Does the Emission Trading Scheme achieve the dual dividend of reducing pollution and improving energy efficiency? Micro evidence from China.

Resolving the negative externality of environmental pollution has always been a concern in both the theoretical and practical space. To stimulate enterprises to participate in environmental governance actively, China has implemented a series of environmental regulation policies. The Emission Trading Pilot Scheme (ETPS) is an example of such policies implemented to ensure the gradual transition toward marketization. From a micro-enterprise perspective, the study examines how this policy achieves the dual effects of reducing emissions and promoting energy efficiency. We further explore potential channels through which this policy influences the dual effects. We empirically find ETPS to reduce the pollution emissions of enterprises significantly. However, the pollution reduction effect is mainly achieved by encouraging enterprises to strengthen cleaner production rather than through end governance. In addition to bringing environmental dividends, we observe ETPS to improve fossil energy efficiency by about 7.5% indirectly. We conclude by urging policy makers and participants to optimize energy structures and adjust intermediate input as they serve as significant pathways through which ETPS can affect fossil energy efficiency. The ETPS can encourage enterprises to actively step out of their "comfort zone" of environmental governance to be viewed as an effective environmental regulation policy.

COVID-19, Green Deal and recovery plan permanently change emissions and prices in EU ETS Phase IV.

The EU emissions trading system's (ETS) invalidation rule implies that shocks and overlapping policies can change cumulative carbon emissions. This paper explains these mechanisms and simulates the effect of COVID-19, the European Green Deal, and the recovery stimulus package on cumulative EU ETS emissions and allowance prices. Our results indicate that the negative demand shock of the pandemic should have a limited effect on allowance prices and rather translates into lower cumulative carbon emissions. Aligning EU ETS with the 2030 reduction target of -55% might increase allowance prices to 45-94 €/ton CO2 today and reduce cumulative carbon emissions to 14.2-18.3 GtCO2 compared to 23.5-33.1 GtCO2 under a -40% 2030 reduction target. Our results crucially depend on when the waterbed will be sealed again, which is an endogenous market outcome, driven by the EU ETS design, shocks and overlapping climate policies such as the recovery plan.

Unextractable fossil fuels in a 1.5 °C world.

Parties to the 2015 Paris Agreement pledged to limit global warming to well below 2 °C and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C relative to pre-industrial times1. However, fossil fuels continue to dominate the global energy system and a sharp decline in their use must be realized to keep the temperature increase below 1.5 °C (refs. 2-7). Here we use a global energy systems model8 to assess the amount of fossil fuels that would need to be left in the ground, regionally and globally, to allow for a 50 per cent probability of limiting warming to 1.5 °C. By 2050, we find that nearly 60 per cent of oil and fossil methane gas, and 90 per cent of coal must remain unextracted to keep within a 1.5 °C carbon budget. This is a large increase in the unextractable estimates for a 2 °C carbon budget9, particularly for oil, for which an additional 25 per cent of reserves must remain unextracted. Furthermore, we estimate that oil and gas production must decline globally by 3 per cent each year until 2050. This implies that most regions must reach peak production now or during the next decade, rendering many operational and planned fossil fuel projects unviable. We probably present an underestimate of the production changes required, because a greater than 50 per cent probability of limiting warming to 1.5 °C requires more carbon to stay in the ground and because of uncertainties around the timely deployment of negative emission technologies at scale.

Empirical Study on Households' Energy-Conservation Behavior of Jiangsu Province in China: The Role of Policies and Behavior Results.

With the improvement of living quality and the increase of energy consumption of residents, their energy conservation behavior (ECB) plays an increasingly important role in energy conservation and emission reduction. As a kind of environmental behavior, ECB of residents is a complicated process. In this paper, ECB is divided into four types, considering habit adjustment, quality threshold, efficiency investment, and interpersonal facilitation. A comprehensive conceptual framework is built, adding perception about energy conservation results (PER) and contextual factors from a new perspective. Based on a survey in Jiangsu province of China, this paper examines the impact of intention on behavior under the moderation of contextual factors, as well as the effect of perception of energy-conservation results on intention and ECB by means of multivariate statistical analysis. The results show that the intention of energy conservation is the determinant of behavior, but it does not well transform into behavior, especially into quality threshold and interpersonal facilitation behavior. Different contextual factors have positive effects on the relationship of intention and different behavior. However, modulating effects of contextual factors as amplifiers do not function effectively due to their low rating scores. PER has a positive impact on intention but not on all types of ECB. Finally, this paper presents important implications for policy makers to optimize energy conservation policy.

