Search

Investigating the effect of renewable energy on the drivers of climate change correctly is significant as it is the basic source of climate change mitigation. In the extant literature, its effect on climate change has been estimated predominantly by regressing aggregate rather than sectoral renewable energy use either on aggregate greenhouse gas emissions or the components of greenhouse gases (GHGs) like carbon dioxide emissions. Against this backdrop, the paper investigates if we should estimate the nexus (i) by the causal effects running from aggregate or sectoral renewable energy use to GHG emissions and (ii) by the causal effects running from renewable energy consumption to aggregate GHG emissions or to its components like carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. To this end, the paper introduces negative and positive (functional) complementarity between sectoral renewable energy consumptions in reducing or increasing GHG emissions, takes 20 OECD countries from 1990 to 2019, and uses augmented and non-augmented auto-regressive distributed lag approach and vector error correction mechanism. The study finds substantial differences among the results coming out of (i) regressing aggregate and sectoral renewable energy consumption on GHG emissions and (ii) regressing renewable energy consumption on aggregate GHG emissions and on CO2 emissions. The paper suggests regressing sectoral rather than aggregate renewable energy consumption on the components of aggregate GHG emissions like CO2 emissions rather than on aggregate GHG emissions to produce workable, specific, and conclusive policy alternatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of renewable energy sources is one of the measures that have had a significant contribution in reducing greenhouse gas emissions while ensuring sustainable development. Hence, this necessitates the need to ensure a sustainable national socio-economic development pathway that supports low emissions through the development and use of renewable energy. This paper analyses data from a systematic review that was conducted to understand how research is approaching the state of public policies of renewable energy and climate change in Tanzania. The review screened more than 500 published papers and unpublished reports containing 120 unique studies related to renewable energy, climate change and sustainable development. Results indicate that renewable energy sources have the potential of contributing to the reduction of about two-thirds of the total global energy carbon dioxide emission. The results further indicate that renewable energy may save carbon dioxide for the range of global cumulative savings of about 220-560 GtCO2 in the period 2010-2050. The results also show that Tanzania has targeted to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by between 30% and 35% by 2030. Thus, more appropriate renewable energy policies would enable the country to further efficiently contribute to the global goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, while achieving its sustainable development. This underscores the need for Tanzania to adopt appropriate policies for the utilisation of renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, hydro and geothermal energy for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, while achieving its sustainable development goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need for renewable energy sources is recently necessitated by attaining sustainability and climate change mitigation. Accordingly, the use of renewable energy sources has been growing rapidly during the last two decades. Yet, the potentials of renewable energy sources are generally influenced by several climatic factors that either determine the source of energy such as wind speed in the case of wind power or affect the performance of system such as the reduction in solar PV power production due to temperature increase. This highlights the need for assessing climate change impacts on renewable energy sources in the future to ensure their reliability and sustainability. This paper is intended to assess impacts of climate change on wind and solar potential energy in Egypt by the year 2065 under RCP 8.5 scenario. For this purpose, a GIS-based methodology of three main steps was applied. The results revealed that solar energy potential in Egypt is expected to be relatively less vulnerable to climate change compared to wind energy. In this respect, it was found that while wind energy potential was estimated to range ± 12%. By the year 2065 under RCP 8.5 scenario, PV module power is expected to decrease by about 1.3% on average. Such assessment can assist in developing more sustainable and flexible renewable energy policy in Egypt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review explores the question: should the world rely wholly or partially on solar geoengineering (SG) to mitigate climate change (CC), or on renewable energy, together with deep energy reductions? Recent thinking is for SG to only supplement more conventional climate change mitigation methods. However, we first show that conventional mitigation methods are not working., given that global annual CO2 emissions are still rising, so it is far more likely that SG will be called upon to counter most anthropogenic CC, as early research proposed. The paper next examines the various SG proposals that have been considered and their objectives. Future choices could be between an increasingly unpredictable climate, and SG, with its own risks and unknowns, or deep energy reductions and RE. The claim is that SG has far lower costs for a given climate forcing reduction compared with more conventional methods, and equally important, could be quickly implemented, producing temperature reductions in a year or so, compared with decades needed for more conventional mitigation approaches. SG implementation would affect not only the technical potential for key RE sources but also the actual uptake of RE and energy reductions. However, a fair comparison of RE and SG must recognise that the SG option also requires a solution to rising ocean acidification (OA). Because the material quantities needed annually to counter OA are orders of magnitude larger than for SG, its costs and