Handbook of Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Frontmatter

2. Scientific Evidences of Climate Change and Societal Issues

   1. Frontmatter

   2. Introduction to Climate Change Mitigation

      Maximilian Lackner, Wei-Yin Chen, Toshio Suzuki

      Abstract

      Since the first edition of the Handbook, important new research findings on climate change have been gathered. The handbook was extended to also cover, apart from climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation as one can witness increasing initiatives to cope with the phenomenon. Instrumental recording shows a temperature increase of 0.5 °C Le Houérou (J Arid Environ 34:133–185, 1996) with rather different regional patterns and trends (Folland CK, Karl TR, Nicholls N, Nyenzi BS, Parker DE, Vinnikov KYA (1992) Observed climate variability and change. In: Houghton JT, Callander BA, Varney SDK (eds) Climate change, the supplementary report to the IPCC scientific assessment. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 135–170). Over the last several million years, there have been warmer and colder periods on Earth, and the climate fluctuates for a variety of natural reasons as data from tree rings, pollen, and ice core samples have shown. However, human activities on Earth have reached an extent that they impact the globe in potentially catastrophic ways. This chapter is an introduction to climate change.

   3. Loss and Damage Associated with Climate Change Impacts

      Linta M. Mathew, Sonia Akter

      Abstract

      The impacts of climate change that are not mitigated, or appropriately adapted or coped with, are referred to as “loss and damage.” The global community has recently recognized that addressing and financing the “residual” loss and damage from climate change requires a different approach as such costs cannot or have not been appropriately mitigated or adapted to. Although international pressures to weigh a country’s contribution to climate change financing against their contribution to climate change has been proposed, no such legally binding climate change deals have been fashioned. Most parties have only agreed to nonbinding actions to either reduce emissions or finance loss and damage in low-income, vulnerable countries. This is because the concept of loss and damage and the approaches to address the concept have been widely contested and debated. Additionally, the lack of a global consensus on an appropriate mechanism to attribute gradual and extreme natural calamities to climate change has further intensified the debate. Given this background, this chapter seeks to synthesize the key issues surrounding this debate. The objectives of this chapter are to review the definitions of loss and damage, examine the evolution of its significance in the international climate politics, present a comparative analysis of the approaches to address climate change-induced loss and damage, and outline empirical evidence of loss and damage in geographically and economically vulnerable nations.

   4. Paleoclimate Changes and Significance of Present Global Warming

      Asadullah Kazi

      Abstract

      Earth’s climate has been changing since the conceivable beginning of the geological history of Earth. This is reflected by paleoclimate occurrences of ice ages, followed by consequent warmer interglacial episodes. The most recent ice age has been tentatively traced back to some three million years ago. However, the onslaught of industrial revolution has greatly affected the framework of climate change. Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are now 40 % higher than before the industrial revolution. This, in turn, has given rise to increase in temperature during the past couple of centuries. Glaciers have recently started melting, and the global average sea level has risen by more than 25 cm. Study of core records from Antarctica and Greenland disclose that paleoclimate ice cores dating back to 800,000 years revealed that the current concentrations of greenhouse gases exceeded the concentration of these gases, preserved in those ice cores. Currently, global warming has emerged as the most serious environmental threat to mankind, and unless a drastic cut is made in the emission of greenhouse gases, the world would be heading toward an unretractable disaster. Consequently, this requires a global approach for development to combat the situation. To start with, there has to be awareness and preparedness, followed by capacity building through community education and training, as well as enforcement of regulations. This approach supports strategy of adaptation to vulnerability reduction and readiness to policy-supporting development, as the future course of action.

   5. Life Cycle Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Emissions

      L. Reijnders

      Abstract

      Life cycle assessments of greenhouse gas emissions have been developed for analyzing products “from cradle to grave”: from resource extraction to waste disposal. Life cycle assessment methodology has also been applied to economies, trade between countries, aspects of production, and waste management, including CO₂ capture and sequestration. Life cycle assessments of greenhouse gas emissions are often part of wider environmental assessments, which also cover other environmental impacts. Such wider-ranging assessments allow for considering “trade-offs” between (reduction of) greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts and co-benefits of reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Databases exist which contain estimates of current greenhouse gas emissions linked to fossil fuel use and to many current agricultural and industrial activities. However, these databases do allow for substantial uncertainties in emission estimates. Assessments of greenhouse gas emissions linked to new processes and products are subject to even greater data-linked uncertainty. Variability in outcomes of life cycle assessments of greenhouse gas emissions may furthermore originate in different choices regarding functional units, system boundaries, time horizons, and the allocation of greenhouse gas emissions to outputs in multi-output processes.

