A Dynamic Analysis of Fairness in Global Warming Policy: Kyoto, Buenos Aires, and Beyond

In December 1997, 34 industrialized countries signed the Kyoto Protocol committing to targets and timetables to reduce 6 greenhouse gases (GHGs). Why were the only signatories industrialized countries? Two reasons are usually put forth. The first is pragmatism, in that only this group, as opposed to developing countries, can afford the costs of mitigating GHGs. Still, this explanation is imperfect since 12 of the signatories are transitional economies of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The second reason is fairness, in that industrialized countries are responsible for the vast majority of the GHGs already built-up in the atmosphere and are responsible for over 60% of the current emissions. The fairness explanation is further supported by the fact that "differentiation" was invoked in Kyoto, i.e., not all signatories agreed to equal cutbacks, several citing special economic circumstances. In the future, both pragmatism and fairness will be relevant to the question of when and how developing countries will sign a global GHG agreement. Another major influence will be the pursuit of economic efficiency or, at least, cost-effectiveness, i.e., making sure that the targets are met at the lowest global cost. This can be fine-tuned in future agreements by the use of incentive-based instruments and the timing of commitments. Efficiency may also be affected by relative burden-sharing, since this will influence the number of countries that make mitigation commitments in the future. The purpose of this paper is to analyze fairness, or equity, aspects of the current Kyoto Protocol and its extension to a truly global agreement that includes developing countries. This is done in the context of a policy approach gaining increasing favor - tradeable emission permits. A dynamic model of intercountry CO2 permit trading is used to address the following questions: 1) To what extent does permit trading lower global CO2 mitigation costs? 2) How are intercountry welfare impacts influenced by alternative permit distributions according to various equity criteria? 3) How might developing countries be brought into the agreement without requiring CO2 reductions, yet promoting global efficiency gains by utilizing their relatively lower cost mitigation capabilities? 4) To what extent does allowing for permit trading over time further lower global mitigation costs? 5) How are intercountry welfare impacts distinguished by not just static definitions of equity but also dynamic versions, such as sustainability criteria?

Equity and Justice in Global Warming Policy

Many countries are implementing or at least considering policies to counter increasingly certain negative impacts from climate change. An increasing amount of research has been devoted to the analysis of the costs of climate change and its mitigation, as well as to the design of policies, such as the international Kyoto Protocol, post-Kyoto negotiations, regional initiatives, and unilateral actions. Although most studies on climate change policies in economics have considered efficiency aspects, there is a growing literature on equity and justice. Climate change policy has important dimensions of distributive justice, both within and across generations, but in this paper we survey only studies on the intragenerational aspect, i.e., within a generation. We cover several domains including the international, regional, national, sectoral and inter-personal, and examine aspects such as the distribution of burdens from climate change, climate change policy negotiations in general, implementation of climate agreements using tradable emission permits, and the uncertainty of alternatives to emission reductions.Economics of Climate Change, Intragenerational Equity, Distributive Justice

Interregional burden-sharing of greenhouse gas mitigation in the United States

Emissions trading is an attractive candidate for implementing greenhouse gas mitigation, because it can promote both efficiency and equity. This paper analyzes the interregional impacts of alternative allocations of carbon dioxide emission permits within the U.S. The analysis is performed with the aid of a nonlinear programming model for ten EPA Regions and for six alternative permit distribution formulas. The reason that various alternatives need to be considered is that there is no universal consensus on the best definition of equity. Advance knowledge of absolute and relative regional economic impacts provides policy-makers with a stronger basis for making the choice. The analysis yields several useful results. First, the simulations indicate that no matter how permits are allocated, this policy instrument can substantially reduce the cost of greenhouse gas mitigation for the U.S. in comparison to a system of fixed quotas for each of its regions. Interestingly, the welfare impacts of several of the allocation formulas differ only slightly despite the large differences in their philosophical underpinnings. Also, the results for some equity criteria differ greatly from their application in the international domain. For example, the Egalitarian (per capita) criterion results in the relatively greatest cost burden being incurred by one of the regions of the U.S. with the lowest per capita income.Tradeable emission permits; climate policy; interregional equity

