代写Traditional attitudes to the environment
100%原创包过,高质代写&免费提供Turnitin报告--24小时客服QQ&微信：120591129
代写Traditional attitudes to the environment
THE ENVIRONMENT
•Traditional attitudes to the environment
•Business’s traditional attitude toward the environment is one that has foundations in both christian and classical traditions
•The story of creation in Genesis places man in a special position with respect to the rest of creation
–Singer “The Environment”(voyager online)
•Genesis
•And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth over the earth......
And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
•Aristotle
•According to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, nature is a hierarchy in which those organisms with less reasoning ability exist for the sake of those with more
–“Plants exist for the sake of animals, and brute beasts for the sake of man - domestic animals for his use and food, wild ones (or at any rate most of them) for food and other accessories of life, such as clothing and various tools. Since nature makes nothing purposeless or in vain, it is undeniably true that she has made all animals for the sake of man.”
•Traditional views (cont)
•These views of nature are unlikely to become subject to criticism in a world with a small human population, that is non-industrialised and contains vast tracts of wilderness.
–The English philosopher John Locke for example, argues that man can take from nature to the extent that “enough and as good is left for others.” This position could only be held at a time when human impact on the environment was minimal.
•The contemporary situation
•Today man’s impact on the environment is a matter of almost universal concern
–Huge human population
–The technological means of shaping and changing the environment in significant ways
•Impact on the environment
•changing the course of large rivers by damming
•controlling pests with crop dusters
•the production of chemical propellents that damage the ozone layer
•changing the physical environment with mining projects
•using the Amazonian rain forests for their timber resources (and so diminishing the quantity of oxygen producing foliage)
•The Tragedy of the Commons
•According to Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand argument society as a whole will be better off if individuals are free to pursue their own self interest.
•However there are some circumstances where the pursuit of individual self interest does not contribute to the common good but rather to making everyone worse off.
This phenomenon is often referred to as “the tragedy of the commons”
•The tragedy of the commons (cont)
•The common is a piece of land where all are entitled to pasture their animals. It is in the interest of each to allow his animals to graze without limit on this public land. But if all allow their animals to graze without limit the common will soon be overgrazed and of no use to anyone. This is the tragedy of the commons.
•Arrow discusses this problem when he looks at the problem of externalities.
–The case of companies that produce harmful pollutants where the harm produced by those pollutants is not factored into the price.
•Lack of consensus
•The first difficulty in formulating environmental protection policies is one of deciding what standards are to be enforced
–there is often little consensus within communities concerning the environmental standards that are appropriate.
–Retaining wilderness areas is desirable but what if the cost of retaining those areas is higher unemployment?
–Should we use nuclear energy rather than continue to burn fossil fuels?
•Future generations
•Do we have an obligation to preserve the environment for future generations?
–Do generations as yet unborn have a moral claim upon us? Or is it acceptable to leave future generations to look after themselves?
•Future Generations
•Why should we consider future generations in respect of our utilisation of natural resources?
•As stated earlier there are those who believe that it is not necessary to consider the welfare of future generations.
•What would justify this response?
•It is argued that knowledge and technology will have increased and so future generations may have solutions to problems that we have no answers to.
–the problem of the ozone layer
–the safe disposal of nuclear wastes
•But we have no assurance that future generations will have the answers that we lack and so we are not justified in creating problems for our yet unborn descendants.
•What is ecologically sustainable development?
–In 1987 The World Commission on Environment and Development issued a report - the Brundtland Report - which launched into popular consciousness the concept of “ecologically sustainable development.”
–According to the Report ecologically sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
–Ecologically sustainable development attempts to integrate economic, social and ecological criteria. It tries to give proper weighting to the requirements of future generations while paying attention to the demands of equity for those living now.
•Brundtland and Federal Environmental Policy
•the Australian Federal Government has been heavily influenced by Brundtland.
