Governing-by-aspiration? Assessing the nature and implications of including negative emission technologies (NETs) in country long-term climate strategies     

《Global Environmental Change》2023

In order to address the pressing challenge of climate change, countries are now submitting long-term climate strategies to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process. These strategies include within them potential future use of ‘negative emissions technologies’ (NETs). NETs are interventions that remove carbon from the atmosphere, ranging from large-scale terrestrial carbon sequestration in forests, wetlands and soils, to use of carbon capture and storage technologies. We assess here how NETs are discussed in 29 long-term climate strategies, in order to ascertain the risk that including the promise of future NETs may delay the taking of short-term mitigation actions. Our analysis shows that almost all countries plan to rely on NETs, particularly enhanced use of natural carbon sinks, even as a wide array of challenges and trade-offs in doing so are highlighted. Many strategies call for improved accounting systems and market incentives in realizing future NETs. While no strategy explicitly suggests that NETs can be a substitute for short-term mitigation, most estimate substantial potential for future use of NETs even in the face of acknowledged uncertainties. This, we suggest, may have the consequence of resulting in what we describe here as ‘a spiral of delay’ characterized by the promise of future NET options juxtaposed with the simultaneous uncertainty around these future options. Our analysis highlights that this inter-connected delaying dynamic may be intrinsic to what we term ‘governing-by-aspiration’ within global climate politics, wherein the voicing of lofty future ambition risks replacing current action and accountability.  相似文献   

Low-carbon transition risks for India’s financial system     

《Global Environmental Change》2023

As the low-carbon transition accelerates, loans to and investments in carbon-intensive assets, firms and sectors are at risk of not generating the anticipated returns, with implications for individual financial institutions as well as financial markets more broadly. However, research on this topic has largely been focused on high- and upper-middle income economies to date. In this paper, we explore the salience of this issue in India – one of the world’s largest emitters and economies – by asking: (1) how extensive is financial-sector exposure to transition risks? And: (2) are finance professionals and financial institutions taking sufficient action to manage those transition risks? Our findings reveal that India’s financial sector is much more heavily exposed to low-carbon transition risks than standard borrowing classifications might suggest. For example, our granular assessment of individual loans and bonds finds that three-fifths of lending to the ‘mining’ sector is for oil and gas extraction, while one-fifth of ‘manufacturing’ debt is for petroleum refining and related industries. We also find that electricity production – by far the largest source of emissions – accounts for 5.2% of outstanding credit, but that only 17.5% of this lending is to pureplay renewables. Yet our survey of India’s largest financial institutions suggests that there have been limited efforts to identify, measure or manage low-carbon transition risks. Fewer than half of the 154 finance professionals surveyed were familiar with environmental issues including climate change mitigation and adaption, greenhouse gas emissions or transition risks. Only four of the ten major financial institutions surveyed collect information on ESG risks, and these firms do not systematically incorporate that data into business continuity planning, internal capital adequacy assessment processes, credit risk assessments, enterprise risk management frameworks or loan product pricing. Given extensive financial-sector exposure to low-carbon transition risks coupled with the absence of bottom-up action to manage those risks, our findings suggest that financiers, regulators and policymakers in emerging and developing economies should be acting swiftly to ensure an orderly transition to net-zero.  相似文献   

Carbon tax salience counteracts price effects through moral licensing     

《Global Environmental Change》2023

Carbon taxes raise the costs of carbon-intensive products to penalize their consumption. Policymakers can decide whether the carbon tax is hidden or indicated explicitly as a component of the retail price. This policy design decision has effects on demand that have been overlooked. Here we show that salient carbon taxes are less effective than hidden taxes in reducing demand because being aware of paying a carbon tax activates a moral licensing process that encourages consumption. Across four experimental studies and two pilot experiments, we found that participants’ purchase intention was consistently higher when the carbon tax was salient. This effect remained robust with different products, carbon tax levels, and additional carbon footprint labels. Salient carbon taxes had a stronger effect on the purchase intention of the climate change concerned and less conservative individuals because they were more susceptible to a boost in moral self-concept triggered by paying the carbon tax.  相似文献   

交通运输温室气体核算边界和测算方法研究     

李晓易  吴睿 《气候变化研究进展》2023,19(1):84-90

交通运输行业是温室气体排放的主要来源之一。“双碳”目标对交通领域碳减排工作提出了更高的要求。我国交通运输行业能源消耗统计和温室气体排放测算的统计数据基础较为薄弱,目前国家层面尚未公布统一的交通运输温室气体核算方法,温室气体排放存在底数不清的问题,其核算边界、范围、方法都有待进一步明确。文中通过梳理国内外交通运输领域温室气体核算边界及测算方法,提出了适用于我国交通运输不同子领域温室气体的测算研究思路。并针对我国交通运输温室气体核算工作现存问题,从健全行业能耗与排放核算方法体系、建立交通运输能耗与碳排放数据共享机制、加强交通能耗与碳排放核算方法培训、强化数据质量管理等方面提出相应的政策建议,为我国交通运输行业温室气体排放核算工作的持续开展提供参考。  相似文献   

