The cost of achieving South Africa’s ‘fair share’ of global climate change mitigation     

Hugo Van Zyl  Yvonne Lewis  James Kinghorn  James Reeler 《Climate Policy》2018,18(10):1327-1339

Global climate change mitigation action is hampered by systematic under-assessment of national ‘fair shares’, largely on the basis of perceived national interests. This paper aims to inform discussions centred on South Africa’s nationally determined contribution (NDC) by estimating (1) emissions reduction pathways for the country using the Climate Equity Reference Calculator (CERC) assuming a maximum 2°C aggregate warming target and (2) the likely economy-wide net mitigation costs or savings associated with reaching these pathways if known lower-cost mitigation measures, identified through the national mitigation potential analysis, are prioritised. The cumulative net savings associated with achieving the CERC ‘fair share’ emissions pathway, assuming the moderate use of low carbon power generation measures, would reach $5.3 billion by 2030. Net savings could be substantially greater reaching $46.8 billion by 2030 assuming power generation focuses on moving towards full decarbonisation. An unconditional commitment to the mitigation action implied by the ‘fair share’ emissions pathway therefore seems reasonable and prudent purely from the point of view of net country-wide savings. Only if power generation moves towards full decarbonisation would there be a reasonable chance of achieving the more ambitious CERC domestic emissions pathway. However, the significant additional cost associated with achieving the domestic emissions pathway should be conditional on international assistance.

Key policy insights

• South Africa can only achieve its ‘fair share’ of the global mitigation effort if greater use is made of renewable energy options, and can realise significant net savings if it does so.

• Further emissions reductions would incur costs and require significant upscaling of the share of renewable energy and full implementation of all non-power generation mitigation measures available.

• Committing to this further mitigation action contingent on international finance would both strengthen the nation’s position in climate negotiations and support the provision of finance for those vulnerable developing nations that bear little or no responsibility for climate change.

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Health and environmental co-benefits and conflicts of actions to meet UK carbon targets     

Alison C. Smith  Michael Holland  Outi Korkeala  Jamie Warmington  Daniel Forster  Helen ApSimon 《Climate Policy》2016,16(3):253-283

Many actions to reduce GHG emissions have wider impacts on health, the economy, and the environment, beyond their role in mitigating climate change. These ancillary impacts can be positive (co-benefits) or negative (conflicts). This article presents the first quantitative review of the wider impacts on health and the environment likely to arise from action to meet the UK's legally-binding carbon budgets. Impacts were assessed for climate measures directed at power generation, energy use in buildings, and industry, transport, and agriculture. The study considered a wide range of health and environmental impacts including air pollution, noise, the upstream impacts of fuel extraction, and the lifestyle benefits of active travel. It was not possible to quantify all impacts, but for those that were monetized the co-benefits of climate action (i.e. excluding climate benefits) significantly outweigh the negative impacts, with a net present value of more than £85 billion from 2008 to 2030. Substantial benefits arise from reduced congestion, pollution, noise, and road accidents as a result of avoided journeys. There is also a large health benefit as a result of increased exercise from walking and cycling instead of driving. Awareness of these benefits could strengthen the case for more ambitious climate mitigation action.

Policy relevance

This article demonstrates that actions to mitigate GHG emissions have significant wider benefits for health and the environment. Including these impacts in cost–benefit analysis would strengthen the case for the UK (and similar countries) to set ambitious emissions reduction targets. Understanding co-benefits and trade-offs will also improve coordination across policy areas and cut costs. In addition, co-benefits such as air quality improvements are often immediate and local, whereas climate benefits may occur on a longer timescale and mainly in a distant region, as well as being harder to demonstrate. Dissemination of the benefits, along with better anticipation of trade-offs, could therefore boost public support for climate action.  相似文献   

武宿机场新航站楼冬季供热系统设计及技术经济分析     

苏敏芳 《中国勘察设计》2014,(5):70-72

本文介绍了太原武宿机场新航站楼冬季供热采暖和空调双系统的设计及五年来的运行效果。对采暖系统的初投资、空调系统各类设备用电量、每个采暖季的运行费用、投资回收期等进行了分析比较;讨论了在冬季供热中,用采暖系统替代在建筑中使用中央空调系统的优势。  相似文献   

An evaluation of the economic benefits and costs of conservation tillage     

N. D. Uri 《Environmental Geology》2000,39(3-4):238-248

 The economic benefits of the adoption of conservation tillage depend on site-specific factors including soil characteristics, local climatic conditions, cropping patterns, and other attributes of the overall farming operation. While it is possible to draw some general inferences about components of economic returns and costs, a comprehensive assessment of the net private benefits from greater use of conservation tillage is not feasible. Received: 4 December 1997 · Accepted: 30 March 1998  相似文献   

Transaction costs analysis of low-carbon technologies     

Luis Mundaca T  Mathilde Mansoz  Lena Neij  Govinda R. Timilsina 《Climate Policy》2013,13(4):490-513

Transaction costs (TCs) must be taken into account when assessing the performance of policy instruments that create markets for the diffusion and commercialization of low-carbon technologies (LCTs). However, there are no comprehensive studies on the development and application of transaction cost analysis to LCTs. In this meta-analysis, a wide-ranging evaluation of TCs associated with energy efficiency, renewable energy, and carbon market technologies is provided. There is a plethora of different definitions of, and measurement techniques to estimate, TCs. There is wide variation in the quantitative estimates, which can be attributed to factors such as the definition used, data collection, quantification methods, the type and size of technologies, the regulatory frameworks, the complexity of transactions, and the maturity of policy instruments. It is concluded that TCs are highly specific to both LCTs and policy instruments and that a common methodological approach is needed to avoid misleading policy analysis of the extant and future assessments.