Tracing the use of evaluations in legislative processes in Swiss cantonal parliaments.

Several studies have challenged the notion that members of parliament use information from evaluations to make policies. However, it is also argued that the function of evaluations in an inherently political context such as parliament is to provide arguments and justifications rather than simply supply information for policymaking. This paper provides a fine-grained account of the use of evaluations by members of parliament in the context of political conflict. Previous research has highlighted the importance of this factor, but the findings are controversial. Here, four case studies of policy processes in two Swiss cantonal parliaments illustrate that political conflict is highly context-specific. Documentary analysis and interviews show that the members of parliament used evaluations to inform themselves as well as to gain political support in the moderately contested case. This both supports and challenges previous research. Comparing the cases reveals that the administration's use of evaluations strongly influences their use in the non-professional cantonal parliaments. However, Switzerland's semi-direct democracy and its conflict-resolving mechanisms shape and limit this role, particularly if political conflict is high.

Energy Efficiency and Universal Design in Home Renovations - A Comparative Review.

Policy and societal objectives indicate a large need for housing renovations that both accommodate lifelong living and significantly increase energy efficiency. However, these two areas of research are not yet examined in conjunction and this paper hypothesizes this as a missed opportunity to create better renovation concepts. The paper outlines a comparative review on research in Energy Efficiency and Universal Design in order to find the similarities and differences in both depth and breadth of knowledge. Scientific literature in the two fields reveals a disparate depth of knowledge in areas of theory, research approach, and degree of implementation in society. Universal Design and Energy Efficiency are part of a trajectory of expanding scope towards greater sustainability and, although social urgency has been a driver of the research intensity and approach in both fields, in energy efficiency there is an engineering, problem solving approach while Universal Design has a more sociological, user-focused one. These different approaches are reflected in the way home owners in Energy Efficiency research are viewed as consumers and decision makers whose drivers are studied, while Universal Design treats home owners as informants in the design process and studies their needs. There is an inherent difficulty in directly merging Universal Design and Energy Efficiency at a conceptual level because Energy Efficiency is understood as a set of measures, i.e. a product, while Universal Design is part of a (design) process. The conceptual difference is apparent in their implementation as well. Internationally energy efficiency in housing has been largely imposed through legislation, while legislation directly mandating Universal Design is either non-existent or it has an explicit focus on accessibility. However, Energy Efficiency and Universal Design can be complementary concepts and, even though it is more complex than expected, the combination offers possibilities to advance knowledge in both fields.

Economic growth and energy regulation in the environmental Kuznets curve.

This study establishes the existence of a pattern of behavior, between economic growth and environmental degradation, consistent with the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis for 17 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries between 1990 and 2012. Based on this EKC pattern, it shows that energy regulation measures help reduce per capita greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To validate this hypothesis, we also add the explanatory variables: renewable energy promotion, energy innovation processes, and the suppression effect of income level on the contribution of renewable energy sources to total energy consumption. It aims to be a tool for decision-making regarding energy policy. This paper provides a two-stage econometric analysis of instrumental variables with the aim of correcting the existence of endogeneity in the variable GDP per capita, verifying that the instrumental variables used in this research are appropriate for our aim. To this end, it first makes a methodological contribution before incorporating additional variables associated with environmental air pollution into the EKC hypothesis and showing how they positively affect the explanation of the correction in the GHG emission levels. This study concludes that air pollution will not disappear on its own as economic growth increases. Therefore, it is necessary to promote energy regulation measures to reduce environmental pollution.

Interrogating Social Sustainability in the Biofuels Sector in Latin America: Tensions Between Global Standards and Local Experiences in Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia.

