1,721,179 research outputs found
Spatial and temporal responses to an emissions trading system covering agriculture and forestry: simulation results from New Zealand
Full text linkThis paper presents the results of simulations using the integrated Land Use in Rural New Zealand model to analyse the effect of various New Zealand emissions trading scheme scenarios on land-use, emissions, and output in a temporally and spatially explicit manner.
It compares the impact of afforestation to the impact of other land-use change on net greenhouse gas emissions, and evaluates the importance of the forestry component of the emissions trading scheme (ETS) relative to the agricultural component. It also examine the effect of land-use change on the time profile of net emissions from the forestry sector. Projections for the mid-2020s suggest that under a comprehensive ETS, sequestration associated with new planting could be significant; it may approach 20 percent of national inventory agricultural emissions in 2008. Most of this is driven by the reward for forestry rather than a liability for agricultural emissions. Finally, it presents projections of future agricultural output under various policy scenarios.
Authored by Suzi Kerr, Simon Anastasiadis, Alex Olssen, William Power, Levente Tímár and Wei Zhang
Taxes vs Permits: Options for Price-Based Climate Change Regulation
Full text linkThis paper provides an overview of key issues involved in the choice among market-based instruments for climate change policy. Specifically, it examines the potential net benefits from shifting to a permit system for emission reduction, and the preconditions necessary for this change. It also draws out the implications of New Zealand’s specific circumstances and current climate policies for future policy development.climate change; emissions trading; permits; taxation; New Zealand
Nutrient Trading in Lake Rotorua: Cost Sharing and Allowance Allocation.
Full text linkThis paper clarifies how the benefits and costs of water quality improvements in Lake Rotorua are likely to be shared in the absence of a trading system; presents different perspectives on and principles for deciding how costs should be allocated; and then shows how different options for initially allocating nutrient allowances and achieving reductions in the cap over time conform with those cost-sharing principles. There is no ‘correct’ answer to the question of who should pay. The ‘best’ answer for Lake Rotorua will depend on what the community thinks is fair and what will be politically feasible. If the trading market does not operate efficiently, the way that allowances are allocated will affect the efficiency with which the catchment achieves its environmental goal. If the allocation of allowances provides significant capital it could also affect economic behaviour by loosening capital constraints that limit land development and mitigation.Nutrient trading, water quality, allowance allocation
Nutrient Trading in Lake Rotorua: Overview of a Prototype System
Full text linkWater quality in Lake Rotorua has been declining for at least the last 30 years as increased levels of nutrients have entered the lake. Despite significant effort and expenditure, the level of nutrients entering the lake still exceeds sustainable levels. A nutrient trading system would help the catchment achieve this goal at least cost. Nutrient sources would bear the cost of their impact on water quality and hence take these costs into account in their decision-making. This paper presents a prototype nutrient trading system for achieving cost effective nutrient loss reductions for the Lake Rotorua catchment.Water quality, nutrients, trading, Lake Rotorua
Joint Implementation in Climate Change Policy
Full text linkThe textbook economists' model of a tradable permit system cannot usually be applied perfectly at either the domestic or international scale because of the difficulty and/or expense of defining allocations to and monitoring emissions of some groups, as well as for political reasons. It may be impossible to bring these groups fully into a tradeable permit system but it is often possible to find compromise solutions to gain some benefits from trade. This paper explores this problem in the context of the Joint Implementation mechanism associated with the Kyoto Protocol. This paper starts by outlining the current international rules governing Joint Implementation. We provide a summary of key jargon for those who are unfamiliar with the complex Kyoto language. We then discuss two key international issues that are still unresolved: baseline development and monitoring. We then turn to domestic governance of Joint Implementation and how the private sector might engage in Joint Implementation. At this point we consider how Joint Implementation fits within the suite of Kyoto flexibility mechanisms, why sellers and buyers might choose to engage in each, and how the different mechanisms might interact in the market for tradeable units. We conclude with some thoughts about productive directions for future research.Climate, Joint Implementation, tradeable permits, emissions trading
Nutrient Trading in Lake Rotorua: Where are we Now?