      Life cycle assessments may be useful in the identification of life cycle stages that are major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions and of major reduction options, in the verification of alleged climate benefits, and to establish major differences between competing products. They may also be helpful in the analysis and development of options, policies, and innovations aimed at mitigation of climate change.

      The main findings from available life cycle assessments of greenhouse gas emissions are summarized, offering guidance in mitigating climate change. Future directions in developing life cycle assessment and its application are indicated. These include better handling of indirect effects, of uncertainty, and of changes in carbon stock of recent biogenic origin and improved comprehensiveness in dealing with climate warming.

   6. Some Economics of International Climate Policy

      Karen Pittel, Dirk Rübbelke, Martin Altemeyer-Bartscher, Sebastian Otte

      Abstract

      This chapter discusses economic aspects of international efforts to curb the global warming threat. The first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol expired in 2012, which has until then been the dominant climate agreement although competing – or allegedly complement – international climate protection schemes like the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate also existed. While as of 5 April 2011, the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APP) formally concluded its joint work, tangible preparations for a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol started at the climate conference in Montreal (comprising MOP and COP-11) in 2005. In Montreal, a new working group was established for the discussion of future commitments (after 2012). And at the COP-18 in Doha in 2012, an agreement on a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol for 2013–2020 could be reached.

      In this chapter, we describe the main features of Kyoto and APP schemes and their failure to establish an efficient global climate protection regime, and we elaborate on the disincentives for countries to commit to efficient climate protection efforts in an international agreement. In doing so we also take into account the growing importance of adaptation to climate change in the international climate policy arena.

      The situation in international negotiations on climate change mitigation faced by national governments is depicted in game theoretic settings, and private ancillary benefits of climate policy are identified to raise the likelihood for countries joining an international agreement. Yet, it remains quite disputable to which extent ancillary benefits can be an impetus for more action in international climate policy. Finally, after dedicating a large part of the chapter to agreements, like the Kyoto Protocol, stipulating abatement quantities, alternative schemes are presented which were coined “price ducks” since they influence the effective prices of climate protection. By manipulating prices, e.g., via an international carbon tax, incentives are generated for producing higher climate protection levels. Recently, the so-called matching schemes influencing effective prices of climate protection raised much attention in the scientific literature. Such schemes may attenuate free- or easy-rider incentives in international climate policy and may even induce a globally efficient climate protection level.

   7. Ethics and Environmental Policy

      David J. Rutherford, Eric Thomas Weber

      Abstract

      This chapter offers a survey of important factors for the consideration of the moral obligations involved in confronting the challenges of climate change. The first step is to identify as carefully as possible what is known about climate change science, predictions, concerns, models, and both mitigation and adaptation efforts. While the present volume is focused primarily on the mitigation side of reactions to climate change, these mitigation efforts ought to be planned in part with reference to what options and actions are available, likely, and desirable for adaptation. Section “Understanding Climate Change,” therefore, provides an overview of the current understanding of climate change with careful definitions of terminology and concepts along with the presentation of the increasingly strong evidence that validates growing concern about climate change and its probable consequences. Section “Uncertainties and Moral Obligations Despite Them” addresses the kinds of uncertainty at issue when it comes to climate science. The fact that there are uncertainties involved in the understanding of climate change will be shown to be consistent with there being moral obligations to address climate change, obligations that include expanding the knowledge of the subject, developing plans for a variety of possible adaptation needs, and studying further the various options for mitigation and their myriad costs. Section “Traditions and New Developments in Environmental Ethics” covers a number of moral considerations for climate change mitigation, opening with an examination of the traditional approaches to environmental ethics and then presenting three pressing areas of concern for mitigation efforts: differential levels of responsibility for action that affects the whole globe, the dangers of causing greater harm than is resolved, and the motivating force of diminishing and increasingly expensive fossil fuels that will necessitate and likely speed up innovation in energy production and consumption that will be required for human beings to survive once fossil fuels are exhausted.

