Past connections and present similarities in slave ownership and fossil fuel usage

The first part of the paper demonstrates the connection between the abolition of slavery and the Industrial Revolution: steam power changed the perception of labour; new techniques facilitated diffusion of pro-abolition pamphlets; fewer threats to basic existence resulting from industrial advances fostered sensibilities and moral standards toward abolitionism; and, through industrial development, the North grasped victory in the American Civil War. The second part presents similarities between societies in the past that have used slave labour and those in the present that use fossil fuels. It argues that slaves and fossil-fuelled machines play(ed) similar economic and social roles: both slave societies and developed countries externalise(d) labour and both slaves and modern machines free(d) their owners from daily chores. Consequently, we are as dependent on fossil fuels as slave societies were dependent on bonded labour. It also suggests that, in differing ways, suffering resulting (directly) from slavery and (indirectly) from the excessive burning of fossil fuels are now morally comparable. When we emit carbon dioxide at a rate that exceeds what the ecosystem can absorb, when we deplete non-renewable resources, we indirectly cause suffering to other human beings. Similarly, cheap oil facilitates imports of goods from countries with little social protection and hence help externalise oppression. The conclusion draws on the lessons which may be learned by Climate Change campaigners from the campaigns to abolish slavery: environmental apathy can be opposed effectively if we learn from what worked in the fight against this inhuman institution.     

Smallholder Maize Production and Climatic Risk: A Case Study from Mexico

The article explores the strategies employed by smallholder farmers in Mexico to cope with the affects of climatic variability, and how seasonal climate forecasts may assist these farmers in mitigating climatic risk. Recognizing that the decisions of smallholder farmers are intricately tied to the political-economic circumstances in which they operate, the article discusses how agricultural policy in Mexico affects the vulnerability of small-scale producers and may inhibit their ability to use climatic forecasts to their advantage. The article first reviews the literature on smallholder adaptation in Mexico, and discusses briefly policy and institutional issues affecting adaptation at the farm-level. Using the case of small-scale maize producers in Tlaxcala, Mexico, as an illustration, the article then argues that political-economic uncertainty outweighs climatic variability as a determinant of the production strategies of small-scale producers. In these circumstances, the farmers are unlikely to use new seasonal climate forecasts.     

Anti-fossil fuel norms

Historically, climate governance initiatives and associated scholarship have all but ignored the potential for “global moral norms” to bring about changes in the political conditions for global climate mitigation. This is surprising, since global moral norms are widely employed—as both a mode of governance and an analytical framework—in other domains of global governance, from international security to human rights. However, recent national-level fossil fuel divestments, moratoria on new coal mines and bans on gas fracking, among other developments, suggest the promise of global moral norms prohibiting fossil fuel-related activities, which this article terms “anti-fossil fuel norms” (AFFNs). The article interprets recent examples of such activities in the light of international relations theory on moral norms to provide a general framework for understanding how AFFNs originate, spread and affect states. Specifically, the article argues that there are: (i) influential agents that are originating, and likely to continue to originate, AFFNs; and (ii) international and domestic mechanisms by which AFFNs are likely to spread widely among states and have a significant causal effect on the identity-related considerations or rational calculations of states in the direction of limiting or reducing the production or consumption of fossil fuels. The article also shows that, because they spread and affect state behaviour through mechanisms of “international socialization” and domestic “political mobilization”, AFFNs cohere with and build upon the new paradigm of global climate governance crystallized in the Paris Agreement. AFFNs, the article concludes, represent a promising new frontier in climate governance.     

The trade regime and the climate regime: institutional evolution and adaptation

This article addresses concerns that the multilateral trade regime centered in the WTO and the emerging climate regime may conflict in ways that could be damaging to either or both. The article discusses the institutional and diplomatic context of these concerns, and it identifies the kinds of issues that are in question. The analysis suggests that there are opportunities for win–win outcomes in the interactions of the two regimes, for instance in the possibility of reducing fossil fuel subsidies. However, there are also problematic areas where they intersect. A core issue—and as yet an unresolved one—is whether and how emission credit trading and other activities envisioned by the Kyoto Protocol would be subject to WTO rules. The resolution of this issue will affect many other issues as well. Additional specific issues about the interactions of particular provisions in WTO agreements and the Kyoto Protocol are analyzed in a subsequent companion article in Climate Policy.     

