Scope 3 decarbonization through environmental attribute certificates

To investigate the effects of carbon cap-and-trade regulation on firm's production and low-carbon technology investment decisions, we firstly introduced a model for production decision without considering carbon cap-and-trade regulation as a benchmark. Under cap-and-trade regulation, we established the model for production decision and the model for joint decisions on production and low-carbon technology investment, then discussed the impacts of the carbon emissions quota and carbon trading price on firm' production quantity and carbon emissions as well as profits, and compared the optimal production quantity, total carbon emissions, and profit. Finally, the relevant propositions and corollaries were verified and analyzed by numerical examples, some management Implications for the firm making decisions on production and low-carbon technology investment and for the governments operating effectively the carbon cap-and-trade regulation were proposed.

Nutrient Exports and Land Use in Australian Catchments

Developing an optimal electricity generation mix for the UK 2050 future

In the context of global efforts to combat climate change and transition towards a low-carbon economy, the European Union (EU) has introduced the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) as part of its ambitious Green Deal. This mechanism aims to address carbon leakage from high-emitting industries and ensure fair conditions for European industries. The ASEAN region, as highlighted in the 7th ASEAN Energy Outlook (AEO7) study, is projected to experience a substantial increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, reaching 6,704 Mt CO2-eq by 2050 compared to a baseline scenario of 1,815 Mt CO2-eq in 2020. Consequently, ASEAN has recognized the urgency to earnestly reduce its emissions in response to the global push for carbon neutrality. The implementation of CBAM by the EU has prompted many countries, including ASEAN Member States (AMS) exporting goods to the EU and beyond, to consider the adoption of CBAM policies. This study examines the potential implications of CBAM for the emission reduction in high-emitting industries in ASEAN (such as cement, iron and steel, aluminum, fertilizers, and electricity generation). The findings indicate that the implementation of CBAM may result in higher product prices for these industries, as they will be required to account for the climate footprint of their manufacturing activities through additional fees. However, it also presents an opportunity for emission reductions within these industries by incentivizing the adoption of renewable energy sources to mitigate their carbon footprint during manufacturing processes. To effectively respond to the implementation of CBAM, the region should adopt three key strategies: 1) active participation in and implementation of carbon pricing mechanisms, 2) increased investments in low carbon technologies, and 3) establishment of strategic partnerships to enhance trade relations between the EU and ASEAN.

Carbon market mechanisms such as emissions trading systems and crediting mechanisms can have multiple objectives. A key goal is to lower the cost of achieving greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions. Market mechanisms can also catalyse investment in low carbon technologies and practices, provide local environmental and health benefits, contribute to fostering innovation, provide a source of government revenue and facilitate more ambitious mitigation action in future. They can therefore play an important role in the diverse policy toolkit needed to address the global issue of climate change. This paper identifies the key design elements of market mechanisms and examines the governance structures and decision-making processes used to create tradable GHG units in existing systems both inside and outside of the UNFCCC. The analysis explores the potential involvement of international, national and sub-national regulatory bodies in the governance and decision-making processes and the possible role that internationally-agreed standards could play in providing confidence in the quality of GHG units.

Increasing population, industry, and developing technology, rising energy need, running out of fossil fuels, and limited existing energy resources have made it necessary to work on the efficient use of energy. In this context, energy efficient building design approaches have found an important place in interdisciplinary studies in recent years. Green building systems are nano-technology building automation control systems that facilitate home life and provide security. By integrating living spaces with developing technologies, it transforms it into a more comfortable, safer, and more enjoyable way of life. Green buildings enable building owners, building managers, and users to achieve their goals in cost, energy management, comfort, convenience, security, long-term flexibility, and visuality. Low carbon technologies, also known as green technology, are defined as the development and implementation of systems that are used to protect the natural environment, resources, and minimize the negative effects of human activities. The main objectives of low carbon technologies are; to control global warming, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and develop innovative inventions that do not affect natural resources. In general, the necessity of low carbon technologies is related to reducing risks to the environment and protecting natural resources. At the same time, low carbon technologies enable the use of clean and renewable energy sources to prevent the complete depletion of other non-renewable resources. It is very important to use low-carbon technologies for the effective use of energy in buildings and not to pollute the environment. In this study, green buildings and low carbon technologies that can be used in these buildings are researched and suggestions are made.

Socio-economic constraints to low-carbon transitions: insights from Kazakhstan’s Emissions Trading Scheme

BackgroundAchieving climate targets will require a rapid transition to clean energy. However, renewable energy (RE) firms face financial, policy, and economic barriers to mobilizing sufficient investment in low-carbon technologies, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Here, we analyze the challenges and successes of financing the energy transition in Nigeria and Brazil using three empirically grounded levers: financing environments, channels, and instruments.ResultsWhile Brazil has leveraged innovative policy instruments to mobilize large-scale investment in RE, policy uncertainty and weak financing mechanisms have hindered RE investments in Nigeria. Specifically, Brazil’s energy transition has been driven by catalytic finance from the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES). In contrast, bilateral agencies and multilateral development banks (MDBs) have been the largest financiers of renewables in Nigeria. Policy instruments and public–private partnerships need to be redesigned to attract finance and scale market opportunities for RE project developers in Nigeria.ConclusionsWe conclude that robust policy frameworks, a dynamic public bank, strategic deployment of blended finance, and diversification of financing instruments would be essential to accelerate RE investment in Nigeria. Considering the crucial role of donors and MDBs in Nigeria, we propose a multi-stakeholder model to consolidate climate finance and facilitate the country’s energy transition.