Across the Americas, biofuels production systems are diverse due to geographic conditions, historical patterns of land tenure, different land use patterns, government policy frameworks, and relations between the national state and civil society, all of which shape the role that biofuels play in individual nations. Although many national governments throughout the Americas continue to incentivize growth of the biofuels industry, one key challenge for biofuels sustainability has been concern about its social impacts. In this article, we discuss some of the key social issues and tensions related to the recent expansion of biofuels production in Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil. We argue that a process of "simplification" of ecological and cultural diversity has aided the expansion of the biofuels frontier in these countries, but is also undermining their viability. We consider the ability of governments and non-state actors in multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSI) to address social and environmental concerns that affect rural livelihoods as a result of biofuels expansion. We analyze the tensions between global sustainability standards, national level policies for biofuels development, and local level impacts and visions of sustainability. We find that both government and MSI efforts to address sustainability concerns have limited impact, and recommend greater incorporation of local needs and expertise to improve governance.

Application of theory-based evaluation for the critical analysis of national biofuel policy: A case study in Malaysia.

Theory-based evaluation (TBE) is an effectiveness assessment technique that critically analyses the theory underlying an intervention. Whilst its use has been widely reported in the area of social programmes, it is less applied in the field of energy and climate change policy evaluations. This paper reports a recent study that has evaluated the effectiveness of the national biofuel policy (NBP) for the transport sector in Malaysia by adapting a TBE approach. Three evaluation criteria were derived from the official goals of the NBP, those are (i) improve sustainability and environmental friendliness, (ii) reduce fossil fuel dependency, and (iii) enhance stakeholders' welfare. The policy theory underlying the NBP has been reconstructed through critical examination of the policy and regulatory documents followed by a rigorous appraisal of the causal link within the policy theory through the application of scientific knowledge. This study has identified several weaknesses in the policy framework that may engender the policy to be ineffective. Experiences with the use of a TBE approach for policy evaluations are also shared in this report.

Energy efficiency through integrated environmental management.

Integrated environmental management became an economic necessity after industrial development proved to be unsustainable without consideration of environmental direct and indirect impacts. Energy dependency and air pollution along with climate change grew into major challenges facing developed and developing countries alike. Thus, a new global market structure emerged and changed the way we do trade. The search intensified for alternatives to petroleum. However, scientists, policy makers, and environmental activists agreed to focus on strategic conservation and optimization of energy use. Environmental concerns will remain partially unaddressed with the current pace of consumption because greenhouse gas emissions will continue to rise with economic growth. This paper discusses energy efficiency, steady integration of alternative sources, and increased use of best available technologies. Energy criteria developed for environmental labeling certification are presented. Our intention is to encourage manufacturers and service providers to supply consumers with less polluting and energy-consuming goods and services, inform consumers of the environmental and energy impacts, and thereby instill sustainable and responsible consumption. As several programs were initiated in developed countries, environmental labeling requirements created barriers to many exports manufactured in developing countries, affecting current world trade and putting more pressure on countries to meet those requirements. Defining an institutional and legal framework of environmental labeling is a key challenge in implementing such programs for critical economic sectors like tourism, textiles, and food production where energy needs are the most important aspect to control. A case study of Tunisia and its experience with eco-labeling is presented.

The role of agency partnerships in collaborative watershed groups: lessons from the pacific northwest experience.

Collaborative watershed group experiences reveal commonalities in their approaches to facilitate decentralized and inclusive watershed planning and management in the United States, and increasingly around the world. Although watershed groups are widely recognized in the United States for positive accomplishments across local, state, and regional scales, the role of government agencies as watershed group partners often remains ambiguous and inconsistent. This paper details results of a survey used to determine the status of Pacific Northwest (PNW) watershed group-agency partnerships relative to planning and management. Specific inquiry was directed toward: (1) the role of technical information flow; and (2) watershed group needs. Mail surveys were administered to 304 watershed group participants in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Sixty-nine percent of the surveys were completed and returned. Based on the collected survey data, PNW watershed groups rely heavily on agency officials for technical watershed information. Respondents perceive support of state government to be the highest relative to federal agencies, local governments, and university Extension offices. However, evidence from the survey suggests that partnerships are underutilized across all agencies and organizations concurrently vested in watershed planning and management in the PNW. Sustained operational funding, increased group participation, and baseline watershed data are the most pressing needs of PNW watershed groups and present a significant opportunity for expanding watershed group-agency partnerships.

