Energy Use and Sulphur Dioxide Emissions in Asia

This paper presents a review of energy use in 22 selected countries of Asia and estimates the anthropogenic emission of sulphur dioxide (SO₂) for the selected countries, both at national and disaggregated sub-country regional levels. The paper also makes a comparative assessment of the Asian countries in terms of SO₂emission intensity (i.e. emission per GDP), emission per capita and emission density (i.e. emission per unit area). Total SO₂emission in the region was estimated to be about 38 million tons in 1990. Five countries, China, India, South Korea, Japan and Thailand, accounted for over 91% of the regional SO₂emission. Coal use had the dominant share (81%) of the total emission from the region. Among the economic sectors, industry contributed the largest share (49%) to the total emissions of the selected countries as a whole, followed by the power sector (30%). These findings suggest the need for mitigation strategies focussed on the industry and power sectors of the major emitting countries in Asia.     

Joint implementation: Biodiversity and greenhouse gas offsets

One of the most pressing environmental issues today is the possibility that projected increases in global emissions of greenhouse gases from increased deforestation, development, and fossil-fuel combustion could significantly alter global climate patterns. Under the terms of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, signed in Rio de Janeiro during the June 1992 Earth Summit, the United States and other industrialized countries committed to balancing greenhouse gas emissions at 1990 levels in the year 2000. Included in the treaty is a provision titled Joint Implementation, whereby industrialized countries assist developing countries in jointly modifying long-term emission trends, either through emission reductions or by protecting and enhancing greenhouse gas sinks (carbon sequestration). The US Climate Action Plan, signed by President Clinton in 1993, calls for voluntary climate change mitigation measures by various sectors, and the action plan included a new program, the US Initiative on Joint Implementation. Wisconsin Electric decided to invest in a Jl project because its concept encourages creative, cost-effective solutions to environmental problems through partnering, international cooperation, and innovation. The project chosen, a forest preservation and management effort in Belize, will sequester more than five million tons of carbon dioxide over a 40-year period, will become economically selfsustaining after ten years, and will have substantial biodiversity benefits.     

中国城市碳达峰趋势的聚类分析

中国在2020年9月提出2060年碳中和目标,并提出加快落实2030年国家碳达峰任务。考虑到城市在国家碳减排工作中的重要使命和极大潜力,以及其碳排放在总量、结构、行动进展和趋势上存在的显著差异,深入认识中国城市碳达峰趋势的类型特征,对地方政府设计和开展差异化达峰行动具有重要意义。本文综合考虑影响城市碳达峰趋势的静态因素和动态因素,采用蒙特卡洛方法与K均值聚类算法,对中国286个样本城市的达峰趋势进行了分类分析。结果表明,中国城市的达峰类型可以划分为5类,根据其特点可概括为低碳潜力型城市、低碳示范型城市、人口流失型城市、资源依赖型城市和传统工业转型期城市。其中,低碳潜力型城市和传统工业转型期城市是决定我国能否落实2030年达峰行动的关键。最后,针对不同类型城市,本文对城市碳达峰的目标设计和行动重点提出了切实建议。     

浙江省环境污染与经济发展关系的实证研究

本文在环境库兹涅茨曲线假设基础上,采用1991—2014年浙江省环境和经济数据,运用回归模型对其环境污染与经济发展的关系进行实证检验。结果表明:浙江工业废水、工业废气、工业SO2排放量和工业固体废弃物产生量均符合EKC假设,其中工业SO2和工业废水人均排放量与人均GDP呈倒U形关系,拐点分别出现在2005年与2010年;工业废气排放量和工业固体废弃物产生量尚处于倒U形左侧上升阶段,其中工业固体废弃物人均产生量已接近拐点。而生活污水排放量与EKC假设并不相符,人均生活污水排放量与人均GDP呈单调递增的线形关系。对EKC驱动因子的分析表明,加强政府环境治理,以不断完善的环境法规推动产业结构升级调整,以持续的技术进步与创新促进关键行业节能减排,有利于克服规模效应,推动浙江环境污染与经济发展的关系早日实现解耦。     

