Equity Concerns over Climate Change Mitigation

As a complicated concept with ethical implications, equity or fairness in the field of climate change mitigation concerns the relations not only between individual human beings but also between human beings and the nature. In this paper, after the review of equity between individuals, market and non-market attributes of emissions rights are distinguished and discussed. Based on the argument of equal per capita emissions rights, three types of emissions rights and the concept of minimum emissions rights as social security are proposed.     

The Concept and Theoretical Implications of Carbon Emissions Rights Based on Individual Equity

Abstract

Climate change has become a hot topic in international environmental negotiations. For post-Kyoto international climate regime negotiations, many countries have proposed a variety of frameworks to share the emission reduction responsibilities and allocate carbon emission rights, and have tried to quantify the emission reduction obligations of all countries based on the perspectives of international equity and individual equity. In this paper, the authors have distinguished the concepts of carbon emissions rights based on these two perspectives respectively, have analyzed the relationship between carbon emissions per capita and economic development, and have calculated and compared the proportion of cumulative emissions per capita of different countries in history and future, and then authors conclude that emission reduction obligations should be allocated based on each country’s conditions, including historical emissions, development stage, and future demands. Developed countries should take the initiative to significantly reduce their emissions because they have already accomplished their industrialization process. However, developing countries are still in the process of industrialization, which requires more emission rights to meet their development needs. For China, the concept of carbon emissions based on individual equity can be used as a theoretical tool for the allocating the international carbon emissions rights.     

Environmental Rights: on the Perspective of Harmonious Development between Human Beings and Nature

The idea of environmental rights was first ascertained as a universal concern in the late 20th century and then became a fundamental part of environmental law along with the growth of serious disasters brought by the frequent occurrence of extreme environmental crisis. Generally speaking, the environmental rights safeguard and defend human rights and ultimately facilitate producing better conditions of life on earth by stretching and expanding the theory of traditional human rights. But there are endless debates since environmental rights appeared and various views of environmental rights, such as anthropocentric doctrine and organism's centre doctrine. Differentiated from the traditional research, this article reviewed environmental rights from the perspective of harmonious development between human beings and nature rather than from the perspective of law. Therefore, it is very important to clarify the relationship between human beings and nature based on the environmental rights and to promote the environmental rights to be embodied in the constitution. This article emphasized the importance of the practical significance of environmental rights, and built a concrete structure within the legal system that could promote the transformation of environmental law from ‘should have’ right to practical right, and promote the further development of environmental rights and their weightiness in the legal system.     

自然权利的批判与辩护

环境伦理的突出功能表现在对人与自然关系的调整上。从法学视角切入．以“权利”作为分析文本．论述了人类中心主义与非人类中心主义在“自然权利”上的理论分歧．人类中心主义者从权利的一人性、权利义务的不对等性、主张自然权利的非现实性以及自然权利的不可操作性四个方面对自然的权利提出了批判．而非人类中心主义者指出权利撅念的在不断地扩展．人类中心主义不可能完全解决好人与自然的关系,自然权利存在着转化为在法律上具有可操作性的可能．并且自然权利理论已在法律实践领域拓展．对自然的权利进行了辩护。由此提出了“非人类中心主义”、“自然的权利”的环境伦理定位。     

The Concept and Theoretical Implications of Carbon Emissions Rights Based on Individual Equity

Climate change has become a hot topic in international environmental negotiations.For post-Kyoto international climate regime negotiations,many countries have proposed a variety of frameworks to share the emission reduction responsibilities and allocate carbon emission rights,and have tried to quantify the emission reduction obligations of all countries based on the perspectives of international equity and individual equity.In this paper,the authors have distinguished the concepts of carbon emissions rights based on these two perspectives respectively,have analyzed the relationship between carbon emissions per capita and economic development,and have calculated and compared the proportion of cumulative emissions per capita of different countries in history and future,and then authors conclude that emission reduction obligations should be allocated based on each country’s conditions,including historical emissions,development stage,and future demands.Developed countries should take the initiative to significantly reduce their emissions because they have already accomplished their industrialization process.However,developing countries are still in the process of industrialization,which requires more emission rights to meet their development needs.For China,the concept of carbon emissions based on individual equity can be used as a theoretical tool for the allocating the international carbon emissions rights.     

