Suchergebnisse

Edited by Duck-Koo Chung, Professor, Graduate School of International Studies and Director, Research Center for International Finance, Seoul National University, South Korea, Former Vice Minister of Finance and Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy of Korea and Currently Visiting Professor, Beijing University, China and Barry Eichengreen, George C. Pardee and Helen N. Pardee Professor of Economics and Political Science, University of California, Berkeley, US. More than five years have passed since South Korea fell prey to the Asian financial crisis. Bringing together experts from Korea and

This article analyzes the relationship between the social and climate policies of the European Union member states and examines the concept of the eco–social state. In the climate crisis era, the need for a close link between social and climate policies is particularly acute. The European Green Deal and other EU strategies reflect a political agenda with a specific interest in social and ecological goals. We aim to answer whether more significant state efforts in the social field are related to a similarly more substantial commitment in climate policy or whether a greater focus on one means less attention on another. On a theoretical level, we discuss the challenges of climate change for social policy and present the concept of climate justice. The similarities and differences between the ecological and the welfare state are also examined. We argue that the concept of climate justice highlights the phenomenon of a double and even triple injustice on a global level, which requires joint efforts in spheres of social and climate policy. Eco-social state combines social and environmental institutions intending to ensure welfare and sustainability and thus complements the traditional concept of the welfare state. The Koch-Fritz (2014) classification, which distinguishes between the established, deadlocked, emerging, and failing eco-social states, is presented in the paper and used for the empirical analysis. The empirical part of the paper employs non-parametrical correlation and hierarchical cluster analysis. The former allows for exploring the links between the ecological and social indicators. The latter enables countries to be grouped according to social and climate indicators and compared to the traditional classification of welfare states and Koch-Fritz models of eco-social states. The analysis is based on social and climate indicators of the Europe 2020 strategy. The study found that countries that provide relatively more significant funding for traditional social problems also perform better in climate change adaptation and mitigation policies by reducing greenhouse gas emissions in an effort–sharing sectors and final energy consumption. We show that clusters of the EU member states in terms of social and climate indicators (eco–social state models) are very similar to their membership in the traditional welfare states' classification. Moreover, social democratic welfare states are better prepared to address climate change than countries representing other types of welfare states. Thus the analysis confirms the social democratic welfare states as established eco–social states, while the conservative-corporate and liberal welfare states can indeed be called deadlocked eco–social states with average results. We show, however, that Lithuania, together with other Eastern European and Southern European countries, fluctuates on both the best and the worst social and climate change mitigation outcomes. Hence those should be attributed to a group with the mixed results and can be named as failed-emerging eco-social states. ; Šiame straipsnyje analizuojamas Europos Sąjungos šalių narių socialinės ir klimato politikos santykis bei nagrinėjama ekosocialinės valstybės koncepcija. Tiriama, ar didesnės valstybės pastangos socia­linėje srityje yra susijusios su labiau išplėtota klimato politika, ar kaip tik daugiau dėmesio vienai plotmei reiškia mažiau įsipareigojimo kitai. Atlikus tyrimą paaiškėjo, kad valstybės, kurios skiria santykinai didelį finansavimą tradicinėms socialinėms problemoms, pasiekia geresnių rezultatų prisitaikydamos prie klimato kaitos ir mažindamos bei švelnindamos jos neigiamą poveikį. ES šalių narių klasteriai pagal socialinius ir klimato rodiklius yra artimi šių šalių narystei tradicinėje gerovės valstybių klasifikacijoje. Taip pat nustatyta, kad socialdemokratinio režimo gerovės valstybės yra geriau pasirengusios spręsti klimato kaitos problemas nei kitiems gerovės valstybės tipams priskiriamos šalys. Lietuva kartu su kitomis Rytų ir Pietų Europos valstybėmis yra priskirtos nesėkmingų kylančių ekosocialinių valstybių grupei.

