Incentives and prices in an emissions trading scheme with updating

Emissions trading schemes where allocations are based on updated baseline emissions give firms less incentive to reduce emissions for a given quota (or allowance) price. Nevertheless, according to Böhringer and Lange [On the design of optimal grandfathering schemes for emission allowances, Europ. Econ. Rev. 49 (2005) 2041–2055], such allocation schemes are cost-effective if the system is closed and allocation rules are identical across firms. In this paper, we show that the cost-effective solution may be infeasible if marginal abatement costs grow too fast. Moreover, if a price cap or banking/borrowing is introduced, the abatement profile is no longer the same as in the case with an auction (or lump-sum allocation). In addition, we show that with allocation based on updated emissions, the quota price will always exceed marginal abatement costs, possibly misguiding policy makers and investors about abatement costs. Numerical simulations indicate that the quota price most likely will be several times higher than marginal abatement costs, unless a significant share of allowances is auctioned.     

The optimal pricing of pollution when enforcement is costly

We consider the pricing of a uniformly mixed pollutant with a model of optimal, possibly firm-specific, emissions taxes and their enforcement under incomplete information about firms’ abatement costs, enforcement costs, and pollution damage. We argue that optimality requires an enforcement strategy that induces full compliance by every firm, except possibly when a regulator can base the probabilities of detecting individual violations on observable correlates of violators’ actual emissions. Moreover, optimality requires discriminatory taxes, except when a regulator is unable to use observable firm-level characteristics to gain some information about the variation in firms’ abatement costs or monitoring costs.     

Price controls and banking in emissions trading: An experimental evaluation

We present results from laboratory emissions markets designed to investigate the effects of price controls and permit banking on limiting permit price risk. While both instruments reduce between-period price volatility and within-period price dispersion, combining price controls and permit banking yields important benefits. Banking alone produces high permit prices in earlier periods that fall over time, but the combined policy produces lower initial prices and lower volatility. However, banking, price controls, and the combination all produce higher between-period emissions volatility. Hence, for emissions markets that seek to control flow pollutants with strictly convex damages, efforts to limit permit price risk can result in higher expected damage.     

Evaluation of a Market in Wetland Credits: Entrepreneurial Wetland Banking in Chicago

Abstract: With the rise of market‐led approaches to environmental policy, compensation for permitted discharge of dredge or fill material into wetlands under Section 404 of the U.S. Clean Water Act has been purchased increasingly from entrepreneurial third‐party providers. The growth of this practice (i.e., entrepreneurial wetland banking) has resolved many challenges associated with wetland compensation. But it has also produced (1) quantifiable temporal loss of wetland ecological functions, (2) spatial redistribution of wetland area, and (3) a degree of regulatory instability that may pose a threat to entrepreneurial compensation as a sustainable component of wetland‐compensation policy. We used achieved compensation ratios, lapse between bank credit sale and the attainment of performance standards, distance between impact and bank site, and changes in bank market area to examine these 3 factors. We analyzed data from a census of all such transactions in the Chicago District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, compiled from site visits, Corps databases, and contacts with consultants and Section 404 permittees. Entrepreneurial banking provided compensation at a lower overall ratio than nonbank forms of compensation. Approximately 60% of bank credits were sold after site‐protection standards were met but before ecological performance standards were met at the bank site. The average distance between bank and impact site was approximately 26 km. The area of markets within which established banks can sell wetland credits has fluctuated considerably over the study period. Comparing these data with similar data for other compensation mechanisms will assist in evaluating banking as an element of conservation policy. Data characterizing the performance of entrepreneurial wetland banks in actual regulatory environments are scarce, even though it is the most established of similar markets that have become instrumental to federal policy in administering several major environmental protection laws.     

