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| PUBLICATIONID : | 21969 | | PUBLICATIONTYPE : | 1 | | TYPE : | Article | | TITLE : | The British Climate Change Act: a critical evaluation and proposed alternative approach | | ORIG_TITLE : | The British Climate Change Act: a critical evaluation and proposed alternative approach | | AUTHOR : | Pielke, RA | | FIRST_AUTHOR : | Pielke, RA | | AUTHOR_COUNT : | 1 | | ADDRESS : | Univ Colorado, Ctr Sci & Technol Policy Res, Boulder, CO 80309 USA | | PUBLISHER : | IOP PUBLISHING LTD | | FIRSTAUTHOREMPLOYER : | 1 | | ABBREV_JOURNAL : | Environ. Res. Lett. | | ART_NO : | 24010 | | VOLUME : | 4 | | ISSUE : | 2 | | PUBLISH_DATE : | APR-JUN | | YEAR : | 2009 | | URL : | http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/admin/publication_files/2009.02.pdf | | REFEREED : | 1 | | RESOURCE : | WOS:000267991900011 | | CITATION : | 5 | | DEPT : | CSTPR | | LAST_UPDATED : | 2012-10-11 11:38:32 | | ISSN : | 1748-9326 | | IDS : | 470QD | | DOI : | 10.1088/1748-9326/4/2/024010 | | ABSTRACT : | This paper evaluates the United Kingdom's Climate Change Act of 2008 in terms of the implied rates of decarbonization of the UK economy for a short-term and a long-term target established in law. The paper uses the Kaya identity to structure the evaluation, employing both a bottom up approach (based on projections of future UK population, economic growth, and technology) and a top down approach (deriving implied rates of decarbonization consistent with the targets and various rates of projected economic growth). Both approaches indicate that the UK economy would have to achieve annual rates of decarbonization in excess of 4 or 5%. To place these numbers in context, the UK would have to achieve the 2006 carbon efficiency of France by about 2015, a level of effort comparable to the building of about 30 new nuclear power plants, displacing an equivalent amount of fossil energy. The paper argues that the magnitude of the task implied by the UK Climate Change Act strongly suggests that it is on course to fail, and discusses implications. | | KEYWORDS : | climate policy; decarbonization; United Kingdom; policy evaluation | | AREA : | Environmental Sciences & Ecology; Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences | | FIRST_AUTHOR_EMAIL : | pielke@colorado.edu | | PUBLICATION : | ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS | | PLACE : | BRISTOL | | LANGUAGE : | English | | SERIAL : | 21969 | | ONLINE_PUBLICATION : | no | | VERSION : | 1 | | FIRST_AUTHOR_ADDRESS : | Pielke, RA (reprint author), Univ Colorado, Ctr Sci & Technol Policy Res, 1333 Grandview Ave,UCB 488, Boulder, CO 80309 USA | | AUTHOR_OTHER_FORM : | Pielke, Roger A., Jr. | | REFERENCES_NUM : | 13 | | REFERENCE : | Akimoto K, 2008, CLIM POLICY, V8, pS46, DOI 10.3763/cpol.2007.0492; Anderson K, 2008, ENERG POLICY, V36, P3714, DOI 10.1016/j.enpol.2008.07.003; Baksi S, 2007, ENERG POLICY, V35, P6457, DOI 10.1016/j.enpol.2007.08.018; Committee on Climate Change, 2008, BUILD LOW CARB EC UK; Geller H, 2006, ENERG POLICY, V34, P556, DOI 10.1016/j.enpol.2005.11.010; HARRABIN R, 2009, BBC NEWS 0211; MARSH P, 2009, FINANCIAL TIMES 0209; MCGEE H, 2009, IRISH TIMES 0207; PILE B, 2009, SPIKED 0225; Waggoner PE, 2002, P NATL ACAD SCI USA, V99, P7860, DOI 10.1073/pnas.122235999; *NAT AUD OFF, 2008, UK GREENH GAS EM MEA; *NAT STAT ONL, 2007, NAT PROJ UK POP RIS; 2009, ECONOMIST 0124, P24 | | PUBLISHER_ADDRESS : | DIRAC HOUSE, TEMPLE BACK, BRISTOL BS1 6BE, ENGLAND | | COUNT : | 1 |
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