Dissertação de Mestrado Integrado em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores apresentada à Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia ; A recurrent subject related with the electrical grids in the last years, is the necessity to adopt sustainable energy policies. Due to massive raises in the greenhouse gas emissions, the planet Earth has suffered serious consequences. The European Union, trying to reduce this emissions, has played an important role, with the financing of enormous projects with the aim to improve the Power Quality (PQ) and at the same time, reduce the greenhouse gas emissions, for a better ambient and a better service. Two of those projects are the Increase and the Story. The principal ambition of these two projects is to study and develop new controls to permit a better penetration and at the same time, a better control of the distributed renewable energy sources (DRES) in the distribution network. In the case of the Story, the aim is to use storage technologies to this end.Distribution networks are recently becoming a target of this intensive research. The increasing penetration of the distributed renewable energy sources, such as photovoltaic panels (PV) and wind generation, as well as flexible load consumption units, have influence the network operation. Normally, the Distribution System Operator (DSO) would strive to reinforce the grid through additional investments to deal with this issues. This investment can cause technical problems in the grid, although, this new development can also provide a potential source of flexibility from the network users and thus a desirable source of solutions for the grid operations. With appropriate approaches to conjure and to use this flexibility, the DSO can increase hosting capacity with the existing grid infrastructure, deferring grid reinforcement investments.The ambition of my master thesis is, in collaboration with the Laboratory of Energy Policy from the University of Ljubljana, to study the effects of the different types of controls in a distribution network, to allow the injection of power from DRES, keeping all the network parameters inside the regulated levels, allowing this flexibility aforementioned. For that, was used the Increase simulation platform to simulate a Rural Network with the parameters and characteristics close to a real one.This is a first part in this two European projects, with this results, they will be used for further investigation. Is essential to deliver new tools and methods to the DSO to allow a higher increase of distributed renewable energy sources in the network, because, with this inclusion will be a big step to a fossil independent networks. ; Um assunto recorrente relacionado com as redes elétricas durante os últimos anos, é a necessidade de adotar politicas energeticamente sustentáveis. Devido ao enorme crescimento nas emissões de gases de estufa, o nosso planeta tem vindo a sofrer graves consequências.A União Europeia tem tido um papel importante no combate a este crescimento das emissões, com o financiamento de vários projetos com o fim de melhorar a qualidade de energia e ao mesmo tempo, reduzir as emissões dos gases de estufa, para um melhor ambiente e um serviço melhorado.Dois destes projetos são o Increase e o Story. A principal ambição destes dois projetos, é o estudo e o desenvolvimento de novos tipos de controlo, que permitam uma melhor penetração e ao mesmo tempo, um controlo improvado das distributed renewable energy sources (DRES) nas redes de distribuição elétricas. No caso do programa Story são usadas unidades de armazenamento para este fim.As redes de distribuição elétricas têm vindo a ser alvo de uma pesquisa intensiva. A penetração das DRES, como fotovoltaicas (PV) e energia eólica, bem como as cargas com consumo flexível, influenciam a operação das redes. Normalmente, o operador destas redes opta pela via do investimento para lidar com estes problemas, no entanto, este mesmo investimento pode provocar novos problemas técnicos na rede de energia. Com estes recentes desenvolvimentos, os consumidores podem vir a ser uma fonte potencial de flexibilidade para a rede, sendo uma solução desejável para os problemas na operação da rede.Com um apropriado uso desta flexibilidade, o DSO pode aumentar a capacidade da rede usando apenas a infraestrutura já instalada, evitando assim custos da instalação de novos equipamentos.Esta dissertação tem como ambição, numa colaboração com o Laboratory of Energy Policiy da Universidade de Ljubljana, estudar os efeitos de diferentes tipos de controlos numa rede de distribuição, para assim, permitir uma máxima injeção de energia das fontes renováveis, mantendo todos os parâmetros dentro dos valores regulados. Para isso, foi usada a plataforma de simulação do Increase para simular uma rede rural com parâmetros e características baseadas numa rede real.Este é uma primeira aproximação dos dois projetos acima referidos, sendo que estes resultados irão ser usados em investigações futuras. O desenvolvimento de novas ferramentas e métodos para o DSO permitir uma maior penetração de DRES na rede, é de elevada importância, pois com esta inclusão vai permitir uma maior independência dos combustíveis fósseis.

Abstract
Almost exactly 30 years ago, a famous article by Michael Jensen in the Harvard Business Review predicted that private equity would 'eclipse' the public corporation because it was a superior form of corporate ownership. Trends since 1989 seem to bear out Jensen's prediction. Much time and energy has gone into studying whether the private equity model does see companies being run better for investors and society. Progress has been made and most studies find positive results. But samples are usually relatively small. And the relative complexity of private equity transactions, combined with a high level of privacy, makes it hard to find financial statements that are tractable enough for meaningful analysis. After 30 years of research, we argue that a conclusive answer to the question remains further away than might seem to be the case. In the meantime, the appropriate regulatory response involves narrowing the 'regulatory gap' between public and private markets.

