Has the Clean Development Mechanism assisted sustainable development?

One of the dual objectives of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol is to assist host countries in achieving sustainable development. With various CDM indicators for 58 CDM host countries over the period 2005‐2010, this paper empirically assesses whether CDM project development fulfils its sustainable development objective. Using a unique dynamic panel data method based on the long‐differenced model, this research provides convincing evidence that CDM projects contribute to sustainable development in host countries. It sheds light on the role of the CDM in the process of global sustainability with clear policy implications for developing countries and those embracing market instruments.     

Potential contribution of the forestry sector in Bangladesh to carbon sequestration

The Kyoto Protocol provides for the involvement of developing countries in an atmospheric greenhouse gas reduction regime under its Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Carbon credits are gained from reforestation and afforestation activities in developing countries. Bangladesh, a densely populated tropical country in South Asia, has a huge degraded forestland which can be reforested by CDM projects. To realize the potential of the forestry sector in developing countries for full-scale emission mitigation, the carbon sequestration potential of different species in different types of plantations should be integrated with the carbon trading system under the CDM of the Kyoto Protocol. This paper discusses the prospects and problems of carbon trading in Bangladesh, in relation to the CDM, in the context of global warming and the potential associated consequences. The paper analyzes the effects of reforestation projects on carbon sequestration in Bangladesh, in general, and in the hilly Chittagong region, in particular, and concludes by demonstrating the carbon trading opportunities. Results showed that tree tissue in the forests of Bangladesh stored 92tons of carbon per hectare (tC/ha), on average. The results also revealed a gross stock of 190tC/ha in the plantations of 13 tree species, ranging in age from 6 to 23 years. The paper confirms the huge atmospheric CO(2) offset by the forests if the degraded forestlands are reforested by CDM projects, indicating the potential of Bangladesh to participate in carbon trading for both its economic and environmental benefit. Within the forestry sector itself, some constraints are identified; nevertheless, the results of the study can expedite policy decisions regarding Bangladesh's participation in carbon trading through the CDM.     

The impact of economic activity in Asturias on greenhouse gas emissions: consequences for environmental policy within the Kyoto Protocol framework

Climate change is one of the major worldwide environmental concerns. It is especially the case in many developed countries, where the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for this change are mainly concentrated. For the first time, the Kyoto Protocol includes an international agreement for the reduction of the net emissions of these gases. To fulfil this agreement measures designed to reduce or limit current emissions have to be brought into force. Consequently, fears have arisen about possible consequences on competitiveness and future development of manufacturing activities and the need for support mechanisms for the affected sectors is obvious. In this paper, we carry out a study of the emissions of gases responsible for climate change in Asturias (Spain), a region with an important economic presence of sectors with intensive emissions of CO(2), the chief greenhouse gas. To be precise, in the first place, the volumes of direct emissions of the said gases in 1995 were calculated, showing that the sectors most affected by the Kyoto Protocol in Asturias are iron and steel and electricity production. Secondly, input-output analysis was applied to determine the direct and indirect emissions and the direct, indirect and induced emissions of the different production sectors, respectively. The results derived from the direct and indirect emissions analysis and their comparison with the results of the former allow us to reach some conclusions and environmental policy implications.     

Global warming and environmental production efficiency ranking of the Kyoto Protocol nations

This paper analyzes the United Nations Organization's Kyoto Protocol nations to address two questions. First, what are the environmental production efficiency rankings of these nations? Second, is there a relationship between a nation's ratification status and its environmental production efficiency ranking? Our findings suggest that the nations that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol are more likely to be environmentally production efficient as compared to the nations that have not ratified the Protocol.     

从拒绝《京都议定书》看美国政府环境外交意图

作为国际社会最具影响力的环境协约,《京都议定书》却被美国政府拒之门外,通过对美国近年来针对该协约的态度及对全球变暖问题的外交举措分析,可以看出,美国政府环境外交行为的意图主要体现在三个方面,即规避不利条款的束缚;设计和实施替代性方案;积极争取国际环境领域的领导地位。     

新疆水电资源开发与清洁发展机制(CDM)项目开展

新疆水利资源丰富,具有开发水电的天然资源优势。清洁发展机制是建立在《京都议定书》下的国际合作机制。发达国家和发展中国家可以通过清洁发展机制,实现温室气体的减排和可持续发展。结合目前水电开发面临的实际形势,并根据我区能源开发总体规划布局,对水电CDM项目开发活动进行统筹协调,进一步促进新疆水电的快速、有序、均衡、协调发展。     

An international registration and tracking system for greenhouse gas emissions trading: elements,possibilities, problems and issues for further discussion

International emissions trading under the Kyoto Protocol or an alternative international regime need a registration system to prevent the creation of fake emission permits. We suggest a two-tier system consisting of an International Registry (IR) and a set of national registries. National registries have to adhere to a set of minimum standards. The IR maintains accounts for countries and private entities. The latter would thus be ensured against expropriation. We suggest that permits should become fungible across all Kyoto Mechanisms, and are allocated a serial number to allow tracking. The IR should collect fees for adaptation and administration. It should also be charged with reallocation of emission budgets owing to various causes, enforcing of eventual caps, and discounting of permits owing to non-compliance. We discuss the registration process and a timetable for the set-up of the registries. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sustainable development in the Clean Development Mechanism: the role of Designated National Authority in China and India

