A well-timed shift from local to global agreements accelerates climate change mitigation

AbstractRecent attempts at cooperating on climate change mitigation highlight the limited efficacy of large-scale negotiations, when commitment to mitigation is costly and initially rare. Deepening existing voluntary mitigation pledges could require more stringent, legally-binding agreements that currently remain untenable at the global scale. Building-blocks approaches promise greater success by localizing agreements to regions or few-nation summits, but risk slowing mitigation adoption globally. Here, we show that a well-timed policy shift from local to global legally-binding agreements can dramatically accelerate mitigation compared to using only local, only global, or both agreement types simultaneously. This highlights the scale-specific roles of mitigation incentives: local agreements promote and sustain mitigation commitments in early-adopting groups, after which global agreements rapidly draw in late-adopting groups. We conclude that focusing negotiations on local legally-binding agreements and, as these become common, a renewed pursuit of stringent, legally-binding world-wide agreements could best overcome many current challenges facing climate mitigation.

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On the climate change mitigation potential of CO2 conversion to fuels

Energy & Environmental Science ◽

10.1039/c7ee02819a ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 10 (12) ◽

pp. 2491-2499 ◽

Cited By ~ 91

Author(s):

J. Carlos Abanades ◽

Edward S. Rubin ◽

Marco Mazzotti ◽

Howard J. Herzog

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Climate Change Mitigation ◽

Liquid Fuels ◽

Climate Mitigation ◽

Co2 Conversion ◽

Mitigation Potential ◽

Alternative Systems ◽

Change Mitigation

Proposed utilization schemes producing liquid fuels from captured CO2 offer fewer climate mitigation benefits at higher costs than alternative systems.

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Invention and Transfer of Climate Change Mitigation Technologies on a Global Scale: A Study Drawing on Patent Data

SSRN Electronic Journal ◽

10.2139/ssrn.1414227 ◽

2010 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Antoine Dechezleprêtre ◽

Matthieu Glachant ◽

Ivan Hascic ◽

Nick Johnstone ◽

Yann Ménière

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Climate Change Mitigation ◽

Global Scale ◽

Patent Data ◽

Change Mitigation

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Determined Action to Tackle Health Determinants: A Collaborative Response to the Challenge of Climate Change Mitigation in Practice Settings

Creative Nursing ◽

10.1891/1078-4535.25.3.195 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 25 (3) ◽

pp. 195-200 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Roslyn Elizabeth Morgan

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Health Care ◽

Health Care Professionals ◽

Climate Change Mitigation ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Well Being ◽

Health Determinants ◽

Climate Mitigation ◽

Policy Debates ◽

Change Mitigation

The physical environment has long been understood as a major determinant of health and well-being. In recent years, the relationship between health and the environment has become particularly pronounced, with the impacts of climate change identified as having the potential to reverse the last 50 years of public health advancement (Watts et al., 2015). Increasingly, professional bodies within health care are called upon to frame climate change as a health issue. Despite this, studies have found that nurses report feeling ill-equipped to respond to environmental changes and the resulting health impacts (Anåker, Nilsson, Holmner, & Elf, 2015; Lewis, 2018; Polivka, Chaudry, & Mac Crawford, 2011). This article recognizes some of the barriers facing concerned health-care professionals who wish to introduce climate mitigation activities within their sphere of professional operation. The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (Victorian Branch) was approached by nurses, midwives, and carers, to become more involved in policy debates surrounding climate change and to provide stronger support to members in responding to environmental issues. The result is top-down and bottom-up responses working in synergy for climate change mitigation, by empowering nurses to make changes to their professional practice.

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Generating carbon finance through avoided deforestation and its potential to create climatic, conservation and human development benefits

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2007.0029 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 363 (1498) ◽

pp. 1917-1924 ◽

Cited By ~ 138

Author(s):

Johannes Ebeling ◽

Maï Yasué

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Human Development ◽

Climate Change Mitigation ◽

Forest Degradation ◽

Climate Mitigation ◽

Carbon Markets ◽

Conservation And Development ◽

Tropical Forest Conservation ◽

Formidable Challenge ◽

Change Mitigation

Recent proposals to compensate developing countries for reducing emissions from deforestation (RED) under forthcoming climate change mitigation regimes are receiving increasing attention. Here we demonstrate that if RED credits were traded on international carbon markets, even moderate decreases in deforestation rates could generate billions of Euros annually for tropical forest conservation. We also discuss the main challenges for a RED mechanism that delivers real climatic benefits. These include providing sufficient incentives while only rewarding deforestation reductions beyond business-as-usual scenarios, addressing risks arising from forest degradation and international leakage, and ensuring permanence of emission reductions. Governance may become a formidable challenge for RED because some countries with the highest RED potentials score poorly on governance indices. In addition to climate mitigation, RED funds could help achieve substantial co-benefits for biodiversity conservation and human development. However, this will probably require targeted additional support because the highest biodiversity threats and human development needs may exist in countries that have limited income potentials from RED. In conclusion, how successfully a market-based RED mechanism can contribute to climate change mitigation, conservation and development will strongly depend on accompanying measures and carefully designed incentive structures involving governments, business, as well as the conservation and development communities.