A large theoretical and empirical literature explores whether politicians and political parties change their policy positions in response to voters' preferences. This paper asks the opposite question: do political parties affect public attitudes on important policy issues? Problems of reverse causality and omitted variable bias make this a difficult question to answer empirically. We study attitudes towards nuclear energy and immigration in Sweden using panel data from 290 municipal election areas. To identify causal effects, we take advantage of large nonlinearities in the function which assigns council seats, comparing otherwise similar elections where one party either barely wins or loses an additional seat. We estimate that a one seat increase for the anti-nuclear party reduces support for nuclear energy in that municipality by 18%. In contrast, when an anti-immigration politician gets elected, negative attitudes towards immigration decrease by 7%, which is opposite the party's policy position. Consistent with the estimated changes in attitudes, the anti-nuclear party receives more votes in the next election after gaining a seat, while the anti-immigrant party experiences no such incumbency advantage. The rise of the anti-immigration party is recent enough to permit an exploration of possible mechanisms using several ancillary data sources. We find causal evidence that gaining an extra seat draws in lower quality politicians, reduces negotiated refugee quotas, and increases negative newspaper coverage of the anti-immigrant party at the local level. Our finding that politicians can shape public attitudes has important implications for the theory and estimation of how voter preferences enter into electoral and political economy models.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) facilities coupled to coal-fired power plants provide a climate change mitigation strategy that potentially permits the continued use of fossil fuels whilst reducing the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Potential design routes for the capture, transport and storage of CO2 from United Kingdom (UK) power plants are examined. Energy and carbon analyses were performed on coal-fired power stations with and without CCS. Both currently available and novel CCS technologies are evaluated. Due to lower operating efficiencies, the CCS plants showed a longer energy payback period and a lower energy gain ratio than conventional plant. Cost estimates are reported in the context of recent UK industry-led attempts to determine opportunities for cost reductions across the whole CCS chain, alongside international endeavours to devise common CCS cost estimation methods. These cost figures should be viewed as 'indicative' or suggestive. They are nevertheless helpful to various CCS stakeholder groups [such as those in industry, policy makers (civil servants and the staff of various government agencies), and civil society and environmental 'non-governmental organisations' (NGOs)] in order to enable them to assess the role of this technology in national energy strategies and its impact on local communities.

Soil carbon has been identified as a priority issue by the Scottish Government in climate change policy across several areas. There is particular interest in the potential of soils to provide carbon sequestration as a contribution to the annual emissions reductions targets, with links to agriculture, renewable energy and other primary land uses.

Spain, on its own, is not a key player in the negotiations for the potential successor of the Kyoto Protocol that is expected to be 'politically agreed' at the Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen. It is well known that this 'honour' is reserved for the US and China, the world's two main emitters of Greenhouse Gases (GHG). However, Spain can play an important role in that it will occupy the Presidency of the EU during the first half of 2010. Moreover, Spain could influence the negotiations towards win-win situations for the country. In this working paper we argue that the economics and politics of climate change provide few incentives for countries to engage in an ambitious deal that would drastically cut carbon emissions. However, we expect the Copenhagen summit to deliver a workable successor of the Kyoto Protocol, whose main mechanisms are two types of partnerships: (1) developed countries with developing countries; and (2) public and private partnerships. Spain can benefit from an agreement like this given the first-mover advantage it has acquired in the deployment of clean technologies, the importance of its energy firms and their strong links with Latin America. However, among other initiatives needed, the country must adapt its energy and environmental policy to facilitate the transition towards a low-carbon economy. This is a complex task because energy and environmental policy objectives are intertwined, and in some cases trade-offs are inevitable. This paper presents some principles put forth by evolutionary economics that could guide policy makers in this endeavour.