An experimental analysis of lunule function in the sand dollar Mellita quinquiesperforata

Coefficients of lift and drag for fifty lunulate sand dollars [Mellita quinquiesperforata (Leske 1778)], poised over a flat, sandy surface, were determined at seven different air stream velocities. Coefficients of static friction were obtained experimentally on level sand in standing water. Critical velocity, at which a sand dollar would be dislodged, is defined as that current velocity in which the force of drag is equal to the product of residual weight (i.e. weight-lift) and the coefficient of static friction. Small individuals have lower critical velocities than large ones: 26 cm s^?1 and 43 cm s^?1 for individuals 48 and 94 mm in diameter, respectively. Measurements were repeated for 20 of the controls, their lunules smoothly filled with modelling clay, and 20 from which lunule spines were removed. In every case, blocking the lunules decreased critical velocity, by an average of 15%; this was shown to be statistically significant (P>0.01). Removal of spines, which partially occlude the lunules, significantly (P>0.01) increased critical velocity by an average of 13%. Direct measurements in a water tunnel showed that calculated values of critical velocity were slightly too high, but otherwise confirmed the role of the lunules. Allometric analysis showed that as sand dollars increase in size, the distances of the lunules from the center of the disk increase less rapidly than the radii. A principal components' analysis of profile measurements of nine species indicated that lunulate and non-lunulate sand dollars are quite different in form. Lunulate species tend to be thinedged, flat-domed and larger in diameter. Some alternative ideas of lunule function are discussed and it is shown that there are no allometric or experimental data to support any of the suggested feeding hypotheses.     

我国淡水藻华长期变动特征综合分析

水体富营养化与淡水藻华（水华）是全球普遍现象,我国是一个高氮磷投入的国家,在人类活动和全球气候变化背景条件下,河流湖库富营养化问题日益突出。文章收集了近30年来我国水华事件的相关文献资料,基于综合研究和统计学分析,回顾性评估了我国水华发生的基本特征、变动规律和成因。数据表明,自上世纪80年代以来,水华发生频率从上世纪80年代每年1～2次上升到2000年以后的每年近10次（不完全统计）,总体呈现上升趋势;水华从湖泊向河流库区扩展,从点到面蔓延,且主要集中在人口密集、污染严重的长江中下游地区和东部沿海地区;在我国化肥施用、畜禽养殖、电站大坝建设等人类活动以及气候变暖的叠加影响下,河流湖库的氮磷浓度上升、氮磷比值下降,水体水化学和生态环境的长期变动加大了水华发生的风险。文章认为,在流域海域综合管理框架下进行氮磷污染的联合控制,以及多学科交叉开展特定水体的水华过程和机理研究是今后藻华防控的根本要求。     

中国农业领域温室气体主要减排措施研究分析

气候变暖已成不争事实,主要是由于人为温室气体(GHG)排放增加所致,为减缓气候变暖趋势,各领域迫切需要采取减排措施;农业是一个重要的GHG排放源,农业领域采取减排措施对于减少我国GHG排放、保护农村生态环境有重要意义。文章在大量阅读前人研究结果的基础上,总结我国农业领域主要的减排管理措施,主要从农业活动、农村生活和生物质能源利用三方面进行阐述,并简要分析各措施的减排效果和存在问题。分析发现,农业活动的水肥管理是农田温室气体减排的研究热点,但由于地域和管理流程上的差异,对措施的减排效果尚存在争议;农村生活中存在巨大的减排潜力,采取恰当的减排措施不但可以减少GHG排放,还可以改善农村生态状况和环境卫生条件;农村生物质能源有很大发展潜力,合理开发利用,可以有效替代化石能源消耗,缓解能源危机,减少GHG排放,保护生态环境。总之,在农业领域采取积极的减排措施,有助于国家效应对气候变化,降低农业源污染和GHG排放,减轻环境压力,转换农业发展模式,加速农业现代化,促进农业生产的可持续发展和社会主义新农村建设。     

基于LMDI的中国二氧化硫排放区域变化的因素分解

运用LMDI方法将中国SO2排放变化分解为规模效应、区域经济结构效应、能源强度效应、能源结构效应、产污系数效应和污染治理效应六个因素,并进行了东、中、西和东北四个地区的差异分解分析。结果表明：规模效应是造成各地区SO2排放增加的最重要原因,不同地区不同时段SO2排放的减排因素不同。1999―2003年间,东部、中部地区能源结构和产污系数的减排效应显著,西部、东北地区能源强度和产污系数效应突出;2003―2006年间,东中西部污染治理和产污系数减排效应明显,东北地区能源效率减排贡献大;2006―2009年间,东部、中部的污染治理和能源效率减排贡献突出,西部的产污系数效应和污染治理作用显著,东北的产污系数和能源强度效应突出。建议按照不同地区结合实际情况实行灵活的减排政策。     

