Climate Change Mitigation Actions Research Articles

China’s Low Carbon Transformation: Drivers, Challenges, and Paths

National climate change mitigation actions and objectives could be taken from both active and passive considerations. China has multiple objectives to develop a low carbon economy and to decrease carbon dioxide emission per unit of GDP, including mitigation of global climate change, security of energy supply, promotion of sustainable development (environmental protection, poverty alleviation, employment and natural conservation). In this regard, China's actions are more at the active side than from a pressure outside. However, there are some suspicions in the international society about whether China has the determination and efficiency in mitigation actions. The author demonstrates that China's low carbon transformation is largely driven from domestic considerations. For china the question is not to make the transformation into a low carbon economy, but how to accelerate the process. In the meantime, low carbon transformation in China has to face many serious challenges. A dilemma exists that a higher carbon may actually help raise necessary resources for promoting low carbon solutions. Understanding and international cooperation are essential for China's low carbon transformation.

A Review of Frameworks for Developing Environmental Health Indicators for Climate Change and Health

The role climate change may play in altering human health, particularly in the emergence and spread of diseases, is an evolving area of research. It is important to understand this relationship because it will compound the already significant burden of diseases on national economies and public health. Authorities need to be able to assess, anticipate, and monitor human health vulnerability to climate change, in order to plan for, or implement action to avoid these eventualities. Environmental health indicators (EHIs) provide a tool to assess, monitor, and quantify human health vulnerability, to aid in the design and targeting of interventions, and measure the effectiveness of climate change adaptation and mitigation activities. Our aim was to identify the most suitable framework for developing EHIs to measure and monitor the impacts of climate change on human health and inform the development of interventions. Using published literature we reviewed the attributes of 11 frameworks. We identified the Driving force-Pressure-State-Exposure-Effect-Action (DPSEEA) framework as the most suitable one for developing EHIs for climate change and health. We propose the use of EHIs as a valuable tool to assess, quantify, and monitor human health vulnerability, design and target interventions, and measure the effectiveness of climate change adaptation and mitigation activities. In this paper, we lay the groundwork for the future development of EHIs as a multidisciplinary approach to link existing environmental and epidemiological data and networks. Analysis of such data will contribute to an enhanced understanding of the relationship between climate change and human health.

DRIVERS OF STABILITY OF CLIMATE COALITIONS IN THE STACO MODEL

This paper investigates which drivers affect the formation and stability of international climate agreements (ICAs). The applied model STACO is used to project costs and benefits of an international agreement on climate change mitigation activities. The simulation results show that an incentive-based permit allocation scheme is an essential driver in stabilizing larger coalitions. Regional damage shares turn out to be another driver of coalition formation but global damages do not seem to be, thus illustrating that international coalition formation is a matter of relative costs and benefits across regions. No allocation scheme can, however, assure the stability of a global agreement due to huge free-rider incentives. This requires alternative rules, such as a condition that some players are essential in a coalition, or accepting a small loss from cooperation.

Aerosol exposure versus aerosol cooling of climate: what is the optimal emission reduction strategy for human health?

Abstract. Particles, climate change, and health have thought-provoking interactions. Air pollution is one of the largest environmental problems concerning human health. On the other hand, aerosol particles can have a cooling effect on climate and a reduction of those emissions may result in an increased temperature globally, which in turn may have negative health effects. The objective of this work was to investigate the "total health effects" of aerosol emissions, which include both exposure to particles and consequences for climate change initiated by particles. As a case study the "total health effect" from ship emissions was derived by subtracting the number of deaths caused by exposure with the estimated number of lives saved from the cooling effect of the emissions. The analysis showed that, with current level of scientific understanding, it could not be determined whether ship emissions are negative or positive for human health on a short time scale. This first attempt to approximate the combined effect of particle emissions on health shows that reductions of particulate air pollution will in some cases (black carbon) have win-win effects on health and climate, but sometimes also cause a shift from particle exposure-related health effects towards an increasing risk of health consequences from climate change. Thus, measures to reduce aerosol emissions have to be coupled with climate change mitigation actions to achieve a full health benefit on a global level.

China’s Low Carbon Transformation: drivers, challenges, and paths

National climate change mitigation actions and objectives could be taken from both active and passive considerations. China has multiple objectives to develop a low carbon economy and to decrease carbon dioxide emission per unit of GDP, including mitigation of global climate change, security of energy supply, promotion of sustainable development (environmental protection, poverty alleviation, employment and natural conservation). In this regard, China’s actions are more at the active side than from a pressure outside. However, there are some suspicions in the international society about whether China has the determination and efficiency in mitigation actions. The author demonstrates that China’s low carbon transformation is largely driven from domestic considerations. For China the question is not to make the transformation into a low carbon economy, but how to accelerate the process. In the meantime, low carbon transformation in China has to face many serious challenges. A dilemma exists that a higher carbon may actually help raise necessary resources for promoting low carbon solutions. Understanding and international cooperation are essential for China’s low carbon transformation.

