Is there a room for a "CO2 Central Bank"?.

European carbon market; price; security;

The European Carbon Market in Action: Lessons from the First Trading Period Interim Report

Abstract and PDF report are also available on the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change website (http://globalchange.mit.edu/).The European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) is the largest greenhouse gas market ever established. The European Union is leading the world's first effort to mobilize market forces to tackle climate change. A precise analysis of the EU ETS's performance is essential to its success, as well as to that of future trading programs. The research program "The European Carbon Market in Action: Lessons from the First Trading Period," aims to provide such an analysis. It was launched at the end of 2006 by an international team led by Frank Convery, Christian De Perthuis and Denny Ellerman. This interim report presents the researchers' findings to date. It was prepared after the research program's second workshop, held in Washington DC in January 2008. The first workshop was held in Paris in April 2007. Two additional workshops will be held in Prague in June 2008 and in Paris in September 2008. The researchers' complete analysis will be published at the beginning of 2009.The research program “The European Carbon Market in Action: Lessons from the First Trading Period” has been made possible thanks to the support of: Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, BlueNext, EDF, Euronext, Orbeo, Suez, Total, Veolia

Carbon market and climate negotiations.

In the wake of the Copenhagen Conference and the outstanding issue of shaping climate change mitigation for the period beyond that covered by the Kyoto protocol, this paper puts into context the various economic instruments available fot tackling climate change, and highlights the emergence, as a result of the framework of instruments provided by the Kyoto protocol, of carbon markets, (...)Economic instruments; Climate change; CO2; Carbon markets; Post-Kyoto;

Darning Mark’s Jumper: Wearing Love and Sorrow

Some garments demand a narrative of their own. Such was the case with a jumper that I darned for my partner in the winter of 2010. The jumper was old and moth-eaten; Mark was gravely ill with only a few months left to live. In the process of darning, each stitch was an act of love, each passage of the needle restoring something that had been eaten away.This article explores the multiple levels of meaning that run through the narrative I have woven around darning Mark’s jumper – an irreplaceable garment – at once priceless but worthless, worn but unwearable, empty yet embodied. It explores the concept of the fetish and draws on Igor Kopytoff’s analysis of our relationship to commodities and things in the modern, capitalist economy, where discarding and replacing old clothes with new is the default option. The theoretical heart of this paper, however, lies with Elizabeth Wilson’s writings on the ‘quasi-magical properties and meanings’ of a garment and with the work of Peter Stallybrass, who has written brilliantly on how in moments of crisis, in the ruptures of our lives, in mourning, it is to these irrational attachments that we turn.

Designing climate change adaptation policies : an economic framework

Adaptation has long been neglected in the debate and policies surrounding climate change. However, increasing awareness of climate change has led many stakeholders to look for the best way to limit its consequences and has resulted in a large number of initiatives related to adaptation, particularly at the local level. This report proposes a general economic framework to help stakeholders in the public sector to develop effective adaptation strategies. To do so, it lays out the general issues involved in adaptation, including the role of uncertainty and inertia, and the need to consider structural changes in addition to marginal adjustments. Then, it identifies the reasons for legitimate public action in terms of adaptation, and four main domains of action: the production and dissemination of information on climate change and its impacts; the adaptation of standards, regulations and fiscal policies; the required changes in institutions; and direct adaptation actions of governments and local communities in terms of public infrastructure, public buildings and ecosystems. Finally, the report suggests a method to build public adaptation plans and to assess the desirability of possible policies.Climate Change Economics,Wetlands,Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases,Adaptation to Climate Change,Science of Climate Change

Darning Mark’s jumper : wearing love and sorrow

Some garments demand a narrative of their own. Such was the case with a jumper that I darned for my partner in the winter of 2010. The jumper was old and moth-eaten; Mark was gravely ill with only a few months left to live. In the process of darning, each stitch was an act of love, each passage of the needle restoring something that had been eaten away. This article explores the multiple levels of meaning that run through the narrative I have woven around darning Mark’s jumper – an irreplaceable garment – at once priceless but worthless, worn but unwearable, empty yet embodied. It explores the concept of the fetish and draws on Igor Kopytoff’s analysis of our relationship to commodities and things in the modern, capitalist economy, where discarding and replacing old clothes with new is the default option. The theoretical heart of this paper, however, lies with Elizabeth Wilson’s writings on the ‘quasi-magical properties and meanings’ of a garment and with the work of Peter Stallybrass, who has written brilliantly on how in moments of crisis, in the ruptures of our lives, in mourning, it is to these irrational attachments that we turn

Quel avenir pour la taxe carbone en France ? les choix économiques après la censure du Conseil Constitutionnel.

L’articulation entre une taxe carbone nationale et le système européen d’échange de quotas pose de fait une double difficulté : il faut faire coexister un mécanisme de tarification du carbone par le marché avec un mécanisme de tarification par l’impôt ; il faut simultanément faire converger des règles européennes régissant le marché avec des règles nationales. Pour y parvenir, il est utile de rappeler comment fonctionnent les mécanismes existants et les choix retenus par les pays ayant réussi à faire coexister une axe nationale avec le système européen des quotas de CO2. C’est ce que fait cet article avant d’examiner les différentes pistes permettant de sortir de la situation actuelle.Politique fiscale; Taxe sur le dioxyde de carbone; Permis de pollution négociables;

Pourquoi l’europe a besoin d’une banque centrale du carbone ?.

Dans cette contribution, nous examinons les voies d’un renforcement de la régulation du marché européen du carbone, outil central retenu par l’Union européenne pour atteindre ses objectifs climatiques et à ce jour premier système d’échange de permis au monde. Un tel renforcement implique une harmonisation et une centralisation plus poussées des fonctions classiques de surveillance d’un marché (sécurité des infrastructures, transparence de l’information, traque des positions dominantes, …), difficiles à mettre en œuvre dans le contexte institutionnel européen. Mais pour envoyer un signal permettant d’orienter l’économie sur la cible d’une réduction par cinq des émissions européennes à l’horizon 2050, il faudrait aller plus loin : créer un organisme indépendant sur le modèle d’une banque centrale avec une capacité d’intervention et une crédibilité suffisantes pour modifier les anticipations des industriels afin qu’ils réalisent aujourd’hui les investissements nécessaires pour mettre l’économie européenne sur la voie de la décarbonation.Marchés du carbone; Union européenne; banque centrale du carbone;