Publications

The final rules for the Californian allowance trading scheme initiative, which was agreed in December 2010, were voted on October 20th 2011. As from 2013, this new carbon market, which covers 85% of Californian emissions, is expected to enable the State to return to its 1990 emissions level by 2020. It will be a life-size […]

Bismarck’s dictum – “Russians harness their horses slowly, but ride fast” – applies well to the recent developments on the Russian Joint Implementation scene. After several years of skidding, Joint Implementation in Russia recently took off in terms of new project registrations and ERU issuances thanks to political support from President Medvedev that arrived unexpectedly […]

By Amadou KEBE, Valentin BELLASSEN and Alexia LESEUR Local authorities (regions, departments, metropolitan areas and towns) are increasingly involved in defining and implementing policies to combat climate change. This is not a simple task, as beyond emissions generated by their administrative services, most greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in their territorial jurisdiction are beyond their direct […]

The disaster in Fukushima on March 11th 2011 led to a renewed questioning on nuclear power in a number of European countries, including Germany. On July 8th, the German Parliament approved the shutdown of all of the country’s nuclear reactors by 2022. Given that nuclear electricity generation does not emit any CO2, we expect this […]

By Anaïs DELBOSC, Nicolas STEPHAN, Valentin BELLASSEN, Alain CORMIER et Benoît LEGUET The purpose of this document is to estimate the supply and potential demand as regards Kyoto carbon credits (CER and ERU) up to 2020. Two distinct periods have been pinpointed: 2008-2012, the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, and 2013-2020, the phase […]

China, as a non-Annex I country, has no mandatory GHG emissions reduction target under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Now the biggest GHG emitter in the world, China is showing increasing willingness to bear a share of the global emissions reduction effort. In this context, its 12th five-year plan (FYP) was eagerly […]

In March 2011 the UK Government began implementing a carbon “price floor” for domestic power generators, which will apply from April 2013. Since the policy will effectively create two different prices for CO2 within the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme, it will have distortionary impacts on the European carbon market. Our analysis suggests that it […]

Medium-term (i.e. pre-2015) demand for credits from the EU ETS and secondary sources of demand appears to be limited to 1.6 billion tCO2e. The supply of Kyoto credits is relatively predictable, and will cover demand between now and 2013-2014 according to our base-case scenario. Our view is that the demand-supply equilibrium will lead to a […]

By Gaspard DUMOLLARD and Alexia LESEUR The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) introduced the adaptation issue at the international level as far back as 1992. At that time, it was specified that the aims of such policies were to minimise the impacts of climate change on countries’ economies and public health systems, […]

In January 2011 cyber-criminals managed to steal allowances belonging to companies participating in the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) by attacking several EU-Member States’ national emissions registries. While these attacks did not affect  the  environmental  integrity  of  the  EU  ETS,  they  are  the  latest  in  a  series whereby  fraudsters  have  targeted  the  carbon  […]

The Cancún  Summit, held between November 29thand December 10th 2010, led to a series of decisions relating to the post-2012 international climate change policy. The outcomes  of  the  December  2009  Copenhagen  Accord,  negotiated  by  28  countries, were  legalised  within  the  United  Nations  framework  by  its  194  members,  with  the exception  of  Bolivia.  The  continuance  and  […]

The combined emissions of the agriculture and forestry sectors make up about 25% of global greenhouse gas emissions. However their mitigation potential remains largely untapped.  In  this  context,  New  Zealand  is  a  valuable  case  study.  Since  it  has  high quality  institutions  but  a  “developing  country”  emissions  profile,  New  Zealand  is exploring innovative ways of constructing […]

By Christa CLAPP, Alexia LESEUR, Olivier SARTOR, Gregory BRINER, Jan CORFEE-MORLOT The importance of cities in climate policy stems from the simple reality that they house the majority of the world‟s population, two-thirds of world energy use and over 70% of global energy use emissions. At the international level, global carbon markets have become an […]

The  Voluntary  Carbon  Standard  (VCS)  is  the  main  quality  label  on  the  voluntary  carbon markets. Its new specifications, VCS 2011, are introducing several innovations  in terms of procedures and coverage, which may provide food for thought regarding  future  changes  to  the  Clean  Development  Mechanism  (CDM).  A  public  consultation regarding these new specifications has been held. […]

Forests are vital carbon sinks. Although forestry projects dominate the voluntary carbon markets, they still occupy a marginal position on the larger, compliance markets. This is mainly due to their ineligibility for the European Union EmissionsTrading Scheme. New opportunities are emerging, however their impact may appear limited compared with the scale of the climate challenge.

By Audrey HOLM Both the omnipresence of infrastructures throughout the world and the creation of new infrastructures – particularly in developing countries – raise the question of the role they play in the fight against climate change. Infrastructures can serve a double purpose in the face of climate change: “green infrastructures” can help reduce climate […]

By Maria MANSANET-BATALLER In its Fourth Synthesis Report published in 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) demonstrated that in spite of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, certain impacts of climate change will be inevitable. Two types of measures are necessary to confront climate change: mitigation measures and adaptation measures. Mitigation measures will […]

By Anaïs Delbosc and Christian de Perthuis Caring for Climate (C4C) was introduced by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in July 2007. The Secretary-General challenged Global Compact participants to exercise leadership on climate issues by: • making climate change a leadership issue for strategy and operations; • setting emission reduction targets and exploring low-carbon technologies; […]

By Anita DROUET Adapting to climate change consists in taking the current and coming effects of climate change into our decision-making now to limit adverse impacts and maximise potential benefits. The cost of adaptation is estimated at several tens of billions of dollars annually. Developing countries are especially vulnerable and the Secretariat of the United […]