Equity and justice in global warming policy

Many countries are implementing or at least considering policies to counter increasingly certain negative impacts from climate change. An increasing amount of research has been devoted to the analysis of the costs of climate change and its mitigation, as well as to the design of policies, such as the international Kyoto Protocol, post-Kyoto negotiations, regional initiatives, and unilateral actions. Although most studies on climate change policies in economics have considered efficiency aspects, there is a growing literature on equity and justice. Climate change policy has important dimensions of distributive justice, both within and across generations, but in this paper we survey only studies on the intragenerational aspect, i.e.., within a generation. We cover several domains including the international, regional, national, sectoral and inter-personal, and examine aspects such as the distribution of burdens from climate change, climate change policy negotiations in general, implementation of climate agreements using tradable emission permits, and the uncertainty of alternatives to emission reductions.Economics of climate change, intragenerational equity, distributive justice

Estimating Environmental Benefits of Natural Hazard Mitigation with Benefit Transfer: Results from a Benefit-Cost Analysis of FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grants

This paper summarizes methods, data, and results associated with the first major attempt to evaluate the environmental benefits of FEMA natural hazards mitigation grants. The study relied heavily on the refinement of benefit transfer methods. Categories of benefits include water quality for recreational and commercial fishing, drinking water, outdoor recreation, hazardous waste, wetlands and aesthetic, health and safety benefits. Environmental and historic benefits proved to be a very minor proportion of the total benefits in dollar terms. Only a very small percentage of earthquake and wind-related hazards yielded environmental benefits, while a sizeable percentage of flood hazard grants did so. We also discuss the prospects that environmental benefits might have been much greater had data been available to analyze more environmental impacts. Key Words: Natural Hazard Mitigation, Environmental Benefits

SYSTEMATIC COMPARISON OF TWO HABITAT CONNECTIVITY MODELING APPROACHES: LEAST COST PATH AND CIRCUIT THEORY

Intensifying human development requires landscape-level planning to restore connectivity to fragmented and ecologically isolated habitats. The rapidly growing field of conservation planning has produced a variety of approaches to modeling habitat connectivity. The objective of this research is to inform the choice and use of appropriate software packages for connectivity conservation planning. I focused on comparing two prevalent approacheds, 1) least cost path, patch-patch modeling using CorridorDesigner software and 2) electrical circuit-theory based approaches for patch-patch and \u27all points\u27 connectivity using Circuitscape software. Additionally, I compared two dominant connectivity modeling approaches: 1) the focal species approach and 2) a generalized resistance approach using a \u27naturalness\u27 dataset. When using the same input layers and varying only the software, I found considerable differences in spatial characteristics of outputs, between least cost path (LCP) and circuit theory (CT) approaches including 1) greater specificity of LCP corridors, and 2) spatial disjuncts between LCP corridors and CT areas of high current flow. Mean resistance values for Circuitscape outputs were different than means for CorridorDesigner, suggesting Circuitscape\u27s different algorithm producesdifferent corridors than CorridorDesigner. As the underlying assumptions of LCP and CT differ, it is not surprising that their outputs would as well, even when using the same input variables. However, conservation planning practitioners need to be aware of these modeling assumptions prior to implementing corridors. The increased specificity of LCP corridors produced by CorridorDesigner and the intuitively accessible LCP concept suggests ease of application but perhaps the risk of bias due to overspecificity. Alternatively, while circuit theory is intuitively apealing because it is a more wholistic lansdscape-level-analysis, and has useful, spatially-explicit \u27pinch points\u27, it may produce output that is too vague for local-land use planners. Conservation planning webinars and other trainings will help land use planners understand the differences among connectivity modeling assumptions, data structures, and outputs

Regional carbon dioxide permit trading in the United States: coalition choices for Pennsylvania

