Alwyn Hopkins @Ahkns@qoto.org

@gkalinkat r/nature is pretty good and somewhat active, although not exactly academic

There was another massive development in EU #climate #policy last night, as the trilogue on the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) and Social Climate Fund (SCF) yielded provisional agreement.

Press release for the ETS agreement is here: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20221212IPR64527/climate-change-deal-on-a-more-ambitious-emissions-trading-system-ets , and the release regarding the SCF is here: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20221212IPR64528/deal-on-establishing-the-social-climate-fund-to-support-the-energy-transition .

Three key takeaways:

1. The phasing-out of Free Allocation under the ETS and phasing-in of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) will run from 2026-2034, with the SCF also starting in 2026.

2. The ETS will be extended (via "ETS II") to cover buildings and road transport by 2027. Coverage will also be extended to maritime transport (expected from 2024).

3. The SCF is now expected to yield €65bn in funding from the auctioning allowances, topped up with an additional 25% funded by EU member states. Meanwhile, the ETS "Innovation" and "Modernisation" Funds are also being extended.

However, for me the key hole is the lack of clarity on export carbon leakage measures. 2025 is a long time to wait to see if we can expect export rebates.... interested to hear thoughts from others.

#sustainability #carbon #incentives

For those of you who haven't seen - The European Parliament and European Council have finally reached a provisional agreement on the upcoming EU Carbon Border Adjustment (CBAM) carbon pricing legislation.

You can read their press release here:
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/pt/press-room/20221212IPR64509/deal-reached-on-new-carbon-leakage-instrument-to-raise-global-climate-ambition

Still awaiting many key facts, but there are three important new details to note:

1. The regime will apply from 1 October 2023, with a transition period (free allocation phase-out period yet to agreed)

2. The scope will be extended to hydrogen and some downstream products, while some indirect emissions will need to be reported

3. The European Commission will now be in charge of governance of the regime

#sustainability #carbon

Can anyone in my network recommend any good #environmental #economics literature which focuses on #nature and #biodiversity?

I'm particularly interested in the potential application of fiscal policy / pricing mechanisms to protection of animal populations, forests, and oceans.

To date, almost all of my knowledge on the topic is on regulatory policy (e.g. CITES/EU SDD etc) rather than fiscal.

@phdskat for sake of avoiding misunderstanding, I am not suggesting we do not apply a progressive carbon price / levy - quite the opposite - we need a significant, supported, carbon price (although the rate does need to reflect diversity of MAC - recommend Aviel Verbruggen's excellent "Pricing carbon emissions" for more on that).

What I'm referencing here instead is a way of compensating groups of the population less able to respond to carbon-cost driven price inflation by applying "at checkout" (effectively consumption-adjusted) mechanisms rather than via flat payments.

You could also do something with personal income tax rebates/credits as you suggest, but this realistically couldn't be effectively linked to the actual impact of carbon price-driven inflationary pressures experienced, because most income taxes have no linkage to individual spend on goods and services.

@phdskat you could theoretically do something really clever with sales taxes/VAT to resolve this issue, i.e. provide differential sales tax rates/applicability based upon some specified criteria to manage consumer cost burdens.

The problem is technological, as most digital tax systems currently not up to the challenge of effectively differentiating by consumer.

I believe my team has written something on the previously, will see if I can dig it out if of interest.

@MerylBatchelder while loss and damage fund agreement is a positive step, I am still somewhat numb to it as we have not yet had the formation of the transitional committee to define its funding value and sources.

We will therefore need to withhold judgement until their report at COP28 - many will be arguing the can is being kicked too far down the road...

Another policy toot - this time only to recommend the excellent COP27 summary article posted by @euractiv_green here: https://www.euractiv.com/section/climate-environment/news/what-was-decided-at-the-cop27-climate-talks/

It is a painful but important read, and shows how far we have to go before we get anything close to a harmonised approach on #climate . This impression is amplified by the reports that the host nation was making major deals for fossil fuel supply on the sidelines of the summit.

#cop27 #sustainability

Some unfiltered, personal musings on what the UK #autumnstatement2022 means for the #climate , now I've had time to dwell. Bit of a long one, so apologies.

EVs: All auto industry momentum at the moment is behind battery electric. However, the energy transition we need isn't possible at the size and scale possible with full-EV alone. From what I can see, hydrogen vehicles, one of the alternatives, are less impacted by the taxes proposed (seemingly not incl. in the amended vehicle excise duty). While there are some serious headwinds to come in the hydrogen industry (leakage issues likely a future hot topic https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/22/9349/2022/acp-22-9349-2022.html), it will be interesting to see if the new policy messaging on EVs has any impact on moving investment (particularly on charging/refueling infrastructure) between technologies.

Electricity Generator Levy: What message does it send to investors in UK green infrastructure if the UK Gov shows keenness to -through policy - retrospectively affect the commercials of renewables projects on existing regulator implemented contracts (i.e. non-CfD generators)? Does this erode trust? Or is it a necessary action to push renewables contracts towards more favourable models?

Carbon leakage: we were promised in the spring a consultation this year on carbon leakage measures (e.g. a CBAM) for the UK. Still no sign of it...

Interested to hear thoughts. #sustainability #NetZero

@petergleick A great read, and I completely agree we need to focus on adaptation as well as mitigation.

It inspires two questions for me:

1. Will more policymakers follow the EU's footsteps in applying revenue generating fiscal policy to redirect funds to places where they are needed most (e.g. under EU CBAM proposals), or will they continue to look inwardly (e.g. EU SCF)?
2. How can we better use a citizen science projects such as Zooniverse to close the data and analytics gaps you mention, crowdsourcing some of the response?

@jon Agreed. To use a cliche saying, we can't let perfect get in the way of good.

A big focus for me at the moment is behavioural mechanisms to convert air travel for business to digital, but also where physical travel is required, converting it from air to rail.

If you're interested in decision-making on transport. I can recommend Pete Dyson and Rory Sutherland's book "Transport for Humans". It's awesome (also Pete and Rory are both lovely people).

@tommulherin welcome! I must say, you and I seem somewhat aligned. I am also a Fulham fan and jazz musician - albeit not an effective philosopher.

@philipsheppard very much enjoyed this. Particularly the polyrhythm (or pseudo-polyrhythm?) underlying the initial piano part. Thanks for sharing!

I posted a LinkedIn article on #sustainability #policy today, which is a bit more "out there" than my usual pieces. I'd be interested to hear the thoughts of the smart people on Mastodon: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/alwynhopkins_edenproject-anthropy-sustainability-activity-6996099669579735040-SQbL #NetZero

@philipsheppard Welcome! I'm an amateur jazz guitarist by night. Hoping to find some smart, kind people with whom I can discuss music as well as stuff from the day job.

@petergleick Conscious you've likely seen it already, but this research on the Greenland ice sheets from last year really drilled it home for me: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-022-01441-2#article-info