Policies for the Sustainable Development of Biofuels in the Pan American Region: A Review and Synthesis of Five Countries.

Rapid growth of biofuel production in the United States and Brazil over the past decade has increased interest in replicating this success in other nations of the Pan American region. However, the continued use of food-based feedstock such as maize is widely seen as unsustainable and is in some cases linked to deforestation and increased greenhouse gas emissions, raising further doubts about long-term sustainability. As a result, many nations are exploring the production and use of cellulosic feedstock, though progress has been extremely slow. In this paper, we will review the North-South axis of biofuel production in the Pan American region and its linkage with the agricultural sectors in five countries. Focus will be given to biofuel policy goals, their results to date, and consideration of sustainability criteria and certification of producers. Policy goals, results, and sustainability will be highlighted for the main biofuel policies that have been enacted at the national level. Geographic focus will be given to the two largest producers-the United States and Brazil; two smaller emerging producers-Argentina and Canada; and one stalled program-Mexico. However, several additional countries in the region are either producing or planning to produce biofuels. We will also review alternative international governance schemes for biofuel sustainability that have been recently developed, and whether the biofuel programs are being managed to achieve improved environmental quality and sustainable development.

Wellbeing impacts of city policies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

To mitigate climate change, city authorities are developing policies in areas such as transportation, housing and energy use, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to their effects on greenhouse gas emissions, these policies are likely to have consequences for the wellbeing of their populations for example through changes in opportunities to take physical exercise. In order to explore the potential consequences for wellbeing, we first explore what 'wellbeing' is and how it can be operationalised for urban planners. In this paper, we illustrate how wellbeing can be divided into objective and subjective aspects which can be measured quantitatively; our review of measures informs the development of a theoretical model linking wellbeing to policies which cities use to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Finally, we discuss the extent to which the links proposed in the conceptual model are supported by the literature and how cities can assess wellbeing implications of policies.

Evaluating the benefits of commercial building energy codes and improving federal incentives for code adoption.

The federal government has the goal of decreasing commercial building energy consumption and pollutant emissions by incentivizing the adoption of commercial building energy codes. Quantitative estimates of code benefits at the state level that can inform the size and allocation of these incentives are not available. We estimate the state-level climate, environmental, and health benefits (i.e., social benefits) and reductions in energy bills (private benefits) of a more stringent code (ASHRAE 90.1-2010) relative to a baseline code (ASHRAE 90.1-2007). We find that reductions in site energy use intensity range from 93 MJ/m(2) of new construction per year (California) to 270 MJ/m(2) of new construction per year (North Dakota). Total annual benefits from more stringent codes total $506 million for all states, where $372 million are from reductions in energy bills, and $134 million are from social benefits. These total benefits range from $0.6 million in Wyoming to $49 million in Texas. Private benefits range from $0.38 per square meter in Washington State to $1.06 per square meter in New Hampshire. Social benefits range from $0.2 per square meter annually in California to $2.5 per square meter in Ohio. Reductions in human/environmental damages and future climate damages account for nearly equal shares of social benefits.

Creating a national citizen engagement process for energy policy.

This paper examines some of the science communication challenges involved when designing and conducting public deliberation processes on issues of national importance. We take as our illustrative case study a recent research project investigating public values and attitudes toward future energy system change for the United Kingdom. National-level issues such as this are often particularly difficult to engage the public with because of their inherent complexity, derived from multiple interconnected elements and policy frames, extended scales of analysis, and different manifestations of uncertainty. With reference to the energy system project, we discuss ways of meeting a series of science communication challenges arising when engaging the public with national topics, including the need to articulate systems thinking and problem scale, to provide balanced information and policy framings in ways that open up spaces for reflection and deliberation, and the need for varied methods of facilitation and data synthesis that permit access to participants' broader values. Although resource intensive, national-level deliberation is possible and can produce useful insights both for participants and for science policy.