The direction of urban development and policy implications for response to climate change – the case of Gwangju Metropolitan City, Republic of Korea

South Africa is been faced with erratic power supply, resulting in persistent load shedding due to ageing in most of its coal-fired power plants. Associated with generating electricity from fossil fuel are environmental consequences such as greenhouse emissions and climate change. On the other hand, the country is endowed with abundant renewable energy resources that can potentially ameliorate its energy needs. This article explores the viability of renewable energy using the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis approach on the key renewable potential in the country. The result indicates that geographic position, political and economic stability and policy implementation are some of the strengths. However, Government bureaucratic processes, level of awareness and high investment cost are some of the weaknesses. Several opportunities favour switching to renewable energy, and these include regional integration, global awareness on climate change and the continuous electricity demand. Some threats hindering the renewable energy sector in the country include land ownership, corruption and erratic climatic conditions. Some policy implications are suggested based on the findings of the study.

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Loss and damage from climate change and implicit assumptions of sustainable development

Climatic Change ◽

10.1007/s10584-021-02970-z ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 164 (1-2) ◽

Author(s):

Chad S. Boda ◽

Turaj Faran ◽

Murray Scown ◽

Kelly Dorkenoo ◽

Brian C. Chaffin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Sustainable Development ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Systematic Analysis ◽

Integrative Framework ◽

Mitigation And Adaptation ◽

Policy Domain ◽

Loss And Damage ◽

Development Approach ◽

Research And Policy

AbstractLoss and damage from climate change, recognized as a unique research and policy domain through the Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM) in 2013, has drawn increasing attention among climate scientists and policy makers. Labelled by some as the “third pillar” of the international climate regime—along with mitigation and adaptation—it has been suggested that loss and damage has the potential to catalyze important synergies with other international agendas, particularly sustainable development. However, the specific approaches to sustainable development that inform loss and damage research and how these approaches influence research outcomes and policy recommendations remain largely unexplored. We offer a systematic analysis of the assumptions of sustainable development that underpins loss and damage scholarship through a comprehensive review of peer-reviewed research on loss and damage. We demonstrate that the use of specific metrics, decision criteria, and policy prescriptions by loss and damage researchers and practitioners implies an unwitting adherence to different underlying theories of sustainable development, which in turn impact how loss and damage is conceptualized and applied. In addition to research and policy implications, our review suggests that assumptions about the aims of sustainable development determine how loss and damage is conceptualized, measured, and governed, and the human development approach currently represents the most advanced perspective on sustainable development and thus loss and damage. This review supports sustainable development as a coherent, comprehensive, and integrative framework for guiding further conceptual and empirical development of loss and damage scholarship.

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Zero Carbon Building Practices in Aotearoa New Zealand

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14154455 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (15) ◽

pp. 4455

Author(s):

Thao Thi Phuong Bui ◽

Suzanne Wilkinson ◽

Niluka Domingo ◽

Casimir MacGregor

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

New Zealand ◽

Construction Industry ◽

Local Governments ◽

Early Stage ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Building Projects ◽

Aotearoa New Zealand ◽

Zero Carbon

In the light of climate change, the drive for zero carbon buildings is known as one response to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Within New Zealand, research on climate change mitigation and environmental impacts of buildings has received renewed attention. However, there has been no detailed investigation of zero carbon building practices. This paper undertakes an exploratory study through the use of semi-structured interviews with government representatives and construction industry experts to examine how the New Zealand construction industry plans and implements zero carbon buildings. The results show that New Zealand’s construction industry is in the early stage of transiting to a net-zero carbon built environment. Key actions to date are focused on devising a way for the industry to develop and deliver zero carbon building projects. Central and local governments play a leading role in driving zero carbon initiatives. Leading construction firms intend to maximise the carbon reduction in building projects by developing a roadmap to achieve the carbon target by 2050 and rethinking the way of designing and constructing buildings. The research results provide an insight into the initial practices and policy implications for the uptake of zero carbon buildings in Aotearoa New Zealand.

