Landscape for change? International climate policy and energy transitions: evidence from sub-Saharan Africa     

Peter Newell  Harriet Bulkeley 《Climate Policy》2013,13(5):650-663

What is the role of the climate regime in facilitating rapid decarbonization of the world’s energy systems? We examine how core assumptions concerning the roles of the nation state, carbon markets and finance and technology in international climate policy are being challenged by the realities of how transitions in the energy systems are unfolding. Drawing on the critical region of sub-Saharan Africa, we examine the potential for international climate policy to foster new trajectories towards decarbonization.

Policy relevance

The international regime for climate policy has been in place for some twenty years. Despite significant changes in the landscape of energy systems and drivers of global GHG emissions over this time, the core principles and tools remain relatively stable – national governments, carbon markets, project-based climate finance and the transfer of technological hardware. Given the diversity of actors and drivers and the limited direct reach and influence of international climate policy, however, there is an urgent need to consider how the climate regime can best support the embryonic transitions that are slowly taking form around the world. To do this effectively requires a more nuanced understanding of the role of the state in governing these transitions beyond the notion of a cohesive state serving as rule-enforcer and transition manager. It also requires a broader view of technology, not just as hardware that is transferred, but as a set of practices and networks of expertise and enabling actors. Likewise, though markets have an important role to play as vehicles for achieving broader ends, they are not an end in themselves. Finally on finance, while acknowledging the important role of climate aid, often as a multiplier or facilitator of more ambitious private flows, it is critical to differentiate between the types of finance required for different transitions, many of which will not be counted under, or directed by, the climate regime. In sum, the (low-) carbon economy is being built in ways and in numerous sites that the climate regime needs to be cognizant of and engage with productively, and this may require fundamental reconsideration of the building blocks of the international climate regime.  相似文献   

Funding low-carbon investments in the absence of a carbon tax     

Julie Rozenberg  Stéphane Hallegatte  Baptiste Perrissin-Fabert  Jean-Charles Hourcade 《Climate Policy》2013,13(1):134-141

Introducing a carbon tax is difficult, partly because it suggests that current generations have to make sacrifices for the benefit of future generations. However, the climate change externality could be corrected without such a sacrifice. It is possible to set a carbon value, and use it to create ‘carbon certificates’ that can be accepted as part of commercial banks’ legal reserves. These certificates can be distributed to low-carbon projects, and be exchanged by investors against concessional loans, reducing capital costs for low-carbon projects. As the issuance of carbon certificates would increase the quantity of money, it will either lead to accelerated inflation or induce the Central Bank to raise interest rates. Low-carbon projects will thus have access to cheaper loans at the expense of either ‘regular’ investors (in case of higher interest rates) or of lenders and depositors (in case of accelerated inflation). Within this scheme, mitigation expenditures are compensated by a reduction in regular investments, so that immediate consumption is maintained. It uses future generation wealth to pay for a hedge against climate change. This framework is not as efficient as a carbon tax but is politically easier to implement and represents an interesting step in the trajectory towards a low-carbon economy.  相似文献   

Funding low carbon cities: local perspectives on opportunities and risks     

Rory Sullivan  Andy Gouldson  Phil Webber 《Climate Policy》2013,13(4):514-529

There are compelling reasons for policy makers to be interested in the low-carbon agenda. More than half of the world's population lives in, and more than half of the world's economic output comes from, cities. Up to 70% of global carbon emissions can also be attributed to consumption that takes place in cities. Recent research has shown that cost-effective investments in low-carbon options could deliver a 40% reduction in GHG emissions from cities by 2020, while also providing wider economic benefits such as enhanced competitiveness and increased employment. As yet, however, investments in low-carbon cities have not been made at scale due mainly to the scale of the finance required, local government budgetary constraints, and perceptions about their costs and benefits. With a focus on the UK, a contemporary account is provided of what local authorities see as the major financial risks associated with funding low-carbon cities. Practical proposals – which also have more general relevance to the future financing of low-carbon cities around the world – are offered on how local authorities, in conjunction with central government, the private sector, and institutional investors, can effectively manage these risks.

