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Emission Reductions Under The American Clean Energy and Security Act

John Larsen — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:34:44 -0400

This assessment is an update to a previous analysis released on May 19, 2009 and includes an assessment of the substitute to H.R. 2454 , the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACESA) and H.R. 1862, the Cap and Dividend Act of 2009 (CDA) sponsored by Congressman Van Hollen. To account for the effects of different components of these proposals, reduction estimates are divided into three scenarios:

Total emission reductions under just the proposed emissions caps. This scenario is applied to both proposals considered in this analysis.
The remaining two scenarios are applied only to the ACESA as the CDA does not contain complimentary policies:
- Total emission reductions under the caps and all other complementary requirements, including emission performance standards for uncapped sources and required components of the supplemental reduction program through 2025.
- A range of potential additional reductions that could be achieved through the 1.25 offset requirement for international offsets and supplemental reductions beyond 2025.

Key Findings

The emissions caps in the ACESA and the CDA achieve reductions of 15 and 14 percent respectively relative to 2005 levels in 2020, roughly equal to 1990 levels. By 2050, the ACESA achieves reductions of 73 percent relative to 2005 levels and the CDA achieves reductions of 66 percent relative to 2005 levels.
All of the emission reduction components contained in the recent substitute to the ACESA remain consistent with previous iterations of the proposal and in turn result in the same emission reduction estimates as have been reported previously. Specifically:
- When all complementary requirements of the ACESA are considered in addition to the caps, GHG emissions would be reduced 28 percent relative to 2005 levels by 2020 and 75 percent relative to 2005 levels by 2050.
- When additional potential emission reductions are considered, the ACESA could achieve maximum reductions of up to 33 percent relative to 2005 levels by 2020 and up to 81 percent relative to 2005 levels by 2050. The actual amount of reductions will depend on the quantity of international offsets used for compliance.

“Emission Reductions Under Cap-and-Trade Proposals in the 111th Congress, 2005-2050” graphically presents total GHG reductions achieved by H.R.1862 and H.R.2454 relative to U.S. historic and projected emissions under the three reduction scenarios.

“Estimates of Total GHG Emissions and Emission Reductions Achieved by Cap-and-Trade Proposals in the 111th Congress, 2005-2050” presents a table of total GHG reductions by these proposals for selected years.

Table 1. Estimates of Total GHG Emissions and Emission Reductions Achieved by Cap-and-Trade Proposals in the 111th Congress, 2005-2050
Absolute Emissions (Million Metric Tons CO₂)	2012	2020	2030	2040	2050
Business as usual emissions	7,185	7,390	7,765	8,102	8,379
H.R.1862 emissions caps only	7,531	6,162	4,963	3,718	2,459
H.R.2454 emissions caps only	6,980	6,095	4,547	3,262	1,961
H.R.2454 caps plus all complementary requirements	6,934	5,125	4,287	3,040	1,779
H.R.2454 potential range of additional reductions	6,934	4,750	3,809	2,621	1,384
Percent change relative to 2005 emissions	2012	2020	2030	2040	2050
Business as usual emissions	1	4	9	14	18
H.R.1862 emissions caps only	6	-14	-30	-48	-66
H.R.2454 emissions caps only	-2	-15	-36	-54	-73
H.R.2454 caps plus all complementary requirements	-3	-28	-40	-57	-75
H.R.2454 potential range of additional reductions	-3	-33	-47	-63	-81
Percent change relative to 1990 emissions	2012	2020	2030	2040	2050
Business as usual emissions	17	20	26	32	36
H.R.1862 emissions caps only	22	0	-19	-40	-60
H.R.2454 emissions caps only	14	-1	-26	-47	-68
H.R.2454 caps plus all complementary requirements	13	-17	-30	-51	-71
H.R.2454 potential range of additional reductions	13	-23	-38	-57	-77
Bills analyzed include the substitute to H.R.2454 released on June 22, 2009 and the H.R. 1862 as introduced. Business as usual emission projections are from EPA’s reference case for its analysis of the Waxman Markey Discussion Draft.

Undisclosed Risk: Corporate Environmental and Social Reporting in Emerging Asia

Payson Schwin — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:13:16 -0400

In a world where the physical impacts of environmental degradation are already being felt, and most governments have embraced some form of regulation to mitigate further damage to the environment, environmental concerns are increasingly relevant to companies’ bottom lines. Companies will both impact and are dependent on the environment and current environmental trends will present companies with both risks and opportunities. In its report Emerging Risk, World Resources Institute (WRI) identified the critical trends that countries in emerging Asia face; trends that have a material financial impact on key sectors in the region (see Box).

At a Glance: Environmental Trends

Deforestation
Water Scarcity
Climate Change
Food Security
Energy Security
Air Pollution
Urbanization
Population Growth

Today, if and how companies manage trends such as climate change or water scarcity is of direct interest to investors. In fact, many investors and financial analysts regard a company’s performance on environmental and social aspects affecting their business as a proxy for good management.

In developed markets, company disclosure on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance on their website, in their annual report, or a separate corporate sustainability* report, is routine practice. In emerging markets, however, such reporting still lags behind.

Undisclosed Risk: Corporate Environmental and Social Reporting in Emerging Asia examines the current state of public corporate sustainability reporting in English by the ten largest companies in each of six Asian countries—India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. This report does not cover corporate governance reporting and its drivers, although a national corporate governance code may have a positive influence on company transparency on environmental and social factors.

The companies examined include both multinational and national businesses, and cover sectors ranging from resource-based energy, mining, and oil and gas corporations to service sector banking, telecommunications, and transportation. The companies are ranked according to a four point criteria developed by WRI, which draw on guidelines from the Global Reporting Initiative1 and from the international consultancy SustainAbility’s Global Reporters work.2 To put the results in context, we also examine the regulatory and non-regulatory drivers in place in each country to encourage corporate disclosure on sustainability risks.

This study provides an investor perspective on corporate sustainability reporting in the six focus countries. It is intended for both foreign and local investors in key emerging Asian economies, as well as sector and equity analysts and researchers that cover the region.

Undisclosed Risk is part of a multi-report research project† between WRI and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) that studies the financial materiality of key environmental issues in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. The project seeks to help equity investors in emerging Asia to mitigate risks and take advantage of opportunities by directing capital toward environmentally sustainable listed companies.