Policy relevance

Transaction costs (TCs) accrued by, for instance, the search for information, due diligence, monitoring and verification (M&V) activities, must be considered in the design, implementation, and assessment of policy instruments. Such costs can have a negative effect on the performance of policy instruments aimed at the diffusion and commercialization of low-carbon technologies. It is shown here that TC analysis is mostly technology and policy context-specific and hence that it is not advisable to make generalizations about sources and estimates. The nature and scale of TCs are likely to differ due to a variety of endogenous determinants (e.g. size and performance of technologies), exogenous drivers (e.g. regulatory policy frameworks), and methodological aspects (e.g. quantification techniques). Several measures and strategies have the potential to reduce TCs, including standardized full cost accounting systems, an ex ante M&V approach, project bundling, and streamlining of procedures.  相似文献   

Marginal abatement cost estimates for non-CO2 greenhouse gases: lessons from RECLAIM     

《Climate Policy》2013,13(1):40-55

Recognizing the potential for over- as well as under-estimating the mitigation costs of non-CO₂ greenhouse gases in an offset programme, this article examines the accuracy of cost estimates prepared by government agencies for the control of other types of emissions from small/medium sources via an offset programme. Specifically, analogy is made to the control of SO_x and NO_x controlled by California's Regional Clean Air Incentives Market (RECLAIM) Program. Even allowing for the energy crisis in 2000–2001 that drove up NO_x emissions and control costs, it appears that the engineering cost methods used turned out to be generally accurate, defined as ±25%. Although such a finding does not ensure that the same results will apply to the case of non-CO₂ GHGs, it certainly reinforces the growing literature on ex ante—ex post cost comparisons of environmental controls.  相似文献   

The costs of climate policies in a second-best world with labour market imperfections     

《Climate Policy》2013,13(1):768-788

This article explores the critical role of labour market imperfections in climate stabilization cost formation, using a dynamic recursive energy—economy model that represents a second-best world with market imperfections and short-run adjustment constraints along a long-term growth path. The degree of rigidity of the labour markets is a central parameter, and a systematic sensitivity analysis of the model results confirms this. When labour markets are represented as highly flexible, the model results are in the usual range of the existing literature; that is, less than 2% GDP losses in 2030 for a stabilization target at 550 ppm CO₂ equivalent. However, when labour market rigidities are accounted for, mitigation costs increase dramatically. Accompanying measures are identified, namely labour subsidies, which guarantee against the risk of large stabilization costs in the case of high rigidities of the labour markets. This complements the usual view that mitigation is a long-term matter that depends on technology, innovation, investment and behavioural change. The results support the view that mitigation is also a shorter-term issue and a matter of transition with regard to the labour market.  相似文献   

Transaction costs for firms in the EU ETS: lessons from Ireland     

《Climate Policy》2013,13(2):190-215

Until now, there has been little empirical evidence that EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) transaction costs are incurred at firm level. The transaction costs (internal costs, capital costs, consultancy and trading costs) incurred by Irish firms under the EU ETS during its pilot phase (2005–2007) were measured and analysed. Evidence for the sources of transaction costs, their magnitude and the distribution of costs shows that these were mainly administrative in nature. Considerable variation in costs was found due to economies of scale, as the costs per tonne of CO₂ were lower for participants with larger allocations. For the largest firms—accounting for over half the emissions—average transaction costs were €0.05 per tonne. However, for small firms, average transaction costs were €2.02—over 18% of the current allowance price. This supports the concerns that transaction costs are excessive for smaller participants. The immediate policy implication is that additional attention will be needed to address different sizes of firms, number of installations per firm, and the size of the initial allocations.  相似文献   

福建省“十一五”农业科技进步贡献率期望值分析     

许佳贤  郑逸芳  苏时鹏  黄森慰  周蓓 《福建地理》2008,(4)

在农业生产过程中,科技进步是促进农业产值增长的一个重要因素.本文运用CD函数模型测算出"十五"期间福建省农业科技进步贡献率,进而分析得到现阶段福建省的农业经济增长方式,并在此基础上预测出"十一五"期间的农业科技进步贡献率,从而提出了相应的农业发展建议,以期实现福建省农业的可持续发展.  相似文献   

Assessing reparability: simple tools for estimation of costs and performance loss of earthquake damaged reinforced concrete buildings          下载免费PDF全文

Maria Polese  Marco Di Ludovico  Marco Marcolini  Andrea Prota  Gaetano Manfredi 《地震工程与结构动力学》2015,44(10):1539-1557

Tools for assessing building reparability via the estimation of expected performance loss (PL) and associated costs for repair of existing RC building classes damaged by an earthquake are presented. The assessment approach relies on the availability of a number of suitably developed: (i) capacity curves for representative building classes; (ii) curves relating global ductility demand μ to the expected PL for the same classes; and (iii) PL–cost for repair relationship calibrated on database collecting cost data of more than 2300 buildings damaged after 2009 L'Aquila earthquake. The tools are developed applying a simplified procedure involving the simulated design of existing building classes, the assumption of predefined collapse mechanism types and the analyses of the seismic behavior of equivalent SDOF systems representative of ‘intact’ and ‘damaged’ structures after an earthquake. The use of these tools may give useful preliminary indications to decision makers for establishing reparability priorities in the aftermath of damaging earthquakes or to insurance companies to value sound insurance premium for existing building classes. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献