   8. Mass Media Roles in Climate Change Mitigation

      Kristen Alley Swain

      Abstract

      News media portrayals of climate change have strongly influenced personal and global efforts to mitigate it through news production, individual media consumption, and personal engagement. This chapter explores the media framing of climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies, including the effects of media routines, factors that drive news coverage, the influences of claims-makers, scientists, and other information sources, the role of scientific literacy in interpreting climate change stories, and specific messages that mobilize action or paralysis. It also examines how journalists often explain complex climate science and legitimize sources, how audiences process competing messages about scientific uncertainty, how climate stories compete with other issues for public attention, how large-scale economic and political factors shape news production, and how the media can engage public audiences in climate change issues.

   9. Economics for a Sustainable Planet

      Arif S. Malik

      Abstract

      Sustainable development endorses the idea that social, environmental, and economic progress is possible within the limits of earth’s natural resources. Sustainable development acknowledges that everything in the world is connected through space and time; hence, environmental pollution created in one part of the globe disturbs the other part of the globe or decisions made by the present generation will affect the future generations. Sustainable development is the route to world’s sustainable future. Therefore, to achieve true sustainability there is a need to harmoniously balance economic, social, and environmental sustainability factors. Environmental sustainability means that world’s ecological limits are not transgressed. Economic sustainability requires that existing resources are used optimally so that a responsible and beneficial balance can be achieved over the longer term. Social sustainability is the ability of society, or any social system, to continually achieve a good social wellbeing. Yet there are policies and practices in social, political, and economic milieu that constantly promote unsustainability or are fundamentally in tension with the sustainable development notion. For example, sustainability and economic growth are fundamentally incompatible because the contemporary global economic system, which promote economic growth, assumes continuous expansion in consumption of material goods and resources, a phenomenon that conflicts with the environmental notion of a finite planet with limited resources. Similarly, the unfair economic structures in the economic system create great wealth inequalities, which could lead to social unsustainability and social unrest. Likewise, the solutions to world’s political problems if enforced without considering the will and aspirations of the affected local population create social unrest and affect the global peace.

      This chapter emphasizes on the need for a fair and just economic system to achieve sustainability. It shows that climate change, ecological degradation, population growth, poverty and the resource scarcity, the problems of failing financial markets, and economic recession are all intertwined with the present economic system, which has been responsible for transgressing the balance of nature. The chapter then reviews reforms and alternatives, proposed in literature, to the present economic system to promote sustainability such as steady-state economics; environmental economics, ecological economics; restorative economics; local self-reliance/alternative currency, etc. Existence of interest and discount rates, which are a given necessity of the world economic system, means that the future costs and benefits are less valuable than those in the present – a clear case of intergenerational inequity and injustice. The chapter, using the concepts of systems thinking, make a case against discounting the future and shows that the discounting practice is in conflict with the holistic approach to the environment. The chapter shows that all the reforms or alternatives to contemporary economic system proposed in the literature do not really address the root cause of all the problems, which is the built-in interest-based system, made possible with the paper currency, in the economy that creates great injustices. The chapter argues that solutions of science and technology to ecological problems are limited because of ecological shortsightedness and corporate greed. Finally, in the future directions a broad framework of “fair and just” economic system is laid out which if realized can lead to an ecologically sustainable future for the planet.

