Suchergebnisse

Currently, international climate negotiations concentrate on design issues for the flexible instruments outlined in the Kyoto Protocol. As the 6th Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change in late 2000 or early 2001 has to take decisions on these matters, it is imperative to develop solutions that combine long-term economic efficiency with long-term environmental effectiveness. Sometimes, a reconciliation of these targets is difficult and compromises have to be made. This report discusses solutions for three critical issues which have got different degrees of attention until now but are linked inasmuch their solution will be crucial for the success of the Kyoto Protocol. The authors have come across them due to their close involvement in the negotiation process. The first issue has been a major topic of debate - the possibility that Russia and other countries in transition may have an enormous surplus of emission permits due to their economic collapse. Unfettered trade in this surplus would artificially depress permit prices, reduce the incentive for long-term innovation and would not be linked to any efficiency improvement in the selling countries. Koch and Michaelowa discuss ways how incentives can be devised to link sales of emission permits with actions that lead to long-term emission reductions. They include an element of early action designed to prevent lock-in on an emission-intensive path of economic recovery by fostering investments whose emission reduction cannot be quantified but is nevertheless real. Early project-related Joint Implementation plays an important role in this context. The second issue is relatively technical but a necessary condition for the functioning of a global market in emission permits. It deals with the design of a system of national registries that track trades in permits. An International Registry would be the node of this system and guarantee that no fraudulent trades enter the system. A homogenous trading unit would be created. The way how trades are processed, the information requirements and the time-related aspect of the implementation of the registry system are discussed. Finally, the third issue seems remote but may prove challenging in the long term. International conflict will impact upon the Kyoto Protocol commitments. Wars like the one in Kosovo will lead to additional greenhouse gas emissions that have to be accounted for. Territorial changes will lead to changes in commitments. The authors discuss the different possibilities that change commitments and make recommendations how they could be accommodated in the Kyoto framework. Dr. Axel Michaelowa, a former staff member of HWWA Institute for Economic Research, is now working as an independent climate policy expert in Paris. Among other functions, he serves as a permanent advisor and project coordinator for HWWA on the economics of international climate policy. Tobias Koch is a specialist on Russian climate and energy policy. He is doing research with the Center for Energy Policy in Moscow and has also worked for the UN climate change secretariat on issues of emissions trading. However, the views expressed in this report are his personal ones.

Currently, international climate negotiations concentrate on design issues for the flexible instruments outlined in the Kyoto Protocol. As the 6th Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change in late 2000 or early 2001 has to take decisions on these matters, it is imperative to develop solutions that combine long-term economic efficiency with long-term environmental effectiveness. Sometimes, a reconciliation of these targets is difficult and compromises have to be made. This report discusses solutions for three critical issues which have got different degrees of attention until now but are linked inasmuch their solution will be crucial for the success of the Kyoto Protocol. The authors have come across them due to their close involvement in the negotiation process. The first issue has been a major topic of debate - the possibility that Russia and other countries in transition may have an enormous surplus of emission permits due to their economic collapse. Unfettered trade in this surplus would artificially depress permit prices, reduce the incentive for long-term innovation and would not be linked to any efficiency improvement in the selling countries. Koch and Michaelowa discuss ways how incentives can be devised to link sales of emission permits with actions that lead to long-term emission reductions. They include an element of early action designed to prevent lock-in on an emission-intensive path of economic recovery by fostering investments whose emission reduction cannot be quantified but is nevertheless real. Early project-related Joint Implementation plays an important role in this context. The second issue is relatively technical but a necessary condition for the functioning of a global market in emission permits. It deals with the design of a system of national registries that track trades in permits. An International Registry would be the node of this system and guarantee that no fraudulent trades enter the system. A homogenous trading unit would be created. The way how trades are processed, the information requirements and the time-related aspect of the implementation of the registry system are discussed. Finally, the third issue seems remote but may prove challenging in the long term. International conflict will impact upon the Kyoto Protocol commitments. Wars like the one in Kosovo will lead to additional greenhouse gas emissions that have to be accounted for. Territorial changes will lead to changes in commitments. The authors discuss the different possibilities that change commitments and make recommendations how they could be accommodated in the Kyoto framework. Dr. Axel Michaelowa, a former staff member of HWWA Institute for Economic Research, is now working as an independent climate policy expert in Paris. Among other functions, he serves as a permanent advisor and project coordinator for HWWA on the economics of international climate policy. Tobias Koch is a specialist on Russian climate and energy policy. He is doing research with the Center for Energy Policy in Moscow and has also worked for the UN climate change secretariat on issues of emissions trading. However, the views expressed in this report are his personal ones.

