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1.
《Climate Policy》2001,1(3):309-326
Carbon dioxide emissions from UK energy use have fallen by more than 20% over the last 30 years, and carbon intensity — carbon emissions per unit of GDP — has halved. These reductions have been achieved by a combination of decarbonisation of the energy system and substantial improvements in energy efficiency. Use of natural gas in power generation has been a big factor in recent years, but energy efficiency improvements in households and particularly industry have been more important over a longer period. Government policies designed primarily to address climate change have not been important contributors, until recently.Future reductions in emissions will require more proactive policies. However, they are possible without any economic difficulties, notably by adopting cost-effective energy efficiency measures, using new renewable energy sources and reducing dependence on private cars. These policies will improve economic efficiency. The new UK Climate Change Programme includes policies that combine regulation, investment, fiscal measures and other economic instruments. By working with the grain of other social, environmental and economic policies, they can achieve far more than a carbon tax alone, set at any politically acceptable level. Modelling the costs of emission reductions using a carbon tax as the only instrument would not only massively over-estimate costs, it would bear little resemblance to real world politics.The paper demonstrates that a more diverse set of policy instruments is likely to be an effective and politically acceptable approach in a mature industrial economy. It is concluded that the UK’s Kyoto target of a 12.5% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is not challenging. The UK Government’s target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 20% between 1990 and 2010 is also achievable. By 2010 per capita emissions from the UK will be well below 2.5 tC per year. Claims that some countries, notably the USA, could not reduce per capita emissions below 6 tC per year seem inconsistent with this experience. 相似文献
2.
Beverley Darkin 《Climate Policy》2013,13(3):257-274
Abstract New Labour came to power in 1997 pledging to put environment concerns at the heart of policy-making. Shortly after being elected, the Labour Government signed the Kyoto Protocol and adopted a voluntary domestic target of a 20% cut in carbon dioxide emissions by 2010. This article looks at the development of UK climate policy since 1997 and the political drivers that have led to development of the climate policy mix. It assesses the Climate Change Programme adopted in 2000 and its delivery, and it also looks at the 5-year Climate Change Programme Review published in March 2006. It conducts a quantitative assessment of the UK's performance by looking at emissions data, and it also provides a qualitative analysis, by looking at the UK policies and measures within their political and institutional context. The article concludes that Labour has been actively promoting climate policy since coming to power and has played a strong leadership role internationally. The UK is on track to meet and surpass its Kyoto target, meeting its international commitments. Between 24.1 and 29.1 million tonnes of carbon savings per year are expected by 2010. Policies and measures in the industrial sector are delivering real emissions reductions, in addition to the reductions made through fuel switching. The Government has found it more difficult to make some of the tough choices necessary to deliver emissions reductions in the transport and the household sectors. The article seeks to explain why the Labour Government has found it uncomfortable, politically, to implement stronger measures in these parts of the economy. The article highlights the changing dynamics within UK politics and concludes that there are two possible avenues for taking more stringent measures in the future. The first involves the development of a cross-party consensus on climate change. The second is to change the way that climate change is framed, so that it is no longer seen as an ‘environment’ issue but one with which voters and decision-makers can immediately connect. Only then will it be possible to implement the necessary policies and measures across the whole economy. 相似文献
3.
《Climate Policy》2013,13(1):77-88
Abstract The UK climate change programme has introduced a range of instruments to foster investment in low carbon technologies and markets. We estimate the total value of these interventions, in terms of the redirection of financial flows and directly foregone tax income, to be about £1.3 billion per year (c. Euro or US$ 2 billion per year), as from 2002 to 2003 when the renewable obligation certificates (ROCs) first take effect. About 20% of this consists of direct expenditure, the remaining 80% is in the form of indirect expenditures contained within sectors (ROCs, the energy efficiency commitments), and foregone tax revenues. Most of the energy-efficiency investment is estimated to recoup expenditure within normal life-cycles and may thus be considered profitable; the profitability of the supply-side interventions is predicated mostly upon expected cost reductions associated with the build up of the associated industries. 相似文献
4.
