6 - Ecological Environment Flashcards
what do you have to know from this lecture?
- understand some climate change theory
- cause and effects of climate change on business
- explore the economic costs of (non)-mitigation of climate change
- two potential economic policy solutions
what does GHG mean?
greenhouse gas
what is a GHG sources?
any activity or process that emits a greenhouse gas into the atmospheren
what is a GHG sink?
somewhere in which GHG are stored for a long period of time
what have we done in terms of sinks and sources?
we have accelerated the process in which the earth releases and absorbs
takes co2 hundreds of years to break down
how long has the atmospheric sink been filling?
since industrial revolution (1750)
how much higher is the concentration of GHG since pre industrial levels:
40%
largely carbon dioxide
how longs do GHGs stay in sinks and why is this a problem?
100s of years
no technology in which can remove ‘pull plug’ hence the rise in climate change
what does GtCO2?
giga tonnes of co2
when was the tragedy of the commons written and by who?
Hardin 1968
what is the tragedy of the commons about?
that common land can be used by everyone and therefore will eventually be destroyed causing extra externalities
idea that its use is individually rational but wholly destructive
Antractica treaty
what did elinor ostrom say about the tragedy of the commons?
reviewed hardens book
won nobel prize
she stated that there are various ways in which common land can be managed without the need for government intervention
believed there was a way of doing business through a network/community
people will work together whilst using rational aims that help everyone
(swiss alps farmers organise land to their mutual benefit 1517)
what is the overall trend of global emissions?
they have been rising from 1751 up to the present
in line with industrial revolution
what is the biggest contributor of emissions?
electricity and heat production - 25%
agriculture and other land use - 24%
how much worst is nitrous oxide for global warming than c02?
300 times
what % of emissions is made up of co2?
82%
2012
what % of co2 is emitted by china?
29.1%
2015
what % of GHG emissions apply to china and USA?
45%
what did trump do in 2012?
tweeted that global warming was a concept created by the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non competitive
worrying as it received over 60,000 likes meaning that some of the population may agree, despite much scientific evidence
how much did fossil fuel co2 emissions rise by between 2004 and 2013?
2.3%
how much has sea level risen by according to the university of colorado? 2018
8 inches higher since 1880
if the temp rises by 2 degrees what will happen?
university of colorado
sea level will rise by 6 feet
lose 440,000 square miles of land
375 million of people live
who is most at risk from the 2 degree temp rise?
uni of colorado
china, bangladesh and vietnam
low lying land
what % of species are extinct due to global warming?
60
what % of artic ice has already melted?
70%
in 2100 how much higher will sea levels be?
14-48 inches
how much have polar temperatures risen by?
5 degrees over last 100 years
what is significant about the last five years?
they have been the hottest on record
what did trump say during his presidential campaign?
that he plans on eliminating the EPA
how much ice does being a meat eater for a year melt?
5 cubic metres
what did McKinsey find in 2013?
economic costs of climate change
did a study looking at how much it would cost to stop climate change
found that its would cost only 1% of GDP
a cost that companies are still unwilling to do due to the fact that industries are short term thinkers
what is the difference between 1.5 vs 2 degree temp rise?
if it was to only rise by 1.5 degrees there would be a 20 trillion saving by 2100 (Burke et al)
what does 1 degree of warming cost?
1.2 percent of GDP
what has the head of AXA said in regards to climate change
global temp rise would not be ‘insurable’
what is happening to solar power?
the cost is decreasing each year to not much different from coal, meaning that it is just as good to use solar power
what is cap and trade?
a form of carbon trading
the EU ETS is an example of this
how does cap and trade work?
polluters hold permits equal to their emissions
polluters that was to increase emissions must buy permits from others willing o sell them
how much carbon can be identified as owned by large polluters?
15%
the rest from small contributors altogether, may only use a couple credit each but as one they cause most
what is the tax and dividend carbon pricing?
a fee is levied on fuels at the point of entry to a country (when it arrives) based upon the carbon content
bsuinesses are then paying more company but this is mitigated by redistributing it to citizens, idea is that the dividends would offset the increases in cost that polluters have to charge you
leads polluters products to become more expensive
penalises polluters and opt them to use low carbon energy
what is the biggest change to climate change that could happen?
tax and dividends in that they will start to vote and think differently
although nature has an economic value what is it missing in terms of representing its central role in the economy?
it is not represented in the pricing system such as putting a price on air
because of this humans view natural resources as free and there is an incentive to overuse them
why does price of carbon make sense?
incentivises a shft ti low carbon technologies and lets the market decide which ones will generate biggest enviro bang for buck
the did carbon pricing start?
1990s in scandinavia
how manny countries have carbon tax or cap and trade?
world ban says 42
when doesn’t can pricing work well?
for transportation
which is 14% of worlds emissions
found that drivers are usually unrepresonsive to changes in petrol tax
price elastic
what happened between 2015 and 1016
EU emissions declined by 0.7% due to EU getting stricter on permits after the fininacial crisis as countries had too may permits
why have EU redesigned carbon pricing system?
found significant flaws e.g. ignorance
set to start in 2021
- tighten emission limits
- reduce handouts
- pull eases permits off the market
california also looking at this
what do china do?
inter nation carbon trade
bigger than EU
implementation on 2017
to fix their growing problems related to air pollution
what has carbon racing down?
- accustomed powerful economic players to the notion that they will have to integrate decarbonisation int their speeding decisions
- provided the actors with incentive to look for new technology to lower emissions
what does trump wish to do?
get rid of the EPA
environmental protection agency
how much could US save in heat related deaths?
141 bullion vs 59 billion
what did elon musk do in 2017?
left the presidential advisory board in retaliation to trump leaving paris agreement
what has unilever done?
the company repsosbible for dove to magnum pledged that it would use 100% renewable resources
between 2008 and 2016 they reduced carbon emissions by 43%
why are businesses starting to change their ways, even if they haven’t been affected yet?
due to globalisation and the idea of the supply chain
one disaster caused by climate change may affect them
e.g. japan eathqaueks in 2016 destroyed toyota plant meaning they had to suspend production meaning that their supply chain all over the world was distributed
WHAT percent of ghg is carbon?
EPA stated that 65% of all ghg is carbon
reference by susie goldenberg 2013
US environmental correspondent stated that just 90 companies caused two thirds of the man made global warming emissions form 1751 to 2010
all but 7 were energy producing countries
how have british columbia done the carbon tax?
rose tax from 10 dollars 2008 to 30 dollars 2012 per tonne of carbon reduced emission by 5-15%
it made feel more expensive but said that it meant people had more incentive to not drive
eduardo porter 2016
The New York Times
what the difference between cap and trade and cap and dividend?
n the cap and dividend policy, every company will have to buy a carbon permit and this differs from the cap and trade policy because there will be no permits given away for free (Boyce, James K 2009
why do a lot of people dislike the cap and dividend policy?
it only benefits the poor due to their living situations, whereas rich people who can afford the price without dividends aren’t given any incentive
house of representatives US 2009 - 2010