•The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 provides the framework for a systematic national approach to environmental management, and for the first time clearly defines the Commonwealth’s role
–http://www.fed.gov.au
•Objectives of the Act (sec 3)
–To provide for the protection of the environment, especially those aspects of the environment that are matters of national environmental significance
–To promote ecologically sustainable development through the conservation and ecologically sustainable use of natural resources
–To promote the conservation of biodiversity
–To promote a co-operative approach to the protection and management of the environment involving governments, the community, land-holders and indigenous people
–To assist in the co-operative implementation of Australia’s international environmental responsibilities
–To recognise the role of indigenous people in the conservation and ecologically sustainable use of Australia’s biodiversity
–To promote the use of indigenous peoples’ knowledge of biodiversity with the involvement of and in co-operation with, the owners of the knowledge
•Principles of ecologically sustainable development (sect3A)
•Decision-making processes should effectively integrate both long-term and short-term economic, environmental, social and equitable consideration
•If there are threats of serious or irreversible environmental damage, lack of full scientific certainly should not be used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent environmental degradation
•The principle of intergenerational equity – that the present generation should ensure that the health, diversity and productivity of the environment is maintained or enhanced for the benefit of future generations
•The conservation of biological diversity and ecological integrity should be a fundamental consideration in decision-making
•Improved valuation, pricing and incentive mechanisms should be promoted
•The Kyoto Protocol
•The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty the aim of which is agreement among developed countries to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
•Australia’s Kyoto Protocol target is to limit growth in greenhouse gas emissions to 8% above the 1990 ( baseline) level by 2008-2012.
•Sources to be counted in that 1990 baseline level are all emissions from the energy, agricultural, waste and industrial processes sectors
代写Traditional attitudes to the environment
•How could Australia achieve its targets?
–A source is something that adds carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to the atmosphere eg burning fossil fuels or land clearing
–A sink is something that removes or stores carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, for example growing vegetation
–Both sources and sinks are taken into account when calculating whether a country has achieved its target
•A source counts negatively
•A sink counts positively
–In Australia land clearing contributes to a substantial proportion of Australia’s emissions
•Achieving the target (cont)
–Australia’s interpretation of the Protocol is that carbon absorbed by tree planting activities since 1990 on land not previously covered by forest (including both new commercial plantations and programmes such as Bushcare and Landcare) can be taken into account when meeting Australia’s Protocol target
–Australian citizens can obtain significant taxation deductions by investing in afforestation projects
•Buying a few acres of Bluegums in Tasmania
–Here we have an example of the use of tax incentives to achieve environmental objectives
•
•BUT….
•In 2001 George Bush announced that the United States would not ratify the Protocol because it does not bind developing nations and so US industry will be put at a competitive disadvantage
•John Howard subsequently announced that if the US did not ratify the protocol then neither would Australia.
•The Howard Government’s position on Kyoto
•Climate change is important and must be tackled in a way that is fair and economically efficient encompassing all major global greenhouse gas emitters.
•The Kyoto Protocol does not at this time provide an effective framework. It will make only a modest contribution – around 1% – to reducing the growth of global emissions. They need to be reduced by at least 50% by the end of the century.
•The Kyoto protocol does not involve developing countries which are responsible for the bulk of greenhouse emissions.
•Carbon dioxide emissions for the top 40 countries by total emissions in 2013, given as totals and per capita. Data from EU Edgar database
•The Howard Government’s position on Kyoto (cont)
–The Howard Government took the decision not to ratify the Kyoto Protocol because under present arrangements, (where both developing countries and the United States will not be participating) it is not in the national interest to do so.
–The HowardGovernment argued that if Australia were to abandon our long expressed and clearly articulated requirement for a more comprehensive global response it would send a signal to investors that Australia was prepared to expose itself to binding legal commitments that could in the future impose costs not faced by neighbouring regional economies.
•The Rudd Government
•After the refusal of the Howard government’s to ratify Kyoto history moved on.
•We experienced one of the worst droughts in Australian history
•There were water shortages everywhere including the capital cities leading to severe restrictions
•Al Gore’s movie
•In 2007 Kevin Rudd was elected Prime minister and signed the Kyoto Protocol
•Pascal’s Wager
•
God exists God does not exist
•
•
•
•Wager God exists huge positive small negative
•
•Wager God does not exist huge negative small positive
•
•Pascal and Global warming
–Pascal argued that it was rational to run your life as though God existed even in the absence of total certainty because of the pay off matrix.
–A similar argument can be mounted for running things as though global warming is occurring even in the absence of total certainly
–This is the starting point of both the Stern and Garnaut reports
•Stern Report
•Produced by Lord Nicholas Stern head of the Government Economic Service
•Commissioned by the British Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer
•Released in October 2006
•The science
•If no action is taken to reduce emissions the concentration of greenhouse gasses will be double that of pre-industrial levels by 2035.
