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Urban politics research has not kept pace—empirically or theoretically—with city governments’ engagement with climate change policy. Thousands of cities globally have made commitments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and are taking steps toward these goals. In the United States, research has examined the motivations for such actions and has described some of the implementation challenges cities are encountering, but we lack a theoretically informed understanding of how these actions intersect politically with existing interests, institutions, and fiscal realities in cities. This article identifies five political entry points that are specific to urban climate change policy and can provide a foundation for empirically and theoretically valuable research. The pursuit of such an interdisciplinary urban research agenda for climate change would enhance our understanding of when and how cities are successful in addressing climate change and would provide new answers to long-standing questions in urban politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global climate policy till date has focused on building consensus around a differentiated roadmap for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Equally important yet receiving less attention is the need to support adaptation of the most vulnerable communities to the increasingly severe impacts of climatic changes. The Paris Agreement, negotiated at the 21st COP in December 2015, 'stitches up' national contributions on adaptation and mitigation into a global agreement. This article first reviews the adaptation components of the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) submitted by developed, emerging and least developed nations. Second, we examine how adaptation and the related themes of loss and damage have been dealt with in the Paris Agreement in terms of: global goal, legal form, review mechanisms and financing arrangements. Finally, we look at the possibility of evolving new arrangements and opportunities for strengthening global response to adaptation by drawing on references to human rights and climate justice in the Paris Agreement. We contend that the global response cannot be relegated to action by individual nations--partly and loosely supported by global financial and technological flows. The Paris Agreement has made significant steps in raising the importance of adaptation vis-à-vis mitigation in climate action but a lot of work remains to be done. In a sense, the top-down elements of adaptation action reflect long held negotiating positions and the skepticism of developed nations with respect to adaptation. For the post-Paris climate regime to be legitimate and earn the trust of developing nations, it must focus equally on adaptation and mitigation and address the special needs of vulnerable communities across the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on findings of the study titled "The EMF24 Study on U.S. Technology and Climate Policy Strategies," along with an introduction to the issue. Topics include aim of the study, which is understanding interactions between climate policy architectures and energy technology availabilities in the U.S.; comparison between models of the U.S. and European Union (EU); significance of United Nations Climate Change conference; and stabilization of greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations.

Scientific evidence suggests that to have a 75 per cent chance of limiting warming in 2100 to 2°C above the pre-industrial level, the cumulative emissions of CO2 over the period 2010-50 should be capped at 657.1 Gt. The objective of this article is to examine the distribution of such an emission budget by applying different ethical perspectives. In particular, the article first analyses the paths for sharing the emission budget, that is, the major families of distributive patterns that vindicate a number of elementary principles and criteria of distribution. Subsequently, it presents and discusses the shares of the emission budget attributed to states, regions and groupings of states according to the paths investigated and it draws some reflections on the implications of such shares for the ethics of mitigation. Finally, it advances some lessons for international climate policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The print media have facilitated multiple types of claim-making and an oppositional climate change politics. Drawing on arguments about the social construction of geographical scale as a category for understanding media practice, this article examines such politics. We focus on the Illawarra Mercury, the only daily newspaper in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, to showcase exactly how this tabloid newspaper engages readers in a scalar politics of climate change. We argue that a regional scalar politics shapes the framing of emissions in the Illawarra Mercury. A key question organising this article concerns the way in which geographical scale is invoked, and reproduced, in this newspaper to structure a certain rationale in reporting on emissions from one of Australia's largest greenhouse gas emitters, the Port Kembla Steelworks. The argument is that the regional scale is evoked as a pre-given, natural and contained entity to justify why the steelworks need not shoulder greenhouse gas emissions reductions. We argue that a better understanding of scalar politics is integral to explain how responsibility for emissions is shifted elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Like 30 other states in the U.S., Michigan recently began addressing the problem of climate change through comprehensive mitigation action planning. The Michigan climate initiative involved combining a stepwise, fact-based, stakeholder decision process and technical analyses to formulate a consensus-based climate action plan. This paper reports on the results of work conducted by policy analysts and facilitators of the policy-making process in response to state government and stakeholder decisions on three key aspects. First is the choice of policy actions used to establish a comprehensive portfolio of actions and economy-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) goals and targets. Second is the design of policy instruments to use to implement these specific GHG mitigation actions. Third is the decision on whether the state should pursue its target for net GHG reduction through sector based policies and measures, a regional cap and trade program, or both combined. We summarize the results of applying a formal model for analyzing the implications of alternative environmental policies and instruments. The model was applied to data on the financial costs/savings and applicability of a spectrum of GHG reduction options developed by a consensus of stakeholders from all segments of the Michigan population. We conclude that a combination of sector-based measures and market incentive-based policies could attain a low cost, high co-benefit solution if Michigan joined with other Midwestern States in developing the cap and trade aspect of its climate action plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The testimony of International President Leo Gerard of the United Steelworkers before a House subcommittee on trade in March addressed how to minimize "carbon leakage" between nations—when emissions reductions in one country lead to increased emissions in another that has strict climate change policies—in a manner that will sustain existing U.S. jobs and keep domestic industry competitive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the impact of the 2008 U.S. presidential elections on U.S. government policy concerning climate change. Additionally, the article evaluates the impact the election of U.S. President Barack Obama, and the climate change policies he chooses to adopt, will have on Canada and other countries around the world. A history of U.S. climate change policy from 1979-2008 is given. Other topics include the choice made by the U.S. to not sign the Kyoto climate change treaty and the creation of a climate change regime that would bind Mexico, the U.S., and Canada together.

