Climate policies can help resolve energy security and air pollution challenges

McCollum, David; Krey, Volker; Riahi, Keywan; Kolp, Peter; Grübler, Arnulf; Makowski, M.; Nakićenović, Nebojša

doi:10.1007/s10584-013-0710-y

Cited by 146 publications

(81 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…In a similar vein, using a global chemical transport model, West et al (24) found that health cobenefits of climate measures would largely exceed the associated mitigation costs. Finally, McCollum et al (25) focus on synergies between climate policy and other policies. They point out that ambitious climate measures would reduce the costs of clean air policies and energy security measures by US$100-600 billion (0.1-0.7% of GDP) annually by 2030.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers for the renaissance of coal

Steckel

Edenhofer

Jakob

2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

117

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Coal was central to the industrial revolution, but in the 20th century it increasingly was superseded by oil and gas. However, in recent years coal again has become the predominant source of global carbon emissions. We show that this trend of rapidly increasing coal-based emissions is not restricted to a few individual countries such as China. Rather, we are witnessing a global renaissance of coal majorly driven by poor, fast-growing countries that increasingly rely on coal to satisfy their growing energy demand. The low price of coal relative to gas and oil has played an important role in accelerating coal consumption since the end of the 1990s. In this article, we show that in the increasingly integrated global coal market the availability of a domestic coal resource does not have a statistically significant impact on the use of coal and related emissions. These findings have important implications for climate change mitigation: If future economic growth of poor countries is fueled mainly by coal, ambitious mitigation targets very likely will become infeasible. Building new coal power plant capacities will lead to lock-in effects for the next few decades. If that lock-in is to be avoided, international climate policy must find ways to offer viable alternatives to coal for developing countries. Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to limit and reduce greenhouse gas emission to prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system (1), global emissions have continued to rise steadily. Since 1971 global annual energy-related CO 2 emissions have more than doubled (Fig. 1A). In recent years emission growth has accelerated further, interrupted only briefly during the recent economic crisis. Assessments of the factors driving these developments using the Kaya* identity have identified growing per-capita incomes, especially in developing and newly industrializing countries, as the dominant reason for rising emissions (2, 3). [The Kaya* identity decomposes changes in emissions into changes in population, percapita income, the energy intensity of gross domestic product (GDP), and the carbon intensity of energy production. See Steckel et al. (2) for further information.] However, the growing carbon intensity of energy production (i.e., the amount of emissions generated to produce one unit of energy) also has played an important role, and the increased use of coal has been particularly important (2). Coal consumption not only has risen in line with a growing global economy but has outpaced the growth of total energy use. Although coal was central to the industrial revolution (4), it increasingly was superseded by oil and gas in the 20th century. With these recent developments, however, coal again has become the most important source of energy-related emissions on the global scale (Fig. 1B).The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report (5) identifies the replacement of coalfired power plants by less carbon-intensive energy technologies as one of the most cost-efficient options...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers for the renaissance of coal

Steckel

Edenhofer

Jakob

2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

117

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“…Exposure assessment studies that seek to measure human health impacts are evaluated at even finer resolutions (e.g., 1×1 km or at street or block level) (Zapata et al 2013). Although some integrated assessment models have linked energy projections with air quality to understand cobenefits of climate policies (e.g., McCollum et al 2013), the resolution of these models is at most 1x1°(approximately 111×111 km at the equator). Despite requests from policymakers, attempting to integrate air quality and energy models at a finer resolution may not be practical in terms of model development and computing time.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of low-carbon pathways for California

et al. 2015

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Jurisdictions throughout the world are contemplating greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation strategies that will enable meeting long-term GHG targets. Many jurisdictions are now focusing on the 2020-2050 timeframe. We conduct an inter-model comparison of nine California statewide energy models with GHG mitigation scenarios to 2050 to better understand common insights across models, ranges of intermediate GHG targets (i.e., for 2030), necessary technology deployment rates, and future modeling needs for the state. The models (not including the Wind-Water-Solar model) ; the transportation sector is decarbonized using a mix of energy efficiency gains and alternative-fueled vehicles; and bioenergy is directed almost exclusively towards the transportation sector, accounting for a maximum of 40 % of transportation energy by 2050. Models suggest that without new policies, emissions from nonenergy sectors and from high-global-warming-potential gases may alone exceed California's 2050 GHG goal. Finally, future modeling efforts should focus on the: economic impacts and logistical feasibility of given scenarios, interactive effects between two or more climate policies, role of uncertainty in the state's long-term energy planning, and identification of pathways that achieve the dual goals of criteria pollutant and GHG emission reduction.

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“…MAPS stands out for the applied contributions on co-benefits assessments in national policy processes in developing countries. The IPCC advances general concerns on the relationship between climate mitigation and SD, definitions and concepts, integrated assessment models, uncertainties and, very importantly, sectoral approaches including health and air pollution (Bell et al, 2008;IPCC, 2014;McCollum et al, 2013;Nemet, Holloway, & Meier, 2010;Riahi et al, 2012;Smith et al, 2009). …”

Section: Knowledge Network: Knowledge Holders and Their Ideasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Novel shapes of South–South collaboration: emerging knowledge networks on co-benefits of climate and development policies

Rennkamp

Boulle

2017

Climate and Development

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This paper analyses knowledge networks on co-benefits of climate and development. The world's most sizeable populations live in middle-income countries with emerging economies and growing emissions. This situation requires political intervention to facilitate economic growth, job creation and poverty eradication alongside efforts to control emissions growth. This interdisciplinary study draws on concepts and methods from sociology, political science, science and technology studies and the management literature. The authors combine social network and discourse network analysis in an innovative way. The methodology analyses both the interactions between researchers as well as their actual knowledge contributions. The study argues that there is a substantial network of knowledge holders involved in knowledge creation on climate and development co-benefits. Our analysis shows the type of interactions between two knowledge networks as well as new knowledge emerging from these networks. Research groups and practitioners have produced 17 novel knowledge contributions, ranging from definitions of co-benefits, methodology and implementation. Yet the networks remain loosely connected. Practitioners who have less time to assess academic literature could benefit from closer interactions with more academically oriented experts and vice versa.

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Climate policies can help resolve energy security and air pollution challenges

Cited by 146 publications

References 16 publications

Drivers for the renaissance of coal

Drivers for the renaissance of coal

Comparison of low-carbon pathways for California

Novel shapes of South–South collaboration: emerging knowledge networks on co-benefits of climate and development policies

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