scholarly journals Economic development, climate and values: making policy

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1812) ◽  
pp. 20150820 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Stern
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Investment Environment ◽  
Economic Development And Growth ◽  
Stern Review ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Change Climate ◽  
Dangerous Climate Change

The two defining challenges of this century are overcoming poverty and managing the risks of climate change. Over the past 10 years, we have learned much about how to tackle them together from ideas on economic development and public policy. My own work in these areas over four decades as an academic and as a policy adviser in universities and international financial institutions has focused on how the investment environment and the empowerment of people can change lives and livelihoods. The application of insights from economic development and public policy to climate change requires rigorous analysis of issues such as discounting, modelling the risks of unmanaged climate change, climate policy targets and estimates of the costs of mitigation. The latest research and results show that the case for avoiding the risks of dangerous climate change through the transition to low-carbon economic development and growth is still stronger than when the Stern Review was published. This is partly because of evidence that some of the impacts of climate change are happening more quickly than originally expected, and because of remarkable advances in technologies, such as solar power. Nevertheless, significant hurdles remain in securing the international cooperation required to avoid dangerous climate change, not least because of disagreements and misunderstandings about key issues, such as ethics and equity.

2. Why do we need renewables?

2020 ◽  
pp. 16-29
Author(s):  
Nick Jelley
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽  
Internal Combustion Engines ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
Dangerous Climate Change ◽  
Low Carbon Energy

‘Why do we need renewables?’ describes the dangers of fossil fuels and explains the importance of renewable energy as an alternative. It shows that the use of fossil fuels causes global warming and climate change, leading to widespread concern, and also to a growing realization of the harm caused by the air pollution from coal burning and from internal combustion engines in cars and lorries. These threats are causing a switch away from fossil fuels to renewables that is gaining impetus from the growing awareness of the increased intensity and frequency of extreme weather seen in recent years. This transition is also being aided by the falling price of clean energy from renewables, in particular, solar and wind farms, which will become the dominant sources. The area of land or sea required for these farms is readily available, as are the back-ups required to handle their variability. Alternative supplies of low-carbon energy are examined. In the Paris Agreement in 2015, it was recognized that carbon dioxide emissions must reach net-zero by 2050 to avoid dangerous climate change.

Shaping the Evolution of Complex Societies

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Gowdy ◽  
Mariana Mazzucato ◽  
Jeroen C. J. M. van den Bergh ◽  
Sander E. van der Leeuw ◽  
David S. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Economic Policy ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Path Dependency ◽  
Complex Societies ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Coordination Failures ◽  
Low Carbon Economy ◽  
Complex Systems Theory ◽  
Key Issues

This chapter calls for an approach to economic policy that takes evolutionary and complex systems theory into account. Such an approach alters the way that economic policy is framed and how policy co-depends on understanding markets as outcomes of nonmarket interactions, incomplete information, path dependency, and coordination failures. Through illustrative examples, it explores the application of evolutionary and complexity thinking to policy criteria, goals, instruments, and policy assessment. These examples—the transition to a low carbon economy, the use of multilevel selection to inform group design for human organizations, policy making as shaping and creating markets, government failures in Greek farm policy, and protecting the Sudd Wetland in South Sudan—are used to identify key issues for an evolutionary and complexity approach to public policy.

Climate Change, Economic Development, and Global Equity

2011 ◽  
pp. 133-150
Author(s):  
Mohan Rao J.
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
World Development Report ◽  
The World ◽  
Optimistic Picture ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
World Development

Climate change involves fundamental international asymmetries in terms of its sources and impacts. The World Development Report 2010 presents an optimistic picture of the possibilities for tackling global warming, its optimism rather at odds with the gloomy prospects that may well be in store for the world, and which the Report itself documents with a wealth of findings and projections from climatology and social-scientific studies. Its central message is the need for "climate-smart policies" i.e. those that enhance development, reduce vulnerability, and finance transition to low-carbon growth paths. While it may be readily conceded that climate- smart choices can enhance development, there is no warrant for the claim that growth per se, particularly when it is inequitable, is not part of the problem.