Strategies for optimal penetration of intermittent renewables in complex energy systems based on techno-operational objectives

Renewable energy sources (RES) are mainly used in the electrical sector. Electricity is not a storable commodity. Hence it is necessary to produce the requested quantity and distribute it through the system in such a way as to ensure that electricity supply and demand are always evenly balanced. This constraint is actually the main problem related to the penetration of new renewables (wind and photovoltaic power) in the context of complex energy systems. Moreover the design of optimal energy resource mixes in climate change mitigation actions is a challenge faced in many places. The paper analyzes the problem of new renewable energy sources penetration. The case of Italian scenario is considered as a meaningful reference due to the characteristic size and the complexity of the same. The various energy scenarios are evaluated with the aid of a multipurpose software taking into account the interconnections between the different energetic uses. In particular it is shown how the penetration of new renewable energy sources is limited at an upper level by technological considerations and it will be more sustainable if an integration of the various energy uses (thermal, mobility and electrical) will be considered. A series of optimized scenarios are developed. In each case the maximum RES penetration feasible with the constraints was defined. Then analysis is applied to an energy system model of Italy showing how an integrated development of CHP and electric mobility can aid a further integration of wind and photovoltaic energy power. Finally the primary energy consumption saving possible in case of consistent penetration of intermittent renewables and CHP was identified.

Social participation and climate change

Social participation has been broadly analysed by comparing case studies of different types of socio-economic developments in Brazil and the United Kingdom (UK). A key objective has been to consider how effective social participation has been in incorporating society’s points of view in the decision making process. In most cases, it would appear that very little can be done by stakeholders to change big decisions on development policies that support public and private development because in reality social participation often only provides an opportunity for discussion and agreement on specific issues regarding how development will be undertaken and how stakeholders will be affected. Although Brazil and the United Kingdom have socio-economic and cultural differences, it is necessary to emphasize that education, self-organization and knowledge of civil rights are crucial for an effective social participation process. As climate change is an important topic for present and future generations and that some of the development activities analysed in this study will emit greenhouse gases, this study also attempts to investigate if climate change mitigation strategies have been integrated into the social participation process. Investigation shows that there is little evidence that climate change mitigation actions involving stakeholders have been integrated into development strategies or have been part of social participation schemes in the case studies analysed. Having said that, the study also describes positive examples of climate change mitigation actions in different parts of the world that involve local people in ‘carbon-neutral’ or ‘social-carbon’ projects and proposes the creation of a carbon-neutral committee that would be responsible for coordinating climate change mitigation measures within development proposals such as the ones analysed in this study.

English

Addressing climate change requires action at all levels of society, from neighborhood to international levels. Using Rapid Ethnography rooted in Asset Based Community Development theory, we investigated climate-friendly attitudes and behaviors in two Chicago neighborhoods in order to assist the City with implementation of its Climate Action Plan. Our research suggests a means to effectively engage urban residents at the household and neighborhood level: understand the issues of importance in each neighborhood, assess the ways these are related to climate change mitigation or adaptation actions, and engage residents from this perspective, meeting mutually compatible goals. This builds upon the concept of co-benefits, but puts the neighborhood concerns rather than climate change issues in the lead in order to meet multiple goals. Rapid ethnography is a method well-suited to develop these understandings. It allows quick but in-depth insights into the attitudes, behaviors, goals, and aspirations of a neighborhood or other groups of people.

