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171. Moving Toward A Consensus on Climate Policy: The Essential Role of Global Public Disclosure

Author:
David Wheeler
Publication Date:
11-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development (CGD)
Abstract:
Among climate scientists, there is no longer any serious debate about whether greenhouse gas emissions from human activity are altering the earth' s climate. There is also a broad consensus on two issues related to reducing emissions. First, developing countries must be full participants in global emissions control, because they will be most heavily impacted by global warming, and because they are rapidly approaching parity with developed countries in the scale of their emissions. Second, efficient emissions control will require carbon pricing via market-based instruments (charges or cap-and-trade). These points of consensus are sufficient to establish a clear way forward, despite continued disagreements over the choice of specific instrument and the appropriate carbon charge level. Since all market-based systems that regulate emissions sources require the same emissions information, the international community should immediately establish an institution mandated to collect, verify and publicly disclose information about emissions from all significant global carbon sources. Its mandate should extend to best-practice estimation and disclosure of emissions sources in countries that initially refuse to participate. This institution will serve four purposes. First, it will lay the necessary foundation for implementing any market-based system of emissions source regulation. Second, it will provide an excellent credibility test, since a country's acceptance of full disclosure will signal its true willingness to participate in globally-efficient emissions reduction. Third, global public disclosure will itself reduce carbon emissions, by focusing stakeholder pressure on major emitters and providing reputational reward s for clean producers. Fourth, disclosure will make it very hard to cheat once market-based instruments are implemented. This will be essential for preserving the credibility of an international agreement to reduce emissions.
Topic:
Environment, Industrial Policy, International Cooperation, and Markets
Political Geography:
Europe

172. Changing Climates: Interdependencies on Energy and Climate Security for China and Europe

Author:
Bernice Lee and Antony Froggatt
Publication Date:
11-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
We are on the cusp of a new industrial revolution, one driven by energy and climate security concerns. Policy-makers and business leaders are beginning to calibrate decisions on trade, financing and production planning against this new reality. Central to making this vision work is enlightened thinking around the potential economic and political benefits–rather than the costs–of the transition to a low-carbon future.
Topic:
Security, Climate Change, and Environment
Political Geography:
China, Europe, and Asia

173. Confidence through Compliance in Emissions Trading Markets

Author:
Christian Egenhofer and Joe Kruger
Publication Date:
04-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
Abstract:
Emissions trading is a market-based mechanism designed to allow firms to choose the most cost effective strategy to meet environmental standards. The success of SO2 and NOx emissions trading systems in the United States and the launch of the ambitious European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) underscore the value of emissions trading as a tool for environmental policy.
Topic:
Economics, Environment, and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

174. Reviewing the EU Emissions Trading Scheme: Priorities for Short-Term Implementation of the Second Round of Allocation (Part II)

Author:
Christian Egenhofer and Noriko Fujiwara
Publication Date:
03-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
Abstract:
This report constitutes Part II of the CEPS Task Force Report on Reviewing the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. Part I was presented to the UK Presidency on 7 July 2005, and subsequently published on the CEPS website. It focused on a number of short-term implementation issues linked to the second round of allocation, including transparency requirements of the National Allocation Plans (NAPs), the definition of installations, treatment of small installations, new entrants, closure and transfer rules, allocation methodologies, the possibility of opt-ins as well as monitoring, reporting and verification. Part II examines deepseated issues such as economic impact and effects on investment as well as the potential inclusion of aviation. These issues are expected to have a major influence on the second phase of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) in 2008-12.
Topic:
Environment and Industrial Policy
Political Geography:
Europe

175. Environmental Policy Competition and Differential Tax Treatment: A Case for Tighter Coordination?

Author:
Paul J. G. Tang and Richard Nahuis
Publication Date:
02-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
Abstract:
The Kyoto Protocol binds the level of greenhouse gas emissions in participating countries. It does, however, not dictate how the countries are to achieve this level. The economic costs of reaching emission targets are generally evaluated to be low. For example, evaluations with applied general-equilibrium models estimate the costs to be in the range of 0.2% to 0.5% of GDP, when international trade in emissions rights among governments is allowed for. We argue that important costs are overlooked since governments are inclined to choose highly distorting tax schemes.
Topic:
Economics, Environment, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Europe

