Analyzing CO2 emissions mitigation by technology improvement in Central and Eastern Europe

As a legacy of the centrally planned economy, the economies in transition of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) have a unique potential to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions through the improvement in their high energy intensities. Since much of this `low-hanging fruit' in energy-efficiency improvements can be highly cost-effective, many developed countries facing difficulties in meeting their greenhouse gas (GHG) emission targets domestically are eager to find such opportunities in the CEE region. Therefore, studies analysing the potentials and costs of carbon dioxide reduction through technology improvement in the region have come into the limelight. While there are a few excellent studies in the region aimed at analysing climate change abatement potentials, they all embark on different assumptions, methodologies and boundary conditions. It is hence difficult, if not impossible, to compare and analyse the results of these studies across different authors, countries or time horizons. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to place four leading studies on GHG mitigation through technology improvement from the CEE region into an internationally comparable framework. Four studies were selected from three countries, Poland, Hungary and Estonia, which are all the results of major national and international efforts to assess costs and potentials of GHG reduction. The paper places their assumptions, methods and final results into a framework which enables policy-makers and project designers to compare these across geographical and technological boundaries. Since other studies from around the globe have been analysed in this framework in the literature, this paper provides a vehicle for the findings of these four studies to be compared to others worldwide. In addition, the paper highlights a few areas where similar studies to be completed in the future in the region may be enhanced by incorporating features used in GHG mitigation research in other parts of the world. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Comparative Study of the Carbon Emission Situation and Goals between China and India

As the two large developing and populous countries, China and India face the dual challenges of economic development and climate change. Both of them are active in carbon emissions reduction, while India also bears the pressure of being “benchmarked” against China. With taking China and India as the sample of a comparative analysis, and the statistical value of a long sequence as the basic analysis data, based on the detailed analysis and comparison of carbon emissions history, the carbon emissions situation of the two countries from various dimensions including economic development, energy reserves and consumption, etc. were comparatively analyzed. The carbon intensity and energy structure after achieving the objectives were measured and compared by focusing on the carbon emissions reduction targets in China and India. The comparative results show that: China’s total carbon emissions are greater than India’s, but the growth rate of emissions, per capita emissions are significantly lower than India’s, while the carbon intensity decreases significantly faster than that of India. China has taken more efforts to make commitments to carbon reduction than India. With India’s energy structure adjustment, the situation will be gradually better than that in China.     

基于STIRPAT模型的江苏省能源消费碳排放影响因素分析及趋势预测

定量分析碳排放的影响因素,对降低区域碳排放具有重要的指导意义。利用STIRPAT模型,定量分析江苏省能源消费碳排放量与人口、富裕度（以人均GDP表示）、技术进步（以能源强度表示）和城镇化水平之间的关系,通过岭回归拟合后发现,人口数量、人均GDP、能源强度、城市化水平每变化1%,江苏省能源消费碳排放量将分别发生3.467%、(0.242+0.024 lnA)%、0.313%和0.151%的变化。在以上研究的基础上,设置8种不同的发展情景,分析了江苏省未来能源消费碳排放量的发展趋势。结果表明,当人口、经济保持低速增长,并保持高技术增长率时,有利于控制江苏省的能源消费碳排放量,2020年江苏省的能源消费碳排放量预测值为202.81 MtC。     

Options to overcome the barriers to pricing European agricultural emissions

Although agriculture could contribute substantially to European emission reductions, its mitigation potential lies untapped and dormant. Market-based instruments could be pivotal in incentivizing cost-effective abatement. However, sector specificities in transaction costs, leakage risks and distributional impacts impede its implementation. The significance of such barriers critically hinges on the dimensions of policy design. This article synthesizes the work on emissions pricing in agriculture together with the literature on the design of market-based instruments. To structure the discussion, an options space is suggested to map policy options, focusing on three key dimensions of policy design. More specifically, it examines the role of policy coverage, instruments and transfers to farmers in overcoming the barriers. First, the results show that a significant proportion of agricultural emissions and mitigation potential could be covered by a policy targeting large farms and few emission sources, thereby reducing transaction costs. Second, whether an instrument is voluntary or mandatory influences distributional outcomes and leakage. Voluntary instruments can mitigate distributional concerns and leakage risks but can lead to subsidy lock-in and carbon price distortion. Third, the impact on transfers resulting from the interaction of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) with emissions pricing will play a key role in shaping political feasibility and has so far been underappreciated.

POLICY RELEVANCE

Following the 2015 Paris Agreement, European climate policy is at a crossroads. Achieving cost-effectively the 2030 and 2050 European targets requires all sectors to reduce their emissions. Yet, the cornerstone of European climate policy, the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), covers only about half of European emissions. Major sectors have been so far largely exempted from carbon pricing, in particular transport and agriculture. While transport has been increasingly under the spotlight as a possible candidate for an EU ETS sectoral expansion, policy discussions on pricing agricultural emissions have been virtually absent. This article attempts to fill this gap by investigating options for market-based instruments to reduce agricultural emissions while taking barriers to implementation into account.     