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) emerged under the Kyoto Protocol to facilitate collaboration between developed and developing countries in order to mitigate greenhouse gases. The CDM allows developed countries to receive credits towards meeting their obligatory targets by investing in emission reduction projects in developing countries. The countries are required to set up a Designated National Authority (DNA) to approve the CDM projects. This paper examines the role of the DNA in ensuring sustainable development, using the empirical case of China and India. Three aspects of the DNA's role are examined: the institutional structure, the policy context and the CDM project market. All three aspects highlight the important role of the DNA in meeting the countries' sustainable development priorities.     

有关完善建筑节能CDM项目开发的探讨

清洁发展机制(CDM)是《京都议定书》提出的三种灵活的温室气体减排机制之一,允许通过发达国家与发展中国家合作使发达国家实现其减排目标的同时促进发展中国家的可持续发展。建筑节能是节能减排的重点领域,是CDM开发重点之一。但建筑节能CDM项目在推广力度、缺少具体方法学以及实施方面存在困难。通过对建筑节能CDM的障碍进行分析,认为应加强政策支持、宣传体系以及技术支持,以促进国内建筑行业充分利用CDM,促进建筑行业节能减排的发展。     

新疆CDM项目的开发状况与前景分析

随着世界经济的进一步发展,能源的需求量持续增加,CO2的排放量还将持续增长.温室气体排放带来的气候变暖问题会进一步加剧。清洁发展机制(CDM)是在《京都议定书》框架下,发达国家与发展中国家就碳减排进行合作的重要机制.发展中国家通过CDM可以获得实现节能减排的资金援助和先进技术,促进国家的经济发展和环境的可持续发展。就新疆CDM项目的发展状况、国际碳市场的前景,以及新疆CDM项目开发存在的问题和解决方法方面进行了探讨。     

Possibilities and options for the Clean Development Mechanism and the Green Investment Scheme in Central and Eastern Europe: Macedonian and Romanian perspectives

Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is a rapidly changing and developing region which is making the transition to a market based economy. Along with economic reforms, the countries of the region are engaged in substantial environmental reforms, including climate change mitigation activities. Mitigation of, and adaptation to, the consequences of climate change are costly processes. It is therefore of great importance that the national and international mechanisms addressing these problems use methods both environmentally sound and economically efficient. Through two case studies that address the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and the Green Investment Scheme (GIS) in Romania, this paper explores challenges, related tasks and main problems in the establishment of mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol in Central and Eastern Europe.     

Transaction costs and the clean development mechanism

The emissions trading provisions of the Kyoto Protocol and its clean development mechanism (CDM) are designed to permit greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions at the lowest cost globally. However, to ensure climate integrity, these reductions must pass through vigilant approval, monitoring and evaluation procedures that create additional transaction costs unrelated to the physical process of eliminating GHGs. Moreover, the CDM's additionality criterion creates constraints that magnify the influence of these transaction costs on project viability. If these costs are extreme, they could undermine the success of the CDM, and possibly of the Kyoto Protocol itself. This article describes the trading provisions of the treaty, creates a working definition of transaction costs, and discusses their effects. It then analyzes the process of creating a CDM project to identify the sources of transaction costs, illustrated by an example of a fuel substitution project in Ghana. The conditions for project profitability are analyzed and compared with recent GHG emission credit prices in Europe. The specific Ghanaian results are not generalizable to all CDM projects, but the model does suggest a template that can be used to analyze the effects of project and transaction costs in other contexts.     

The European union as first mover in the market for greenhouse gas emissions permits

This study aims to analyse the potential market for emissions permits that the European Union (EU) established in 2005, in a first-mover attitude with regard to the frame of the Kyoto Protocol. To this end the integrated assessment Regional Integrated Climate and the Economy (RICE) model is employed, adapted to the specific objectives intended. A referential paretian-optimum price of US$25.63 tCO₂ is obtained around the year 2007, which duplicates the hypothetical harmonized carbon tax. The ratio between the willingness to pay and the net environmental damages as a result of adverse climate change point to the high degree of commitment and the leadership initiative that seem to be assumed by the EU-15, the extended EU including Eastern European countries and the European OECD as a whole, with the hinterland geo-strategic referent represented by Russia and the Ukraine.     

应对气候变化问题的法律调整机制

气候变化的不确定性决定对于其带来的不良环境影响也不能做出确切的预测。《联合国气候变化框架公约》、《京都议定书》及《关于消耗臭氧层物质的蒙特利尔议定书》的缔结和生效为各国一致行动提供了国际法上的依据。应当加强气候变化的科学研究，制定实施有效的政策法律措施，同时施加我国的大国影响，推动气候变化问题的国际解决进程。     

What is driving the EU burden-sharing agreement: Efficiency or equity?