•There will be at least a 2 degree temperature rise and possible a 5 degree temperature (same as from the ice age till today
•All countries will be effected by climate change - extreme weather – droughts, floods and storms
•Recommendations
•Climate change demands an international response based on
–Shared understanding of long-term goals
–Agreement on framework for action
•Cutting emissions
•Options exist to cut emissions
•Strong ,deliberate policy action is required to motivate their takeup
–Cut emissions through energy efficiency
–Expand the use of renewable energy
–Develop and utilize carbon capture and storage techniques
•Recommendations for international frameworks
•Emissions trading schemes
•Technology cooperation
•Action to reduce deforestation
•Aid for development within climate change agenda (eg drought resistant crops)
•Global Warming
代写Traditional attitudes to the environment
•Prior to the 2007 federal Labour comissioned its own (Stern )report climate change by leading trade economist Ross Garnaut
•The interim report was issued in February 2008
•The final report will be issued in June
•Garnaut Report on Climate Change
•
•The Australian “Stern Report”
•Ross Garnaut is an eminent trade economist
•Report commissioned by the then leader of the opposition Kevin Rudd in 2007
•Final report released June 2008
•Structure of the Garnaut Report
•The science behind climate change
•Comparison of the costs of action and inaction
•Acting to mitigate climate change
–Within the international context
–Within Australia
•Climate Science
–Report relies heavily on the Intergovernmental panel on climate change(IPCC) fourth assessment report (2007)
–The report acknowledges that scientific opinions on climate may differ but that the majority informed educated scientific opinion is that climate change is with us
–This opinion is that there is increased greenhouse gas concentration and consequent increase in global temperature
•Climate Science
•Those who agree that there is climate change differ with respect to how much they believe is man-made
•However this does not change the case for action since the man-made portion may be what tips us over the brink (Pascal’s wager again)
•International mitigation strategy
•Climate change can only be addressed by effective global action
•To be effective there will need to be broad international agreement requiring acceptance of
–Global limits on emissions
–Sharing of rights to emissions across countries within these limits
–International collaboration to help achieve these national restrictions
•Domestic Mitigation strategy
•Price on emission (carbon price)
•Government funding of innovation and R&D
•Address market failure in end-use of energy – subsidise education to reduce demand for energy
•Government funding of energy infrastructure upgrades
•Garnaut on Emissions trading
•Distinction between business that can pass on price increase without damaging competitive position and those that cannot
•In the case of the domestic energy sector customers will have to pay more
•Trade exposed emissions intensive industries will need exemption until there is an acceptable international scheme in place
•The legislation
•On December 15 2008 the Rudd government issued the CPRS (Carbon pollution Reduction Scheme) White Paper
•The targets set were heavily criticized from both
–the left – for not doing enough to protect the environment
–The right (eg the Minerals Council of Australia) for destroying Australian industry
–Ross Garnaut (author of the report)
•
•Deferral of the CPRS
.
• On 2 May 2009 the government announced that it would defer the introduction of mandatory obligations under the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme until 1 July 2011 to allow the economy more time to recover from the impacts of the Global Financial Crisis.
• At the same time the Government maintained its committment to passage of the Scheme legislation in mid-2009, while balancing the need for business to have more time to prepare for the significant reductions in carbon pollution that will be required.
•Copenhagen
•At the end of 2009 the then Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd went to Copenhagen in expectation (hope) that the nations of the world would reach a consensus in regard to the need for reducing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions.
•A consensus was not achieved.
–China and India refused to agree to enforceable targets
–The United States refused to be bound by anything not binding China and India. The US argued that if China and India did not participate any action would be ineffective and only serve to disadvantage US businesses.
•
•The SAGA of the CPRS
•The failed efforts of the Rudd government to introduce measures to protect the environment illustrate all the very real problems involved in regulating business within a globalised economy.
•In early 2010 the introduction of the CPRS was put on the backburner till 2013
•The failed efforts of the Rudd government to introduce measures to protect the environment illustrate all the very real problems involved in regulating business within a globalised economy.
•The Saga Continues
•In the run up to the election Julia Gillard replaced Rudd and won the 2010 election
•The Gillard government has set up a committee to look at a Carbon tax and compare it to the CPRS
–This is cross party committee which includes a scientist and Ross Garnaut.
•
•Carbon Tax
•The two leading strategies for reducing greenhouse gases discussed in the literature are cap and trade schemes and carbon tax schemes.
•Australia’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme is an example of the former, that is a cap-and trade scheme.
•The critical difference between the two schemes is that cap-and –trade directly controls the quantity of emissions, while carbon taxes directly control their price.
•
•Advantages of Cap and Trade
•The principle advantage of cap and trade schemes is that they place an absolute limit on the production of greenhouse gases.
•The second and highly significant advantage is that they are preferred by voters, and therefore governments because they do not introduce any new taxation.
•Disadvantages of Cap and Trade
•cap-and trade schemes invite cheating.
–For example if a company fraudulently understates its energy production and emissions so it can sell its permits for some of them, the buyer on the other side of the transaction has no incentive to reveal the fraud.