   10. Emissions Trading

       Roger Raufer, Paula Coussy, Carla Freeman, Sudha Iyer

       Abstract

       Climate change is being exacerbated by the emissions of globe-warming greenhouse gases (GHGs) as a consequence of economic activities associated with energy, industry, transportation, and land use. From an economic viewpoint, the Earth’s climate is a public good, and pollution a negative externality; such change therefore constitutes market failure. Controlling air pollution by utilizing economic mechanisms represents an important change in environmental thinking – literally a paradigm shift away from historical command-and-control engineering systems. Today, this approach is being utilized to mitigate the emissions of GHGs, addressing the pollution externality by putting a price on carbon. The international carbon market, largely developed as a result of the Kyoto Protocol, had a total value of $176 billion in 2011, but it has decreased significantly in recent years. With the addition of China and other national and subnational programs, however, it is expected that it will once again increase, as a larger and larger portion of emitted GHGs come under such regulatory purview. Historically, the largest component of that market has been the European Union’s Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS), which represents a regional market designed first to assist Europe in achieving compliance with the Protocol’s requirements, and now is a cornerstone of the EU’s policy to combat climate change. It also has links to the Protocol’s project-based mechanisms, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), and Joint Implementation (JI), which help minimize compliance costs. China’s nascent market – currently seven pilot schemes, but expected to become a national program in 2016 – should ultimately become twice as large as the EU ETS. Other carbon markets created in numerous countries (e.g., the U.S., Japan, South Korea, etc.) as well as a voluntary market are also expected to make significant contributions. This chapter discusses the structure of these emissions trading carbon markets, the theory behind their development, their historical evolution, ongoing governance challenges, and future prospects.

   11. Carbon Markets: Linking the International Emission Trading Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS)

       Itziar Martínez de Alegría, Gonzalo Molina, Belén del Río

       Abstract

       The trading of carbon emission permits is an instrument created recently to tackle the climate change problem. From 2005 onward, in particular, the volume and significance of different carbon emission trading schemes have increased spectacularly; despite the fact that new emission trading schemes are appearing, the value of the market had fallen by the end of the Kyoto Protocol’s first commitment period in 2012. One fundamental reason for this was the uncertainty as to whether a new global agreement or protocol would be reached in 2015. The main goal of this chapter is to offer an overview of International Emission Trading under the Kyoto Protocol together with the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS), as the schemes at the core of today’s carbon markets, exploring their basic structure, their main links, and their differences, including a carbon price analysis underlining their fundamental weaknesses and strengths.

   12. European Union (EU) Strategy to Face the Climate Change Challenge in the Framework of the International Commitments

       Itziar Martínez de Alegría, María-Azucena Vicente-Molina, Cristian Moore

       Abstract

       Since climate change has become an international concern, most of the developed countries have attempted to adopt policies to mitigate global warming and its side effects in the last years. In this chapter, firstly the climate change framework for international action and policy development is analyzed. Likewise, due to the strategic importance of the European Union (EU) leadership in developing and implementing new instruments and policies to mitigate climate change through energy efficiency and renewable energy sources, this work is mainly focused on its energy legislative instruments to face the climate change. The present energy model of the EU, which supports its economic growth and prosperity, is nearly 80 % dependent on fossils fuels and increasingly dependent on energy imported from non-EU member countries, creating economic, social, political, and other risks for the EU. From the 1990s, the key objectives of the EU have been energy security of supply, competitiveness, and environmental protection, making renewable energy sources and energy efficiency the basis for EU’s new energy strategy. Accordingly, the EU has recently adopted new legislative instruments with the aim to become the world leader in the impulse of climate change mitigation through the employment of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency technologies. Therefore, this chapter presents and discusses the main legislative measures adopted recently, as well as their potential incidence on the EU’s objectives to comply with climate change amendments under the Kyoto Protocol.

   13. Implications of Climate Change for the Petrochemical Industry: Mitigation Measures and Feedstock Transitions

       Simon J. Bennett, Holly A. Page

       Abstract

       For over half a century, society has relied on the products of the organic chemical industry to supply the clothes we wear, the food we eat, our health, housing, transportation, security, and other commodities. Approximately 92 % of organic chemical products are derived from oil and gas. In addition, these same resources are generally used to provide the large quantities of process heat and power needed by the industry. In the modern petrochemical industry, oil and gas inputs for both raw material and process energy compose around 50 % of the operating costs.

       Not only is the chemical industry (including petrochemicals) the industrial sector with the highest emissions worldwide, it is also very vulnerable to variations in fossil fuel prices and, potentially, climate policies. Efficiency has long been a major factor in determining competitiveness in petrochemicals, and the sector has a high success rate in reducing its energy intensity. Yet, while global use of oil for energy grew globally by 12 % between 2002 and 2012, the use of oil for chemical feedstocks grew 21 %. It now represents 9 % of total global oil use and 6 % of total global gas use. Reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in an industry that is so dependent on fossil fuels presents a significant challenge.