Key Findings

Sustainability reporting in the six focus countries has improved in the past 5 years through the efforts of national governments, training and consulting organizations, national securities regulators, accounting professional associations and others.
Company disclosure in emerging Asia is typically focused on community giving and philanthropic activities. In general, such reporting is of more interest to stakeholder groups such as local communities and employees than to investors. We found most of the sustainability information disclosed to be of limited relevance to mainstream investors.
Indian companies examined in this study were ahead of the field, with the majority producing sustainability reports that we evaluated as average or above-average and somewhat relevant to investors. In contrast, the Vietnamese companies surveyed had the least progressive disclosure.
Companies with above average reporting are responding to external pressures, including pressure from stakeholders and parent companies, as well as reputation and supply chain concerns.
Each country, with the exception of Vietnam, has some form of regulations, codes, awards, support organizations, or market initiatives that encourage sustainability reporting. Malaysia is the most advanced in this respect.
Investors and equity analysts in emerging Asia often obtain pertinent information on sustainability risks through non-public informal channels. This practice likely gives some investors a competitive advantage. However, it does little to help tip the scale toward mainstreaming corporate sustainability reporting in the region.

Emerging Risks: Impacts of Key Environmental Trends in Emerging Asia

Payson Schwin — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 08:57:13 -0400

The health of the planet is becoming a significant issue for the financial and corporate world. Powerful global trends around the environment, sustainability, business, and investment have converged to a point that certain environmental issues have become material financial matters for publicly traded companies and their investors. Financial markets that are attuned to these trends are likely to create strong incentives for companies to improve their environmental performance.

The relevance of environmental sustainability to investment is not limited to London, New York, and Tokyo. Emerging markets have grown at an unprecedented rate in the last two decades as large institutional investors have increasingly looked to these markets as investment destinations.

Emerging Risk is an introduction to a series of sector reports on the financial materiality of key environmental trends in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. It forms part of a research collaboration between the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to give investors in emerging Asian countries the information and tools they need to link the materiality of issues such as climate change, air pollution, water scarcity, and deforestation to traditional financial analysis.

Emerging Risk sets the scene with an overview of the principal players, main stock exchanges, selective environmental trends affecting emerging Asian nations, and the impacts of the trends on critical sectors in the six focus countries. This report is intended for international and local investors as well as analysts, policymakers, and researchers who cover this region. It should be useful to any investor-related audience seeking to understand the business impact of environmental trends on publicly listed companies in emerging South and Southeast Asian countries.

Because this report addresses an investment-oriented audience with varying degrees of knowledge about environmental issues, we have framed the issues in terms of broad environmental themes or trends, reflecting those typically identified in reports by the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and the like.

The six Asian economies on which we focus—India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam—all have rapidly growing industrial, commercial, and financial sectors, and all are susceptible to environmental risk. For example, all six are particularly vulnerable to the physical risks associated with climate change. The region’s rapid economic growth has fueled the world’s highest increases in the commercial and domestic demand for energy. In 2008, the six countries together contain approximately 1.6 billion people, or about 25 percent of the world population.

At a Glance: Environmental Trends and Risk Categories for Investors

Trends:

Deforestation
Water Scarcity
Climate Change
Food Security
Energy Security
Air Pollution
Urbanization
Population Growth

Risks:

Operational or physical
Regulatory and legal
Reputational
Market and product
Financing

The box to the right summarizes the main environmental trends we explore and the main types of risk they engender. Physical impacts are likely to be the most pronounced and can directly affect a company’s daily operations, for example disruption in production due to a lack of water or severe weather-related damage to company assets.

Our research shows that resource-dependent sectors—like forestry products, food and beverage, and oil and gas—which are important to these emerging Asian economies, are precisely those that will be affected by the physical impacts of environmental trends. The construction and real estate sectors also have become significant economic players and are highly dependent on the availability and cost of raw materials. The manufacturing sectors range from low value–added goods, such as textiles, to high value–added goods, such as software, and they often are highly resource (labor, energy, and water) intensive. India, Malaysia, and the Philippines have a thriving service sector, such as business process outsourcing, which is highly dependent on a skilled workforce.

To illustrate the environmental challenges facing companies operating in this region, we use three case studies: supply chain pressures on Staples, the office supplies giant; the effects of water scarcity in India on Coca-Cola’s manufacturing process; and the physical effects of flooding in Indonesia on sectors ranging from automobiles to telecommunications.

In the years ahead, investors and asset owners, particularly large institutional investors, will have a role to play in redirecting capital toward more environmentally sustainable economic activities, which can reduce investment risk and support the region’s long-term prosperity. This report is intended to help them take the first steps in that direction.

Sustainable Procurement of Wood and Paper-Based Products: Version 1.1

Ruth Nogueron — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:41:45 -0400

Decisions regarding the purchase and use of wood and paper-based products can have far-reaching, long-term impacts for the forests where they are harvested, the communities supported by wood-using industries, and the places where those products are purchased and used.

The information in this joint WRI/WBCSD publication is organized around ten key issues, posed as “essential questions” that procurement managers might address related to the sustainable procurement of wood and paper-based products:

Origin: Where do the products come from?
Information accuracy: Is information about the products credible?
Legality: Have the products been legally produced?
Sustainability: Have forests been sustainably managed?
Special places: Have special places, including sensitive ecosystems, been protected?
Climate change: Have climate issues been addressed?
Environmental protection: Have appropriate environmental controls been applied?
Recycled fiber: Has recycled fiber been used appropriately?
Other resources: Have other resources been used appropriately?
Local communities and indigenous peoples: Have the needs of local communities or indigenous peoples been addressed?

The publication is designed as an information tool to help customers develop their own sustainable procurement policies for wood and paper-based products. It is also a decision support tool providing simple and clear information on twenty-two existing approaches to the procurement of wood and paper-based products from legal and sustainable sources, as well as providing additional references and resource materials.

Enabling Adaptation: Priorities for Supporting the Rural Poor in a Changing Climate

Payson Schwin — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:15:38 -0400

Effective climate adaptation requires an enabling environment—one that grants the poor the rights, resources and access they need to sustain and benefit from ecosystems, governments and markets. Development experience provides important lessons for fostering such enabling environments, including principles of good governance that provide the rural poor with control of the ecosystems on which they depend.

Key Investments to Enable Adaptation

Supporting pro-poor climate adaptation begins by giving primacy to enabling activities that grant the poor the rights, resources and access they need to sustain and benefi t from their ecosystem assets.

Priority areas for investment include:

A. Strengthen an enabling environment at the national level.

Promoting tenure reform for improved resource access and livelihood security.
Providing market access through regulatory reform to benefit small producers.
Decentralizing authority over natural resources to local levels.
Providing access to information.

B. Strengthen local institutions and good governance practices on the ground.

Promoting representative and fair natural resource management and use institutions at the local level.
Facilitating community participation, especially of vulnerable groups, in natural resource management.
Fostering local support organizations.
Communicating success stories.

C. Establish good governance metrics for adaptation.

Source: Adapted from World Resources 2008: Roots of Resilience.