Diagenetic mineralization in Pennsylvanian coals from Indiana, USA: C/C and O/O implications for cleat origin and coalbed methane generation     

Wilfrido Solano-Acosta  Arndt Schimmelmann  Maria Mastalerz  Irene Arango   《International Journal of Coal Geology》2008,73(3-4):219-236

Cleats and fractures in southwestern Indiana coal seams are often filled with authigenic kaolinite and/or calcite. Carbon- and oxygen-stable isotope ratios of kaolinite, calcite, and coalbed CO₂ were evaluated in combination with measured values and published estimates of δ¹⁸O of coalbed paleowaters that had been present at the time of mineralization. δ¹⁸O_mineral and δ¹⁸O_water values jointly constrain the paleotemperature of mineralization. The isotopic evidence and the thermal and tectonic history of this part of the Illinois Basin led to the conclusion that maximum burial and heat-sterilization of coal seams approximately 272 Ma ago was followed by advective heat redistribution and concurrent precipitation of kaolinite in cleats at a burial depth of < 1600 m at  78 ± 5 °C. Post-Paleozoic uplift, the development of a second generation of cleats, and subsequent precipitation of calcite occurred at shallower burial depth between  500 to  1300 m at a lower temperature of 43 ± 6 °C. The available paleowater in coalbeds was likely ocean water and/or tropical meteoric water with a δ¹⁸O_water  − 1.25‰ versus VSMOW. Inoculation of coalbeds with methanogenic CO₂-reducing microbes occurred at an even later time, because modern microbially influenced ¹³C-enriched coalbed CO₂ (i.e., the isotopically fractionated residue of microbial CO₂ reduction) is out of isotopic equilibrium with ¹³C-depleted calcite in cleats.  相似文献   

Sources and transformations of N in reclaimed coastal tidelands: evidence from soil δ<Superscript>15</Superscript>N data     

Jin-Hyeob Kwak  Woo-Jung Choi  Sang-Sun Lim  Seung-Heon Lee  Sang-Mo Lee  Scott X. Chang  Jae-Woon Jung  Kwang-Sik Yoon  Soo-Myung Choi 《Environmental Geology》2008,53(6):1331-1338

Electrical conductivity of saturated soil extracts (EC_e) in three reclaimed tideland (RTL) soils on the west coast of Korea decreased with time since reclamation, indicating natural desalinization through leaching of salts by precipitation water. Soil N concentration increased with decreasing EC_e. With the increase in soil N concentration, the δ¹⁵N decreased, likely caused by the input of ¹⁵N-depleted N sources. As N₂-fixing plant species were found in the oldest RTL, atmospheric N₂ fixation likely contributed to the increase in soil N concentration in the oldest RTL. Negative δ¹⁵N (−7.1 to −2.0‰) of total inorganic N (NH₄ ⁺+NO₃ ⁻) and published data on N deposition near the study area indicate that atmospheric N deposition might be another source of N in the RTLs. Meanwhile, the consistently negative δ¹⁵N of soil NO₃ ⁻ excluded N input from chemical fertilizer through groundwater flow as a potential N source, since NO₃ ⁻ in groundwater generally have a positive δ¹⁵N. The patterns of δ¹⁵N of NH₄ ⁺ (+2.3 to +5.1‰) and NO₃ ⁻ (−9.2 to −5.0‰) suggested that nitrification was an active process that caused ¹⁵N enrichment in NH₄ ⁺ but denitrification was probably minimal which would otherwise have caused ¹⁵N enrichment in NO₃ ⁻. A quantitative approach on N budget would provide a better understanding of soil N dynamics in the studied RTLs.  相似文献   

Influence of high-fluorine environmental background on crops and human health in hot spring-type fluorosis-diseased areas     

De Lan  Daishe Wu  Ping Li  Tengsheng Wang  Chengguang Chen  Wuyi Wang 《中国地球化学学报》2008,27(4):335-341