An experimental test of female choice relative to male structural coloration in eastern bluebirds

Several experimental studies have shown that female birds use ornamental melanin and carotenoid plumage coloration as criteria in mate choice. Whether females choose mates based on natural variation in structural coloration, however, has not been well established. Male eastern bluebirds (Sialia sialis) display brilliant ultraviolet (UV)-blue plumage coloration on their head, back, wings, and tail, which is positively correlated with condition, reproductive effort, and reproductive success. We experimentally tested the hypothesis that female eastern bluebirds prefer as mates males that display brighter structural coloration by presenting breeding-condition females with males of variable coloration. We conducted two types of mate-choice experiments. First, females chose between males whose coloration was manipulated within the natural range of variation in the population; feathers were either brightened with violet marker or dulled with black marker. Second, females chose between males with naturally dull or bright plumage coloration. In both manipulated and unmanipulated coloration trials, female choice did not differ significantly from random with respect to structural coloration. We found no support for the hypothesis that the UV–blue coloration of male eastern bluebirds functions as a criterion in female mate choice.     

城市化地区植被生态环境效应研究

城市植被具有其它生态环境要素难以替代的多样化生态服务功能,城市化地区的植被生态环境效应研究是一个具有重要理论和实践意义的研究课题。国内外该领域的研究已经形成一系列特色鲜明的研究方向,几个重要研究范畴中,城市化过程对植被影响研究属于传统的理论兼应用研究范畴,从景观生态学视角入手,注重残遗植被保护等是该领域近年来的新研究方向;城市植被生态服务功能研究是目前研究工作积累最为丰富的热点领域,重点研究方向包括负面生态环境效应缓冲与还原、自然环境调控、生物多样性保护以及城市碳氧平衡等;比较而言,城市植被保护与管理研究相对薄弱,亟待加强。总结国内外现有研究工作可以看出,城市化地区的植被生态效应研究存在着一定程度的理论研究与应用研究脱节,专业研究与综合研究脱节,微观研究与宏观研究脱节等不合理现象,应当成为今后研究工作中重点关注并加以克服的问题。     

An overview of systems analysis methods in delineating environmental quality indices

Environmental quality indices (EQIs) have been developed for a variety of purposes ranging from enforcement of environmental standards, to analysis of trends of environmental degradation or improvement, to scientific research. EQIs currently in use are not organized within an integrated framework and thus it has been difficult to analyze adequately complex, multidisciplinary, large-scale, global phenomena. In this paper we compare four different approaches to developing EQIs within a systems perspective. Our analysis suggests that: (1) non-linear regression models that represent an ecosystem's response to different impacts within a stress-response framework (method of response functions) are useful tools for analysis of environmental data; (2) non-equilibrium thermodynamics models based on the concept of exergy, which represents the free energy a system possesses in relation to its environment, provide a common basis for representing many aspects of ecosystem development and response to environmental impacts as a single measure; (3) diagram models based on the concept of emergy, which represents both environmental values and economic values with a single measure, provide a common basis for integrating economic development and environmental protection values into one index; and (4) complex systems simulation models based on general systems theory, which use the methodologies of systems analysis and simulation to identify, quantify, and interrelate EQIs within a dynamic systems context, provide explicit linkages between causes and effects (vertical integration) and identify cross-linkages among different environmental issues (horizontal integration).     

The effectiveness of incentives in protected area management: An empirical analysis

Incentive approaches are believed to be indispensable for effective conservation and successful management in protected areas. However, the actual effectiveness of these approaches is still debatable. We carried out a case study in Wolong Biosphere Reserve (WBR), the largest reserve for the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca), to evaluate the effectiveness of incentives. We obtained data from government documents and statistics, interviews and surveys on the employment status of public sector and industries. Results indicated that government-paid community-based conservation projects provided the most widespread and direct economic incentives. The conservation sector and several industries including hotels, hydropower and tourism have directly raised the employment level of local communities. The hotel industry, driven by the development of tourism, has been the most effective means of increasing local employment. However, the problem of immigrants attracted by the improved economic situation in WBR should be considered in the management plans. Suggestions for WBR management include development of quality ecotourism, vocational education for local young adults and new policies encouraging employment of local labour, both in the reserve and outside. Lessons learned from this research are constructive for the management of other protected areas.     