The livelihoods of the rural poor are rooted in the productivity of ecosystems. Climate change, however, is already altering the functioning of these ecosystems in profound—and often negative—ways. Over 2 billion rural inhabitants live on less than $2 per day. Helping these people to build their assets and incomes will bolster their resilience and adaptive capacity, enabling them to meet the challenges of climate change and ecosystem degradation without sinking deeper into poverty. But how?

Effective climate adaptation requires an enabling environment—one that grants the poor the rights, resources and access they need to sustain and benefit from ecosystems, governments and markets. It begins with fair and equitable governance. Sound ecosystem management—whether at the watershed level, on a shared plot of forest land, or of a particular water body—can reduce the poor’s vulnerability to climate-related risks by creating economic opportunities that build livelihoods and increase resilience. Unfortunately, decades of development experience have shown that governance failures often rob the poor of effective control of the ecosystems on which they depend.

Just as governance successes, such as Bangladesh’s cyclone management system or Guatemala’s community forestry program, can reduce vulnerabilities, governance failures stand as obstacles to climate adaptation, depriving the poor of the means and powers to benefit from improved management of natural resources (Batha 2008). Indeed, lack of resource rights and insufficient access to markets, finance, information, and technology are often greater determinants of vulnerability for the poor than climate change itself (Schipper 2007, Ribot 2009). As national and international policymakers turn their attention to climate change adaptation, they should keep in mind that constructing an enabling environment that minimizes these vulnerabilities will be central to any meaningful and lasting increase in the adaptive capacity of the rural poor.

Interest in climate change adaptation is mounting quickly among national governments and the international community as a comprehensive new international climate deal through the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), grows likely. However, most current adaptation efforts remain tentative and incremental, in part because the international community has yet to forge a commonly accepted model of what successful adaptation should look like, including clear goals and targets (Hedger et al. 2008:10, 14-15).

This brief seeks to help fill this gap. It is formulated in response to an increasingly urgent need for articulating and agreeing upon a vision of effective adaptation—in part to inform the architecture for financing climate adaptation. The paper argues that the poor, and in particular the resource-dependent rural poor, must be a central concern in any effective adaptation funding effort, and that one of the major pillars of an effective adaptation strategy is support for an enabling environment that allows them to build their resilience through natural resource management.

The first section proposes that good governance and fair, representative institutions are crucial to help the rural poor adapt effectively to climate change. The second half of the brief proposes specific governance investments that adaptation funding should support.

Interactive Forest Atlas for Gabon (Atlas Forestier Interactif du Gabon)

Scott Thompson — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:52:09 -0400

On This Page/À Cette Page

Summary (English)
Résumé (Français)

Summary

The Interactive Forest Atlas for Gabon is both an information management tool, as well as an aide to decision makers towards supporting sustainable use of forest resources. It contains for the first time in a publicly accessible, user-friendly format, up-to-date and harmonized information on the Gabonese forest sector. Future versions of the Atlas will build upon this pilot study – particularly regarding data on timber production, agricultural zones and logging roads derived from satellite imagery.

Background

In 2006, WRI signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Gabonese Ministry of Forest Economy, Water, Fishing, and Aquaculture (MEFEPA) to collect data and create tools necessary to support sustainable management of Gabon’s forests. These efforts culminated in the creation of this first-ever Interactive Forest Atlas for the country.

The collaboration between MEFEPA and WRI aims to improve the quality and availability of relevant geographic data, as well as to build the necessary capacity to collect, manage and apply this information. The capacity of actors in the forest sector to collect and use spatial data remains very weak, due to:

lack of available information
insufficient communication between actors in the sector (ex: data producers and information users), and
the absence of national research, development, and inter-sector integration programs

MEFEPA and WRI aim to encourage the production and exchange of forest ecosystem information and knowledge, and to address all stakeholders working in sustainable forest management – including political leaders, private companies, civil society, and the donor community.

Products and Data

The MEFEPA-WRI initiative is unique due to the fact that it presents forest data in a visual manner, combining data and information that had never previously been linked together or accessible to the public. This Pilot version is not an exhaustive source of information on existing logging titles, rather the collection, verification, and presentation of forest production data contained within focuses on those forest concessions currently engaged in sustainable forest management processes.

This Pilot version of the Atlas is composed of 5 distinct products:

A presentation and user manual which provides installation instructions and a visualization of the atlas and its content
A mapping application, which allows users to visualize maps in detail, to make panoramic views or zoom in on points of interest, to visualize data layers, to examine the data bases, and to print the maps
Geographic Information System (GIS) data and metadata, including original data files and attributes
An overview report providing the legislative context, analysis and potential applications of the interactive atlas towards sustainable forest management
A poster of official logging concessions and protected areas

Recommendations

The principle recommendations stemming from the Interactive Forest Atlas focus on the policies and actions that the Gabonese forest administration might undertake, alongside those which already exists, in order to make sustainable forest management a reality.

Recommendations include:

Normalize procedures and harmonize the tax system to encourage sustainable use of the resource and full participation
Implement veritable decentralization of forest resource management in partnership with stakeholders to ensure that the national working group serves as a forum for innovation sharing, forest management, information capacity building on forest management, and evaluation methods
Put in place the necessary institutional structures to: a) better define informational needs on the national scale; b) calibrate data and protocol measures; c) facilitate access to data; and d) develop standards and best practices on sustainable management, goods, and services
Reinforce national capacity through stakeholder training – focusing on the collection, storage, and processing of data received from national technical institutions, private operators, NGOs, and representatives of civil society
Ensure that universities and technical institutes are using the most up-to-date forest information, and encourage national and international bodies to carry out research on indicators which are difficult to measure
Employ standardized criteria and indicators as a base of national information on sustainable forest management

The Interactive Forest Atlas of Gabon project received generous support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

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Résumé

L’Atlas Forestier Interactif du Gabon est à la fois un outil de gestion de l’information et de support à la prise de décision dans le domaine de l’utilisation durable des ressources naturelles. Pour la première fois, il comprend des données actualisées et harmonisées sur le secteur forestier gabonais - le tout dans un format facile à utiliser. Les prochaines versions de l’atlas incluront de nouvelles données concernant la production forestière, les zones de plantations agricoles et d’élevage, et la cartographie des pistes d’exploitation forestière à partir des images satellitaires.

Contexte

Le Ministère de L’Economie Forestière, des Eaux, de la Pêche et l’Aquaculture du Gabon (MEFEPA) et le World Resources Institute (WRI) ont convenu de s’associer afin de développer des outils et base de données permettant d’améliorer le suivi de la gestion durable des forêts du Gabon par la production, notamment, d’un atlas forestier interactif.