During the last few years, emission control has become a problem of global concern due to the constantly increasing pollution of earth's atmosphere. In order to reach the emission reduction targets imposed by the Kyoto Protocol, a limitation of the emissions produced by the generating units is needed. This paper proposes a new method for the incorporation of the carbon dioxide emission constraints in the solution of the short-term unit commitment problem, based on an efficient simulated annealing algorithm. The emission constraints are taken into account by integrating the cost of purchasing additional emission allowances, whenever the total system emissions exceed a predefined maximum limit, into the objective function of the unit commitment problem. Numerical simulations have proven the efficiency of the proposed method. © 2006 IEEE.

Carbon dioxide emissions are the main cause of anthropogenic climate change and play a central role in discussions on climate change mitigation. Previous research has demonstrated that national carbon dioxide emissions are driven mainly by population size and wealth. However, the variation in per capita emissions of nations with similar standards of living and similar population is huge. In this paper we investigate the drivers of national per capita carbon dioxide emissions over and above already known factors. In particular, we extend previous research by taking into account countries' shares of imports and exports, indicators of political interventions such as energy prices, and the use of renewable energy sources. Moreover, we also examine whether international commitments, such as the ones made by many nations at climate summits of the United Nations, matter. We use country-level data from 1980 to 2014 and estimate fixed effects panel regression models. In accordance with former research we find no environmental Kuznets curve with respect to carbon dioxide per capita emission levels. However, higher energy prices and the availability of alternative energy sources both reduce emissions. Furthermore, voluntary international environmental commitments also motivate countries to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

This paper presents an estimation of the cost of reducing CO2 emissions as agreed in Kyoto by Annex I countries. Unlike most of the existing literature, this paper focuses on European Union countries' abatement costs and, using a simple model, estimates the role of each EU country within a EU market as well as an Annex 1 market. As a major result, marginal (and total) abatement costs for each EU country (as well as the EU total cost) are presented. Some conclusions on the redistribution of income among market participants related to the trading system are also shown.

This report analyzes the development trends and conditions of the Russian economy, specifically its energy sector. It also reviews the projections of carbon emissions by 2020 and beyond in the context of the Russian government's scenarios of economic development. The second section of the report focuses on Russia's position in the negotiation process on a post-2012 climate regime, including the emission limitation pledge, carry-over of the surplus of assigned amount units (AAU) beyond 2012 and the forest carbon sinks. The report is written by Dr George Safonov, State University - Higher School of Economics/ Russian Environmental Defense Fund and Dr Oleg Lugovoy, Russian Environmental Defense Fund and Dr Anna Korppoo, the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. The Nordic Ministers of Environments established the Nordic COP 15 Group early in 2008. In January 2010 the group was renamed to the Nordic ad hoc Group on Global Climate Negotiations. The main tasks of the group are to prepare reports and studies, conduct relevant meetings and organize conferences supporting the Nordic negotiators in the UN climate negotiations. The overall aim of the group is to contribute to a global and comprehensive agreement on climate change with ambitious emission reduction commitments.

China is currently the world's largest single source of fossil fuel related CO2 emissions. In response to pressure from the international community, and in recognition of its role in global climate change mitigation, the Chinese government has announced a ; The authors gratefully acknowledge support from ARC Discovery Grant DP0988281 and DP120101088.