Republic of Korea (ROK) changed its spent nuclear fuel policy from the once-through usage and direct disposal to a total system approach that includes pyroprocessing, sodium-cooled fast reactors, and a two-tier geological repository to achieve a breakthrough for domestic deadlock situation and thus enable sustainable utilization of nuclear power, but caused disagreement in the bilateral negotiation with the United States (US) for the Nuclear Cooperation Agreement. Analysis has revealed that this shift is effective to make a breakthrough for domestic deadlock because it augments variety of technological options, with which more reversible decision-making process can be conducted to accommodate broad public needs. A trade-off has been explored first by deriving four engineering options from the ROK's system concept and then by comparing their performance from six viewpoints. The option including separation of high-heat emitting radionuclides by the electrolytic reduction process has been recommended. This option should be modified as exogenous and endogenous situations change in future. It is imperative for ROK to integrate a public-participatory decision-making process that works in concert with technology development. US can verify that ROK's motivation is not deviating from successful spent fuel management by checking if a transparent process with public participation is conducted. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Agriculture is one of the least "green" — that is, the least environmentally friendly — sectors in Canada, based on its energy-use intensity and greenhouse gas emissions intensity. But agriculture is also the "greenest" sector in Canada, according to one measure that calculates the proportion of "green employment" in various industries. Welcome to the world of "green jobs," where vague definitions often give energy-intensive, carbon-heavy industries a "green" stamp of approval. Examples include companies making solar panels, but using large volumes of energy to do so or where an accountant preparing financial returns is counted as a "green" worker at one office, but turns instantly "dirty" should he cross the street to do the same accounting work at another office. It is also a world where inefficient power generation is considered positive, if it means employing more "green workers" per unit of power output, regardless of any negative effects that may have on the economy. The concept of "green jobs" has become immensely popular among policy planners looking to address the problem of global warming, yet are aware of the economic costs of anti-carbon measures. The promise that western economies can reduce carbon emissions while creating thousands, if not millions, of "green jobs" — which will more than compensate for the job losses that will occur in sectors reliant on fossil fuels — has been especially embraced by politicians, relieved to find a pro-climate policy that also doubles as a pro-economic policy. Unfortunately, there is scant agreement on what fairly qualifies as a "green job," and much evidence that what policy-makers frequently consider "green jobs" are, in fact, existing jobs, belonging to the traditional economy, but simply reclassified as "green." By emphasizing "green jobs," policy-makers risk measuring environmental progress based on a concept that can often be entirely irrelevant, or worse, can actually be detrimental to both the environment and the economy. Too often, "green job" policies reward inefficiency, while also failing to distinguish between permanent, full-time jobs and temporary or part-time jobs. In some cases they can also discourage trade, limit or thwart competition, result in greater job losses elsewhere in the economy, and demand massive government subsidies, with some government "green job" programs requiring hundreds of thousands of dollars, or even millions, to create a single job. The urge of politicians to champion "green employment" is understandable given its convenient, if frequently unrealistic promise of a politically saleable anti-carbon policy. However, a more reliable and meaningful measure of environmental progress ultimately has little to do with the number of jobs a particular company creates (after all, if economic efficiency — and hence, prosperity — is indeed a policy goal, the number of jobs created should ideally be as minimal as necessary for every unit of output). Rather, if minimizing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions is the desired policy outcome, then measuring the intensity of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions per unit of output can be the only meaningful metric. It may not have the political appeal that a promise of "green jobs" does. But unlike "green jobs," both of these measures provide quantifiable, non-arbitrary metrics of environmental performance and progress. In other words, unlike the problematic, arguably illusory concept of "green employment," measuring energy-use intensity and emissions intensity actually tells us very clearly and reliably whether we are making the environment better or worse.

Oil palm has flourished as an economically vital crop in Indonesia given its use in both food and non-food products (including biodiesel) for domestic and export markets. However, the expansion of oil palm plantations in Indonesia is controversial. While the crop generates fiscal earnings for the country, and regular income streams for farmers and companies, oil palm plantation expansion is claimed to cause deforestation, environmental degradation and biodiversity losses. At the same time, there is a national target to reduce GHG emissions from land use change and the production of palm oil. Climate change mitigation goals also include ambitious targets to blend biodiesel with fossil diesel in various economic sectors. This thesis looks at the palm oil agro-industry, from oil palm plantation to crude palm oil (CPO) production, and CPO based biodiesel production. It proposes a policy evaluation to verify policy implications in relation to the issue of land use allocation, and the poor profitability in palm oil biodiesel production. The overarching objective is to evaluate the effectiveness of prevailing policies used to promote the palm oil agro-industry for biodiesel production in Indonesia. The thesis is framed by policy research and ex-post policy evaluation. The focus is on the process of policy formulation and implementation, rather than outcome evaluation. Two specific analytical frameworks are used to answer the research questions while addressing the criteria of effectiveness in policy evaluation: (i) policy coherence analysis and (ii) life cycle cost analysis. Qualitative indicators are used to measure the coherence of biofuel policy with other sectoral policies (agriculture, climate and forestry) in relation to land allocation. Quantitative economic indicators are used to compare the costs and benefits of conventional palm oil biodiesel production with a biorefinery conceptual plant. There are valuable lessons to be learnt from this policy evaluation. The results indicate areas in which policy ...

Cover -- Half-Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Figures and Table -- Foreword -- CHAPTER 1 Visions of Environmentalism -- CHAPTER 2 Rethinking the Way We Think -- CHAPTER 3 Who Owns the Environment? -- CHAPTER 4 This Land Is Whose Land? -- CHAPTER 5 Prospecting for Energy and the Environment -- CHAPTER 6 Tapping Water Markets -- CHAPTER 7 Fencing the Fishery -- CHAPTER 8 Calling on Communities -- CHAPTER 9 Enviropreneurship in Action -- CHAPTER 10 Frontiers of Free Market Environmentalism -- Notes -- References -- Notes on Contributors -- Index

"Readers of the headlines that recently made it to Russian newspapers described them with the following play of words: It was either the 'sektor Gaza' (the Gaza Strip) or the 'sektor bez gaza' (the region without gas). At least the gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine seems to be solved for the moment, after Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko have agreed on a solution on January 18. The event has once again pushed the diversification of energy supply in the European Union to the top of the agenda. However, there is more to be done. The EU should use its influence on the Ukrainian government to help it reduce its own demand of natural gas and assist it at improving its energy infrastructure." (author's abstract)