Understanding Human Development Potentials and Demands for Greenhouse Gas Emissions:with Empirical Analysis using time series and cross-sectional data

Based on an investigation of the meaning of development, the neo-classical economic approach to development, and the post-welfarist theory of development, this paper proposes a conceptual framework for understanding human development potentials, while undertaking empirical analysis using cross-sectional and time series data on human development. Human development is associated with basic necessities for subsistence, the quality of life, and political and civil rights, in addition to income indicators. Our analysis suggests that the concept of human development potentials has two dimensions: the rights of development and limits to human development. Both are largely ignored in the neoclassical theory of development. However, human development is not unbounded, which approaches to a relatively fixed constant at given economic, technological and institutional conditions. This conceptual understanding is supported by results from the empirical examination of the relationships between demands for carbon emis     

Characterizing the PM2.5-related health benefits of emission reductions for 17 industrial,area and mobile emission sectors across the U.S.

BackgroundAir pollution benefits assessments tend to be time and resource intensive. Reduced-form approaches offer computational efficiency, but may introduce uncertainty. Some reduced-form approaches apply simplified air quality models, which may not capture the complex non-linear chemistry governing the formation of certain pollutants such as PM_2.5. Other approaches apply the results of sophisticated photochemical modeling, but characterize only a small number of source types in a limited geographic area.MethodsWe apply CAMx source apportionment photochemical modeling, coupled with a PC-based human health benefits software program, to develop a suite of PM_2.5 benefit per ton estimates. These per-ton estimates relate emission changes to health impacts and monetized benefits for 17 sectors across the continental U.S., including Electricity Generating Units (EGU), mobile, area and industrial point sources.ResultsThe benefit per ton of reducing directly emitted PM_2.5 is about an order of magnitude larger than reducing emissions of PM_2.5 precursor emissions. On a per-ton basis, the value of reducing directly emitted PM_2.5 and PM_2.5 precursors in 2005 ranges between approximately $1300 (2010$) for reducing a ton of NO_x from Ocean-Going Vessels to about $450,000 (2010$) for reducing a ton of directly emitted PM_2.5 from Iron and Steel facilities. The benefit per ton estimates for 2016 are generally higher than the 2005 estimates. The values estimated here are generally comparable with those generated using photochemical modeling, but larger than those calculated using simplified air quality models.ConclusionsOur approach characterizes well the per-ton benefits of reducing emissions from a broad array of 17 industrial point, EGU and mobile sectors, while our use of photochemical air quality modeling gives us greater confidence that we have accounted for the non-linear chemistry governing PM_2.5 formation. The resulting benefit per-ton estimates thus represent a compromise between approaches that may simplify the treatment of PM_2.5 air quality formation and those techniques that are based in photochemical modeling but account for only a small number of emission sources.     

Local Area Quotas for Industrial Emissions along Reaches of the Pearl River in Guangdong

Abstract

There is an obvious departure from the regional equilibrium of developments between the upper and lower reaches of the Pearl River in Guangdong, which resulted in “the effects of contra-geography-grads development”. It is mainly because the upriver mountainous areas have been deeply stuck in industrialization delay and marginalization plights, so that nearly 40 million local people have conceived a dream to get rid of “the vicious circle of poverty” by speeding up industrial development. But the problem is that such industrialization efforts on a large scale in mountainous areas are encountering the bottleneck of environmental capacity that strictly limits industrial emissions along the upper reaches of any water system. As a solution, an institutional arrangement called “the Local Area Quotas for Industrial Emis-sions along the Pearl River” is put forward supposed to give corresponding compensation to the rights of industrial development yielded by some areas with lower environmental capacity through the distribution and trading of IDQs.     

