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A - Business Environment spring > 6 - Ecological Environment > Flashcards

6 - Ecological Environment Flashcards

1
Q

what do you have to know from this lecture?

A
  • 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
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2
Q

what does GHG mean?

A

greenhouse gas

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3
Q

what is a GHG sources?

A

any activity or process that emits a greenhouse gas into the atmospheren

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4
Q

what is a GHG sink?

A

somewhere in which GHG are stored for a long period of time

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5
Q

what have we done in terms of sinks and sources?

A

we have accelerated the process in which the earth releases and absorbs
takes co2 hundreds of years to break down

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6
Q

how long has the atmospheric sink been filling?

A

since industrial revolution (1750)

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7
Q

how much higher is the concentration of GHG since pre industrial levels:

A

40%

largely carbon dioxide

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8
Q

how longs do GHGs stay in sinks and why is this a problem?

A

100s of years

no technology in which can remove ‘pull plug’ hence the rise in climate change

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9
Q

what does GtCO2?

A

giga tonnes of co2

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10
Q

when was the tragedy of the commons written and by who?

A

Hardin 1968

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11
Q

what is the tragedy of the commons about?

A

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

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12
Q

what did elinor ostrom say about the tragedy of the commons?

A

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)

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13
Q

what is the overall trend of global emissions?

A

they have been rising from 1751 up to the present

in line with industrial revolution

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14
Q

what is the biggest contributor of emissions?

A

electricity and heat production - 25%

agriculture and other land use - 24%

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15
Q

how much worst is nitrous oxide for global warming than c02?

A

300 times

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16
Q

what % of emissions is made up of co2?

A

82%

2012

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17
Q

what % of co2 is emitted by china?

A

29.1%

2015

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18
Q

what % of GHG emissions apply to china and USA?

A

45%

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19
Q

what did trump do in 2012?

A

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

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20
Q

how much did fossil fuel co2 emissions rise by between 2004 and 2013?

A

2.3%

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21
Q

how much has sea level risen by according to the university of colorado? 2018

A

8 inches higher since 1880

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22
Q

if the temp rises by 2 degrees what will happen?

university of colorado

A

sea level will rise by 6 feet
lose 440,000 square miles of land
375 million of people live

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23
Q

who is most at risk from the 2 degree temp rise?

uni of colorado

A

china, bangladesh and vietnam

low lying land

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24
Q

what % of species are extinct due to global warming?

A

60

25
Q

what % of artic ice has already melted?

A

70%

26
Q

in 2100 how much higher will sea levels be?

A

14-48 inches

27
Q

how much have polar temperatures risen by?

A

5 degrees over last 100 years

28
Q

what is significant about the last five years?

A

they have been the hottest on record

29
Q

what did trump say during his presidential campaign?

A

that he plans on eliminating the EPA

30
Q

how much ice does being a meat eater for a year melt?

A

5 cubic metres

31
Q

what did McKinsey find in 2013?

economic costs of climate change

A

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

32
Q

what is the difference between 1.5 vs 2 degree temp rise?

A

if it was to only rise by 1.5 degrees there would be a 20 trillion saving by 2100 (Burke et al)

33
Q

what does 1 degree of warming cost?

A

1.2 percent of GDP

34
Q

what has the head of AXA said in regards to climate change

A

global temp rise would not be ‘insurable’

35
Q

what is happening to solar power?

A

the cost is decreasing each year to not much different from coal, meaning that it is just as good to use solar power

36
Q

what is cap and trade?

A

a form of carbon trading

the EU ETS is an example of this

37
Q

how does cap and trade work?

A

polluters hold permits equal to their emissions

polluters that was to increase emissions must buy permits from others willing o sell them

38
Q

how much carbon can be identified as owned by large polluters?

A

15%

the rest from small contributors altogether, may only use a couple credit each but as one they cause most

39
Q

what is the tax and dividend carbon pricing?

A

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

40
Q

what is the biggest change to climate change that could happen?

A

tax and dividends in that they will start to vote and think differently

41
Q

although nature has an economic value what is it missing in terms of representing its central role in the economy?

A

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

42
Q

why does price of carbon make sense?

A

incentivises a shft ti low carbon technologies and lets the market decide which ones will generate biggest enviro bang for buck

43
Q

the did carbon pricing start?

A

1990s in scandinavia

44
Q

how manny countries have carbon tax or cap and trade?

A

world ban says 42

45
Q

when doesn’t can pricing work well?

A

for transportation
which is 14% of worlds emissions
found that drivers are usually unrepresonsive to changes in petrol tax

price elastic

46
Q

what happened between 2015 and 1016

A

EU emissions declined by 0.7% due to EU getting stricter on permits after the fininacial crisis as countries had too may permits

47
Q

why have EU redesigned carbon pricing system?

A

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

48
Q

what do china do?

A

inter nation carbon trade

bigger than EU

implementation on 2017

to fix their growing problems related to air pollution

49
Q

what has carbon racing down?

A
  • 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
50
Q

what does trump wish to do?

A

get rid of the EPA

environmental protection agency

51
Q

how much could US save in heat related deaths?

A

141 bullion vs 59 billion

52
Q

what did elon musk do in 2017?

A

left the presidential advisory board in retaliation to trump leaving paris agreement

53
Q

what has unilever done?

A

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%

54
Q

why are businesses starting to change their ways, even if they haven’t been affected yet?

A

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

55
Q

WHAT percent of ghg is carbon?

A

EPA stated that 65% of all ghg is carbon

56
Q

reference by susie goldenberg 2013

A

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

57
Q

how have british columbia done the carbon tax?

A

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

58
Q

what the difference between cap and trade and cap and dividend?

A

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

59
Q

why do a lot of people dislike the cap and dividend policy?

A

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

A - Business Environment spring (6 decks)

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