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581. Global Sectoral Industry Approaches to Climate Change: Helping or harming?

Author:
Jonas Meckling
Publication Date:
05-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
The World Business Summit on Climate Change provides an example of the leadership role that the global business community has assumed in paving the road to a post-2012 climate regime. Among various proposals from the business lobby for the creation of a policy for concerted action on climate change, the concept of co-operative sectoral approaches has risen to the top of the agenda. The Bali Action Plan of December 2007 put sectoral approaches officially on the negotiating table, with its proposal for 'cooperative sectoral approaches and sector-specific actions' as a means to 'enhance implementation of' articles in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC 2007: Art. 1 (b) (iv)).
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, and Industrial Policy

582. Hang Together or Separately? How global co-operation is key to a fair and adequate climate deal at Copenhagen

Author:
Antonio Hill, Julie-Anne Richards, and Richard King
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
A fair and adequate global climate regime requires a massive effort across the board to reduce the risks to lives and livelihoods that poor people face first and most. Rich countries must reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions first and fastest, with ambitious targets at home. High levels of rich-country pollution over the last century mean that even ambitious emissions-reductions targets will not be enough to avoid catastrophic climate change. Deep emissions reductions in rich countries are still critical, but climate security will now be won or lost as a result of co-operative efforts in which rich countries finance large-scale reductions in emissions in developing countries. Establishing a Global Mitigation and Finance Mechanism could achieve these reductions while respecting principles of equity, and delivering tangible development gains for poor people. This must be a centre piece of the Copenhagen deal in December 2009. But much greater political attention and support is needed for this vital part of the deal to be developed in time.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, and International Cooperation

583. La misión rusa Arktika 2007 y sus implicaciones para el balance mundial de poder en el siglo XXI

Author:
José Miguel Alonso Trabanco
Publication Date:
02-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
Hasta hace pocas décadas, el Círculo Polar Ártico era considerado como una zona planetaria condenada a ser inhóspita e inaccesible a causa de su lejanía y sus glaciales temperaturas. Tal región ha despertado fascinación en los exploradores, como es el caso de Ivan Papanin, quien, en 1937, emplazó la bandera de la Unión Soviética en el Polo Norte (“Europe: Ships, subs and missiles; Russia's new assertiveness” 2007), lo que atestigua que la presencia rusa en la zona no es del todo reciente, aunque, más de 70 años después, el interés nacional ruso se extiende más allá de la esfera científica y sus implicaciones son más complejas.
Topic:
International Relations, Energy Policy, and Power Politics
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Asia

584. The Economics of Energy Efficiency in Buildings

Author:
Trevor Houser
Publication Date:
08-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
At the 2008 summit in Hokkaido, Japan, and again in 2009 in L'Aquila, Italy, G-8 leaders called for a 50 percent global reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions below current levels by 2050 to avoid “the most serious consequences of climate change.” Meeting this goal will require transforming the way energy is produced, delivered, and consumed across all sectors of the economy and regions of the world. Buildings, which account for nearly 40 percent of global energy demand today and 30 percent of projected growth in energy demand between now and 2050, will play a critical role in this process (IEA 200).
Topic:
Climate Change, Economics, and Energy Policy
Political Geography:
Japan and Italy

585. Australia as a supplier of uranium to the Asian region: Implications

Author:
Stuart Harris
Publication Date:
07-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Australian National University Department of International Relations
Abstract:
Significant interest in Australia's uranium export industry has re-emerged in the face of increased energy demand, fears of eventual reduced supplies of traditional energy sources, further evidence of global climate change and prospective higher electricity prices. This paper examines how Australia will respond to that renewed interest and how it seeks to balance its economic and environmental interests with its traditional nuclear non- proliferation activism.
Topic:
Economics, Energy Policy, Environment, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Australia

586. Options for Reforming the Clean Development Mechanism

Publication Date:
08-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)-established by the Kyoto Protocol of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change-is an emissions offset program that allows industrialized countries to receive credits for funding emissions reduction projects in developing countries. The program is intended to provide a cost-effective way for industrialized countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while at the same time supporting sustainable development in developing countries. However, the CDM has been criticized for its lengthy and expensive project approval procedures, its exclusion of many categories of potentially important mitigation activities, and its methodologies for calculating whether projects actually reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In response to these problems, this Issue Brief presents a variety of options for reforming the CDM.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
China, India, and Brazil

587. A Proposal for a Global Upstream Emission Trading System (UGETS)

Author:
Akinobu Yasumoto and Mutsuyoshi Nishimura
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
An effective policy approach to climate change would be a global emission trading system. Opinions differ, however, as to what approach should be pursued when fostering a global emissions trading system. Many argue in favor of linking various national and regional emission trading systems as a possible way forward. However, an alternative method, which involves developing a new system from the ground up, could prove more advantageous. Under an Upstream Global Emission Trading System (UGETS), all nations would use an upstream emissions trading system that would result in far fewer monitoring points than a downstream system. A nation would only need to keep track of domestic shipments and imports of fossil fuels.
Topic:
International Relations, Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe

588. The Dynamics of Climate Agreements

Author:
Bård Harstad
Publication Date:
07-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
I provide a novel dynamic model with private provision of public bads and investments in technologies. The analysis is tractable and the MPE unique. By adding incomplete contracts, I derive implications of and for international climate treaties. While the non-cooperative equilibrium is bad, short-term agreements are worse due to hold-up problems. A long-term agreement should be more ambitious if it is relatively short-lasting and the technological externality large. The length itself should increase in this externality. With renegotiation, the outcome is first best. The technological externalities are related to trade agreements, making them strategic substitutes to climate treaties.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, and Treaties and Agreements

589. On China's Commercial Reprocessing Policy

Author:
Hui Zhang
Publication Date:
07-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
China is currently operating eleven nuclear power reactors with installed capacity of 9 GWe, and it plans to increase its total nuclear capacity to 40 GWe by 2020. China is seeking to reprocess the civilian spent fuel, and to recycle the plutonium in MOX fuel for its light water reactors (LWRs) and fast breeder reactors (FBRs). A pilot reprocessing plant with a capacity of 50-100 THM/a is ready to operate now. A larger commercial reprocessing plant and a MOX fabrication plant are expected to be in commission around the year 2020. Also, the China Experimental Fast Reactor (CEFR), capable of producing 25 MWe of power, will be operating soon. Furthermore, larger commercial FBRs are planned to be commissioned around 2030-2035. This paper will first discuss the status of China's nuclear power reactors, breeders, and civilian reprocessing programs. In addition, this paper will examine whether the breeders and civilian reprocessing programs make sense for China, taking into account costs, proliferation risks, energy security tradeoffs, health and environmental risks, and spent fuel management issues.
Topic:
Security, Energy Policy, and Environment
Political Geography:
China

590. Realistic Costs of Carbon Capture

Author:
Mohammed Al-Juaied and Adam Whitmore
Publication Date:
07-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
There is a growing interest in carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a means of reducing car- bon dioxide (CO2 ) emissions. However, there are substantial uncertainties about the costs of CCS. Costs for pre-combustion capture with compression (i.e. excluding costs of transport and storage and any revenue from EOR associated with storage) are examined here for First-of-a-Kind (FOAK) plant and for more mature technologies (Nth-of-a-Kind plant (NOAK)).
Topic:
Energy Policy and Environment