Saturday, December 3, 2011

CCEP Working Papers in November 2011

Downloads were still good this month after relaxing from last month's craziness:



The two top papers from last month continued to get a lot of hits. We added one new paper by Paul Burke. There is a second paper dated November that didn't quite squeeze into the sample. More details of the new papers below:

The National-Level Energy Ladder and its Carbon Implications

Paul J. Burke

Abstract: This paper documents an energy ladder that nations ascend as their per capita incomes increase. On average, economic development results in an overall substitution from the use of biomass to fulfill energy needs to energy sourced from fossil fuels, and then toward nuclear power and certain low-carbon modern renewables such as wind power. The results imply an inverse-U shaped relationship between per capita income and the carbon intensity of energy, which is borne out in the data. Fossil fuel-poor countries are more likely to climb to the upper rungs of the national-level energy ladder and experience reductions in the carbon intensity of energy as they develop than fossil fuel-rich countries. Leapfrogging to low-carbon energy sources on the upper rungs of the national-level energy ladder is one route via which developing countries can reduce the magnitudes of their expected upswings in carbon dioxide emissions.

In Search of a New Effective International Climate Framework for Post-2020: A Proposal for an Upstream Global Carbon Market

Mutsuyoshi Nishimura and Akinobu Yasumoto

Abstract: Given the urgency and the magnitude of emission cuts required to arrest the global temperature rise at an acceptable level (like 2 degrees Celsius), it is imperative that action to mitigate climate change is taken at the lowest cost. This can be done if a cost effective set of policy tools with a focus on carbon pricing is applied as broadly as possible across all emission sources. In view of the emerging consensus on the temperature target like 2 degrees Celsius, it is imperative that climate scheme caps global emissions rather than allowing governments to arbitrarily pledge their intended cuts. Global emissions must be contained within the limit of carbon budget that achieves temperature objectives. Emission allowances must be issued in accordance with such limit and be sold to the global demand of emitters. Such sales of carbon budget give rise to both the most accurate carbon pricing as well as new revenue that can be used for much needed climate financing for developing countries. A new climate regime along those lines would stop global warming at an acceptable level, provide a new large climate funding that would integrate developing countries to a global low-carbon growth and transformation and keep all economies thriving, whether they are developing, emerging or developed. The post-2020 climate regime must be nimble and effective, not unwieldy and least burdensome. It must also be durable and fully congruent to the economic realities of the coming decades

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