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| Hurra for Green Electricity! |
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Some economists argue that support for renewable electricity leads to more coal power. Their reasoning is curiously flawed and oversees the crucial role of technological learning.
A curious discussion about climate policy has arisen in Norway now that the country has agreed with Sweden to join Sweden’s ”green certificate” market (a.k.a. el-certificate, similar to the renewable portopholio standard) . This policy tool creates de-facto a niche-market for specific kinds of renewable energy, which are traded at higher prices than on the spot market for electricity. Economists like Böhringer and Rosendahl, Michael Hoel and Odd Godal (DN 9 and 11 Sept.) now argue that the increased production of renewable electricity in Nordic countries will have no effect on the emission...
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Posted by Edgar Hertwich at Sunday, September 13, 2009
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| Can Technology Spare the Earth? |
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The IPCC says that we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80 % by 2050 to achieve the goal of limit global warming to not more than 2°C, agreed to by the EU and the G8.
Recent research indicates that the cumulative emissions in the period 2000-2050 should be not more than 1000 billion tons of CO2. In the first 7 years of this 50 year period; 234 billion tons were already emitted. Even if we give up the 2°C goal, risking unpredictable feedback mechanisms disrupting the climate in more severe manners, quick, deep emission reductions are required to stabilize atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Given that energy access is so essential for the economy, we need to ask ourselves:
How can such reductions be achieved?
What is the role of technology, behavior change, and a c...
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Posted by Edgar Hertwich at Thursday, August 27, 2009
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| What does the Carbon Footprint mean? |
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Many people have asked how a country’s carbon footprint compares to the territorial emissions reported to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)?
In hindsight, it was perhaps remiss of us not to include this data in the paper. However, it was not our motivation.
Focusing on whether the emissions are bigger or smaller misses a large part of the story. The main focus of the paper is on what consumption categories cause emissions and how this varies across countries with different incomes. The current approach in the UNFCCC reveal what the emissions are from electricity, transportation, and so on. This is vital information, however, only a carbon footprint can reveal what the emissions are to produce food, car, television, or to get a hair cut. This info...
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Posted by Glen Peters at Thursday, August 13, 2009
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| News Stories on Carbon Footprint of Nations |
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A good week has gone since the release of the website and the online version of our article.
A number of news outlets picked up the story, including the venerable Neue Züricher Zeitung (Switzerland) and the tabloid VG (Norway). It was really interesting to discuss our research with numerous journalists and to see what they picked up. Here is some highlights.
Consumption as key driver for carbon footprints: Basically all stories emphasize the importance of goods for personal and national carbon footprints. ETH Life and pressetexte show ladies shopping. (Ironically, men usually have higher carbon footprints and are traditionally responsible for shopping high-impact items.) The news stories also point out that increased consumption leads to increased carbon footprints and that this...
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Posted by Edgar Hertwich at Wednesday, June 24, 2009
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| The importance of national carbon footprint accounting |
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Congratulations to Edgar Hertwich, Glen Peters and the NTNU team for presenting the 'Carbon Footprint of Nations' as a politically relevant way of accounting for greenhouse gas emissions, based on a sound methodology.
The publication and website comes at an important time – the decisive climate policy negotiations in Copenhagen are only half a year away – and it will be a useful input to this process. For both, producers and consumers, as individuals, companies and nations are responsible for emissions and both have a joint responsibility to address the problem with determination. The burden of this responsibility must be shared, only then can a meaningful and comprehensive deal to cut global emissions be achieved. The exact nature of this sharing is yet to be determined in...
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Posted by Tommy Wiedmann at Monday, June 15, 2009
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| Welcome to the Carbon Footprint site! |
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We are excited about launching this web site. Many years of our research have gone into developing models and analyzing data on the connection of industrial production, consumption and environmental pressures.
Profound insights have been gained, and an approach has matured which we think is indispensible to address climate change and resource scarcity. Now, we feel that the world really should pay attention! We want to use this website to communicate our research findings to a broader public and to enter into a dialogue with those interested.
Climate change is now increasingly acknowledged as the most urgent global environmental problem. Humans have changed the composition of the atmosphere in a manner that disturbs our planet’s energy exchange with the rest of the universe, ...
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Posted by Edgar Hertwich at Friday, June 12, 2009
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