Under the Kyoto Protocol the European Union agreed to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by 8 percent. The Burden-Sharing Agreement (BSA) redistributes the reduction target among the member states. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the BSA. To determine if cost efficiency was considered, marginal abatement costs (MACs) are first calculated based on an estimation of the directional output distance function using country production data for 1990-2000. MACs, together with equity indicators, are then regressed on the emission change targets. The main conclusion is that both efficiency and equity were important aspects considered in the settlement.     

Adsorptive cooling: a clean technology

As a consequence of the Kyoto Protocol and its predecessor, the Montreal Protocol, environmental considerations will play an important role in the choice of a refrigeration or heat pump system. Accordingly, sorption technology is expected to develop for cooling as well as for heat pump applications because it uses benign fluids. At the moment, liquid absorption technology is the leading technology in that field; however, adsorption offers advantages that cannot be achieved by liquid absorption technology. This article addresses the measures to reduce halocarbon emissions and the possibilities of adsorption technology. Not only are the direct emissions taken into account but also the indirect ones due to energy consumption. Several cases that show that adsorption cooling is very promising, from the global warming point of view, are considered in this article. They are: waste heat adsorption chilling, natural gas adsorption chilling, trigeneration and natural gas reversible heat pump. Adsorption air conditioning for automobiles is also discussed as a very challenging possibility for adsorption cooling.     

Towards a grand deal on subsidies and climate change

Recent studies have identified public subsidies as a principal cause of unsustainable development. Worldwide, governments are spending up to $U950 billion a year on subsidies. Many of these public subsidies fail to serve their purpose and in fact, often turn out as policy failures as they further distort trade and cause environmental harm. The energy sector is among the most subsidized sectors in the world, receiving over $U240 billion per annum of public subsidies. This article highlights current energy subsidies and their implications. The article examines: (i) the global size and distribution of energy subsidies in industrialized and developing countries; (ii) the impact of these subsidies on the economy, equity and the environment and their role as barriers for sustainable development; (iii) the political economy behind public subsidies and the various political and institutional barriers and lock-in mechanisms that cause subsidies to become entrenched in economic and public structures; and (iv) proposals for effective subsidy reform in energy policies, suggesting a global strategy to eliminate energy subsidies. OECD governments are in a position to take the lead, and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change presents an excellent opportunity of striking a political grand deal and linking the reform of energy subsidies to a meaningful participation of developing countries to the Kyoto Protocol. Moreover, if sinks are to be included in the clean development mechanism (CDM), it is crucial to include the removal of forestry subsidies in the grand deal.     

Climate negotiations at a crucial stage: the Hague meeting of contracting Parties in November 2000 and its follow-up

The author discusses the central issues of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol in the general context of the Rio process. The nexus of issues under negotiation in relation to climate change are viewed in the context of multilateral diplomacy for sustainable development. The article outlines the background to the important Sixth Conference of the Parties, held in the Hague in November 2000, and highlights the relationship between the main actors in the negotiations. Finally, the main results of the Hague negotiations are presented, followed by comments on follow-up procedures and perspectives.     

Rethinking the management of transboundary freshwater resources: a critical examination of modern international law and practice

Available freshwater stocks are being depleted and impaired on a widespread basis, with acute shortages an increasingly frequent condition in arid climates. In transboundary basins, water scarcity and pollution compound interstate tension and contribute to human suffering and ecological damage. This article provides theoretical perspectives on shared freshwater disputes and on the evolution of the international law of shared water resources. It argues that the UN Convention on the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses (ratified by some countries, but not yet in force) is inadequate as a framework convention in terms of providing general obligations on the future parties or an institutional framework for future action. The paper suggests that three critical concepts be considered in future management of shared water resources: (1) the unitary character of watersheds (where the absence of extra-basin diversions allows); (2) joint or "communitarian" watershed management; and (3) the relevance of international trade to alleviating regional food stress, resulting from local water scarcity. Finally, it proposes the establishment of an international advisory body on shared water disputes, modelled after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), whose role is codified in the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.     

碳排放交易体系的政策灵活性:国际经验及启示

在《联合国气候变化框架公约》和《京都议定书》的背景下,越来越多的国家开始关注全球气候变暖的问题。考虑到碳排放交易体系比碳税更具有政治可行性,不少国家或地区开始实施碳排放交易体系,以最低的减排成本来达到温室气体减排目标。然而,采用碳排放交易体系,其排放总量是固定的,而减排成本是不确定的,可能会出现由于政策或外部冲击而产生的配额价格异常波动的现象。因此,为确保碳排放交易体系的成本有效性,政策灵活性十分重要。在理想情况下,碳排放市场具有完全的时间灵活性(包括长期的履约期、自由的配额储存与预借)和空间灵活性(即建立全球碳市场),这将对增强市场流动性、降低减排成本、缓解价格波动起到重要的作用。然而,由于政策设计需要考虑更多因素,实际上理想状态很难达到。本文将对国外碳排放交易体系的政策灵活性设计进行较为系统的分析和比较,尤其关注履约期的长短、配额的跨期使用、配额的抵消、区域碳市场连接等方面的具体政策设计,这对我国在7个省市进行碳排放交易试点以及今后建立全国性的碳排放交易体系有较强的借鉴意义。