Todays slide theme:

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• Todays slide theme
• What do otters eat?

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• This weeks discussion section reading
• Is it Immoral to Buy the Right to Pollute?
• Are We Ready to Track Carbon Footprints?
• This is the last week of discussion section.

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• Homework 4 due April 22.
• As before Dont leave this to the end.
• Memo 2 due APRIL 29
• Assignment online (same as before.)
• Pick your topic.

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Todays class

• Kyoto Protocol (finish)
• A set of targets and timetables for greenhouse
  gas emissions by developed countries.
• U.S. climate change policies (start)

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Kyoto protocol, cont.

• U.S. withdraws in March 2001
• No commitments from developing countries.
• Al Gore story
• World expected U.S. to propose alternative.
• (We have not withdrawn from Rio Convention.)
• New U.S. negotiator (WaPo article 4/15/09)

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Domestic climate change policies

• Kyoto does not tell a country how to reduce its
  emissions.
• Each country needs to set up its own laws to meet
  Kyoto targets.
• Actual policy
• Possible policies
• How are we doing? (Data for 2006)

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The U.S. and climate change

• Understanding climate change.
• What policy tools do we have?

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Climate change science public opinion

• Report global warming could reduce corn crops
• Global warming could sock Illinois right in the
  Corn Belt -- to the tune of 243 million a year,
  a national environmental group estimated in a
  report released Thursday. (April 10, 2009)
• Comment 1 BALONEY. Stop echoing gibberish
  science from the left-wing eco-terrorists. Still
  no evidence of global warming. Still no evidence
  for anything other than natural solar cycles.
  Still no ability for real science to accurately
  predict any climate information further out
  then... 36 HOURS! with any type of accuracy.
  BALONEY, cr_at_p.

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• Comment 3 Grow corn in Minnesota instead of
  Mississippi.The fact that global temperatures
  are rising is not in dispute. The question of
  whether or not MAN is causing the problem - or
  can fix the problem - is very much in dispute.
• For all of mankind's arrogance, climatic forces
  are still much stronger than we are. And our
  arrogance blinds us to the notion that climate
  cycles take MILLIONS of years - just measuring a
  temperature from year to year over the last 150
  years is not a scientific basis for
  policy-making.

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• First, there has been no recent global warming
  in the common meaning of the term, for world
  average temperature has cooled for the last ten
  years. Furthermore, since 1940 the earth has
  warmed for nineteen years and cooled for
  forty-nine (Here)

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U.S. response

• What do we regulate?
• Trends http//www.rff.org/rff/Publications/uploa
  d/31801_1.pdf
• Breakdown by fuel industry Fig. ES-6

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Background info

• Fossil fuels are by far the largest source of
  U.S. emissions. (Approx. 80 percent)
• Emissions from burning a ton of coal (or a gallon
  of gasoline, etc.) are pretty much independent of
  how the coal-oil-gas is burned.
• This is not true of air pollution.

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Background info, cont.

• Carbon content of fuels differs
• Coal gt Oil gt Natural gas gt everything else
• Natural gas (CH4) vented directly to the
  atmosphere is a potent greenhouse gas.
• Natural gas burned as a fuel is relatively low
  carbon.

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• Land use also has a role to play.
• Forests and other vegetative growth take up
  carbon dioxide.
• Deforestation and land conversion release carbon
  dioxide.
• Complicated role for biofuels.

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U.S. land use CO2 in 2007
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Alternative policy approaches

• Energy efficiency standards
• Higher mileage standards for new cars
• Higher energy efficiency standards for buildings,
  appliances, etc.
• Tax credits and other subsidies
• Carbon-neutral fuels (ethanol?). Nuclear.
• Energy-efficient investments (insulation solar
  panels high mileage cars)
• Public transportation
• We will come back to these approaches.

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Alternative policy approaches

• Carbon cap-and-trade
• Carbon tax
• Geo-engineering
• Adaptation (policies?)
• Combinations of any of these

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Carbon cap-and-trade

• Fossil fuels
• Carbon credit required to burn a unit of fossil
  fuel.
• Different of credits per unit, depending on
  carbon content of the fuel (CO2 per unit of
  energy)
• Coal gt Petroleum gt Natural gas
• Overall cap on of carbon credits.
• Deforestation/ reforestation
• Offset credits

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Carbon cap-and-trade Who must submit credits
and how?

• Downstream
• Individuals and businesses must hold and submit
  the carbon credits.
• Upstream (pure upstream)
• Oil refiners, natural gas processors, coal mines/
  processors, oil and natural gas importers must
  hold and submit the carbon credits.

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Pure upstream system
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