The Case against Carbon Prices

This study assessed the economic value of public urban green spaces (UGSs) in Kuala Lumpur (KL) city by using the hedonic price method (HPM). It involves 1269 house units from eight sub-districts in KL city. Based on the hedonic price method, this study formulates a global and local model. The global model and local model are analyzed using ordinary least square (OLS) regression and geographically weighted regression (GWR). By using the hedonic price method, the house price serves as a proxy for public urban green spaces' economic value. The house price is regressed against the set of three variables which are structural characteristics, neighborhood attributes, and environmental attributes. Measurements of interest in this study are environmental characteristics, including distance to public UGSs and size of public UGSs. The results of the OLS regression illustrated that Taman Rimba Kiara and Taman Tasik Titiwangsa provide the maximum economic value. On average, reducing the distance of the house location to Taman Rimba Kiara by 10m increased the house price by RM1700. Similarly, increasing the size of the Taman Tasik Titiwangsa by 1000m2 increases the house price by RM60,000. The advantage of the GWR result is the economic value of public UGSs which can be analyzed by the specific location according to sub-district. From this study, the GWR result exposed that the economic values of Taman Rimba Bukit Kiara and Taman Tasik Titiwangsa were not significant in each of the sub-district within KL city. Taman Rimba Bukit Kiara was negatively significant at all sub-districts except Setapak and certain house locations located at the sub-district of KL. In contrast, Taman Tasik Titiwangsa was positively significant at all sub-districts except certain house locations at the sub-districts of Batu, KL, Setapak, and KL city center. In conclusion, results show that the house price is influenced by the environmental attribute. However, even though both of these public UGSs generate the highest economic value based on distance and size, its significant values with an expected sign are only obtained based on the specific house location as verified by the local model. In terms of model comparison, the local model was better compared with the global model.

AS consumers choose among cities, they may trade off higher earnings against differences in the consumption of environmental goods. Commuter travel time, crime and air quality, the quality of educational and health facilities, each may involve unpurchased environmental goods. Decisions about -the consumption of such goods are made simultaneously with the choice of city of residence. By examining the compensating earnings differentials relative to differences in environmental goods across cities, one can estimate hedonic prices for each environmental attribute. The hedonic prices may be useful in valuing the benefit of environmental improvement, and as weights in constructing an index of the quality of life, as Tobin and Nordhaus (1972) propose. By relating the index of the quality of life to city size, something may be learned about the effect of urban growth on the quality of life. This method is a substantial improvement over the index of Liu (1975). Previous efforts to estimate these hedonic prices by Izraeli (1974) and by Hoch and Drake (1974) have been unsatisfying for several reasons. First, they model only the consumer side, while ignoring the possibility that differences in productivity may influence wage determination. Thus, they do not indicate the conditions necessary for their equations to be identified. Second, they do not include variables representative of a wide range of environmental attributes. Exclusion of important categories of environmental attributes may unduly bias the estimates. Hoch and Drake (1974), for example, focus on climate while ignoring many other environmental attributes. Third, if one includes a wide array of environmental attributes, one is confronted with a serious multicollinearity problem. Kelley (1977) takes explicit account of the demand side of the labor market in estimating hedonic prices for amenities. His analysis, however, does not account for differences in the cost of living in different cities, apparently assuming that all goods are traded in national markets. In addition, Kelley does not account for differences in labor force quality in different cities. This essay considers the production activity of cities in identifying the supply of labor. A rich set of environmental attributes is then used to develop new estimates of the hedonic prices for urban amenities.

Under the global drive for net-zero emission targets, the importance of natural gas is further highlighted. Due to its lower absolute emissions, natural gas is seen as an ideal bridge in the transition to a future powered by renewable energy. The development of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from extraction, liquefaction, transportation, to regasification, produces carbon emissions at every stage. The carbon emissions at each stage have a profound impact on the carbon footprint of LNG projects. Understanding and scientifically quantifying the carbon emissions at each stage are not only key steps in optimizing the energy structure but also crucial to achieving the goal of global net-zero emissions. Only through a refined carbon emission accounting model, which studies the impact of carbon emission costs on the economics of the LNG supply chain, can we provide ideas for optimizing the benefits of LNG projects and formulating emission reduction strategies. Using an A LNG development project as a case study, we selected the upstream and midstream industries of its supply chain as research targets, set the carbon emission boundary, and sorted out the carbon emission sources at different stages. We analyzed and studied the carbon emissions during the drilling, production, gathering and transportation, and liquefaction stages of coalbed methane development process, thereby establishing a carbon emission accounting model. According to the above accounting model, emission factors were determined, the carbon emissions during the development process were calculated, and based on the understanding of the future carbon market, carbon prices were predicted. Finally, the carbon cost calculation module was embedded in the economic evaluation model to study the impact of carbon emissions on economic benefits. A sensitivity analysis was conducted on various factors including Capex, Opex, Oil Price, Production, Carbon price, and Carbon emission factor in the economic evaluation. We found that carbon pricing had a larger impact on the project's life-cycle IRR than the carbon emission factor. By performing a breakeven analysis on carbon liability, we calculated the breakeven carbon price for carbon liability. For each stage of the upstream and midstream of the LNG project supply chain, a carbon emission accounting model was established and embedded in the economic evaluation model.

