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China has been experiencing great economic development and fast urbanisation since its reforms and opening-up policy in 1978. However, these changes are reliant on consumption of primary energy, especially coal, characterised by high pollution and low efficiency. China's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with carbon dioxide (CO2) being the most significant contributor, have also been increasing rapidly in the past three decades. Responding to both domestic challenges and international pressure regarding energy, climate change and environment, the Chinese government has made a point of addressing climate change since the early 2000s. This thesis provides a comprehensive analysis of China's CO2 emissions and policy instruments for mitigating climate change. In the analysis, China's CO2 emissions in recent decades were reviewed and the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis examined. Using the mostly frequently studied macroeconomic factors and time-series data for the period of 1980-2008, the existence of an EKC relationship between CO2 per capita and GDP per capita was verified. However, China's CO2 emissions will continue to grow over coming decades and the turning point in overall CO2 emissions will appear in 2078 according to a crude projection. More importantly, CO2 emissions will not spontaneously decrease if China continues to develop its economy without mitigating climate change. On the other hand, CO2 emissions could start to decrease if substantial efforts are made. China's present mitigation target, i.e. to reduce CO2 emissions per unit of GDP by 40-45% by 2020 compared with the 2005 level, was then evaluated. Three business-as-usual (BAU) scenarios were developed and compared with the level of emissions according to the mitigation target. The calculations indicated that decreasing the CO2 intensity of GDP by 40-45% by 2020 is a challenging but hopeful target. To study the policy instruments for climate change mitigation in China, domestic measures and parts of international cooperation adopted by ...

How are our efforts to reduce the impact of climate change affecting post-conflict societies? Thinking and research about the possible impacts of climate change adaptation and mitigation on post-conflict societies is almost nonexistent. Most attention remains on climate change and variability and their link to war.1 In this article I discuss the link between climate change mitigation and building peace. Drawing on new empirical data of micro hydropower development in post-conflict Nepal I inquire further if climate change mitigation contributes to peacebuilding. The findings show that micro-hydropower development in Nepal has not contributed to peacebuilding on a state level. This is because these measures do not strengthen the political legitimacy of the post-conflict authorities, a crucial measure for successful peacebuilding. Actually, in the short run this measure of climate change mitigation has led to new informal spaces of peace beyond the reach of the Nepali state. This puts policy decision makers into a dilemma: Should they consider abandoning climate change mitigation policies if they might in fact risk the peacebuilding process? Or is it worth the bigger cause of reducing CO2 emissions globally? As this article shows, the answer might be more nuanced.

Bioenergy deployment offers significant potential for climate change mitigation, but also carries considerable risks. In this review, we bring together perspectives of various communities involved in the research and regulation of bioenergy deployment in the context of climate change mitigation: Land-use and energy experts, landuse and integrated assessment modelers, human geographers, ecosystem researchers, climate scientists and two different strands of life-cycle assessment experts. We summarize technological options, outline the state-of-theart knowledge on various climate effects, provide an update on estimates of technical resource potential and comprehensively identify sustainability effects. Cellulosic feedstocks, increased end-use efficiency, improved land carbon-stock management and residue use, and, when fully developed, BECCS appear as the most promising options, depending on development costs, implementation, learning, and risk management. Combined heat and power, efficient biomass cookstoves and small-scale power generation for rural areas can help to promote energy access and sustainable development, along with reduced emissions. We estimate the sustainable technical potential as up to 100 EJ: high agreement; 100–300 EJ: medium agreement; above 300 EJ: low agreement. Stabilization scenarios indicate that bioenergy may supply from 10 to 245 EJ yr 1 to global primary energy supply by 2050. Models indicate that, if technological and governance preconditions are met, large-scale deployment (>200 EJ), together with BECCS, could help to keep global warming below 2° degrees of preindustrial levels; but such high deployment of land-intensive bioenergy feedstocks could also lead to detrimental climate effects, negatively impact ecosystems, biodiversity and livelihoods. The integration of bioenergy systems into agriculture and forest landscapes can improve land and water use efficiency and help address concerns about environmental impacts. We conclude that the high variability in pathways, uncertainties in technological development and ambiguity in political decision render forecasts on deployment levels and climate effects very difficult. However, uncertainty about projections should not preclude pursuing beneficial bioenergy options. ; publishedVersion ; © 2015. This is the authors' accepted and refereed manuscript to the article. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ DOI:10.1111/gcbb.12205

