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Carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution has long been considered a severe environmental issue. The Road Transport sector is recognized as one of the biggest contributors to carbon emissions. In tackling climate change, the Kyoto Protocol was signed by developed and developing countries and represents a voluntary international treaty that aims to reduce carbon emissions. This work seeks to identify similarities in trend emission performance among 31 countries that ratified the agreement. The data come from the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research, which contains the annual values of polluting gas emissions from 1970 to 2018. To do this, time series cluster analyses have been applied using two distance measures and considering different sub-periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to a commonly held view, states have fundamentally re-organized the differentiation between developed and developing countries in the climate regime in the 2015 Paris Agreement. In this view, the Paris Agreement replaces the 'rigid', 'static', and 'dichotomous' system of differentiation based on Annexes I and II to UN Framework Convention on Climate Change with a more 'flexible', 'dynamic', and 'subtle' solution. I argue that this view is incomplete. In fact, the early climate regime included additional layers of differentiation that go beyond the binary distinction between Annex and non-Annex parties. Through a discussion of three episodes in which states adjusted the system to the 'special circumstances' of regime members, I show how informalization and individualization – two hallmarks of differentiation in the Paris Agreement – had become central well before COP-21 and that the international climate regime thus developed a lot more gradually than is often assumed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parties, expert review teams and the secretariat have worked diligently over the past decades to implement a transparency system that responds to the decisions of Parties. The existing system has enhanced the transparency of Party's reporting of climate information and has been successful in assessing Parties' compliance with their Kyoto Protocol obligations. But that system is operating at a very high, possibly unsustainable, workload for all involved. With the ensuing demands from the enhanced transparency framework requiring more Parties to report more information more frequently, it is important to take stock of what has been learned and apply that knowledge to implement a system that adheres to the Parties' decisions and achieves the goals of the Paris Agreement. This paper proposes implementation of a reporting and review process that is "fit-for-purpose", with a view to ensuring that the objectives of the Paris Agreement are met in the most efficient, cost-effective and sustainable manner. Key elements in the design of a "fit for purpose" approach include: ensuring national submissions made by Parties are fit for purpose, organizing reviews in a manner that is most appropriate for the circumstances of the country under review, and preparing focused review reports that are conducive to Parties' needs. The proposed approach starts from the basic premise that within the cyclic reporting and review process the previous review team did their job and the present review team therefore focuses on changes in the submission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last few decades, the environmental degradation, global warming, and climate change remained the life-threatening issues across the globe. Specifically, the use of non-renewable fossil fuels is regarded as the most significant reason of such inclined issues. However, the policy-makers and scholars are now more concerned about the recovery of environmental quality, where renewable energy is considered as the primary solution to the existing issue. The developed economies and environment related international organizations rapidly enhances the use and promotion of renewable energy after the taking pledge in the Kyoto Protocol Agreement (1997). Nonetheless, the scholars are participating in analyzing the key drivers of renewable energy. Still, the proper drivers of renewable energy are not properly addressed in the existing literature. To fill this gap, current study analyzed the group of seven (G7) economies over the period 1990-2020. Using various panel data techniques such as slope heterogeneity, cross-section dependence, unit root, and cointegration test, the results indicates that the slopes are heterogeneous, and the cross-section dependence, as well as cointegration exists among the panel economies. Besides, the irregular distribution of data leads to the adoption of novel Method of Moments Quantile Regression accommodating four quantiles, i.e., ( Q 0.25 , Q 0.50 , Q 0.75 , and Q 0.90 ). The examined results asserted that economic growth and energy efficiency negatively and significantly affects renewable energy consumption ( REC). Whereas, developed environmental related technologies, environmental taxes, and composite risk index are positively affecting REC in the study panel. Besides, improved energy efficiency (energy efficiency squared) also contributed to the promotion of renewable energy consumption. The Granger causality test estimates reveals bidirectional and unidirectional causal association between the variables. Based on the empirical results, policies are provided that could help developed economies in the promotion of renewable energy consumption, improve economic growth, and enhances environmental sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Voluntary carbon offsetting emerged in the early 2000s to encourage individuals and companies to contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by investing in socio-environmental projects. Some of these projects are implemented in developing countries even though they are elaborated and led by actors in developed countries. This type of voluntary carbon offsetting remains relatively unclear and unknown. This article focuses on it by identifying the roles and strategies of the actors involved. It describes their structuration and ongoing hybridizations and reconfigurations, such as project developers diversifying into carbon credit selling and vice-versa, developers considering moving away from offsetting, and companies championing offsetting in the North and promoting a supply chain logic and insetting. The analytical approach used shows, through diagrams and interviews with actors, how the challenges of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which primarily concerned developed countries during the application of the Kyoto Protocol, now significantly impact and assimilate development issues in the South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the 26th Climate Change Conference of the Parties, scheduled for November 2021, negotiators will finally decide on the future of international carbon markets under the Paris Agreement. While several issues still need to be solved, this 'policy impact forum' article seeks to raise awareness of an important challenge that must be dealt with at the implementation stage: the lack of national administrative capacity. We argue that no matter