Role of microorganisms and macrofauna in benthic phosphorus dynamics in the po river--Adriatic Sea frontal system: An experimental approach

Sediment biotic and abiotic attributes were determined during the PRISMA II oceanographic campaigns in the northern and central Adriatic Sea. The radiotracer orthophosphate 32 P was used under laboratory conditions to analyse the role of micro- and macrofauna in phosphorus dynamics at the water-sediment interface. Effects of infaunal suspensivores on microfungal growth were also investigated. Our findings emphasised: 1) significant differences in sediment 32 P uptake as related to the sampling area, occurrence of the pelagic frontal system, sediment grain size, microbial activity, and anoxia; 2) the crucial role played in 32 P dynamics by different tropho-functional groups r - r i.e ., infaunal filter-feeders and epifaunal detritivore characterising the benthic community of the northern Adriatic basin. The significant changes in ergosterol concentration (adopted as an index of microfungal growth) observed in sediments subjected to infaunal activity, eventually provided a comprehensive insight into macrofauna-microorganism interactions. The potential impact of macrofaunal activity in phosphorus dynamics in the Adriatic benthic system is discussed.     

1999—2009年我国不同收入水平下的碳排放差异分析

碳排放差异研究对于科学合理地制定我国节能减排政策具有重要的指导意义。在利用IPCC参考方法对中国1999—2009年期间各省（市）CO2排放量计算的基础上,引入Theil指数,定量分析了中国不同收入水平下的CO2省际差异及其与人均收入水平之间的关系。结果表明,1999—2003年中国人均CO2排放量随着人均收入水平的提高而增加,2003—2009年中国各收入水平省份的人均排放量近似于不规则的＂M＂型增长趋势,中等偏低收入省份的人均排放量迅速增加,并超过中等收入省份;不同收入水平省份之间和各省份内部的人均CO2排放水平均存在较大的差距,但省份之间的排放不平等水平明显大于省份内部的不平等水平。因此,中国在制定节能减排政策时,要充分考虑经济发展和人均收入水平的条件下,兼顾区域和省域碳排放的特征,制定合理有效的减排目标和计划。     

Interactions between cod, herring and sprat in the changing environment of the Baltic Sea: A dynamic model analysis

The interactions between cod (Gadus morhua), herring (Clupea harengus) and sprat (Sprattus sprattus) in the Central Baltic Sea were examined with a simple dynamic model, an alternative to more complicated and data-demanding multispecies and ecosystem models. The main aims of the study were to compare the effect of alternative structures on the model output and examine the control relationships in the fish assemblage under different environmental conditions. The effect of environmental conditions was modelled using a stock-recruitment equation for cod incorporating an environmental index. The model output was especially sensitive to the functional response in predation by cod on herring and sprat. The type II functional response led to a collapse of the clupeid stocks when cod was abundant, while the type III response produced more realistic stock dynamics. According to the simulations, an abundant cod stock was able to keep the sprat stock at a low level, while the herring stock was less affected and benefited from the decreased density of sprat. Simulation of different fishing scenarios indicated that reducing fishing mortality to the level currently advised by ICES would allow the recovery of the cod stock even in unfavourable environmental conditions.     

