Optimal liability apportionment in programmatic credit-based emissions trading

The inclusion of Programmes of Activities (PoAs) within the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has been limited by the fact that third-party project validators, who determine the eligibility of a CDM Project Activity (CPA), are currently held liable for any certificates that are erroneously issued. As such, validators must replace any credits issued for the relevant CPA. Moreover, the risk associated with the validation of small-scale CPAs is considerably higher than that associated with traditional CDM projects. Using a simple game-theory model to model the interactions between project validators and coordinators, it is shown that shifting liability for certificates that are erroneously included – from the former to the latter – is never optimal, does not provide a strong enough incentive to enforce first-best levels of due care in CPA selection and inclusion, and can induce overprovision in validation efforts. The main problem with such a simple proportionate liability regime is that an increase in incentives for one player automatically leads to a decrease in incentives for the other. Two additional instruments are also considered that would both rectify this problem and improve the environmental integrity of the CDM mechanism.     

热带和中纬太平洋海温异常对东北夏季低温冷害影响的诊断分析研究

利用1995~1997年东北地区23个测站的地面气温资料、1950~1996年太平洋地区月平均海温资料以及1980~1994年全球月平均风场资料,分析了东北夏季低温冷害的时空特征和变化规律,探讨了太平洋各区域的海温异常与低温冷害之间的可能联系及其影响机理。结果表明,用EOF分解得到的前三个特征向量（占总方差的84.28%）基本表示了东北夏季气温的变化,用这三个特征向量重建的气温距平场,存在着3~4年、6~8年和准16年的主周期,其中6~8年的主分量信号最强。在年代际尺度上,在1979年前后发生了由气温偏冷向偏暖的突变。热带西太平洋暖池（140°E~180°,10°S~10°N）是影响东北夏季气温的关键海域,那里前期冬季海表温度变化是预测东北夏季低温冷害的强信号。另一个关键海域是中纬西太平洋（130°E~180°,10~30°N）,前期春季的海温变化也与东北夏季低温有较密切的联系。     

Accounting methods for carbon credits: impacts on the minimum area of forestry projects under the Clean Development Mechanism

Abstract

The Ninth Conference of the Parties (COP-9) decided to adopt an accounting system based on expiring carbon credits to address the problem of non-permanent carbon storage in forests established under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). This article reviews and discusses carbon accounting methods that were under consideration before COP-9 and presents a model which calculates the minimum area that forest plantation projects should reach to be able to compensate CDM transaction costs with the revenues from carbon credits. The model compares different accounting methods under various sets of parameters on project management, transaction costs, and carbon prices. Model results show that under current carbon price and average transaction costs, projects with an area of less than 500 ha are excluded from the CDM, whatever accounting method is used. Temporary crediting appears to be the most favorable approach to account for non-permanent carbon removal in forests and also for the feasibility of smaller projects. However, lower prices for credits with finite lifetimes may prevent the establishment of CDM forestry projects. Also, plantation projects with low risk of unexpected carbon loss and sufficient capacity for insuring or buffering the risk of carbon re-emission would benefit from equivalence-adjusted average carbon storage accounting rather than from temporary crediting.     

湖南东江水库诱发地震

东江水库自蓄水前约半年起就开始进行地震监测,发震后通过密集台网强化观测、震源机制解及地震地质等多项工作,综合研究该库诱发地震发震原因,认为由于库水渗透引起的多种局部性应力调整导致水库诱发地震活动．其发展趋势将表现为逐渐衰减,今后不致于发生破坏性地震．     

碳边境调节机制最新进展及潜在影响

2023年5月17日,欧盟碳边境调节机制法规正式生效,年底就要进入试运行阶段。法规要求出口特定产品到欧盟的企业为产品生产过程中所产生的温室气体排放支付费用。根据各国学者的建模分析,这将增加所有销往欧盟市场的相关产品的温室气体排放成本,对欧盟以外国家的生产、贸易、就业和收入产生不利影响,而欧盟国家的企业则获得相对的竞争优势,这引发了诸多争议。对此,中国应在多边主义框架下积极与欧盟开展磋商,争取全球各国在公平的前提下提升减排雄心,同时加紧全国碳市场建设,促进国内的碳价提高到足以反映国内减排成本的水平,促进相关行业的碳排放核算能力建设,以求降低增加的管理成本,并推动低碳技术的发展,以降低欧盟碳边境调节机制带来的负面影响。     

地震诱发滑坡的危险性分析与预测

结合地震滑坡的特点和相关文献研究,介绍了地震力的分析方法、地震滑坡的机理、地震危险性分析的方法、地震活动性参数的确定方法以及场点地震危险性概率计算原则。将两种地震诱发滑坡预测结果进行对比,分析结果表明,地震滑坡危险区主要集中在中国西部地区（川、滇、甘、陕、新疆等省区）及中国台湾地区,随预测年限的增加场地的地震滑坡危险性也随之增高,地震崩塌滑坡的危险区域明显加大。     

来自海底高速层径向波的理论地震图研究

本文利用各向异性反射率技术计算理论地震图,提出海底高速薄层会产生沿高速层水平传播的波（简称径向波）,这种波在水层中作为P波,在固液界面激发下行横波,该均匀横波以临界角入射高速薄层,在层内作为超临界角的非均匀横波水平传播,再以临界角转换为上行传播的均匀横波,最终在固液界面上行透射转换为水层中P波.高速薄层传播的径向波不同于界面折射波,也不同于具有频散的面波和通道波.理论地震图的研究表明,径向波具有线性时距,能与海底强反射具有同等振幅水平;径向波有其振幅、时距位置和斜率这些观测记录参数,分别对应高速层的厚度、深度和近似的横波速度;径向波可以克服折射波解释中遇到的振幅强弱和高速层速度等困难.径向波可作为探测海底高速薄层的有力工具,对于研究高速层屏蔽、海底反射类型的多样性和相应的资料处理解释有重要意义.

