global climate-changing emissions: Prospects for reduction, implications on economy and why some countries are reluctant

Author: Iloka Benneth Chiemelie
Published: 15-October-2014

1.      Introduction

Recent discussion in the business setting has focused on corporate social responsibility with the center of such discussion being on ways to cub climate change – which is threatening the sustainability of the human race (WHO, 2009a, b). As such, this paper will discuss ways business, individuals and countries can help reduce climate-changing emissions as well as factors that can potentially hinder or enhance such process.

2.      Prospects for reducing global climate-changing emissions

As the world continues to search for the most effective way for reducing climate change, it is important to recognize hopeful measures on that accord. The UK’s Community on Climate Change (2014) has singled out low-carbon fuels as the greatest measure for reducing climate-changing emissions. Such ideology is backed up by their discoveries that greater use of low-carbon courses of energy does provide the right route for decarburization and energy efficiency.  Thus, low-carbon technologies represents the greatest prospects for reducing climate-changing emissions and there are wide ranges of promising low-carbon technologies as discussed below.

1.      Renewable energy – this form of energy are gotten from sustainable natural sources such as solar, wind and tidal, and they have no negative effects on the society.

2.      Nuclear power – they are generated from nuclear plants but unlike the renewable energy, they can hazardous is not well managed or when struck by act of nature as experienced in the Japanese Tsunami.

3.      Carbon capture and storage – this involves capturing carbon dioxides that are emitted from huge installations and storing them for powering homes. This has not been widely commercialized, but the case of fossil fuels from sewages is used in homes. It has been shown to emit less than 90% of wastes compared to other sources.

4.      Bioenergy – this form of energy is gotten from biomass feedstock and it can be in slid, gaseous, or liquid state.

5.      Electrification – this involves moving into low-carbon form of electricity like the energy bulbs that consume less electricity than regular bulbs.

3.      How this can be done without harming global economic welfare

Robert Stavins (2009) from the Harvard Kennedy School presented one of the most comprehensive analysis of ways to reduce carbon emission without hurting the economy. The author argues that this is possible by employing intelligent and appropriate policies.

A good example as offered by the author is via the combination of national and multinational cap –and- trade systems. Such system is expected to revolve around companies being used with rights from the government to produce carbon that they could buy or sell in an open market. In cases where companies need more carbon, they will have to buy more rights and in cases where companies have more carbons that needed, they can sell such to make money. The expected outcome is an equilibrium in the line of demand and supply.

4.      Implications for demand-side economics of reducing climate-changing emissions

If the example demonstrated by Robert Stavins (2009) is to be adopted, it can be seen that a number of implications might arise from the demand-side. The most likely will be an energy scarcity of over preservation for future use. For instance, big multinational companies might want to maintain their huge economies of large scale production and be forced in the process to buy and store more energy. Evidently, it can reduce the volume of energy available for market consumption and effectively result to energy scarcity. The outcome will potentially be a halt in the production unit of competing companies and increased level of monopoly from big corporations that can afford to store huge energy reserves.

5.      Why some countries are reluctant to adopt carbon emissions targets

True! Robert Stavins (2009) made known that it is possible to reduce climate-changing emissions without hurting the economy, but the author didn’t say that such will be easy as a number of barriers have also been identified by the author as having the potential to hinder switch to a more efficient energy source. Some of the reasons why some countries are reluctant to adopt carbon emission targets include:

1.      Huge cost of meeting such targets – the switch to a low-carbon source of energy takes time and it is expensive. Some of the developing countries are reluctant to adopt such measures because they can’t afford to invest heavily in such measures.

2.      Lack of technologies and expertise – even when the decision is made to adopt low-carbon and the financial requirement available, the absence of right technologies and expertise can also hinder the process. As discussed earlier, some of these technologies (such as fossil fuels) have not been commercialized while others are still in the development phase.

3.      Potential halt on production and productivity – Robert Stavins (2009) made known that when the call to low-carbon energy is raised, the normal believe is that it will require full change of present production process and the fear that it could halt production becomes a barrier to change intention. However, while this is not always the case, it is important that it can halt the process as some time will be required for installation and testing before adoption.

4.      Blame factors – although this might not be widely studied, I have marketed for biogas company in Nigeria and one of the responses I get from customer is that ‘they did not cause global warning so why do they need to spend so much to reduce it” or “it is China and USA that caused global warming so they should reduce it.” Thus, this can become an issue in the national stage.

5.      Lack of adequate monitoring – the absence of adequate monitoring also means that some government can adopt “paper change” (reduction in just the media) than “actual change.”

6.      Conclusion

Reducing energy emission is not an individual thing, everybody (individuals, corporations and governments) have a role to play in making that possible (IPCC, 2009; Environmental Protection Agency, 2009).  The lack of such roles will also mean an increase in emission and overall increase on the negativities associated with such process. Thus, it is recommended that necessary actions such as those discussed above should be adopted in order to make the process a possibility.

7.      References

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2009), “Adaptation to climate change in the context of sustainable development and equity”, Climate Change 2001, Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC, available at: www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/ar4-wg2.html (accessed 11 December 2010).

Robert Stavins (2009). Can Countries Cut Carbon Emissions Without Hurting Economic Growth? Available at: http://www.robertstavinsblog.org/2009/09/24/can-countries-cut-carbon-emissions-without-hurting-economic-growth/ [Accessed on: 16^th of August 2014].

The UK Committee on Climate Change (2014). Low-carbon fuels. Available at: http://www.theccc.org.uk/tackling-climate-change/reducing-carbon-emissions/what-can-be-done/low-carbon-fuels/ [Accessed on: 16^th of August 2014].

World Health Organization (2009a), “Protecting health from climate change: connecting science, policy and people”, available at:http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2009/9789241598880_eng.pdf (accessed 10 October 2010).

World Health Organization (2009b), “Protecting health from climate change”, Global Research Priorities, available at: http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2009/9789241598187_eng.pdf (accessed 10 October 2010).