Developing Asia is the driver of today's emissions intensive global economy. As the principle source of future emissions, the region is critical to the task of global climate change mitigation. Reflecting this global reality and a range of related domestic issues, the governments of the People's Republic of China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Viet Nam have embarked upon an ambitious policy agenda. This report reviews the present and future policy settings for climate change mitigation and green growth in Asia's major emerging economies. Although recent targets and commitments will involve a fundamental change in emissions trajectories, the urgency and extent of necessary global action requires ambition to be raised even further in developing Asia. An additional transformation will be required for the trajectory of emissions and energy demand, as well as the future composition of the power generation mix. Achieving these transformations will not be easy. There are a substantial number of policy instruments available, yet significant obstacles stand in the way of their effective deployment. Governments face a number of policy challenges, including: energy sector reform, economic reform, strengthening institutional capacity, and securing international support. The principal conclusion of this analysis is that the task facing Asia's policymakers is not simply one of setting targets and pursuing narrowly focused policies to reach them. Rather, a broad-scale approach involving all sections of the economy and government will be required to achieve the shift to a sustainable, low-emissions development trajectory.

Climate change mitigation pilot projects (REDD+ - Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) affect and interact with the local population in Central Kalimantan and many other parts of Indonesia. Rather than being politically and economically neutral activities, climate change mitigation projects tend to objectify the value of carbon, land and labour, contributing to a process of commodification of nature and social relations. In this specific case study, a set of values - equality and autonomy - central to the Ngaju people, the indigenous population in Central Kalimantan, become contested in the course of the climate change mitigation project. These central values are produced in everyday activities that include mobility and the productive base - subsistence and market-based production - among the Ngaju people. On the other hand, the climate change mitigation project-related environmental practices and actions produce values that point to individual (material) benefit and stratification of the society. The aim of the paper is to draw attention to and create understanding of value production and related tensions in the efforts to 'fix' environmental degradation problems through the climate change mitigation pilot project in Central Kalimantan. ; Peer reviewed

Der anthropogene Klimawandel verlangt die Reduktion von Treibhausgasen. Diese Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit den Kosten und Strategien zur Vermeidung des Klimawandels. Dabei werden vor Allem Investitionsstrategien der Vermeidung untersucht. Die Arbeit is unterteilt in fünf Teile, die jeweils Unterfragen der allgemeinen Forschungsfrage untersuchen. Nach einer Einleitung in das Problem des Klimawandels und MakroÖkonomischen Mechanismen der Vermeidung werden diese Unterfragen in einzelnen Kapiteln beantwortet. Die Analyse basiert auf Integrated Assessment Modellen. Zuerst werden die Auswirkungen von technologischem Spillover in einem Mehrregionenmodell mit technologischem Wandel in Form von interregionalem Spillover analysiert. Modellergebnisse zeigen, daß je größer der Quotient zwischen Arbeits- und Energieeffizienz steigernden Spilloverintensität ist, desto geringer sind die Vermeidungskosten. Außerdem werden die Vorteile von Vorreitern und Anreize für eine Klimapolitik untersucht. Ein mehrregionales Hybridmodell mit einem detailierten Energiesystem wird benutzt, um die Investitionen in Energietechnologieen im Detail zu analysieren. In Klimapolitikszenarien wird der gesammte Energiekonsum verringert, während erneuerbare Energie und CCS Technologieen sofort ausgebaut werden. Verschiedene Regionen verfolgen grundsätzlich untershciedliche Vermeidungsstrategieen. Während ambitionierte Klimaschutzschranken zu moderaten globalen Kosten erreicht werden können, variieren die regionalen Kosten deutlich. Des Weiteren werden Integrated Assessment Modelle genutzt, um herauszufinden, was es bedeutet, wenn die Welt sich in den nächsten Jahren nicht auf eine klimafreundliche Politik einigen kann. Die Auswirkungen von frühzeitigen Investitionen in erneuerbare Energieen in erstbesten und zweitbesten Welten wird analysiert. Die Vermeidungskosten steigen signifikant, wenn die Implementierung von Klimapolitik verzögert wird. Hingegen verringert ein frühzeitiger Einsatz von erneuerbaren Energieen die globalen Kosten. In einem Hybridmodell mit fünf Regionen werden die Auswirkungen von Dynamik und Richtung des technologischen Wandels unter Klimapolitik untersucht. Es zeigt sich, daß die Vermeidungskosten und -strategieen sensitiv auf diese Variablen reagieren. Weitere Experimente deuten an, daß die Auswirkungen vom Spektrum der zur Verfügung stehenden Technologieen abhängt. Um die Rolle des endogenen technologischen Wandels für die Vermeidung des Klimawandels zu studieren, wird dieses Modell um eine neue Formulierung von Effizienssteigerungen erweitert. Es zeigt sich, daß Investitionen in die Effizienz von einigen Energiesektoren eine entscheidende Rolle für niedrige Vermeidungskosten spielen. In Klimapolitikszenarien können die durch technologische Einschränkungen erhöhten Vermeidungskosten durch F&E Investitionen in die Energieeffiezienz reduziert werden. Wie auch immer, zeigen die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit die wichtige Rolle von Investitionsstrategien für die Vermeidungskosten von Klimawandel. DieWelt profitiert von frühzeitigen Investitionen in eine große Bandbreite von Technologieen und in Energieeffizienz. Dabei erbringen vor allem die unmittelbare Förderung und die hohe Diversität der Investitionen niedrige Vermeidungskosten. ; The substantial threat of anthropogenic climate change implies the reducing of greenhouse gas emissions. This thesis deals with the costs and strategies of climate change mitigation. In particular, investment strategies for climate change mitigation are investigated. The thesis is separated into five parts each focusing on subquestions of the overall research question. After an introduction into the problem of climate change and the important macro-economic mechanisms for mitigation, these subquestions are answered in separate chapters. For the analysis Integrated Assessment models are used. First, the impacts of technological spillovers under climate policies are analyzed by means of a multi-regional model with technological change in form of interregional spillovers. Model results indicate that the higher the ratio between the spillover intensities for energy and labour efficiency, the lower are mitigation costs. As well, first-mover advantages and commitment incentives for climate policy scenarios are investigated. A multi-regional hybrid model with a more complex energy system is used for studying investments into energy technologies in detail. In climate policy scenarios the entire energy consumption is reduced, while renewable energy and CCS technologies are expanded immediately. Different regions follow quite different mitigation strategies. While ambitious climate targets can be reached with moderate global costs, the regional costs show a high variance. In addition, Integrated Assessment models are used to investigate what happens if the world will not agree on a climate friendly policy within the next years. The impacts of early investments into renewable energy technologies in first-best and second-best worlds are analyzed. Mitigation costs increase significantly, if the climate policy implementation is delayed. In contrast, early deployment of renewable energy technologies reduces the global costs. Within a five-region hybrid model the impacts of dynamics and direction of technological change under climate change mitigation are studied. It turns out that mitigation costs and strategies are quite sensitive to these variables. Further experiments indicate that the impacts depend on the set of available technologies. For studying the role of endogenous technological change for climate change mitigation, this model is extended by a new formulation of efficiency improvements. It turns out that investments into the efficiency of some energy sectors play a crucial role for low mitigation costs. In climate policy scenarios, the increased mitigation costs of technological restrictions can be overcome by R&D investments into energy efficiencies. However, the results of this thesis demonstrate the important role of investment strategies for climate change mitigation costs. The world gains from early investments into both a broad portfolio of technologies and energy efficiencies. Thereby the immediate support and high diversity of investments mainly provide low mitigation costs.