how international carbon markets will ultimately look like under the Paris Agreement, low-capacity countries will find it difficult to build up the institutional structures needed to successfully participate in carbon markets. International support for bureaucratic capacity building can help to overcome this barrier. The implementation of market mechanisms under the Paris Agreement must thus be accompanied by increased investments into international cooperation and bureaucratic support programmes. We substantiate our argument with an empirical analysis of the market mechanisms used under the Kyoto Protocol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extensive use of fossil fuels in recent decades is a well-known cause of the climate crisis. Climate action inevitably requires the strategic reorientation of industries that are part of the fossil fuel regime. International oil companies are central to this regime and possess the incumbent's characteristic power and influence to steer this process. However, European international oil companies continue to invest in fossil fuels, even as they acknowledge the climate crisis imperative. Socio-political and economic dynamics can either reinforce the oil regime or pressure firms to take climate action. We aim to comprehensively analyse the dynamics between external socio-political and economic actors' pressures to climate action on the one side, and the industry response on the other, from 2005 to 2019, using Geels Triple Embeddedness Framework. Drawing on a wide range of qualitative and quantitative longitudinal data (e.g. regulations, oil and renewables market trends, companies' investments in oil, renewables, and low-carbon technologies), we characterised the pressures and responses of the different analytical categories and established three phases. The results indicate that policy pressure on the oil regime in this period lacked constancy and comprehensiveness. The Kyoto Protocol ratification produced an initial momentum that prompted some companies to invest in alternative fuels and renewables, but efforts faded after 2010. Societal calls for a transition from fossil fuels and divestments from oil companies have risen since 2017. Recent socio-economic pressures combined with policy pledges for net-zero emissions have prompted all companies to invest beyond fossil fuels. However, efforts are still marginal and additional advancements in climate policy are necessary to foster the renewables market and to promote the phase-out of oil. Key policy insights Europe lacks a comprehensive policy framework to support the fast deployment of available alternative fuels. Policies need to foster the development and adoption of alternatives to petrochemical products, alongside their reduction and recycling. Apart from supporting renewable energy and other alternatives to oil, policies also need to target the phase-out of oil and send a clear signal to companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we investigated which greenhouse gas (GHG) emission sources have contributed to worsening global warming and which GHG mitigation efforts have been effective and finally evaluated the relative efficiency of OECD 20 countries in reducing total GHG and CO2 emissions under the Kyoto Protocol regime. We applied the effect model of the stochastic frontier model. The main findings are as follows: First, it appears that the manufacturing, electricity and transportation sectors are mainly to blame for the worsening of global warming. Second, innovations in green technology are an effective method for mitigating global warming. Third, Germany is identified as the most efficient country in reducing CO2 as well as total GHG emissions, even though Germany emits the most GHG and CO2 among the target 20 OECD countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change not only intensifies existing conflicts; wars and military interventions are at the same time extremely harmful to the climate. Little known so far is that governments and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have systematically hidden the military-related carbon footprint - from the Kyoto Protocol of 1997 until today in the Paris Climate Agreement, (Crawford [6]; Buxton [5]). Governments should create transparency about CO2 emissions of their armed forces and prioriti... What concrete steps could governments take to preserve health, climate protection, and the livelihoods of our planet? A military response to conflicts exacerbated by climate change is counterproductive At the same time, the climate crisis is known to amplify conflict factors such as food insecurity, poverty, and natural disasters. [Extracted from the article]

The New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS) presents an opportunity to compare the theory of linked emissions trading with practice. From 2009 until October 2012 New Zealand was linked to the market under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and there was no indication that this link would be broken. A series of events starting in late 2012 cast doubt on the future eligibility of Kyoto units in the NZ ETS, made the future of linking in New Zealand uncertain, and may have contributed to price divergence between offshore and domestic units. Delinking was officially confirmed by the New Zealand government in December 2013 to take effect from 31 May 2015. This raises the question of what the effect of delinking and announcements had on the carbon market. To study this effect, we used daily price data in a difference-in-differences model over the period 1 January 2011 to 1 January 2016. From this model, we found evidence that, even with differing pre- and post-time specifications, the government announcements in 2012 caused prices in the two markets – for New Zealand units (NZUs) and Kyoto units – to decouple and NZUs traded at a premium based on their projected scarcity. This is further backed up by the behaviour of the raw price data and the change in the types of units surrendered over this time period. The NZU price reaction to the government announcements (rather than delinking itself) shows strong evidence of a well-functioning market. Key policy insights The NZU price reaction to the delinking announcement shows strong evidence of the New Zealand carbon market reacting in the present to news about the future: a property of any well-functioning market. The long period of price divergence between the New Zealand and Kyoto markets has led to a large privately held bank that is a liability to the New Zealand Government and reduces the government's ability to auction NZUs. If the NZ ETS had delinked earlier from the Kyoto market it could have avoided a protracted period of arbitrage which significantly inflated the NZU bank. