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Global climate
(2011)
The article discusses the process and outcomes along the central "building blocks" of the negotiations. According to the Bali Action Plan, the negotiations are proceeding under two tracks. First, the "Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments by Annex I Countries under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP)", which was established at CMP 1 in Montreal in 2005, is negotiating future emission targets for industrialised countries (listed in Annex I of the UNFCCC). Second, while the "Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA)" also negotiates commitments for Annex I countries, in practice this was originally deemed to relate in particular to those that have not ratified the Protocol - that is, the USA. In addition, the AWG-LCA negotiates "nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs)" of developing countries, which are to be supported and enabled by industrialised countries through technology, financing and capacity building. Both the NAMAs and the support are to be undertaken in a measurable, reportable and verifiable manner. Finally, the AWG-LCA negotiates ways to enhance adaptation efforts of developing countries, which are also to be financially and technologically supported by industrialised countries.
The purpose of the paper is to share the findings of a European innovation transfer project (2008-2010) for strengthening sustainability in European handicraft with the aim of transferring a German qualification and consulting concept. The focus of the paper is a train-the-trainer design, which was developed, tested and evaluated with regard to the specific qualification needs and the existing qualification concepts of five European countries. The paper provides content, didactic approach and methods of the train-the-trainer design and the key results of the related analysis of research data. Furthermore, the train-the-trainer design is embedded within the project approach, the methodology of realising an innovation transfer and the associated project products. The results of the train-the-trainer design evaluation are reflected upon with regard to starting points of a European qualification concept for sustainability in handicraft.
Domestic emission trading systems in Non-Annex I countries : state of play and future prospects
(2011)
Since the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, the establishment of a harmonised international carbon market has been seen as one of the main strategies in international climate policy. So far, however, the market is far from being globally harmonised or systematically linked. Instead, a mosaic of national and sub-national markets has been under development, differing in timing, location, relationship to the Protocol and their levels of legal commitment.
Nevertheless, creating a global carbon market is a key goal of EU climate policy. As plans for the establishment of emissions trading systems (ETS) emerge in various non-Annex I countries, prospects for linking them to existing systems seem to finally get in reach. We have analysed the prospects of emission trading in non-Annex I countries in a recent paper on behalf of the German environment ministry. In the following we first give a theoretical overview of what design factors need to be taken into account when establishing national emission trading systems. The following elaborates on the status of emissions trading discussion in various non-Annex I countries.
As illustrated by the case studies of end-of-life vehicles and waste electric and electronic equipment, the approach of an extended producer responsibility is undermined by the exports of used and waste products. This fact causes severe deficits regarding circular flows, especially of critical raw materials such as platinum group metals. With regard to global recycling there seems to be a responsibility gap which leads somehow to open ends of waste flows and a loss or down-cycling of potential secondary resources. Existing product-orientated extended producer responsibility (EPR) approaches with mass-based recycling quotas do not create adequate incentives to supply waste materials containing precious metals to a high-quality recycling and should be amended by aspects of a material stewardship. The paper analyses incentive effects on EPR for the mentioned product groups and metals, resulting from existing regulations in Germany. It develops a proposal for an international covenant on metal recycling as a policy instrument for a governance-oriented framework to initiate systemic innovations along the complete value chain taking into account product group- and resource group-specific aspects on different spatial levels. It aims at the effective implementation of a central idea of EPR, the transition of a waste regime still focusing on safe disposal towards a sustainable management of resources for the complete lifecycle of products.
This contribution presents the state of the art of economy-wide material flow accounting. Starting from a brief recollection of the intellectual and policy history of this approach, we outline system definition, key methodological assumptions, and derived indicators. The next section makes an effort to establish data reliability and uncertainty for a number of existing multinational (European and global) material flow accounting (MFA) data compilations and discusses sources of inconsistencies and variations for some indicators and trends. The results show that the methodology has reached a certain maturity: Coefficients of variation between databases lie in the range of 10% to 20%, and correlations between databases across countries amount to an average R2 of 0.95. After discussing some of the research frontiers for further methodological development, we conclude that the material flow accounting framework and the data generated have reached a maturity that warrants material flow indicators to complement traditional economic and demographic information in providing a sound basis for discussing national and international policies for sustainable resource use.
