Study on the Concept of Per Capita Cumulative Emissions and Allocation Options

Global long-term emission reduction targets need well defined options for equitable allocation of greenhouse gas emissions. Scholars from developing countries put forward the concept of equitable per capita cumulative emission rights. There are four possible operational definitions resulting from this concept. These potential options for allocation of emission rights are expressed with mathematical equations. Through simple simulation, this paper reveals the advantages, disadvantages and characteristics of each option.

Metric of Carbon Equity:Carbon Gini Index Based on Historical Cumulative Emission per Capita

This paper uses Lorenz curve and Gini index with adjustment to per capita historical cumulative emission to construct carbon Gini index to measure inequality in climate change area. The analysis shows that 70% of carbon space in the atmosphere has been used for unequal distribution, which is almost the same as that of incomes in a country with the biggest gap between the rich and the poor in the world. The carbon equity should be an urgency and priority in the climate agenda. Carbon Gini index established in this paper can be used to measure inequality in the distribution of carbon space and provide a quantified indicator for measurement of carbon equity among different proposals.

The Concept and Theoretical Implications of Carbon Emissions Rights Based on Individual Equity

Climate change has become a hot topic in international environmental negotiations.For post-Kyoto international climate regime negotiations,many countries have proposed a variety of frameworks to share the emission reduction responsibilities and allocate carbon emission rights,and have tried to quantify the emission reduction obligations of all countries based on the perspectives of international equity and individual equity.In this paper,the authors have distinguished the concepts of carbon emissions rights based on these two perspectives respectively,have analyzed the relationship between carbon emissions per capita and economic development,and have calculated and compared the proportion of cumulative emissions per capita of different countries in history and future,and then authors conclude that emission reduction obligations should be allocated based on each country's conditions,including historical emissions,development stage,and future demands.Developed countries should take the initiative to significantly reduce their emissions because they have already accomplished their industrialization process.However,developing countries are still in the process of industrialization,which requires more emission rights to meet their development needs.For China,the concept of carbon emissions based on individual equity can be used as a theoretical tool for the allocating the international carbon emissions rights.

Transaction Costs in Global Ecology Policy-Making

Global environmental meeting, legislating a reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases for planet earth, is what mankind now hopes for, having realized the enormous dangers in the process of climate change. Global warming is no longer denied by the so-called cornucopians （e.g. Lomberg）, but global policy-making originating in reunions of 190 governments or more stumble on collective action difficulties, spelled out in game theory. Paris will not succeed where Copenhagen failed, namely to arrive at a binding and enforceable global environment policy that will be implemented before it is too late. Instead, there will be massive transaction costs from negotiating and re-negotiating, endless voting, the making of promises exante and reneging ex post, as well as the futile attempts at any enforcement action, given state sovereignty. Mankind will have to learn how to cope with the outcomes of global warming, as resilience is the only hope.

A quantitative comparison and analysis on the assessment indicators of greenhouse gases emission

Anthropogenic greenhouse gases （GHG） emission and related global warming issues have been the focus of international communities for some time. The international communities have reached a consensus to reduce anthropogenic GHG emissions and restrain global warming. The quantitative assessment of anthropogenic GHG emissions is the scientific basis to find out the status of global GHG emission, identify the commitments of each country, and arrange the international efforts of GHG emission reduction. Currently the main assessment indicators for GHG emission include national indicator, per capita indicator, per GDP indicator, and international trade indicator etc. The introduction to the above indi- cators is put forward and their merits and demerits are analyzed. Based on the GHG emission data from the World Resource Institute （WRI）, the US Energy Information Administration （EIA）, and the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center （CDIAC）, the results of each indictor are calculated for the world, for the eight G8 industrialized countries （USA, UK, Canada, Japan, Germany, France, Italy and Russia）, and the five major developing countries including China, Brazil, India, South Africa and Mexico. The paper points out that all these indicators have some limitations. The Indicator of Industrialized Accumulative Emission per Capita （IAEC） is put forward as the equitable indicator to evaluate the industrialized historical accumulative emission per capita of every country. IAEC indicator can reflect the economic achievement of GHG emission enjoyed by the current generations in every country and their commitments. The analysis of IAEC indicates that the historical accumulative emission per capita in indus- trialized countries such as UK and USA were typically higher than those of the world average and the developing countries. Emission indicator per capita per GDP, consumptive emission indicator and survival emission indicator are also put forward and discussed in the paper.