An overview is given of the growing number of regional associations in which states have entered into voluntary arrangements to limit greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In particular, in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a number of northeastern states have joined to create a regional GHG cap and trade program, beginning with the utility industry. Analysis is made of the five key issues relating to these current and potential climate action associations: the extent of the total and individual state mitigation cost-savings across all sectors from potential emission permit trading coalitions; the size of permit markets associated with the various coalitions; the relative advantages of joining various coalitions for swing states such as Pennsylvania; the implications of the exercise of market power in the permit market; and the total and individual state/country cost-savings from extending the coalition beyond US borders. It is shown that overall efficiency gains from trading with a system of flexible state caps, with greater overall cost savings increasing with increasing geographic scope.Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative; Cap and trade program; Market power in the permit market; Mitigation costs; The size of permit market; Coalition choices for Pennsylvania

Glazing Performance in the Patient Care Setting

Windows can have positive effects on hospital staff and patient health and well-being. Proper window design can also significantly benefit hospital energy conservation, consequentially reducing environmental impact. However, often the glazing and fenestration design of the hospital envelope can be heavily impacted by building components like structural and mechanical systems. The location of these building components at the exterior wall can lead to a reduction of glazing area, increase the use of electric lighting, and limit the potential benefits that glazing design can provide to occupants. The health benefits of glazing for building occupants have been well documented. Natural daylight and views to the outdoors have shown benefits to hospital patients and staff. The application of glazing in the hospital can have effects on patient well-being, reducing recovery time, length of stay, stress, depression, and medication use, improving patient satisfaction. Likewise, access to windows in the workplace improves staff well-being, increasing productivity, and job satisfaction, while reducing staff absenteeism, and turnover. Hospital occupants are involved in various types of activity resulting in a wide range of preferred lighting and thermal conditions. This makes it challenging to maintain ideal occupant lighting and thermal comfort levels and leads to a dependence on electric lighting and mechanical air conditioning. Hospitals have a high-energy intensity due to their complexity, density, and continuous occupancy. This energy intensity is further compounded by the size and scale of these buildings. The layout of glazing effects energy consumption for electric lighting and mechanical air conditioning, emissions and the resulting impact on the environment. This research will study the design factors effecting the application of glazing and their impact on the conditions within the patient room. An in-depth literature review studying the effects of glazing design on patient, staff, and environmental outcomes, along with documentation of established benchmarks and best practices will inform and quantify lighting, thermal, and energy metrics. A comparative case study research and analysis of three different approaches to glazing design in the patient room will evaluate varying built design factors and their impact on lighting, thermal, and energy performance. Using building information modelling alongside energy simulation and analysis software, it is possible to weigh the effects of various physical design considerations. Analyzing the lighting and thermal characteristics of three different approaches to window design in the patient room, this research will document the relationships between built features that impact fenestration design and the lighting and thermal metrics which are found to affect occupant health outcomes and building energy performance

PAR-dependent and geometry-dependent mechanisms of spindle positioning.

During intrinsically asymmetric division, the spindle is oriented onto a polarized axis specified by a group of conserved PAR proteins. Extrinsic geometric asymmetry generated by cell shape also affects spindle orientation in some systems, but how intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms coexist without interfering with each other is unknown. In some asymmetrically dividing cells of the wild-type Caenorhabditis elegans embryo, nuclear rotation directed toward the anterior cortex orients the forming spindle. We find that in such cells, a PAR-dependent mechanism dominates and causes rotation onto the polarized axis, regardless of cell shape. However, when geometric asymmetry is removed, free nuclear rotation in the center of the cell is observed, indicating that the anterior-directed nature of rotation in unaltered embryos is an effect of cell shape. This free rotation is inconsistent with the prevailing model for nuclear rotation, the specialized cortical site model. In contrast, in par-3 mutant embryos, a geometry-dependent mechanism becomes active and causes directed nuclear rotation. These results lead to the model that in wild-type embryos both PAR-3 and PAR-2 are essential for nuclear rotation in asymmetrically dividing cells, but that PAR-3 inhibits geometry-dependent rotation in nonpolarized cells, thus preventing cell shape from interfering with spindle orientation