Proposals on Carbon-related Border Adjustments: Prospects for WTO Compliance

Recently the practice of border adjustment in international trade has attracted much interest in the context of climate change. The risk of carbon leakage, the competitive disadvantage of industries in countries introducing a cap on emissions and the desire to induce large greenhouse gases emitting countries to join international climate change mitigation actions are the main reasons for considering import restrictions on products with high carbon footprint originating from uncapped nations. The aim of this paper is to examine current proposals on emissions-related border adjustments measures - tabled in the EU and the US - using the WTO legal framework on border adjustment and detect possible legal flaws which could lead to conflict with WTO law in the future. Special scrutiny is given to the proposals on the requirement for importers to submit emission allowances at the border and allowance rebates on exportation. The key questions are whether regulatory distinction between products based on their carbon content is permissible under the national treatment obligation of Article III of the GATT and whether an emission allowance requirement can qualify as an indirect tax acceptable for adjustment. The test on WTO compliance presented in this paper shows that proposals to include reports in national cap-and-trade systems and suggestions on emissions allowance rebates on exports are vulnerable to WTO challenge. The weaknesses of an emission allowance requirement for importers lie in the peculiarities of an emission allowance requirement as a quasi-tax linked to non-incorporated Processes and Procuction Methods (PPMs), in the criteria chosen for import coverage or exclusions and in the implementation details. Proposals on allowance rebates contradict environmental objectives and risk getting in conflict with WTO rules on subsidies.

Reviewing optimisation criteria for energy systems analyses of renewable energy integration

The utilisation of fluctuating renewable energy sources is increasing world-wide; however, so is the concern about how to integrate these resources into the energy systems. The design of optimal energy resource mixes in climate change mitigation actions is a challenge faced in many places. This optimisation may be implemented according to economic objectives or with a focus on techno-operational aims and within these two main groupings, several different criteria may potentially be applied to the design process. In this article, a series of optimisation criteria are reviewed and subsequently applied to an energy system model of Western Denmark in an analysis of how to use heat pumps for the integration of wind power. The analyses demonstrate that the fact whether the system in question is modelled as operated in island mode or not has a large impact on the definition of the optimal wind power level. If energy savings and CO 2 emission reductions beyond the system boundary are not included in the analysis, then it is either not feasible to expand wind power to a high degree or it is conversely more feasible to install relocation technologies that can utilise any excess production. The analyses also demonstrate that different optimisation criteria render different optimal designs.

Use of a Remote Car Starter in Relation to Smog and Climate Change Perceptions: A Population Survey in Québec (Canada)

Remote car starters encourage motorists to warm up their vehicles by idling the motor – thus increasing atmospheric pollutants, including several greenhouse gas (GHG) with impacts on public health. This study about climate change (CC) adaptation and mitigation actions examined perceptions on air pollution and climate change and individual characteristics associated with the use of a remote car starter. A telephone survey (n = 2,570; response rate: 70%) of adults living in Québec (Canada) measured the respondents’ beliefs and current behaviours regarding CC. Approximately 32.9% (daily car users) and 27.4% (occasional users) reported using a remote car starter during winter. The odds of the use of a remote car starter was higher in the less densely populated central (OR: 1.5) and peripheral regions (OR: 2.7) compared to the urban centers (ex. Montreal). The odds was also higher in population with a mother tongue other than English or French (OR: 2.6) and francophones than anglophones (OR: 2.1), women than men (OR: 1.5), daily drivers than occasional ones (OR: 1.2), and respondents who at least sometimes consulted temperature/humidity reports than those who consulted them less often (OR: 1.5). In multivariate analysis, the perception of living in a region susceptible to winter smog, being aware of smog warnings, or the belief in the human contribution to CC did not significantly influence the use of a remote car starter. The use of remote car starters encourages idling which produces increased atmospheric pollution and GHG production and it should be more efficiently and vigorously managed by various activities. A five-minute daily reduction in idling is equivalent to reducing the total car emissions by 1.8%. This would constitute a “no-regrets” approach to CC as it can simultaneously reduce GHG, air pollution and their health impacts.

The Incentives to Participate in and the Stability of International Climate Coalitions: A Game Theoretic Approach Using the WITCH Model

This paper uses WITCH, an integrated assessment model with a game-theoretic structure, to explore the prospects for, and the stability of broad coalitions to achieve ambitious climate change mitigation action. Only coalitions including all large emitting regions are found to be technically able to meet a concentration stabilisation target below 550 ppm CO2eq by 2100. Once the free-riding incentives of non-participants are taken into account, only a “grand coalition” including virtually all regions can be successful. This grand coalition is profitable as a whole, implying that all countries can gain from participation provided appropriate transfers are made across them. However, neither the grand coalition nor smaller but still environmentally significant coalitions appear to be stable. This is because the collective welfare surplus from cooperation is not found to be large enough for transfers to offset the free-riding incentives of all countries simultaneously. Some factors omitted from the analysis, which might improve coalition stability, include the co-benefits from mitigation action, the costless removal of fossil fuel subsidies, as well as alternative assumptions regarding countries’ bargaining behaviour.

