Achieving additional emission reductions under a cap-and-trade scheme

Over the last decade, cap-and-trade emissions schemes have emerged as one of the favoured policy instruments for reducing GHG emissions. An inherent design feature of cap-and-trade schemes is that, once the cap on emissions has been set, no additional reductions beyond this level can be provided by the actions of those individuals, organizations and governments within the covered sectors. Thus, the emissions cap constitutes an emissions floor. This feature has been claimed by some to have undesirable implications, in that it discourages ethically motivated mitigation actions and preempts the possibility that local, state and national governments can take additional mitigation action in the context of weak national or regional targets. These criticisms have become prominent in Australia and the US within the public debate regarding the adoption of an emissions trading scheme (ETS). These criticisms and their potential solutions are reviewed. A set-aside reserve is proposed to automatically retire ETS permits, which would correspond to verified and additional emissions reductions. This minimizes the possibility that ethically motivated mitigation actions are discouraged, allows for additional action by other levels of government, while providing transparency to other market participants on the level of permit retirements.     

LULUCF-based CDM: too much ado for…a small carbon market

Abstract

The Bonn agreement reached in July at the sixth conference of the parties (COP) to the FCCC states “that for the first commitment period, the total of additions to and subtractions from the assigned amount of a party resulting from eligible LULUCF activities under Article 12 (i.e. CDM), shall not exceed 1% of base-year emissions of that party, times five”. The most probable size of this LULUCF-CDM market is analyzed in light of each Annex I party's actual and projected emissions and policies. Results show that the market size would be only about 110 Mt CO₂ eq. for 2000–2012, representing a maximum global market value of about US$ 876 million.     

Spatial and Quantitative Comparison of Satellite-Derived Land Cover Products over China

Because land cover plays an important role in global climate change studies, assessing the agreement among different land cover products is critical. Significant discrepancies have been reported among ...     

生态红线区管理:英国科研专用区的历史脉络与经验借鉴

作为关键生态保护区域边界线,生态红线划定当前已经上升为中国国家层面战略部署,然而当前生态红线的研究尚处于探索阶段,对于如何针对红线区域具体设计法规保障、制定管理规则、限定开发行为等方面的研究较为匮乏。鉴于英国已经较为成熟的科研专用区相关保护管理的历史经验,梳理和定位了英国科研专用区的3个发展阶段,探讨了各个发展阶段的基本原则、管理机制和实施保障的演变过程,总结英国科研专用区的规划与管理经验,提出了完善法律保障与规程规范、实施统一监管和区域统筹、并行生态补偿与保护自住、签订标准化管理协议、加强公众参与与研讨机制、提升资金保障与使用效率等对我国生态红线区管理与保障的有益借鉴。     

Global impact of a climate treaty if the Human Development Index replaces GDP as a welfare proxy

This study explores the implications of shifting the narrative of climate policy evaluation from one of costs/benefits or economic growth to a message of improving social welfare. Focusing on the costs of mitigation and the associated impacts on gross domestic product (GDP) may translate into a widespread concern that a climate agreement will be very costly. This article considers the well-known Human Development Index (HDI) as an alternative criterion for judging the welfare effects of climate policy. We estimate what the maximum possible annual average increase in HDI welfare per tons of CO₂ would be within the carbon budget associated with limiting warming to 2°C over the period 2015–2050. Emission pathways are determined by a policy that allows the HDI of poor countries and their emissions to increase under a business-as-usual development path, while countries with a high HDI value (>0.8) have to restrain their emissions to ensure that the global temperature rise does not exceed 2°C. For comparison, the well-known multi-regional RICE model is used to assess GDP growth under the same climate change policy goals.