An individual-based analysis of the dynamics of two coexisting phytoplankton species in the mixed layer

In marine ecosystems ecological and environmental conditions continuously change, possibly supporting the wide range of phytoplankton species coexisting in aquatic environments. Phytoplankton communities are not homogeneously distributed in the water column due to the spatial and temporal variability of turbulent mixing and the concurrent biological response. In this paper an individual-based model (Lagrangian method) simulating the basic physiology of two coexisting phytoplankton species has been developed. The species, sharing the same availability of light and nutrient resource, are characterized by different photo-physiological parameters. The spatial and temporal evolution of turbulent mixing is simulated introducing vertical profiles of measured eddy diffusivity. Three case studies have been examined to analyze the role of environment–individual interactions in determining bloom conditions for both the selected species. The organisms experience recurrent fluctuations of light, temperature, and nutrient concentration gradients, due to the turbulent mixing in the water column, which have significant effects on the growth of the phytoplankton species. In all the numerical experiments, the temporal and spatial variability of different forcings do not support the prevalence of one species over the other over the time scale typical of a phytoplankton bloom.A well mixed water column favours the growth of both the populations while a variable mixing regime limits their growth reducing the photophysiological differences between the species.     

At home and abroad: An empirical analysis of innovation and diffusion in energy technologies

This paper contributes to the induced innovation literature by extending the analysis of supply and demand determinants of innovation in energy technologies to account for international knowledge flows and spillovers. We select a sample of 38 innovating countries and study how knowledge related to energy-efficient and environmentally friendly technologies flows across geographical and technological space. We demonstrate that higher geographical and technological distances are associated with lower probabilities of knowledge flow. Next, we use previous estimates to construct internal and external knowledge stocks for a panel of 17 countries. We then present an econometric analysis of the supply and demand determinants of innovation accounting for international knowledge spillovers. Our results confirm the role of demand-pull effects, proxied by energy prices, and of technological opportunity, proxied by the knowledge stocks. Our results show that spillovers between countries have a significant positive impact on further innovation in energy-efficient and environmentally friendly technologies.     

An analysis of reciprocal exchange of helping behavior in the red-cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis)

We examine the frequency of reciprocal exchanges of helping behavior in three red-cockaded woodpecker populations to determine if such exchanges might constitute a significant fitness benefit of helping. Specifically, we determine how often helpers, once they become breeders, are assisted by young they previously helped raise. The estimated frequencies of reciprocal exchange of helping based on survival and status transition probabilities are low (2%). Observed frequencies of reciprocity are significantly higher than estimated frequencies in two of the three populations studied, suggesting that male fledglings more often remain on their natal territory as helpers if another helper is already present. High rates of retention of young males as helpers on high-quality territories or preferential helping of kin, as well as preferential helping of former care-givers, might explain this result. When the analysis is restricted to helpers unrelated to the young they help raise, which controls for preferential helping of kin and largely eliminates effects of territory quality, empirical estimates of the frequency of reciprocity do not differ from estimates calculated from population demography. We conclude that young males do not preferentially help former care-givers and that reciprocal exchange of help is not an important factor in the evolution of helping behavior in the red-cockaded woodpecker. In this species, all known benefits of helping behavior are indirect (i.e., derived through kin selection ) rather than direct. We discuss the occurrence of unrelated helpers in this context. Received: 10 August 1999 / Received in revised form: 13 February 2000 / Accepted: 19 February 2000     

An interval dynamic multimedia fugacity (IDMF) model for environmental fate of PAHs and their source apportionment in a typical oilfield,China

An interval dynamic multimedia fugacity (IDMF) model with a new validation criterion of interval average logarithmic residual error (IALRE) was developed in this study. The environmental fate of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their source apportionment in a typical oilfield of China were simulated from 1985 to 2010. The PAH concentrations predicted by the model were in agreement with the measured concentrations, which were indicated by the IALREs calculated at 0.41, 0.63, 0.52, and 0.58 for air, water, soil, and sediment, respectively. The multimedia concentrations of Σ16 PAHs were 29.55, 39.22, 31.98, and 26.69 times greater in 2010 than those in 1985, and were higher than any other year modelled. Additionally, 87.82% of PAHs remained in the soil in 2010. PAH source emission into the soil was the major modelled source, whereas PAH degradation in the air was the major modelled loss pathway; the dominant transfer process between the adjacent compartments was atmospheric deposition from air to soil. It was demonstrated that high-temperature combustion was the major source of PAHs in the air and soil, whereas biomass and coal combustion were attributed to water and sediment compartments. The IDMF model was effective in the dynamic source apportionment of PAHs.