Cette collaboration entre le MEFEPA et WRI vise à faciliter la prise de décision quant à la gestion des ressources forestières du pays en améliorant la qualité et la disponibilité des informations géographiques relatives à ces dernières. En effet, la capacité des acteurs de la gestion durable des forêts à collecter les données et à utiliser les données spatiales reste encore très faible, du fait, entre autre de : (i) la faible qualité de l’information disponible (information disparate, sources de données fragmentaires, absence d’utilisation de standards, manque de coordination dans la gestion et la diffusion de l’information aux différents niveaux, etc.), (ii) la faiblesse ou absence de communication entre acteurs (producteurs des données et utilisateurs de l’information), (iii) l’absence des programmes nationaux de recherche, de développement et d’intégration intersectorielle et (iv) l’absence de communication entre acteurs locaux et faiblesse des partenariats.

Produits et Données

Ce rapport vise à donner une vue d’ensemble de l’Atlas forestier interactif du Gabon (version Pilote). Il traite de son but, son contenu, des méthodes de collecte des données, des informations collectées et de son élaboration. Il donne également quelques exemples d’applications possibles. Cette première version pilote ne se veut pas exhaustive. En effet, la collecte, la vérification et la présentation des données des forêts de production du Gabon a porté sur les concessions forestières engagées dans le processus d’aménagement forestier. En outre, une des utilisations essentielles de cet outil dans l’avenir se veut être un outil d’aide à la gestion et au contrôle forestier. C’est à ce titre que les versions ultérieures de cet atlas devront intégrer, outre les données exhaustives du domaine de production (présentation des autres titres d’exploitation forestière), les zones de plantations agricoles et d’élevage, et la cartographie des pistes d’exploitation forestière à partir des images satellitaires.

La production de cette version pilote de l’Atlas forestier interactif du Gabon s’inscrit dans le cadre de l’exécution du projet conjoint issu de la convention de collaboration MEFEPA-WRI. Il vise à inspirer les politiques nationales, à favoriser les échanges et la production des connaissances sur les écosystèmes forestiers et s’adresse à l’ensemble des acteurs de la gestion durable des forêts (pouvoirs publics, compagnies privées, société civile, bailleurs de fonds). Cette initiative doit son originalité au recueil des données et des informations forestières, à leur présentation visuelle et à la combinaison de données et d’informations qui, jusqu’ici, n’étaient ni reliées, ni facilement accessibles.

Cette première version de l’Atlas forestier interactif du Gabon (version pilote) se présentera sous la forme d’un CD-ROM comprenant cinq (5) produits distincts, à savoir:

le manuel de présentation et d’utilisation qui fournit les instructions relatives à l’installation et à la visualisation de l’atlas et de son contenu;
une application cartographique qui permet aux utilisateurs de visualiser les cartes en détail, de faire des panoramiques ou des zooms sur les zones d’intérêt, de visualiser des couches d’informations (soit séparément, soit en combinaison), d’interroger des bases de données et enfin d’imprimer des cartes;
les données du système d’information géographique (SIG) et les métadonnées incluent les fichiers et attributs originaux des ensembles de données;
un document de synthèse donnant une vue d’ensemble de l’objectif, du contenu et des éléments méthodologiques de l’atlas et décrivant en détail les différentes thématiques portant sur les applications attendues pouvant être utiles aux décideurs et techniciens.
un poster présentant l’affectation du Domaine Forestier Permanent de l’Etat.

Recommandations

Les principales recommandations suivantes concernent les procédures et les actes administratifs, les aspects organisationnels et le développement de partenariats pertinents que l’administration forestière gabonaise doit prendre en complément de ceux déjà existants afin que le processus de la gestion durable devienne une réalité pour l’ensemble des acteurs. Elles concernent aussi les protocoles d’inventaires, de collecte et de traitement des données permettant de s’assurer de la qualité, la fiabilité, l’exhaustivité et la cohérence des données ainsi que des informations produites.

Il s’agit de :

normaliser les procédures et harmoniser la fiscalité afin d’inciter les acteurs à un engagement véritable et soutenu sur le terrain permettant d’éviter une foresterie à plusieurs vitesses;
développer le concept de décentralisation en partenariat entre acteurs (collaboration technique)en faisant en sorte que le groupe national de travail (GNT) serve de forum ou de plate forme pour le partage des innovations, la promotion de l’aménagement des forêts, à l’amélioration de la capacité d’information sur l’aménagement durable des forêts ainsi que les méthodes d’évaluation.
mettre en place une organisation hiérarchique à plusieurs niveaux qui aurait pour mission de (i) mieux définir les besoins en informations sur le plan national, (ii) calibrer les données et protocoles de mesure, (iii) faciliter l’accès aux données issues des technologies d’observation de la terre, des données de terrain, (iv) développer des standards et les meilleures pratiques de gestion durable, des biens et services autour de l’information. La coordination serait du ressort des institutions à vocation avérée et de même portée. Cette organisation aurait le mérite d’harmoniser toutes les questions de base (toponymie, protocoles expérimentaux, choix des données) en vue de faciliter ultérieurement les comparaisons et la production d’informations.
procéder à un renforcement des capacités en accentuant la formation des acteurs. Ce renforcement mettrait ainsi l’accent sur l’amélioration de la fiabilité et de la qualité des opérations de récolte, d’archivage, de traitement des données recueillies par les institutions nationales techniques mandatées et par les opérateurs privés, les Organisations non Gouvernementale (ONG) et les représentants de la société civile. Il s’effectuerait sur une revue de leur cadre institutionnel et juridique, l’établissement de chaînes de production en y introduisant des normes de qualité, à travers des formations techniques de longue ou courte durée pour les cadres, techniciens et les opérateurs. Des formations aux Principes, Critères et Indicateurs (PCI) de l’Organisation Africaine du Bois (OAB) et l’OIBT seraient à renouveler, ainsi que celles relatives à la certification et aux méthodes et techniques des audits forestiers.
rechercher la contribution de l’ensemble des acteurs, soutenir les universités, grandes écoles et instituts supérieurs à utiliser l’information la plus récente sur l’aménagement des forêts et sur les PCI OAB/OIBT. Encourager les organismes nationaux et internationaux à réaliser des travaux de recherches sur les indicateurs difficiles à mesurer.
utiliser les critères et indicateurs comme base d’information nationale sur l’aménagement durable des forêts auprès des acteurs (administration, ONG, opérateurs économiques, organismes internationaux)

Le projet de l’Atlas Forestier Interactif du Gabon a été entièrement et généreusement financé par l’Agence Américaine Pour le Développement (USAID).

