Creating incentives for avoiding further deforestation: the nested approach

Since 2005, Parties to the UNFCCC have been negotiating policy options for incentivizing reductions of (greenhouse gas) emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) in a future climate regime. Proposals on how to operationalize REDD range from market-based to pure fund-based approaches. Most of the current proposals suggest accounting for REDD at the national level. Accounting for emission reductions and implementing policy reform for curbing deforestation will take time and imply high levels of technical and institutional capacity. Therefore it is essential that developing countries receive sufficient support to implement national REDD programmes. To save time and ensure prompt action in reducing deforestation, a REDD approach is proposed that integrates project-level and subnational REDD schemes into national-level accounting. This ‘nested approach’ can achieve meaningful reductions in GHG emissions from improved forest governance and management, while allowing for an immediate and broad participation by developing countries, civil society and the private sector.     

Who picks up the remainder? Mitigation in developed and developing countries

A fair, effective, flexible and inclusive climate regime beyond 2012 will need several political balances. Mitigation and funding will be at the heart of the agreement. The IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report indicates that absolute reductions will be needed in Annex I (AI) countries and substantial deviation from baseline in some non-Annex I (NAI) regions by 2020. Although the latter was not explicitly quantified by the IPCC, the EU subsequently proposed a range for developing countries. Sharing the burden for mitigation is essentially zero-sum: if one does less, the other has to do more. We critically examine the implicit assumption that NAI countries would pick up the remainder of the required global effort minus the AI contribution. We suggest that greater levels of ambition can be achieved by turning the formula around politically, starting from the achievable ‘deviation below baseline’ given NAI's national programmes and appropriate international support. AI countries may have to exceed the IPCC ranges or pay for the remainder. For notional levels of NAI mitigation action, Annex I has to reduce by between ?52% and ?69% below 1990 by 2020, only dropping to a domestic ?35% with commitments to offset payments through the carbon market. Given the large mitigation gap, a political agreement on the question of ‘who pays’ is fundamental. The carbon market will provide some investment, but it mainly serves to reduce costs, particularly in developed countries, rather than adding to the overall effort. Market-linked levies and Annex I public funding will therefore be crucial to bridge the gap.     

2012年7月21日北京特大暴雨过程的水汽输送特征

利用NCEP再分析资料,根据水汽收支方程计算2012年7月21日北京特大暴雨时期华北东北部暴雨区域的水汽收支情况并分析水汽输送特征。得到以下结论:经向水汽输送在此次暴雨过程中起主要作用,暴雨区内水汽主要来源于中、低层(500 hPa以下)的南边界。暴雨区内水汽的辐合与暴雨发生的时间和空间具有较好一致性,在低层水汽的辐合起主要作用,中高层水汽垂直输送作用更为显著。HYSPLIT后向轨迹模拟得到的结果显示根据水汽源地划分影响此次暴雨过程水汽输送路径主要有:从孟加拉湾、南海地区处于中低层直接北上的西南路径,以及中层以下从我国东部海域(黄海、东海为主)进入内陆之后北折向东北偏北方向运动的L形高湿路径;同时高层沿着西风带西北路径的干空气输送也对此次强降水有重要影响。三者中从东部海域到达暴雨区的水汽贡献率最大,而孟加拉湾、南海的水汽输送对于此次强降水起到了明显的增强作用。     

Justice and cost effectiveness of consumption-based versus production-based approaches in the case of unilateral climate policies

In recent years, climate policy under the United Nations system has been characterized by bottom-up, national approaches to climate mitigation. This raises concerns about the overall effectiveness of these mitigation policies, for example due to carbon leakage. In response to these concerns, authors have repeatedly suggested that policy makers consider a consumption-based climate policy approach. We analyze the potential merits of a switch to a consumption-based policy approach using the criteria of justice and economic efficiency. We argue that emissions must be understood as being contributed by both, consumers and producers, but that this fact does not by itself settle the question whether consumption or production ought to serve as the climate policy base. Rather, the perspective of justice necessitates an analysis of the distributive consequences of switching from a production- to a consumption-based policy.We find that both (global) cost-effectiveness and justice can be improved if the unilateral climate policies of industrialized countries are based on emissions from consumption. There are preconditions, however, the switch in the policy base must be accompanied by clean technology transfer, and if implemented by border carbon adjustments, import tax revenues need to be channeled to developing and emerging economies. We further show that in such a setting, export rebates are of minor importance for efficiency and justice.     

