Significant reduction of local, regional, national and international greenhouse gas emissions in homes, businesses, industries and communities has become an international priority. This book describes in clear, concise, and understandable terms the nature and scope of the climate change problem. The authors combine their considerable expertise to offer guidelines for defining and applying effective carbon reduction policies, strategies, and technologies. They propose a well-defined road map which can be implemented to help control and abate the alarming increases in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions.
With the effects of climate change already upon us, the need to cut global greenhouse gas emissions is nothing less than urgent. It’s a daunting challenge, but the technologies and strategies to meet it exist today. A small set of energy policies, designed and implemented well, can put us on the path to a low carbon future. Energy systems are large and complex, so energy policy must be focused and cost-effective. One-size-fits-all approaches simply won’t get the job done. Policymakers need a clear, comprehensive resource that outlines the energy policies that will have the biggest impact on our climate future, and describes how to design these policies well. Designing Climate Solutions: A Policy Guide for Low-Carbon Energy is the first such guide, bringing together the latest research and analysis around low carbon energy solutions. Written by Hal Harvey, CEO of the policy firm Energy Innovation, with Robbie Orvis and Jeffrey Rissman of Energy Innovation, Designing Climate Solutions is an accessible resource on lowering carbon emissions for policymakers, activists, philanthropists, and others in the climate and energy community. In Part I, the authors deliver a roadmap for understanding which countries, sectors, and sources produce the greatest amount of greenhouse gas emissions, and give readers the tools to select and design efficient policies for each of these sectors. In Part II, they break down each type of policy, from renewable portfolio standards to carbon pricing, offering key design principles and case studies where each policy has been implemented successfully. We don’t need to wait for new technologies or strategies to create a low carbon future—and we can’t afford to. Designing Climate Solutions gives professionals the tools they need to select, design, and implement the policies that can put us on the path to a livable climate future.
Reduce Carbon Compliance CostsStrategies for California and Quebec facilities to reduce their compliance cost in the Carbon Cap and Trade Program. I have been tracking, trading, brokering and consulting in the environmental credit markets almost two decades in the United States and Canada. The California and Quebec carbon cap and trade program is by far the most complex system that exists for an environmental credit trading program. The target audience for this book is the environmental professionals or the procurement professionals who are managing the carbon cap and trade compliance for their facilities in California and Quebec. I am writing this book to provide a good overview of the program as well as to share some of the cost-cutting compliance strategies I have developed and deploy with my clients. From 2013 onwards, the Carbon Cap and Trade has added millions of dollars of cost to the many facilities located in California and Quebec that emit more than 25,000 tons of CO2e per year. The rules are complex and change almost yearly. Environmental professionals at these facilities already had a full-time job complying with all the other existing environmental regulations for their facilities before these carbon cap and trade programs were thrust upon them. Now they must also deal with coming to understand more than 400 pages of regulation in California and 117 pages in Quebec. This is a daunting task, to say the least. It is extremely difficult for an environmental professional to become an expert on all existing regulations, keep track of and analyze future potential regulation changes, track the trading market, become an expert on all the trading structures available in the evolving market, recommend the best trading strategies, and then execute the trades. This book will assist the environmental professionals and procurement professionals by providing an overview of the key elements of the carbon cap and trade regulations. In these pages you will find real-life trading strategies that will reduce the cost of compliance and, depending on the size of your facility, the savings could shave millions of dollars off your compliance costs which adds directly to the bottom line of the company's profitability.
This book focuses on issues related to a suite of technologies known asCarbon Capture and Storage (CCS), which can be used to capture and store underground large amounts of industrial CO2 emissions. It addresses how CCS should work, as well as where, why, and how these technologies should be deployed, emphasizing the gaps to be filled in terms o
This open access book introduces a multi-disciplinary and comprehensive research on China's long-term low-carbon emission strategies and pathways. After comprehensively considering Chinas own socioeconomic conditions, policy design, energy mix, and other macro-development trends and needs, the research team has proposed suggestions on Chinas low-carbon development strategies and pathways until 2050, with required technologies and policies in order to realize the goals of building a great modern socialist country and a beautiful China. These achievements are in conjunction with the climate goals set in the Paris Agreement alongside Global Sustainable Development. The authors hope that the research findings can serve as a reference for all sectors of Chinese society in their climate research efforts, offer support for the formulation and implementation of chinas national low-carbon development strategies and policies, and help the world to better understand Chinas story in the general trend of global green and low-carbon development.