Environment and productivities in developed and developing countries: The case of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide

We propose a productivity index for undesirable outputs such as carbon dioxide (CO₂) and sulfur dioxide (SO₂) emissions and measure it using data from 51 developed and developing countries over the period 1971–2000. About half of the countries exhibit the productivity growth. The changes in the productivity index are linked with their respective per capita income using a semi-parametric model. Our results show technological catch up of low-income countries. However, overall productivities both of SO₂ and CO₂ show somewhat different results.     

The gloomy greenhouse: Should the world phase out fossil fuels?

In 1988 the Toronto World Conference on the Changing Atmosphere called for a reduction of CO₂ emissions of the industrialized countries by approximately 20% by the year 2005 as compared with 1988. A stabilization of CO₂ concentrations would require an eventual emissions reduction of more than 50% of present levels. Model runs were performed with the Dutch Integrated Model for the Assessment of the Greenhouse Effect (IMAGE) to put these figures into perspective. It was found that the suggested emissions reduction levels could indeed be adequate to prevent global temperature change from moving beyond past climate experience. However, this would only be the case when these reduced levels of emissions were achieved at a global scale and maximum emission control for the other greenhouse gases was implemented. A delayed response analysis shows that the policies of the coming decades are crucial for the eventual control of the greenhouse effect.     

Toward a CO2 zero emissions energy system in the Middle East region

Climate change and energy security are global challenges requiring concerted attention and action by all of the world’s countries. Under these conditions, energy supplier and exporter countries in the Middle East region are experiencing further challenges, such as increasing domestic energy demand while energy exports have to concurrently be kept at high levels. Middle East countries process the largest proven oil and gas reserves in the world and contribute a large fraction of the world’s CO₂ emissions from the use of these as fuels both domestically and internationally. This paper addresses different policies that could dramatically change the future course of the Middle East region toward a zero CO₂ emission energy system. To this aim, an integrated energy supply–demand model has been developed to analyze required commitments including renewable energy and energy efficiency targets and the potential of nuclear power, all of which should need to be considered in order to reduce CO₂ emissions by 2100. The results indicate that nearly 43% of the global energy of the Middle East region can be supplied from non-fossil fuel resources in 2100.     

Modeling China's semiconductor industry fluorinated compound emissions and drafting a roadmap for climate protection

Fluorinated compounds (FC) are high-global warming potential (GWP) greenhouse gases used and emitted during the manufacture of silicon semiconductor devices. Following the U.S. EPA's PFC Emissions Vintage Model (PEVM), uncontrolled FC emissions are modeled as proportional to total manufactured layer area (TMLA) of silicon. FC emissions of World Semiconductor Council (WSC) charter member countries (Europe, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the United States), which voluntarily committed in 1999 to lower FC emissions by 2010 to 10% of baseline year emissions, are modeled for the period 1995–2020. For this same period, emissions from Chinese manufacturers under alternative emission reduction scenarios are modeled. If Chinese manufacturers were to adopt a baseline year of 2005 and a reduction target of 10% below baseline year emissions to be achieved by 2020, emissions would be 3.4 MMTCO₂eq, comparable to the similarly projected controlled emissions of an average WSC charter member country (=16.3/5 MMTCO₂eq) in 2020. The relative stringency of the alternative reduction scenarios considered for China vary between 50 and 95% reduction compared to business as usual (BAU). This is comparable to the stringency of the WSC charter members’ goals for which FC emission reduction technologies are currently available.     

