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92. Climate Commitments to 2050: A Roadmap for China
- Author:
- ZhongXiang Zhang
- Publication Date:
- 12-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- East-West Center
- Abstract:
- Representatives of countries around the world are scheduled to meet in Copenhagen in December 2009, to try to hammer out a new regime for attacking climate change problems. No one would deny that the United States is committed to cut its greenhouse gas emissions—an essential part of a global pact—or that President Obama wants to demonstrate U.S. leadership in the debate.
- Topic:
- Climate Change and Energy Policy
- Political Geography:
- United States, China, and Asia
93. Towards a new climate regime? Views of China, India, Japan, Russia and the United States in the road to Copenhagen
- Author:
- Linda Jakobson, Anna Korppoo, Johannes Urpelainen, Antto Vihma, and Alex Luta
- Publication Date:
- 05-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Finnish Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- The fifteenth Conference of Parties to be held in Copenhagen in December 2009 has been set as the political deadline for establishing a comprehensive regime to address the dramatic threat of climate change and follow up the Kyoto Protocol. The EU has a convening role in the position formation for the negotiations as the newly elected presidential administration of the US will need all the time available to establish its position for Copenhagen.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Energy Policy, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- Russia, United States, Japan, China, and India
94. A Roadmap for U.S.-China Collaboration on Carbon Capture and Sequestration
- Publication Date:
- 11-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Asia Society
- Abstract:
- Global greenhouse gas emissions are fast approaching unsustainable and alarming levels . There is broad consensus that these emissions, caused primarily from the burning of fossil fuels, have led to global warming. it is increasingly evident that maintaining the current trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions poses wide-ranging and potentially catastrophic risks to natural systems and human welfare . it is also clear that an unprecedented level of global cooperation will be necessary to successfully confront the immense challenge of reversing the effects of climate change.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Development, Energy Policy, Environment, Bilateral Relations, and Natural Resources
- Political Geography:
- United States and China
95. U.S.-China Cooperation on Nuclear Power
- Author:
- John R. Lyman
- Publication Date:
- 07-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Atlantic Council
- Abstract:
- In 2007, the Atlantic Council of the United States (the Council) partnered with the U.S./China Energy and Environment Technology Center (EETC) at Tsinghua and Tulane Universities to hold a series of dialogues to foster cooperation between the United States and China on developing secure and sustainable energy supplies. Over the past several years, the Council and EETC have invited key organizations, experts from industry and government, and representatives from relevant United States (U.S.) and Chinese government agencies to become directly involved in several meetings designed to identify concrete recommendations for increasing official governmental and industry cooperation.
- Topic:
- Security, Foreign Policy, Climate Change, Diplomacy, Energy Policy, Bilateral Relations, and Nuclear Power
- Political Geography:
- United States, China, and Asia
96. U.S.-China Cooperation on Low-Emissions Coal
- Publication Date:
- 10-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Atlantic Council
- Abstract:
- The Atlantic Council of the United States (the Council) and the U.S./China Energy and Environmental Technology Center (EETC) at Tsinghua and Tulane Universities cosponsored a Dialogue, “U.S.-China Cooperation on Low-Emissions Coal Technologies” in Beijing from June 24-26, 2009. This report synthesizes and summarizes the information presented during the Dialogue to allow for an ongoing exchange of information and ideas between the meeting participants and key stakeholders in the effort to lower emissions from the use of coal.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Economics, Energy Policy, Environment, and Bilateral Relations
- Political Geography:
- United States, China, and Atlantic Ocean
97. U.S.-EU Energy Cooperation
- Publication Date:
- 10-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Atlantic Council
- Abstract:
- The broad issues surrounding the global need to achieve energy security in a world equally concerned over climate change and economic growth are well known and under intensive discussion in numerous forums and governmental official dialogues. The Atlantic Council of the United States, in partnership with the Clingendael International Energy Program at the Netherlands Institute for International Relations, initiated a series of workshops designed to broaden the discussion of energy issues to include the business community, governmental organizations and civil society organizations on both sides of the Atlantic.
