Sectoral targets for developing countries: combining ‘common but differentiated re-sponsibilities’ with ‘meaningful participation’

Although a global cap-and-trade system is seen by many researchers as the most cost-efficient solution to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the governments of developing countries refuse to enter into such a system in the short term. Many scholars and stakeholders, including the European Commission, have thus proposed various types of commitments for developing countries that appear less stringent, such as sectoral approaches. A macroeconomic assessment of such a sectoral approach is provided for developing countries. Two policy scenarios in particular are assessed, in which developed countries continue with Kyoto-type absolute commitments, while developing countries adopt an emissions trading system limited to electricity generation and linked to developed countries' cap-and-trade systems. In the first scenario, CO₂ allowances are auctioned by the government, which distributes its revenues as a lump sum to households. In a second scenario, the auction revenues are used to reduce taxes on, or to give subsidies to, electricity generation. The quantitative analysis, conducted with a hybrid general equilibrium model, shows that such options provide almost as much emissions reduction as a global cap-and-trade system. Moreover, in the second sectoral scenario, GDP losses in developing countries are much lower than with a global cap-and-trade system, as is also the effect on the electricity price.     

NOx or VOC Limitation in East German Ozone Plumes?

The ozone forming potential of VOCs and NO_x for plumes observed from several cities and a power plant in eastern Germany was investigated. A closed box model with a gas phase photochemical reaction mechanism was employed to simulate several scenarios based upon aircraft observations. In several of the scenarios, the initial concentrations of NO_x, VOCs, and SO₂, were reduced to study the factors limiting the O₃ production. Ozone production was limited by the initial VOC concentrations for all of the simulated plumes. Higher O₃ concentrations were produced with reduced initial NO_x. In one sample with high SO₂ mixing ratios (>100 ppb), SO₂ was also identified as a significant contributor to the production of O₃.     

On the Retrieval of Volcanic Sulfur Dioxide Emissions from GOME Backscatter Measurements

We focus on the retrieval of volcanic sulfur dioxide (SO₂) emissions from an analysis of atmospheric UV backscatter spectra obtained by the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) spectrometer on board the ESA European Remote Sensing Satellite (ERS-2). Here, the last major eruptions of Mt. Etna on Sicily (Italy) in July/August 2001 and October/November 2002 provided an excellent opportunity to study the retrieval of SO₂ columnar amounts from ground-based, LIDAR and satellite measurements. Our study shows that the bulk of emitted SO₂ was confined in the troposphere, mainly between 700 hPa and 400 hPa which is confirmed by trajectory analysis, by LIDAR observations and AVHRR observations. The area of influence of Mt. Etna eruptions ranges from the Western Saharan Desert to Greece and the near east states and even down to the basin of Tschad, Africa. Our analysis revealed that information about the plume height of volcanic eruptions and aerosol parameters is necessary for a reliable quantitative retrieval of SO₂ from space-borne sensor data at periods perturbed by volcanic eruptions.     

我国城乡居民消费差异对CO2的影响分析

采用相关年度数据,利用脉冲响应函数和方差分解技术,详细分析了我国城乡居民消费现状,并探究了我国城乡居民消费差异对CO2排放的影响。结果表明,我国城镇居民的消费结构已由生存型消费向发展享受型转变,但农村居民仍旧停留在以"吃穿用"为主的传统消费阶段,这使得城乡居民消费水平的提高对CO2排放存在巨大差异。据测算,城镇居民消费水平的提高对CO2排放的影响几乎是农村居民消费水平提高对其影响的10倍。鉴于此,我国实现节能减排的目标,不仅需要改变生产方式,更需要转变居民消费理念、调整消费结构、引导居民合理消费,使居民消费行为由高能耗消费向低能耗消费转变。     

Quantitative analysis of the impact factors of conventional energy carbon emissions in Kazakhstan based on LMDI decomposition and STIRPAT model

Quantitative analysis of the impact factors in energy-related CO₂ emissions serves as an important guide for reducing carbon emissions and building an environmentally-friendly society. This paper aims to use LMDI method and a modified STIRPAT model to research the conventional energy-related CO₂ emissions in Kazakhstan after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The results show that the trajectory of CO₂ emissions displayed U-shaped curve from 1992 to 2013. Based on the extended Kaya identity and additive LMDI method, we decomposed total CO₂ emissions into four influencing factors. Of those, the economic active effect is the most influential factor driving CO₂ emissions, which produced 110.86 Mt CO₂ emissions, with a contribution rate of 43.92%. The second driving factor is the population effect, which led to 11.87 Mt CO₂ emissions with a contribution rate of 4.7%. On the contrary, the energy intensity effect is the most inhibiting factor, which caused–110.90 Mt CO₂ emissions with a contribution rate of–43.94%, followed by the energy carbon structure effect resulting in–18.76 Mt CO₂ emissions with a contribution rate of–7.43%. In order to provide an in-depth examination of the change response between energy-related CO₂ emissions and each impact factor, we construct a modified STIRPAT model based on ridge regression estimation. The results indicate that for every 1% increase in population size, economic activity, energy intensity and energy carbon structure, there is a subsequent increase in CO₂ emissions of 3.13%, 0.41%, 0.30% and 0.63%, respectively.     

When does economic development promote mitigation and why?