从典型碳排放权分配方案探析“气候公平”的发展方向

在保证全球气候安全的前提下,如何公平分配有限的碳排放空间,是全球气候治理与气候谈判关注的焦点问题。对发展中国家而言,国际社会对碳排放权的公平分配不仅涉及到环境问题,更关系到它们的发展权益与成本。在对"气候公平"理论的主流观点、碳排放权分配的若干"公平原则"进行述评的基础上,通过对中外典型的碳排放权分配方案的梳理和剖析,探讨了"气候公平"从"祖父原则"到"人均公平"、从"人均公平"到"人均累计公平"、从"人均累计公平"到兼顾"人均累计公平"与"可持续发展"、从"生产型排放公平"到"消费型排放公平"、从"排放公平"到"发展公平"的发展方向,并从碳排放权公平分配的角度探讨了如何保证未来全球气候安全、满足人类基本需求的碳排放、发展中国家可持续发展的"三赢"。     

Energy technology modelling of major carbon abatement options

The International Energy Agency Energy Technologies Perspectives (ETP) model is used to assess the prospects for carbon abatement options, including carbon capture and storage, up to 2050. Three main scenarios are considered: a Baseline scenario with current energy policies, an accelerated technology scenario that seeks to return energy-related CO₂ emissions in 2050 to their level in 2005, and a scenario for which CO₂ emissions are reduced at 50% of current levels by 2050. To reach these emissions reduction targets, annual global CO₂ emissions in the year 2050 must be reduced by 35 GtCO₂ to 48 GtCO₂ compared to the Baseline scenario. The analysis presented here shows that a broad portfolio of emissions reducing technologies will need to be deployed across all economic sectors of the global economy to reach these targets. Carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) is one of the suite of technologies employed across the globe to reach these targets. CCS adoption occurs in many aspects of the global economy and accounts for 14–19% of all emissions reductions. The total amount of CO₂ captured and stored in deep geologic reservoirs up to 2050 ranges between 5.1 GtCO₂ and 10.4 GtCO₂ in these two climate policy scenarios. Up to 2030, more than half of total CCS deployment takes place in OECD countries. After 2035, emerging economies account for more than half of total CCS use. This paper also demonstrates that as the climate policy becomes more stringent it will be necessary for CCS to deploy more extensively in many different industries outside of the electric power sector which often receives the most attention in discussions of CCS's role in addressing climate change.     

Quantifying the sources of ozone, fine particulate matter, and regional haze in the Southeastern United States

A detailed sensitivity analysis was conducted to quantify the contributions of various emission sources to ozone (O₃), fine particulate matter (PM_2.5), and regional haze in the Southeastern United States. O₃ and particulate matter (PM) levels were estimated using the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) modeling system and light extinction values were calculated from modeled PM concentrations. First, the base case was established using the emission projections for the year 2009. Then, in each model run, SO₂, primary carbon (PC), NH₃, NO_x or VOC emissions from a particular source category in a certain geographic area were reduced by 30% and the responses were determined by calculating the difference between the results of the reduced emission case and the base case.The sensitivity of summertime O₃ to VOC emissions is small in the Southeast and ground-level NO_x controls are generally more beneficial than elevated NO_x controls (per unit mass of emissions reduced). SO₂ emission reduction is the most beneficial control strategy in reducing summertime PM_2.5 levels and improving visibility in the Southeast and electric generating utilities are the single largest source of SO₂. Controlling PC emissions can be very effective locally, especially in winter. Reducing NH₃ emissions is an effective strategy to reduce wintertime ammonium nitrate (NO₃NH₄) levels and improve visibility; NO_x emissions reductions are not as effective. The results presented here will help the development of specific emission control strategies for future attainment of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards in the region.     

Greenhouse gas emissions and poverty alleviation nexus in the Economic Commission of West African States

This paper investigates the nexus between greenhouse gas emissions and poverty alleviation in the Economic Commission of West African States between 1985 and 2020 applying autoregressive distributed lag and Granger causality techniques. The results reveal that carbon dioxide non-significantly relates to gross domestic product per capita positively while nitrous oxide and foreign direct investment impacts gross domestic product per capita positively. Methane negatively impacts gross domestic product per capita. The governments should use conventions to regulate greenhouse gas emissions’ effects on environmental degradation regionally and globally. The study underscores that countries should diversify to cleaner energy sources. This would reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere. Massive technological investment is required to mitigate the greenhouse gas emissions’ negative impacts on the environment which create poverty. This policy implication ensures environmental sustainability and reverses the ugly trend of greenhouse gas emissions on poverty.     

