Carbon Reduction in the Post-Kyoto era. Have we progressed? A comparison

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-37
Author(s):  
Bruno Zeller ◽  
Michael Longo
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Global Environment ◽  
Carbon Reduction ◽  
Legal Proceedings ◽  
The World ◽  
Change Mitigation ◽  
The Eu

In a fragmented global environment, the efforts of state and non-state actors are important in assessing the state of play on climate change mitigation actions around the world. This article will consider from a comparative perspective the various legislative models for addressing climate change and the reduction of GHG emissions with particular focus on the EU, USA, Australia and Switzerland. As legal developments are not limited to legislative schemes, this article will examine the voluntary carbon offset market and other trade related solutions to GHG emissions which have emerged in the absence of mandatory limitation systems. Also warranting attention are the actions of private parties in common law jurisdictions to bring legal proceedings against power companies for damage caused by climate change. Together, these developments demonstrate that climate change abatement is not the sole remit of the legislature.

scholarly journals Historic Context of European Union Leadership in Climate Change Mitigation

2017 ◽  
pp. 74-96
Author(s):  
Volodymyr Shatokha
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
European Union ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Mitigation Policy ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation Policy ◽  
International Climate ◽  
Change Mitigation ◽  
The Eu ◽  
International Climate Change

The role of European Union in defining of the international climate change mitigation policy was studied in the historic context of overcoming the differences in the approaches to reaching the sustainable development targets among the EU, the USA, China and some other influential countries. It has been shown that currently the processes of climate policy definition became more polycentric than in 1992, when the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change was signed. The ability to adjust to a new context, to build coalitions and to reach compromise with the wide range of international actors has been crucial for maintaining the EU’s influence on definition of the international climate change mitigation policy. Despite not always supportive internal and external factors, during a quarter of century the EU has managed to maintain its leadership and many times helped to enhance the ambition of global climatic targets by establishing the high level of own commitments and implementing relevant policy instruments. The EU and its members played a decisive role in ensuring of the non-interruptive international climate action during implementation of the Kyoto Protocol and in setting of the Paris Agreement which will define climate regime after 2020. Mitigation of climate change is a complicated task not only in terms of technology and socio-economic aspects but also with respect to policy implementation. Therefore the EU leadership in this sphere remains very important.

scholarly journals The Conditional Sink: Counterfactual Display in the Valuation of a Carbon Offsetting Reforestation Project

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Véra Ehrenstein ◽  
Fabian Muniesa
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Possible Worlds ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Carbon Offsetting ◽  
The World ◽  
Prospective Assessment ◽  
Change Mitigation

This paper examines counterfactual display in the valuation of carbon offsetting projects. Considered a legitimate way to encourage climate change mitigation, such projects rely on the establishment of procedures for the prospective assessment of their capacity to become carbon sinks. This requires imagining possible worlds and assessing their plausibility. The world inhabited by the project is articulated through conditional formulation and subjected to what we call “counterfactual display”: the production and circulation of documents that demonstrate and con!gure the counterfactual valuation. We present a case study on one carbon offsetting reforestation project in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We analyse the construction of the scene that allows the “What would have happened” question to make sense and become actionable. We highlight the operations of calculative framing that this requires, the reality constraints it relies upon, and the entrepreneurial conduct it stimulates.

scholarly journals Evaluating the Link between Low Carbon Reductions Strategies and Its Performance in the Context of Climate Change: A Carbon Footprint of a Wood-Frame Residential Building in Quebec, Canada

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 2715 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Padilla-Rivera ◽  
Ben Amor ◽  
Pierre Blanchet
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Quebec City ◽  
Baseline Scenario ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Building Sector ◽  
Change Mitigation

The design and study of low carbon buildings is a major concern in a modern economy due to high carbon emissions produced by buildings and its effects on climate change. Studies have investigated (CFP) Carbon Footprint of buildings, but there remains a need for a strong analysis that measure and quantify the overall degree of GHG emissions reductions and its relationship with the effect on climate change mitigation. This study evaluates the potential of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the building sector by evaluating the (CFP) of four hotpots approaches defined in line with commonly carbon reduction strategies, also known as mitigation strategies. CFP framework is applied to compare the (CC) climate change impact of mitigation strategies. A multi-story timber residential construction in Quebec City (Canada) was chosen as a baseline scenario. This building has been designed with the idea of being a reference of sustainable development application in the building sector. In this scenario, the production of materials and construction (assembly, waste management and transportation) were evaluated. A CFP that covers eight actions divided in four low carbon strategies, including: low carbon materials, material minimization, reuse and recycle materials and adoption of local sources and use of biofuels were evaluated. The results of this study shows that the used of prefabricated technique in buildings is an alternative to reduce the CFP of buildings in the context of Quebec. The CC decreases per m2 floor area in baseline scenario is up to 25% than current buildings. If the benefits of low carbon strategies are included, the timber structures can generate 38% lower CC than the original baseline scenario. The investigation recommends that CO2eq emissions reduction in the design and implementation of residential constructions as climate change mitigation is perfectly feasible by following different working strategies. It is concluded that if the four strategies were implemented in current buildings they would have environmental benefits by reducing its CFP. The reuse wood wastes into production of particleboard has the greatest environmental benefit due to temporary carbon storage.