Is economic development compatible with mitigation? On the one hand, development should promote effective climate policy by enhancing states’ capacities for mitigation. On the other hand, economic growth creates more demand for production, thereby inhibiting emissions reduction. These arguments are often reconciled in the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) thesis. According to this approach, development initially increases emissions in poor economies, but begins to lower emissions after a country has attained a certain level of development.

The aim of this article is to determine empirically whether the EKC hypothesis seems plausible in light of emissions trends over the birth and implementation of the Kyoto Protocol. Drawing on data from the World Bank World Development Indicators and World Resources Institute Climate Data Explorer, it conducts a large-N investigation of the emissions behaviour of 120 countries from 1990 to 2012. While several quantitative studies have found that economic factors influence emissions activity, this article goes beyond existing research by employing a more sophisticated – multilevel – research design to determine whether economic development: (a) continues to be a significant driver once country-level clustering is accounted for and (b) has different effects on different countries. The results of this article indicate that, even after we account for country-level clustering and hold constant the other main putative drivers of emissions activity, economic development tends to inhibit emissions reduction. They also provide strong evidence that emissions trends resemble the EKC, with development significantly constraining emissions reduction in the South and promoting it in the North.

POLICY RELEVANCE

This article contributes to the understanding of the (changing) role of economic development in shaping emissions activity. It demonstrates the need for a contextualized, country-specific approach for evaluating the effectiveness of economic development in promoting emissions reduction and uncovers new evidence in support of the EKC hypothesis.     

Spectroscopy of solar prominences from space and ground

Two quiescent solar prominences were observed in July 2000 from SUMER aboard SOHO and from the two German solar telescopes at Tenerife. Two‐dimensional images taken at the VTT simultaneously in the spectral lines Hβ at 4862 Å and Ca II at 8542 Å show no significant spatial variation of their pressure‐sensitive emission ratio. Slit spectra of the Ca II 8542 Å and He I 10830 Å lines obtained at the Gregory‐Coudé telescope yield 8000 K < T_kin < 9000 K and 3 km/s < V_n–th < 8 km/s. Among the various spectral ranges observed with SUMER, we first investigate the Lyman emission lines, which were fitted by Gaussians yielding reliable spectral radiances and line widths for the series members 5 < k < 18. A determination of the level population gives for the lower series members a Boltzmann temperature of 60 000 K, the higher members being over‐populated. This temperature indicates an origin of the Lyman lines from hot surroundings of the cool prominence body seen in the ground‐based data; this also holds for the ‘hotter’ SUMER lines.     

城市地铁对沿线居民通勤交通碳排放的影响 ——以郑州市为例

基于郑州市地铁1号线、2号线周边11个典型社区的居民调查数据,对地铁开通前后居民通勤交通碳排放进行了核算,从职业、收入和距离等方面分析了地铁沿线居民通勤交通碳排放的影响因素,结果表明:(1)地铁1号线开通后人均通勤碳排放减少18%,地铁2号线开通后减少43%;(2)不同职业类型的居民在地铁开通后通勤碳减排比例由高到低依次为教师、公司职员、其他、工人、公务员;(3)居民收入与通勤交通碳排放量成正相关,与地铁开通后的碳减排比例呈负相关;(4)居民通勤碳减排率与居住地到最近地铁站的距离成负相关,地铁开通后距离地铁站为0~1,1~2,2~3 km的小区人均通勤碳排放减少率分别52.76%,41.12%,24.36%。     

新疆碳排放影响因素分析与政策建议

气候变化和二氧化碳减排问题已引起全世界的关注.本文运用岭回归分析1995-2008 年新疆碳排放与人口、经济、技术间的关系,并进一步探讨了产业结构和主导产业对碳排放的影响,以寻找减排的技术路线和对策,推动区域低碳经济的发展.结果表明：①不合理的经济结构和人口增长对碳排放有显著的推动作用,技术进步虽在一定程度上缓解了碳排放,但影响甚微;②新疆过分依赖自然资源的经济增长方式和以第二产业为主的经济结构是导致温室气体排放量增加的主要原因;③研究期间,新疆的主导产业均为以石油天然气开采、石油化工、煤化工为主的重工业,但其在工业总产值的比重却有较大提升,导致对能源的消耗急剧增加.未来在全球化背景下,新疆应转变经济增长模式,加大生态保护力度,更多地依靠科技创新、技术进步和制度的改进,大力发展低碳产业.     

Growing up and cleaning up: The environmental Kuznets curve redux

Borrowing from the Kuznets curve literature, researchers have coined the term “environmental Kuznets curve” or EKC to characterize the relationship between pollution levels and income: pollution levels will increase with income but some threshold of income will eventually be reached, beyond which pollution levels will decrease. The link between the original Kuznets curve, which posited a similar relationship between income and inequality, and its pollution-concerned offspring lies primarily with the shape of both curves (an upside-down U) and the central role played by income change. Although the EKC literature has burgeoned over the past several years, few concrete conclusions have been drawn, the main themes of the literature have remained constant, and no consensus has been reached regarding the existence of an environmental Kuznets curve. EKC research has used a variety of types of data and a range of geographical units to examine the effects of income levels on pollution. Changes in pollution levels might also be at least partly explained by countries’ position in the demographic transition and their general population structure, however little research has included this important aspect in the analysis. In addition, few analyses confine themselves to an evaluation for one country of the long-term relationship between income and pollution. Using United States CO₂ emissions as well as demographic, employment, trade and energy price data, this paper seeks to highlight the potential impact of population and economic structure in explaining the relationship between income and pollution levels.