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economist and statesman George P. Shultz has held four federal Cabinet posts, taught at three universities, and worked as president of a major company. In this interview, he talks about two missions: reducing nuclear weapons and reducing carbon emissions. Shultz defends the Reagan administration’s strategy for nuclear weapons reduction, including Reagan’s unwillingness to abandon the Strategic Defense Initiative, and recalls the president’s motivations for seeking dialogue with the Soviet Union. He also maps out the next big steps toward disarmament: using international meetings on fissile materials as a springboard to create a sense of a global enterprise, and working with individual leaders to reduce regional tensions. He recommends a revenue-neutral carbon tax for combating climate change, arguing that such a tax can level the energy playing field by forcing energy producers to bear a cost for polluting the air. Shultz advocates a two-step approach to change: not just setting out a vision, but also identifying concrete steps for all partners to take. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Since the Kyoto Protocol Agreement 1997, the global community is striving towards implementing renewable energy practices and thereby contribute to the sustainability of growth. Committing to this cause, developed and emerging economies have been increasing the production and consumption of renewable energy in absolute terms. The growth hypothesis states that economic growth of the country is negatively affected when the share of renewable energy to total energy mix increases. While other hypotheses contradict with this notion and such contradiction has created a vacuum in the literature. This paper has the objective to study the impact of changes in the share of renewable energy to the total energy mix and test the validity of growth hypothesis applying to the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries. The study uses the secondary data covering the period 1990–2015. Share of renewable energy consumption in total energy consumption and share of renewable electricity output in total energy output have been taken as proxies to renewable energy, and economic growth is measured by GDP per capita. A panel regression model has been estimated and the result finds evidence to support the growth hypothesis. It is found that the decreasing share of renewable energy to the total energy might have contributed to the faster economic growth in BRIC region. It implies that in BRIC countries, if the share of renewable energy to total energy increases, the economic growth will have negative impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The natural sciences are doing an admirable job of describing the geophysical aspects of climate change. The science behind global warming is well established. But designing an effective political and economic strategy to control climate change will require the second culture—the social sciences—to analyze how to harness our economic and political systems to achieve our climate goals effectively and at low cost. This second task requires examining questions such as the impacts on the economy and on non-market activities, the costs of slowing or mitigating climate change, the strength and timing of emissions reductions with an eye to the costs and benefits of slowing climate change, the risks of asymmetric and irreversible damages, and the policy instruments for implementing such emissions reductions. The author addresses this final question: how to devise policy instruments. The 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen meeting failed to reach a consensus on a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol, the global agreement that provides for emissions reductions for participating countries. This agreement has not resulted in global emissions reductions; its model creates inefficient and opaque mechanisms, akin to mortgage-backed securities, that have to date produced minimal emissions reductions. Only a harmonized global price on carbon—most easily implemented by a carbon tax—can achieve significant emissions reductions by sending a consistent signal to the governments, innovators, corporations, and individual consumers across all sectors and geographic boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information on the the issue of carbon credits. Carbon credits are one of the major tools policy makers have developed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are contributing to global warming. Under the Kyoto Protocol, power plants and other big companies that can't meet mandated reduction targets can make offsetting investments in projects in less developed countries that reduce emissions and absorb greenhouse gases. In the U.S., the foremost market for voluntary credits is the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), which requires members to commit to reducing their emissions.

This article reviews the implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Kyoto Protocol, a 1997 agreement to develop carbon emissions trading frameworks and reduce emissions. The authors discuss the technical and political failures of the Kyoto Protocol including financial abuses of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The CDM created financial incentives to create pollutants in order to acquire credits for the destruction of those pollutants. The authors suggest that a variety of pollution mitigation technologies need to be developed because of limitations in the understanding of climate change. This thesis is expanded in the essay "The Wrong Trousers: Radically Rethinking Climate Policy" published on the website www.martininstitute.ox.ac.uk/jmi/.

This paper aims to examine four dimensions of the climate governance issue in Turkey: legislation; institutional capacity; mitigation and adaptation; and the role of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC). After conceptualizing the concept of climate governance and identifying its components, the current situation of each dimension will be analyzed, along with its shortcomings and the uncertainties concerning climate governance. The challenges of the current system will then be discussed on the basis of these dimensions. Finally, based on the findings, a forward-looking perspective will suggest ways to eliminate the existing shortcomings and improve climate governance in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of market mechanisms was far from certain in the lead up to the 2015 Paris Climate Conference. The use of 'constructive ambiguity' led to Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, with Article 6.2 specifying a mechanism with limited international oversight, and Article 6.4 establishing a 'Sustainable Development Mechanism' (SDM) subject to detailed rules. Clear operationalization of these mechanisms remains a challenge, especially regarding the critical accounting issue that could not be resolved at the 2018 Katowice Climate Conference (COP24) – how to apply corresponding adjustments, especially regarding sectors not covered by targets under nationally-determined contributions (NDCs). By using fictitious examples, we explain two possible approaches to using Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs) under Article 6.2 for achieving NDCs: a 'target-based' one where the acquiring Party adds the ITMO amount to the target level of its NDC; and a 'tally-based' one where the acquiring Party removes the ITMO amount from the final tally of its NDC. We discuss how these approaches influence the way to make corresponding adjustments and to avoid 'double counting'. The first one leads to 'target/budget-based accounting', the second one to 'emission-based accounting'. For mitigation outside the scope of the host Party's NDC, we propose using a tally-based