The trade regime and the climate regime: institutional evolution and adaptation

This article addresses concerns that the multilateral trade regime centered in the WTO and the emerging climate regime may conflict in ways that could be damaging to either or both. The article discusses the institutional and diplomatic context of these concerns, and it identifies the kinds of issues that are in question. The analysis suggests that there are opportunities for win—win outcomes in the interactions of the two regimes, for instance in the possibility of reducing fossil fuel subsidies. However, there are also problematic areas where they intersect. A core issue—and as yet an unresolved one—is whether and how emission credit trading and other activities envisioned by the Kyoto Protocolwould be subject toWTOrules. The resolution of this issue will affect many other issues as well. Additional specific issues about the interactions of particular provisions inWTOagreements and theKyoto Protocol are analyzed in a subsequent companion article in Climate Policy.     

Globalized supply chains: Emergent telecouplings in Mexico’s beef economy and environmental leakages

This article analyzes how trade liberalization in Mexico, particularly following the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), has transformed that nation’s cattle economy into a feedlot system manifesting multiple telecouplings and based on the transnational provision of inputs. A conceptual model is presented that suggests how environmental effects involving land use and GHG emissions emerge from changes in the beef supply chain. The article then presents an empirical analysis establishing that the production of corn and beef has intensified in the wake of NAFTA, and that deforestation rates have declined over the same period. Evidence is also presented showing that this has not precipitated a land sparing effect, given the leakage of deforestation into Central America, which supplies Mexican feedlots with 36 % of their source materials. The article calculates associated GHG emissions and establishes that enteric fermentation dominates deforestation as a source, and that ∼14% of GHGs produced by the post-NAFTA Mexican supply chain are emitted in Central America. This raises accounting questions for signatories to the Paris Climate Treaty, given commitments are nation-based.     

A blind spot in driving decisions: how neglecting costs puts us in overdrive

This article discusses how people often neglect the financial costs associated with driving. As a consequence they take trips that are contrary to their own self-interest and cause unnecessary harm to the environment through carbon emissions. Two empirical studies demonstrate that when people do explicitly consider financial costs they are inclined to drive less. The article concludes by offering several solutions to help people learn and account for their driving costs.     

Studying local climate adaptation: A heuristic research framework for comparative policy analysis

Climate change poses a significant risk for communities, and local governments around the world have begun responding by developing climate adaptation policies. Scholarship on local adaptation policy has proliferated in recent years, but insufficient attention has been paid to operationalization of the unit of analysis, and methods employed are typically inadequate to draw inferences about variation across cases. This article seeks to contribute to the conceptual and methodological foundations of a research agenda for comparative analysis of local adaptation policies and policy-making. Synthesizing insights from policy studies literature and existing adaptation research, the article identifies and operationalizes two aspects of public policy—policy content and policy process—which are salient objects of comparative analysis that typically vary from one community to another. The article also addresses research design, outlining a comparative case study methodology that incorporates various qualitative analytical techniques as the vehicle to examine these policy elements in empirical settings.     

The WTO and the Kyoto Protocol: interaction issues

Abstract

This article builds upon the broad survey of climate-trade interactions in Part 1, by focusing upon the specific issues in the interaction of the WTO and the Kyoto Protocol.¹ It classifies the various issues into three groups according to their potential to cause problems and relative urgency. The article gives special attention to issues that are problematic because of the likelihood of occurrence of specific conflicts and the significance of their economic and/or political consequences. It concludes that although there are many interactions that are not problematic and some that offer the potential for win—win outcomes, the possibility of offsetting border measures that could be applied against energy-intensive imports from the USA may become a particularly nettlesome issue.     

Big brand sustainability: Governance prospects and environmental limits

This article introduces and evaluates the implications for global environmental change of the rising power and authority of big brand companies as global environmental governors. Contributing to the private governance literature and, in particular, addressing the gap in this research with respect to the political implications of individual firm ‘buyer power’, the article provides evidence and analysis of how big brand sustainability is altering the power relations within global supply chains, and the governance prospects and limits of this trend. The authors argue that recent brand company efforts through their global supply chains, while still a long way off from their goals, are achieving environmental gains in product design and production. Yet, these advances are also fundamentally limited. Total environmental impacts of consumption are increasing as brand companies leverage corporate sustainability for competitive advantage, business growth, and increased sales. Big brand sustainability, while important, will not on its own resolve the problems of global environmental change. In conclusion, the article highlights the importance of a co-regulatory governance approach that includes stronger state regulations, sustained advocacy, more responsible individual consumerism, and tougher international legal constraints to go beyond the business gains from big brand sustainability to achieve more transformational, ‘absolute’ global environmental progress.     

