The contribution of the Clean Development Mechanism to national climate policies

The clean development mechanism (CDM), one of the flexible mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol, has not received noticeable attention in the applied modeling literature. In this paper we develop a policy-oriented trading model explicitly including the key features likely to influence the supply and demand of CDM projects. This model allows us to evaluate the contribution of the CDM to climate policies at the national level. With an application to Belgium we show that the CDM could reduce the cost of the Kyoto Protocol by a factor 10. Policy analyses reveal that some features (e.g. the market share) have much more influence on this result than others (notably the transaction costs). Moreover, equilibrium effects can sometimes exceed direct effects so that, all in all, a larger domestic abatement could be justified by the desire to reduce what we call carbon dependence. Policy implications and perspectives for the CDM are discussed

The contribution of the Clean Development Mechanism in the Belgian climate policy

The purpose of this chapter is to evaluate the potential contribution of the Clean Development Mechanism to the Belgian climate policy. For this purpose we develop a partial equilibrium model of the carbon market in which the key features of the CDM inherent in its project-based nature are explicitly considered (transaction costs, accessibility rate…). We discuss the conditions under which the CDM could significantly contribute to the Belgian climate strategy and we show that this contribution should remain rather limited due to low expected carbon prices under the first Kyoto commitment period

Promoting quarries biodiversity through partnerships: a Belgian case study

Throughout the life cycle of quarries, a large diversity of temporary habitats is generated, sometimes left to evolve to more permanent ones. In many cases, the biological roles of quarries are neglected though they are playing a significant role as stepping-stones and regulating green infrastructure in landscapes. In highly urbanized and controlled landscapes, quarries are an exceptional opportunity to maintain rare and threatened transient habitats hosting fugitive species. Such ephemeral biodiversity is hard to manage through a site legal protection status. As exploitation progresses, more permanent, biodiverse habitats settle in abandoned areas but the biologic potential could also be maximized by optimized groundwork through the whole exploitation process. Exploitation plans taking into consideration biodiversity could allow maximizing quarry biodiversity hosting capacity during the exploitation phase and in further rehabilitation schemes. In 2012, FEDIEX - the Belgian federation of extractive industries - committed itself to a sectorial charter on “Quarries and Biodiversity”. The charter defines an action plan based on three main axes: i) raising members’ awareness; ii) promoting the integration of practical recommendations for the protection and management of biodiversity in exploitation plans; iii) quarries’ personnel trainings. Since 2012 FEDIEX engaged in a partnership with Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech (University of Liège). Our presentation will trace realizations undertaken under this collaboration, among which the “Mr/Ms Biodiversity” training organized in 2013, 2014 and 2015, the publication of folders popularising the management and enhancement of nature in active quarries and the collaboration in the redaction of a “LIFE in Quarries” project (LIFE Biodiversity) submitted for the 2014 LIFE call