interpretation of ITMO use, as opposed to the target-based variety used in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, and stress the need for additionality testing. This interpretation allows for mandatory corresponding adjustments for all ITMO usage, while the host Party NDC level remains unchanged. A buffer registry is created for corresponding non-NDC adjustments of the selling party. Key policy insights Under the Paris Agreement, transfers of emissions units between two countries through the Article 6 mechanisms need a corresponding adjustment on both sides to prevent double counting. Corresponding adjustments can be applied either to emissions targets under NDCs or measured emissions levels. The transfer of emissions reduction credits generated outside an NDC should lead to a corresponding adjustment of a buffer registry of the selling country, but not its emissions level/NDC target. Such credits should only be generated if additionality of the reductions is shown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Paris Agreement heralds a new era in international climate governance. Yet, the Agreement's implementation rulebook is still under negotiation. During this transition, from the Kyoto Protocol to the new regime under the Paris Agreement, many non-state actors are facing a high level of uncertainty. In particular, actors in the voluntary carbon market are struggling to define their new role. The business model of producing carbon credits in developing countries and selling them elsewhere is threatened. Although its financial significance and achieved emission reductions are limited, the voluntary market's role as an incubator for innovation has made it a prominent representative of non-state mitigation mechanisms. Therefore, we ask: What effects will the regime change to the Paris Agreement have on the voluntary carbon offset market (VCM) and how does it react to these effects? This study analyses perceptions of, and reactions to, the new regulatory environment within the VCM. We apply the Discursive Agency Approach to scrutinize the institutions, discourses and influential agents involved in the VCM, and the strategic practices they apply to manage the transition towards the Paris regime. We find two dominant coping strategies: to align the voluntary offsetting mechanism with the Paris Agreement, and to re-invent its overall purpose as a tool to deliver sustainable development rather than solely emission reductions. Based on these results, we outline 'thought spaces' for a future VCM: (1) voluntary and non-party offsetting beyond nationally determined contributions (NDCs), (2) results-based financing for emission reductions and sustainable development, and (3) private climate action under international oversight. Key policy insights The Paris Agreement threatens the VCM's business model, prompting market agents to frame and legitimize their work in new ways. The voluntary market's viability depends on the future accounting rules for emission reductions under Paris Agreement Article 6. Discursive struggles surround the risks of double counting and NDC ambitions. Based on an understanding of the past, we can draw lessons from agents' attempts to re-legitimize their role under the new Paris Agreement; their future visions will shape the debates about this nascent regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International carbon markets can be an important tool in achieving countries' mitigation targets under the Paris Agreement, but they are subject to a number of environmental integrity risks. An important risk is that some countries have mitigation targets that correspond to higher levels of emissions than independent projections of their likely emissions. If such 'hot air' can be transferred to other countries, it could increase aggregated emissions and create a perverse incentive for countries not to enhance the ambition of future mitigation targets. Limits to international transfers of mitigation outcomes have been proposed to address this risk. This article proposes a typology for such limits, explores key design options, and tests different types of limits in the context of 15 countries. Our analysis indicates that limits to international transfers could, if designed appropriately, prevent most of the hot air contained in current mitigation targets from being transferred, but also involve trade-offs between different policy objectives. Given the risks from international transfer of hot air and the uncertainty over whether other approaches will be effective in ensuring environmental integrity, we recommend that countries take a cautious approach and pursue a portfolio of approaches to ensure environmental integrity, in which case limits could provide for additional safeguards. Key policy insights Limits to international transfers involve trade-offs between different policy objectives, in particular reducing the risk that countries transfer hot air and enabling participation in carbon markets. Under 'relative' limits a country may transfer mitigation outcomes to the extent that its actual emissions are below the limit. Relative limits derived from historical emissions data have significant limitations, and none of the tested approaches was found to be effective for all countries. Relative limits based on emission projections could be a more valid approach, although they are also technically and politically challenging. Under 'absolute' limits a country could only issue, transfer or acquire a certain amount of mitigation outcomes. Absolute limits set at sufficiently low levels could prevent countries from transferring large amounts of hot air, but are bluntly applicable to all countries, whether or not they have hot air. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global governance on climate change has embraced the transfer of environmentally sound technologies as a crucial means of implementation to meet mitigation and adaptation. During the negotiation toward the Paris Agreement that replaced the Kyoto Protocol under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the negotiation on technology development and transfer experienced contestation between developed and developing countries over policy direction and options. Under this context, why, in which policy options, and how developed and developing countries have clashed have not been fully explored yet in the issue area of climate change. This paper attempts to unpack the negotiations over technology development and transfer as a part of the Paris Agreement by three dimensions of marketisation, privatisation, and de-regulatory approach on the theoretical ground of discursive contestation between neo-liberalism and structuralism. This research, revealing the ground and the range of stretched contestant policy options, will provide a means to discern whether policies and modalities to be adopted to implement the Paris Agreement are skewed toward developed countries or developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States’ decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement (pending possible re-engagement under different terms) may have significant ramifications for international climate policy, but the implications of this decision remain contested. This commentary illustrates how comparative analysis of US participation