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832. What to Do about Climate Change
- Author:
- Indur M. Goklany
- Publication Date:
- 02-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- The state-of-the-art British-sponsored fasttrack assessment of the global impacts of climate change, a major input to the much-heralded Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, indicates that through the year 2100, the contribution of climate change to human health and environmental threats will generally be overshadowed by factors not related to climate change. Hence, climate change is unlikely to be the world's most important environmental problem of the 21st century.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Climate Change, Environment, and Globalization
- Political Geography:
- Britain
833. Containing Climate Change
- Author:
- Carter F. Bales and Richard D. Duke
- Publication Date:
- 09-2008
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Foreign Affairs
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- The United States can curb its own emissions and encourage energy efficiency and the development of clean-energy technology worldwide by rethinking carbon regimes.
- Topic:
- Climate Change
- Political Geography:
- United States
834. Financial Impacts of Climate Change: Implications for the EU Budget
- Author:
- Christian Egenhofer, Arno Behrens, and Jorge Núñez Ferrer
- Publication Date:
- 08-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for European Policy Studies
- Abstract:
- This study focuses on the financial resources needed to fight global climate change and the implications for the EU budget. The authors apply four different methodologies to estimate global financing requirements and attempt to determine the resources that will be needed at the EU level to meet the EU's climate change objectives. The study analyses current climate change spending of the EU budget, identifies shortcomings and indicates possibilities for correcting them. It also assesses the potential of the EU emissions trading scheme to raise additional resources to finance coordinated actions at the EU level aimed at fighting climate change. Finally, it provides three case studies of national public expenditure related to climate change in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Economics, and Environment
- Political Geography:
- United States, United Kingdom, and Europe
835. The International Climate Change Agenda: Opportunities for the G8
- Author:
- Antony Froggatt
- Publication Date:
- 05-2008
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Chatham House
- Abstract:
- The countries of the G8 have a key role in establishing a global deal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, not only because they produce 40% of global emissions, but because they can help facilitate the diffusion of the technologies necessary to stabilize the climate. Energy efficiency holds the key to both energy and climate security. Currently available technologies and practices will enable short-term and long-term targets to be met. There is a need for international cooperation that leads to increased efficiency standards for products and structures, focused finances and greater human resources and knowledge. Sector initiatives that help drive emissions reductions in heavy energy-consuming sectors will play an important role. Reductions in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions can be significantly increased through greater technological innovation and diffusion. This can be enhanced through greater research cooperation, increased targeted finance and deployment agreements.
- Topic:
- Security, Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, International Cooperation, and Science and Technology
836. The Consumer Burden of a Cap-and-Trade System with Freely Allocated Permits
- Author:
- Aparna Mathur, Kevin A. Hassett, and Gilbert E. Metcalf
- Publication Date:
- 12-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
- Abstract:
- In discussions over how best to implement mandatory restrictions on carbon, the most commonly discussed option is a cap-and-trade system. One critical economic question surrounding cap-and-trade is how to distribute the permits. The two main competing mechanisms are free allocations to polluters (usually based on past emissions levels, output levels, or carbon intensity) and the auction of permits.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Economics, Environment, and Markets
837. Russia And The Post-2012 Climate Regime: Foreign Rather Than Environmental Policy
- Author:
- Anna Korppoo
- Publication Date:
- 11-2008
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Finnish Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- According to the most recent government position, Russia is reluctant to accept binding greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments under the post-2012 regime that will succeed the Kyoto Protocol. Russia joined the Kyoto Protocol in anticipation of gains and made further demands in return for its ratification. The Kyoto Protocol was never seen as an environmental pact in Russia, but rather as a means of gaining economic and political benefits. The post-Kyoto deal will be entirely different for Russia compared to the Kyoto Protocol, as Russia would be expected to reduce its emissions in order to persuade developing countries to join. The main reason for Russia's reluctance is economic growth, which is expected to automatically lead to increased greenhouse gas emissions. However, this view is open to dispute. Climate change is not regarded as an acute environmental problem in Russia. Many Russian scientists believe that Russia could actually gain from climate change, and the IPCC is also predicting initial positive effects. A significant percentage of the Russian public does not approve of spending taxpayers' money on climate change mitigation, and due to the lack of democracy their views would not put pressure on the government's climate politics. As environmental concern cannot drive Russian participation in the post-2012 regime, it would be more productive to focus on the Russian interest in being recognised as an international actor, or on certain concrete policies such as energy efficiency, which carry some economic weight.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Energy Policy, and Environment
- Political Geography:
- Russia
838. The Environmental Security Debate and its Significance for Climate Change
- Author:
- Rita Floyd
- Publication Date:
- 09-2008
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The International Spectator
- Institution:
- Istituto Affari Internazionali
- Abstract:
- Policymakers, military strategists and academics all increasingly hail climate change as a security issue. This article revisits the (comparatively) long-standing "environmental security debate" and asks what lessons that earlier debate holds for the push towards making climate change a security issue. Two important claims are made. First, the emerging climate security debate is in many ways a re-run of the earlier dispute. It features many of the same proponents and many of the same disagreements. These disagreements concern, amongst other things, the nature of the threat, the referent object of security and the appropriate policy responses. Second, given its many different interpretations, from an environmentalist perspective, securitisation of the climate is not necessarily a positive development.
- Topic:
- Security, Climate Change, and Environment
839. Space Weaponization and Canada-U.S. Relations: Lessons from Australia
- Author:
- Steve Buchta
- Publication Date:
- 05-2008
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Woodrow Wilson School Journal of Public and International Affairs
- Institution:
- Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University
- Abstract:
- Since the end of World War II, Canadian security policy has maintained a highly adaptive quality. New circumstances and emerging threats have continually challenged the evolutionary capacity of the Canadian military. The repeated success of Canada's defense can be attributed to a sound capacity to anticipate security needs, generate appropriate approaches to combat and foster strategic partnerships with close allies. Now more than ever Canada must modernize its security policy. Major players in global politics have largely finished reshaping the post-Cold War geo-strategic environment. Most notably, the United States has taken an assertive role in the fight against terrorism. In this stasis of new global order, Canada has aligned itself with NATO members to combat the Taliban in Afghanistan and has been committed to implementing the Canada-U.S. 2001 Smart Border Declaration. Clearly, Canada has demonstrated a sovereign interest in building closer security relations with the United States.
- Topic:
- Security, NATO, Climate Change, Terrorism, and War
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, United States, Canada, Taliban, and Australia
840. Policies for Funding a Response to Climate Change
- Author:
- Brian Roach
- Publication Date:
- 07-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University
- Abstract:
- This paper asserts that a significant increase in public funding for climate change research and development (R) is needed in the United States. While additional public R funding alone is unlikely to provide a sufficient policy response to climate change, it is a critical policy component in an effective long-run strategy. Different possibilities for generating additional public revenues for R funding are considered. The analysis demonstrates that quite modest taxes on carbon emissions or gasoline could fund a significant increase in public R funding for clean energy. As an alternative to tax instruments, the paper also considers a program of voluntary retirement contributions to a clean energy fund. These clean energy retirement accounts (CERAs) would allow individuals to directly contribute to a fund that would be used exclusively to support climate change-related R Specifically, the paper suggests that CERA funds be used to offer low-interest loans to private firms and to form private-public partnerships pursuing the long-term development of clean energy technologies. Loan repayment and the eventual profitability of some partnerships will at least partially fund payments to CERA holders when they retire. Using reasonable assumptions, a simulation analysis demonstrates the financial feasibility of the program and the conditions in which the program would be fully self-funding.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Environment, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- United States