–Another, and significant potential form of cheating is for corrupt governments to distribute their permits in ways that favour their supporters and understate their actual energy use and emissions. By doing so they can “earn” billions of dollars in hard foreign currencies trading “excess” permits, and in the process will also undermine the program’s environmental goals.
•Advantages of Carbon tax
•A carbon tax scheme provides high positive incentives to develop and adopt climate-friendly technologies and strategies for example cleaner fuels and energy efficient technologies.
•Second the mechanism for imposing and collecting the new carbon tax already exists whereas the introduction of a cap and trade scheme would require new bureaucratic mechanisms to issue emission permits and then monitor energy production at sites before and after permits are traded.
•
•Clean Energy Bill 2011
•the Clean Energy Bill - Australia’s controversial carbon tax bill – was passed by in the Legislative Assembly by 74 to 72 on Wednesday, 12 October 2011 and was passed by the Senate and became law in November 2011
•It became operative on July 1 2012
•The Opposition committed to recinding it if elected in 2013.
•Repeal of the Carbon Tax
•On Saturday 7 September the Coalition was elected.
•On 17 July 2014 the Carbon Tax was repealed (ie terminated) as of 1 July 2014
•This repeal was an election promise
•Direct Action on Climate Change
•October 2014 the Emission Reductions Fund Bill (Direct Action Legislation)is passed
•The Emissions Reduction Fund, will cost $3 billion over four years.
•The fund will call for businesses to submit tenders for projects that will either lower emissions or offset them.
•It will operate as a reverse auction, where businesses compete and undercut each other to win a contract and with it, the Government's money.
•Auctions will be run by the Clean Energy Regulator and are set to begin in the second half of 2014. They will take place quarterly.
•The Government says the scheme will ensure a reduction of emissions for the best possible price.
•
•US China Agreement to reduce emissions
•November 2014 -The United States and China unveil a secretly negotiated deal to reduce their greenhouse gas output, with China agreeing to cap emissions for the first time and the US committing to deep reductions by 2025.
•China, the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, has agreed to cap its output by 2030 or earlier if possible. Previously China had only ever pledged to reduce the rapid rate of growth in its emissions. Now it has also promised to increase its use of energy from zero-emission sources to 20% by 2030.
•The United States has pledged to cut its emissions to 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2025.
•The European Union has already endorsed a binding 40% greenhouse gas emissions reduction target by 2030
•
•Paris Climate Change Conference
•November 2015 Paris Climate Change conference
•Nations responsible for about two-thirds of global emissions have now come up with their targets but some countries, most notably India, have not yet done so, despite being asked to meet a deadline at the end of March.
•
•The general lesson to be learnt
•While there may be “in general” agreement about the need for change in a particular direction it is quite another matter to get the kind of consensus necessary for a government to put in place and keep in place specific laws and regulation to achieve that end. There are two reasons for this:
•1. Different views concerning the best means of achieving that end
•2. Different views about what individuals are prepared to sacrifice to achieve that end
•
•The Global Context
•The G7 nations – the industrialised nations of North America, Europe and Japan hold about one fifth of the world’s people and they produce and consume four fifths of the world’s goods and services.
•The G77 nations (which are a lot more than 77), the nations of the developing world, contain four fifths of the population but produce and consume only one fifth of the world’s goods and services.
•The Equity Perspective
–The developed nations over-utilize the world’s natural resources
–At the same time the developed nations demand that the poor third world nations not use their natural resources in any but environmentally sustainable ways (eg the rainforests of Brazil)
•Is this demand fair?
•The Efficiency Perspective
–Developing countries such as China and India (major emitters of greenhouse gases) need to be involved in the global effort or the efforts of developed countries will be ineffective
•The Regulatory Perspective
•In a globalised economy nations compete to attract investment (and provide employment )
•A nations regulatory framework is effectively in competition with the regulatory frameworks of other nations
•Insisting Australian trade-exposed emissions intensive industries meet standards higher than their competitors will put those business out of business
•Regulators and governments (like businesses) are caught in prisoners dilemma or assurance problem situation
•Games Theory and Global Warming
•The famous games theorist Axelrod has argued that where a game is repeated if cheaters are punished non-cheating may become the norm
•So if a critical mass of nations agree to impose and enforce emissions targets and punish other nations that do not observe those targets then we may achieve internationally recognised standards
•With the US and China now in agreement about the need for binding targets it is likely that other nations will be forced to opt in or suffer some economic (most likely trade) penalty
•It is now likely that there will be a co-ordinated international response to reducing emissions.
代写Traditional attitudes to the environment