in multilateral environmental agreements can inform predictions and future assessments of the decision. We compare and contrast US non-participation in the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, focusing on four key areas that may condition the influence of US treaty decisions on international climate policy: (i) global momentum on climate change mitigation; (ii) the possibility of US non-participation giving rise to alternative forms of international collaboration on climate policy; (iii) the timing and circumstances of the US decision to exit; and (iv) the influence of treaty design on countries’ incentives to participate and comply. We find that differences across the two treaties relating to the first three factors are more likely to reduce the negative ramifications of US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement compared to the Kyoto Protocol. However, the increased urgency of deep decarbonization renders US non-participation a major concern despite its declining share of global emissions. Moreover, key design features of the Paris Agreement suggest that other countries may react to the US decision by scaling back their levels of ambition and compliance, even if they remain in the Agreement. Key policy insights Increasing global momentum on mitigation since 1997 means that US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement is potentially less damaging than its non-participation in the Kyoto Protocol Despite the declining US share of global emissions, greater urgency of deep decarbonization means that the non-participation of a major player, such as the US, remains problematic for global cooperation and achieving the Paris Agreement’s goals Differences in the design of the Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement suggest that US non-participation is more likely to prompt reluctant countries to stay within the Paris framework but reduce levels of ambition and compliance, rather than exit the Agreement altogether [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The regulatory contribution that preferential trade agreements (PTAs) make to global climate governance is assessed through an analysis of climate-related provisions found in 688 PTAs signed between 1947 and 2016. Provisions are analyzed along four dimensions: innovation, legalization, replication, and distribution. Innovative climate provisions are found in several PTAs that are in some cases more specific and enforceable than the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. Nonetheless, these climate provisions offer limited progress because they remain weakly ‘legalized’, fail to replicate broadly in the global trade system, and were not adopted by the largest greenhouse gas emitters. Despite the inclusion of innovative climate provisions in a number of PTAs, their poor design and weak replication position them as some of the weakest environmental provisions within PTAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to interpret Tokyo's pivotal role in the Kyoto Protocol negotiations as a practice of reconstructing Japan's identity of an ‘international’ and ‘independent’ country. The text bases this argument in poststructural national identity scholarship, which believes that discursive differentiation to international forces (‘others’) plays a decisive role in formulating state's identity. For most parts of the post-war history, United States served as the most significant other for Japan's self construction. Japan narrated itself as a ‘weak’ and ‘subservient’ country dominated by the ‘dominant’ West. This narrative, however, has been significantly altered after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Japan's identity entrepreneurs began describing Japan as an ‘independent’ or ‘normal’ country, one that proactively contributes to world affairs. Tokyo's legitimization of the Kyoto Protocol was in line with this identity reconstruction. The image of a proactive environmental leader created a symbol of Kyoto that overshadowed the opponents of the Protocol, and lead Japan to ratify it albeit the United States chose to withdraw from it. Once the ratification was over, however, the practical implementation failed to comply with Japan's symbolic commitment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The European Union (EU) is an important destination for developing country exports. Has the EU’s commitment to the Kyoto Protocol induced developing countries to reduce their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions? Our analyses of 136 developing countries from 1981 through 2007 suggests that: developing countries’ export dependence on the EU is associated with CO2emission reductions post-Kyoto in relation to the pre-Kyoto time period; this also holds for SO2,which, while not covered under Kyoto, is linked with CO2emission levels; this does not hold for PM10, a pollutant which is not covered under Kyoto and is not directly associated with CO2emissions related to industrial activities; developing countries’ export dependence on non-EU developed countries and on the rest of the world is not associated with significant reductions in emissions between pre- and post-Kyoto for these pollutants . In sum, even in the absence of binding regulatory mandates, the EU appears to exert market leverage to project its regulatory preferences abroad. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study examines the effect of the Kyoto Protocol on trade using gravity model with a Quandt–Andrews test for detection of structural break with G20 countries data. The structural break on international trade took place in 2003 that is around 1 year after the adoption of the Marrakesh Accords which includes the detailed implementation rules of the Kyoto Protocol. According to estimation results, this study can support the negative effect of environmental regulations on trade flows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Driven by Kyoto protocol to reduce the gas emission, warm mix asphalt (WMA) as an alternative of hot mix asphalt has gained huge interest among researchers. Despite many advantages, rutting resistance of WMAs is always questionable. In this study, ethylene bis(stearamide) (EBS) was used as a wax-based additive to produce WMAs. Samples were produced at three different compaction temperatures. To evaluate rutting resistance of mixtures, all cylindrical specimens were tested by dynamic creep and dynamic modulus tests at various compaction temperatures. Results indicate that rutting resistance of EBS-modified samples are remarkable, especially when compaction temperature is low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the contentious issues of the ongoing climate negotiations is the huge differences in per-capita CO2emissions between Annex I and Non-Annex I countries. This paper analyzes the costs of reducing this gap using a global computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. A range of carbon taxes are considered for Annex I countries as policy instruments. Results show that the average per-capita CO2emissions of Annex I countries would still remain almost twice as high as those of Non-Annex I countries in 2030 even if the CO2emissions of the former are reduced by 57% from the baseline through a heavy carbon tax of $250/tCO2. The global reduction