     

Mechanism of the Anlesi landslide in the Three Gorges Reservoir, China

Many gentle dip translational rock slides have taken place in the Three Gorges Reservoir, China. In order to study the mechanism of these translational rock slides, the authors use the Anlesi landslide as a typical case study to investigate in detail. Field investigations show that the slip zones of the Anlesi landslide were formed from a white mudstone in Jurassic red strata. X-ray diffraction and infrared ray analysis showed that the main mineral components of the slip zones are montmorillonite, illite, feldspar and quartz. Laboratory tests indicate that the slip zone soils are silty clay, of medium-swelling potential, the shear strength decreasing significantly as the slip zone attracts water and saturates.The main factors contributing to the Anlesi landslide are recent tectonic activity, incompetent beds, and intensive rainfall. Recent tectonic activity had caused shear failure along the incompetent beds, and joints within the sandstone. With the effect of intensive rainfall, water percolates to the incompetent beds along tectonic fissures, resulting in swelling of the soil material and high groundwater pressures within fissures in the strata. As a consequence, the Anlesi slope is prone to slide along these incompetent beds.Flac3D software was used to simulate the mechanism of the Anlesi landslide considering the rheological properties of soil and rock. The simulation results demonstrate that the stress, displacement and failure area changes with simulated creep time. The maximum displacement in the X direction reaches 7.59 m after 200-year simulated creep. Therefore, the mechanism of the Anlesi landslide can be illustrated considering the rheological properties of Jurassic red strata.     

Learning from CDM SD tool experience for Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement

The Paris Agreement (PA) emphasizes the intrinsic relationship between climate change and sustainable development (SD) and welcomes the 2030 agenda for the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Yet, there is a lack of assessment approaches to ensure that climate and development goals are achieved in an integrated fashion and trade-offs avoided. Article 6.4 of the PA introduces a new Sustainable Mitigation Mechanism (SMM) with the dual aim to contribute to the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and foster SD. The Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has a similar objective and in 2014, the CDM SD tool was launched by the Executive Board of the CDM to highlight the SD benefits of CDM activities. This article analyses the usefulness of the CDM SD tool for stakeholders and compares the SD tool’s SD reporting requirements against other flexible mechanisms and multilateral standards to provide recommendations for improvement. A key conclusion is that the Paris Agreement’s SMM has a stronger political mandate than the CDM to measure that SD impacts are ‘real, measurable and long-term’. Recommendations for an improved CDM SD tool are a relevant starting point to develop rules, modalities, and procedures for SD assessment in Article 6.4 as well as for other cooperative mitigation approaches.

POLICY RELEVANCE

Research findings are relevant for developing the rulebook of modalities and procedures for Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement, which introduces a new mechanism for mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and sustainable development. Lessons learnt from the CDM SD tool and recommendations for enhanced SD assessment are discussed in context of Article 6 cooperative approaches, and make a timely contribution to inform negotiations on the rulebook agreed by the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement.     

Financing loss and damage: reviewing options under the Warsaw International Mechanism

After decades of pressure from vulnerable developing countries, the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage (the WIM) was established at the nineteenth Conference of the Parties (COP 19) in 2013 to address costly damages from climate change. However, little progress has been made towards establishing a mechanism to fund loss and damage. The WIM's Executive Committee issued its first two-year workplan the following year at COP 20 which offered, among other things, a range of approaches to financing loss and damage programmes, which we review here. We provide brief overviews of each mechanism proposed by the WIM ExCom, describe their current applications, their statuses under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), some of their advantages and disadvantages, and their current or potential application to loss and damage. We find that several of these mechanisms may be useful in supporting loss and damage programmes, but identify some key gaps. First, most of the mechanisms identified by the WIM ExCom are insurance schemes subsidized with voluntary contributions, which may not be adequate or reliable over time. Second, none were devised to apply to slow-onset events, or to non-economic losses and damages. That is, if harms are inflicted on parts of a society or its ecosystems that have no price, or if they occur gradually, they would probably not be covered by these mechanisms. Finally, the lack of a dedicated and adequate flow of finance to address the real loss and damage being experienced by vulnerable nations will require the use of innovative financial tools beyond those mentioned in the WIM ExCom workplan.

Key policy insights

• Despite a full article of the 2015 Paris Agreement devoted to loss and damage, there is little international agreement on the scope of loss and damage programmes, and especially how they would be funded and by whom.

• Most of the loss and damage funding mechanisms identified by the WIM ExCom are insurance schemes subsidized with voluntary contributions, which may burden the most vulnerable countries and may not be reliable over time.

• None of the mechanisms were devised to apply to slow-onset events, or to non-economic losses and damages.