This paper uses the Cultural Topography (CTOPs) methodology, an intelligence community standard which is used to avoid ethnocentric analysis and the dangerous practice of mirror imaging--projecting US culture on to another country rather than viewing the costs and benefits they face through their own cultural lens. CTOPs assess a country's culture by examining four components of culture: identity, values, norms, and perceptual lens of an actor in conjunction with a specific issue of concern. This paper examines the internal culture of China, with the Chinese government as the key actor, to discover how to build effective policy to regulate air pollution in China, to protect against the detrimental effects of climate change, which China is hastening through its massive carbon emissions production. After analyzing China's internal culture using CTOPs, it was found that an effective climate change policy would be a tax incentive based system, and a switch to nuclear power, with the use of natural gas to supplement this shift. This will lead to a significant reduction in carbon emission production, which will increase the health and safety of the Chinese people, and ultimately the world.

The results are presented from a survey of national legislation and strategies to mitigate climate change covering almost all United Nations member states between 2007 and 2012. This data set is distinguished from the existing literature in its breadth of coverage, its focus on national policies (rather than international pledges), and on the use of objective metrics rather than normative criteria. The focus of the data is limited to national climate legislation and strategies and does not cover subnational or sectoral measures. Climate legislation and strategies are important because they can: enhance incentives for climate mitigation; provide mechanisms for mainstreaming; and provide a focal point for actors. Three broad findings emerge. First, there has been a substantial increase in climate legislation and strategies between 2007 and 2012: 67% of global GHG emissions are now under national climate legislation or strategy compared to 45% in 2007. Second, there are substantial regional effects to the patterns, with most increases in non-Annex I countries, particularly in Asia and Latin America. Third, many more countries have adopted climate strategies than have adopted climate legislation between 2007 and 2012. The article concludes with recommendations for future research.Policy relevance The increase in climate legislation and strategy is significant. This spread suggests that, at the national level, there is some movement in reshaping climate governance despite the relatively slow pace of global negotiations, although the exact implications of this spread require further research on stringency of actions and their implementation. Asia and Latin America represent the biggest improvements, while OECD countries, which start from a high base, remain relatively stagnant. Implications of regional patterns are further refined by an analysis by emissions, which shows that some areas of low levels of legislation and strategy are also areas of relatively low emissions. A broad trend toward an emphasis on strategies rather than legislation, with the significant exception of China, calls for enhanced research into the practical impact of national non-binding climate strategies versus binding legislation on countries' actual emissions over time. ; GoVNAMAs - Phase I