The North African countries Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt have been and are currently experiencing rapid growth in energy demand. This development confronts their political leaders with the question of how to expand or diversify their countries' generation capacities. In this context, renewable energies and nuclear power constitute options that have rarely been exploited so far in the region. This article analyzes the drawbacks and benefits of both alternatives, with a special focus on import and export dynamics. When attempting to make the strategic decision between renewables and atomic power, North African regional specifics and circumstances have to be taken into account. Hence, in a first step, the article characterizes the energy systems of the North African countries and presents scenarios for their future development. In a second step, it scrutinizes the energy challenges these states face in terms of domestic concerns and foreign affairs. Finally, a case study of Algeria is used to demonstrate how renewable energies, but not nuclear power, are able to respond to North African energy challenges.
During the last century, the consumption of materials for human needs increased by several orders of magnitude, even for non-renewable materials such as metals. Some data on annual consumption (input) and recycling/waste (output) can often be found in the federal statistics, but a clear picture of the main flows is missing. A dynamic material flow model is developed for the example of copper in Switzerland in order to simulate the relevant copper flows and stocks over the last 150 years. The model is calibrated using data from statistical and published sources as well as from interviews and measurements. A simulation of the current state (2000) is compared with data from other studies. The results show that Swiss consumption and losses are both high, at a level of about 8 and 2 kg/(cap year), respectively, or about three times higher than the world average. The model gives an understanding of the flows and stocks and their interdependencies as a function of time. This is crucial for materials whose consumption dynamics are characterised by long lifetimes and hence for relating the current output to the input of the whole past. The model allows a comprehensive discussion of possible measures to reduce resource use and losses to the environment. While increasing the recycling reduces losses to landfill, only copper substitution can reduce the different losses to the environment, although with a time delay of the order of a lifetime.
Biogas and bio-methane that are based on energy crops are renewable energy carriers and therefore potentially contribute to climate protection. However, significant greenhouse gas emissions resulting from agricultural production processes must be considered, mainly resulting from agricultural production processes, as fertilizer use, pesticide etc.
This paper provides an integrated life cycle assessment (LCA) of biogas (i.e. bio-methane that has been upgraded and injected into the natural gas grid), taking into account the processes of fermentation, upgrading and injection to the grid for two different types of biogas plants thus examining the current state of the art as well as new, large-scale plants, operated by industrial players. Not only technical and engineering aspects are taken into account here, but also the choice of feedstock which plays an important role as to the overall ecological evaluation of bio-methane.
The substrates evaluated in this paper - aside from maize - are rye, sorghum, whole-crop-silage from triticale and barley, and the innovative options of agricultural grass (Landsberger Gemenge, a mixture of hairy vetch (vicia villosa), crimson clover (trifolium incarnátum) and Italian ryegrass (lolium multiflorum)) as well as a combination of maize and sunflower.
This paper analyses drivers for resource use and material productivity acrosscountries. This is not only relevant in light of soaring raw material prices but also because EU policies, such as the "Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources" (COM [2005] 670), the EU Raw Materials Initiative (COM [2008] 699) and various similar policies internationally, seek to better manage materials along their life-cycle and across economies. In order to better understand the system dynamics of material use, our paper applies methodologies of material flow analysis and regression analysis to identify the major drivers for resource use and decoupling from GDP. Drivers are understood as those factors that exert influence on human activities to use resources. A panel data set is taken for the European Union for the years 1980–2000 (EU-15) and 1992–2000 (EU-25). The main drivers of resource use were found to be energy efficiency, new dwellings and roads construction activities. Shortcomings of the methodology are also discussed.
Concentrated solar power (CSP) plants are one of several renewable energy technologies with significant potential to meet a part of future energy demand. An integrated technology assessment shows that CSP plants could play a promising role in Africa and Europe, helping to reach ambitious climate protection goals. Based on the analysis of driving forces and barriers, at first three future envisaged technology scenarios are developed. Depending on the underlying assumptions, an installed capacity of 120 GWel, 405 GWel or even 1,000 GWel could be reached globally in 2050. In the latter case, CSP would then meet 13–15% of global electricity demand. Depending on these scenarios, cost reduction curves for North Africa and Europe are derived. The cost assessment conducted for two virtual sites in Algeria and in Spain shows a long-term reduction of electricity generating costs to figures between 4 and 6 ct/kWhel in 2050. The paper concludes with an ecological analysis based on life cycle assessment. Although the greenhouse gas emissions of current (solar only operated) CSP systems show a good performance (31 g CO2-equivalents/kWhel) compared with advanced fossil-fired systems (130–900 CO2-eq./kWhel), they could further be reduced to 18 g CO2-eq./kWhel in 2050, including transmission from North Africa to Europe.