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Juice From Concentrate: Reducing Emissions with Concentrating Solar Thermal Power

Britt Childs Staley — Mon, 18 May 2009 15:22:53 -0400

In a world of rising energy prices, security concerns, and climate change, the production of energy will need to change in fundamental ways. In the electricity sector, certain renewable energy sources appear ready for the mainstream, offering not just a solution to these challenges but an exciting opportunity for investment, innovation, and job creation. Many regions are deploying wind and solar energy, successfully managing their intermittency. However, these resources are innately less predictable than coal, which limits their use at high rates of market penetration and as reliable sources of power around the clock (i.e., baseload electricity). Both developed and emerging economies require reliable power supplies on demand, and many energy analysts routinely assert that there is no realistic alternative to building more coal-fired power generators.

A serious energy alternative

This report provides a rebuttal to that assertion, outlining the potential groundbreaking role of concentrating solar thermal power (CST) in providing power on the margin of the demand curve, as well as replacing coal at the core of the power mix. If catastrophic climate change is to be averted, then reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuel combustion is critical, and displacing coal-fired generation is the preeminent challenge. Given the hurdles facing fast, large-scale deployment of other climate-friendly technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) and nuclear power, large-scale uptake of renewable energy sources such as CST will be critical to the solution.

What is concentrating thermal power?

CST uses reflective material to concentrate the sun’s rays to power steam turbines or engines. When combined with thermal storage—which enables a plant to produce power under cloud cover and after the sun has set—CST can generate electricity on demand, not just when the sun is shining. Globally, solar resources are abundant.Solar resources in Australia, Mexico, the Middle East, and southern and northern Africa are equally promising. Parts of Latin America, India, central Asia, and China also have great potential (see Figure 1). Other areas, such as Europe, have solar resources that are only marginally suitable for CST, particularly in Spain and Portugal. Because CST technology components are produced from readily available commodities such as steel and glass, bottlenecks to CST market growth will likely be no more problematic than other energy options. Although CST is only one part of the energy solution, it potentially offers a major supply option in some of the world’s largest economies and load centers.

Sun blocks

Despite the technical viability of CST, there are significant barriers of which policy-makers and investors need to be aware. Costs are currently high relative to coal. Further improvements to the technology will help bring costs down, and investors and operators are still learning how to design and operate plants most efficiently. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has a goal of producing baseload power from CST at competitive prices by 2020. For the time being, consistent policy support will be important to accelerate deployment and market acceptance. The regions with the best solar resources are often arid or water-scarce. Incorporating advanced technologies such as dry cooling and wet/dry hybrid cooling systems can reduce water consumption but also increase project costs. Producing zero-carbon electricity and heat for seawater desalination is an expensive option, but may be attractive in these regions as water scarcity concerns increasingly factor into decision-making.

The most abundant solar resources are not evenly spread globally and often do not coincide perfectly with large energy-consuming population centers. Improved transmission systems will need to keep pace with the growth of CST and other renewable energy generation technologies. CST has some track record, but investors are still wary of new technologies. CST is capital intensive, and at a time when financial markets are struggling, measures to increase investor confidence will be important.

A bright future

Policy-makers and investors are looking for ways to meet rising energy demand while cutting CO2 emissions from fossil fuel use. CST offers a major opportunity to meet this challenge in a way that does not increase the long-term cost of electricity. Thanks to policy support in the U.S. and Spain, in particular, the CST industry is developing into one that can deliver at scale (see Table 1). There is real scope for policy to accelerate widespread deployment of CST in the United States and in Europe at first, but also in the Middle East and North Africa, exploiting their abundant solar resources, and in major developing economies like China and India, addressing major environmental concerns. To take advantage of its potential, policies are needed to help bring down the costs of CST plants with thermal energy storage by providing predictable price support and thereby improving investor confidence, and in the longer term to improve regulation and increase investment in transmission infrastructure. The availability of CST and other renewable power options means that expanded coal use should no longer be seen as an inevitable factor in maintaining economic growth.

Key Findings

CST provides a large-scale option to deliver a zero-carbon electricity system.

Concentrating solar thermal power offers real potential to reduce dependence on coal and displace emissions from the power sector globally. As countries begin limiting greenhouse gas emissions, CST is an important option, on its own and as part of a broader portfolio of renewable energy technologies.
Storage systems can improve the economics of CST plants and improve their value proposition to utilities. Storage provides a buffer against cloudy periods, extends generation to cover peak load, and can allow a CST plant to produce power after the sun has set, helping to meet baseload power demand.
CST remains more expensive than coal as a generation source, but prices are expected to decline significantly as technology learning occurs. A carbon price of approximately $115 per ton of CO2 would be needed for CST (trough with 6 hours of storage) to become economically competitive with coal-fired power.
This carbon price is higher than expected from the early stages of most cap-and-trade systems, but far lower than the carbon prices projected in some climate policy studies. The effectively limitless potential for CST acts as a ceiling for carbon prices and must be considered in relation to the significant costs of inaction—in other words, the economic damages from doing nothing to mitigate climate change. CST costs are still high compared to coal, but are expected to decline.
CST has been disadvantaged by high commodity prices. CSTplants require large volumes of glass, cement, and steel. Future price trends for these commodities will have a significant impact on the cost of power and its competitiveness with coal, because CST replaces lifetime fuel payments with upfront capital in its cost structure. Equally important is innovation in the CST industry. Pilot designs include substitutable materials in key components (providing a hedge against commodity price spikes).
Costs are expected to decline as new capacity comes online. Key areas of cost improvement will come through research and development (R&D), particularly in improved storage materials, optical design, mirrors, heat collectors, heat fluids, and plant operation. Most plants today are smaller than optimal, in some cases because of the structure of policy support (as in Spain). Larger plants (e.g., for parabolic troughs the optimal turbine size is between 150 and 250 MW) will produce additional economies of scale. Technical challenges will likely make larger plants impractical, but clustering multiple plants in proximity could reduce some fixed costs. Several simple policy options can accelerate CST deployment and bring down costs.
The regulation and pricing of carbon is a reality in many markets. Traditional fossil fuels experience new competitive challenges under these conditions, and viable zero-carbon energy options stand to win big in the market for new power generation capacity.
Under a carbon constraint, CST with storage will be attractive to utilities. However, continued specific renewable energy support will be necessary in the near term to drive investment, as carbon prices alone are unlikely to be sufficient in the near term to cover the cost gap between CST and coal. Neither U.S. nor EU carbon market prices is expected to exceed $100 per ton of CO2 in the near term (although prices in this range could occur by 2030, according to some recent modeling scenarios).
In the near term, investment will be driven in part by policy incentives. The most generous incentives at present are provided through Spain’s feed-in tariff. This model is being taken up in some developing countries and may merit consideration in the United States. U.S. support based on tax credits for investment and/or production has proven less effective, largely because it is subject to periodic and uncertain renewal. The 2008 renewal of the U.S. Investment Tax Credit (ITC) extended the support for eight years, a much longer lifespan than previously offered. This is a step in the right direction; however, investors would benefit greatly from a more stable support regime.
Another modification to the ITC in the U.S. allows utilities to invest directly in owning CST generation under structured tax equity deals. Previously, CST developers had to procure power purchase agreements (PPA) and tax equity investors on their own. Given the credit crunch, this is good news for the fledgling industry because it is a fresh pool of capital, but it may mean developers will need to produce more flexible business models.
The ability of CST to displace baseload coal and reduce emissions will depend on deploying effective storage systems and on integrating CST into a portfolio of zero-carbon power generation options. While thermal storage systems for CST already work well, research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) support would be valuable and should be aimed at bringing down the costs for these systems.
While the challenges of deploying CST in industrialized countries are being addressed, new coal plants are being built at a furious pace in rapidly developing countries. According to the IEA, China doubled its coal-fired generation between 2000 and 2006, and more than 40 percent of China’s expected $1.3 trillion investment in added generation capacity through 2030 will likely be coal-fired. Given the rapid growth of demand in developing countries, speeding up CST deployment in these countries by even a few years could make a huge difference to the emissions trajectory. Both China and India (but particularly India) could deploy CST technology to limit their rapidly expanding coal-building activities. New multilateral financing mechanisms such as the Clean Technology Fund managed by the World Bank should support CST deployment in these countries. As a promising option to reduce GHG emissions and improve energy security, CST should be a priority in international collaboration on research, development, and deployment issues.
The wider application of CST will require a stronger and more integrated transmission system. In the U.S., a greater federal role and/or improved coordination between grid operators will be needed. In the EU, robust transmission links with North Africa will be critical and are already being developed.

