A Modelling Assessment of the impact of clean development mechanism on electricity generation systems: Case of Shandong Province, China

The electricity generation sector is broadly cited among the most promising domains for implementation of greenhouse gases (GHG) abatement measures intended to achieve the targets set up in the Kyoto Protocol. Meanwhile, considered through the perspective of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), the electricity sector offers attractive business opportunities for investment in GHG mitigation projects which may be beneficial for both industrialised and developing countries. This work aims to identify such GHG emissions reduction projects within the electricity sector that can be eligible for CDM. It is assumed that revenues from sale of the certified emission reductions (CERs) would increase competitiveness of the power generation technologies with lower carbon emission rates, thereby altering economically efficient load order and capacity deployment. Possible range of CDM projects as well as economical and environmental benefits from their implementation were estimated using a least cost electricity system expansion planning model PLANELEC-Pro. It is found that in a reference Chinese province of Shandong the Clean Development Mechanism may contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions by 46.8 million tons (1.64%) compared to the baseline case through the deployment of wind power and advanced clean coal technologies. The total cost of the electricity generation system can be decreased by up to US$ 86 million (0.24%) due to sale of CERs in the international market. Sensitivity analyses were made on the price of CERs which is the main factor having effect on the economical benefits from CDM and the resulting structure of the power generation mix

Forest carbon stocks and fluxes in physiographic zones of India

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Reducing carbon Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) is of central importance to combat climate change. Foremost among the challenges is quantifying nation's carbon emissions from deforestation and degradation, which requires information on forest carbon storage. Here we estimated carbon storage in India's forest biomass for the years 2003, 2005 and 2007 and the net flux caused by deforestation and degradation, between two assessment periods i.e., Assessment Period first (ASP I), 2003-2005 and Assessment Period second (ASP II), 2005-2007.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The total estimated carbon stock in India's forest biomass varied from 3325 to 3161 Mt during the years 2003 to 2007 respectively. There was a net flux of 372 Mt of CO₂in ASP I and 288 Mt of CO₂in ASP II, with an annual emission of 186 and 114 Mt of CO₂respectively. The carbon stock in India's forest biomass decreased continuously from 2003 onwards, despite slight increase in forest cover. The rate of carbon loss from the forest biomass in ASP II has dropped by 38.27% compared to ASP I.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>With the Copenhagen Accord, India along with other BASIC countries China, Brazil and South Africa is voluntarily going to cut emissions. India will voluntary reduce the emission intensity of its GDP by 20-25% by 2020 in comparison to 2005 level, activities like REDD+ can provide a relatively cost-effective way of offsetting emissions, either by increasing the removals of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere by afforestation programmes, managing forests, or by reducing emissions through deforestation and degradation.</p

Regional nitrogen cycle: an Indian perspective

During the past century through food and energy production, human activities have altered the world's nitrogen cycle by accelerating the rate of reactive nitrogen creation. India has made impressive strides in the agricultural front, in which N fertilizer plays a major role. There has been a marked change in the supply and use of land, water, fertilizers, seeds and livestock, but the N use efficiency remained at a low level. Exploring the nature of these changes and quantification of the impacts on the N cycle has become essential. Hence we have presented data on various N pools and fluxes based on a conceptual N model. In India, efforts should focus on understanding the fate and consequences of the applied N and to increase the efficiency of N use

The Targets of Myanmar Energy Policy and Its Assessment

缅甸是一个能源禀赋很高的国家,但缅甸能源供应结构不平衡,商业能源开发不足。缅甸根据其国情和发展阶段的特殊性所确定的能源政策目标涉及能源独立、电力资源开发、能源的有效利用和节约、森林保护等多个方面。本文简要阐述缅甸的能源禀赋及其利用,并就缅甸的能源政策目标进行阐述和评价。Myanmar is highly endowed with energy resources and has unbalanced supply structure of energy types with the underdevelopment of commercial energy.The targets of Myanmar energy policy which are selected in accordance with the particularity of the country situation and current development stage of Myanmar include energy independence,employment of electric power,energy efficiency and conservation,forest conservation,etc.The paper will put emphasis upon the discussion and assessment of the targets of Myanmar energy policy after briefly describing the endowment and utilization of Myanmar energy resources