Upscaling Tropical Deforestation: Implications for Climate Change

This article examines the implications of upscaling tropical deforestation for climate change. In this case, upscaling refers to the extrapolation and aggregation of deforestation to the grid scale that is used in global climate models (GCMs). The upscaling of deforestation emphasizes the extent of forest loss, and assumes that deforestation is a homogeneous and instantaneous process. The structure of deforested landscapes is usually disregarded in "upscaled" experiments, and the intensity of deforestation is seldom considered. Consequently, the atmospheric response to a heterogeneous surface is not addressed. Furthermore, climatically significant soil and vegetation parameters associated with complex and dynamic deforested landscapes are ignored. These factors underscore the need for more realistic representation of tropical deforestation in modeling studies. Several recent attempts to address the issue of scale in deforestation studies are described in the article.     

宝鸡市气候服务系统

本文首先给出了雨水集蓄利用的概念，针对黄土高原地区十分匮乏的水资源和严重的水土流失现状，提出了在该区实施雨水集蓄的可行性。在此基础上，对雨水集蓄利用在各个方面所取得的成就和存在的问题，进行了深入细致的分析，并对亟待解决的问题和今后的发展方向进行了展望。     

Meeting Report

Top-down economic approaches theoretically show that placing a price on carbon can reduce emissions. Responses by firms to these policies, however, are less well understood and are critical for understanding the effectiveness of price-based carbon policy. This article provides an analysis of firm-level responses to the carbon tax in British Columbia (BC) through empirical research of grey literature, industry participation, and interviews with executives of major emitting firms in BC. The article highlights the empirical responses to the tax by firms, who experience difficulty in making low-carbon changes in response to fluctuating commodity prices, the low certainty of climate policy over temporal and spatial scales, and the political economy of implementing regional climate policy. It also highlights the importance of understanding firm-level responses as a complementary approach to macro-economic policy making on carbon pricing. The article shows the importance of engaging decision makers in corporations to understand how carbon is governed in light of emerging climate policy.

Policy relevance

This article is relevant to policy makers implementing carbon-pricing initiatives by illustrating the need to complement macroeconomic models with firm-level response analysis. It also demonstrates the key concerns of executives in a resource extractive economy and the ability of a carbon price, and the need for complementary technology funds and policy, to affect change in industrial emissions.     

Pledges,politics and performance: an assessment of UK climate policy

Abstract

New Labour came to power in 1997 pledging to put environment concerns at the heart of policy-making. Shortly after being elected, the Labour Government signed the Kyoto Protocol and adopted a voluntary domestic target of a 20% cut in carbon dioxide emissions by 2010. This article looks at the development of UK climate policy since 1997 and the political drivers that have led to development of the climate policy mix. It assesses the Climate Change Programme adopted in 2000 and its delivery, and it also looks at the 5-year Climate Change Programme Review published in March 2006. It conducts a quantitative assessment of the UK's performance by looking at emissions data, and it also provides a qualitative analysis, by looking at the UK policies and measures within their political and institutional context. The article concludes that Labour has been actively promoting climate policy since coming to power and has played a strong leadership role internationally. The UK is on track to meet and surpass its Kyoto target, meeting its international commitments. Between 24.1 and 29.1 million tonnes of carbon savings per year are expected by 2010. Policies and measures in the industrial sector are delivering real emissions reductions, in addition to the reductions made through fuel switching. The Government has found it more difficult to make some of the tough choices necessary to deliver emissions reductions in the transport and the household sectors. The article seeks to explain why the Labour Government has found it uncomfortable, politically, to implement stronger measures in these parts of the economy. The article highlights the changing dynamics within UK politics and concludes that there are two possible avenues for taking more stringent measures in the future. The first involves the development of a cross-party consensus on climate change. The second is to change the way that climate change is framed, so that it is no longer seen as an ‘environment’ issue but one with which voters and decision-makers can immediately connect. Only then will it be possible to implement the necessary policies and measures across the whole economy.     

Analysing preferences towards economic incentives in combating climate change: a comparative analysis of US states

In contrast to the federal government, some US states have taken an aggressive approach to curbing climate change. They use a variety of policy instruments to reduce greenhouse gases. These instruments can be categorized into two broad categories: economic incentives and command-and-control regulation. While the use of economic incentives has, on average, increased, some states employ them more than others. This article compares the propensity of different US states to employ economic incentives in the area of climate change. For this purpose, it analyses and tests four models: (i) a needs/responsiveness model, (ii) an interest group influence model, (iii) an innovation-and-diffusion model, and (iv) a combined model. Interestingly, this article finds that economic incentives are pushed out of the political agenda when states are confronted with a more severe problem in terms of carbon emissions and dependence on conventional energy. This article also finds support for the traditional, antagonistic view of ‘industry versus environmentalists’: electric utility companies tend to oppose economic incentives, while environmentalists and renewable energy producers tend to support them.     

