scholarly journals Leadership performance of financial firms on climate change action

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Burnett ◽  
Carolin Schellhorn

Global awareness of the urgent need to decarbonize the economy has been growing. Although legislative and regulatory actions have been lagging, some businesses have emerged as leaders in this process. In particular, financial institutions as information producers and resource allocators play an important role. In order to accelerate the global transition to a low-carbon economy, market participants need to develop the ability to identify and support firms that are leading on climate change action. Using CDP data on ten climate change action metrics for 2013, the authors apply the dichotomous Rasch model to rank the overall climate change action performance of U.S. financial firms across multiple dimensions of this effort. Simultaneously, the results identify the climate change action metrics for which success was most difficult to achieve. The authors show that investors, managers and regulators should consider ranking firms using this more comprehensive methodology rather than the CDP’s Performance Band or the CDP’s Disclosure Score alone when assessing firm leadership in this area. While this study focuses on financial firms, a similar analysis could be conducted for ranking firms in other industries as well. The authors’ results are important for investors, managers and regulators charged with firm performance evaluation and resource allocation in the face of growing pressures to decarbonize the global economy

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2020) ◽  
pp. 48-64
Author(s):  
Giuliana Birindelli ◽  
◽  
Vera Palea ◽  
Luca Trussoni ◽  
Fabio Verachi ◽  
...  

Climate change is causing substantial structural adjustments to the global economy. Several sectors, such as coal and steel, are undergoing severe problems related to the inevitable transition to a low-carbon economy, while others such as renewables and new environmental adaptation technologies are benefiting substantially. In this context, regulators are beginning to intervene on the legislation, while investors, customers and civil society are looking for alternatives to mitigate, adapt and make these issues more transparent. This article aims to analyze the impact that these changes will inevitably have on banks' balance sheets, introducing new risks but also opportunities. The final purpose is to help banks integrate climate risks into their organizational framework and to provide guidance on the implementation of the recommendations published by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) within the broader Financial Stability Board (FSB) objectives and the UN Environment Finance Initiative (UNEP FI). Starting from a long-term perspective, the work suggests considering climate risk as a financial risk, overcoming traditional approaches that focus on reputational risk. This change implies the integration of climate change risk into the logic of Risk Management (Credit, Market and Operational risks) and a consequent sharing of responsibilities with the structures of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The TCFD recommendations urge banks to use forward looking scenario analyzes, including stress tests, to evaluate and disseminate the "actual and potential impacts" of climate-related risks and opportunities, suggesting in particular to consider the consequences in terms of two categories of risk: physical and transition risk


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
James W.N. Steenberg ◽  
Peter N. Duinker ◽  
Irena F. Creed ◽  
Jacqueline N. Serran ◽  
Camille Ouellet Dallaire

In response to global climate change, Canada is transitioning towards a low-carbon economy and the need for policy approaches that are effective, equitable, coordinated, and both administratively and politically feasible is high. One point is clear; the transition is intimately tied to the vast supply of ecosystem services in the boreal zone of Canada. This paper describes four contrasting futures for the boreal zone using scenario analysis, which is a transdisciplinary, participatory approach that considers alternative futures and policy implications under conditions of high uncertainty and complexity. The two critical forces shaping the four scenarios are the global economy’s energy and society’s capacity to adapt. The six drivers of change are atmospheric change, the demand for provisioning ecosystem services, the demand for nonprovisioning ecosystem services, demographics, and social values, governance and geopolitics, and industrial innovation and infrastructure. The four scenarios include: (i) the Green Path, where a low-carbon economy is coupled with high adaptive capacity; (ii) the Uphill Climb, where a low-carbon economy is instead coupled with low adaptive capacity; (iii) the Carpool Lane, where society has a strong capacity to adapt but a reliance on fossil fuels; and (iv) the Slippery Slope, where there is both a high-carbon economy and a society with low adaptive capacity. The scenarios illustrate the importance of transitioning to a low-carbon economy and the role of society’s adaptive capacity in doing so. However, they also emphasize themes like social inequality and adverse environmental outcomes arising from the push towards climate change mitigation.