The greenhouse gas balance of the Province of Siena

There is a profound debate over how to assign greenhouse gas (GHG) responsibilities; therefore, we have decided to follow IPCC guidelines, as they offer the only standardized method. We have identified each type of greenhouse emission and its level of absorption. We have studied the province and its districts and municipalities. We have determined that the energy sector is that with the highest level of emissions, even if the per capita emissions of the Province of Siena are very low. This is caused by a very low level of industrialization and the presence of a local geothermal production of energy. In order to highlight this aspect, we have considered scenarios both with and without geothermal production. Our research was then focused on single districts (groups of homogenous municipalities) and municipalities, where we found great differences among the greenhouse emissions of the areas. We have constructed a map of the greenhouse emissions of the whole province. It has been interesting to note that there are 14 municipalities with net negative emissions, seven with low positive emissions, 12 with medium positive emissions and three with elevated positive emissions. These latter correspond to the main city and to two of the most industrialized municipalities.     

中国城镇居民食物消费碳排放的时空演变特征分析

本文运用碳折算系数法和投入产出模型测算了1990—2018年中国30个省(区、市)城镇居民食物消费的人均直接碳排放、人均家庭间接碳排放和人均产业间接碳排放,并运用探索性空间数据分析(ESDA)对总碳排放的空间特征进行分析。研究表明:1990—2018年中国30个省(区、市)人均间接碳排放在研究期内呈增长趋势,人均产业碳排放增长幅度最大且始终处于主导地位,大部分地区的人均直接碳排放增长较为缓慢;人均碳排放和总碳排放都呈显著增长趋势,人均碳排放的增长幅度宁夏>新疆>上海>浙江>青海>北京,甘肃最小,总碳排放增长幅度广东>浙江>山东>江苏>河北>上海,吉林最低;总碳排放在大部分年份呈正的空间相关性,整体上呈"M"形波动;局部空间自相关分析结果表明,食物消费总碳排放存在高高型和低高型两种,且2000年及以后高高型稳定在上海、江苏、浙江地区。最后,本文依据实证结果对如何降低城镇居民食物消费碳排放提出了相应的政策建议。     

Reaching a forest land per capita milestone in the United States

During April 2007, forest land per capita in the United States dropped below 1 ha. This is the result of a rather static area of forest land in the United States for the past 100 years combined with population growth. The US now joins the ranks of most countries (77%) having forest land per capita below 1 ha. The combination of an increasing human population with stable or increasing per capita natural resource utilization may place even more demand on resources derived from forest land in the future. The forest land per capita should be expected to continue its downward trend unless substantive demographic, resource utilization, and land-use changes occur.     

重庆市环境库兹涅茨曲线检验与分析

随着经济持续发展,西部地区环境与经济矛盾日益突出,为研究西部地区经济与环境关系,本文以重庆市为例,选取1990年~2011年共22年的经济指标(人均GDP)与污染物(废水、工业废气、工业固体废弃物等)排放量为环境指标,建立经济与环境指标的协同演化模型,绘制环境库兹涅茨曲线并对重庆市经济与环境协同发展关系进行研究;结果表明:重庆市人均GDP与工业废水排放量之间呈现明显EKC关系,其转折点为2005年,即人均GDP为10982元;重庆市人均GDP与工业SO2排放量及与工业烟尘排放量和工业固体废物排放的良性关系出现和将要出现在2010年和2015年;重庆市人均GDP与总体的工业"三废"排放量之间呈现出明显的倒"U"EKC关系,2006年以后,随着人均GDP的增加,工业"三废"排放量不断减少,2011年时,工业"三废"排放量趋于平缓。由此也说明,重庆市工业"三废"排放量有明显好转的趋势。     