The UK climate change programme has introduced a range of instruments to foster investment in low carbon technologies and markets. We estimate the total value of these interventions, in terms of the redirection of financial flows and directly foregone tax income, to be about £1.3 billion per year (c. Euro or US$ 2 billion per year), as from 2002 to 2003 when the renewable obligation certificates (ROCs) first take effect. About 20% of this consists of direct expenditure, the remaining 80% is in the form of indirect expenditures contained within sectors (ROCs, the energy efficiency commitments), and foregone tax revenues. Most of the energy-efficiency investment is estimated to recoup expenditure within normal life-cycles and may thus be considered profitable; the profitability of the supply-side interventions is predicated mostly upon expected cost reductions associated with the build up of the associated industries. 相似文献
5.
A carbon tax will form the central carbon pricing instrument in South Africa. The country, however, is also in the process of setting specific short-term emissions limits at a subnational level. Additional mitigation policy instruments will thus be required to meet these targets. Although it is possible to combine sector-level quantity targets with a broad-based carbon tax, this article finds that this greatly complicates mitigation policy design, increasing both the information requirements and the likelihood of unintended consequences. The trade-offs between economic efficiency (optimized by the use of a broad-based price set by a carbon tax) and environmental effectiveness (optimized by using instruments that ensure emissions reduction targets are met) are ever present. A clear understanding of subnational quantity targets and an appreciation of the characteristics of the instruments to achieve such targets (quantity-based instruments, QBIs), the framework through which the instruments are combined, and their possible interactions, are required for effective policy making. Three possible frameworks for combining instruments are identified in the article, and some specific implications of interaction between particular QBIs and a carbon tax are suggested.Policy relevanceThis article explores the interaction of a carbon tax with mitigation policy instruments to meet subnational emissions targets in the South African context (where both a carbon tax and subnational emissions targets are currently being developed). As international negotiations progress towards countries accepting binding GHG emissions restrictions, quantity-based mitigation policy approaches become more important. In countries where a broad-based emissions trading scheme (ETS) is not feasible in the short to medium term, combining a broad-based carbon tax with subnational emission targets provides an alternative mechanism for achieving the economic efficiency and emissions certainty benefits derived from an ETS. This paper considers the mechanisms through which such a combination of instruments can be achieved. Three possible frameworks for combining instruments are identified, some specific implications of interaction between particular QBIs and a carbon tax are suggested, and guidelines and concept tools are presented to assist policy-makers in designing efficient and coherent mitigation policy. 相似文献
6.
《Climate Policy》2013,13(1):22-39
Despite the importance of emissions trading and energy taxes to the EU and national climate strategies, limited research exists on their impact on emissions from the perspective of industry sectors targeted by economic instruments. This article contributes to redressing this deficit by critically analysing whether economic instruments applied within the UK provide sufficiently strong price incentives to overcome barriers to investment in energy-intensive sectors created by the capital and finance costs of replacing ‘legacy’ infrastructure and fluctuating base energy prices. Results from a survey of 189 companies from the cement, aluminium and chemicals sectors and 23 interviews with sector associations and businesses from these and other energy-intensive industries indicate that economic instruments have raised awareness of energy efficiency but have had a minimal impact on investment decisions. EU-wide economic instruments such as the EU emissions trading scheme have yet to be fully tested but may encounter similar difficulties. On this basis, we argue that economic instruments may need to be complemented by more interventionist programmes focusing on large-scale investment in energy modernization and we also discuss how economic instruments can contribute to this agenda. 相似文献
7.
从2003年的《能源白皮书--构建一个低碳社会》到2007年的《能源白皮书--迎接能源挑战》,英国的气候变化政策发生了微妙变化,从强调自身减排蜕变到一再强调国际行动以及建立相应国际框架的重要性和必要性。其中的原因有3方面：1) 英国的温室气体尤其是CO2 排放由于各种原因出现反弹迹象,减排前景不明朗;2) 英国能源供应的对外依存度越来越高,出于对能源供应安全的考虑;3) 担心发展中国家的温室气体排放势头抵消其减排努力。可见,在能源政策方面,英国变得更加务实。 相似文献
8.