- Topic:
- Energy Policy, Environment, and Bilateral Relations
- Political Geography:
- United States and Europe
98. Biofuels Impact on Crop and Food Prices: Using an Interactive Spreadsheet
- Author:
- Scott Baier, Mark Clements, and Jane Ihrig
- Publication Date:
- 03-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
- Abstract:
- This paper examines the effect that biofuels production has had on commodity and global food prices. The innovative contribution of this paper is the interactive spreadsheet that allows the reader to choose the assumptions behind the estimates. By allowing the reader to choose the country, time period, supply and demand elasticities, and the size of indirect effects we explicitly illustrate the sensitivity of the estimated effect of biofuels production on prices. Our best estimates suggest that the increase in biofuels production over the past two years has had a sizeable impact on corn, sugar, barley and soybean prices, but a much smaller impact on global food prices. Over the past two years (ending June 2008), we estimate that the increase in worldwide biofuels production pushed up corn, soybean and sugar prices by 27, 21 and 12 percentage points respectively. The countries that account for most of the upward pressure on these prices are the United States and Brazil. Our best estimates suggest that the increase in U.S. biofuels production (ethanol and biodiesel) pushed up corn prices by more than 22 percentage points and soybean prices (soybeans and soybean oil) by more than 15 percentage points, while the increase in EU biofuels production pushed corn and soybean prices up around 3 percentage points. Brazil’s increase in sugar-based ethanol production accounts for the entire rise in the price of sugar. Although biofuels had a noticeable impact on individual crop prices, they had a much smaller impact on global food prices. Our best estimate suggests that the increase in worldwide biofuels production over the past two years accounts for just over 12 percent of the rise in the IMF’s food price index. The increase in U.S. biofuels production accounts for roughly 60 percent of this effect, while Brazil accounts for 14 percent and the EU accounts for 15 percent. The key take- away point is that nearly 90 percent of the rise in global food prices comes from factors other than biofuels.
- Topic:
- Energy Policy, Food, Biofuels, and Ethanol
- Political Geography:
- United States, Brazil, South America, and North America
99. Did Easy Money in the Dollar Bloc Fuel the Global Commodity Boom?
- Author:
- Christopher Erceg, Luca Guerrieri, and Steven B. Kamin
- Publication Date:
- 08-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
- Abstract:
- Among the various explanations for the runup in oil and commodity prices of recent years, one story focuses on the role of monetary policy in the United States and in developing economies. In this view, developing countries that peg their currencies to the dollar were forced to ease their monetary policies after reductions in U.S. interest rates, leading to economic overheating, excess demand for oil and other commodities, and rising commodity prices. We assess that hypothesis using the Federal Reserve staff’s forward-looking, multi- country, dynamic general equilibrium model, SIGMA. We find that even if many developing country currencies were pegged to the dollar, an easing of U.S. monetary policy would lead to only a transitory runup in oil prices. Instead, strong economic growth in many developing economies, as well as shortfalls in oil production, better explain the sustained runup in oil prices observed until earlier this year. Moreover, a closer look at exchange rates and interest rates around the world suggests that the monetary policies of many developing economies, including in East Asia, are less closely influenced by U.S. policies than is frequently assumed.
- Topic:
- Energy Policy, Oil, Commodities, and Interest Rates
- Political Geography:
- United States and North America
100. Giving Green to Get Green: Incentives and Consumer Adoption of Hybrid Vehicle Technology
- Author:
- Kelly Sims Gallagher and Erich Muehlegger
- Publication Date:
- 02-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
- Abstract:
- Federal, state and local governments use a variety of incentives to induce consumer adoption of hybrid-electric vehicles. We study the relative efficacy of state sales tax waivers, income tax credits and non-tax incentives and find that the type of tax incentive offered is as important as the value of the tax incentive. Conditional on value, we find that sales tax waivers are associated a seven-fold greater increase in hybrid sales than income tax credits. In addition, we estimate the extent to which consumer adoption of hybrid-electric vehicles (HEV) in the United States from 2000-2006 can be attributed to government incentives, changing gasoline prices, or consumer preferences for environmental quality or energy security. After controlling for model specific state and time trends, we find that rising gasoline prices are associated with higher hybrid sales, although the effect operates entirely through sales of the hybrid models with the highest fuel economy. In total, we find that tax incentives, rising gasoline prices and social preferences are associated with 6, 27 and 36 percent of high economy hybrid sales from 2000-2006.
- Topic:
- Economics, Energy Policy, and Government
- Political Geography:
- United States