Suchergebnisse

In the context of transboundary air pollution policy the broad ambition is to achieve reductions in the level of environmental and societal damage associated with certain pollutant concentrations and exposure rates in a cost effective manner. Policy formulation and legislative frameworks in this field, such as the current National Emissions Ceiling Directive in the European Union, are challenged by the degree of scientific complexity involved, the dispersed sources of emissions, and the inherent uncertainties associated with long range forecasting under these conditions. This paper identifies the reasons why varied forms of adaptive policy mechanisms (also termed flexibilities) are necessary and valuable in this arena, presents the critical considerations for their design and operation, reviews a selection of the more prominent options currently considered in the associated transboundary research community, and concludes with recommendations for the next set of transboundary air pollution policy frameworks.

AbstractWe analyse environmental ratings and emissions scores for commercial airlines from several major environmental, social and governance ratings providers. Specifically, we investigate whether emissions scores capture and predict absolute carbon emissions and emissions intensity levels, and whether scores are consistent across providers. This builds on existing literature by evaluating the predictive ability of ratings over significantly longer periods than past studies, examining within‐industry ratings disagreement for carbon emissions scores, and using an industry‐specific emissions intensity metric. Data covers 57 airlines from 2012 to 2021. Cross‐sectional and panel regressions are estimated to investigate whether ratings capture and predict carbon emissions data. We find no evidence that emissions scores capture or predict reported carbon emissions, and find that scores from different providers diverge substantially. Persistent shortcomings may undermine trust in the ratings industry, create trade‐offs between emissions abatement and ratings improvement, and hinder the incorporation of climate‐related information in capital allocation decisions.