从2003年的《能源白皮书--构建一个低碳社会》到2007年的《能源白皮书--迎接能源挑战》,英国的气候变化政策发生了微妙变化,从强调自身减排蜕变到一再强调国际行动以及建立相应国际框架的重要性和必要性。其中的原因有3方面：1) 英国的温室气体尤其是CO2 排放由于各种原因出现反弹迹象,减排前景不明朗;2) 英国能源供应的对外依存度越来越高,出于对能源供应安全的考虑;3) 担心发展中国家的温室气体排放势头抵消其减排努力。可见,在能源政策方面,英国变得更加务实。 相似文献
9.
《Climate Policy》2013,13(2):865-882
This article analyses the implications of long-term low-carbon scenarios for the UK, and against these it assesses both the current status and the required scope of the UK energy policy. The scenarios are generated using the well-established MARKAL (acronym for MARKet ALlocation) UK energy systems model, which has already been extensively used for UK policy analysis and support. The scenarios incorporate different levels of ambition for carbon reduction, ranging from 40% to 90% cuts from 1990's level by the year 2050, to shed insights into the options for achieving the UK's current legally binding target of an 80% cut by the same date. The scenarios achieve their carbon reductions through very different combinations of demand reduction (implying behaviour change) and implementation of low-carbon and energy efficiency technologies on both the supply and demand sides. In all cases, however, the costs of achieving the reductions are relatively modest. The ensuing policy analysis suggests that while the cuts are feasible both technically and economically and while a number of new policies have been introduced in order to achieve them, it is not yet clear whether these policies will deliver the required combination of both short- and long-term technology deployment, and behaviour change for the UK Government's targets to be achieved. 相似文献
10.
Erik Haites 《Climate Policy》2018,18(8):955-966
Systematic evidence relating to the performance of carbon pricing – carbon taxes and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions trading systems (ETSs) – is sparse. In 2015, 17 ETSs were operational in 55 jurisdictions while 18 jurisdictions collected a carbon tax. The papers in this special thematic section review the performance of many of these instruments over the 2005–2015 period. The performance of existing carbon taxes and GHG ETSs can help policy makers make informed choices about whether to introduce these instruments and to improve their design. The purpose of carbon pricing instruments is to reduce GHG emissions cost effectively. Assessing their performance is difficult because emissions are also affected by other policies and exogenous factors such as economic conditions. Carbon taxes in Europe prior to 2008 and in British Columbia reduced emissions from business-as-usual but actual emissions continued to rise. Since 2008 emissions subject to European carbon taxes have declined, but in most countries, other mitigation policies have probably contributed more to the reductions than the carbon taxes. Emissions subject to ETSs, with the exception of four systems without emissions caps, have declined. The ETSs contributed to the emissions reductions, but their share of the overall reduction is not known. Most tax rates are low relative to levels thought to be needed to achieve climate change objectives. Few jurisdictions regularly adjust their tax rates. All ETSs have accumulated surplus allowances and implemented measures to reduce these surpluses. The largest ETSs now specify annual reductions in their emissions cap several years into the future. Emissions trading system allowance prices are generally lower than the tax rates.
Key policy insights
Theoretical discussions usually portray carbon taxes and GHG ETSs as alternatives. In practice, a jurisdiction often implements both instruments to address emissions by different sources.
Designs of ETSs have evolved based on experience shared bilaterally and via dedicated institutions.
Carbon tax designs, in contrast, have hardly evolved and there are no institutions dedicated to sharing experience.
Every jurisdiction with an ETS and/or carbon tax also has other policies that affect its GHG emissions.
11.