Author(s):  
Joseph Nyangon

The Paris Agreement on climate change requires nations to keep the global temperature within the 2°C carbon budget. Achieving this temperature target means stranding more than 80% of all proven fossil energy reserves as well as resulting in investments in such resources becoming stranded assets. At the implementation level, governments are experiencing technical, economic, and legal challenges in transitioning their economies to meet the 2°C temperature commitment through the nationally determined contributions (NDCs), let alone striving for the 1.5°C carbon budget, which translates into greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) gap. This chapter focuses on tackling the risks of stranded electricity assets using machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies. Stranded assets are not new in the energy sector; the physical impacts of climate change and the transition to a low-carbon economy have generally rendered redundant or obsolete electricity generation and storage assets. Low-carbon electricity systems, which come in variable and controllable forms, are essential to mitigating climate change. These systems present distinct opportunities for machine learning and artificial intelligence-powered techniques. This chapter considers the background to these issues. It discusses the asset stranding discourse and its implications to the energy sector and related infrastructure. The chapter concludes by outlining an interdisciplinary research agenda for mitigating the risks of stranded assets in electricity investments.


Author(s):  
I. Alieksieiev ◽  
A. Mazur ◽  
О. Storozhenko

Abstract. The article examines the features of sustainable development processes in Ukraine. In particular, the works of scientists on the issues of sustainable transformations of the economy, the problems of establishing a mechanism for the transition to the use of renewable energy sources and reducing carbon dioxide emissions are analyzed. The basic principles of legislative regulation of the processes of sustainable transformation in the context of Ukraine’s integration into the international model of sustainable development according to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change are studied. The research objective is to study the mechanism of implementation of sustainable transformations in the economy of Ukraine, identification of the main problems of low-carbon strategy establishment in the context of harmonization of international and state legislation and identification of effective mechanisms for financing sustainable development processes. During the research, methods were used, such as: the dialectical method and methods of analysis and synthesis — to carry out a comparative analysis of legislation that regulates the processes of sustainable development, ways to implement a low-carbon strategy, study trends in carbon emissions in Ukraine; statistical method — to analyse the targets for changing the greenhouse gas emissions of Ukraine in 2020—2030 and the proposed target for 2050; structural and logical analysis — to study effective mechanisms of financing the processes of sustainable development in Ukraine, identify the ways of sustainable development projects funding. In general, the article reveals a number of problems that Ukraine faces as a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol. The main tools of the country’s transition to a low-carbon strategy have been identified. The economic mechanisms to ensure the fulfillment of the country’s obligations under the Kyoto Protocol have been studied. Possible ways of financing the processes of sustainable transformation are considered, among which, in particular, we can highlight the scheme of «green» investments. Keywords: sustainable economic development, Framework Convention on Climate Change, Kyoto Protocol, low carbon economy, mechanism for financing sustainable development. JEL Classification Q01, Q4, Q5 Formulas: 0; fig.: 1; tabl.: 0; bibl.: 36.


2009 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 201-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Fankhauser ◽  
David Kennedy ◽  
Jim Skea

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haifeng Deng ◽  
Paolo Davide Farah

Abstract National energy security, parallel with the ultimate goal of emissions reductions, is of utmost priority for the Chinese government. In order to comply with the requirements set by the Kyoto Protocol, the Chinese government announced, on 25 November 2009, that 2020’s CO2 emissions would be reduced by 40–45 per cent in accordance with the data collected from 2005. Said goal was met three years ahead of schedule. Even in light of such an accomplishment, however, commentators suggest that the overall nationally determined contributions (NDCs) made by the Parties belonging to the Paris agreement are not enough to reduce global warming by even 2°C. This article focuses on the concept of energy security in assessing whether, and how, the priorities related to climate change are gradually changing. After analysing climate change’s impact on China, conducted via an analysis of the study’s available literature and through the support of international data, this article mainly focuses on the concept of energy security, itself. Under the second section, based on the examination of China’s efforts to transition towards a low-carbon economy, the authors provide a holistic definition of energy security through the lens of three dimensions: energy supply security, energy economy and energy ecological security. The third section, in turn, addresses the relationship between energy security and climate change. The results presented in the conclusion insist that, in order to strengthen environmental protection in China, it is crucial to reform the highly inefficient and strictly regulated national energy market. In doing so, China’s transition to a low-carbon society and economy could prove less painful, as China’s available resources offer the potential for a strengthened ecological dimension and sustained socio-economic development.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhang Mu ◽  
Luo Jing ◽  
Zhang Xiaohong ◽  
Tang Lei ◽  
Feng Xiao-na ◽  
...  