By recognizing the importance of non-CO2 gases mitigation for climate change abatement, modeling study for multi-gas scenarios was conducted by using IPAC model. This is also part of EMF-21 study for comparing the cost for CO2 mitigation and multi-gas mitigation. The main objective of this analysis is to evaluate the international potential and costs of non-CO2 greenhouse gas abatement. Three scenarios were defined by EMF-21 study including modeler reference, CO2 only mitigation scenario and multi-gas mitigation scenario. By comparing the results for the three scenarios, it is found that there is quite large potential for non-CO2 mitigation potential. Multi-gas mitigation policies could have lower cost compared with CO2 only mitigation policies. In order to reach same mitigation target level of GHG emission, there could be 30% lower carbon tax rate for multi-gas mitigation, and therefore GDP loss could be reduced by 23% in 2100. Multi-gas mitigation could give less pressure for energy system to transform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

First steps toward a broad climate agreement, such as the Kyoto Protocol, have focused on less than global geographic coverage. We consider instead a policy that is less comprehensive in term of greenhouse gases (GHGs), including only the non-CO2 GHGs, but is geographically comprehensive. Abating non-CO2 GHGs may be seen as less of a threat to economic development and therefore it may be possible to involve developing countries in such a policy even though they have resisted limits on CO2 emissions. The policy we consider involves a GHG price of about $15 per ton carbon-equivalent (tce) levied only on the non-CO2 GHGs and held at that level through the century. We estimate that such a policy would reduce the global mean surface temperature in 2100 by about 0.55° C; if only methane is covered that alone would achieve a reduction of 0.3° to 0.4° C. We estimate the Kyoto Protocol in its current form would achieve a 0.25° C reduction in 2100 if Parties to it maintained it as is through the century. Furthermore, we estimate the costs of the non-CO2 policies to be a small fraction of the Kyoto policy. Whether as a next step to expand the Kyoto Protocol, or as a separate initiative running parallel to it, the world could well make substantial progress on limiting climate change by pursuing an agreement to abate the low cost non-CO2 GHGs. The results suggest that it would be useful to proceed on global abatement of non-CO2 GHGs so that lack of progress on negotiations to limit CO2 does not allow these abatement opportunities to slip away. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current climate policies are based on the use of Global Warming Potentials (GWPs) to compare emissions of various greenhouse gases. Yet, from an economic point of view, more efficient methods exist. We compare the potential costs of implementing some long-term goal for stabilization of the climate in three cases: Reduce CO2 emissions only, reduce emissions of the four greenhouse gases CO2, CH4, N2O and SF6 using the standard IPCC GWPs and reduce emissions of the same four gases with efficient and flexible, time dependent metrics. A multi-gas approach with GWPs reduces the costs by 8 percent when compared with CO2 reductions only, whereas the costs may be reduced by an additional 2 percent if using flexible metrics. If compared with the use of GWPs, we find that efficient weights increase the cost savings of including non-CO2 gases in climate policy by 15-40%, depending on the stabilization goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address the problem of human induced climate change effectively, climate policy must embody the principles of economic efficiency, environmental effectiveness and equity. In this paper it is shown that such a climate change policy should include a broad coverage of major greenhouse gases and sources. ABARE's Global Trade and Environment Model (GTEM) is used to analyse the economic impact of meeting a radiative forcing target using policies that focus on carbon dioxide emissions only and policies that focus on all major greenhouse gases and sources, including land use change and forestry emissions. It is projected that incorporating non-carbon dioxide gases into climate change policy reduces the economic adjustment cost significantly. Broadening the sources of carbon dioxide to include land use change and forestry emissions further reduces the economic adjustment costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Future global warming may depend strongly on the potential for abating emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Flexibility in implementing climate change mitigation policies can significantly reduce mitigation costs and has three dimensions; space, time and gas species. Therefore, multiple greenhouse gas reduction flexibility should be considered. The emission and reduction potential of CO2 and non-CO2 GHGs are assessed here using an integrated assessment model under climate change targets. The implications on gas life as well as abatement timing uncertainty on costs, technological availability, etc. are discussed. The introduction of additional multigas reductions will cut the economic burden of achieving a given climate change target. The conclusions are threefold; (1) Multigas mitigation is a cost effective strategy compared to CO2-only mitigation under the same climate target, (2) CO2 mitigation is expected to lead to ancillary reductions in CH4, N2O and SOx emissions, and (3) There is great uncertainty in the assessment of non-CO2 GHG mitigation opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I analyse the costs of policies aimed at stabilising global climate change. I show that abatement of all major greenhouse gases is important to the costs of climate policies and that flexible reduction of methane and other non-CO2 gases may reduce costs significantly. The non-CO2 gases offer many low-cost abatement options and this reduces the need for abatement of CO2 to stabilise climate change. Multi-gas flexibility may be important if climate policies reflect not only long-term stabilisation, but also the rate at which the climate changes, as the latter may require large reductions in emissions in the short-term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When conducting