《Climate Policy》2013,13(2):119-138
Emissions trading schemes (ETS) coexist with other environmental and energy policies, such as renewable energy promotion schemes. The potential synergies and conflicts between these policies are worth analysing. Spain is used as a case study to illustrate the theoretical, practical and quantitative interactions. The existence of national policies which affect CO2 emissions and interact with the EU ETS may lead to conflicts, which could make it more difficult to reach the objectives of emissions reductions, local sustainability benefits, dynamic efficiency and moderate consumer costs. The coordination of efforts to mitigate these conflicts is difficult and may have limited effectiveness, since the instruments employed have multiple objectives and different territorial scopes. However, the coexistence of the EU ETS with other instruments can be justified if the latter can provide social benefits or tackle problems that the former cannot provide or solve (such as ‘local’ and ‘dynamic efficiency’ benefits). The results of an interaction between an ETS and renewable electricity promotion schemes depend on the type of RES-E (electricity from renewable energy sources) support scheme being used and on the specific design features of the instrument implemented. 相似文献
12.
This article simulates deep decarbonization pathways for a small open economy that lacks the usual avenues for large CO2 reductions – heavy industry and power generation. A computable general equilibrium model is used to assess the energy and economic impacts of the transition to only one ton of CO2 emissions per capita in 2050. This represents a 76% reduction with respect to 1990 levels, while the population is expected to be 46% larger and GPD to increase by 90%. The article discusses several options and scenarios that are compatible with this emissions target and compares them with a reference scenario that extrapolates already-decided climate and energy policy instruments. We show that the ambitious target is attainable at moderate welfare costs, even if it needs very high carbon prices, and that these costs are lower when either CO2 can be captured and sequestered or electricity consumption can be taxed sufficiently to stabilize it.
Policy relevance
In the context of COP 21, all countries must propose intended contributions that involve deep decarbonization of their economy over the next decades. This article defines and analyses such pathways for Switzerland, taking into consideration the existing energy demand and supply and also already-defined climate policies. It draws several scenarios that are compatible with a target of 1 ton of CO2 emissions per capita in 2050. This objective is very challenging, especially with the nuclear phase out decided after the disaster in Fukushima and the political decision to balance electricity trade. Nevertheless, it is possible to design several feasible pathways that are based on different options. The economic cost is significant but affordable for the Swiss economy. The insights are relevant not only for Switzerland, but also for other industrialized countries when defining their INDCs. 相似文献
13.
《Climate Policy》2013,13(2):922-943
State and local governments in the USA are evaluating a wide range of policies to reduce carbon emissions, including carbon taxes, which have existed internationally for nearly 20 years. In this article, existing carbon tax policies, both internationally and in the USA, are reviewed, and carbon policy design and effectiveness are analysed. Design considerations include which sectors to tax, where to set the tax rate, how to use tax revenues, what the impact will be on consumers, and how to ensure that emissions reduction goals are achieved. Emissions reductions that are due to carbon taxes can be difficult to measure, although some jurisdictions quantify reductions in overall emissions, others examine impacts that are due to programmes funded by carbon tax revenues. 相似文献
14.
Alex L. Marten Elizabeth A. Kopits Charles W. Griffiths Stephen C. Newbold Ann Wolverton 《Climate Policy》2013,13(5):678-679
The light bulb ban introduced by the EU is used as an example to illustrate how to assess the climate impact of a policy that overlaps with a cap-and-trade scheme. The European Commission estimates that by 2020 the reduction in GHG emissions induced by banning incandescent light bulbs will reach 15 million tons annually. The number is a conservative estimate for the reduction in emissions from lighting if the total residential stock of incandescent light bulbs in 2008 is replaced by more efficient lighting sources. However, it ignores that use-phase and some non-use-phase emissions are covered by the EU Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS). This drastically reduces the amount of GHG emissions saved.Policy relevanceSeveral policies such as the EU-wide ban on incandescent light bulbs, energy efficiency mandates and support mechanisms for renewable energy overlap with the EU ETS. While there are typically several justifications for these policies, a chief reason is the reduction of GHG emissions. However, given that the aggregate emissions of the industries covered are fixed by the EU ETS, the climate change mitigation aspect of these policies is not obvious. Using the light bulb ban as an example, this article illustrates how a focus on non-EU ETS emissions changes the assessment of an intervention in terms of GHG reductions. 相似文献
15.