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The Manokwari Declaration: Challenges ahead in conserving 70% of Tanah Papua’s forests

Forest and Society ◽

10.24259/fs.v3i1.6067 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 148 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Rodrigo Cámara-Leret ◽

Andre Schuiteman ◽

Timothy Utteridge ◽

Gemma Bramley ◽

Richard Deverell ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Costa Rica ◽

Biodiversity Conservation ◽

Climate Change Mitigation ◽

Large Scale ◽

New Guinea ◽

Global Impact ◽

Se Asia ◽

Impact On Biodiversity ◽

Change Mitigation

The Manokwari Declaration is an unprecedented pledge by the governors of Indonesia’s two New Guinea provinces to promote conservation and become SE Asia’s new Costa Rica. This is an exciting, yet challenging endeavour that will require working on many fronts that transcend single disciplines. Because Indonesian New Guinea has the largest expanse of intact forests in SE Asia, large-scale conservation pledges like the Manokwari Declaration will have a global impact on biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation.

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Tropospheric ozone and its precursors from the urban to the global scale from air quality to short-lived climate forcer

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions ◽

10.5194/acpd-14-32709-2014 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 14 (23) ◽

pp. 32709-32933 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

P. S. Monks ◽

A. T. Archibald ◽

A. Colette ◽

O. Cooper ◽

M. Coyle ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Air Quality ◽

Tropospheric Ozone ◽

Ecosystem Health ◽

Climate Change Mitigation ◽

Global Scale ◽

Background Ozone ◽

Oxidation Chemistry ◽

Change Mitigation

Abstract. Ozone holds a certain fascination in atmospheric science. It is ubiquitous in the atmosphere, central to tropospheric oxidation chemistry, yet harmful to human and ecosystem health as well as being an important greenhouse gas. It is not emitted into the atmosphere but is a by-product of the very oxidation chemistry it largely initiates. Much effort is focussed on the reduction of surface levels of ozone owing to its health impacts but recent efforts to achieve reductions in exposure at a country scale have proved difficult to achieve due to increases in background ozone at the zonal hemispheric scale. There is also a growing realisation that the role of ozone as a short-lived climate pollutant could be important in integrated air quality climate-change mitigation. This review examines current understanding of the processes regulating tropospheric ozone at global to local scales from both measurements and models. It takes the view that knowledge across the scales is important for dealing with air quality and climate change in a synergistic manner.

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A framework for the cross-sectoral integration of multi-model impact projections: land use decisions under climate impacts uncertainties

Earth System Dynamics ◽

10.5194/esd-6-447-2015 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 447-460 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

K. Frieler ◽

A. Levermann ◽

J. Elliott ◽

J. Heinke ◽

A. Arneth ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Decision Making ◽

Land Use ◽

Climate Change Mitigation ◽

Large Scale ◽

Impact Model ◽

Natural Carbon ◽

Change Mitigation ◽

Biome Model

Abstract. Climate change and its impacts already pose considerable challenges for societies that will further increase with global warming (IPCC, 2014a, b). Uncertainties of the climatic response to greenhouse gas emissions include the potential passing of large-scale tipping points (e.g. Lenton et al., 2008; Levermann et al., 2012; Schellnhuber, 2010) and changes in extreme meteorological events (Field et al., 2012) with complex impacts on societies (Hallegatte et al., 2013). Thus climate change mitigation is considered a necessary societal response for avoiding uncontrollable impacts (Conference of the Parties, 2010). On the other hand, large-scale climate change mitigation itself implies fundamental changes in, for example, the global energy system. The associated challenges come on top of others that derive from equally important ethical imperatives like the fulfilment of increasing food demand that may draw on the same resources. For example, ensuring food security for a growing population may require an expansion of cropland, thereby reducing natural carbon sinks or the area available for bio-energy production. So far, available studies addressing this problem have relied on individual impact models, ignoring uncertainty in crop model and biome model projections. Here, we propose a probabilistic decision framework that allows for an evaluation of agricultural management and mitigation options in a multi-impact-model setting. Based on simulations generated within the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISI-MIP), we outline how cross-sectorally consistent multi-model impact simulations could be used to generate the information required for robust decision making. Using an illustrative future land use pattern, we discuss the trade-off between potential gains in crop production and associated losses in natural carbon sinks in the new multiple crop- and biome-model setting. In addition, crop and water model simulations are combined to explore irrigation increases as one possible measure of agricultural intensification that could limit the expansion of cropland required in response to climate change and growing food demand. This example shows that current impact model uncertainties pose an important challenge to long-term mitigation planning and must not be ignored in long-term strategic decision making.

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Mangrove blue carbon strategies for climate change mitigation are most effective at the national scale

Biology Letters ◽

10.1098/rsbl.2018.0251 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 14 (10) ◽

pp. 20180251 ◽

Cited By ~ 38

Author(s):

Pierre Taillardat ◽

Daniel A. Friess ◽

Massimo Lupascu

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Climate Change Mitigation ◽

Fossil Fuel ◽

Global Scale ◽

Blue Carbon ◽

National Scale ◽

Nationally Determined Contributions ◽

Natural Carbon ◽

Change Mitigation ◽

Fossil Fuel Emissions

Carbon fixed by vegetated coastal ecosystems (blue carbon) can mitigate anthropogenic CO 2 emissions, though its effectiveness differs with the spatial scale of interest. A literature review compiling carbon sequestration rates within key ecosystems confirms that blue carbon ecosystems are the most efficient natural carbon sinks at the plot scale, though some overlooked biogeochemical processes may lead to overestimation. Moreover, the limited spatial extent of coastal habitats minimizes their potential at the global scale, only buffering 0.42% of the global fossil fuel carbon emissions in 2014. Still, blue carbon plays a role for countries with moderate fossil fuel emissions and extensive coastlines. In 2014, mangroves mitigated greater than 1% of national fossil fuel emissions for countries such as Bangladesh, Colombia and Nigeria. Considering that the Paris Agreement is based on nationally determined contributions, we propose that mangrove blue carbon may contribute to climate change mitigation at this scale in some instances alongside other blue carbon ecosystems.

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