       This chapter introduces the history of the modern chemical industry and the establishment of its close relationship with the oil industry. This relationship has recently come under strain as new sources of oil and gas are increasingly exploited, and growth in hydrocarbon demand for chemical products outpaces that for energy from these sources. It goes on to describe some of the major chemical processes, their GHG emissions, and their geographical variations. The benefits and challenges of several technological mitigation options are discussed. These are recycling, efficiency gains through cogeneration, CO₂ capture and storage (CCS), and feedstock switching via biorefining.

   14. Venture Capital Investment and Trend in Clean Technologies

       John C. P. Huang

       Abstract

       “Cleantech” is being widely used to replace “Green Technology.” It describes a group of emerging technologies and industries, based on principles of physics, chemistry, biology, and resource efficiency, new paradigms in energy, and water conservation. The scope of this field includes large-scale infrastructure projects as well as innovative technologies. The term Cleantech is also often associated with venture capital (VC) investment. A goal of this chapter is to provide readers with an overview of the scope and trends in venture capital-funded innovation in Cleantech, where and how to seek VC funding, and Cleantech implications on world climate change.

       This chapter addresses the basics of venture capital and the dynamic field of Cleantech. Subjects covered are as follows: (1) VC investment trend based on the volume of funds invested and the number of projects funded; (2) the scope of Cleantech encompassing renewable energy, energy efficiency, green building, transportation, smart power, smart grid and energy storage, air, water, and waste; (3) Cleantech technology trend detailing 2014 Cleantech top 100 companies – a barometer of the changing face of global Cleantech innovation; (4) Cleantech investment in Silicon Valley assumed a leading role in the global competition to develop renewable energy and other clean, green technologies; and (5) Cleantech investment in emerging nations addressing the status in China and other developing nations.

       The Concluding Remark discusses multidiscipline for Cleantech and the key to the deployment of Cleantech innovations. The Appendix provides a brief introduction of how and where to find information and seek for VC funding.

   15. Analysis of the Co-benefits of Climate Change Mitigation

       Douglas Crawford-Brown

       Abstract

       Economic development of the poorer nations brings competing influences on public health. On the one hand, the increase in per capita wealth reduces susceptibility to environmental pollutants. On the other hand, industrialization may increase the emissions of those same pollutants. Global climate policy negotiations have recognized this conflict, striving to identify a pathway to decarbonize the global economy while allowing growth in world regions at the bottom of the economic pyramid. This chapter explores the conflict by developing a quantitative methodology for calculating the economic growth’s net impact on public health and the co-benefits of greenhouse gas reductions associated with exposure to particulate matter. The chapter shows that co-benefits of decarbonization are significant; GDP growth in non-Annex I nations carries its own health benefit; the co-benefits are in part reduced through the increase in GDP by between 12 % and 17 %; and failure to include economic growth projections into co-benefit calculations produces greater errors in co-benefit estimates as the stringency of climate policies is increased.

   16. The Role of Aviation in Climate Change Mitigation

       Katsuya Hihara

       Abstract

       This chapter summarizes the recent policy and research development of the aviation emission reduction and its mechanism. First we trace the policy process surrounding UNFCCC, Kyoto Protocol, and Post-Kyoto Protocol negotiations, mostly focusing on the activities in the ICAO. Key factors in the policy process are (1) the disparities in the field of international aviation among the nations, such as income level and preferences between environment and growth. Such disparities could be interpreted as the notion of “common but differentiated responsibilities and capabilities (CBDR)” in the Kyoto Protocol. The second key factor is (2) uncertainties surrounding the impact of GHG emission on utilities of nations. Then we look into the theoretical developments in the field of international aviation from the economics viewpoint. Main objectives are to illustrate the impact of market-based mechanism (MBM), such as the emission allowance trading, and the inherent difficulties to reach social optimal allocations through the bargaining among nations in the presence of nations’ disparities and uncertainties of GHG emission’s impact on nations’ utilities.