Respiratory hospital admissions in young children living near metal smelters,pulp mills and oil refineries in two Canadian provinces

BackgroundIndustrial plants emit air pollutants like fine particles (PM2.5), sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) that may affect the health of individuals living nearby.ObjectiveTo assess the effects of community exposure to air emissions of PM2.5, SO2, and NO2 from pulp mills, oil refineries, metal smelters, on respiratory hospital admissions in young children in Quebec (QC) and British Columbia (BC), Canada.MethodsWe assessed QC, BC and pooled associations between the following estimates of exposure and hospital admissions for asthma and bronchiolitis in children aged 2–4 years for the years 2002–2010: i) Crude emission exposures at the residential postal codes of children, calculated by multiplying estimated daily emissions of PM2.5, SO2, or NO2 from all nearby (< 7.5 km) pulp mills, oil refineries, metal smelters emitting yearly ≥ 50 t and their total emissions, by the percent of the day each postal code was downwind; ii) Daily levels of these pollutants at central ambient monitoring stations nearby the industries and the children's residences.ResultsSeventy-one major industries were selected between QC and BC, with a total of 2868 cases included in our analyses. More cases were exposed to emissions from major industries in QC than in BC (e.g. 2505 admissions near SO2 industrial emitters in QC vs 334 in BC), although air pollutant levels were similar. Odds ratios (ORs) for crude refinery and smelter emissions were positive in QC but more variable in BC. For example with PM2.5 in QC, ORs were 1.13 per 0.15 t/day (95% CI: 1.00–1.27) and 1.03 (95% CI: 0.99–1.07) for refinery and smelter emissions, respectively. Pooled results of QC and BC for crude total SO2 emissions from all sources indicated a 1% increase (0–3%) in odds of hospital admissions per 1.50 t/day increase in exposure. Associations with measured pollutant levels were only seen in BC, with SO2 and NO2.ConclusionHospital admissions for wheezing diseases in young children were associated with community exposure to industrial air pollutant emissions. Future work is needed to better assess the risk of exposure to complex mixture of air pollutants from multiple industrial sources.     

China’s Total Emission Control Policy: A Critical Review

Abstract

As part of a comprehensive environmental management system, many countries establish emission control targets for mass emissions of a pollutant. Such targets are often the key objective of an environmental policy, such as an emission trading program. In China, however, it is more than just an objective of one particular policy; it has become a concept that has influenced many national environmental policies and activities. The objective of this article is to review the implementation of the total emission control policy in the past 10 years and explore emerging issues in its implementation. The article has three sections: a summary of the implementation experience, issues with the design and implementation of the policy, and policy recommendations.     

NEWS

Abstract

Co-integration theory has been employed in this paper and Granger causes are found between urbanization rate and GDP, between capital stock and GDP. Scenario analysis of GDP is performed using the GDP model established in the paper. The energy consumptions in Germany, Japan and other developed countries are analyzed and compared with the energy consumption in China. Environmental friendly scenario of energy demand and CO₂ emissions for sustainable China has been formed based on the results of comparison. Under environmental friendly scenario, the primary energy consumption will be 4.31 billion ton coal equivalence (tce) and CO₂ emissions will be 1.854 billion t-c in 2050; energy per capital will be 3.06 tce that is 1.8 times of energy consumed in 2005 in China and 51% of consumed energy per capital in Japan in 2003. In 2050, the energy requirement of unit GDP will be 20% lower than that of Germany in 2003, but will be still 37% higher than that in Japan in 2003. It is certain that to fulfill the environmental friendly Scenario of energy demand and CO₂ emissions is a difficult task and it needs long term efforts of the whole society, not only in production sectors but also in service and household sectors.     

Sustainable management of transboundary river basins: a line of reasoning

This paper identifies a line of reasoning based on a number of concepts and tools to facilitate river basin management, which have been applied in a case study. For long-term sustainable river basin management, a balance is needed between the human use of the river and its basin, the ecological functioning of the river and receiving waters, and the river's capacity to supply goods and services. To find such a balance a framework is needed that illustrates and clarifies possible trade-offs between economic use and environmental supply by integrating scientific information on cause–effect chains on a catchment scale. A number of concepts and tools are proposed as a basis for this framework. The tools are: (1) indicators that describe the complex interactions and processes in rivers; (2) a suite of linked models that predict the economic, environmental and ecological effect of management measures; (3) an evaluation framework to rank different management alternatives on the basis of three objectives: economic efficiency, spatial equity in costs and benefits and environmental quality of the river and receiving lakes. The concept of environmental quality defines the potential of the river environment (i.e. natural capital) to contribute to human welfare. The concept of environmental functions is used to identify societal interest in natural capital. The concept and tools have been applied in a case study involving the evaluation of four management strategies on nutrient abatement in the Rhine basin. The result of the case study is that economic efficiency is in conflict with spatial equity and environmental quality. Spatial equity is in agreement with environmental quality. Electronic Publication     

