How to make UK energy policy more predictable again

A series of policy U-turns have made aspects of British energy policy unpredictable. With such reversals having been politically motivated, state involvement must be revisited if the industry is to re-establish its credibility, argues Sam Fankhauser. He explains that making strategy and decision-making more transparent, and delegating regulation to independent bodies, are some steps that will depoliticise the energy sector and increase investor trust

Strategic adaptation to climate change in Europe

This paper analyses the priorities and challenges for Europe as it adapts to the impacts of climate change. Whatever the ultimate level of warming we will experience, adaptation will be a permanent feature of decision making from now on. As such it is important to go about it in a strategic, rational way. A strategic approach to adaptation involves setting priorities, both spatially (where to adapt) and inter-temporally (when to adapt). The paper reviews the available evidence on Europe's exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity to indicate geographic adaptation priorities. In terms of intertemporal priorities, it recommends fast-tracking two types of action: Win-win measures that yield an immediate return, such as water efficiency, and strategic decisions on infrastructure and planning that have long-term consequences for Europe's vulnerability profile. A strategic approach to adaptation involves careful project design to ensure adaptation measures are cost-effective (how to adapt). An important complication in this respect is the deep level of uncertainty that still exists about future climate change at the local level. This puts a premium on flexible designs that can be adjusted when new information becomes available. The final element of a strategic approach to adaptation is division of labour between the state on the one hand, and private actors (households and firms) on the other (who should adapt). The paper argues that the traditional functions of the state - the provision of public goods, creation of an enabling environment and protection of the vulnerable - also apply to adaptation.In diesem Arbeitspapier werden die Prioritäten sowie die Schwierigkeiten analysiert, die sich für Europa bei der Anpassung an die Auswirkungen des Klimawandels ergeben. Unabhängig davon, wie stark die Erderwärmung letztendlich ausfällt, wird die Anpassung von nun an bei allen Entscheidungsprozessen eine Rolle spielen müssen. Es ist daher notwendig, in dieser Hinsicht strategisch und rational zu agieren

Development aid and climate finance

This paper discusses the implications of climate change for official transfers from rich countries (the North) to poor countries (the South) when the motivation for transfers is ethical rather than strategic. Traditional development transfers to increase income and reduce poverty are complemented by new financial flows to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (mitigation transfers) and become climate-resilient (adaptation transfers). We find that in the absence of barriers to adaptation, mitigation or development, climate change will make isolated transfers less efficient: A large part of their intended effect (to increase income, reduce emissions, or boost climate-resilience) dissipates as the South reallocates its own resources to achieve the mitigation, adaptation and consumption balance it prefers. Only in the case of least-developed countries, which are unable to adapt fully due to income constraints, will adaptation support lead to more climate resilience. In all other cases, if the North wishes to change the balance between mitigation, adaptation and consumption it should structure its transfers as “matching grants”, which are tied to the South’s own level of funding. Alternatively, the North could provide an integrated “climate-compatible development” package that recognizes the combined climate and development requirements of the South. If the aim is to increase both mitigation and adaptation in the South, development assistance that increases the income level, can be an effective measure, but only if there is an international agreement and the recipient country is not income constrained. If the recipient country is very poor, development aid may reduce adaptation effort

Green growth opportunities for Asia

This paper assesses the low-carbon economy in Asia: how large it is today and how well it will fare in the future. Using patent and trade data, it analyzes the potential of Asian economies to capture value from the design and export of low-carbon technologies, acknowledging that these are only two dimensions of a multidimensional low-carbon economy. It conducts country-level analysis to identify which technologies different countries can specialize in and potentially scale up. The work shows that, overall, Asia has an innovation specialization and revealed comparative advantage in climate change mitigation technologies. Particular strengths include efficient lighting, photovoltaics, and energy storage technologies. Further opportunities include nuclear and smart grids. However, within Asia, there are regional disparities, with countries such as the People's Republic of China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea outperforming others. This paper highlights how the analytical framework it presents can be used to strategically inform environmental policy makers and concludes with an overview of the green growth policy tool kit

How green are the manifestos? GE2017 and climate change

Sam Fankhauser and Sini Matikainen review what the manifestos of the Conservatives, Labour, and the Liberal Democrats contain on the environment. They argue that all three parties are committed to taking action, but there is a risk that climate change will be forgotten by a new government preoccupied with other issues

Structuring International Financial Support for Climate Change Mitigation in Developing Countries

In the Copenhagen Accord of December 2009, developed countries agreed to provide start-up finance for adaptation in developing countries and expressed the ambition to scale this up to $100 billion per year by 2020. The financial mechanisms to deliver this support have to be tailored to country and sector specific needs so as to enable domestic policy processes and self sustaining business models, and to limit policy risk exposure for investors while complying with budgetary constraints in OECD countries. This paper structures the available financial mechanisms according to the needs they can address, and reports on experience with their application in bilateral and multilateral settings.Financial mechanism, risk guarantee, development, climate policy

Climate change legislation in South Korea

노트 : An Excerpt from The 2015 Global Climate Legislation StudyA Review of Climate Change Legislation in 99 Countrie

The unequivocal case for net zero green growth

This paper makes the case for net zero (or, more broadly, green) growth. It argues that net zero green growth is the most realistic strategy for halting global warming and meeting the objectives of the Paris Agreement. Net zero growth is feasible technologically, economically and behaviourally. Credible decarbonisation paths have been modelled and the leading countries have already broken the link between emissions and gross domestic product. Green growth, which emphasises economic opportunities, is the best way to mobilise the clean innovation and investment that net zero requires, and it is the best strategy to secure public support for rapid decarbonisation

The impact of climate legislation on trade-related carbon emissions 1996–2018

We analyse the international impact on carbon emissions from national climate legislation in 111 countries over 1996–2018. We estimate trade-related carbon leakage, or net carbon imports, as the difference between consumption and production emissions. Legislation has had a significant negative and roughly similar impact on both consumption and production emissions. The net impact on trade-related emissions is therefore not statistically significant, neither in the short term (laws passed in the last 3 years) nor the long term (laws older than 3 years). We find a significant negative long-term impact on domestic emissions from laws passed by trade partners. This latter specification corresponds to the traditional definition of carbon leakage. Overall, we conclude that there has been no detrimental effect of climate legislation on international emissions

The 2015 Global Climate Legislation Study: a review of climate change legislation in 99 countries: summary for policy-makers

This report summarises the main insights from the 2015 Global Climate Legislation Study. It is the fifth edition in a series dating back to 2010 (Townshend et al., 2011). The 2015 edition covers 98 countries plus the EU, up from 66 in 2014, which together account for 93 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The study is intended as a source of information for legislators, researchers and policy-makers. It is hoped that parliaments considering climate change legislation will benefit from the growing body of experience reflected in the study. Facilitating knowledge exchange among parliamentarians was one of the primary motivations behind the Climate Legislation Study when the series was conceived by the Grantham Research Institute, LSE and GLOBE International in 2010. Since then there have been many examples of parliamentarians learning from, and being inspired by, each other through forums such as GLOBE and the Inter-Parliamentary Union – the two co-sponsors of the 2015 study