Financialization of nature and climate change policy: implications for mining-impacted Afro-Colombian communities

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamra L Gilbertson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Carbon Tax ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Forest Degradation ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Change Mitigation

Abstract The use of financial instruments for climate change mitigation puts communities and nature at risk. Success is measured by capital accumulation rather than the ability to protect or enhance human and non-human nature. From cap and trade programmes that allow corporations to buy and sell ‘units’ of pollution on financialized markets, to forest offset credits, the financialization of nature presupposes the separation and quantification of the Earth’s cycles and functions with carbon, water, and biodiversity. Financialization causes these cycles to be treated as units to be sold in financial and speculation markets. This article reviews the theoretical frameworks of financialization of nature and proliferating climate change policies. I explore the flaws of the new carbon pricing and carbon tax platform in Colombia and its impacts on Afro-Colombian communities in the coal mining region of Cesar, in northeast Caribbean and related Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) projects on the Pacific coast of Colombia.

Climate Change Triage

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noah M. Sachs
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Emergency Medicine ◽  
International Law ◽  
Moral Theory ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Climate Policies ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
Change Mitigation

Climate change is the first global triage crisis. It is caused by the overuse of a severely limited natural resource—the atmosphere’s capacity to absorb greenhouse gases—and millions of lives depend on how international law allocates this resource among nations.This Article is the first to explore solutions for climate change mitigation through the lens of triage ethics, drawing on law, philosophy, moral theory, and economics. The literature on triage ethics—developed in contexts such as battlefield trauma, organ donation, emergency medicine, and distribution of food and shelter—has direct implications for climate change policy and law, yet it has been overlooked by climate change scholars. The triage lens rules out climate policies—including the current emissions path—that will lead to catastrophic warming, and it puts options on the table that are marginalized in the current United Nations negotiations on a climate change agreement.This Article examines three allocation principles that could potentially apply in climate change triage—utilitarianism, egalitarianism, and a market-based distribution—and it concludes that egalitarianism is the preferable allocation principle from the standpoint of ethics and international law. This Article ends by exploring four major policy implications that emerge from viewing climate change through the lens of triage.

Global Climate Change: Policy Implications for Fisheries

Fisheries ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 33-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hermann Gucinski ◽  
Robert T. Lackey ◽  
Brian C. Spence
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Change Policy

Policy entrepreneurs in national climate change policy processes

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (8) ◽  
pp. 1456-1470 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inken Reimer ◽  
Barbara Saerbeck
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Policy ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Forest Degradation ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
Policy Entrepreneurs ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
Combat Climate Change

The multi-level and multi-actor character of the international climate governance regime, as well as the imminent need for action to combat climate change, stimulates the introduction of new and innovative cross-sectoral policy proposals by policy entrepreneurs. To date, academic literature has extensively studied and discussed the importance of policy entrepreneurs for agenda-setting. The role of policy entrepreneurs in providing continuous support for a new climate policy resulting in its implementation, has on the other hand, so far received only little attention. Taking the Norwegian Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation commitment as an exemplary case, this paper explores the potential of entrepreneurial engagement throughout a country’s climate policy-making process. It aims to demonstrate the importance of policy entrepreneurs beyond agenda-setting, namely for the policy formulation phase in which responsibilities for the implementation are designated to governmental bodies. We refer to this step as institutional anchoring. Following an explorative approach, this paper shows that different types of actors – non-governmental organisations and governmental actors – act as policy entrepreneurs. It demonstrates the roles and importance of policy entrepreneurs for not only gaining, but also maintaining attention on a new policy by means of coalition building and framing.

scholarly journals COMBINING MULTIPLE CLIMATE POLICY INSTRUMENTS: HOW NOT TO DO IT

2010 ◽  
Vol 01 (03) ◽  
pp. 209-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
SAMUEL FANKHAUSER ◽  
CAMERON HEPBURN ◽  
JISUNG PARK
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Tax ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Carbon Price ◽  
Reserve Price ◽  
Cap And Trade ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
Hybrid Instruments ◽  
Carbon Prices