How does government environmental regulation “unlock” carbon emission effect?—evidence from China

ABSTRACT

The disordered emission of carbon dioxide is an important sign of market failure, making it a must to “unlock” the high emission effect of carbon dioxide by effective means. From the perspective of technological innovation, on the basis of the data of time series from 1985 to 2014 in Beijing, China, this article empirically analyzed the relationship between environmental regulation and carbon emissions through VAR model, impulse response function, and variance decomposition. It is concluded that in a short term, environmental regulation has an inhibitory effect on carbon emissions and technological innovation and has a positive effect on industrial structure. In a long term, environmental regulation can enhance the technological innovation and reduce the effect of carbon emissions, which may even eliminate it. Generally, environmental regulation and technological innovation have a greater impact on carbon dioxide emissions, while the industrial structure has a relatively small effect. Finally, the targeted countermeasures and suggestions are put forward.     

Empirically Analysis of the CO2 Emissions Embodied in Exports of China

Abstract

In this paper, using the input-output model, the author first calculated the CO₂ emissions embodied in exports of China in 2002 and 2007. Then, the author empirically analyzed problems existing in the composition of exported products and analyzed its possible reasons. The research results of this paper are as follows: Since China’s entry into WTO, the CO₂ emissions embodied in exports of China have been increasing rapidly; the value of exported products of high-carbon emissions industries accounts for a relatively higher proportion to China’s total exports value because China’s carbon intensive products have a certain competitive advantage. Additionally, this paper has put forward relevant suggestions based on these results.     

Carbon Embodied in International Trade of China and Its Emission Responsibility

Abstract

Carbon emissions embodied in international trade of China during 1997–2007 are accounted by input–output method based on Chinese input–output table and global trade analysis project database. It is revealed that carbon emissions embodied in imports and exports both increased during 1997–2007, but carbon emissions embodied in exports are greater than those embodied in imports, China is a net export nation in embodied carbon. The net exports of embodied carbon account for about 10.82% of the total carbon emissions in 1997, dropped to 7.15% in 2002, increased to 13.13% in 2006, and slightly dropped to 12.64% in 2007. Low-end position of international industry division is an objective factor of being a net exporter of embodied carbon for China, and usage of a large amount of obsolete energy-using equipments wasted much energy and increased carbon emissions embodied in exports. Importers should take more responsibilities for carbon emissions embodied in trade, and China should take a certain responsibility for unreasonable energy dissipations too.     

Formation and Evolution of Ancient Lakes on South Coast Plain of Laizhou Bay

Abstract

Based on the data of historical geography, the analysis of the stratigraphic section, and the textual research of place names and satellite photographic interpretations, the authors study the formation and evolution of ancient lakes on the south coast plain of Laizhou Bay where there were once three lakes: Judian Lake, Qingshuibo Lake and Biehua Lake. All the lakes formed 6000 years ago evolved from the lagoons near the estuary and went through two periods, the golden age in the Middle Holocene and the shrinking age in the Late Holocene. The disappearance of the lakes resulted from the drying climate, the migration of the river courses and the activities of human beings. Among the three reasons, the migration of the river courses is the main one.     

A framework to spatially cluster air pollution monitoring sites in US based on the PM2.5 composition