Measures of China's Transition to Low-Carbon Economy

2014 ◽  
Vol 1073-1076 ◽  
pp. 2826-2830
Author(s):  
Jia Jian Zhang ◽  
Bing Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Industrial Structure ◽  
Social Progress ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Growth Strategies ◽  
Low Carbon Economy ◽  
The World ◽  
Carbon Economy

Impacts of climate change are emerging around the world. Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent. It is a threat to social progress and economic development. China is no exception. A top priority issues facing the world economy will be slow the rate of climate change, and turned to more energy-efficient, low-carbon economy. As such, China must give enough attention to climate change in developing growth strategies. Doing so will China's industrial structure and into the old city mode. These will be significant adverse conditions in low-carbon world. If the Chinese want to turn to a low-carbon economy, it is necessary to announce new routes, and a series of new policy objectives and measures to guarantee. To achieve this transformation, the density of the target energy consumption only is not enough. China also needs to create incentives. Encourage the use of low-carbon energy and low-carbon industries in economic development activities, and the introduction of market-based policy.

scholarly journals Climate change risk perception in the USA and alignment with sustainable travel behaviours

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. e0244545
Author(s):  
Jean Fletcher ◽  
James Higham ◽  
Nancy Longnecker
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Climate Change Risk ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Climate Change Concern ◽  
Change Climate ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Global Threat ◽  
Lower Carbon

In an online survey of 1071 Americans conducted in October 2016, we found technological optimism, environmental beliefs, and gender to be better predictors of climate change concern than respondents’ perceived ability to visualize the year 2050 and their future optimism. An important finding from this study is that in October 2016, just before the 2016 Presidential election, 74% of responding Americans were concerned about climate change. Climate change ranked as their second most serious global threat (behind terrorism). However, when asked to describe travel in the year 2050 only 29% of participants discussed lower carbon options, suggesting that actively envisioning a sustainable future was less prevalent than climate change concern. Enabling expectations and active anticipation of a low carbon future may help facilitate mitigation efforts.

The Politics of Energy and Climate Change

2019 ◽  
pp. 342-370
Author(s):  
Llewelyn Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Energy Systems ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Society Business ◽  
Climate Change Policies ◽  
Negative Emissions ◽  
Institutional Strategies

Social science has a crucial role to play in informing policy makers about political and institutional strategies conducive to implementing more ambitious energy-related climate change policies. This chapter reviews major avenues of research in political science and related disciplines that examine energy policy and climate change. It focuses on how individuals, civil society, business, and governments affect climate-related energy policies. The second section suggests three issues with the potential to promote more rapid decarbonization of energy systems, but which have not been a sustained focus of research to date: (1) the politics of low-carbon economic development, (2) innovation and the deployment of new technologies, and (3) the politics of negative emissions and geoengineering technologies.

scholarly journals Decarbonisation and World Poverty: A Just Transition for Fossil Fuel Exporting Countries?

2019 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 671-688 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Armstrong
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
International Community ◽  
Significant Source ◽  
Right To Development ◽  
World Poverty ◽  
Dangerous Climate Change ◽  
The Right

If dangerous climate change is to be avoided, the majority of the world’s fossil fuel supplies cannot be burned. Exporting countries will, therefore, lose out on a significant source of revenue – among them some of the world’s poorest countries. Might they have a claim to assistance from the international community if these losses come to pass? If so, on what basis? I examine two distinct arguments for assistance. The first is based on the claim that when our expectations are thwarted by public policy, compensation for those affected may be morally required. The second is premised upon the right to development – a right which is potentially jeopardised when some fossil fuel assets must go unexploited. I argue that the second argument enjoys better prospects. I also discuss several mechanisms which would allow the international community to assist countries incurring losses arising from the need to stabilise our global climate.

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