a multi-gas analysis, there are distinct advantages in moving from concentrations to radiative forcing. With the former, it is customary to use Global Warming Potentials (GWPs) for making tradeoffs among greenhouse gases. A number of studies have shown the arbitrariness of this approach and have argued that tradeoffs should be based on the contribution of each gas to achieving a particular target. Focusing on radiative forcing bypasses the need to rely on GWPs and provides for tradeoffs among gases based on their relative value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of climate forcing agents other than carbon dioxide using the MiniCAM integrated assessment model for both no-climate-policy and policy emissions scenarios. Non-CO2 greenhouse-gas forcing is dominated by methane and tropospheric ozone. Assumptions about the prevalence of methane recovery and local air pollution controls in the no-policy cases are a critical determinant of methane and ozone-precursor emissions. When these factors are considered, emissions are substantially reduced relative to earlier estimates. This reduces their potential as climate mitigation agents through specific climate policies. Nevertheless, the addition of non-CO2 greenhouse gas and ozone precursor abatement options significantly reduces mitigation costs in the first half of the 21st century (by up to 40%) compared to the case where only CO2 abatement options are pursued. While the influences of aerosols are small by the end of the century, there is a significant interaction in the early 21st century between policies to reduce CO2 emissions and SO2 emissions, even in the presence of SO2-related pollution control policies. The attendant reduced aerosol cooling can more than offset the reduction in warming that accrues from reduced CO2. When non-CO2 gases are included in the policy, the net effect is that global-mean climate change to 2050 is practically unaffected by mitigation policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we examine the interaction between technology policy and its impact on the full basket of worldwide greenhouse emissions over the 21st century. The heart of the analysis is the Argonne National Laboratory's AMIGA Modeling System, a technology rich, general equilibrium model that (depending on data availability) characterizes as many as 200 sectors of the regional economies. We suggest in this paper that technologies and technology policies exist which could reduce carbon emissions enough to achieve stabilization targets at relatively modest costs given the size of the world economy. This can be accomplished largely through harnessing market forces and creating incentives with the use of efficient prices on greenhouse gas emissions, combined with complementary programs and policies to reduce market failures and to promote new technology improvements and investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Second Generation Model (SGM) was developed to analyze policies designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This paper documents how greenhouse gas emissions are calculated in the SGM, and provides an application to several Energy Modeling Forum scenarios that stabilize radiative forcing by using policies that either exclusively limit CO2 emissions or include both CO2 and non-CO2 greenhouse gases. Additionally, this paper discusses an extension which includes advanced fossil generating technologies with CO2 capture and storage in the USA region of the SGM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to assess and compare regional welfare costs associated with alternative multi-gas strategies for a stabilization of global greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions in the long run. Mitigation costs of non-CO2 greenhouse gases are integrated into a multi-region multi-country CGE model of the world economy. Calibrations are based on GHG emissions projections from, and marginal abatement cost curves provided by, the EMF21 working group for the six greenhouse gases. We find that the introduction of non-CO2 GHGs in the mitigation strategy reduces significantly the welfare cost of a long term emissions stabilization policy but that benefits vary across regions. We also find that the various possible rules of emission quotas allocation may have large effects on the burden sharing among regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Version 5 of the POLES model has been developed for the assessment of multi-gas emission reduction strategies. Abatement options have been introduced for all non-CO2 GHGs in the Kyoto Basket and, for the agricultural sector, Marginal Abatement Cost curves have been derived from the new AGRIPOL model. Combined with an international emission permit scheme that is based on the Soft Landing approach, an emission profile respecting climate targets of 550 ppmv provides a relatively soft constraint case for developing countries. The multi-gas analyses first of all demonstrate the relevance of the approach as changing from a CO2--only to a multi-gas strategy either allows to increase total abatement of 25% for the same Marginal Abatement Cost or to decrease the MAC of approximately 30% for the same total abatement. Not surprisingly however, the impacts on world demand and primary fuel mix are less pronounced in the multi-gas case. This is easily understandable as a counterpart for introducing more margins of freedom in the abatement effort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Lithuanian climate change policy has to be considered in the framework of the Convention on Climate Change. The National Strategy for Implementation of Convention was the first step in evaluating the country's impact on climate change, adapting to the Convention and foreseeing the means and measures for climate change mitigation. The paper introduces main issues related to climate change mitigation policy in Lithuania. It presents an analysis of greenhouse gas emission trends in Lithuania and surveys institutional organizations as well as stakeholder associations related to climate change issues and their role in climate policy making. The main Lithuanian international environmental obligation and Lithuanian governmental climate change mitigation policy in the energy sector are presented as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]