Designing Climate Solutions: A Policy Guide for Low-Carbon Energy - Softcover

Harvey, Hal

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1610919564 ISBN 13: 9781610919562

Verlag: Island Press, 2018

Inhaltsangabe

With the effects of climate change already upon us, the need to cut global greenhouse gas emissions is nothing less than urgent. It’s a daunting challenge, but the technologies and strategies to meet it exist today. A small set of energy policies, designed and implemented well, can put us on the path to a low carbon future. Energy systems are large and complex, so energy policy must be focused and cost-effective. One-size-fits-all approaches simply won’t get the job done. Policymakers need a clear, comprehensive resource that outlines the energy policies that will have the biggest impact on our climate future, and describes how to design these policies well.

Designing Climate Solutions: A Policy Guide for Low-Carbon Energy is the first such guide, bringing together the latest research and analysis around low carbon energy solutions. Written by Hal Harvey, CEO of the policy firm Energy Innovation, with Robbie Orvis and Jeffrey Rissman of Energy Innovation, Designing Climate Solutions is an accessible resource on lowering carbon emissions for policymakers, activists, philanthropists, and others in the climate and energy community. In Part I, the authors deliver a roadmap for understanding which countries, sectors, and sources produce the greatest amount of greenhouse gas emissions, and give readers the tools to select and design efficient policies for each of these sectors. In Part II, they break down each type of policy, from renewable portfolio standards to carbon pricing, offering key design principles and case studies where each policy has been implemented successfully.

We don’t need to wait for new technologies or strategies to create a low carbon future—and we can’t afford to. Designing Climate Solutions gives professionals the tools they need to select, design, and implement the policies that can put us on the path to a livable climate future.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Hal Harvey is the CEO of Energy Innovation, a San Francisco-based energy and environmental policy firm. He was the founder of ClimateWorks Foundation and Energy Foundation, and served as Environment Program Director at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. He served on energy panels appointed by Presidents Bush (41) and Clinton, and currently serves as President and Chairman of the Board for several financial, science, and philanthropic groups. He is also a Senior Fellow for Energy and the Environment at the Paulson Institute. Harvey has B.S. and M.S. degrees from Stanford University in Engineering, specializing in Energy Planning.

Robbie Orvis is Director of Energy Policy Design at Energy Innovation: Policy and Technology, LLC. Robbie has worked with numerous governments on climate and energy policy, including China, Indonesia, Canada, the U.S., Mexico, and Poland, among others. His work has been featured in Forbes, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other publications. Robbie holds a Master of Environmental Management from Yale University and a B.S. from UC Berkeley.

Jeffrey Rissman is the Industry Program Director and Head of Modeling at Energy Innovation: Policy and Technology, LLC. His work has been featured in Forbes, Bloomberg, The New York Times, and other publications. Jeffrey holds an M.S. in Environmental Sciences and Engineering and a Masters of City and Regional Planning from UNC Chapel Hill.

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Designing Climate Solutions

A Policy Guide For Low-Carbon Energy

By Hal Harvey, Robbie Orvis, Jeffrey Rissman, Michael O'Boyle, Chris Busch, Sonia Aggarwal

ISLAND PRESS

Copyright © 2018 Hal Harvey, Robbie Orvis, and Jeffrey Rissman
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-61091-956-2

Contents

Foreword, 
Acknowledgments, 
Introduction, 
Part I: A Roadmap for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions, 
Chapter 1. Putting Us on Track to a Low-Carbon Future, 
Chapter 2. Energy Policy Design, 
Chapter 3. How to Prioritize Policies for Emission Reduction, 
Part II: The Top Policies for Greenhouse Gas Abatement, 
Section I: The Power Sector, 
Chapter 4. Renewable Portfolio Standards and Feed-In Tariffs, 
Chapter 5. Complementary Power Sector Policies, 
Section II: The Transportation Sector, 
Chapter 6. Vehicle Performance Standards, 
Chapter 7. Vehicle and Fuel Fees and Feebates, 
Chapter 8. Electric Vehicle Policies, 
Chapter 9. Urban Mobility Policies, 
Section III: The Building Sector, 
Chapter 10. Building Codes and Appliance Standards, 
Section IV: The Industry Sector, 
Chapter 11. Industrial Energy Efficiency, 
Chapter 12. Industrial Process Emission Policies, 
Section V: Cross-Sector Policies, 
Chapter 13. Carbon Pricing, 
Chapter 14. Research and Development Policies, 
Chapter 15. Policies for a Post-2050 World, 
Conclusion, 
Appendix I. The Energy Policy Simulator, 
Appendix II. Methodology for Quantitative Policy Assessment, 
Notes, 
Index, 
About the Authors, 

CHAPTER 1

Putting Us on Track to a Low-Carbon Future

As outlined in the Introduction, significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are needed to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. But how much effort is needed? What types of reductions and emissions pathways are needed in order to avoid the worst parts of climate change? And how we do know where to focus our efforts? This chapter tackles these questions and highlights the sectors where our efforts will have the greatest impact.