scholarly journals BIOCHAR STANDARDIZATION AND LEGISLATION HARMONIZATION

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian MEYER ◽  
Lorenzo GENESIO ◽  
Ines VOGEL ◽  
Hans-Peter SCHMIDT ◽  
Gerhard SOJA ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Soil Amendment ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Quality Standards ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Soil Improvers ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Change Mitigation ◽  
The Eu

It is a relatively new concept to use biochar as soil amendment and for climate change mitigation. For this reason, the national and supranational legislation in the EU is not yet adequately prepared to regulate both the production and the application of biochar. Driven by this “regulatory gap”, voluntary biochar quality standards have been formed in Europe with the European Biochar Certificate, in the UK with the Biochar Quality Mandate and in the USA with the IBI Standard which is intended to be used internationally. In parallel to this, biochar producers and biochar users in a number of EU countries were partly successful in fitting the new biochar product into the existing national legislation for fertilisers, soil improvers and composts. The intended revision of the EC Regulation 2003/2003 on fertilisers offers the opportunity to regulate the use of biochar at the EU level. This publication summarizes the efforts on biochar standardization which have been carried out by voluntary products standards and illustrates existing legislation in EU member states, which apply to the production and use of biochar. It describes existing and planned EU regulations, which impact biochar applications and it develops recommendations on the harmonization of biochar legislation in the EU.

scholarly journals Growing our future: Assessing the outcome of afforestation programs in Ontario, Canada

2021 ◽  
Vol 97 (02) ◽  
pp. 179-190
Author(s):  
Georgina K. Magnus ◽  
Elizabeth Celanowicz ◽  
Mihai Voicu ◽  
Mark Hafer ◽  
Juha M. Metsaranta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Carbon Sink ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Spatially Explicit ◽  
Auxiliary Data ◽  
Carbon Budget Model ◽  
Change Mitigation

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) requires its signatories, including Canada, to estimate and report their annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removals. Forests are an important natural resource as they slow the accumulation of atmospheric carbon through the process of carbon sequestration. Due to the role of forests as carbon sinks, governments consider afforestation projects as feasible climate change mitigation strategies. This article outlines a spatially-explicit approach to validating afforestation data in Ontario, Canada. Validation is a user-supervised process that uses satellite imagery, remote sensing tools, and other auxiliary data to confirm the presence of seedlings planted through Forests Ontario’s 50 Million Tree program. Of the 12 466 hectares assessed, 83% is identified as afforested, 6% is not afforested and 10% is not determined. The area classified as successful afforestation is used as input for the Generic Carbon Budget Model (GCBM), to simulate afforestation effects on carbon stocks. Our findings show the afforestation activities will create a small carbon sink by 2060. From this project, it is evident that spatial validation of afforestation data is feasible, although the collection of additional standardized auxiliary data is recommended for future afforestation projects, if carbon benefits are to be reported.

scholarly journals European union emissions trading system with regard to climate change mitigation in Latvia

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (-1) ◽  
pp. 29-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilze Pruse
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Emissions Trading ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Eu Ets ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Ghg Emission ◽  
Trading System ◽  
Change Mitigation ◽  
The Eu

Abstract The goal of this paper is to analyse the volumes of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the European Union Emissions Trading System’s (EU ETS) participants in Latvia in relation to their participation therein. After describing and discussing the EU ETS mechanism and its operation in Latvia in the period 2005-2010, the interconnectedness between the GHG emissions and the EU ETS participants’ operation is analysed. The analysis concludes that, although the EU ETS has contributed towards GHG emission reduction, due to the growth of the economy, overall GHG emissions from the EU ETS participants in Latvia are increasing.

Climate Change Mitigation Policies

2011 ◽  
pp. 152-189
Author(s):  
Costas P. Pappis
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Economic Framework ◽  
The World ◽  
Potential Adaptation ◽  
Change Mitigation ◽  
Mitigation Policies

In the previous chapter the focus has been on issues concerning adaptation to climate change. Key adaptation concepts and policies were introduced and potential adaptation responses in the case of developed and developing parts of the world were summarized. Also, several incentives encouraging or barriers preventing adaptation were identified and the economic framework for adaptation was outlined.

Prospects and Consequences of Repowering Cities

2019 ◽  
pp. 165-180
Author(s):  
Sara Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Urban Climate ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Scaling Up ◽  
Building Capacity ◽  
Smart Governance ◽  
Change Mitigation

This concluding chapter highlights the book's major findings and explores the remaining challenges and tradeoffs inherent in today's locally led climate change agenda. While the cities have made demonstrable progress on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, they are now facing the challenge of scaling up their efforts as new targets for 2030 loom. The chapter then discusses ways the cities can and are using the governing strategies to do this: by building participatory decision-making institutions, building capacity for climate “smart” governance, and expanding and stabilizing the coalition for climate change mitigation. However, the need for a “big tent” approach to climate change mitigation to make the citywide changes necessary for reducing GHG emissions 80 percent increases the complexity of interests and challenges of coordination. The scope of a viable urban climate change coalition may ultimately set the limits of a locally led mitigation agenda.

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