目前,交通行业已成为中国局地大气污染物和温室气体的重要排放来源之一,而且随着交通运输规模的不断扩大,与工业和生活排放相比,交通排放贡献占比呈相对增加趋势。文中构建了“CGE-CIMS联合模型”,对中国交通行业实施环境经济政策的局地大气污染物和CO2协同控制效应进行量化评估。结果显示,与BAU情景相比,环境税、碳税、成品油消费税以及政策组合情景均促进了交通行业的电力消费替代汽油、柴油等石油制品,即使考虑政策实施后电力消费增加导致的间接排放,各情景下综合大气污染物协同减排量（ICER）仍为正值,即各项环境经济政策均具有较好的协同控制局地大气污染物和CO2的效果。本文最后提出了包括聚焦高排放交通工具,以补贴低碳交通方式配合绿色税制改革,以及电力行业低碳发展等交通行业实施环境经济政策的配套措施建议。 相似文献
16.
Sergey Paltsev Valerie Karplus Henry Chen Ioanna Karkatsouli John Reilly Henry Jacoby 《Climate Policy》2013,13(4):438-457
Passenger vehicles and power plants are major sources of GHG emissions. While economic analyses generally indicate that a broader market-based approach to GHG reduction would be less costly and more effective, regulatory approaches have found greater political success. We evaluate a global regulatory regime that replaces coal with natural gas in the electricity sector and imposes technically achievable improvements in the efficiency of personal transport vehicles. Its performance and cost are compared with other scenarios of future policy development including a no-policy world, achievements under the Copenhagen Accord, and a price-based policy to reduce global emissions by 50% by 2050. The assumed regulations applied globally achieve a global emissions reduction larger than projected for the Copenhagen agreements, but they do not prevent global GHG emissions from continuing to grow. The reduction in emissions is achieved at a high cost compared to a price-based policy. Diagnosis of the reasons for the limited yet high-cost performance reveals influences including the partial coverage of emitting sectors, small or no influence on the demand for emissions-intensive products, leakage when a reduction in fossil use in the covered sectors lowers the price to others, and the partial coverage of GHGs. If these regulatory measures are in part correcting other barriers or behavioural limitations consumers face, the benefits of overcoming these could offset at least some of the costs we estimate. The extent of any efficiency gap – the difference between engineering estimates of best practice and what actually happens – is highly contested, and offers an important avenue for future research.Policy relevanceWhile analysts concerned with national cost of GHG control have long advocated a GHG pricing policy, by a cap-and-trade system or a tax, covering all emissions sources and gases, governments more often pursue sectoral policies and technology standards. Given these political realities, the regulations represent a more politically practical approach to GHG reductions, focusing on solutions that are within reach and that do not depend on technological breakthroughs. If regulations are imposed as a way to get started on larger emissions reductions, and then combined with a broader GHG pricing policy pursuing a deep global cut in emissions, its requirements will eventually be overtaken by the pricing policy. The remaining higher costs of the regulatory targets become diluted so that in later years the difference in average cost per ton between a least-cost approach and one preceded by a period of regulatory action becomes very small. 相似文献
17.
胡雷 《气候变化研究进展》2016,12(4):341-347
本文首先从规模、结构和效率3个方面在理论上分析我国城镇化对二氧化碳排放的影响机理。并利用1978-2012年的数据,采用对数迪氏平均指数分解方法（LMDI）量化分析规模效应、结构效应和技术效应的影响程度。结果表明：城镇化导致的经济增长是人均二氧化碳排放增加的主要拉动因素;而城镇化过程中结构调整是人均二氧化碳排放的主要拉低因素;城镇化过程中技术效应拉低了人均二氧化碳的排放,但与结构效应相比影响效果较小。研究认为：城镇化带来的结构变化的影响越来越重要,成为降低碳排放的最大因素,目前技术效应正在发挥作用,但是作用有限,如果要实现低碳城镇化,需要提高能源使用效率来发挥技术效应的作用。 相似文献
18.