Avoiding the Worst Impacts of Climate Change

The level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is measured in parts per million, or the number of greenhouse gas particles per million particles in the atmosphere. The impact of gases other than carbon dioxide is measured by equating those gases to an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide, called carbon dioxide equivalent (COe). The equivalence of gases ranges widely. For example, 1 molecule of methane equals about 30 molecules of carbon dioxide, whereas other chemicals such as fluorinated gases, used primarily as refrigerants, are thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide per molecule. Notably, the equivalence value varies based on the timeframe over which the gas is evaluated (methane has a higher equivalence over 20 years than over 100 years, for example) and as the science of climate change advances. The total amount of COe in the atmosphere includes CO as well as all the other gases that contribute to climate change.

There is broad consensus that preventing the worst impacts of climate change requires keeping global warming below two degrees Celsius through the end of the 21st century. To have at least a 50/50 chance of limiting warming to two degrees, we must limit concentrations of COe to 500 parts per million by 2100, although some overshoot of this target in previous years is okay. Yet in 2015, COe concentrations measured 485 parts per million, and they have been increasing at a rate of 2–4 parts per million per year. To achieve the 500 parts per million target by 2100, immediate on-the- ground action is needed. But what does this mean in terms of emissions?

Climate change and the warming that drives it are a function of the total amount of carbon in the atmosphere. In other words, it is a stock problem, not a flow problem, as discussed in the Introduction. Therefore, it is useful to think of emissions, and necessary emission reductions, in terms of cumulative totals rather than annual amounts. Significant action to reduce emissions will be needed throughout the 21st century, but for simplicity and given the growing uncertainty in years further out, we focus on the necessary reductions between now and 2050.

Without additional action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, just over 2 trillion tons of COe will be emitted between 2016 and 2050. Although climate models vary, they show that in order to meet the 500 parts per million target, cumulative total emission reductions of 25 to 55 percent relative to a business-as-usual scenario are necessary between 2016 and 2050.

For this book, we rely on modeling completed in 2013 as part of the Low Climate Impact Scenarios and the Implications of Required Tight Emissions Control Strategies (LIMITS) exercise. In particular we rely on the modeling done by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the Joint Global Change Research Institute using the Global Change Assessment Model, evaluating emissions between 2010 and 2050. More information on the Global Change Assessment Model, the LIMITS study, and emission scenarios from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is provided in Appendix II.

The results of the LIMITS study suggest that to have a 50/50 shot at staying under two degrees of warming we need to reduce cumulative greenhouse gas emissions by at least 41 percent between 2010 and 2050 (Figure 1-1).

This value is global; emission reductions needed from individual countries will vary, depending on their development status. For example, the most industrialized countries will need to achieve significantly deeper reductions than the 41 percent global number to compensate for other emerging economies with high rates of economic development. It's also worth noting that a 41 percent reduction in cumulative emissions entails much greater annual emission reductions in later years as emission reductions are phased in. In 2050, global annual emission reductions of 65 percent relative to business-as-usual will be necessary, with the more economically developed regions needing to achieve reductions of 70 percent or more.

This book evaluates potential reductions at a global scale. According to the Global Change Assessment Model results discussed earlier, we need cumulative greenhouse gas emission reductions of just over 40 percent between 2020 and 2050 relative to business as usual to give ourselves a 50/50 shot at staying under two degrees of warming. This is the target we aim for in this book.

The Paris Agreement: A Good First Step

In December 2015, 189 countries responsible for nearly 99 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions signed the Paris Agreement, in which they agreed to make an effort to limit emissions over the next 10 to 30 years. The centerpiece of the Paris Agreement is each country's specific emission reductions targets.

If the targets are all met, they would collectively move emissions a good share of the way to the two-degree pathway. As shown in Figure 1-2, the Paris Agreement commitments, on their own, move the emission curve about a third of the way to the two-degree pathway relative to business-as-usual. If existing policies and the Paris pledges are extended to 2100 with the same degree of effort, the emission curve moves about 80 percent of the way to the two-degree pathway. Despite the United States' decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, commitments from remaining countries still cover more than 80...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Island Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2018
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1610919564
• ISBN 13: 9781610919562
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 357
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: preigu; mail@preigu.de; ; Lengericher Landstr. 19; Osnabrück; 49078; Deutschland