Carbon budgets and equity measures combined : Defining a long-term emissions reduction target for Finland in line with the Paris Agreement and global equity

Kansainvälinen ilmastopolitiikka on siirtynyt Kioton aikakauden ns. top down -sopimisisesta Pariisin sopimuksen mukaiseen bottom up -lähestymistapaan. Tämän lähestymistavan keskiössä on kansallisesti määrätyt panokset, nk. NDCt. Muodostaessa NDC:itä maiden on pohdittava, mikä on heidän reilu panoksensa globaaleihin ilmastotoimiin huomioiden oikeudenmukaisuus, ilmastomuutoksen rajoittaminen tiettyyn lämpötilaan sekä omat kansalliset erityisolosuhteet. Tämä tarkoittaa, että kukin maa tekee normatiivista pohdintaa päättäessään globaalisti reilusta pitkän aikavälin ilmastotavoitteestaan Pariisin sopimuksen määräämällä tavalla. Pitkän aikavälin ilmastopolitiikan tavoitteen suunnittelun tueksi on tarve kehittää uudenlainen kokonaisvaltainen lähestymistapa. Oikeudenmukaisuuden arvioimiseksi on olemassa erilaisia periaatteita, joista tähän analyysiin valittiin tasajako, maksukyky ja historiallinen vastuu, koska ne ovat kaikkein yksiselitteisimpiä ja ovat myös yleisimpiä tieteellisessä kirjallisuudessa hiilibudjettien jakamisen osalta. Pariisin sopimuksen lämpötilatavoitteet voidaan laskea hiilibudjeteiksi, joista valittiin viimeisin IPCC-arvio 1,5 asteen budjetista ja arvion päivittämiseksi vähennettiin siitä budjetin julkaisun jälkeiset päästöt. Jotta kaikki kasvihuonekaasujen päästölähteet ja nielut voitaisiin ottaa huomioon, hiilibudjetteja sovellettiin hiilidioksidiekvivalentteina. Kaikki kansallisissa kasvihuonekaasuinventaarioissa ilmoitetut päästöt ja nielut, jotka raportoidaan IPCC 2006 -ohjeiden mukaisesti, sisällytettiin analyysiin. Vaikka hiilidioksidiekvivalenteiksi muuntaminen ei ole täysin korrekti hiilibudjetin hyödyntämistapa, se riittää tässä yhteydessä työkaluksi tutkiessa ilmastopolitiikan tavoitteita suhteessa Pariisin sopimukseen. Tässä opinnäytetyössä tehdyt oikeudenmukaisuuslaskelmat, joissa päästöbudjetti jaettiin maakohtaisesti vuosille 2020–2050, tuottivat vähentämispolun päästöille. Maankäyttösektorin nettonielu pidettiin koko kauden vakiona tasolla, jolla se kaudella 1990-2018 oli mittauksien mukaan ollut. Tulokset esiteltiin kuvaajina ja lukuina, joista ilmeni vaadittu päästöjen vähennystahti, hiilineutraaliuden saavutus, vuoden 2050 päästövähennys verrattuna vuoteen 1990 ja tarvittava negatiivisten päästöjen määrä. Työn tavoite oli tuottaa työkalu pitkän aikavälin ilmastopolitiikan arviointiin ilmastotieteen, oikeudenmukaisuuden ja 1,5 globaalin hiilibudjetin mukaisesti. Toisin kuin alun perin oli ajateltu, merkittävimmäksi tulokseksi osoittautui hiilineutraaliustavoitteiden ajoittuminen 2030-luvulle useimmissa tapauksissa vuoden 2050 sijaan. Hiilineutraalius on kuitenkin vain virstanpylväs kohti pitkän aikavälin tavoitetta, joka tämän opinnäytetyön perusteella olisi oltava huomattavasti yli 100 prosenttia verrattuna vuoteen 1990.In this thesis the changed paradigm of international climate policy from negotiated top-down targets of the Kyoto era to the new, Paris Agreement bottom-up mitigation contributions, NDCs is introduced. NDCs are submitted to the UNFCCC on the basis of what countries consider as their fair share of efforts in line with global warming targets, equity considerations and national circumstances. This means that normative decisions on fairness need to be made when selecting a long-term target required by the Paris Agreement. For this purpose, a framework was developed for considering some of the key issues that emerge in examining long-term climate policy. Different equity measures exist for assessing fairness, of which Equality, Ability to Pay and Historic Responsibility were selected as the ones to consider, since they are the most unambiguous as formulas and are the most prevalent in carbon budget allocation studies. The Paris Agreement temperature targets can be calculated into carbon budgets, of which the most recent IPCC estimation for the 1.5 degree budget was selected and subsequent global emissions subtracted from. To be able to consider all sources and sinks of GHGs, the carbon budgets are applied GHG budgets instead of purely carbon budgets and all emissions and sinks reported in national GHG inventories are included, which are reported in line with IPCC 2006 guidelines. While not a completely accurate utilisation of the carbon budget, this approach is sufficient for examining climate policy ambition. The equity calculations for allocating the GHG budget to countries for the period of 2020-2050 produced an emissions reduction pathway while the land-use sector net sink was kept fixed according to the historical average with an illustrative pathway for required additional emissions removals. These results were presented in graphs, and key figures pointed out, such as the mitigation rate, the year GHG neutrality occurs, what the 2050 end result is as a reduction of emissions compared to 1990, and at what rate emissions removals are required to increase. The goal of suggesting a long-term climate policy target in line with climate science, equity and 1.5 global carbon budget was successful in part; all the set conditions were successfully applied and a calculation alongside a demonstrative graph with specific key targets was produced. However, some of the results were unrealistic for applying to real life conditions, such as the amount of emissions removals required in some cases. Mitigation rates, which were fixed as linear, were very drastic in some cases, which might not be possible in present conditions. Contrary to what initially was set out to discover, GHG neutrality targets to be achieved in the 2030s for most cases transpire as the most significant result. GHG neutrality is however only a milestone toward a long-term target, which based on these case studies is a significantly over 100% emissions reduction target