A low-carbon economy is an inevitable choice for achieving economic and ecological sustainable development. It is of significant importance to analyze a city’s low-carbon economy development level scientifically and reasonably. In order to achieve this goal, we propose an urban low-carbon economic development level evaluation model based on the matter-element extension method. First, we select some indicators from the existing indicator system based on past research and experience. Then, a matter-element model is established on the basis of weight to evaluate the level of a city’s low-carbon, the critical value of each index is determined through the classical domain and the section domain, calculating the correlation degree of a single index and a comprehensive index. Finally, we analyze the low-carbon economy development status and future development trends according to the analysis results. In this study, we select Shanghai as an empirical study—the results show that Shanghai is a city with a low-carbon level and there is a trend of further improvement in Shanghai’s low-carbon economy. But its low carbon construction and low carbon technology investment are relatively low. In summary, this method can provide another angle for evaluating a city’s low-carbon economy.

Since environmental impact assessment (EIA) is concerned primarily withsignificant environmental impacts, the concept of impact significance deserves to be defined and applied rigorously. In this article use of the term over the past 15 years in EIA documentation is reviewed. Some recent attempts at elucidating the concept are summarized. Four perspectives on impact significance that emerged from a series of workshops on the ecological basis for EIA are presented. These perspectives include (a) statistical (related to problems of isolating project-induced changes from natural variation), (b) ecological (related to the importance of project-induced changes from a purely ecological perspective), (c) social (related to the acceptability of project-induced changes in important environmental attributes), and (d) project (related to whether project-induced changes will indeed influence project decision making). The following synthesis is proposed: Any exercise in judging the significance of an environmental impact should thoroughly consider (a) the importance of the environmental attribute in question to project decision makers, (2) the distribution of change in time and space, (c) the magnitude of change, and (d) the reliability with which change has been predicted or measured. The implications of considering these factors are discussed.

PurposeThis study aims to analyze social networking and network centrality in the case of community enterprises, which the existing literature has not addressed. To do so, the authors use the survey of community enterprises from the One Tambon One Product (OTOP) entrepreneurship program of Nong Khai border province in Thailand as a case study.Design/methodology/approachSocial network analysis (SNA) is a tool to study and understand the relationship patterns of units of analysis, which can be individual, household, community or production units, and how those units interact through social or economic activities. Network positions are important when identifying the centralization of links in a particular network. If a representative is close to the center of a network, it is possible that the production unit will be able to contact or coordinate with a greater number of other members of the cluster, create knowledge sharing, promote collaboration and then typically demonstrate greater performance.FindingsThe results show that overall, local government agencies play a critical role in the community enterprise relationship network, while private entities are the least active group. Enterprises in partnerships with external agencies are mostly cooperating with branding and marketing dimensions, followed by the design dimension. There is no cooperation regarding production and distribution. Most community enterprises have established at least a one-dimensional network of cooperation with external agencies; only five community enterprises have isolated nodes with no partnerships having been created within this group.Research limitations/implicationsThe study was limited by the surveys having been conducted in a single area and, therefore, can be used only as a case study for this area. Surveys in larger group sizes and in a wider range of areas would lead to results with greater applicability and reliability.Practical implicationsThese results bring to mind policy proposals to increase the competitiveness of community enterprises through the development of social networks as follows: firstly, knowledge should be created with community enterprise operators to understand their supply chains and analyze the strengths and weaknesses and core competencies of their enterprises; and secondly, enterprises should be educated about which agencies can assist businesses at each stage in the value chain system and encouraged to ask for help in adding value at each stage of production.Social implicationsA “OTOP to Business Networking” platform for community and private enterprises should be created with projects/activities that offer venues to exchange business learning and opportunities. Holding meetings among people in a variety of business sectors may help inspire entrepreneurs to innovate to further their businesses, which can lead to networking businesses conducting activities across community enterprises and the private sector for the mutual benefit of producing merchandise for large customers and markets. Learning systems, production techniques and cooperation should be created, as well as opportunities to increase market share and profitability, if this platform is successful.Originality/valueThis paper is the first study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to utilize SNA to examine the use of social networking among community enterprises participating in Thailand’s OTOP entrepreneurship program in Nong Khai province. The results show that overall, local government agencies play a critical role in the community enterprise relationship network, while private entities are the least active group. Therefore, the government can play an important role in helping to develop a network of community enterprises with external entities at each stage of the value chain to enhance the competitiveness of each enterprise.