Reducing GHG emissions and mitigating climate change would require significant investments in renewable energy technologies. Foreign direct investments (FDI) in renewable energy (RE) have increased over the last years, contributing to the diffusion of RE globally. In the field of climate policy, there are multiple policy instruments aimed at attracting investments in renewable energy. This article aims to map the FDI flows globally including source and destination countries. Furthermore, the article investigates which policy instruments attract more FDI in RE sectors such as solar, wind and biomass, based on an econometric analysis of 137 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and non-OECD countries. The results show that Feed in Tariffs (FIT) followed by Fiscal Measures (FM), such as tax incentives and Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS), are the most significant policy instrument that attract FDI in the RE sector globally. Regarding carbon pricing instruments, based on our analysis, carbon tax proved to be correlated with high attraction of FDI in OECD countries, whereas Emissions Trading Schemes (ETS) proved to be correlated with high attraction of FDI mainly in non-OECD countries.
Key policy insights
Feed in Tariffs is the most significant policy instrument that attracts FDI in the Renewable Energy sector globally.
Fiscal Measures (FM), such as tax incentives, show a significant and positive impact on renewable energy projects by foreign investors, and particularly on solar energy.
Carbon pricing instruments, such as carbon taxation and emissions trading, proved to attract FDI in OECD and non-OECD countries respectively.
Public investments, such as government funds for renewable energy projects, proved not as attractive to foreign private investors, perhaps because public funds are not perceived as stable in the long run.
19.
Brian F. Snyder 《Climate Policy》2013,13(6):743-750
This article describes a ‘tax and trade' emission regulations system that controls both emission costs and emission quantities. Emitters are taxed at a fixed price on carbon emissions and the government uses the tax revenue to buy carbon offsets on existing emissions markets. Unlike a traditional carbon tax, regulated firms may also produce carbon credits which may be sold to the government. Thus, the government bears the compliance cost risk rather than an individual firm and has control over the number of offsets purchased and the effective emission reduction. This unusual form of hybrid has potential political advantages of creating an economic incentive on corporate choices (at the margin) substantially greater than the actual trading price, and with lower financial transfers than in most schemes.Policy relevanceThe article presents a hybrid carbon emissions system that adds to the growing discussion of hybrid policy instruments which could be implemented by policy makers, particularly in nations without current cap and trade policies. 相似文献
20.
Erick Lachapelle 《Climate Policy》2013,13(5):547-571
Patterns of national climate policy performance and their implications for the geopolitics of climate change are examined. An overview of levels of emissions performance across countries is first provided. Substantial changes in emissions trends over time are documented, notably with GHG emissions trajectories, which are shaped less and less by the developed/developing country divide. Various patterns of policy convergence and divergence in the types of policies states implement are then surveyed. Four broad types of explanation that may account for these trends are then explored: (1) variation in the institutional form of country-level governance regimes, (2) patterns of dependence on fossil fuel energy, (3) broad systemic differences among states (specifically in their population densities, carbon intensity, and per capita incomes, and (4) variations in the traditions of economic intervention by states. The article contributes to the growing body of work on comparative climate policy, and provides a first attempt at exploring the comparative politics of instrument choice. The analysis challenges the continued importance of a North–South divide for the future of climate policy, thus reinforcing a sense of the ‘new geopolitics’ of climate change. Some of the implications of the analysis for debates about the form of future international agreement on mitigation policy are also explored. Policy relevance The article contributes to the understanding of the variety of institutional conditions under which policy makers develop policy and thus the constraints and opportunities for the design of international agreements under these conditions. 相似文献