Policy relevance

Cities house more than half of the world's population, generate more than half of the world's economic output, and produce between 40% and 70% of all anthropogenic GHG emissions. In the UK, 70% of such emissions are under the influence of its local authorities. Thus, one of the key public policy challenges for the low-carbon transition is how it should be financed. There are several obstacles and related risks to this transition, including financial and legal obstacles and the differing views and perceptions of stakeholders. These can be attenuated, somewhat, by national government support at scale, local authority leadership, and cooperation between other authorities and the private sector, and the development of tools and guidance to reduce transaction costs.  相似文献   

Crystallographic and NMR studies on sterols from green alga Chaetomorpha basiretorsa Setchell     

SHI Dayong  XU Feng  HE Juan  SHI Jiangong  FAN Xiao  HAN Lijun 《海洋学报(英文版)》2008,27(1):147-151

Chemical investigation of the ethanol extract of the marine green alga Chaetomorpha basiretorsa Setchell led to the isolation of a new sterol stigmast-4,28-dien-3α,6β-diol 1 in addition to the five known sterols of β-lawsaritol 2, saringosterol 3, 24-hydroperoxy-24-vinyl - cholesterol 4, β-stigmasterol 5, 29-hydroxystigmasta-5, 24 （28） -dien-3β-ol 6. Compounds were isolated by normal phase silica gel and Sephadex LH - 20 gel colum chromatography, reverse phase HPLC and recrystalization. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods including MS, IR 1D/2D NMR and X-ray analysis. Cytotoxicity of compounds was screened by using the standard MTF method. All these compounds were isolated from the green alga Chaetomorpha basiretorsa Setchell for the first time and they were inactive （50% inhibitory concentration was greater than 10 μg/cm^3） against KB, Bel -7402, PC - 3M, Ketr 3 and MCF-7 cell lines.  相似文献   

BOOK REVIEWS     

《The Professional geographer》1982,34(3):352-379

Books reviewed in this article: Aerial Photography and Remote Sensing Aerial photography and image interpretation for Resource Management . DAVID P. PAINE . Analytical Models and Techniques Spatial Processes Models and Applications A. D. CLIFF AND J. K. ORD Quantitative and Statistical Approaches to Geography: A Practical Manual JOHN A. MATTHEWS . Cartography and Maps Map Data Processing . HERBERT FREEMAN AND GOFFREDO G. PIERONI , eds. Computer-assisted Cartography: Principles and Prospects, 1982 . MARK S. MONMONIER . Cultural Navajo Architecture: Forms, History, Distributions . STEPHEN C. JETT AND VIRGINIA E . SPENCER . Rational Landscapes and Humanistic Geography . EDWARD RELPH . Economic The Structure and Control of a State Economy . W. L. L'ESPERANCE . Economic Geography . JAMES O. WHEELER AND PETER O. MULLER . The Myth of the Family Farm: Agribusiness Dominance of U.S. Agriculture . INGOLF VOCELER . Libya: The Experience of Oil . J. A. ALLEN . Geography of Public Finance, Welfare Under Fiscal Federalism and local Government Finance . ROBERT BENNETT . Environmental Management, Resources, and Systems Mountains and Man . LARRY W. PRICE . Environmental Geology . DONALD R. COATES . An Introduction to Environmental Systems . G. H. DURY . The Environment: Chinese and American Views . Edited by LAURENCE J. C. MA AND ALLEN G. NOBLE . Land Use in America . RICHARD H. JACKSON . Medical Conceptual and Methodological Issues in Medical Geography . MELINDA S. MEADE (ed.). Philosophy and Geographic Thought Birds in Egg/Eggs in Bird . GUNNAR OLSSON . PhysicaI Climatology: Selected Applications . J. E. OLIVER . Geomorphological Techniques . ANDREW GOUDIE (ed.). Political Politics, Geography and Behaviour . RICHARD MUIR AND RONAN PADDISON . The State of the World Atlas . MICHAEL KIDRON AND RONALD SECAL . Population The Population of the South . DUDLEY L. POSTON , JR . AND ROBERT H. WELLER , eds. Regional Latin America: Economic Development and Regional Differentiation . ARTHUR MORRIS . Developing the Amazon . EMILIO F. MORAN . Western Europe: A Systematic Human Geography . BRIAN W. ILBERY . Settlement Systems in Sparsely Settled Regions: The United States and Australia . RICHARD E. LONSDALEAND JOHN H. HOLMES , eds. African Perspectives: The Economic Geography of Nine African States . HARM DE BUJ AND ESMOND MARTIN , eds. Rural Nonmetropolitan America in Transition . AMOS H. HAWLEY AND SARA MILLS MAZIE , eds. Social Crime and Environment . R. NORMAN DAVIDSON . The Ghetto: Readings with Interpretations . JOE T. DARDEN , ed. Urban Urban Problems and Planning in the Developed World . MICHAEL PACIONE (ed.) Problems and Planning in Third World Cities . Edited by MICHAEL PACIONE . The City in West Europe . D. BURTENSHAW , M. BATEMAN , AND C. J. ASHWORTH .  相似文献   