Putting a price on carbon is critical for climate change policy. Increasingly, policymakers combine multiple policy tools to achieve this, for example by complementing cap-and-trade schemes with a carbon tax, or with a feed-in tariff. Often, the motivation for doing so is to limit undesirable fluctuations in the carbon price, either from rising too high or falling too low. This paper reviews the implications for the carbon price of combining cap-and-trade with other policy instruments. We find that price intervention may not always have the desired effect. Simply adding a carbon tax to an existing cap-and-trade system reduces the carbon price in the market to such an extent that the overall price signal (tax plus carbon price) may remain unchanged. Generous feed-in tariffs or renewable energy obligations within a capped area have the same effect: they undermine the carbon price in the rest of the trading regime, likely increasing costs without reducing emissions. Policymakers wishing to support carbon prices should turn to hybrid instruments — that is, trading schemes with price-like features, such as an auction reserve price — to make sure their objectives are met.

scholarly journals CARBON TAX: PROGRESS OR PLATITUDE FOR SOUTH AFRICA?

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele N Dempster
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Carbon Tax ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
Carbon Taxation ◽  
Petroleum Sector ◽  
Combat Climate Change

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.

scholarly journals REDD+ and the Clean Development Mechanism: A comparative perspective

2013 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Lovleen Bhullar
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Kyoto Protocol ◽  
Clean Development Mechanism ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Forest Degradation ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Governance Mechanism ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
Development Mechanism

The program, ‘Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation’ (REDD), which operates within the international climate change policy framework, is projected to emerge as one of the key climate change mitigation mechanisms for developing countries. The existing Afforestation/Reforestation (A/R) mechanism, operating under the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, may prove useful for drawing lessons for the emerging REDD program, since both mechanisms represent flexible means for developed countries to achieve compliance with their mitigation targets under the Kyoto Protocol. The possible means include CDM as the basis for a project-based approach for the implementation of REDD (if adopted) or the inclusion of REDD within CDM. This article compares the features of A/R CDM and REDD, identifies similarities and differences, and analyses the extent to which the former can provide guidance for the development of a carbon governance mechanism for REDD.

Climate Change, Energy Policy and Justice: A Systematic Review

2014 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Byrne ◽  
Chloe Portanger
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Energy Policy ◽  
Energy Security ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Energy Justice

AbstractEnergy efficiency and energy security are emerging concerns in climate change policy. But. there is little acknowledgment of energy justice issues. Marginalised and vulnerable communities may be disproportionately exposed to both climate change impacts (e.g. heat, flooding) and costs associated with energy transitions related to climate change mitigation and adaptation (e.g. particulate exposure from biofuel combustion). Climate change is producing energy-related impacts such as increased cooling costs. In some cases it threatens energy security. Higher electricity costs associated with ‘climate proofing’ energy network infrastructure may exacerbate ‘fuel poverty’ - itself a form of injustice. In this paper we critically review the literature about multiple interrelations between energy policy, justice and climate change. We identify key issues, illuminate knowledge gaps, and synthesise findings to develop a conceptual model. We chart a research agenda and highlight policy implications.

scholarly journals Coco-Power: Exploring Copra-Derived Biodiesel for Grid Connected Electricity in Vanuatu

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Timothy George Hewitt
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Feasibility Assessment ◽  
Financial Feasibility ◽  
Open Discourse ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
International Climate ◽  
Carbon Finance ◽  
Change Mitigation

<p>This research assesses the financial feasibility of a large scale copra-based biodiesel refinery in Vanuatu and whether any carbon finance could be sought to improve the viability of the project. The research cannot be perfectly predictive of the next fifteen years of financial situation, however, the research can quite accurately replicate the feasibility assessment that potential investors would make. The research finds that the project is not financially viable under current projections without carbon finance. The research also shows that carbon finance could be sought from a number of sources in order to make the project feasible. Under current projections the research finds that utilising the clean development mechanism would add approximately 2.9 million United States Dollars (USD) to the present value of the project. The conclusion from these results is that the proposed biodiesel project is sufficiently profitable to attract investors. The primary recommendation resulting from the research is that the stakeholders to the proposed biodiesel project begin an open discourse to work through any issues in order to develop a sustainable copra-based biodiesel refinery in Vanuatu to produce a substitute for the import of fossil diesel used for electricity generation in Port Vila. The secondary recommendation is that international climate change policy negotiators should keep in mind the full set of barriers when addressing the uptake of clean technology in developing countries; often it may not only be the financial feasibility that is preventing climate change mitigation activities.</p>

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