A framework for a post-2012 global climate agreement

Global greenhouse gas emissions are on a steeper growth trajectory than assumed in most scenarios that underlie current international policy discussions and negotiations. Effective global climate change mitigation action will require speed, depth and breadth well beyond any efforts seen to date, and will need to involve all major emitters, including developing countries (Garnaut et al., 2008). To achieve a comprehensive global agreement at or after the Copenhagen climate conference, a principles-based framework for mitigation is needed. Here we outline a system that adds up to a global solution, and that could be broadly acceptable. It involves internationally tradable emissions rights allocated across countries, with allocations moving over time to equal per capita allocations. Developing countries would receive increasing emissions entitlements, linked to their GDP growth, for a transitional period. Binding emissions targets would apply to all developed and high-income countries plus China from the outset.

“A convenient truth”: air travel passengers’ willingness to pay to offset their CO2 emissions

Several economic reviews demonstrate the substantial costs related to climate change and consequently call for early action. These reviews, however, have been limited to measuring ‘objective’ risks and expected material damage related to climate change. The ‘subjective’ perceived risk of climate change and society’s willingness to pay (WTP) to avoid these risks are expected to provide an important additional motivation for direct action. We investigate whether and why air travel passengers—an increasingly important source of greenhouse gas emissions—are supportive of measures that increase the cost of their travel based on the polluter pays principle and compensate the damage caused by their flight. Compared to the results of the few previous studies that have elicited WTP estimates for climate policy more generally, our results appear to be at the lower end of the scale, while a comparison to estimates of the social cost of carbon shows that the average WTP estimate in this study is close to the estimated marginal damage cost. Although significant differences are found between travellers from Europe, North America, Asia and the rest of the world, we show that there exists a substantial demand for climate change mitigation action. The positive risk premium over and above the expected property damage cost assessments should be accounted for more explicitly in economic reviews as it will add to the burden of proof of direct action. Measurements of passenger WTP will help policy makers to design effective financial instruments aimed at discouraging climate-unfriendly travel activities as well as to generate funds for the measures directed at climate change mitigation and adaptation. Based on stated WTP by travellers to offset their greenhouse gas emissions, funds in the order of magnitude of €23 billion could be generated annually to finance climate change mitigation activities.

Variation in carbon storage among tree species: Implications for the management of a small-scale carbon sink project

Despite growing evidence for an effect of species composition on carbon (C) storage and sequestration, few projects have examined the implications of such a relationship for forestry and agriculture-based climate change mitigation activities. We worked with a community in Eastern Panama to determine the average above- and below-ground C stocks of three land-use types in their territory: managed forest, agroforests and pasture. We examined evidence for a functional relationship between tree-species diversity and C storage in each land-use type, and also explored how the use of particular tree species by community members could affect C storage. We found that managed forests in this landscape stored an average of 335 Mg C ha −1, traditional agroforests an average of 145 Mg C ha −1, and pastures an average of 46 Mg C ha −1 including all vegetation-based C stocks and soil C to 40 cm depth. We did not detect a relationship between diversity and C storage; however, the relative contributions of species to C storage per hectare in forests and agroforests were highly skewed and often were not proportional to species’ relative abundances. We conclude that protecting forests from conversion to pasture would have the greatest positive impact on C stocks, even though the forests are managed by community members for timber and non-timber forest products. However, because several of the tree species that contribute the most to C storage in forests were identified by community members as preferred timber species, we suggest that species-level management will be important to avoiding C-impoverishment through selective logging in these forests. Our data also indicate that expanding agroforests into areas currently under pasture could sequester significant amounts of carbon while providing biodiversity and livelihood benefits that the most common reforestation systems in the region – monoculture teak plantations – do not provide.

Possibilities and options for the Clean Development Mechanism and the Green Investment Scheme in Central and Eastern Europe: Macedonian and Romanian perspectives

Abstract Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is a rapidly changing and developing region which is making the transition to a market based economy. Along with economic reforms, the countries of the region are engaged in substantial environmental reforms, including climate change mitigation activities. Mitigation of, and adaptation to, the consequences of climate change are costly processes. It is therefore of great importance that the national and international mechanisms addressing these problems use methods both environmentally sound and economically efficient. Through two case studies that address the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and the Green Investment Scheme (GIS) in Romania, this paper explores challenges, related tasks and main problems in the establishment of mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol in Central and Eastern Europe.