Classification of Country Patterns in the World Based on Their Levels of Economy and Emission Process of Greenhouse Gases

According to the authoritative data involving social economic indicators and greenhouse gas （GHG） emission from the international universal database, the levels and processes of economic development and GHG emission in major economic groups, nations and regions of the world are simultaneously analyzed. Obtaining Gross Domestic Product （GDP） and emission per capita from various countries and regions in the past 40 years as the standard, countries and regions in the world are divided into six groups： countries with low emission per capita and low economic level （IA）, countries with low emission per capita and medium economic level （IIA）, countries with low emission per capita and high economic level （IIIA）, countries with high emission per capita and medium economic level （liB）, countries with high emission per capita and high economic level （IIIB）, countries with high emission per capita and low economic level （IB）. Countries belong to IB are quite rare in the study period, while the first five groups correspond to the poor regions, main developing countries, economically transitional countries with rapid economic development, rich islands and developed North America and Europe respectively. Data analysis shows that there is a close relationship between emission and economic development of different countries and regions. The composition relationship between economic development of different countries and regions is relatively stable over a long period of time. From 1970 to 2005, rising trends existed in the economic development of most countries and regions. However, the emission had a significant increase in a small part of countries and regions. In other words, for those with high emission, the emission level is always high. But for those with low GHG emission, the emission does not increase too much. The main processes of the change of countries pattern from IA to IIA and from II B to IIIB, occurring in the 1970s and from the late 1970s to the 1980s respectively. That result has .a significant enlightening effect in understanding the relationship between emission and eco- nomic development and its historical process of various countries and in choosing the position of our country in the future climate diplomatic negotiations.

Oil Crisis, Market Reforms, and Human Welfare： An Econometric Analysis of the Australian Economy

As an active trader in international crude oil and petroleum product markets, Australia＇s human welfare is affected by oil crisis and contagion from the perspectives of economic growth, income inequality, and environmental sustainability. This paper investigates the impacts of oil price shocks upon Australia＇s gross domestic product （GDP） growth, Gini coefficients, and carbon dioxide emissions per capita from 1970 to 2012 with yearly frequency. Hypotheses concerning whether Australia＇s economic immunity against oil crisis is affected after the deregulation of oil market and whether endogenous oil price shocks account for more variations in human welfare than exogenous oil price shocks are tested. The methodologies include a theoretic model and a series of econometric tests. For the short-run dynamics, oil price is integrated into the model both linearly and non-linearly. Oil price shocks are categorized into exogenous and endogenous shocks. The conclusions are that inflated oil prices exert mainly non-linear negative impacts upon human welfare indicators and exogenous shocks induce endogenous shocks through labor price, Consumer Price Index （CPI）, interest rate, and exchange rate. For the long-run equilibrium, non-linear shocks＇ effects decay more slowly than linear shocks and the impacts of endogenous shocks last longer than that of exogenous shocks. Finally, oil market policies are evaluated and proposed.

CO_2 Emission of Fossil Fuel Consumption of China's Mainland from 1991 to 2010

In this article, we calculate China's Mainland’s CO2 emission of fossil fuel consumption from 1991 to 2010 following the apparent consumption method recommend by IPCC： （i） the scale of CO2 emissions has increased nearly to 4 times as that in 1991; （ii） coal consumption constitutes the highest proportion due to the richness of coal resources in China; （iii） per capita CO2 emission has increased from 1.98 to 5.57 t CO2 ; （iv） carbon emission intensity declined significantly from 6.66 to 1.07 kg CO2 USD -1 , but recently it tends to be stable; and （v） regional develop gaps remain in China's Mainland, for according to the provincial data, in many developing regions economic increase over-reliance on fossil fuel consumption. China has made the promises and already taken actions to deal with the high carbon emission. Comprehensively considering the sustainability of development and the uncertainties remaining in global climate change, healthier structures of industry, intensive usage of fossil fuel, and a more balanced development pattern among the southern, central and western China should be put more emphasis.