Mapping a Better Future: How Spatial Analysis Can Benefit Wetlands and Reduce Poverty in Uganda

Payson Schwin — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:28:28 -0400

Mapping a Better Future

Courtesy of NTV Uganda
Watch on YouTube

Uganda has abundant natural wealth. Its varied wetlands, including grass swamps, mountain bogs, seasonal floodplains, and swamp forests, provide services and products worth hundreds of millions of dollars per year, making them a vital contributor to the national economy. Ugandans use wetlands—often called the country’s “granaries for water”—to sustain their lives and livelihoods. They rely on them for water, construction material, and fuel, and use them for farming, fishing, and to graze livestock. Wetlands supply direct or subsistence employment for 2.7 million people, almost 10 percent of the population. In many parts of the country, wetland products and services are the sole source for livelihoods and the main safety net for the poorest households. Sustainable management of Uganda’s wetlands is thus not only sound economic policy, it is also a potent strategy for poverty reduction.

Recognizing this, Uganda’s Government was the first to create a national wetlands policy in Africa. Over the past decade, Uganda has also instituted the National Wetlands Information System, a rich database on the use and health of Uganda’s wetlands which in its coverage and detail is unique in Africa.

This publication builds on those initiatives by combining information from the wetlands database with pioneering poverty location maps developed by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics. The new maps and accompanying analyses will help policy-makers classify wetlands by their main uses, conditions, and poverty profile and identify areas with the greatest need of pro-poor wetland management interventions. The information generated can also be fed into national poverty reduction strategies and resource management plans.

This is an innovative, pragmatic approach to integrating efforts to reduce poverty while sustaining ecosystems which has implications for improving policy-making in Uganda and beyond.

The publication is aimed at high level decision-makers and has two key purposes:

To show decision-makers responsible for Uganda’s wetlands where sustainable wetland management can have the greatest impacts on reducing poverty, and how community profiles derived from poverty maps can facilitate wetland interventions which better serve the poor. Maps of poverty and wetland indicators can serve as a bridge between different government sectors as they consider opportunities for achieving multiple socioeconomic and environmental objectives.
To show decision-makers involved in poverty reduction how maps derived from Uganda’s National Wetlands Information System can help to identify wetlands with degradation risks or economic potential, and show how these areas coincide with different poverty levels. Such knowledge can improve efforts to integrate wetland issues into poverty reduction strategies.

Mapping a Better Future: How Spatial Analysis Can Benefit Wetlands and Reduce Poverty in Uganda uses an innovative approach to integrate spatial data on poverty and wetlands use. Drawing on Uganda’s rich baseline of wetland data and poverty mapping, the report provides a detailed examination of the links between ecosystem services and the location of poor communities and presents practical lessons for policy-makers across government.

Background: A Brief History of Wetlands Management in Uganda gives an overview of the Ugandan government’s efforts to date on wetlands management and its relation to poverty.
Managing Wetlands and Reducing Poverty: Issues and Challenges highlights the many benefits wetlands provide to Uganda’s people, and introduces the latest poverty maps. It then summarizes how wetlands and poverty issues are addressed in Uganda’s Poverty Eradication Action Plan and Wetlands Sector Strategic Plan.
Wetland Characteristics and Uses presents maps of permanent and seasonal wetlands and of wetland area per capita. It also examines main wetland uses as inventoried in the National Wetlands Information System.
Spatial Analysis of Wetland and Poverty Indicators demonstrates how combining spatial analyses of such indicators can improve the information and analytical basis for decision- making. These comparisons incorporate the diversity of wetland products and the impacts of wetland use.
Adding Value: Combining Wetland and Poverty Maps with Economic Analysis illustrates how the depth and benefi ts of these analyses can be further advanced by augmenting wetland and poverty maps with fi ndings from economic valuation studies. A case study of papyrus harvesting’s potential to reduce poverty is included.
Moving Forward: Lessons Learned and Recommendations looks ahead, describes lessons learned, and makes recommendations for stakeholders involved in poverty reduction and the sustainable use of wetlands in Uganda and around the world.

Key Findings & Recommendations

Findings

The maps and analyses in this publication are primarily illustrative, but do support the following conclusions:

Detailed mapping of previously unused data confirms that wetlands provide multiple benefi ts in every district, and to every citizen of Uganda.
The diversity of products obtained from wetlands in specific locations ranges widely, from a handful to up to 24 products; levels of harmful impacts on wetlands by people also vary greatly across the country.
Spatial analyses of selected poverty-wetland indicators reveal no clear pattern at the subcounty level–despite popular belief that the poorest areas are always the most degraded.
The overlay analyses of poverty and wetland maps are most useful for identifying subcounties that share similar poverty and wetland characteristics, and thus may lend themselves to similar wetland management approaches and intervention strategies. Economic studies that quantify the value of wetland products and services can be linked to poverty and wetland maps to gauge the economic potential of specific wetland uses in reducing poverty.

Recommendations

Further strengthening Uganda’s supply of data and analytical capacity will provide major returns for the country’s people and natural resource base by improving wetland management planning and prioritization efforts, especially in these two areas:

Complete data entry and collection for the National Wetlands Information System, improve data consistency, and update wetland and land cover information.
Strengthen analysis, mapping, and economic valuation efforts within the Wetlands Management Department.

