Radwaste disposal and the global ocean dumping convention : the politics of international environmental regimes

Defence date: 4 December 1992Examining board: Prof. Helge Hveem (Univ. Oslo) ; Prof. Beate Kohler-Koch (Univ. Mannheim) ; Prof. Giandomenico Majone (EUI, supervisor) ; Prof. Ole Karup Pedersen (Univ. Copenhagen) ; Prof. Eugene B. Skolnikoff (MIT) ; Prof. Susan Strange (EUI, co-supervisor)First made available online: 4 July 201

Soil carbon sequestration and the CDM: Opportunities and the CDM

The agriculture sector dominates the economies of most sub-Saharan countries, contributing about one-third of the region’s GDP, accounting for forty percent of the export, and employing about two-thirds of the economically active population. Moreover, some soils in sub-Saharan Africa could, by providing sinks for carbon sequestration, play an important role in managing global climate change. Improvements in agricultural techniques and land use practices could lead to higher agricultural productivity and accumulate soil carbon. Hence, soil carbon sequestration could produce local economic income as well as social and other benefits in Africa. The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) established in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol is designed to give developed countries with high domestic abatement cost access to low-cost greenhouse gas abatement projects in developing countries, and to benefit developing countries selling projects to investors in developed countries. It is presently unclear whether the CDM will provide credit for sink enhancement and permit broader sink activities. Unfortunately, few cost estimates of soil carbon sequestration strategies presently exist. While these costs are uncertain and all input costs have not been estimated, manure-based projects in small-holdings in Kenya could increase maize yield significantly and sequester one ton of soil carbon for a net cost of - US$806. Clearly, such projects would be very attractive economically. There is presently an urgent need to launch useful long-term (>10 years) field experiments and demonstration projects in Africa. Existing data are not readily comparable, it is uncertain how large amounts of carbon could be sequestered, findings are site-specific, and it is unclear how well the sites represent wider areas. To develop CDM projects, it is important that experimental trials generate reliable and comparable data. Finally, it will be important to estimate local environmental effects and economic benefits, costs, and net costs of soil carbon sequestration projects

Differentiation, leaders and fairness: Negotiating climate commitments in the European Community

This report shows that it is possible to negotiate and reach asymmetrical environmental agreements that take into account significant national dissimilarities. The report argues that analytical models and intuitively appealing model-based quantitative indicators of national circumstances can establish premises for negotiations leading to differentiated environmental agreements. While they cannot take the place of political negotiation, they help identify a formula that defines the problem in a resolvable fashion and prevent the bargaining space from expanding uncontrollably. Scholars arguing that symmetrical environmental measures are widely used because they simplify negotiations and prevent countries from pursuing extremist positions, and that salient focal points are significant in negotiation, overlook this argument. In pre-Kyoto European Community climate policy, which this article empirically examines, high transaction costs and EC member states’ ability to block economically hurtful agreements were not essential issues

Muligheter og betingelser for felles gjennomføring etter Kyoto

Denne rapporten vurderer konsekvensene av Kyoto-protokollen for prosjekter om såkalt felles gjennomføring (FG, på engelsk: Joint Implementation – JI). Dette er prosjekter der aktører fra ett land finansierer tiltak som gir reduserte utslipp av klimagasser i et annet land (vertslandet). Investoren kan bruke den oppnådde reduksjonen (den såkalte "kreditt") for å oppfylle sin klimaforpliktelse. I Kyoto-protokollen åpnes det for at disse reduksjonene kan godskrives klimaregnskapet til landet som finansierer prosjektet. Denne rapporten presenterer kort noen forskjellige hovedtyper av slike prosjekter, gir et overblikk over dagens priser på FG-prosjekter og de viktigste kategorier av vertsland. Rapporten bestreber seg på å gi et totalbilde av FG og rammeverket rundt FG. Det har ikke vært formålet å foreta en detaljert utredning av enkeltprosjekter. FG-prosjekter er kort beskrevet bare i de tilfeller hvor tilstrekkelig informasjon har vært tilgjengelig og hvor prosjektene synes representative og interessante. Rapporten bygger på materiale som er laget på oppdrag for Industrikraft Midt-Norge