of CO2emissions would be only 18% due to an increase in CO2emissions in the Non-Annex I countries. This reduction would not be sufficient to stabilize atmospheric CO2concentration at the level implied by UNFCCC to avoid dangerous climate change. The $250/tCO2carbon tax, on the other hand, would reduce Annex I countries’ gross domestic product by 2.4%, and global trade volume by 2%. This paper concludes that a demand for the convergence of per capita emissions between industrialized and developing countries would not be fruitful in climate change negotiations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of climate change laws in major economies has grown from less than 40 in 1997 to almost 500 at the end of 2013. The passage of these laws is influenced by both domestic and international factors. This article reviews the main international factors, drawing on a powerful new dataset of climate legislation in 66 national jurisdictions. We find that the propensity to legislate on climate change is heavily influenced by the passage of similar laws elsewhere, suggesting a strong and so far under-appreciated role for international policy diffusion. International treaties such as the Kyoto Protocol work in two ways. The impact of the Kyoto Protocol itself is limited to countries with formal obligations under the treaty. In addition, the prestige of hosting an international climate summit is associated with a subsequent boost in legislation. Legislators seem to respond to the expectations of climate leadership that these events bestow on their host. Policy relevance A global solution to climate change will ultimately have to be anchored in domestic legislation, which creates the legal basis for countries to take action. Countries are passing climate legislation in a growing number. This article asks to what extent they are motivated to do so by international factors, such as existing treaty obligations. We find that the Kyoto Protocol has been a less important factor in explaining climate legislation outside Annex I than the passage of similar laws elsewhere. This suggests that international policy diffusion plays an important and so far under-appreciated role in global climate policy, complementing formal treaty obligations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United States, few constituents know and understand climate policy, prioritize it as a political topic, or let their voting decisions depend on it. In these conditions, representatives would not be expected to pay heed to constituents’ climate concern in their voting decisions. Still, even after controlling for the presence of interest groups, campaign finance, and legislators’ party affiliation and ideology, there is a consistent link between public opinion and votes on cap-and-trade legislation in the House (and to a lesser degree in the Senate). The same is true when public opinion is simulated based on pre-vote district characteristics. Explanations for these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the context of the negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its accompanying Kyoto Protocol, participating nations have recognized the need for formulating Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs). These NAMAs allow countries to take into account their national circumstances and to construct measures to mitigate GHG emissions across economic sectors. Israel has declared to the UN that it would strive to reduce its GHG emissions by 20% in the year 2020 relative to a ‘business as usual' scenario. With its growing population and an expanding economy, the national GHG mitigation plan was developed to draw a course for steering the Israeli economy into a low-carbon future while accommodating continued economic growth. The article describes relevant policy measures, designed to aid in the implementation of the plan and compares them with measures being undertaken by different countries. Emphasis is placed on analysing the progress to date, opportunities and barriers to attaining the ultimate GHG emissions reduction goals. The objective of this article is to contribute to the knowledge base of effective approaches for GHG emissions reduction. We emphasize the integrated approach of planning and implementation that could be especially useful for developing countries or countries with economies in transition, as well as for developed countries. Yet, in the article we argue that NAMAs’ success hinges on structured tracking of progress according to emerging global consensus standards such as the GHG Protocol Mitigation Goals Standard. Policy relevance: The study is consistent with the NAMA concept, enabling a country to adopt a ‘climate action plan’ that contributes to its sustainable development, while enabled by technology and being fiscally sound. The analysis shows that although NAMAs have been framed in terms of projects, policies, and goals, current methodologies allow only the calculation of emission reductions that can be attributed to distinct projects. Currently, no international guidance exists for quantifying emissions reduction from policy-based NAMAs, making it difficult to track and validate progress. This gap could be addressed by an assessment framework that we have tested, as part of a World Resources Institute pilot study for an emerging voluntary global standard. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Korea adheres to the basic emission factor proposed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Guidelines to calculate the greenhouse gas emission. However, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Guidelines recommends applying an emission factor unique to a country, which reflects its features in fuel consumption. Especially, there has been little research in emission factors and in the amount of Korean coal briquettes used in Korea, and even worse, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Guidelines has not proposed the basic emission factor for such briquettes. Recently, the Korean government has made efforts to calculate greenhouse gas emission factors for each sector, and it is requiring research and development be conducted in the greenhouse gas emission factors of Korean coal briquettes in household and commercial sectors. The amount of carbon, hydrogen, and calorific values in the input fuel was measured using a calorimeter, elemental analyzer and proximate analyzer. For fuel analysis, the CO2emission factor for Korean coal briquettes is 95,558 CO2Kg/TJ. It is lower than the local anthracite CO2emission factor, 111,100 CO2Kg/TJ and the 2006 IPCC Guidelines, 87,399 CO2Kg/TJ by about 13.99 and 2.79%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Power generation has a significant contribution in total emissions of CO2,the main culprit in global warming, all over the world as well as in Turkey. Therefore, ratification of Kyoto Protocol by Turkish Parliament necessitates revising the share of different energy resources in electricity generation to be able to reduce CO2emissions. This study is an attempt to propose a solution to this problem. To this end, Turkey’s future long-term electrical energy demand is first estimated. Predicated on this future demand, we established an optimization model for the planning of electricity production by the year 2023, which is the 100th