This paper considers the alignment of energy policy in South Africa with the Cabinet's mitigation vision of a 'peak, plateau and decline' greenhouse gas emissions trajectory to 2050. First, the term 'policy' is defined as having a number of components, ranging from the broad 'policy paradigm' which guides the approach to policy development in a particular area, to statements and intentions, written documents and institutional orientation and capacity. Following from this definition it is argued that, at the level of written and stated energy policy, the intention exists to move towards a more diverse, efficient and less carbon-intensive energy sector. A number of policy instruments are being developed which go some way towards achieving this. However, the targets set are too low, and all initiatives are hampered for institutional and financing reasons. On the other hand, however, the dominant energy policy paradigm and the orientation and capacity of the country's energy institutions are fundamentally misaligned with climate mitigation policy. In particular, conflicts between these institutions constrain policy co-ordination and hence alignment. The primary causes of misalignment are argued to be, firstly, existing and entrenched institutional orientation and capacity and, secondly, the lack of a single, overarching, co-ordinating energy policy institution which has sufficient power and influence to deal with the vested interests of the existing energy institutions. The paper then explores, by means of thought experiments in the areas of renewable energy and energy efficiency, what would be required to align energy policy with Cabinet's mitigation vision. The establishment of a single, overarching, co-ordinating energy policy institution is identified as a pre-requisite to any chance of alignment. This institution would then establish and govern appropriately oriented institutional capacity, either by creating new institutions, or mandating existing institutions to deliver on low carbon initiatives. It is suggested that whilst new capacity would be optimal, it may be unrealistic to attain this level of sector transformation within the timeframes required by mitigation policy, given the strongly entrenched interests in maintaining the status quo. The paper concludes that intervention at the highest political level is required to enforce energy institutional co-ordination and achieve actualisation of emissions mitigation aligned energy policies.

Abstract Background The Indian Council of Agricultural Research has set a target for increasing forest cover from the present level of 23% of land area to 33% and agroforestry contributes to this target. Methods The effect of agroforestry on carbon sequestration and livelihood security of people in India was reviewed. Also, a survey was conducted in two regions of West Bengal, one drought-prone and the other in a mountainous district, to assess the contribution of agroforestry to human well-being and livelihood security. Results The average carbon sequestration potential of agroforestry systems is estimated to be 25t.ha -1 over 96 million ha but there is substantial regional variability. The survey showed that village communities are dependent on agroforestry systems for income, employment opportunities and livelihood security. An account is also given of Government forestry and tree-planting programmes that encourage the practice of silvipasture, agrisilviculture, and agrihorticulture in rain-fed and irrigated areas. Conclusions Agroforestry systems offer opportunities for the improvement of the livelihood of poor people through provision of economic and environmental security.

Accelerating the international use of climate mitigation technologies is key if effortsto curb climate change are to succeed, especially in developing countries, where weakdomestic technological innovation systems constrain the uptake of climate change mitigationtechnologies. Several intergovernmental agencies have set up specific programmes to supportthe diffusion of climate mitigation technologies. Using a simplified technological innovationsystem-based framework, this paper aims to systematically review these programmes, with thedual aim of assessing their collective success in promoting technological innovation, andidentifying opportunities for the newly formed UNFCCC Technology Mechanism. We concludethat, while all programmes reviewed have promoted technology transfer, they have givenlimited attention to innovation capabilities with users, government and universities. Functionsthat could be further developed include knowledge development, legitimation and marketformation. These could be focal areas for the UNFCCC Technology Mechanism. We recommendthat, in future programmes, part of the funding is dedicated to programmes doingresearch and development as well as capability development.