energetic requirements will also be far higher, as will the time for implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a choice-based conjoint analysis, we measured willingness to pay (WTP) for an increase in the share of specific Renewable Energy (RE) technologies, namely solar, wind, biomass, and small-scale hydropower. The study found that on average, Metro Manila (MM) households are WTP an additional 19.3% of their electricity bill for an additional 20% share of RE in electric power capacity that is sourced from solar power. The corresponding WTP for the other RE technologies are substantially lower – 11.9% for biomass, 10.5% for wind, and 9.8% for small-scale hydropower. The skewed preference for solar energy augurs well for the government’s updated RE plan which stipulates that the bulk of additional RE supply will be sourced from solar. The positive marginal WTP for new and unconventional RE technologies likewise provide demand-side evidence for a RE plan that is much less focused and dependent on geothermal and large-scale hydropower, the traditional RE sources in the Philippines. Further, the higher WTP for biomass over wind and small-scale hydropower reveals some scope for intensifying support for waste-to-energy projects and increasing the share of biomass in the RE mix. The findings from the study suggest the need for appropriate information campaigns to raise public awareness on the less known RE technologies and on the role of RE in Climate Change (CC) mitigation, and to direct these campaigns more on high income households with high electricity bills and on female household heads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Bioeconomy is an important element of European Union (EU) political agenda. Promotion of bioenergy is one of the main aspects of bioeconomy strategy. The aim of this paper is to show how the development of bioenergy can contribute to climate change (and the associated policy). Specifically, we look into the possible reduction of GHG emissions within the framework of Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). The panel models are estimated for the EU countries by modifying the classical EKC by including in the EKC model biomass and other renewables. The results showed that the coefficient associated with GDP decreases when renewables are included in the model. More specifically, the more types of renewables are included, the lower values of the coefficient associated with the linear term are observed. Furthermore, the effect of biomass on the reduction of GHG emission is higher if opposed to that caused by the other renewable resources. If we hold other factors fixed, increase in biomass use of 1% would reduce GHG emission by 0.089%, whereas the effect of the other renewable energy sources is 0.025%. Therefore, the development of bioeconomy and the promotion of bioenergy are one of the main tools for climate change mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global firms are increasingly adopting greenhouse gas mitigation targets in response to climate change. These targets serve as a spur for carbon mitigation initiatives, provide guidelines to select appropriate mitigation actions, and set the standards to measure the progress of the mitigation efforts. Despite their important functionalities, firm-level mitigation targets have rarely been studied. In this paper we aim to provide a comparative view on mitigation targets set by global firms across different countries and industrial sectors. The analysis focuses on four dimensions, i.e., adoption, metric, scope, and stringency. We find Japan far leads the other major countries in terms of target adoption, but the targets of Japanese firms are generally less stringent. Canadian firms are laggards in both target adoption and target stringency. The mitigation targets are also considerably uncommon among Australian firms. Firms in developing countries fall behind in target stringency and display a significantly greater divergence than developed countries in sectoral adoption rate. The European Union firms are most likely to cover the emissions in their supply chains in targets. Target stringency has substantially tightened from 2005 to 2012. For all the countries in this study, around 95% of the firm-level targets are more stringent than the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions submitted to the Paris Agreement. Setting mitigation target has a significant positive impact on both the likelihood of investing in renewable energy and the amount of investment in renewable energy. However, there is no evidence that more stringent targets lead to higher investment. These findings point to the most pressing issues with regard to corporate mitigation target-setting that policymakers and corporate management should address. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coastal and terrestrial fisheries communities in Europe, often economically marginalised, are likely to face severe impacts as climate change becomes more acute. Although progress on climate mitigation and adaptation from national governments remains slow, local development actions can also address these impacts from the bottom up. In this paper we analyse the Fisheries and Sea Operational Programme 2014–2020 and 36 Local Development Strategies prepared within the framework of this programme for the case of Poland. The strategies, which were prepared by cross-sectoral, area-based partnerships known as Fisheries Local Action Groups, are analysed using a content analysis approach. The aim was to assess the degree to which local stakeholders sought to address the climate challenge. We found that the mitigation of climate impacts and the development of renewable energy did not feature prominently in the analysed documents, suggesting that both central policymakers and local stakeholders in Polish fisheries regions had a low level of awareness about the climate problem and their potentially important role in addressing it. Transformation to a post-carbon society undoubtedly requires additional, targeted support and extensive educational activities at the local level, in Poland and elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the world's population grows, the energy demand continues to rise due to advancements in