anniversary of the republic of Turkey. In this model, availability of CO2capture and storage units is assumed, which constitute a prominent tool for reducing the CO2emissions of fossil fuel fired power plants. The optimal solution has produced a distribution of energy sources between coal, natural gas, hydroelectricity and nuclear energies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Limits set by the Kyoto protocol brings Czech Republic billions of EUR from carbon emissions trading. The Ministry of Environment wants to invest the aforementioned revenue into energy savings and other projects like subsidies on the purchase of stoves for solid biofuels in regions with the most polluted air. Surprisingly, charcoal is not supported. Robust analysis of solid biofuels was made according to valid standards and routine chemical procedures. Data shows that there is no reason for charcoal to be rejected. It was confirmed that solid biofuels do not achieve the quality of black coal. The Czech Ministry of Environment argues that charcoal is not supported because of its high price per ton. The ecological criteria and price per energy should be also taken into account as analyzed in detail. Within the discussed ethical context, an improper form of support may affect market in a short term. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Most carbon abatement projects under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) have been implemented in rapidly industrializing countries, notably China and India. To support small carbon abatement projects and to promote decarbonization in the least developed countries, the Programme of Activities (PoA) modality was introduced. Are the determinants of project implementation different under the PoA from those of conventional CDM projects? To answer this question, we conduct a statistical analysis of the global distribution of CDM projects and PoAs during the years 2007–2012. In regard to country size, large countries clearly dominate both the CDM and PoA, suggesting that the PoA may do only little to facilitate project implementation in small countries. However, the number of PoAs has a strong negative association with a country's corruption level, while the importance of corruption for the CDM is much smaller. Moreover, per capita income has no effect on PoA implementation, while high wealth levels have a weak positive effect on CDM projects. Thus, the PoA modality seems to promote sustainable development in poor countries that have exceeded a certain threshold of good governance. In this regard, PoAs are directing carbon credits to new areas, as many had initially hoped. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most observers agree that more than 20 years of UN climate negotiations have been a failure. Some argue that the top-down approach is one important reason for this and that a bottom-up approach or more exclusive club approaches would have rendered better results. Based on experience with these approaches so far this is far from self-evident and there are limits to what can be achieved by clever institutional design when deep-seated political conflicts prevail. Many approaches are also hybrids between the various approaches and the future climate regime will probably contain elements of both the top-down and the bottom-up approach. However no quick fixes can be expected for this exceedingly ‘malign’ problem. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Following the signing of the Kyoto protocol in 2005, a new wave of green policies emerged with the intention of protecting our planet. This study explores the effects these policies have on capital markets. In particular, we assess how the risk and return of US industrial portfolios react to the announcement of green policies. Event study methodology and asset pricing models are used to that end. We document negative abnormal returns and increase in systematic risk for the biggest polluters whereas environmentally friendly businesses are affected to a lesser degree. An apparent Obama effect is observed, resulting from the 2008 outcome of the US presidential election. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article analyzes the dynamics of GHG emissions in Ukraine for the period 1990–2012. The effectiveness of using flexible mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol as an instrument of regulation of greenhouse gases is investigated. The official position and prospects of Ukraine's participation in the second period of a global climate agreement are considered. Existing measures of state policy aimed to improve the environmental performance of the domestic economy, namely the promotion of energy generation from renewable sources, and an environmental tax, are also discussed. The main barriers to effective implementation of measures for low carbon growth in Ukraine are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The widely held view is that effective action on climate change requires commitment by national governments to international agreements. Developed nations like Canada and Australia continue to fall short in their commitments to emissions reduction targets established under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Australia refused to ratify its Kyoto commitments until 2008 and Canada withdrew its commitment in 2011. Subnational governments in both countries have been active in developing policy responses to climate change yet remain largely excluded as serious policy partners in national mitigation and adaptation initiatives. This paper utilizes Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Framework to consider why subnational governments address climate change and the main factors shaping their policy choices. The experiences of the Australian state of Victoria and the Canadian province of Ontario provide examples through which to explore the factors contributing to climate policy opportunities and constraints faced by subnational governments in these countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to increase adaptive capacity and empower people to cope with their changing environment, it is imperative to develop decision-support tools that help people understand and respond to challenges and opportunities. Some such tools have emerged in response to social and economic shifts in light of anticipated climatic change. Climate change will play out at the local level, and adaptive behaviours will be influenced by local resources and knowledge. Community-based insights are essential building blocks for effective planning. However, in order to mainstream and scale up adaptation, it is useful to have mechanisms for evaluating the benefits and costs of candidate adaptation strategies. This article reviews relevant literature and presents an argument in favour of using various modelling tools directed at these considerations. The authors also provide evidence for the balancing of qualitative and quantitative elements in assessments of programme proposals considered for financing through mechanisms that have the potential to scale up effective adaptation, such as the Adaptation Fund under the Kyoto Protocol. The article concludes that it is important that researchers and practitioners maintain flexibility in their analyses, so that they are themselves adaptable, to allow