Die Auswirkungen internationaler Treibhausgasemissionsreduktion auf Indonesien

This dissertation represents a summary of three papers addressing impacts of climate policy on Indonesia. The extended version of MERGE (Model for Evaluating the Regional and Global Effects of Greenhouse Gas Reduction Policies) has been used to project Indonesian’s energy production, consumption and export to the year 2100, for a reference scenario and mitigation scenarios. In addition to the international trade of energy, coal has been included in this version. The study also analyzes the interaction between the forest sector and energy policy and finally analyzes the direct effect of international climate policy on deforestation in Indonesia. Then, MERGE has been extended to analyze emissions of air pollutants. The model uses the base scenarios from IPCC (2000), with extensions to include mitigation scenarios, to project concentrations of air pollutants and their impacts on human health and the economy. In the Indonesian energy sector, coal production grows gradually and gas production more strongly in the reference scenario, whereas oil production falls rapidly. Oil imports increase, while coal exports decrease; gas is imported later. If all countries reduce their emissions, including Indonesia, coal production increases slightly less than in the reference scenario towards the end of century. Oil imports are higher and gas imports slightly lower than in the reference scenario. The effects of fossil fuel emission reduction on deforestation are slightly less than in the reference case. The cost of slowing deforestation in Indonesia increases exponentially by a factor of approximately 20 by the year 2100. 6 Indonesia would gain the profits from slowing deforestation since the revenue from slowing deforestation is higher than the costs. The health problems associated with sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations resulting from fossil fuel use reach higher levels if OECD countries reduce their emission, since Indonesian oil imports increase. However, if all countries, including Indonesia, adopt the Kyoto Protocol, the health problems are lower than in the reference case

Carbon budgets and carbon sequestration potential of Indian forests

Keywords: Carbon uptake, Forest biomass, Bioenergy, Land use change, Indian forests, Deforestation, Afforestation, Rotation length, Trees outside forests. Global climate change is a widespread and growing concern that has led to extensive international discussions and negotiations. Responses to this concern have focused on reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide, and on measuring carbon absorbed by and stored in forests and soils. Forests are a significant part of the global carbon cycle. The amount of carbon stored, however, changes over time as forests grow and mature. Land use changes, especially afforestation and deforestation may have major impacts on carbon storage. An option for mitigating the accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere is the enhanced sequestration of carbon by the biosphere through massive reforestation or sustainable afforestation programs. Reducing the rate of deforestation reduces carbon losses from the biosphere. Establishing plantations on former agricultural land may have less of an impact on increasing carbon sequestration than restoring natural forests. The focus of this study was to estimate the carbon budgets and carbon sequestration potential of Indian forests, assessing the possible impacts of land-use changes and climate change on carbon stocks of Indian forests, and the mitigation potential of using forest-based bioenergy for fossil fuel substitution. The results from this study show that over a 10-year period from 1992-2002, Indian forests have acted as a small carbon sink. Thus, India with high population density, low forest cover per capita, high dependence of a large part of human population on forests, and a predominantly agrarian economy, has been able to reduce deforestation rate and increase its forest cover and associated carbon sink in the terrestrial biosphere. Due to fast growth rate and adaptability to a range of environments, short rotation plantations, in addition to carbon storage, rapidly produce biomass for energy and contribute to reduced greenhouse gas emissions. India has the potential to create additional carbon sinks using marginal lands, while at the same time balancing economic development and environmental concerns. </p

Project Report Australia-India Strategic Research Fund Preparing for climate change in marine system of Australia and India

Climate change is a major challenge facing governments, industries and communities and requires an inter-disciplinary approach to understand impacts and adaptation options across both the biological and human systems. Marine resources in both southern India and south-eastern Australia provide substantial social and economic benefits which flow into many rural communities. Both regions have been identified as global warming hotspots with the rate of climate warming predicted to be greater than 90 per cent of the global average. These areas are already being affected by climate change and are expected to provide case studies for developing adaptation responses across substantially different cultures. This project, based on two workshops, brought together inter-disciplinary researchers from both India and Australia with expertise in physical, biological, social, economic and governance climate change research and developed a strategic research plan for future collaborative research. The workshops identifiedthat the key physical drivers (e.g. temperature, currents) are predicted to affect species abundance and distributions, develop biological, social and economic indices that can be used to monitor impacts on species, industries and rural communities and investigate options for policy and management of marine resources.By developing a strategic and operational plan, the project focused on developing a collaborative research opportunities that can assist Governments, Industries and Communities prepare and adapt to changes in their marine resources. Society, economic and governance differences between India and Australia provided an exciting opportunity to determine generic and specific issues and to adapt concepts and methods across broad biological and socio-economic background