technology and the impact of globalization. The finite nature of traditional energy sources has accelerated the shift toward renewable energy, particularly in developing countries where environmental degradation and declining quality of life are significant concerns. This study delves into the interplay between urbanization, carbon dioxide emissions, economic growth, and renewable energy production in Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation member states, providing new insights into the energy market. By using annual data from 1995 to 2020 and advanced panel cointegration tests, this study provides a comprehensive analysis of the determinants of renewable energy for developing countries. The findings show a substantial and long-term relationship between urbanization, emissions, growth, and renewable energy production. These findings have important implications for policymakers and underscore the critical role of renewable energy in mitigating climate change in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forests provide a range of ecosystem services, including bioenergy supply and carbon sequestration, both contributing to significant climate change mitigation. Oleaginous trees have potential to provide bioenergy supplies through biodiesel-producing seed yield as well as contributing to carbon sequestration. This paper aims to show the provisions of bioenergy and carbon savings through forest rotation management and it will investigate the potential of oleaginous forest management in China. We use the land expectation value (LEV) model to calculate the optimal joint values of timber, seed and total carbon savings, including carbon sequestration from forest and carbon reductions through energy substitutions. The results indicate that combining both values of seeds and carbon savings increase the LEV and rotation age (167,611 Yuan/ha, 78 years) compared to sole timber value (26,053 Yuan/ha, 55 years). The optimization of the LEVs and the resulting optimal rotation ages are significantly sensitive to the discounting rate. Annual biodiesel potential production from Pistacia chinensis can take up 1.7% of the national diesel consumption in China. We conclude that China can use improved forest rotation management as an effective means for achieving goals in its low-carbon energy strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay will investigate the question of how the renewable energy (RE) transition may reshape world politics. To date, most IPE scholars of the RE transition assume that renewables will simply substitute for fossil fuels and thereby continue similar patterns of economic growth and military competition that have characterized world politics over the past two centuries. However, they do not systematically consider what I call the 'non-substitutability hypothesis,' or the view that renewables will be unable to substitute for many of the services that fossil fuels provide for economies and militaries. In contrast, I will argue that if the non-substitutability hypothesis is correct, then a fully decarbonized global political economy would require a 'Great Transformation,' or a structural transformation in the political-economic and military bases of world order. In particular, I suggest that this would require two conjoined transitions: 1) a transition towards a 'post-growth' global political economy, or an economy that does not depend on continuous annual increases in GDP; and 2) a shift towards 'demilitarization,' in the sense of 'leaner' low-energy force structures; weakening pressure for military arms racing; and a transformation in national security priorities to focus on climate mitigation, adaptation, and disaster response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthropogenic global climate change has large and mounting negative economic impacts. Companies and nations responsible for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are thus acquiring considerable potential liabilities. If litigation becomes widespread, renewable energy technologies (RETs) potentially offer emitters reduced liability for climate change. This benefit has been ignored because of the lack of knowledge of potential liabilities. To overcome this information deficit, this paper reviews recent literature on the potential for climate change litigation and methods to quantify liability for climate change. Next, the top 10 emitters in the U.S. are identified and their potential liability is quantified using standard GHG emission costs. Potential liabilities are explored in depth with a single case study company comparing the results of the fractional liability from only natural disasters within the U.S. for a single year to a sensitivity of the future costs of carbon emissions from other sources of emission-related liability. Then classes of potential climate change litigants are identified and their capacity to bring such lawsuits is evaluated. The results show that the net income available to shareholders of large companies could see a significant reduction from the emissions liability related to only natural disasters in the U.S. from a single coal-fired power plant. Finally, a rough estimate of the economic risk associated with future scenarios and existing organized international potential litigants is quantified. The results show that potential liability for climate change for the Alliance of Small Island States is over $570 trillion. It is concluded that as emitters begin to be held liable for damages resulting from GHG emissions resulting in climate change, a high value for liability mitigation would provide additional powerful incentives for deployment of renewable energy technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

