealing the image of China constructed in the China Daily news article analyzed, as well as the detailed way of the image construction through lexicogrammatical items of affect, judgment and appreciation.

Copenhagen II or something new

For the first time since the failed 2009 Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, momentum is building towards a new climate agreement. But expectations must be kept in check, and making expert advice more useful to the process will require engaging the social sciences more fully.

Global Journalism in Decision-Making Moments: A Case Study of Canadian and American Television Coverage of the 2009 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen

Climate change is a phenomenon with global causes but local effects, and thus global climate change decision-making moments provide ideal opportunities to examine how local and global discourses work together—or do not—through global journalism. This case study investigates the globally focused vs. culturally bound frames used in television news coverage, in Canada and the USA, of the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. Initial quantitative findings that Canadian media used many more culturally bound sources than did American media contradict the past findings and suggest Canadian media engaged less in producing global journalism than did American media. A follow-up qualitative analysis not only found more global framing in the American stories, but also concluded that global sources did not necessarily create global journalism; instead, a global orientation is required.

Great-power politics, order transition, and climate governance: insights from international relations theory

The complex politics of climate change cannot be properly understood without reference to deeper geopolitical trends in the wider international system. Chief among these is the growing resurgence of ‘great-power politics’ between China and the US, along with failures of socialization and enmeshment into global governance structures in relation to these two powers. Traditional theoretical frameworks have failed to adequately account for these developments. Nonetheless, this current great-power contestation is at the core of an order transition that has prevented the large-scale institutional redesign required to remove deadlocks in existing global governance structures, including climate governance. Examples from the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Change Conference provide ample evidence for these claims. The slow progress of the climate change negotiations are due not just to the politics of the issue itself, but to the absence of a new political bargain on material power structures, normative beliefs, and the management of the order amongst the great powers. Without such a grand political bargain, which could be promoted through a forum of major economies whose wide-ranging remit would go beyond single issues, the climate change regime is only ever likely to progress in a piecemeal fashion. Policy relevance Despite the achievements of the 2012 Doha Climate Change Conference, the climate negotiations are not on course to limit warming to 2 °C, and thereby avoid ‘dangerous’ climate change. Several factors have been invoked to account for such slow progress: notably, the nature of the climate change problem itself, the institutional structure of the climate regime, and lack of political will among key players. An alternative explanation is proposed such that the failure to seriously address climate change – as well as other global problems – reflects a resurgent meta-struggle between the ‘great powers’ of China and the US over the nature of the global order. Without such a broader understanding of the deeper dynamics underlying the stalemates of the climate change negotiations, there is little chance of turning those negotiations around.

Boundary spaces: Science, politics and the epistemic geographies of climate change in Copenhagen, 2009

Modern democracies have conventionally handled the complex delegation of epistemic and normative authority through an understanding of science and politics as occupying distinct cultural domains. This work of delegation has been observed in the context of ‘boundary organisations’ which straddle the divide between science and politics and which regulate the flow of information and authority between the two domains. These observations have contributed to understandings of how science and politics are co-produced – how they evolve together in ongoing, iterative processes which contribute to the ephemeral attainment of social order. In the context of issues like climate change, which pose distinct challenges to scientific certitude, democratic politics and institutional stability, boundary questions become increasingly significant. This paper seeks to advance the notion of ‘boundary spaces’ in order to capture the diversity of settings in which the boundaries between science and politics are negotiated. Drawing together literatures from geography and science and technology studies (STS), it is argued that attention to the epistemic geographies of boundary spaces can reveal the heterogeneous processes of ordering at what is commonly referred to as the ‘science–policy interface’. The argument is illustrated empirically through a study of two efforts which were made to bring-together scientific knowledge in order to inform the ultimately ill-fated international climate change negotiations in Copenhagen in 2009. Questions of epistemic credibility, normative authority and uncertainty about the veracity of the 2°C warming target became particularly acute amid an atmosphere of political urgency. It is suggested that by attending to such boundary spaces as sites of co-production, we may be able to attain a fuller understanding of the late modern geographies of science and of the entangling of the epistemic and the normative at the shifting boundaries of science and politics.

CARBON TAX: PROGRESS OR PLATITUDE FOR SOUTH AFRICA?

In light of the 2009 United Nations Copenhagen climate change conference, South Africa announced that in order to combat climate change it would commit to reducing domestic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 34 per cent by 2020 and 42 per cent by 2025. Due to this commitment, a carbon tax will be implemented as from 1 January 2015. This market-based instrument has received broad attention sparking debate as industries most affected, namely Eskom and the petroleum sector, have rallied together in complaint. The main debate being that despite the politically ambitious commitment to reduce GHG emissions, little scientific, economic or comparative evidence has been given to show that an influence will actually be had on the amount of GHG emitted. The purpose of this article is not to provide a detailed analysis of the entire scope of the South African climate change policy. It focuses on the more limited issue of carbon taxation. This does not however mean that the numerous other competing policy options, which still beg for attention, are not viable or will not be implemented in the future.

Negotiating climate change

In December 2009, the whole world observed the 15th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen, Denmark, t...

The Alternative Energy Future: Challenges for Technological Change

(*See endnotes for complete contributor biographies.) Modern life needs energy, and lots of it. During the economic boom following World War II, securing adequate supplies of energy was not a big problem for the United States because we were able to meet our needs with domestic energy sources. But in the early 1970s, two events upset this comfortable situation. Introduced in 1970, the Clean Air Act clamped down on the uncontrolled burning of fossil fuels that had characterized domestic economic development for at least a century. And in 1971, the 1⁄2rst oil embargo demonstrated the supply risk inherent in an oil market no longer under U.S. control. Suddenly, the United States had an energy problem. In the ensuing forty years, eight American presidents proposed policies to solve this problem. Although philosophically different–for instance, President Reagan liked markets to work on their own, but President Carter preferred intervening in them–all had the same immutable goal: to guarantee a reliable, affordable, and clean supply of energy. But despite this common aspiration, the energy policies of all eight presidents shared another crucial attribute: they all failed to make much progress toward meeting their goal. Today, national energy policy remains in disarray. The proximate cause of the current situation is our failure to adopt a sensible policy to mitigate climate change. Only a few years ago, it seemed that the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference would produce a global agreement on mitigation policy,

The case for renewables apart from global warming

Abstract The outcome of COP15, the conference on climate change in Copenhagen, was the Copenhagen Accord which was recognised by the 193 countries that attended. The Accord set no compulsory limits on carbon emissions, and none of the countries that introduced it – USA, China, India [with Brazil and South Africa] – has signed the Annexe to the Kyoto Agreement, committing them to limit their emissions. Climate change is only of secondary importance to them compared with eradicating poverty. Nevertheless three of these countries are in the lead currently for installing renewables, far ahead of most of those [only 37 out of 187 countries world-wide] who are committed to limiting their emissions. This paper explains why. The main function of renewable energy is to save fuel, thereby reducing energy imports and maintaining security of energy supplies without the need to fight world wars over them. Also, being capital intensive with all the money paid up-front, renewables avoid the price fluctuations that bedevil the oil and other fossil fuel industries. As capacity is doubling every 3 years, renewables prices will come down with savings of scale, so wind power in particular will soon be the cheapest form of power.