How U.S. EPA projects the impact of air emission policies on the electric power sector

Author(s):  
E. Lieberman
2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (51) ◽  
pp. 26078-26084 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Holland ◽  
Kate Scott ◽  
Paolo Agnolucci ◽  
Chrysanthi Rapti ◽  
Felix Eigenbrod ◽  
...  

Given its total contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, the global electric power sector will be required to undergo a fundamental transformation over the next decades to limit anthropogenic climate change to below 2 °C. Implications for biodiversity of projected structural changes in the global electric power sector are rarely considered beyond those explicitly linked to climate change. This study uses a spatially explicit consumption-based accounting framework to examine the impact of demand for electric power on terrestrial vertebrate biodiversity globally. We demonstrate that the biodiversity footprint of the electric power sector is primarily within the territory where final demand for electric power resides, although there are substantial regional differences, with Europe displacing its biodiversity threat along international supply chains. The relationship between size of individual components of the electric power sector and threat to biodiversity indicates that a shift to nonfossil sources, such as solar and wind, could reduce pressures on biodiversity both within the territory where demand for power resides and along international supply chains. However, given the current levels of deployment of nonfossil sources of power, there is considerable uncertainty as to how the impacts of structural changes in the global electric power system will scale. Given the strong territorial link between demand and associated biodiversity impacts, development of strong national governance around the electric power sector represents a clear route to mitigate threats to biodiversity associated with efforts to decarbonize society over the coming century.


2017 ◽  
Vol 114 ◽  
pp. 6631-6637 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert T. Dahowski ◽  
Casie L. Davidson ◽  
Sha Yu ◽  
Jill D. Horing ◽  
Ning Wei ◽  
...  

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandra Lima Marques ◽  
Aracéli Cristina de S. Ferreira ◽  
Hélio Arthur Irigaray

The aim of the present study was to verify how accountants perceive the electric power companies in Brazil, regarding the use of economic valuation methods for measuring environmental impacts on hydroelectric power generation. These methods would be used in the internalisation of impacts in compliance with accounting theory criteria of recognition, measurement and disclosure of relevant economic activities. This is an exploratory study based on the conclusion regarding the collected data from a questionnaire answered by accountants, who worked in the electric power sector and were members of the Brazilian Electric Power Sector Accountants Association (ABRACONEE). The research showed that 74% of respondents were accountants or accounting analysts, 92% of them believed that companies should account for (internalise) environmental impacts caused by their activities, and 75% of them believed that this task should be based on detailed and specific norms determining what should be done and when and how to do it. Despite their high level of accounting knowledge and complete familiarity with the changes determined by the Brazilian Securities Commission, respondents adopted a conservative stance in relation to the use of estimated values or those obtained in hypothetical markets. The study revealed the existence of a vast field of research that has yet to be explored by accounting in the field of environmental accounting, especially in terms of both measurement and recognition of environmental impacts caused by diverse economic activities.


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