Market mechanisms as drivers of capacity building and technology transfer: Synergies between climate change and biodiversity

SummaryIn many countries, lack of awareness, capacity and technology availability are among the strongest constraints to maintain or enhance biodiversity levels. From the activities being developed under the Climate Change convention we can observe that the introduction of a market mechanism accelerates the process of Capacity Building and Technology Transfer through greater bottom-up demand and more top-down funding. A similar market mechanism for Biodiversity could greatly increase finance streams to projects and to Capacity Building and Technology Transfer. However, despite several early attempts to market biodiversity in one form or other, it is clear that a real market mechanism does not yet exist. There are some serious constraints to its development, among which the lack of international legal frameworks, product definition and property rights are but a few, and it will take much time and effort to overcome these. In the meantime, there is a synergy between Climate Change and Biodiversity markets that deserves to be developed further. Many Climate Change mitigation activities, particularly in the forestry sector, show additional biodiversity benefits, and in some cases buyers of forestry ‘carbon credits’ may be prepared to pay extra for this added value. This interrelationship provides the opportunity to let the existing Climate Change market function as a booster for Biodiversity Capacity Building and Technology Transfer. In this paper two case studies are presented that exemplift this. One is the technology transfer of Reduced Impact Logging methodologies to SE-Asian logging companies, in the early years of the Climate Change negotiations (forest management is no longer eligible under the Kyoto Protocol’s CDM). The other is a recent project in Colombia that seeks to sell ‘environmental shares’ in combination with carbon credits.

Carbon sequestration and biomass energy offset: theoretical, potential and achievable capacities globally, in Europe and the UK : Cannell, M. G. R. Biomass and Bioenergy, 2003, 24, (2), 97–116

In addition to driving mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, climate change mitigation actions can deliver non-climate benefits (co-benefits) but can also have adverse side-effects, working counter to other development objectives. Co-impacts assessment seeks to identify these co-benefits and adverse side-effects. Understanding of co-impacts can provide the knowledge base to garner support for mitigation actions, and to plan interventions that realize synergistic opportunities and contribute simultaneously to multiple objectives, increasing the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of climate actions. However, the value of this information is determined by the manner in which it is framed and communicated.In this paper, the relationships between climate change mitigation action and co-impacts and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are explored and illustrated using a selection of examples from countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). We suggest that in the context of SDGs, the co-benefits approach could provide a cohesive framing to incentivize stakeholders to work together to garner support for ambitious policy which simultaneously achieves climate change mitigation and non-climate objectives. Similarly, understanding of adverse side-effects can help to ensure that trade-offs with delivery of the SDGs arising from mitigation actions are recognised and minimised. We note that the best way of framing these concepts is context and application specific.

Climate Change Mitigation Activities in the Philippine Forestry Sector: Application of the COMAP Model

The forest sector in the Philippines has the potential to be amajor sink for carbon (C). The present study was conducted to evaluatepotential forestry mitigation options in the Philippines using the Comprehensive Mitigation Assessment Process (COMAP)model. The baseline scenario (BAU) assumes that current trends continue upto the year 2030 (`business-as-usual'). Two mitigation scenarios wereevaluated: high scenario (HS) and low scenario (LS). The former ispatterned largely from the government's forest master plan while thelatter assumes a 50% lower success rate of the master plan.The results of the analyses show that by 2030, the total C stock of thePhilippine forest sector in the baseline scenario decreases to 814× 106 Mg C,down by 37% compared to the 1990 level. The C stocks of the HS andLS mitigation scenarios were 22% and 18% higher than the BAU,respectively. Of the mitigation options assessed, long rotation plantationsand forest protection activities produce the greatest C gain (199 and 104× 106 Mg, respectively under HS). The not present value (NPV)of benefits is highest in the bioenergyoption with $24.48 per Mg C (excluding opportunity costs) at a realdiscount rate of 12%. However, the investment and life cycle costs arealso highest using bioenergy.The study also estimated potential investments needed under the mitigationscenarios. The investment requirement for the LS amounts to $263× 106 while for the HS it is $748 × 106. Finally, policy issues anddecisions that may be useful for the Philippines to evaluate LULUCFmitigation options under the UNFCCC Kyoto Protocol, are identified anddiscussed.

Cost of stabilizing GHG emissions Focus on developing countries

The estimation of the costs and benefits of national climate change mitigation has acquired primary importance with the ratification of the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC). The FCCC requires that each signatory prepare and complete inventories of greenhouse gases, and it calls for each party to formulate, implement, publish and regularly update national programs containing measures to mitigate climate change. In addition, it states that the developing countries may propose projects for financing with an estimate of the incremental costs and benefits of reducing emissions. Another article of the Convention notes that developing country parties may seek funds from developed coutries for climate change mitigation activities. The Convention thus requires the estimation of incremental costs, and of the amount of fund transfers required for stabilizing emissions growth.