Note by David Levy, Climate Inc. editor: I’m posting this introduction to a new book, Upsetting the Offset by my academic colleagues Steffen Böhm and Sidhartha Dabhi because it presents an important and well-argued series of critiques of the carbon markets. Some readers might find that they disagree with the analysis in the book, but [...]
By David L. Levy
The Financial Times reported some intriguing new McKinsey data this week on carbon mitigation costs across sectors and countries. The data indicate that there are substantial differences in costs, and predictably, that building efficiency, lighting, and HVAC are the low-hanging fruit available at negative cost. The implication is that US companies [...]
David L. O’Connor argued in the prior post, Carbon Offsets Reduce Compliance Costs, that offsets available under the proposed Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill in the US would help reduce the cost of carbon allowances by about 70%, on average, between 2012 and 2050. The Kerry-Boxer version that emerged out of the Senate in early October has [...]
Guest Contribution by David L. O’Connor, Senior Vice President for Energy and Clean Technology, ML Strategies. Reprinted by permission from original article.
In the emerging carbon economy‚ projects that reduce‚ eliminate‚ or sequester carbon emissions will have enormous value. An examination of climate change legislation recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives1 indicates how important [...]
by David L. Levy
The need to address climate change is going to transform entire industries, our infrastructure, and our lifestyles. But will this transformation be driven by wise policy, oil depletion, or a real climate crisis? Will it be a benign process that creates new jobs and technologies and leaves our societal structures intact, or [...]
by David L. Levy
Managing crises in complex systems
Just when the world was beginning to wake up to the climate change crisis, with a flood of new evidence on the accelerating meltdown of glaciers and polar ice caps, the financial crisis struck. Paul Gilding has termed this convergence of twin crises “The Great Disruption.” At first [...]
by David L. Levy
A managerial and behavioral lens on low-cost carbon reductions
I’m writing this response to Jürgen Weiss and Mark Sarro’s excellent guest contribution while looking out of my antiquated and rusting steel casement windows in Brookline, Mass. These single pane windows, which date to the1951 construction of the house, are wintertime energy hogs [...]
Why we should be skeptical about negative-cost carbon abatement
A guest contribution by Mark Sarro and Jurgen Weiss, Watermark Economics, LLC
Jürgen Weiss and Mark Sarro are the co-founders of Watermark Economics, a consulting firm specializing in international and regional climate economics, finance and policy with an emphasis on mathematical and economic modeling, forecasting methodologies, policy [...]
This is a guest contribution by Dr. Matthew Paterson, School for Political Science, University of Ottawa, Ontario. He is also co-editor, of the journal Global Environmental Politics.
David Levy raises many questions in his post Carbon Markets to Serve the Planet, on Krugman’s defence defence of cap-and-trade. I want to pick up on two [...]
by David L. Levy
This summer the Union of Concerned Scientists published Climate 2030: A Blueprint for a Clean Energy Economy. The UCS plan is designed to reduce US greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 26% below 2005 levels by 2020, and 56% by 2030, putting the country on target for an 80% reduction by 2050. These [...]
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