Improvements in lives, livelihoods, and wetland health could result directly from this supply of new maps and analyses. Specifically, government agencies could use the information to act on decision-making opportunities in these four areas:

Incorporate poverty information into the existing system for selecting wetlands for priority management interventions.
Consider wetland management as part of local poverty reduction efforts, such as creating new livelihood strategies.
Promote “win-win” collaboration to support poverty, wetland health, and other goals between agencies responsible for health, water, sanitation, agriculture, energy, and environment.
Make poverty and wetland maps and their analyses a central component of local decision-making at district level.

Bottom Line on Regulating Greenhouse Gases Under The Clean Air Act

Payson Schwin — Mon, 04 May 2009 15:30:25 -0400

How can the EPA regulate GHGs? Doesn’t the Clean Air Act only apply to air pollutants?

An April 2007 Supreme Court decision (Massachusetts v. EPA) ruled that GHGs are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act. The court instructed the EPA to decide whether GHG emissions endanger public health and/or welfare, or if current science is too uncertain to make a reasonable judgment. In response to the Supreme Court decision, the EPA found in April 2009 that GHG emissions do indeed endanger public health and welfare. This “endangerment finding” was made under section 202 of the Clean Air Act, which applies to motor vehicles. The EPA also made a “cause or contribute finding” that GHG emissions from motor vehicles contribute to the problem of climate change. This cause or contribute finding is the next step towards regulating GHG emissions from motor vehicles after the endangerment finding. If both findings are finalized, the EPA is required to move forward with regulatory rulemaking procedures.

What were the EPA’s options in choosing to regulate or not regulate GHGs?

Based on the Supreme Court decision, the EPA was required to come to one of three conclusions regarding GHG emissions from motor vehicles:

GHGs endanger public health and/or welfare and should be regulated.
GHGs do not endanger public health and/or welfare and should not be regulated.
The science is too uncertain to make a reasonable judgment.

If the endangerment finding applies to GHG emissions under the section that regulates motor vehicles, would the EPA be required to regulate other sources?

Probably. If the endangerment finding is finalized, the EPA could initially regulate emissions from motor vehicles. However, it is likely that the EPA would consider including GHGs in existing Clean Air Act regulations that currently cover stationary emitters such as power plants and factories. Also, citizens can petition the EPA to consider issuing new rules for sources of pollution that are not currently regulated. EPA has received seven such petitions regarding GHG emissions to date. EPA will be required to determine whether or not it should respond to these petitions in a way that would lead to new regulations.

Now that the EPA has made an endangerment finding, what regulatory approaches could it use?

The EPA’s regulatory options are constrained based on the language in various sections of the Clean Air Act. The Act was designed to deal with local and interstate air pollutants that are very different than the long lifetimes and global nature of GHGs. For example, under the section that applies to mobile sources, the EPA may generally only issue emission performance standards for motor vehicles. An emission performance standard sets a limit on the maximum amount of pollutants that may be emitted over a period of time, distance or some other metric (e.g. grams of CO2/mile). The potential exists for the EPA to interpret its regulatory authority over mobile sources in a novel manner that goes beyond setting emission standards, but it is uncertain how this would develop.

If the EPA were to regulate stationary sources, it could do so via performance or technology standards. Performance standards could be applied to new and/or existing sources in specific categories. Technology standards could require certain source types to install specific control technologies. Another approach the EPA may be able to undertake is a cap-and-trade program for GHG emissions from certain stationary sources such as power plants. It is unclear whether such a program could be as broad as many of the proposals under consideration in Congress due to the constraints inherent in the Clean Air Act framework. This may prevent the agency from pursuing a single cap-and-trade program that covers multiple, diverse types of sources at different points of regulation (e.g. power plants, factories and the carbon content of fuels sold by petroleum refiners and importers). Refer to The Bottom Line on Cap-and- Trade for more information on cap-and-trade design.

What could EPA regulation of GHGs under the Clean Air Act mean for business?

EPA regulations under the Clean Air Act would follow a framework previously used to regulate other pollutants and therefore would not be a new and foreign process to most large industrial companies. However, the regulation of GHGs has varying impacts across different types of businesses. Manufacturers of products that could be subject to standards (such as vehicles and possibly other devices) would need to meet whatever standards the EPA puts forward. This could increase the cost of production for some businesses and therefore affect the prices that consumers must pay. However, the cost of using such products may be substantially lower because they will use less fuel or electricity.

If a company has a facility that is subject to performance or technology standards or a cap-and-trade program established under the Clean Air Act, that facility may face some amount of compliance costs. Companies that manufacture or use products with superior GHG performance may have a competitive advantage under new regulations. Regardless of the approach, it is difficult to assess the costs and benefits of potential regulations before they are proposed.

When would potential EPA rules take effect?

Generally, EPA rules under the Clean Air Act take several years to take effect. If the EPA finalizes the endangerment and cause or contribute findings after the public comment period, rulemaking efforts that apply to motor vehicles could begin at that time. Regulations to address GHG emissions from other sources could follow. Depending on the regulatory approach taken, new requirements might be incorporated into existing air permitting cycles. Public comment periods and cost and benefit studies would all influence how long it would take for rules to take effect.

Would EPA action be redundant with potential future legislation to regulate GHG emissions?

Any future act of Congress to regulate GHG emissions through a cap-and-trade program or other approach could be redundant or conflict with potential EPA regulations under the Clean Air Act. The only way to avoid such conflicts is to clarify in legislation where current Clean Air Act authority remains and where new statutory authority prevails. Many current legislative proposals take an approach that would issue a series of amendments to the Clean Air Act rather than a new, stand-alone act of Congress.

How would EPA rules interact with state GHG regulations?

Generally, states have been allowed to enact stricter standards than those issued by the EPA for air pollutants regulated under the Clean Air Act—though this dynamic is still in flux. It is unlikely that the current conventions governing state and federal roles in regulating air pollutants under the Clean Air Act would change if GHG emissions are incorporated. However, new legislation could include provisions that alter the current relationship between the states and the federal government in terms of regulating GHG emissions (refer to The Bottom Line on State and Federal Policy Roles for more information).

Additional References:

WRI’s U.S. Climate Policy Resources
The Bottom Line Series
Environmental Protection Agency Endangerment and Cause or Contribute Findings
Environmental Protection Agency Greenhouse Gas Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
Nordhaus, R. 2007. New Wine into Old Bottles: The Feasibility of Greenhouse Gas Regulation Under the Clean Air Act. New York University Journal of Environmental Law vol. 15.