第四纪与环境     

李秉成 《地球科学与环境学报》2001,23(2):63-64

目前最大的环境问题是由人类排放CO  相似文献   

Doppler shift measurements on the green coronal line—evidence for largescale macroscopic mass motion     

J. N. Desai  T. Chandrasekhar  P. D. Angreji 《Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy》1982,3(1):69-77

Fabry-Perot interferometric observations on the green coronal line (λ 5303 å) carried out during the total solar eclipse of 1980 February 16 have yielded relative Doppler shift velocities with an accuracy of ± 7 km s^-1. The values show a peak in the 30–50 km s^-1 range indicating largescale macroscopic mass motion in the solar maximum corona.  相似文献   

基于RS的宁波市绿地空间分布的GIS初步研究     

方金林  邹逸江 《东北测绘》2012,(1):13-19

随着城市环境问题的日益突出,建立宁波市绿地空间分布信息系统有重要的意义。本文应用RS与GIS等现代技术最新理论和方法对宁波市绿地空间分布进行分析,提出宁波市绿地空间分布GIS的体系结构,详细设计了系统的实现技术路线和途径。  相似文献   

基于GIS的城中村改造规划绿地景观格局分析     

李宗华  熊小超  马才学  童秋英 《测绘软科学研究》2012,(1):43-48

城市绿地是改善生态环境,提高市民生活质量的公益性基础设施。武汉市城中村改造工作十分注重城市公共利益的保障,在改造规划中优先落实绿地、规划道路等强制控制用地的指标,因而必然对城市绿地空间格局产生影响。本研究以景观生态学基础理论为依据,利刚地理信息系统技术,对武汉市中心城区城中村改造规划范闱内的绿地空间信息进行处理。然后进行景观格局分析,进而依据分析结果对城市绿地布局规划进行评价,以期为今后的城中村改造规划编制提供一定的参考借鉴。  相似文献   

种植不同作物对农田N2O和CH4排放的影响及其驱动因子   总被引：3，自引：0，他引：3  

陈书涛  黄耀  郑循华  陈玉泉 《气候与环境研究》2007,12(2):147-155

以种植玉米(Zea mays)、大豆(Glycine max)和水稻(Oryza sativa)的农田生态系统为研究对象,于2003年6~10月系统观测了N2O和CH4的排放、土壤温度和湿度以及相关的生物学因子。玉米和水稻分别施化肥氮300 kg.hm-2,大豆未施氮肥。研究结果表明,作物类型对农田N2O和CH4排放具有显著的影响。土壤-玉米系统、土壤-大豆系统和土壤-水稻系统的N2O季节性平均排放通量分别为620.5±57.6、338.0±7.5和238.8±13.6μg.m-2.h-1(N2O)。种植作物促进了农田生态系统的N2O排放,玉米地土壤和裸地土壤的N2O平均排放通量分别为364.2±11.7和163.7±10.5μg.m-2.h-1(N2O)。土壤-玉米系统、土壤-水稻系统、玉米地土壤和裸地土壤N2O排放受土壤温度的影响,与土壤湿度无显著统计相关,但受土壤温度和水分的综合影响。土壤-大豆系统N2O排放随作物绿叶干重的增加而指数增加,与土壤温度和水分条件无统计相关,由大豆作物自身氮代谢所产生的N2O-N季节总量约为6.2 kg.hm-2(N)。土壤-水稻系统CH4平均排放通量为1.7±0.1 mg.m-2.h-1(CH4),烤田抑制了稻田CH4的排放。烤田前影响稻田CH4排放的主要因素是水稻生物量,烤田后的浅水灌溉及湿润灌溉阶段的CH4排放与土壤温度和水稻生物量无关。本研究未观测到旱作农田有吸收CH4的现象。  相似文献