Does it make sense to talk about corporate (moral) responsibility for climate change mitigation? Through utilizing systems thinking, I will argue that mitigation should be incorporated into corporate policies for present and future activities within the existing political framework. However, not much retrospective responsibility exists for past emissions. Exception to this are corporations who have engaged in climate change lobbying activities, voluntarily expanding their sphere of influence in the system. They could be responsible for the damage caused by misinformation campaigns and subject to compensation claims. ; Peer reviewed

Nowadays the world energy consumption continuously increases due to various human-related activities. Increasing energy efficiency and decarbonizing the economic development, especially with measures aimed at the most energy-intensive sectors (industry, buildings, and mobility) is therefore a way towards the "eco-sustainable" community. The energy efficiency improving has environmental implications as it results in a reduction of the atmosphere polluting emissions. For the GHG (and in particular for the carbon dioxide) it is necessary to study and to analyze the so-called "negative technologies" - technologies that allow a carbon dioxide concentrations reduction. Considering the strategies in order to limit the climate change and to improve the air quality, it is necessary to assess the impacts of both these phenomena and therefore to identify synergies (win - win) and avoiding solutions that improve one of the two phenomena and worsen the other one (win - lose). The aim of this work is to analyze the opportunities of the "negative technologies" application for the climate change mitigation and to formulate the hypothesis of mobility modification using methods for the fuel consumption reduction. The negative technologies were studied from a technological point of view analyzing the potential advantages and disadvantages and stressing the technical challenge. The new approach for reduction of environmental and climatic impacts of vehicle operation on the environment by changes in the albedo of a vehicle roof is suggested. The proposed method allows to reduce the fuel consumption and greenhouse gases emission while idle with the engine running. The cost-effective modification in fuel quality using the microdose of the developed surface-active additive enables to reduce the specific fuel consumption dramatically, and substantially improves the environmental characteristics of vehicles operation. The combination of the proposed methods provides the opportunity for significant reduction of the GNG and toxic substances emissions by motor transport. © 2018 WIT Press. ; ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This research was funded by the Russian Scientific Fund (Research Project 15-19-30001) and was supported by Act 211 Government of the Russian Federation, contract № 02.A03.21.0006.

Recently the impact of climate change has been an increasingly important policy issue to the Indonesian government. It makes serious programs to support the global climate change mitigation action. This article is aimed at analyzing the application of Indonesia's climate change policy. The focus is on crucial problems that constrain its effectiveness both at international and domestic levels. The discussions indicate that Indonesia's multilateral diplomacy to protect the environment is affected by the rise of global power politics as the consequence of the contestation between China and the United States. Meanwhile, internal actions are hindered by the complex social, economic, and cultural barriers. The efficacy of the policy is considerably weakened. To conclude, however, this author tries to offer some potential solutions for strategic planning and policy improvement.

The present thesis addresses the policy and technological aspects of national (and sub-national) greenhouse gases (GHG) abatement strategies. Two of the three chapters of this thesis explore the former, respectively investigating (i) domestic political economy constraints and (ii) processes of policy diffusion across jurisdictions. One chapter focuses on the latter, advancing methodologies for the identification of firm-level innovation in (GHG- reducing) electricity supply technologies. A key empirical contribution of this thesis, presented in the first chapter, is the construction and calculation of an average (emissions-weighted) price of carbon for the jurisdictions under study, which shows, among other insights, that the world average price remains extremely low, at about 1.5USD/tCO2e in 2018. In addition, the analysis in this chapter suggests that (i) political economy factors primarily affected policy implementation and (ii) policy stringency is a highly persistent process. Our next chapter investigates policy diffusion processes and proposes that these are related to an alteration of the net payoffs of domestic climate policy and an update on the information about the benefits (or costs) of policy adoption derived from the adoption of a similar policy or the deployment of abatement technology in foreign juris- dictions. The evidence suggests that technology demonstration and learning from past policy experience positively affect (domestic) policy developments. The last chapter focuses on the identification of (GHG-abating) electricity supply technologies using a machine learning search strategy based on patents' title and abstract. This approach highlighted the role of "lateral" innovation in the development of some electricity generation technologies. In addition, by linking the identified patent set to legal entities, we uncover the role of firms' technological entry and exit in technology transition and shed light on the business structure of technologically active entities. The present work allowed me to address fundamental questions pertaining to the design of climate change mitigation strategies. First, our results stress the importance of the sequence of introduction of the climate policies, suggesting that policies weakening incumbents' political and economic influence might foster subsequent implementation of more stringent policies. Second, given the weakness of most existing carbon pricing schemes, a rationale for the development of climate mitigation strategies with multiple GHG abatement tools continues to exist. Third, mechanisms of policy diffusion at play could prove highly valuable when seeking to introduce carbonpricing mechanisms in new jurisdictions. Finally, we point at the need to target public support to sustain the stream of GHG-abating electricity supply technologies primarily at new (technological) entrants. ; This thesis was supported by the UK Economic and Social Research Council.