Recent years saw the global wave of new low-carbon economy which is a strategic measure to cope with global warming, and it has gained concerns from many governments. As the representatives of developing countries, China is responsible for “common but distinguishing duty for global climate change.” Many policies have been made to develop low-carbon economy with the hope to advocate and innovate low-carbon economy in some industries and cities during these years. Therefore, it is a theoretical and innovative project to find a low-carbon economical model for various industries and carry out the experiments of low-carbon economy in some cities. Hence, guided by low-carbon economy theory, choosing booming Chinese tourism industry as the object, this paper constructs an operation framework system of low-carbon tourism development from the advantage of low-carbon tourism to the proposal of low-carbon tourism definition so as to conclude an execution scheme of “six elements” of low-carbon tourism with selecting OCT East (Chinese national ecotourism demonstration district) and Mt. Danxia (World Geo-park) as demonstration districts to discuss about models and methods of low-carbon economy in tourism.


2013 ◽  
Vol 380-384 ◽  
pp. 4456-4460
Author(s):  
Ju Qin Wang ◽  
Bao Lin Li

The face of the world economic development has transitioned to a low-carbon economy, in order to meet the dual challenges of climate change and scientific development, the development of low-carbon economy has become the reality of the development of key choice. In this background, based on energy consumption situation in Hebei Province,we use GM (1,1) gray prediction model to predict Hebei Provinces energy consumption and energy consumption structure in 2003-2010. Based on the analysis of the results, support from the policies, laws, and adjust the industrial structure, promote the three levels of the low-carbon concept has made a number of recommendations for the Hebei Province future energy planning and low-carbon development.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 2982 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edgar Lorenzo-Sáez ◽  
José-Vicente Oliver-Villanueva ◽  
Eloina Coll-Aliaga ◽  
Lenin-Guillermo Lemus-Zúñiga ◽  
Victoria Lerma-Arce ◽  
...  

Buildings have become a key source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to the consumption of primary energy, especially when used to achieve thermal comfort conditions. In addition, buildings play a key role for adapting societies to climate change by achieving more energy efficiency. Therefore, buildings have become a key sector to tackle climate change at the local level. However, public decision-makers do not have tools with enough spatial resolution to prioritise and focus the available resources and efforts in an efficient manner. The objective of the research is to develop an innovative methodology based on a geographic information system (GIS) for mapping primary energy consumption and GHG emissions in buildings in cities according to energy efficiency certificates. The developed methodology has been tested in a representative medium-sized city in Spain, obtaining an accurate analysis that shows 32,000 t of CO2 emissions due to primary energy consumption of 140 GWh in residential buildings with high spatial resolution at single building level. The obtained results demonstrate that the majority of residential buildings have low levels of energy efficiency and emit an average of 45 kg CO2/m2. Compared to the national average in Spain, this obtained value is on the average, while it is slightly better at the regional level. Furthermore, the results obtained demonstrate that the developed methodology is able to directly identify city districts with highest potential for improving energy efficiency and reducing GHG emissions. Additionally, a data model adapted to the INSPIRE regulation has been developed in order to ensure interoperability and European-wide application. All these results have allowed the local authorities to better define local strategies towards a low-carbon economy and energy transition. In conclusion, public decision-makers will be supported with an innovative and user-friendly GIS-based methodology to better define local strategies towards a low-carbon economy and energy transition in a more efficient and transparent way based on metrics of high spatial resolution and accuracy.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenjuan Yang ◽  
Rongqin Zhao ◽  
Xiaowei Chuai ◽  
Liangang Xiao ◽  
Lianhai Cao ◽  
...  

AbstractClimate change has emerged as one of the most important environmental issues worldwide. As the world’s biggest developing country, China is participating in combating climate change by promoting a low carbon economy within the context of global warming. This paper summarizes the pathways of China’s low carbon economy including the aspects of energy, industry, low carbon cities, circular economy and low carbon technology, afforestation and carbon sink, the carbon emission trading market and carbon emission reduction targets. There are many achievements in the implementation of low carbon policies. For example, carbon emission intensity has been reduced drastically along with the optimizing of energy and industry structure and a nationwide carbon trading market for electricity industry has been established. However, some problems remain, such as the weakness of public participation, the ineffectiveness of unified policies for certain regions and the absence of long-term planning for low carbon cities development. Therefore, we propose some policy recommendations for the future low carbon economy development in China. Firstly, comprehensive and long-term planning should be involved in all the low carbon economy pathways. Secondly, to coordinate the relationship between central and local governments and narrow the gap between poor and rich regions, different strategies of carbon emission performance assessment should be applied for different regions. Thirdly, enterprises should cooperate with scientific research institutions to explored low carbon technologies. Finally, relevant institutions should be regulated to realize comprehensive low carbon transition through reasonable and feasible low carbon pathways in China. These policy recommendations will provide new perspectives for China’s future low carbon economy development and guide practices for combating climate change.


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