Lecture 2
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What are the Annex 1 countries?
Industrialised countries that were part of the OECD in 1992 as well as some countries with economies in transition. They were given responsibility for reducing their emissions
What is the correlation for energy consumption and GDP per capita? What doest this mean?
Many countries with a high energy consumption have a high GDP per capita. This means they have a strong economy
Apart from the Annex 1 countries what other countries have high power consumption relative to the GDP per capita and when did this start to occur?
Asian countries since 1977
What is the main reason for the correlation between high energy consumption and GDP per capita in Annex 1 countries?
Historically they industrialised before everyone else so have had time to develop but also increase their overall emissions.
What are 2 main ways of measuring emissions?
Emissions per capita Carbon intensity as a proportion of economic activity (how much carbon is produced per each economic action?)
What happened to carbon intensity as a proportion of economic activity during the financial crisis?
The crash caused economies to decline which lead to decline in carbon emissions of 1%
What are the stabilisation wedges?
they represent reductions of emissions in line with the implementation of different technologies
What period do the stabilisation wedges apply to?
The technologies refer to reducing emissions by 2125 so that carbon emissions stay at 500ppm
How many wedges are there?
7
How much are carbon emissions reduced with each wedge relative to what would have been produced under the business as usual scenario?
With linear growth, the total avoided emissions per wedge is reduced 25GtC by 2054
What does the arrow at the end of the graph representing stabilisation wedges refer to?
It shows that emissions must decline substantially below 7GtC per year
What are some technologies that could be implemented in order to fill up the stabilisation wedges?
• efficient vehicles • reduced use of vehicles • efficient buildings • gas power substituted for coal power • carbon capture and storage • substitute renewables • reduced deforestation and implement afforestation and conservation • conservation tillage
Who produced the stabilisation wedges?
Pascala and Socolow (2004)
What did Pascala and Socolow (2004) state in regards to the choice humanity would have to make in order to decide our future?
“the choice today is between action and delay”
What has happened since Pascala and Socolow (2004) in regards tow hat they said?
We chose ‘delay’ so that emissions are now 9-9.5GtC per year compared to 7GtC in 2000
What study followed up Pascala and Socolo (2004)?
Davis et al. 2013
What did Davis et al. (2013) state now needed to happen in order to reach the targets set out by Pascala and Socolow (2004)?
We now need to execute near complete decarbonisation in order to meet the lower arrow in their diagram (500ppm by 2125)
What did Davis et al. (2013) propose to reach the 2125 target?
More stabilisation wedges: 31 wedges (12 hidden, 9 stabilisation, 10 phase-out)
Explain the marginal abatement cost (MAC)?
Initial reductions of greenhouse gas emissions are not that expensive however in order to achieve total decarbonisation we would need really advanced technologies. These technologies have not yet been invented and so it would be expensive to not only implement them but to also create them in the first place. So, the marginal abatement cost increases almost exponentially with time.
How might the initial actions to reduce emissions (e.g. efficient lighbulbs) affect the marginal abatement costs?
A more efficient bulb would cost you more initially but over time it would save you money on the electricity bill. This suggests the MAC curve should start below £0 as it can save you money
What is a source of complexity in the MAC curve?
The MAC associated with different initiatives and technologies might be interlinked e.g. the cost of charging an electric car might decrease if the energy mix is driven by cheaper energy sources such as renewables. these renewables would also reduce emissions through less pollution.
What are some other damaging atmospheric gases?
methane and nitrous oxide.
What is a major source of non-atmospheric greenhouse gases in the UK?
Agriculture
What percentage does agriculture account for anthropogenic methane and nitrous oxide emissions?
Methane = 52% Nitrous Oxide = 84%