Policy relevance

This is the first study that shifts the narrative of climate policy evaluation from one of GDP growth to a message of improving social welfare, as captured by the HDI. This could make it easier for political leaders and climate negotiators to publicly commit themselves to ambitious carbon emission reduction goals, such as limiting global warming to 2°C, as in the (non-binding) agreement made at COP 21 in Paris in 2015. We find that if impacts are framed in terms of growth in HDI per t CO₂ emission per capita instead of in GDP, the HDI of poor countries and their emissions are allowed to increase under a business-as-usual development path, whereas countries with a high HDI (>0.8) must control emissions so that global temperature rise remains within 2°C. Importantly, a climate agreement is more attractive for rich countries under the HDI than the GDP frame. This is good news, as these countries have to make the major contribution to emissions reductions.     

自组织网络在遥感土地覆盖分类中应用研究

设计完成和比较了自组织网络的几种算法在遥感土地覆盖分类中的应用,结果表明非监督和监督学习结合方法进行遥感土地覆盖分类,各算法在分类性能上无显著差异,因此可采用算法和较简单的单竞争学习网络,根据最邻近原则进行非参数分类。     

城市公共自行车自愿碳减排机制初探——以北京市为例

公共自行车系统是待开发的交通自愿碳减排项目。本文采用CCER方法学中的“快速公交项目”,计算北京市2012年公共自行车系统自愿碳减排量,并估算收益。结果显示：北京市2012年公共自行车自愿碳减排量为43.95 t CO₂,出售可获得1538元的收益。同时估算得到北京市2015年公共自行车碳减排量为6874.5 t CO₂,出售可获得约24万的收益。因此,北京等交通需求膨胀的特大型城市,随着公共自行车系统的持续壮大发展,公共自行车运营企业的经济效益有望通过碳交易实现较大提升空间。     

基于移动网络的端到端密钥协商协议

虽然3G网络的安全机制扩展到核心网络,但是并没有实现端到端安全.基于自生成证书公钥密码体制,设计一种端到端密钥协商协议,只需要一个消息交换就可以建立安全的三方会话密钥.安全性分析结果表明:基于移动网络的端到端密钥协商协议能够解决密钥管理及第三方无举证窃听,与其他密钥协商协议相比,具有较好的安全性,为端到端加密在移动通信系统中的大规模应用提供基础.     

Observational Study on the Downward Solar Radiation at the Sea Surface in the Western Pacific

In situ observation of downward solar radiation in the Western Pacific were carried out with voluntary merchant ships for five years from autumn 1990 through autumn 1995. Daily means of the short wave radiation were computed from the observed solar radiation. Then, the effects of shadows of the ship's superstructures on the observed radiation were corrected if needed. A 5-year average of short wave radiation along the main sea-lanes in the Western Pacific was calculated based on the observed daily mean solar radiation. Maximum values of 270–280 Wm^–2 are found around 15°–20°N in May and June, while those of 290 Wm^–2 are observed south of 18°S in November and December along the lanes. Small annual variations are found in the equatorial region. Annual mean values at the equator are about 230 Wm^–2 between New Guinea and Indonesia, and 200 Wm^–2 east of New Guinea. The 5-year average of short wave radiation was compared with the climatologies given in previous studies. We have concluded that some of results of previous studies are significantly underestimated.     

大数据环境中自愿接种策略及个体安全保护方法研究

大数据背景下,如何充分利用数据分析、挖掘等方法有效发现传染病传播规律,对于疾病防控、个体的安全保护有着重要作用和意义.自愿接种是对群体获得广泛免疫和安全保护的有效方式.以往的研究中,个体根据以往传播过程中的患病风险或者收益来确定是否进行自愿接种,如个体与其邻近的邻居比较上一个季节获得的收益来决定是否采用邻居的策略,也就是说策略更新对于群体的安全保护至关重要.本文研究了不同的策略更新方式对自愿接种行为的影响.通过比较个体采用不同的策略更新方式所获得的群体平均接种比例、疾病暴发规模和社会总花费,研究并设计出合理的策略更新方式,即在花费成本比较低的情况下,获得比较大的群体平均接种比例和较小的疾病覆盖率.