Acknowledgements

WRI would like to thank our many internal and external reviewers for providing feedback on drafts of various issues in The Bottom Line series. WRI also wishes to thank the following foundations that support our climate and business engagement activities and help make this series possible:

Sharpening The Cutting Edge: Corporate Action for a Strong, Low-Carbon Economy

Tim Herzog — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:50:22 -0400

The window of opportunity to effectively respond to climate change is now. Leading scientists warn that global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must begin to decline in ten years if we are to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. The United States is at a clear decision point. The scale of the climate challenge, paired with the investments needed to respond to a deep global recession, represent a unique opportunity to shift to a low-carbon economy that can provide a stronger, safer and more sustainable future. As users and producers of goods and services, businesses are central to an effective climate change response.

To be successful in a low-carbon future, companies must become expert in today’s best practice, emerging innovative practice and tomorrow’s “next” practice. This report can help guide corporate actions over the next few years, as companies and policymakers accelerate the pace of responding to climate change. It offers guidance on six key actions:

DEVELOP COMPREHENSIVE, STRATEGIC CLIMATE CHANGE METRICS. Performance targets that go beyond carbon-only measures will be more useful for measuring and managing an effective corporate response to climate change.
EXPAND GHG REPORTING. Companies will need to develop efficient, responsive reporting processes to meet growing demands for climate change risk disclosure (financial and physical) from a variety of stakeholders.
REALIGN CLIMATE CHANGE STRATEGIES TO A LOW-CARBON ECONOMY AND A WARMING WORLD. Strategic partnerships across the value chain will help identify cost-effective GHG emission reductions and minimize exposure to carbon price impacts. Businesses will also need to analyze their entire value chain to assess how they may be exposed to shifting weather patterns and climate risks.
ANTICIPATE AND MEET NEW MARKET DEMANDS. Tomorrow’s economy will place new value on goods and services that use energy and natural resources more efficiently and reduce GHG emissions. Companies can capture new business opportunities if they position themselves to supply these new markets.
INFORM AND ADVANCE EFFECTIVE CLIMATE POLICY. Companies will need to be constructive participants in U.S. and international policy dialogues. Corporate insights can help to inform effective climate and energy policies to ensure a safe climate and sound economy.
MAKE LONG-TERM INVESTMENT DECISIONS THAT FACTOR IN CLIMATE RISKS. All corporate investment decisions will need to evaluate climate change risks and whether investments put the company at an advantage or disadvantage in a low-carbon future. Poor investment decisions can lead to significant future costs if they lock in commitments to high-carbon products or strategies.

Companies that are successful in these areas will help to set the new benchmark for corporate leadership in a low-carbon future. The World Resources Institute has been working with the private sector for more than a decade on developing responses to climate change. Many of our corporate partners are building a solid foundation for long-term action. This has taken time, resources and commitment. Key challenges remain, however.

This report assesses how companies have fared in addressing the “cutting-edge issues” identified in our 2004 report A Climate of Innovation. The experiences of our corporate partners illustrate important progress and barriers.

VERIFYING AND REGISTERING DATA. GHG registry programs have grown over the last few years with companies seizing the opportunity to verify and register their emissions.Many companies that are not participating still are undergoing the process of third-party verification of data. For most companies, however, data management can be a time-consuming challenge.
SETTING AND UPDATING PERFORMANCE TARGETS. Setting GHG emission reduction targets has become a fairly common practice among major corporations. GHG targets alone, however, do not fully communicate corporate commitments to action nor do they necessarily focus investments on the critical changes necessary to prepare companies for a low-carbon future.
IDENTIFYING COST-EFFECTIVE EMISSION REDUCTIONS. New financing models are helping to accelerate clean technology investments, and a growing number of companies are also engaging in emerging supply chain management activities. Fuller engagement of senior financial executives remains a key barrier to increased deployment of low-carbon projects.
MANAGING INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS. Simple, clear messaging and engagement of a wide range of employees has proved to be a successful strategy for involving the broader company in climate commitments. Cutting through the barrage of corporate information targeted at employees and successfully diffusing climate change knowledge remains a challenge.
CAPTURING NEW BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES. Companies that have explored opportunities to supply low-carbon goods and services have been able to demonstrate financial success in these new markets. Advancing these opportunities will require new business models, increased investment, and policy frameworks that value and reward action to reduce GHG emissions.
ADAPTING TO MARKET-BASED SOLUTIONS. Policy action to address climate change is likely to include market-based mechanisms, such as a cap-and-trade program or a carbon tax that attaches a cost to GHG emissions.Many companies are preparing for climate policy by engaging in stakeholder processes and building an expert base of policy knowledge. Other companies, however, are relying on limited sources of information or remain unengaged, and risk being unprepared for future climate regulations. Overall, the dynamic policy environment is difficult to navigate, and uncertainties continue to prevent effective longterm corporate planning and investment.

Moving forward, a complex set of transformations will be required to dramatically increase the efficiency of energy use, rapidly accelerate clean energy technology deployment, bridge the technology gap between today’s practices and tomorrow’s clean energy economy, and maximize the efficiency of the transportation system. Each of these transformations represents business risk and opportunity.However, while many companies recognize climate change is a business issue, corporate climate change goals and implementation strategies are not yet sufficient for achieving the scale of necessary GHG emission reductions.We need to forge a new definition of corporate leadership to build on the progress made to date and to adequately meet the scale and urgency of the climate challenge.

WRI Publications Feed: All

Emission Reductions Under The American Clean Energy and Security Act

Key Findings

Undisclosed Risk: Corporate Environmental and Social Reporting in Emerging Asia

At a Glance: Environmental Trends

Key Findings

Emerging Risks: Impacts of Key Environmental Trends in Emerging Asia

At a Glance: Environmental Trends and Risk Categories for Investors

Sustainable Procurement of Wood and Paper-Based Products: Version 1.1

Enabling Adaptation: Priorities for Supporting the Rural Poor in a Changing Climate

Key Investments to Enable Adaptation

Interactive Forest Atlas for Gabon (Atlas Forestier Interactif du Gabon)

On This Page/À Cette Page

Summary

Background

Products and Data

Recommendations

Résumé

Contexte

Produits et Données

Recommandations

Juice From Concentrate: Reducing Emissions with Concentrating Solar Thermal Power

A serious energy alternative

What is concentrating thermal power?

Sun blocks

A bright future

Key Findings

Mapping a Better Future: How Spatial Analysis Can Benefit Wetlands and Reduce Poverty in Uganda

Mapping a Better Future

Contents

Key Findings & Recommendations

Findings

Recommendations

Bottom Line on Regulating Greenhouse Gases Under The Clean Air Act

Additional References:

Acknowledgements

Sharpening The Cutting Edge: Corporate Action for a Strong, Low-Carbon Economy