6 - Ecological Environment Flashcards

1
Q

what do you have to know from this lecture?

A
  • understand some climate change theory
  • cause and effects of climate change on business
  • explore the economic costs of (non)-mitigation of climate change
  • two potential economic policy solutions
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2
Q

what does GHG mean?

A

greenhouse gas

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3
Q

what is a GHG sources?

A

any activity or process that emits a greenhouse gas into the atmospheren

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4
Q

what is a GHG sink?

A

somewhere in which GHG are stored for a long period of time

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5
Q

what have we done in terms of sinks and sources?

A

we have accelerated the process in which the earth releases and absorbs
takes co2 hundreds of years to break down

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6
Q

how long has the atmospheric sink been filling?

A

since industrial revolution (1750)

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7
Q

how much higher is the concentration of GHG since pre industrial levels:

A

40%

largely carbon dioxide

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8
Q

how longs do GHGs stay in sinks and why is this a problem?

A

100s of years

no technology in which can remove ‘pull plug’ hence the rise in climate change

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9
Q

what does GtCO2?

A

giga tonnes of co2

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10
Q

when was the tragedy of the commons written and by who?

A

Hardin 1968

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11
Q

what is the tragedy of the commons about?

A

that common land can be used by everyone and therefore will eventually be destroyed causing extra externalities

idea that its use is individually rational but wholly destructive

Antractica treaty

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12
Q

what did elinor ostrom say about the tragedy of the commons?

A

reviewed hardens book
won nobel prize
she stated that there are various ways in which common land can be managed without the need for government intervention
believed there was a way of doing business through a network/community
people will work together whilst using rational aims that help everyone
(swiss alps farmers organise land to their mutual benefit 1517)

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13
Q

what is the overall trend of global emissions?

A

they have been rising from 1751 up to the present

in line with industrial revolution

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14
Q

what is the biggest contributor of emissions?

A

electricity and heat production - 25%

agriculture and other land use - 24%

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15
Q

how much worst is nitrous oxide for global warming than c02?

A

300 times

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16
Q

what % of emissions is made up of co2?

A

82%

2012

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17
Q

what % of co2 is emitted by china?

A

29.1%

2015

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18
Q

what % of GHG emissions apply to china and USA?

A

45%

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19
Q

what did trump do in 2012?

A

tweeted that global warming was a concept created by the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non competitive

worrying as it received over 60,000 likes meaning that some of the population may agree, despite much scientific evidence

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20
Q

how much did fossil fuel co2 emissions rise by between 2004 and 2013?

A

2.3%

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21
Q

how much has sea level risen by according to the university of colorado? 2018

A

8 inches higher since 1880

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22
Q

if the temp rises by 2 degrees what will happen?

university of colorado

A

sea level will rise by 6 feet
lose 440,000 square miles of land
375 million of people live

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23
Q

who is most at risk from the 2 degree temp rise?

uni of colorado

A

china, bangladesh and vietnam

low lying land

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24
Q

what % of species are extinct due to global warming?

25
what % of artic ice has already melted?
70%
26
in 2100 how much higher will sea levels be?
14-48 inches
27
how much have polar temperatures risen by?
5 degrees over last 100 years
28
what is significant about the last five years?
they have been the hottest on record
29
what did trump say during his presidential campaign?
that he plans on eliminating the EPA
30
how much ice does being a meat eater for a year melt?
5 cubic metres
31
what did McKinsey find in 2013? economic costs of climate change
did a study looking at how much it would cost to stop climate change found that its would cost only 1% of GDP a cost that companies are still unwilling to do due to the fact that industries are short term thinkers
32
what is the difference between 1.5 vs 2 degree temp rise?
if it was to only rise by 1.5 degrees there would be a 20 trillion saving by 2100 (Burke et al)
33
what does 1 degree of warming cost?
1.2 percent of GDP
34
what has the head of AXA said in regards to climate change
global temp rise would not be 'insurable'
35
what is happening to solar power?
the cost is decreasing each year to not much different from coal, meaning that it is just as good to use solar power
36
what is cap and trade?
a form of carbon trading the EU ETS is an example of this
37
how does cap and trade work?
polluters hold permits equal to their emissions | polluters that was to increase emissions must buy permits from others willing o sell them
38
how much carbon can be identified as owned by large polluters?
15% the rest from small contributors altogether, may only use a couple credit each but as one they cause most
39
what is the tax and dividend carbon pricing?
a fee is levied on fuels at the point of entry to a country (when it arrives) based upon the carbon content bsuinesses are then paying more company but this is mitigated by redistributing it to citizens, idea is that the dividends would offset the increases in cost that polluters have to charge you leads polluters products to become more expensive penalises polluters and opt them to use low carbon energy
40
what is the biggest change to climate change that could happen?
tax and dividends in that they will start to vote and think differently
41
although nature has an economic value what is it missing in terms of representing its central role in the economy?
it is not represented in the pricing system such as putting a price on air because of this humans view natural resources as free and there is an incentive to overuse them
42
why does price of carbon make sense?
incentivises a shft ti low carbon technologies and lets the market decide which ones will generate biggest enviro bang for buck
43
the did carbon pricing start?
1990s in scandinavia
44
how manny countries have carbon tax or cap and trade?
world ban says 42
45
when doesn't can pricing work well?
for transportation which is 14% of worlds emissions found that drivers are usually unrepresonsive to changes in petrol tax price elastic
46
what happened between 2015 and 1016
EU emissions declined by 0.7% due to EU getting stricter on permits after the fininacial crisis as countries had too may permits
47
why have EU redesigned carbon pricing system?
found significant flaws e.g. ignorance set to start in 2021 - tighten emission limits - reduce handouts - pull eases permits off the market california also looking at this
48
what do china do?
inter nation carbon trade bigger than EU implementation on 2017 to fix their growing problems related to air pollution
49
what has carbon racing down?
- accustomed powerful economic players to the notion that they will have to integrate decarbonisation int their speeding decisions - provided the actors with incentive to look for new technology to lower emissions
50
what does trump wish to do?
get rid of the EPA environmental protection agency
51
how much could US save in heat related deaths?
141 bullion vs 59 billion
52
what did elon musk do in 2017?
left the presidential advisory board in retaliation to trump leaving paris agreement
53
what has unilever done?
the company repsosbible for dove to magnum pledged that it would use 100% renewable resources between 2008 and 2016 they reduced carbon emissions by 43%
54
why are businesses starting to change their ways, even if they haven't been affected yet?
due to globalisation and the idea of the supply chain one disaster caused by climate change may affect them e.g. japan eathqaueks in 2016 destroyed toyota plant meaning they had to suspend production meaning that their supply chain all over the world was distributed
55
WHAT percent of ghg is carbon?
EPA stated that 65% of all ghg is carbon
56
reference by susie goldenberg 2013
US environmental correspondent stated that just 90 companies caused two thirds of the man made global warming emissions form 1751 to 2010 all but 7 were energy producing countries
57
how have british columbia done the carbon tax?
rose tax from 10 dollars 2008 to 30 dollars 2012 per tonne of carbon reduced emission by 5-15% it made feel more expensive but said that it meant people had more incentive to not drive eduardo porter 2016 The New York Times
58
what the difference between cap and trade and cap and dividend?
n the cap and dividend policy, every company will have to buy a carbon permit and this differs from the cap and trade policy because there will be no permits given away for free (Boyce, James K 2009
59
why do a lot of people dislike the cap and dividend policy?
it only benefits the poor due to their living situations, whereas rich people who can afford the price without dividends aren't given any incentive house of representatives US 2009 - 2010