Full text linkA number of decisions need to be made when setting up a nutrient trading system including defining a target, allocating allowances and setting up a monitoring system. To ensure that the nutrient trading system implemented operates in harmony with existing regulation, existing work and institutions need to be used to guide this decision making process. This paper briefly explores each of the decisions required to implement a nutrient trading system and to what extent they have been addressed so far. This will provide context for following papers which will examine each issue in more depth.Water quality; nutrients; trading; Lake Rotorua
How Does Changing Land Cover and Land Use in New Zealand relate to Land Use Capability and Slope?
Full text linkLand cover and use are critical for climate change, water quality and use, biodiversity and soil conservation as well as important drivers of rural economic activity and the evolution of rural communities. The Land Use in Rural New Zealand (LURNZ) model is a simulation model that predicts overall shifts in land use at a national scale and then allocates those changes spatially. We create a new dataset that allows us to consider fine scale land cover and use on private rural land and land characteristics associated with those land covers and uses. Second, we produce some summary statistics on the land cover transitions that were observed from 1996 to 2002. We find some evidence that supports our simple model of the relationship between land use changes and observable land quality, and the use of Land Use Capability and slope in rules to simulate the location of changes in land use and cover and also identify some directions for future work.Land use, climate change, water, soil, land use capability, LURNZ, New Zealand, spatial modelling
Nutrient Trading in Lake Rotorua: Determining Net Nutrient Inputs
Full text linkLake Rotorua is experiencing increasing nutrient-related water quality problems. This paper is one in a series that explores the idea of creating a nutrient trading system as part of the ongoing policy response to this problem.1 Most of the current nutrient flows to the Lake come from non-point rural sources - measuring these emissions is challenging. We find that it is possible to monitor/model nutrient loss from a wide range of activities in the Rotorua catchment. The model OVERSEER combined with ROTAN and some other models for forestry, urban and geothermal activities and horticulture already exist. They are currently in a process of enhancement - a particular area of current weakness is knowledge of the groundwater lags from specific locations in the catchment. The land-based models need to be used in a specific form that relies on initialisation with verifiable data and uses easily collated and verified data on an annual basis. The form of the model should be fixed for each regulatory year to minimise uncertainty for landowners and regulators. The models need to be updated to reflect new science. The process for doing this needs to be strategic and credible (this will be discussed in a later paper on governance processes). Once changes are recommended they need to be implemented in a way that is perceived to be fair.Water quality; monitor, verify, report, model, emissions trading
Nutrient Trading in Lake Rotorua: Choosing the Scope of a Nutrient Trading System
Full text linkA nutrient trading system is one mechanism that is currently being considered to control and reduce nutrient loss into Lake Rotorua. However this may not be the best mechanism for controlling nutrient loss from all sources. A more comprehensive system improves efficiency and decreases market power opportunities, but it can also bring increased compliance and administrative costs. This paper discusses which sources should be included in a nutrient trading system for Lake Rotorua including. It examines existing systems and presents an empirical analysis to estimate the impact of including different nutrient sources.Water quality, nutrients, trading, Lake Rotorua
Allocation of New Zealand Units within Agriculture in the New Zealand Emissions Trading System
Full text linkWhen agricultural emissions are included in the New Zealand Emission Trading System (ETS) the economics of farming will be significantly altered. Under the legislation current in October 2009, in the early years of the system the agricultural sector as a whole would have received NZ units equivalent to 90% of 2005 emissions to ease the transition. Amendments to the Bill passed in November have delayed the start date from 2013 to 2015 and extended the protection even further. This paper addresses one of the key issues for making an agricultural emissions trading system a success: how to use the allocation of NZ units to achieve equitable and acceptable cost sharing and a smoother transition. We first discuss the potential motivations for free allocation and the two extreme potential allocation options that could be associated with the two key motivations. The option finally chosen is likely to be somewhere between these two extremes. Empirical studies can inform assessment of options. Previous empirical studies have addressed a variety of questions, including what the economic impact of the system is and on whom, how much leakage is there likely to be, and what might be the adjustment costs. We discuss each of these, comparing different existing studies and addressing some current gaps in our understanding and knowledge with new empirical work on farm level impacts and on likely responses to the ETS. We conclude by laying out some key options for allocation design and drawing links between these and the empirical material.New Zealand, emission trading, agriculture, free allocation, trade exposure
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