176. Taiwan's Rising Rationalism: Generations, Politics, and "Taiwanese Nationalism"

Author:
Shelley Rigger
Publication Date:
01-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
Abstract:
A peaceful, amicable relationship between Taiwan and the People's Republic of China (PRC) is essential to prosperity and security in and beyond the Taiwan Strait. Anticipating the future direction of cross­strait relations is thus very important. But it is also very difficult, not least because key trends in the Strait seem to be headed in opposite directions. On the one hand, the scope and intensity of cross­strait interactions are expanding rapidly, creating shared interests on the two sides and eroding resistance to closer cross­strait ties. On the other hand, popular support for political unification within Taiwan is declining, and the percentage of Taiwan residents who think of themselves as Taiwanese, not Chinese, is rising.
Topic:
Development, Energy Policy, and Environment
Political Geography:
Europe and Taiwan

177. Racing to the Bottom in the Post-Communist World: Domestic Politics, International Trade and Environmental Governance

Author:
Edward Mansfield, Helen V. Milner, and Liliana B. Andonova
Publication Date:
02-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for International Studies, University of Southern California
Abstract:
In this paper, we analyze whether trade liberalization and increasing commercial openness has affected environmental governance in the post-Communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States. During the Cold War, these countries had closed economies and autarkic trade policies combined with little environmental regulation and poor environmental quality. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the breakup of the Soviet Union began a process of marked change in the region. Many post-Communist countries have engaged in extensive trade liberalization. Others, however, have been slower to open their markets; and some have maintained highly protectionist trade policies. Have countries that opened up to global markets improved their environmental policies or has increasing exposure to the international trading system led to a “race to the bottom”? Controlling for a wide variety of economic and political factors, our results indicate that heightened trade openness has weakened environmental governance in the post-Communist world, suggesting that an environmental race to the bottom has been occurring among the transition economies.
Topic:
International Relations, Environment, International Trade and Finance, and Politics
Political Geography:
Europe and Berlin

178. Evaluating the Impact of Alternative Policy Scenarios on Multifunctionality: A Case Study of Finland

Author:
Heikki Lehtonen, Jussi Lankoski, and Jyrki Niemi
Publication Date:
07-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
Abstract:
This paper provides first results of the sector-model approach to analysing the effects of alternative policy scenarios on the multifunctional role of Finnish agriculture. In terms of environmental non-commodity outputs, this study focuses on nutrient runoffs, landscape diversity and biodiversity. As regards other non-commodity outputs, the paper considers rural socio-economic viability. The results suggest that, on the whole, reform of the common agricultural policy is not likely to result in any drastic decline of agricultural production in Finland. The amount of green fallow will increase considerably when agricultural support payments are decoupled from production, and as a result the remaining cultivated agricultural land will become biologically richer. The agricultural labour force is likely to decrease substantially irrespective of agricultural policy. The study concludes that the credibility of the production economics and biological relationships of the economic model determine the validity of the results of the many indicators examined. Further, the economic logic of microeconomic simulation models provides a consistent assessment of the many aspects of multifunctionality.
Topic:
Agriculture, Economics, and Environment
Political Geography:
Europe and Finland

179. Beyond Kyoto: Real Solutions to Greenhouse Emissions from Developing Countries

Author:
Roger Bate and David Montgomery
Publication Date:
07-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
Whether the Kyoto Protocol is ever ratified is fast becoming irrelevant. Many of the European nations that ratified the convention are failing to reach their targets, while developing countries, not required to comply with Kyoto, claim they will never participate in targets and timetables, as it would retard their economic growth. Given that developing countries are likely to emit well over half of future greenhouse gases (GHGs), a more promising strategy would be to devise an approach that limits emissions while helping development.
Topic:
Economics, Environment, Treaties and Agreements, and Third World
Political Geography:
Europe

180. The household water crisis in Syria's Greater Damascus Region'

Author:
Elie Elhadj
Publication Date:
05-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
School of Oriental and African Studies - University of London
Abstract:
Damascus residents talk in recent years of long periods of daily water shut-offs for most months especially between June and the following January. “ In 2001 … stringent water rationing was in force in Damascus… the authorities … shut off the capital's piped water supply for 20 hours each day (compared with 16 hours previously) from July of that year. Europa Publications (2002: p.979).”
Topic:
International Relations, Development, Environment, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:
Europe and Syria