Judicial Restrictions on Attorneys\u27 Speech Concerning Pending Litigation: Reconciling the Rights to Fair Trial and Freedom of Speech

The constitutionality of restraints on attorneys\u27 speech has been considered by only two federal circuit courts: the Seventh Circuit, in Chicago Council of Lawyers v. Bauer,\u27 and, more recently, the Fourth Circuit, in Hirschkop v. Snead.\u27 Relying on many of the same precedents, the circuits nevertheless developed seemingly contrary standards. This Recent Development compares the analyses of these recent cases and suggests an appropriate standard for the accommodation of the conflicting rights of free speech and a fair trial

Vaginal Misoprostol for Cervical Ripening in Term Pregnancy

Low-dose (25 mcg) intravaginal misoprostol appears to be safe and effective for cervical ripening in term pregnancy for patients without a history of cesarean section. Compared with other cervical ripening methods, misoprostol has an increased rate of vaginal delivery within 24 hours without significant differences in cesarean section rates or fetal outcomes. (Strength of recommendation: B, systematic review of randomized controlled trials

Code density concerns for new architectures

Reducing a program\u27s instruction count can improve cache behavior and bandwidth utilization, lower power consumption, and increase overall performance. Nonetheless, code density is an often overlooked feature in studying processor architectures. We hand-optimize an assembly language embedded benchmark for size on 21 different instruction set architectures, finding up to a factor of three difference in code sizes from ISA alone. We find that the architectural features that contribute most heavily to code density are instruction length, number of registers, availability of a zero register, bit-width, hardware divide units, number of instruction operands, and the availability of unaligned loads and stores. We extend our results to investigate operating system, compiler, and system library effects on code density. We find that the executable starting address, executable format, and system call interface all affect program size. While ISA effects are important, the efficiency of the entire system stack must be taken into account when developing a new dense instruction set architecture

Enhancing climate change mitigation ambition after Paris : Messages from economic literature

The Paris Agreement starts a new era in global climate policy. The agreement includes a landmark target of limiting global warming to well below 2°C degrees. Since the initial contributions of the Parties do not fulfill that target, additional ways and mechanisms to increase climate change mitigation ambition are required. Increased cooperation and decreased costs of mitigation that result from enhanced policy can help to achieve the current contributions and also increase the ambition of future targets. The objective of this report is to bridge the realities of the UNFCCC negotiations and theoretical academic understanding of increasing the climate change mitigation ambition. Especially we focus on the fields of environmental economics and international environmental agreements. We have analyzed the possibilities which the Paris Agreement opens up for increasing the ambition of climate change mitigation in the form of (1) cyclical improvements, (2) market mechanisms, (3) technology transfer and information sharing, and (4) low-carbon investments and finance to increase the ambition of climate mitigation. We find that the implementation of the Paris Agreement requires increased multilevel cooperation between Parties. Also, the Parties’ climate change mitigation targets and actions should be clearly formulated and comparable. In order for the global ambition enhancements to be measurable, a trustworthy review process is necessary. In addition, new international market and non-market mechanisms are needed. We also find that for their role to be optimal, UNFCCC’s key means of implementation require strengthening. The Green Climate Fund could play an active role in enhancing the maturity and market growth of low-carbon investment instruments. The Climate Technology Centre and Network could help to advance the Parties’ technology cooperation as well as technology transfer to developing countries. The Paris Agreement itself is a significant step towards more ambitious global climate policy. However, the implementation of the agreement will define how well its objectives are met. Upcoming negotiations can help to shape future climate policy design towards a positive cycle of increasing climate change mitigation ambition