Pathways Towards Lower Emissions

This book presents a series of case studies exploring the innovation policies that various countries have introduced in a bid to enhance low carbon emission activities. They demonstrate the extent to which external events and institutional constraints from the international polity influence national innovation strategies.

This FAO report presents a comprehensive global assessment of greenhouse gas emissions from livestock systems, utilizing FAO’s Global Livestock Environmental Assessment Model (GLEAM) based on the most recent available data. GLEAM also considers indirect emissions from upstream activities, such as feed and other inputs, and part of the downstream processes including post-farm transport, processing and packaging of raw products. Drawing from an extensive literature review, this publication illustrates pathways towards lower emissions through a set of interventions on both the supply and the demand sides of animal production.

Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States provides a "legal playbook" for deep decarbonization in the United States, identifying well over 1,000 legal options for enabling the United States to address one of the greatest problems facing this country and the rest of humanity. The book is based on two reports by the Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project (DDPP) that explain technical and policy pathways for reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% from 1990 levels by 2050. This 80x50 target and similarly aggressive carbon abatement goals are often referred to as deep decarbonization, distinguished because it requires systemic changes to the energy economy. Legal Pathways explains the DDPP reports and then addresses in detail 35 different topics in as many chapters. These 35 chapters cover energy efficiency, conservation, and fuel switching; electricity decarbonization; fuel decarbonization; carbon capture and negative emissions; non-carbon dioxide climate pollutants; and a variety of cross-cutting issues. The legal options involve federal, state, and local law, as well as private governance. Authors were asked to include all options, even if they do not now seem politically realistic or likely, giving Legal Pathways not just immediate value, but also value over time. While both the scale and complexity of deep decarbonization are enormous, this book has a simple message: deep decarbonization is achievable in the United States using laws that exist or could be enacted. These legal tools can be used with significant economic, social, environmental, and national security benefits. Book Reviews "A growing chorus of Americans understand that climate change is the biggest public health, economic, and national security challenge our families have ever faced and they rightly ask, ''What can anyone do?'' Well, this book makes that answer very clear: we can do a lot as individuals, businesses, communities, cities, states, and the federal government to fight climate change. The legal pathways are many and the barriers are not insurmountable. In short, the time is now to dig deep and decarbonize." --Gina McCarthy, Former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator "Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States sets forth over 1,000 solutions for federal, state, local, and private actors to tackle climate change. This book also makes the math for Congress clear: with hundreds of policy options and 12 years to stop the worst impacts of climate change, now is the time to find a path forward." --Sheldon Whitehouse, U.S. Senator, Rhode Island "This superb work comes at a critical time in the history of our planet. As we increasingly face the threat and reality of climate change and its inevitable impact on our most vulnerable populations, this book provides the best and most current thinking on viable options for the future to address and ameliorate a vexing, worldwide challenge of extraordinary magnitude. Michael Gerrard and John Dernbach are two of the most distinguished academicians in the country on these issues, and they have assembled leading scholars and practitioners to provide a possible path forward. With 35 chapters and over 1,000 legal options, the book is like a menu of offerings for public consumption, showing that real actions can be taken, now and in the future, to achieve deep decarbonization. I recommend the book highly." --John C. Cruden, Past Assistant Attorney General, Environment and Natural Resources Division, U.S. Department of Justice "This book proves that we already know what to do about climate change, if only we had the will to do it. The path to decarbonization depends as much on removing legal impediments and changing outdated incentive systems as it does on imposing new regulations. There are ideas here for every sector of the economy, for every level of government, and for business and nongovernmental organizations, too, all of which should be on the table for any serious country facing the most serious of challenges. By giving us a sense of the possible, Gerrard and Dernbach and their fine authors seem to be saying two things: (1) do something; and (2) it''s possible. What a timely message, and what a great collection." --Jody Freeman, Archibald Cox Professor of Law and Founding Director of the Harvard Law School Environmental and Energy Law Program

The focus of this edited volume is to identify challenges facing organizations in achieving zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and a new energy economy, and to explore solutions from various sectors of the economy to enable the transition to a zero emissions future. Research presented here is divided into three parts, with an introductory statement on growth and sustainability. Part one discusses strategies towards a sustainable economy under a zero emissions goal. Part two contains industry specific case studies focusing on construction and related activities. Part three is devoted to country specific case studies from the Asia-Pacific region. Each of the chapters address one or more of the following issues: restoration, mitigation, adaptation and/or promoting resilience in the face of climate change as part of achieving a sustainable economy. The volume is multi-disciplinary in nature, drawing on various disciplines in social science, business, environment and policy, and will be of interest to UN development agencies, academic institutions, government policy makers, NGOs and business leaders.

This report speaks to the multiple benefits – economic, health, security, social and environmental – that such an economic model can bring to humanity. An inclusive green economy sees growth in income and employment from investments that reduce carbon emissions and pollution. The IGE Narrative expands and deepens substantially the focus of UNEP's earlier work on green economy.

This book explores ways in which India can negotiate the low carbon path up until 2030, when it is expected to be the largest economy after the US and China. It comprehensively reviews the low climate pathways for India and provides a guide to the pathways that the country can adopt. India’s population, energy demands and emissions will increase significantly, and the challenge is to restrict its CO2 emissions and walk the low carbon path. Through its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), India has pledged to reduce its emissions significantly. Addressing the question of which low carbon paths India can adhere to without compromising its growth, the book identifies the key factors that feed into existing models of climate change and discusses the cost of action versus inaction. It also examines key issues concerning India’s environment through the lens of the transport, industry and water sectors. The book concludes by looking at policy implications for low carbon growth in India.

The science is clear: climate change is a fact and the probability is extremely high that it has been caused by humans. At the same time, policy responses are hesitant, rather lukewarm and differ substantially between nation-states. The question is, what drives and what blocks radical action? This book makes the case that institutional settings, path dependence and emerging change coalitions are critical in explaining climate policies across the global political economy. Technological and social-political innovations are key drivers for dealing with climate change. This class of innovation is very much guided, or suppressed, by a national economy's established institutional settings. By anchoring national case studies in a version of the well established ‘varieties of capitalism’ approach, the chapters of this book show why some economies are policy leaders and others become policy followers, or even policy interlockers. Moreover, the case studies demonstrate the extent to which external events and institutional constraints from the international polity influence national innovation strategies. Taking a unique analytical approach, which combines insights from innovation policies and a variety of capitalism literature, the authors provide genuine comprehension of the interplay between institutional settings, political actors and climate policies. National Pathways to Low Carbon Emission Economies offers a valuable examination of these issues on climate change that will be of interest to academics and postgraduates researching climate policy, economic policy and social movements. Furthermore, it is relevant for policy analysts and policy makers who are interested in learning from climate policies in the context of innovation strategies for a range of countries.

Available online: https://pub.norden.org/temanord2022-530/ Globally, the opportunity to use COVID-19 fiscal rescue and recovery spending to accelerate the low-carbon transition has largely been missed so far: the share of low-carbon fiscal spending ranges between 0.5%–2.5% in studies considering both rescue and recovery spending and 18%–30% for studies considering recovery spending alone. This report analyses the potential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated rescue and recovery packages on greenhouse gas emissions to 2030, focusing on three main aspects: 1) What happened to activities and greenhouse gas emissions in 2020, and what are the preliminary estimates for 2021? 2) How did the 2020 and 2021 emissions changes affect pathways through to 2030? 3) What is the expected impact of fiscal recovery packages on emissions through to 2030?