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| Sharing the atmosphere |
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The Climate Conference in Copenhagen has ended as expected: with a political declaration instead of a legally binding agreement. Nonetheless, there seems to be wide-spread disappointment among the public. Commentators are busy portioning out blame for the failure of the negotiations, where the U.S., China, and the unwieldy UN procedures receive the largest shares. Those involved in the negotiations process see Copenhagen as a stepping stone rather than a finish line: they point out that the Copenhagen Accord keeps going the process towards a final agreement – scheduled for next winter’s meeting in Mexico City. Furthermore, as a first international document to trace developing country commitments, the Accord is necessary to get the US Senate to pass climate legislation. From my ...
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Posted by Edgar Hertwich at Monday, December 28, 2009
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| “Exported Emissions” at COP15 |
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The Guardian and industry actors call for considering Carbon Embodied in Trade as part of a climate deal at Copenhagen.
On December 7, 2009, 56 newspapers from 20 countries published a joint editorial calling world leaders to use the 14 days of climate negotiations in Copenhagen in order to come to an effective and fair agreement to limit climate change.
At the time I am writing this, it is too early to see whether the call will be heeded. The editorial points correctly to what has emerged as the core element of the negotiations: the need to fairly distribute the responsibility for reducing emissions. A critical passage of the editorial, calls for recognizing the issue of emissions embodied in trade:
Social justice demands that the industrialised world digs deep into its pockets and p...
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Posted by Edgar Hertwich at Monday, December 14, 2009
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| The Environmental Footprint of Biofuels |
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A new UN report emphasizes the importance of addressing land use, water, and biodiversity impacts of biofuels.
The jury is now in on biofuels: Current government mandates in the United States, Europe and other countries to blend biofuels into ordinary car fuels cause substantial environmental damage, do little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and have a questionable contribution to energy security. A new UN report and a new book document many, sometimes fascinating facets of this intricate issue. There are many types of biomass, different options for growing this biomass, a few technologies for converting the biomass to various liquid fuels. It is not surprising that the environmental impacts depend on the particularities of the growing, harvesting, transporting, converting and use ...
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Posted by Edgar Hertwich at Sunday, November 15, 2009
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| Carbon Market Promises and Woes |
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Economists argue that the carbon market suffices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and attack additional policy tools for increasing mitigation costs. Time to look at how the carbon market works in practice!
In my last blog I have pointed to the campaign of a few Norwegian economists against climate policy tools such as the newly established green certificate market, which ensures a higher electricity price for renewable electricity. I published a similar critique in Dagens Næringsliv, a business daily. The prompt response by Professor Michael Hoel of the University in Oslo was that I did not understand the quota market. Professor Hoel lectured me on basic microeconomics, pointing to the fact that increased renewable energy would lead to reduced prices for emissions allowances and he...
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Posted by Edgar Hertwich at Sunday, October 18, 2009
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| Hurra for Green Electricity! |
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Some economists argue that support for renewable electricity leads to more coal power. Their reasoning is curiously flawed and oversees the crucial role of technological learning.
A curious discussion about climate policy has arisen in Norway now that the country has agreed with Sweden to join Sweden’s ”green certificate” market (a.k.a. el-certificate, similar to the renewable portopholio standard) . This policy tool creates de-facto a niche-market for specific kinds of renewable energy, which are traded at higher prices than on the spot market for electricity. Economists like Böhringer and Rosendahl, Michael Hoel and Odd Godal (DN 9 and 11 Sept.) now argue that the increased production of renewable electricity in Nordic countries will have no effect on the emission...
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Posted by Edgar Hertwich at Sunday, September 13, 2009
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| Can Technology Spare the Earth? |
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The IPCC says that we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80 % by 2050 to achieve the goal of limit global warming to not more than 2°C, agreed to by the EU and the G8.
Recent research indicates that the cumulative emissions in the period 2000-2050 should be not more than 1000 billion tons of CO2. In the first 7 years of this 50 year period; 234 billion tons were already emitted. Even if we give up the 2°C goal, risking unpredictable feedback mechanisms disrupting the climate in more severe manners, quick, deep emission reductions are required to stabilize atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Given that energy access is so essential for the economy, we need to ask ourselves:
How can such reductions be achieved?
What is the role of technology, behavior change, and a c...
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Posted by Edgar Hertwich at Thursday, August 27, 2009
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| What does the Carbon Footprint mean? |
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Many people have asked how a country’s carbon footprint compares to the territorial emissions reported to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)?
In hindsight, it was perhaps remiss of us not to include this data in the paper. However, it was not our motivation.
Focusing on whether the emissions are bigger or smaller misses a large part of the story. The main focus of the paper is on what consumption categories cause emissions and how this varies across countries with different incomes. The current approach in the UNFCCC reveal what the emissions are from electricity, transportation, and so on. This is vital information, however, only a carbon footprint can reveal what the emissions are to produce food, car, television, or to get a hair cut. This info...
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Posted by Glen Peters at Thursday, August 13, 2009
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| News Stories on Carbon Footprint of Nations |
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A good week has gone since the release of the website and the online version of our article.
A number of news outlets picked up the story, including the venerable Neue Züricher Zeitung (Switzerland) and the tabloid VG (Norway). It was really interesting to discuss our research with numerous journalists and to see what they picked up. Here is some highlights.
Consumption as key driver for carbon footprints: Basically all stories emphasize the importance of goods for personal and national carbon footprints. ETH Life and pressetexte show ladies shopping. (Ironically, men usually have higher carbon footprints and are traditionally responsible for shopping high-impact items.) The news stories also point out that increased consumption leads to increased carbon footprints and that this...
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Posted by Edgar Hertwich at Wednesday, June 24, 2009
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