The science is clear: climate change is a fact and the probability is extremely high that it has been caused by humans. At the same time, policy responses are hesitant, rather lukewarm and differ substantially between nation-states. The question is, what drives and what blocks radical action? This book makes the case that institutional settings, path dependence and emerging change coalitions are critical in explaining climate policies across the global political economy. Technological and social-political innovations are key drivers for dealing with climate change. This class of innovation is very much guided, or suppressed, by a national economy's established institutional settings. By anchoring national case studies in a version of the well established ‘varieties of capitalism’ approach, the chapters of this book show why some economies are policy leaders and others become policy followers, or even policy interlockers. Moreover, the case studies demonstrate the extent to which external events and institutional constraints from the international polity influence national innovation strategies. Taking a unique analytical approach, which combines insights from innovation policies and a variety of capitalism literature, the authors provide genuine comprehension of the interplay between institutional settings, political actors and climate policies. National Pathways to Low Carbon Emission Economies offers a valuable examination of these issues on climate change that will be of interest to academics and postgraduates researching climate policy, economic policy and social movements. Furthermore, it is relevant for policy analysts and policy makers who are interested in learning from climate policies in the context of innovation strategies for a range of countries.
Without the effective participation of developing Asia, a climate crisis is certain. Within developing Asia, the key to averting such a crisis lies in low carbon transport. China, India and Asia's other emerging economies could promote fuel efficient vehicles, public transport, and sustainable urban planning. Or they could become locked into inefficient vehicles, energy intensive infrastructure, and suburban sprawl. The path they choose will have long-term implications for the entire world. And it will depend upon the extent to which they adopt a co-benefit approach. A co-benefit approach involves recognizing that some transport policies mitigate greenhouse gases while simultaneously improving urban air quality, commuting times and energy security. Accounting for these additional benefits can overcome a reluctance to bear the costs of climate actions. But it also presents unique technical, financial, and institutional challenges to decision-makers unaccustomed to optimizing multiple benefits. The book represents a pioneering effort to identify and remove barriers to a co-benefit approach in developing Asia's transport sector. The introductory section makes the case for co-benefits in developing Asia's transport sector. The second section features analytical frameworks to identify strategies with potential co-benefits, offering new findings on black carbon and dieselization. The third section grounds the analytic work in case studies on fuel switching in Pakistan, urban planning in Bandung, Indonesia, congestion charges in Beijing, vehicle restraints in Hanoi and bus rapid transit in Jakarta. A final section examines whether a post-2012 climate regime can help transform a rapidly motorizing Asia into a low carbon Asia. This book is essential reading for transport policy makers, planners, and researchers concerned with low carbon transport, climate change and development in Asia and the wider world.
This book is the first stocktaking of what the decarbonization of the world economy means for fossil fuel†“dependent countries. These countries are the most exposed to the impacts of global climate policies and, at the same time, are often unprepared to manage them. They depend on the export of oil, gas, or coal; the use of carbon-intensive infrastructure (for example, refineries, petrochemicals, and coal power plants); or both. Fossil fuel†“dependent countries face financial, fiscal, and macro-structural risks from the transition of the global economy away from carbon-intensive fuels and the value chains based on them. This book focuses on managing these transition risks and harnessing related opportunities. Diversification and Cooperation in a Decarbonizing World identifies multiple strategies that fossil fuel†“dependent countries can pursue to navigate the turbulent waters of a low-carbon transition. The policy and investment choices to be made in the next decade will determine these countries’ degree of exposure and overall resilience. Abandoning their comfort zones and developing completely new skills and capabilities in a time frame consistent with the Paris Agreement on climate change is a daunting challenge and requires long-term revenue visibility and consistent policy leadership. This book proposes a constructive framework for climate strategies for fossil fuel†“dependent countries based on new approaches to diversification and international climate cooperation. Climate policy leaders share responsibility for creating room for all countries to contribute to the goals of the Paris Agreement, taking into account the specific vulnerabilities and opportunities each country faces.
Climate change continues to impact our health and safety, the economy, and natural systems. With climate-related protections and programs under attack at the federal level, it is critical for cities to address climate impacts locally. Every day there are new examples of cities approaching the challenge of climate change in creative and innovative ways—from rethinking transportation, to greening city buildings, to protecting against sea-level rise. Climate Action Planning is designed to help planners, municipal staff and officials, citizens and others working at local levels to develop and implement plans to mitigate a community's greenhouse gas emissions and increase the resilience of communities against climate change impacts. This fully revised and expanded edition goes well beyond climate action plans to examine the mix of policy and planning instruments available to every community. Boswell, Greve, and Seale also look at process and communication: How does a community bring diverse voices to the table? What do recent examples and research tell us about successful communication strategies? Climate Action Planning brings in new examples of implemented projects to highlight what has worked and the challenges that remain. A completely new chapter on vulnerability assessment will help each community to identify their greatest risks and opportunities. Sections on land use and transportation have been expanded to reflect their growing contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. The guidance in the book is put in context of international, national, and state mandates and goals. Climate Action Planning is the most comprehensive book on the state of the art, science, and practice of local climate action planning. It should be a first stop for any local government interested in addressing climate change.