The Climate Value of Cycling

The reduction of CO₂ emissions constitutes one of the largest challenges of the current era. Sustainable transportation, and especially cycling, can contribute to the mitigation of CO₂ emissions since cycling possesses an intrinsic zero‐emission value. Few studies have been conducted that appraise the CO₂ reduction potential of cycling. Opportunity costs enable the estimation of avoided CO₂ emissions resulting from bicycle trips. The methodology developed in this research allows the attribution of a climate value to cycling by substituting bicycle trips with their most likely alternative transportation modes and calculating the resulting additional CO₂ emissions. The methodology uses data on the current modal shares of cycling mobility, the competition of cycling with other transportation modes, and CO₂ emission factors to calculate the climate value of cycling. When it is assumed that the avoided CO₂ emissions of cycling mobility could be traded on financial carbon markets, the climate value of cycling represents a monetary value. Application of the methodology to the case of Bogotá, Colombia — a city with a current bicycle modal share of 3.3% on a total of 10 million daily trips — results in a climate value of cycling of 55,115 tons of CO₂ per year, corresponding to an economic value of between 1 and 7 million US dollars when traded on the carbon market.     

Is carbon dioxide emission convergence in the ten largest economies?

This study applies stationary test with a flexible Fourier function proposed by Enders and Lee (Enders, W. and J. Lee. 2012. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics 74:574–99) to test the validity of carbon dioxide emission to assess its convergence, and the rationality of the existing policies in the 10 largest economies of the world. We find that our approximation has higher power to detect smooth breaks than the linear method, as the true data generating process of carbon dioxide emission convergence is in fact a stationary nonliner process. We examine the validity of carbon dioxide emission from the nonlinear point of view and provide robust evidence that clearly indicates that carbon dioxide emission is convergence in most countries, not depending on their development pattern. It implies that the existing policies in most countries are rational, and the United States, Japan, and Germany need more efforts in reducing the carbon dioxide emission.     

Energy consumption and carbon emission for tourism transport in World Heritage Sites: a case of the Wulingyuan area in China

Transport profoundly affects energy use and carbon dioxide emissions in the tourism sector. The Wulingyuan Scenic Area (WSA), a natural heritage destination in China, is chosen for the case study. The energy consumption and carbon emission of 10 types of tourism transportation modes at the destination are measured and analyzed using a bottom‐up approach for the period of 1979 to 2010. Scenarios were created to project the effects of single and multiple factors on energy consumption and carbon emission by tourism transportation during 2011‐2020. The results showed the following: (a) there is a large difference in energy consumption and carbon emission per capita and per kilometer per capita among the 10 vehicle modes; (b) the monthly energy consumption and carbon emission of tourism transportation differed significantly, the month with the highest (October) are respectively 6.8 and 4 times that of the lowest month (January); (c) the highest annual growth rate of energy consumption and carbon emission are respectively as 32.16% and 27.98% during 1979‐2010; and (d) the amount of energy consumption and carbon emission in the multiple factor scenarios are lower than that in the reference and single factor scenarios during 2011‐2020.     

Sustainable consumption and production: Trends, challenges and options for the Asia-Pacific region

This paper highlights current trends in consumption and production patterns in Asian developing countries and emerging economies. It describes the main challenges and opportunities for Asian countries making the transition towards sustainable consumption and production patterns. The main challenge for Asian economies is to address the unsustainable consumption patterns of urban consumers, which entails a policy shift from the current focus on pollution and inefficient industrial production. In view of future consumption trends and the global convergence of consumption patterns, the characteristics of the emerging 'global consumer class' are examined, with particular focus on urban ecological footprints and carbon emissions. Furthermore, the difference between urban and rural consumption is discussed, together with opportunities for low-carbon urban development in the megacities of Asian developing countries. To conclude, the paper presents an overview of current policy measures taken in Asian countries to green economic development and realise sustainable consumption and production patterns.