scholarly journals Arctic Petroleum and the 2°C Goal: a Case for Accountability for Fossil-Fuel Supply

Climate Law ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 282-307
Author(s):  
Daria Shapovalova

Abstract The Arctic is both a place disproportionately affected by climate change and a place that has been, and continues to be, subject to large-scale oil-and-gas development. Production and subsequent combustion of these resources would compromise the treaty-established target of keeping global warming ‘well below’ 2°C. The global regulatory efforts on climate change are centred on greenhouse gas emissions from fossil-fuel consumption, almost ignoring the supply side. In the absence of universal and strict emission-reduction targets, petroleum exports and carbon leakage jeopardize the effectiveness of the climate change regime. Through the examination of treaties and national practice, this paper argues for the establishment of accountability for the production of Arctic petroleum in light of climate change.

2017 ◽  
Vol 925 (7) ◽  
pp. 31-37
Author(s):  
I.R. Idrisov ◽  
A.V. Marshinin ◽  
D.M. Marinskikh

Landscape mapping was carried out mainly for solving the economic tasks connected with oil and gas development of the region, in particular within some works on environmental impact assessment. Within these types of works, large-scale landscape maps were created. The authors prepared large-scale landscape maps (1


Polar Record ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew C. Palmer

ABSTRACTIt is sometimes argued that the Arctic is so fragile that oil and gas development is never acceptable. Occasionally the argument rests on a fundamental objection to any development of fossil fuel resources. This paper will argue that under some conditions development can be carried out in a way that safeguards the natural environment, and that when the resources are exhausted all traces can be removed. This conclusion applies both offshore and onshore. It will require great sensitivity and care, and the application of the best technology developed by the petroleum industry for developments elsewhere. Some locations will have to be left inviolate until better technology is discovered, and perhaps for ever. The argument will be illustrated by case studies, some of them taken from completed projects.


Elem Sci Anth ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. G. Barber ◽  
G. McCullough ◽  
D. Babb ◽  
A. S. Komarov ◽  
L. M. Candlish ◽  
...  

Abstract Recent reductions in the summer extent of sea ice have focused the world’s attention on the effects of climate change. Increased CO2-derived global warming is rapidly shrinking the Arctic multi-year ice pack. This shift in ice regimes allows for increasing development opportunities for large oil and gas deposits known to occur throughout the Arctic. Here we show that hazardous ice features remain a threat to stationary and mobile infrastructure in the southern Beaufort Sea. With the opening up of the ice pack, forecasting of high-frequency oscillations or local eddy-driven ice motion will be a much more complex task than modeling average ice circulation. Given the observed reduction in sea ice extent and thickness this rather counterintuitive situation, associated with a warming climate, poses significant hazards to Arctic marine oil and gas development and marine transportation. Accurate forecasting of hazardous ice motion will require improved real-time surface wind and ocean current forecast models capable of ingesting local satellite-derived wind data and/or local, closely-spaced networks of anemometers and improved methods of determining high-frequency components of surface ocean current fields ‘up-stream’ from drilling and extraction operations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 50-59
Author(s):  
O. P. Trubitsina ◽  
V. N. Bashkin

The article is devoted to the consideration of geopolitical challenges for the analysis of geoenvironmental risks (GERs) in the hydrocarbon development of the Arctic territory. Geopolitical risks (GPRs), like GERs, can be transformed into opposite external environment factors of oil and gas industry facilities in the form of additional opportunities or threats, which the authors identify in detail for each type of risk. This is necessary for further development of methodological base of expert methods for GER management in the context of the implementational proposed two-stage model of the GER analysis taking to account GPR for the improvement of effectiveness making decisions to ensure optimal operation of the facility oil and gas industry and minimize the impact on the environment in the geopolitical conditions of the Arctic.The authors declare no conflict of interest


Polar Record ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sohvi Kangasluoma

