Abstract

Article 3 paragraph 3 and paragraph 4 of the Kyoto Protocol (KP) allow parties to use credits from land-based activities for offsetting their emission reduction/limitation target committed in the KP. Forest management (FM) is the dominant activity accounted by Annex I parties of the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change in the first commitment period of KP (2008–2012). Data reported for 2008 and 2009 indicate that over half of the emission reduction target of 24 Annex I parties that expect to use FM removals can be offset by FM credits in the first commitment period. Especially the majority of the emission reduction target of Slovenia, Sweden, Latvia, Finland, Japan, and Croatia may be achieved through FM credits. The total FM CAP as contained in decision 16/CMP.1 in the first commitment period was over-estimated significantly by 50% for all KP parties and 36% for parties that elected FM. Some parties such as Russia, Japan, Italy, Germany, and Switzerland that elected FM activity may benefit largely from the over-estimated CAP. Presuming a significant increase of the harvest rate, the FM reference level (FMRL) for 2013–2020 is only 1/5 of the historical mean value of FM removals even though most parties show an increasing or a steady trend of net removals from 1990 to 2009. As a result Annex I parties would be able to use FM credits in the future that are over 4 times of FM CAP in the first commitment period. This potential FM credit would account for 7.7% of total emissions by sources without land use, land-use change and forestry activities (LULUCF) in the base year or 1990, and more Annex I parties would share the “benefit” from the FMRL accounting approach. Zhang, X., 2011: Contribution of forest management credits in Kyoto Protocol compliance and future perspectives. Adv. Clim. Change Res., 2 (4), doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1248.2011.00171.

Abstract

No sooner than later, the world will be living hell as a result of the transportation effects on our climate now escalating. The pressure is now growing towards their resultant effects to be totally eradicated in order to save our planet otherwise, the stabilisation of these effects; global warming, greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and degradation will need to be sought after. The world all over is at it now in an effort to restore our climate, to save it from the effects of these catastrophes/disasters. On the proposition of the Kyoto Protocol in1997, the main focus was to decrease greenhouse emissions of mainly six gases – Carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulphur hexafluoride, Hydro fluorocarbons (HFCs) and Per fluorinated Compounds (PFCs). And transport alone, accounts for over 26% of global CO2 and has been regarded as one of the few industrial sectors wherein emissions are still on the increase, on this basis, researchers and policy makers are all at it to tackle the menace of climate changes through provision of sustainable transport. This paper focuses on the new and developed technologies like the renewable energy source [RES], which will be an alternative to transport fuels to avoid the dependence on petroleum which after effects are damaging to the world climate, and may probably not be there forever to continue serving the world ever increasing population. While the long term solutions are being sought, these alternatives will make do for now. Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Abstract

The reduction of CO2 emissions and fuel consumption from road transportation constitutes an important pillar of the EU commitment for implementing the Kyoto Protocol. Efforts to monitor and limit CO2 emissions from vehicles can effectively be supported by the use of vehicle modelling tools. This paper presents the application of such a tool for predicting CO2 emissions of vehicles under different operating conditions and shows how the results from simulations can be used for supporting policy analysis and design aiming at further reductions of the CO2 emissions. For this purpose, the case of light duty goods (N1 category) vehicle CO2 emissions control measures adopted by the EU is analysed. In order to understand how certain design and operating aspects affect fuel consumption, a number of N1 vehicles were simulated with ADVISOR for various operating conditions and the numerical results were validated against chassis dynamometer tests. The model was then employed for analysing and evaluating the new EU legislative framework that addresses CO2 emissions from this vehicle class. The results of this analysis have shown the weaknesses of the current regulations and revealed new potential in CO2 emissions control. Finally the TREMOVE model was used for simulating a possible scenario for reducing CO2 emissions at fleet level. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Chemicals / CAS: carbon dioxide, 124-38-9, 58561-67-4