First, we recognize the valuable previous studies which model renewable energy growth with complete termination of fossil fuels along with assumptions of the remaining carbon budgets to reach IPCC warming targets. However, these studies use very complex combined economic/physical modeling and commonly lack transparency regarding the sensitivity to assumed inputs. Moreover, it is not clear that energy poverty with its big present impact in the global South has been eliminated in their scenarios. Further, their CO2-equivalent natural gas emission factors are underestimated, which will have significant impact on the computed greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, we address this question in a transparent modeling study: can the 1.5 °C warming target still be met with an aggressive phaseout of fossil fuels coupled with a 100% replacement by renewable energy? We compute the continuous generation of global wind/solar energy power along with the cumulative carbon dioxide equivalent emissions in a complete phaseout of fossil fuels over a 20 year period. We compare these computed emissions with the state-of-the-science estimates for the remaining carbon budget of carbon dioxide emissions consistent with the 1.5 °C warming target, concluding that it is still possible to meet this warming target if the creation of a global 100% renewable energy transition of sufficient capacity begins very soon which will likely be needed to power aggressive negative carbon emission technology. The latter is focused on direct air capture for crustal storage. More efficient renewable technologies in the near future will make this transition easier and promote the implementation of a global circular economy. Taking into account technological improvements in 2nd law (exergy) efficiencies reducing the necessary global energy demand, the renewable supply should likely be no more than 1.5 times the present level, with the capacity to eliminate global energy poverty, for climate mitigation and adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate Change, Renewable Energy, Greenhouse Gas Emission, Global Warming Keywords: Climate Change; Renewable Energy; Greenhouse Gas Emission; Global Warming EN Climate Change Renewable Energy Greenhouse Gas Emission Global Warming 2581 2582 2 10/12/22 20220901 NES 220901 Greenhouse gas emission and climate change The relationship between climate change and energy-intensive industrial processes has been addressed repeatedly with scientific evidence that global warming is to a significant extent caused by human activity through the release of greenhouse gases (GHG).[[1], [3]] In the perspective of strengthening the global response to the increasing threat of climate change, sustainable growth, and efforts to eliminate poverty, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published a special report on the impact of global warming. To maintain global warming below 1.5 °C this century, as the Paris Agreement aspires, the annual greenhouse gas emissions must be cut in half within the next eight years. [Extracted from the article]

A harmful impact of climate change and global warming has concerned various sectors of the international community. Numerous energy policies aiming at climate change mitigation have been implemented on a national and global scale. Renewable energy technologies (RETs) play a critical role in enhancing sustainable solutions that significantly limit greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Such innovative technologies can facilitate energy transition through providing, e.g., energy security, sustainable development, and effective usage of indigenous resources. However, the commercialization of RETs is extremely challenging. The barriers can be of a different nature, although this study focused on socioeconomic and regulatory issues. There is ample evidence that energy policies play a central role in supporting adoption of renewables. It is also claimed that RETs require the whole ecosystem to support their successful diffusion. In this study, we explored multifarious barriers for widespread RET diffusion in two European Union countries, Finland and Poland, indicating the most common barriers existing in the literature as well as analyzing major bottlenecks from the viewpoint of renewable energy companies' executives. We also present statistics of the most commonly used RETs in these countries in order to express the diffusion issues more appropriately. The research shows that inflexible, ineffective, and excessive regulatory frameworks; limited financing options; as well as an insufficient level of societal awareness have been seen as the main bottlenecks for RET diffusion in both countries. The outcomes of this study provide useful insights for the researchers in the energy transition field as well as practical managerial and regulatory implications aimed at overcoming these challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Renewable energy development is a necessary step toward climate change mitigation, so these topics have often been linked. In US public discourse, however, they have somewhat different profiles—climate change views are tied closely to partisan identity, whereas renewable energy exhibits more cross-cutting appeal, and sometimes more cross-cutting opposition as well. To what extent are such differences reflected in survey data tracking rates of change, respondent characteristics, and local or regional variations in public opinion on renewable energy and climate?Methods: We explore similarities and differences in views of renewable energy and climate change using a unique collection of 18 US national or regional surveys totaling more than 14,000 interviews, conducted between 2011 and 2017. Individual surveys varied in context, content, and goals, but all asked two common energy and climate questions, which yield comparable and strikingly consistent results.Results: Public support for renewable energy appears broader than acceptance of anthropogenic climate change (ACC), especially in a more conservative region. Despite local controversies, support for renewable energy in recent years rose faster than ACC acceptance on two regional surveys. Political divisions remain wide on both topics, but wider regarding climate change—particularly among college-educated respondents. Renewable energy views in counties with proposed or operating wind farms are not systematically different from those in other counties.Conclusions: Overall, these results provide encouragement for promoting renewable energy in terms of its economic benefits, working around some of the political identity-based resistance to climate change mitigation. That approach could be most important in politically conservative regions where such resistance is strong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]