Publications

Skip Navigation Links.
Recently Published
Collapse per documenttypeper documenttype
Expand per Unitper Unit
Expand per Clusterper Cluster

Search for publications:


Limit search to the fields

ECN publication
Title:
A technology approach to CO2 emission reduction objectives
 
Author(s):
 
Published by: Publication date:
ECN Policy Studies 1996
 
ECN report number: Document type:
ECN-RX--96-056 Other
 
Number of pages: Full text:
31 Download PDF  

Abstract:
At the first meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP-1) under theFCCC, the Annex 1 countries were called to set quantified emission limitation and reduction objectives (QELROs) for greenhouse gases within specified time-frames. Several kinds of QELROs, based on different concepts, have been suggested for the period after the year 2000. The suggested QELROs range from those expressed in terms of emission levels to be achieved in a specific year to those which relate to efficiency improvement objectives. For policymakers it is not an easy task to decide which concept for a QELRO is preferable, which level of emission reduction should be aimed at, which time-frame should be considered and which level of differentiation between countries is appropriate. For their decisions on QELROs, policymakers consider if the consequences are justly distributed over countries and if the required policies are feasible to implement. Many studies have been performed to estimate the cost of CO2 emission abatement for a country. Such studies can provide key information to climate agreement negotiators. The studies have shown that countries differ substantially in their capabilities to limit future CO2 emissions. A few international programmes have tried to perform comparable CO2 abatement studies for different countries. The results from those studies can be used for the discussion on QELROs as they can provide quantitative estimates of the consequences of different QELROs. In this paper an illustration is given, drawing upon the results of the IEA-ETSAP study. The objectives of this paper are twofold: (1) to critically discuss the relevance of national technology based models for the QELRO discussion; and (2) to present and discuss the consequences of 3 different QELROs for 6 countries and for 3 time horizons, as extracted from the illustrative example. 4 figs., 7 tabs., 1 appendix, 6 refs.


Back to List