Drinking water-type fluorosis is the most harmful endemic disease in China with the largest number of sufferers. Although the implementation of the policy to alter water sources to lower fluoride level has effectively controlled the spread of this kind of endemic disease, its prevalence could not thoroughly be stopped because the high-fluoride environmental background in these endemically diseased areas could still do harm to human health through food chain. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct a more deep-going study on the drinking water-type fluorosis. To investigate the effect of high fluorine environmental background on crops and human health in the hot spring-type fluorosis-diseased areas, local water, paddy soil, rice, whole vegetables and soils around their roots were sampled for analysis. The results were compared with those of the control groups in fluorosis-free areas which are similar to the fluorosis-diseased areas both in natural background and in social background. It is indicated that rice and vegetables can accumulate water-soluble fluorine either in soils or in irrigating water, and different crops have different abilities of fixing fluorine. The contents of fluorine in different parts of vegetables in the fluorosis-diseased and fluorosis-free areas were statistically categorized. The results showed that the fluorine contents of roots, tubers, leaves and flowers of vegetables in the fluorosis-diseased areas are 3.56, 1.17, 3.07 and 3.23 mg/kg, respectively. However, comparisons showed that in the fluorosis-free areas, the fluorine contents are 2.17, 0.70, 1.91 and 2.52 mg/kg, respectively. Moreover, different parts of a crop also show significantly different fluorine fixation abilities. It is demonstrated that the fluorine contents of the strongly metabolic parts are relatively high. For example, the fluofine contents of roots, leaves and flowers of vegetables are much higher than those of stems. The fluorine fixation ability of seeds is very weak. In order to reduce the risk of human body＇s  相似文献   

Recognizing Carbon Forestry’s Uneven Geography: A Response to Purdon and the Structure-Agency Dichotomy That Never Was     

Wim Carton  Elina Andersson 《社会与自然资源》2018,31(9):1094-1102

We here respond to the critique by Purdon of an article on carbon forestry that we published in this journal last year (Carton and Andersson). While we welcome critical engagements with our work, Purdon’s argument is wide of the mark and appears based largely on misconceptions regarding our theoretical entry point and empirical findings. Underlying this are fundamental disagreements about the nature of carbon forestry, structure-agency dynamics, and how to understand environmental interventions in the global South more broadly. We argue that we are unlikely to “find common ground” in our respective analyses of the Trees for Global Benefits project unless we share a common understanding of the unequal power relations and fundamental geographical unevenness within which carbon projects operate. Contrary to what Purdon argues, this position has nothing to do with ignoring local benefits, nor with denying the agency of the smallholder farmers who participate in the project. We see no contradiction between an analysis that does justice to the various structural conditions that frame carbon forest projects, and a recognition of local agency.  相似文献   

近35年三北防护林体系建设工程的防风固沙效应   总被引：3，自引：0，他引：3  

黄麟  祝萍  肖桐  曹巍  巩国丽 《地理科学》2018,38(4):600-609

通过分析三北工程区生态系统防风固沙服务量变化,进而评价工程的防风固沙效应。结果表明：① 近35 a,三北工程区林地面积持续增加、草地面积持续减少,特别是半干旱风沙区和黄土高原区。植被覆盖度在前20 a持续增加,近15 a则呈现先下降而后略微增加趋势。②土壤风蚀模数持续减少,近15 a减幅远高于前20 a,沙地、草地、其它类型转林地或转草地区域的减幅尤为明显。生态系统防风固沙服务保有率呈上升态势,干旱荒漠区增幅显著。草地和沙地为工程区生态系统防风固沙服务总量贡献了71%,且转草地区域的贡献高于转林地区域。③ 考虑到植被好转同时受气候变化和人类活动的影响,以风场减弱为主的气候变化导致土壤风蚀力减弱与三北防护林等生态工程对生态系统防风固沙服务变化的贡献率分别介于85%~89%和11%~15%之间。  相似文献   

腾格里沙漠东南缘生物土壤结皮对土壤理化性质的影响   总被引：3，自引：1，他引：2  

都军  李宜轩  杨晓霞  李云飞  马晓俊 《中国沙漠》2018,38(1):111-116

生物土壤结皮是荒漠生态系统地表景观的重要组成部分,在沙化土地恢复和流沙固定中起着重要作用。研究了腾格里沙漠东南缘固沙植被区不同类型生物土壤结皮理化性质及结皮发育对下层土壤性质的影响。结果表明：结皮层厚度、孔隙度、黏粉粒和田间持水量以及有机碳、无机碳、全氮、碱解氮、速效磷、速效钾含量和电导率均表现为藓类结皮 > 混生结皮 > 地衣结皮 > 藻类结皮;砂粒含量和容重表现为藻类结皮 > 地衣结皮> 混生结皮 > 藓类结皮。结皮下0~2 cm和2~5 cm土层理化性质表现出与结皮层相同的变化规律。总体上,生物土壤结皮对下层土壤理化性质的影响表现为藓类结皮和混生结皮大于地衣结皮和藻类结皮;而结皮对下层土壤理化性质的影响随土壤深度的增加而减小。生物土壤结皮的拓殖和发育是荒漠生态系统成土过程和土壤质量的关键影响因素。  相似文献