Climate policy integration at national scale

This thesis explores climate policy integration (CPI) particularly looking at the structures and processes at the national policy scale and draws on insights from two developing countries, Pakistan and Malaysia. Climate policy integration is an emerging area of research in scholarly and policy literature that has been advanced as a mechanism for dealing with an integrated climate and development challenge. However, the literature is deficient in terms of coverage of developing countries, evidence of CPI at national scales, exploration of structures and processes and the conditions under which the process of CPI can be most effective. This research attempts to fill this scholarly and practical gap. This thesis presents interdisciplinary research touching on, inter alia, the areas of development policy and economics, sustainable development, environmental policy integration (EPI), public policy, environmental change and history, governance and international relations. Theory construction was formulated using case study and adaptive theory approaches. Empirical evidence was collected qualitatively through review and analysis of literature, document analysis and semi-structured interviews. In order to extend into actual policy systems of national scale, case studies of two developing countries, Pakistan and Malaysia, with contrasting but in some ways similar development challenges, were undertaken. While some of the issues that arise in Pakistan and Malaysia are predictable from a policy integration perspective and often identified in the literature (e.g. silos, question of lead agency), some arise that are less familiar (e.g. the role of information). Climate policy development has occurred in both countries, but with very different foci and priorities, especially regarding mitigation versus adaptation. Key agencies are becoming sensitised to climate change. However, there is a clear disconnect between the high-level political priority being increasingly accorded to climate change in both countries, and the slow rate of agency response and implementation. Mainstreaming or integration is occurring, but incorporation of climate change objectives into all stages of policymaking is still weak. 'Silos' across the policy system are a major issue. The information basis and capacity to develop and justify policy action across sectors is an issue in both countries, but with different emphases. As a process to begin understanding the climate mitigation and adaptation imperatives and costs for each country was only starting to appear, a full aggregate of climate consequences into the all aspects of public policy has still to be made and contradictions between sectoral polices have not been removed. The work contributes a new interpretation of CPI within a public policy and administrative framework. It suggests an integration dynamic that advances low carbon and climate-resilient development and questions the hitherto piece meal and incremental approach that national and global policymakers have internalised to deal with the climate challenge. This views mainstreaming as a vehicle for advancing low carbon and climate-resilient development rather than as an end product of existing practices. This requires a paradigm shift from existing separation of discourses, in particular on EPI and CPI to advance sustainable development. -- provided by Candidate

Changing lives, changing nature(s): socio-environmental transitions in the uplands of the Lao PDR

This study debates the socio-political construction of the land degradation issue in the Lao PDR, the consequences of this construction for policy interventions in the uplands, and the social and environmental outcomes of these interventions. For that purpose, livelihood analysis is integrated into the theoretical framework of political ecology. The study adopts a ‘hybrid’ and locally-grounded approach that integrates methods from the social and ecological sciences and investigates recent livelihood and environmental change in two upland villages in northern Laos. From there, the analysis draws a number of causal links between local socio-environmental change, local ‘theories’ on land degradation, the wider political economy and the politics of the ‘environment’ at the national level, and various local contingencies (i.e. social differentiation, sociocultural change and everyday resistance to ‘external’ interventions). The study argues that the current mainstream environmental discourse in Laos appears less based on solid empirical evidence than shaped by the subjectivities and political-economic projects of the state, the political elite and their international development partners. In turn, policy interventions supported by this discourse have significant impacts on upland livelihoods and environments. Importantly, they contribute to make traditional upland agriculture unsustainable and, hence, drive a general trajectory of livelihood diversification and deagrarianisation. Nevertheless and notwithstanding significant constraints linked to land degradation and wide-ranging state regulations, upland-dwellers retain a non-negligible level of agency which allows them to pursue their own, sometimes contested, economic and political objectives. Multi-local social networks and ‘village-local state’ alliances appear to play a key role in facilitating this process. These findings have important implications for the conceptualization of society-nature, global-local and state-society relations. They highlight a need to shift from simple dualistic models to more integrated perspectives accounting for the co-construction of society and nature, the co-production of global and local change, and the interpenetration of the state and society