Global climate protection will be at the center of negotiations during the Copenhagen Conference in December 2009. It is very likely that climate change is raising challenges for mankind which have never existed in these dimensions before. In view of the sheer enormity of these challenges, we might also have to consider solutions which have previously never existed.
Measured against the increasingly urgent recommendations of the scientific community, the current climate regime – based on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its subsequent Kyoto Protocol – is manifestly inadequate to address the challenges posed by a warming climate. Even if current mitigation commitments under the Kyoto Protocol are met, the international community will still be further away from achieving safe greenhouse gas emission levels than at the time the Protocol was adopted. Discussions on a new climate agreement with commitments for the period after 2012 are once again guided more by political and economic interests than by overriding climate considerations. Existing market based mechanisms such as the Clean Development Mechanism have significant flaws, and are unable to create a sufficient price signal with current mitigation objectives. Yet a system of tradable emission rights, distributed globally on a per capita basis, has the potential of addressing several challenges at once: climate change and global poverty. Differentiated allocation in the initial phases of such a system could help compensate for divergent historical responsibilities for atmospheric climate change.
Copyright: | © Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH | |
Quelle: | Issue 3/2009 (Oktober 2009) | |
Seiten: | 9 | |
Preis inkl. MwSt.: | € 41,65 | |
Autor: | Prof. Dr. Felix Ekardt Anne-Katrin Exner Sibylle Albrecht | |
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bifa-Text Nr. 45: Anpassung an den Klimawandel: eine Befragung oberbayerischer Unternehmen
© bifa Umweltinstitut GmbH (3/2010)
Das bifa Umweltinstitut untersuchte, in welchem Umfang sich oberbayerische Unternehmen vom Klimawandel betroffen fühlen, welche Aspekte dabei eine Rolle spielen und ob die Anpassung an die unvermeidbaren Folgen ein Thema ist.
Protectionism under a Green Label: Analysis in Light of the Waxman-Markey Climate Change Bill of 2009
© Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH (4/2010)
This research article analyzes and evaluates the key provisions of the Waxman-Markey Climate Change Bill, which was introduced to establish an aggressive cap-and-trade programme aimed at promoting renewable energy, energy efficiency, and reducing global warming pollution. However, the bill became controversial and was opposed by various countries as the provisions of the bill are against rules of the WTO. Developing countries are viewing it as an attempt to extra-territorially enforce carbon emission standards on their products and production processes, even when the latter do not have the financial capacity nor technology to effectively adopt and comply with such standards. The bill was proposed while the entire world was facing a financial crisis and the protectionism measures in the bill may further deepen the crisis. The paper ends with the conclusion that the present bill is insufficient as to control of carbon emissions, given its nature, until 2026 and it creates a volatile carbon market dominated by short-term financial gain incentives.
One, Two or One and a Half Protocols? An Assessment of Suggested Options for the Legal Form of the Post-2012 Climate Regime
© Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH (10/2009)
The current international climate regime basically consists of two treaties: The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) adopted in 1992, which has nearly universal membership, and the Kyoto Protocol adopted in 1997. The latter treaty obliges developed states listed in Annex I of the UNFCCC to limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by the amount inscribed in Annex B of the Kyoto Protocol. However, it only provides for a first commitment period lasting from 2008 to 2012. Thus, there is an urgent need to establish new rules ensuring further emission reductions after 2012.
Stakeholder-based Scenarios for Post-2012 Climate Policy: A Participatory Approach
© Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH (10/2009)
Beginning in the early 1970s, the application of scenario analysis to environmental issues has been a well-established field. Since then, environmental scenario analysis has been used to examine many different scales and types of environmental problems, ranging from global sustainability to specific issues such as changes in emissions, air quality, or land cover in a specific region. Environmental scenarios provide an interdisciplinary framework for analyzing complex environmental problems and envisioning solutions for these problems by, for example, establishing a link between environmental science and policy.
The Carbon Market and the Post-2012 Climate Regime: Key Legal Scenarios
© Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH (10/2009)
Negotiations on the post-2012 climate regime under the UNFCCC are entering a crucial phase. They are scheduled to be completed at COP 15 in Copenhagen in December 2009. The outcome will have important consequences for the carbon market. The scope and ambitiousness of the agreement on mitigation IN THE post-2012 PERIOD will be crucial for the international demand and supply of credits, and the post-2012 legal framework will determine the general conditions for transactions under the UNFCCC REGIME.