communities to best manage the emerging challenges of climate change and the long-standing challenges of development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Almost two decades since the Kyoto Protocol was adopted, global greenhouse gas emissions are still rising rapidly. We argue that the global climate policy focus on carbon markets has played a significant role in the failure to reduce emissions. There are 16 compliance carbon markets in operation across the world. Many more are planned, although there have been numerous problems with carbon trading, including ineffectiveness, weak regulation and implementation, instances of fraud, little to no emissions reduction and major legitimacy issues for governments and the private sector. In this paper we take a “strong” position, arguing that carbon markets do not have a role to play in a policy scenario that requires radical emissions reductions in order to avoid dangerous greenhouse gas concentrations. We put forward 10 reasons why carbon markets should not be the preferred climate policy choice, which we have collated from positions taken by grassroots social movement organizations, think tanks, NGOs and other political advocacy groups as well as individual scientists and scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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“Only by examining the recent palaeoecological record does the effect of increased dust loading on the delicate nutrient balance of this ecosystem, and consequently, its ability to sequestrate carbon, become clear.” [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Twenty years after the Rio Conference of 1992 the issue of sustainability is still at the core of considerations in regard to the future of humankind. As a step forward in 1997 the Kyoto Protocol was agreed to, although the main actors have not been part of it. Since then all international congresses on the issue have failed. A new approach seems to be necessary, which steps aside of the international and national levels. The regional and local levels are definitely more appropriate, because direct participation of citizens and institutional actors is more feasible. Also for the regional and local levels labour is the main actor, as the production and distribution are the central areas for action for sustainability. That does not mean that consumption or finance have to be neglected. The trade unions in the past have often been reluctant to commit themselves for sustainability, as it seemed to endanger jobs. Slowly this attitude has been changed, and they fully engage now, e.g. with Attac and other similar movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the practice of the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), many CDM host countries heavily rely on high Global Warming Potential (GWP) Greenhouse Gas (GHG) projects. Among them, China might be unique in that it imposes a discriminative tax on projects dealing with high GWP GHGs. The Chinese government takes 65% of the carbon credits from HFC-23 (trifluoromethane) projects, 30% from N2O (nitrous oxide) projects, but only 2% from other types of projects. Previous studies have expected that this tax has multiple effects: rent-seeking effect, a deterrent effect on the HFC-23 and N2O projects, a channelling effect that switches the investment from HFC-23 and N2O projects to other types of projects, and a market distortion effect. However, with the positive analysis and empirical evidence, the present study shows that this tax only has rent-seeking effect, thus China's discriminative tax has been over read. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The main incentives for Russia's and Ukraine's participation in the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol were its mechanisms. The opportunities that the anticipated post-2012 mechanisms will offer Russia and Ukraine are explored in light of the lessons from Joint Implementation (JI) and the Green Investment Scheme (GIS) during this first period. Four key factors that explain the success of these mechanisms are identified: the design of the mechanisms, the role of the private sector in their implementation, the coordination required, and the political will gained. Even though a weak rule of law, problems with policy implementation, and the ambiguous role of private-sector actors are not ‘make or break’ issues, they are likely to defer future mechanisms. Success and failure will, rather, hinge on the priority these factors are accorded by the top leadership. It is likely that simple mechanisms that only involve a few actors will be less complicated to set up and run than, for instance, emissions trading schemes (which require domestic burden sharing). Project-based options in which domestic actors have gained experience may be better suited. However, any lessons prior to the new mechanisms taking a clearer shape must be considered as preliminary. Policy relevance The Kyoto Protocol mechanisms, despite their problems, provided Russia and Ukraine with their main incentives for participation in the Protocol's first commitment period. As the chances that these countries will participate in the second commitment period seem slim, the opportunities that the anticipated post-2012 mechanisms will offer Russia and Ukraine are explored in light of the lessons from JI and GIS. The key factors that have determined the success and failure of these mechanisms are likely to be of relevance to future mechanisms. It is argued that – of the post-2012 options available – simple mechanisms with few actors involved should be chosen. Project-based options rather than emissions trading schemes may be more likely to succeed due to experience gained by domestic actors. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Ethyl tertiary-butyl ether (ETBE) is commonly used as an oxygenated gasoline additive. In this study, we evaluated its developmental toxicity in rats. ETBE was administered by gavage to 21 or 22 pregnant female Sprague-Dawley rats per group at dose levels of 0, 100, 300 and 1000 mg/kg/day from days 5 through 19 postcoitum to assess its effects on pregnant animals and their embryos and fetuses applied to the OECD testing guideline (no. 414) correspondingly. There were no toxicological effects attributable to ETBE regarding clinical signs, body weight, food intake, necropsy or examination at caesarean section in pregnant animals. There were also no toxicological effects on external, visceral and skeletal examinations of embryos and fetuses. These results indicate that, under the conditions of this study, ETBE had no toxicological effects on pregnant rats or their embryos and fetuses and that the no observed adverse effect level was 1000 mg/kg/day both for pregnant rats and their embryos and fetuses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented on how climate change mitigation and adaptation affects peacebuilding efforts. Given that climatic changes cross international borders, there is potential that accusations between states may lead to conflict. Topics mentioned include the industrialization of the BRIICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, China, and South Africa), the phenomenon of environmental refugees, and the Kyoto Protocol and other international efforts to counter climate change.