International Research Center on Environment and Development

Abstract We provide a nonanthropocentric rationale for implementing a levy on meat consumption due to animal-welfare considerations. It operates as a Pigouvian tax and addresses externalities on farmed animals. Under total utilitarianism, the levy is a subsidy when an animal’s life is worth living, and a tax when it is not. The levy varies under alternative normative settings, illustrating the importance of population-ethics issues for the pricing of externalities in this context. Even under conservative assumptions, calibrated tax levels are substantial and would make most intensive animal farms unprofitable. Taxes are significantly higher for chickens and pigs than for cows, in contrast to the taxation of other meat externalities.

Decarbonising energy systems is a prevalent topic in the current literature on climate change mitigation, but the additional climate burden caused by methane emissions along the natural gas value chain is rarely discussed at the system level. Considering a two-basket greenhouse gas neutrality objective (both CO2 and methane), we model cost-optimal European energy transition pathways towards 2050. Our analysis shows that adoption of best available methane abatement technologies can entail an 80% reduction in methane leakage, limiting the additional environmental burden to 8% of direct CO2 emissions (vs. 35% today). We show that, while renewable energy sources are key drivers of climate neutrality, the role of natural gas strongly depends on actions to abate both associated CO2 and methane emissions. Moreover, clean hydrogen (produced mainly from renewables) can replace natural gas in a substantial proportion of its end-uses, satisfying nearly a quarter of final energy demand in a climate-neutral Europe.

The usefulness of global integrated assessment model (IAM) results for policy recommendation in specific regions has not been fully assessed to date. This study presents the variation in results across models for a given region, and what might be behind this variation and how model assumptions and structures drive results. Understanding what drives the differences across model results is important for national policy relevance of global scenarios. We focus on the use of bioenergy in Brazil, a country expected to play an important role in future bioenergy production. We use results of the Stanford University Energy Modeling Forum’s 33rd Study (EMF-33) model comparison exercise to compare and assess projections of Brazil’s bioenergy pathways under climate mitigation scenarios to explore how 10 global IAMs compare to recent trends in the country. We find that, in their current form, global IAMs have limited potential to supply robust insights into regional mitigation strategies. Our results suggest fertile ground for a new research agenda to improve regional representation in global IAMs with improved spatial and technological resolutions.

This dataset an historical list of wind power projects in Vietnam, updated 2021-01-21. The list contains 473 records, among which 381 refer to active projects. It includes the generation capacity, the project's location at the commune level, its stage classified on the Preliminary / Development / Implementation / Operation / Decommission scale, and wether it is onshore, nearshore or offshore. The sample is comprehensive for Implementation and Operation projects. We cover the total project investment cost for 162 records. We obtained the dataset by reviewing only public sources: national power development plan updates, provincial investment plans decisions ; the press and the professional literature. This dataset can be used for energy system research and modeling, for policy analysis at the provincial and national levels, and to better understand the market conditions. It provides an inspirational example of how fast it is possible to switch to renewable energy on a national scale. Climate change mitigation requires more stories like this one.

To achieve the deep decarbonization goals of Paris agreement, European union has set a zero net CO2 emissions target by 2050. This ambitious target can only be achieved by massive reduction of fossil fuels’ share in the primary energy supply side. While the energy mix for different sectors has been studied abundantly in the literature, fewer studies deal with the impact of sector-coupling on achieving the goal of deep decarbonization, with limited representation of emerging low-carbon options and incomplete coverage of the main energy sectors.To this end, we develop a detailed model of energy sector, leaving the vector choice for different sectorial end-use demands endogenous. Applying this model to the French case, we study the synergies of sector-coupling and the impact of the social cost of carbon (SCC) in reaching an optimal carbon-neutral energy mix in 2050.Our results show that (1) a nearly carbon neutral energy sector can be achieved for a SCC value of €200/tCO2, in case of availability of renewable gas. (2) For a SCC value as low as €100/tCO2 renewables become the main source of the primary energy supply and the share of renewable energy can reach up to more than 80% of the primary energy supply. (3) We find that a very big proportion of transport demand is satisfied by gas-powered internal combustion engine vehicles and the share of electric vehicles in the final light transport demand never exceeds 9%. (4) For social cost of carbon values of more than €100/tCO2, the heat sector is fully electrified by individual and central heat pumps. Our sensitivity analysis suggests that (5) a robust SCC of €300/tCO2 would lead to carbon neutrality taking into account cost uncertainties.This study suggests further development of gas charging network (for transport end-use) and heat pumps and investment in renewables to reach climate goals in cost-optimal ways.