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collapse of the Kyoto Protocol and the struggle to slow global warming
Even as the evidence of global warming mounts, the international response to this serious threat is coming unraveled. The United States has formally withdrawn from the 1997 Kyoto Protocol; other key nations are facing difficulty in meeting their Kyoto commitments; and developing countries face no limit on their emissions of the gases that cause global warming. In this clear and cogent book-reissued in paperback with an afterword that comments on recent events--David Victor explains why the Kyoto Protocol was never likely to become an effective legal instrument. He explores how its collapse offers opportunities to establish a more realistic alternative.
Global warming continues to dominate environmental news as legislatures worldwide grapple with the process of ratification of the December 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The collapse of the November 2000 conference at the Hague showed clearly how difficult it will be to bring the Kyoto treaty into force. Yet most politicians, policymakers, and analysts hailed it as a vital first step in slowing greenhouse warming. David Victor was not among them.
Kyoto's fatal flaw, Victor argues, is that it can work only if emissions trading works. The Protocol requires industrialized nations to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases to specific targets. Crucially, the Protocol also provides for so-called \"emissions trading,\" whereby nations could offset the need for rapid cuts in their own emissions by buying emissions credits from other countries. But starting this trading system would require creating emission permits worth two trillion dollars--the largest single invention of assets by voluntary international treaty in world history. Even if it were politically possible to distribute such astronomical sums, the Protocol does not provide for adequate monitoring and enforcement of these new property rights. Nor does it offer an achievable plan for allocating new permits, which would be essential if the system were expanded to include developing countries.
The collapse of the Kyoto Protocol--which Victor views as inevitable--will provide the political space to rethink strategy. Better alternatives would focus on policies that control emissions, such as emission taxes. Though economically sensible, however, a pure tax approach is impossible to monitor in practice. Thus, the author proposes a hybrid in which governments set targets for both emission quantities and tax levels. This offers the important advantages of both emission trading and taxes without the debilitating drawbacks of each.
Individuals at all levels of environmental science, economics, public policy, and politics-from students to professionals--and anyone else hoping to participate in the debate over how to slow global warming will want to read this book.
eBook
Greenhouse gases
\"Discusses the environmental issue of greenhouse gases and how to create a sustainable way of living\"--Provided by publisher.
Book
Numerical Study on the Impact of Reservoir Heterogeneity on Utilization of CO2 and Optimization Strategies in Low-Permeability Reservoirs
The intensification of the global climate crisis has thrust the imperative of controlling greenhouse gas emissions into the spotlight, commanding the attention of individuals, industries, and nations alike. Reducing carbon emissions and maximizing carbon utilization have assumed paramount significance in the contemporary industrial landscape. Within this overarching context, Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) technology has emerged as a transformative and pivotal means of addressing the multifaceted challenges posed by escalating emissions.Among the diverse CCUS methodologies, enhanced oil recovery (EOR) has distinguished itself as an up-and-coming technique, offering economic viability and environmental impact. Simultaneously, enhanced gas recovery (EGR) has recently gained momentum due to its remarkable potential as a negative carbon technology.This study employs an integrated approach to gain a deeper and more precise understanding of how reservoir heterogeneity influences the geological utilization of CO2.It commences with the utilization of FLAC3D and the \"gast\" tool in R language to generate comprehensive data fields that quantitatively characterize heterogeneity in terms of porosity standard deviation and correlation length. Subsequently, the research conducts a comprehensive and methodical analysis of how heterogeneity impacts CO2 gas displacement.
eBook
A portrait of wellbore leakage in northeastern British Columbia, Canada
Significance The possibility of leakage from oil and gas wells has raised environmental concerns. There are 2 major environmental consequences of wellbore leakage: 1) the risk of groundwater contamination from hydrocarbons and brines and 2) the risk of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In this study, oil and gas wellbore leakage data from British Columbia (BC) were analyzed in order to quantify the occurrence and pathways of leakage as well as the contribution to GHG emissions. The key results summarize as follows. 1) In total, 2,329 wells in BC (of 21,525 that have been tested for leakage) have had reported leakage during the lifetime of the well. 2) In total, GHG emissions are estimated to reach about 75,000 metric t/y. The study also underlines that the values of leaky wells are likely underreported.
Journal Article
Environmental co-benefits and adverse side-effects of alternative power sector decarbonization strategies
A rapid and deep decarbonization of power supply worldwide is required to limit global warming to well below 2 °C. Beyond greenhouse gas emissions, the power sector is also responsible for numerous other environmental impacts. Here we combine scenarios from integrated assessment models with a forward-looking life-cycle assessment to explore how alternative technology choices in power sector decarbonization pathways compare in terms of non-climate environmental impacts at the system level. While all decarbonization pathways yield major environmental co-benefits, we find that the scale of co-benefits as well as profiles of adverse side-effects depend strongly on technology choice. Mitigation scenarios focusing on wind and solar power are more effective in reducing human health impacts compared to those with low renewable energy, while inducing a more pronounced shift away from fossil and toward mineral resource depletion. Conversely, non-climate ecosystem damages are highly uncertain but tend to increase, chiefly due to land requirements for bioenergy.
There lacks a consistent and holistic evaluation of co-benefits of different mitigation pathways in studies on Integrated Assessment Models. Here the authors quantify environmental co-benefits and adverse side-effects of a portfolio of alternative power sector decarbonisation pathways and show that the scale of co-benefits as well as profiles of adverse side-effects depend strongly on technology choice.
Journal Article
Future temperature extremes threaten land vertebrates
The frequency, duration, and intensity of extreme thermal events are increasing and are projected to further increase by the end of the century
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. Despite the considerable consequences of temperature extremes on biological systems
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, we do not know which species and locations are most exposed worldwide. Here we provide a global assessment of land vertebrates’ exposures to future extreme thermal events. We use daily maximum temperature data from 1950 to 2099 to quantify future exposure to high frequency, duration, and intensity of extreme thermal events to land vertebrates. Under a high greenhouse gas emission scenario (Shared Socioeconomic Pathway 5–8.5 (SSP5–8.5); 4.4 °C warmer world), 41.0% of all land vertebrates (31.1% mammals, 25.8% birds, 55.5% amphibians and 51.0% reptiles) will be exposed to extreme thermal events beyond their historical levels in at least half their distribution by 2099. Under intermediate-high (SSP3–7.0; 3.6 °C warmer world) and intermediate (SSP2–4.5; 2.7 °C warmer world) emission scenarios, estimates for all vertebrates are 28.8% and 15.1%, respectively. Importantly, a low-emission future (SSP1–2.6, 1.8 °C warmer world) will greatly reduce the overall exposure of vertebrates (6.1% of species) and can fully prevent exposure in many species assemblages. Mid-latitude assemblages (desert, shrubland, and grassland biomes), rather than tropics
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, will face the most severe exposure to future extreme thermal events. By 2099, under SSP5–8.5, on average 3,773 species of land vertebrates (11.2%) will face extreme thermal events for more than half a year period. Overall, future extreme thermal events will force many species and assemblages into constant severe thermal stress. Deep greenhouse gas emissions cuts are urgently needed to limit species’ exposure to thermal extremes.
Future extreme thermal events will force many vertebrate species and assemblages into constant severe thermal stress; however, lowering emissions would greatly reduce overall exposures.
Journal Article