BackgroundHeterogeneity in the response to PM_2.5 is hypothesized to be related to differences in particle composition across monitoring sites which reflect differences in source types as well as climatic and topographic conditions impacting different geographic locations. Identifying spatial patterns in particle composition is a multivariate problem that requires novel methodologies.ObjectivesUse cluster analysis methods to identify spatial patterns in PM_2.5 composition. Verify that the resulting clusters are distinct and informative.Methods109 monitoring sites with 75% reported speciation data during the period 2003–2008 were selected. These sites were categorized based on their average PM_2.5 composition over the study period using k-means cluster analysis. The obtained clusters were validated and characterized based on their physico-chemical characteristics, geographic locations, emissions profiles, population density and proximity to major emission sources.ResultsOverall 31 clusters were identified. These include 21 clusters with 2 or more sites which were further grouped into 4 main types using hierarchical clustering. The resulting groupings are chemically meaningful and represent broad differences in emissions. The remaining clusters, encompassing single sites, were characterized based on their particle composition and geographic location.ConclusionsThe framework presented here provides a novel tool which can be used to identify and further classify sites based on their PM_2.5 composition. The solution presented is fairly robust and yielded groupings that were meaningful in the context of air-pollution research.     

Exposure to emissions from municipal solid waste incinerators and miscarriages: A multisite study of the MONITER Project

BackgroundMiscarriages are an important indicator of reproductive health but only few studies have analyzed their association with exposure to emissions from municipal solid waste incinerators.This study analyzed the occurrence of miscarriages in women aged 15–49 years residing near seven incinerators of the Emilia-Romagna Region (Northern Italy) in the period 2002–2006.MethodsWe considered all pregnancies occurring in women residing during the first trimester of pregnancy within a 4 km radius of each incinerator. Addresses were geocoded and exposures were characterized by a dispersion model (ADMS Urban model) producing pollution maps for incinerators based on PM₁₀ stack measurements and for other pollution sources based on NO_x ground measurements. Information on pregnancies and their outcomes was obtained from the Hospital Discharge Database. Simplified True Abortion Risks (STAR) × 100 estimated pregnancies were calculated. We ran logistic regressions adjusting for maternal characteristics, exposure to other sources of pollution, and sites, considering the whole population and stratifying by miscarriage history.ResultsThe study analyzed 11,875 pregnancies with 1375 miscarriages. After adjusting for confounders, an increase of PM₁₀ due to incinerator emissions was associated with an increased risk of miscarriage (test for trend, p = 0.042). The odds ratio for the highest quartile of exposed versus not exposed women was 1.29, 95% CI 0.97–1.72. The effect was present only for women without previous miscarriages (highest quartile of exposed versus not exposed women 1.44, 95% CI 1.06–1.96; test for trend, p = 0.009).ConclusionExposure to incinerator emissions is associated with an increased risk of miscarriage. This result should be interpreted with those of a previous study on reproductive health conducted in the same area that observed an association between incinerator exposure and preterm births.     

Dynamic Changes,Regional Differences,and Influencing Factors of CO2 Emission Performance in China

Abstract

This paper proposes to use DEA models with undesirable outputs to construct the Malmquist index that can be use to investigate the dynamic changes of CO₂ emission performance. With the index, the authors have measured the CO₂ emission performance of 28 provinces and autonomous regions in China from 1996 to 2007; with the convergence theory and panel data regression model, the authors analyze the regional differences and the influencing factors. It is found that the performance of CO₂ emissions in China has been continuously improved mainly due to the technological progress, and the average improvement rate is 3.25%, with a cumulative improvement rate of 40.86%. In addition, the CO₂ emission performance varies across four regions. As a whole, the performance score of eastern China is the highest. The northeastern and central China has relatively lower performance scores, and the western China is relatively backward. The regional differences are decreasing, and the performance of CO₂ emissions is convergent. The influence of some factors on the performance of CO₂ emissions is significant, such as the level of economic development, the level of industrial structure, energy intensity, and ownership structure. The influence of some factors, such as opening-up to the outside world, on the performance of CO₂ emissions is not significant.     

An Empirical Study on the Environmental Kuznets Curve for China’s Carbon Emissions: Based on Provincial Panel Data

Abstract

Based on the Environmental Kuznets Curve theory, the authors choose provincial panel data of China in 1990–2007 and adopt panel unit root and co-integration testing method to study whether there is Environmental Kuznets Curve for China’s carbon emissions. The research results show that: carbon emissions per capita of the eastern region and the central region of China fit into Environmental Kuznets Curve, but that of the western region does not. On this basis, the authors carry out scenario analysis on the occurrence time of the inflection point of carbon emissions per capita of different regions, and describe a specific time path.