Methane exchange between coal-bearing basins and the atmosphere: the Ruhr Basin and the Lower Rhine Embayment, Germany

A precise knowledge of methane exchange processes is required to fully understand the recent rise of atmospheric methane concentration. Three of these processes take place at the lithosphere/atmosphere boundary: bacterial consumption of methane and emission of bacterial or thermogenic methane. This study was initiated to quantify these processes on a regional scale in the Ruhr Basin and the Lower Rhine Embayment. Since these areas are subject to bituminous coal and lignite mining, natural and anthropogenically-induced methane exchange processes could be studied. The methane emission and consumption rates and their carbon isotope signal were measured at the lithosphere/atmosphere boundary using flux chambers. On most of the soils studied, methane consumption by bacteria was identified. Thermogenic methane was released only at some of the natural faults examined. In active and abandoned bituminous coal mining areas methane emissions were restricted to small areas, where high emission rates were measured. The carbon isotope composition of methane at natural faults and in mining subsidence troughs was typical of thermogenic methane (−45 to −32 ‰ δ¹³C). Methane exchange balancing revealed that natural methane emissions from these two basins represent no source of atmospheric importance. However, methane release by upcast mining shafts dominates the methane exchange processes and is by about two orders of magnitude greater than methane consumption by bacterial oxidation in the soils.     

长江三角洲碳排放与植被覆盖耦合协调时空格局及影响因素分析

通过构建评价指标体系和分析框架,利用综合指数法、耦合协调度模型和灰色关联度模型分析2005―2017年长江三角洲（长三角）碳排放与植被固碳耦合协调时空变化特征及驱动因素,并模拟政府决策优先级对耦合协调度趋势的影响。结果表明：长三角碳排放空间集聚特征显著,基本形成了以长江沿线和长三角东南沿海区域为核心的沿江沿海高排放带;长三角碳排放与植被固碳耦合协调度具有明显的空间分异特征,呈现出南京-上海沿线一般失调区域为核心的圈层结构特征;植被覆盖综合评价值高于碳排放综合评价值的地区耦合协调度普遍较高,人口的集聚和变化、城市建设和能源消耗对耦合协调度影响最大;同时,政府决策的优先级会显著影响耦合协调趋势。     

全球贸易隐含碳变化及其影响分析

基于最新的GTAP8 (Global Trade Analysis Project）数据库,使用投入产出法,分析了2004年到2007年全球贸易变化下南北集团贸易隐含碳变化及对全球碳排放的影响。结果显示,随着发展中国家进出口规模扩张,全球贸易隐含碳流向的重心逐渐向发展中国家转移。2004年到2007年,发达国家高端设备制造业和服务业出口以及发展中国家资源、能源密集型行业及中低端制造业出口的趋势加强,该过程的生产转移导致全球碳排放增长4.15亿t,占研究时段全球贸易隐含碳增量的63%。未来发展中国家的出口隐含碳比重还将进一步提高。贸易变化带来的南北集团隐含碳流动变化对全球应对气候变化行动的影响日益突出,发达国家对此负有重要责任。     

中国交通CO2排放时空格局演变及其影响因素——基于2000~2012年30个省（市）面板数据的分析

通过构建交通CO₂排放模型对2000~2012年中国30个省（市）的交通CO₂排放时空演变特征进行了分析。并采取“由大到小”逐步回归的建模方式,在传统的固定效应模型（面板数据模型）基础上引入时间固定效应,构建了双向固定效应模型对中国交通CO₂排放的社会经济、城市形态、交通发展等方面的影响因素进行研究。结果表明：2000~2012年期间,中国交通CO₂排放总量和人均交通CO₂排放量分别以9.29%和8.69%的年均增速增长,前者的区域差异呈先增后减趋势,后者的区域差异则首先呈周期性波动,而后一直保持减少趋势。人均GDP和城镇居民家庭人均可支配收入对人均交通CO₂排放具有显著的正向效应,表明社会经济发展和居民收入水平提高是交通CO₂排放增长的主要驱动因素。城市人口密度对交通CO₂排放亦具有显著的正向效应,这意味着未来中国应加强对城市人口密度的规划控制,以避免因人口过度集聚而额外增加产生交通CO₂排放。公共交通发展水平对交通CO₂排放增长具有显著的负向效应,但小汽车拥有率对交通CO₂排放的影响并不显著。     

Contribution to the Global Warming Mitigation of Marshlands Conversion to Croplands in the Sanjiang Plain,Northeast China

Based on the estimation of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions and carbon sequestration of the total conversion of marshlands (TMC), marshlands conversion to paddy fields (MCPFs) and marshlands conversion to uplands (MCULs), this study revealed the contribution to the global warming mitigation (CGWM) of paddy fields versus uplands converted from marshlands in the Sanjiang Plain (excluding the Muling‐Xingkai Plain on south of Wanda Mountain), Heilongjiang Province, northeast China. The results showed that the total area of MCPFs and MCULs was 504.23 × 10³ ha between 1982 and 2005. The CGWM per unit area was 45.53 t CO₂eq/ha for MCPFs and that was 23.95 t CO₂eq/ha for MCULs, with an obvious 47.40% reduction. The MCPFs and MCULs ecosystems acted as the carbon sink all of the year. As far as CGWM per unit area is concerned, MCPFs mitigated the greenhouse effect which was greater than MCULs. And it was effective that the implementation of the uplands transformed into paddy fields in Northeast China with regard to marshlands protection and croplands (including paddy fields and uplands) reclamation.