Publications

Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the international community has sought to find a policy framework to address the threat of human-induced climate change. The most significant action to date has been the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in December 1997. Given Russia’s recent decision to ratify the protocol it is now...

Global climate change has been one of the most contentious issues in international negotiations since the 1980s. At the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro - popularly known as the Earth Summit - most countries of the world adopted the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)...

This paper provides an overview of the three Kyoto mechanisms?joint implementation, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), and international emissions trading. These mechanisms enable parties to the Kyoto Protocol with emissions limitation commitments for 2008 to 2012 (Annex B parties) to meet those commitments at lower cost. Projects under the CDM...

Industrialized countries have been astonishingly slow in providing incentives for their private sectors to invest in Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects or to buy certified emission reductions (CERs). On the other hand, capacity-building initiatives have been promoted extensively and have used almost 10 percent of the total funds invested in...

It is widely agreed that the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is a useful international instrument that encourages and reinforces the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), and also that it should be further promoted as a way to fill the gap in energy and GHG efficiency between industrialized and developing countries. A number of...

This paper examines the existing voluntary UK Emissions Trading Scheme (UKETS), which represents effectively a rather unusual “policy experiment”?the establishment of a voluntary greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme (with a significant subsidy element that effectively pays the polluter) designed to secure emissions reductions in line with Kyoto...

This paper provides an assessment of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) from a developing country’s perspective with specific reference to activities in India. The CDM has elicited considerable interest from various Indian industries. We analyze here the nature of initial CDM projects in India, sector preferences, scales, and possible...

This paper analyzes the role of some key technological options (i.e., fuel-switching and renewable energy technologies) available under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the power sector of three Asian countries?Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. A long-term electricity planning model is used with...

Impacts of climate change are likely to be severe in the Asia-Pacific region but adaptive capacity is weak in most countries and communities. As much of the adaptation is site-specific and has to be developed at the individual and community level, it is crucial to harness local knowledge in designing adaptation strategies. Focus group interviews...