Economics of climate change mitigation forest policy scenarios for Ukraine

Abstract

This article reveals the contribution of woodland expansion in Ukraine to climate change mitigation policies. The opportunities for climate change mitigation of three policy scenarios: (1) carbon storage in forests, (2) carbon storage and additional wood-for-fuel substitution, and (3) carbon storage with additional sink policy for wood products, are investigated by using a simulation technique, in combination with cost—benefit analysis. The article concludes that the Ukraine's forests and their expansion offer a low-cost opportunity for carbon sequestration. Important factors that influence the results are the discount rate and the time horizon considered in the models. The findings provide evidence that the storage climate change mitigation forest policy scenario is most viable for the country, under the assumptions considered in this research.     

Post-2012 climate policy dilemmas: a review of proposals

This article assesses a wide range of alternative proposals for post-2012 international climate policy regimes. We believe that these proposals will serve as a basis for debates about how to configure post-2012 climate policy. The article characterizes and assesses the policy proposals along the lines of five key policy dilemmas. We argue that (1) many proposals have ideas on how to reduce emissions, but fewer have a solution on how to stimulate technical innovation; (2) many proposals formulate climate policy in isolation, while there are fewer proposals that try to mainstream climate policies in other policy areas; (3) many proposals advocate market-based solutions, while fewer realize that there are certain drawbacks to this solution especially at the international level; (4) most proposals have a preference for a UN-based regime, while a more fragmented regime, based on regional and sectoral arrangements may be emerging; and (5) most proposals have ideas about mitigation, but not many have creative ideas on how to integrate mitigation with adaptation.     

Chinese business at the dawn of its domestic emissions trading scheme: incentives and barriers to participation in carbon trading

This article explores the incentives and challenges for Chinese business companies in participating in carbon emissions trading schemes (ETSs). Based on extensive interviews with the business managers and government officers who are currently involved in the ongoing policy experiments of pilot ETS programmes across China, the article identifies factors that either motivate or discourage companies in participating in carbon trading activities. It argues that different business groups, i.e. capped enterprises, uncapped enterprises, and carbon intermediaries, are affected by these factors to significantly different extents in terms of formulating their specific carbon strategies. It also illustrates some factors, such as a lack of stakeholder pressure and fragmented political interests, which have a distinctive Chinese character and are believed will have a fundamental impact on the quality and efficiency of Chinese ETSs in the future.

Policy relevance

At the outset, the successful implementation of any ETS depends critically on the active involvement of business actors across various industries. Hence, having an understanding of the business incentives and obstacles in participating in carbon trading is crucial, as these factors will ultimately determine the size and quality of the carbon market, and the total volume and integrity of the GHG emissions to be traded. This article also illustrates the common factors that affect business appetite for carbon trading throughout the world, as well as the factors that are unique to the Chinese political and economic context to constrain business in the market. Finally, a presentation of the business attitude towards the ETS experiment indicates the most worrying aspects of the policy design regarding carbon trading in China. As the construction and implementation of the ETS is a long-term undertaking, such investigation deserves attention from both policy makers and business leaders alike.     

ADVANCES IN THE ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES OF CHINA, 1983-1986

This article gives a comprehensive summing-up to the advances in the atmospheric sciences of China during 1983-1986.From the ten aspects that are important or very active in recent years,it describes the research work conducted and the results obtained by Chinese meteorologists in this period.The references are omitted here because of the limited space.     

The rule of law in governance of complex socio-ecological changes

This article discusses the impact of the rule of law on the resilience of societies for governing complex socio-ecological changes. It concludes that the notions of the rule of law and legal certainty have changed, and that they can be compatible with the use of framework laws of a rather open-textured character, provided certain legal safeguards, such as the right to a legal review, are at hand. While legal certainty is an important virtue of law, it does not as such necessarily prevent adequate flexibility in administrative decision-making concerning health, the environment or the use of natural resources. The article also considers to what extent certain established administrative means of control in the field of environment protection and the use of natural resources match the findings and proposals, e.g. on flexibility and adaptability, provided by resilience research. Finally the article discusses the impact of state sovereignty on governance of large-scale socio-ecological changes, with reach across state borders. It concludes that, despite some attempts of softening the impact of state borders in transboundary environmental decision-making and management, state sovereignty still hampers multilevel governance and management of resources in such contexts.