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MITIGATION COST AND CLIMATE DAMAGE VERSUS INCENTIVE SHIFTS OF CLIMATE COALITION

Climate Change Economics ◽

10.1142/s2010007816500111 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 07 (04) ◽

pp. 1650011

Author(s):

ZILI YANG

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Bargaining Game ◽

Integrated Assessment Model ◽

Assessment Model ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Good Representation ◽

Ghg Mitigation ◽

Mitigation Cost ◽

The Core ◽

Cooperative Bargaining

Climate damage and greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation cost plays important roles in a region’s willingness and incentives to join the global climate coalition. Negotiation of climate treaty can be modeled as a cooperative bargaining game of externality provision. The core of this game is a good representation of incentives of the participants. In this paper, we examine the relationship between the shocks of mitigation cost/climate damage and the shifts of the core of cooperative bargaining game of climate negotiation within the framework of RICE [Nordhaus and Yang, 1996. A regional dynamic general equilibrium model of alternative climate change strategies. American Economic Review, 86, 741–765], a widely used integrated assessment model (IAM) of climate change. Constructing a method that maps the core allocations onto a convex hull on the simplex of social welfare weights, we describe the scope of the core in simple metrics and capture the shifts of the core representation on the simplex in response to the shocks of mitigation cost and climate damage. A series of simulations are conducted in RICE to demonstrate the usefulness of the approach explored here. In addition, policy implications of methodological results are indicated.

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Climate change — policy implications

Energy Policy ◽

10.1016/0301-4215(91)90004-8 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 19 (9) ◽

pp. 814-815

Author(s):

A. Jagadeesh

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Climate Change Policy ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Change Policy

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Coastal and river flood risk analyses for guiding economically optimal flood adaptation policies: a country-scale study for Mexico

Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society A Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences ◽

10.1098/rsta.2017.0329 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 376 (2121) ◽

pp. 20170329 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Toon Haer ◽

W. J. Wouter Botzen ◽

Vincent van Roomen ◽

Harry Connor ◽

Jorge Zavala-Hidalgo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Risk Assessment ◽

Flood Risk ◽

Cost Benefit ◽

Economic Benefits ◽

Adaptation Strategies ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Flood Protection ◽

Local Data ◽

Flood Adaptation

Many countries around the world face increasing impacts from flooding due to socio-economic development in flood-prone areas, which may be enhanced in intensity and frequency as a result of climate change. With increasing flood risk, it is becoming more important to be able to assess the costs and benefits of adaptation strategies. To guide the design of such strategies, policy makers need tools to prioritize where adaptation is needed and how much adaptation funds are required. In this country-scale study, we show how flood risk analyses can be used in cost–benefit analyses to prioritize investments in flood adaptation strategies in Mexico under future climate scenarios. Moreover, given the often limited availability of detailed local data for such analyses, we show how state-of-the-art global data and flood risk assessment models can be applied for a detailed assessment of optimal flood-protection strategies. Our results show that especially states along the Gulf of Mexico have considerable economic benefits from investments in adaptation that limit risks from both river and coastal floods, and that increased flood-protection standards are economically beneficial for many Mexican states. We discuss the sensitivity of our results to modelling uncertainties, the transferability of our modelling approach and policy implications. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Advances in risk assessment for climate change adaptation policy’.

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A Comparative Analysis of Climate-Risk and Extreme Event-Related Impacts on Well-Being and Health: Policy Implications

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph15020331 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 15 (2) ◽

pp. 331 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Walter Leal Filho ◽

Abul Al-Amin ◽

Gustavo Nagy ◽

Ulisses Azeiteiro ◽

Laura Wiesböck ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Extreme Events ◽

Extreme Event ◽

Well Being ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Health Impacts ◽

Climate Risks ◽

Wide Range ◽

Mental Problems

There are various climate risks that are caused or influenced by climate change. They are known to have a wide range of physical, economic, environmental and social impacts. Apart from damages to the physical environment, many climate risks (climate variability, extreme events and climate-related hazards) are associated with a variety of impacts on human well-being, health, and life-supporting systems. These vary from boosting the proliferation of vectors of diseases (e.g., mosquitos), to mental problems triggered by damage to properties and infrastructure. There is a great variety of literature about the strong links between climate change and health, while there is relatively less literature that specifically examines the health impacts of climate risks and extreme events. This paper is an attempt to address this knowledge gap, by compiling eight examples from a set of industrialised and developing countries, where such interactions are described. The policy implications of these phenomena and the lessons learned from the examples provided are summarised. Some suggestions as to how to avert the potential and real health impacts of climate risks are made, hence assisting efforts to adapt to a problem whose impacts affect millions of people around the world. All the examples studied show some degree of vulnerability to climate risks regardless of their socioeconomic status and need to increase resilience against extreme events.

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