Abstract Despite the global alarm caused by accelerating climate change, hydrocarbon companies are exploring and opening up new oil and gas fields all over the world, including the Arctic. With increasing attention on the Arctic, companies address the growing global environmental pressure in their public marketing in various ways. This article examines the webpages of Norwegian Equinor and Russian Gazprom & Gazprom Neft. Building on feminist discussions, I analyse the different justification strategies these fossil fuel companies working in the Arctic utilise in order to support their ongoing operations. This article concludes that in order to justify their operations in the Arctic, the Norwegian and Russian companies emphasise values based on discourses that have historically and culturally been associated with masculine practices, such as the control of nature enabled by technology. These justifications are thus reinforcing the narrative of the Arctic as a territory to be conquered and mastered. Even though the companies operate in different sociopolitical contexts, the grounds of justification are rather similar. Their biggest differences occur in their visual presentations of gender, which I argue is part of the justification. Approaching the fossil fuel industry from a feminist perspective allows questioning the dominant conceptualisations, which the justifications of Arctic hydrocarbon companies are based on.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 3784
Author(s):  
Xinkuo Xu ◽  
Liyan Han

The economic value of carbon emission reduction in the electrification of buses is of concern in practical and academic fields. The aim of this paper, which focuses on direct and indirect carbon emissions, is to study the economic value of the carbon emission reduction of bus electrification in an operational lifecycle carbon footprint, with the empirical data sourced from the bus electrification in Macau. First, it proposes the methodology to evaluate the operational lifecycle carbon value of bus electrification (OLCVBE). Second, it analyses the distinct impacts of internal determinants on OLCVBE. Third, it discusses the determinants’ characteristics for OLCVBE. The results indicate that (1) OLCVBE may be a carbon debt, but it is not a carbon asset in some situations; (2) OLCVBE is determined by the carbon emission coefficients of both electric power and fossil fuel, buses’ electric or fossil fuel consumption levels, buses’ terminations, carbon price and discounted rate; and (3) as a comparison, electric power’s embedded carbon emission coefficient has the biggest impact on OLCVBE, then carbon price and the electric consumption have the second or third biggest impacts, and the annual driving distance of buses has relative less impact. This paper provides a new perspective to study the economic and environmental effects of bus electrification.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 130-135
Author(s):  
Elena A. Poskonina ◽  
Anna N. Kurchatova

Background. Designing problems of oil fields infrastructure in the Arctic under climate change, namely, applying of temperature coefficient when calculating bearing capacity, heaving of lightly loaded foundations, optimization of thermal stabilization solutions are presented in the article. Aim. To change the strategy for designing foundations on permafrost by choosing the worst soil conditions to the implementation of an invariant matrix for designing and construction of soil bases and foundations considering specifics of industrial facilities of oil and gas fields based on unified numerical calculations (regulations). Materials and methods. An overview of the current regulatory requirements to the design of foundations on permafrost is made. The analysis of forecast modeling of the temperature of soil bases of typical industrial facilities of oil and gas fields to justify design solutions and also the use of thermal stabilization systems is done. Results. It is proposed to develop a regional directory of weather stations with long observation period based on updated climate data to decrease the volume of designing work and the amount of mistakes in applying of thermal stabilization systems. It is necessary to create regional dynamic models of permafrost geosystems, implement forecast modeling of seasonal thawing potential depth and frozen ground temperature in natural landscapes on the base of geotechnical monitoring data and select adaptation methods to existing or expecting climate change trends. Conclusions. Regulations on designing and construction of soil bases and foundations on permafrost considering specifics of industrial facilities of oil and gas fields is an effective solution. It allows moving on the strategy implementation of uniform approaches to oil fields development on permafrost: from designing for every structure on the base of typical solutions and results of engineering surveys to invariant matrix of project solutions.


1999 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-84
Author(s):  
Jinro Ukila ◽  
Moloyoshi Ikeda

The Frontier Research System for Global Change—the International Arctic Research Center (Frontier-IARC) is a research program funded by the Frontier Research System for Global Change. The program is jointly run under a cooperative agreement between the Frontier Research System for Global Change and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The aim of the program is to understand the role of the Arctic region in global climate change. The program concentrates its research effort initially on the areas of air-sea-ice interactions, bio-geochemical processes and the ecosystem. To understand the arctic climate system in the context of global climate change, we focus on mechanisms controlling arctic-subarctic interactions, and identify three key components: the freshwater balance, the energy balance, and the large-scale atmospheric processes. Knowledge of details of these components and their interactions will be gained through long-term monitoring, process studies, and modeling; our focus will be on the latter two categories.


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