2012年河北唐山M_S4.8地震前首都圈东部视应力时空变化特征

本文采用近震源Brune模式,采用国家数字测震台网数据备份中心提供的地震波形资料,测定了2011年1月至2012年5月期间首都圈东部85次ML≥2.0地震的视应力,分析了2012年4月28日河北唐山MS4.8地震前动力学参数的时空变化特征,并讨论了震源参数的标度关系。结果如下:1视应力时序变化显示,唐山MS4.8地震前首都圈东部视应力出现了明显的升高变化过程;2视应力空间分布显示,唐山MS4.8地震前,首都圈东部视应力在震源区出现了相对高值集中区。     

2012年唐山ML5.2地震前后的速度结构对比分析

针对2012年5月28日唐山M_L5.2地震发生在老震区5级地震平静17年的背景,且其震级与唐山大地震序列强度衰减趋势相比明显偏高这一现象,采用双差层析成像方法,以2年为时间间隔对唐山地区2010年5月～2016年5月的地震数据进行反演,获得该区2012年唐山M_L5.2地震前后地壳的三维地震P波和S波速度的空间分布,结合此次地震的精定位震源参数,对比分析地震前后震源区地下介质波速的变化特征。研究结果发现此次地震发生前,震中处在高低速过渡带的位置,震后震中附近的波速出现一定程度的降低。     

X-ray observation of XTE J2012+381 during the 1998 outburst

The outburst of X-ray transient source XTE J2012+381 was detected by the RXTE All-Sky Monitor on 1998 May 24th. Following the outburst, X-ray observations of the source were made in the 2–18 keV energy band with the Pointed Proportional Counters of the Indian X-ray Astronomy Experiment (IXAE) on-board the Indian satellite IRS-P3 during 1998 June 2nd–10th. The X-ray flux of the source in the main outburst decreased exponentially during the period of observation. No large amplitude short-term variability in the intensity is detected from the source. The power density spectrum obtained from the timing analysis of the data shows no indication of any quasi-periodic oscillations in 0.002–0.5 Hz band. The hardness ratio i.e. the ratio of counts in 6–18 keV to 2–6 keV band, indicates that the X-ray spectrum is soft with spectral index >2. From the similarities of the X-ray properties with those of other black hole transients, we conclude that the X-ray transient XTE J2012+381 is likely to be a black hole.     

中国参与构建2012年后国际气候制度的战略思考

 2009年将是构建2012年后应对气候变化国际制度的关键时期,而除了温室气体的减排目标和责任分摊之外,减缓和适应气候变化以及相应的技术和资金支持都将会是最为关键的影响要素。在对国际气候制度的关键影响要素进行梳理并对其进程进行分析的基础上,结合不断变化的国际国内政治、经济、环境和社会形势,对中国在2012年后国际气候谈判以及中长期应对气候变化的策略进行了探讨。     

Post-2012 CDM multi-criteria analysis of industries in six Asian countries: Iranian case study

The prospects of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and for carbon income, up to and beyond 2012, in the industrial sectors of Iran and five other Asian countries are investigated. The attractiveness and suitability of each host country, the status of their industrial sectors (based on four post-2012 scenarios), and the post-2012 potential of the CDM (or similar carbon projects) in these sectors are all examined. A multi-criteria analysis of Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, China, and India, based on seven sets of criteria (institutional, regulatory, economic, political, social, CDM experience, and energy production/consumption), is conducted, and the post-2012 potential carbon incomes of each country – based on CO₂e emissions of industrial processes – are calculated. Finally, the Iranian industrial sector and the impact of deregulation of energy prices are examined. The post-2012 potential savings in the Iranian industrial sector are calculated based on energy savings, carbon income, and environmental savings. The results indicate that there is strong demand for investment and new technology in this sector to combat several-fold energy price increases. Moreover, high-priced carbon credits could play a meaningful role in post-2012 energy policies in this sector.

Policy relevance

This research is the first study to quantify the carbon market potentials in the industrial sectors of the selected Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members. The Kyoto Protocol is considered by most OPEC countries to be a mixed bag of threats and opportunities and they have shown ambivalence towards it, mainly due to the threat a reduction of fossil fuel consumption poses to their economies. On the other hand, energy efficiency is a desirable goal for their industrial sectors. Iran, as an OPEC member country with vast energy resources, has mostly ignored the CDM during the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol and has performed poorly on CDM implementation. However, the current deregulation of energy prices in Iran, with profound cuts in energy subsidies, would definitely alter the perspective of its industrial decision makers on the post-2012 carbon potentials.     

Sector-based approach to the post-2012 climate change policy architecture

A sectoral approach to GHG emissions reductions in developing countries is proposed as a key component of the post-2012 climate change mitigation framework. In this approach, the ten highest-emitting developing countries in the electricity and other major industrial sectors pledge to meet voluntary, ‘no-lose’ GHG emissions targets in these sectors. No penalties are incurred for failing to meet a target, but emissions reductions achieved beyond the target level earn emissions reduction credits (ERCs) that can be sold to industrialized nations. Participating developing countries establish initial ‘no-lose’ emissions targets, based upon their national circumstances, from sector-specific energyintensity benchmarks that have been developed by independent experts. Industrialized nations then offer incentives for the developing countries to adopt more stringent emissions targets through a ‘Technology Finance and Assistance Package’, which helps to overcome financial and other barriers to technology transfer and deployment. These sectorspecific energy-intensity benchmarks could also serve as a means for establishing national economy-wide targets in developed countries in the post-2012 regime. Preliminary modelling of a hybrid scenario, in which Annex I countries adopt economy-wide absolute GHG emissions targets and high-emitting developing countries adopt ‘no-lose’ sectoral targets, indicates that such an approach significantly improves the likelihood that atmospheric concentrations of CO₂ can be stabilized at 450 ppmv by the end of the century.