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The purpose of this paper is to establish necessity and methods for considering greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation policies at a system‐level. The research emphasizes connecting narrowly focused GHG mitigation objectives (e.g. reduce single occupancy vehicle travel) with broader institutional objectives (e.g. growth in student population) to demonstrate how policies operating at different scales individually and collectively influence GHG reductions.

First, a framework for defining divergent policy types and associated GHG impacts is developed. Second, relying on data from a higher education institution, a quantitative model for testing policy impacts is formulated. Last, through adjustment of the model's policy levers, GHG emission trajectories by policy type are compared.

The central finding is that broad level policies associated with housing stock and student growth are more capable of influencing GHG emissions than traditionally classified mitigation policies such as investing in alternatives transportation services. Moreover, based on the divide between stationary and mobile emission sources and related energy intensities, the incentive exists for reducing housing investments and increasing student commuting rates as a means of cost‐effectively managing GHG emissions in the short term.

Tradeoffs exist in GHG mitigation efforts and wider higher education planning. However, institutions lack the methods and tools to evaluate these tradeoffs, either within the narrow field of GHG mitigation efforts or across broader institutional priorities. This research presents a method and case study for better understanding tradeoffs through a systems approach.

Anyone who follows climate change policy debates even casually knows that these debates are shot through with controversy about what ought to be done and who ought to be doing it. What sometimes get lost in these debates, however, are much deeper differences over the nature of the climate change problem itself. That is my focus in this chapter. I will take climate change as a prime example of broader debates over what constitutes “sustainable development” and draw upon different strands of the sustainability literature to show how these disagreements play out in the climate change context.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a greenhouse gas (GHG) management model for mitigating GHG emission. GHG emission by way of human activities is causing catastrophic effects on the natural environment in the form of climate change and global warming. GHG management of different products, bodies and processes is going on worldwide, expressed through carbon footprints by using product life cycle assessment (LCA). LCA is a useful approach, but it only looks at the micro level of cause-effect scenarios rather than the macro level cause-effect scenarios of GHG emission. Therefore, a system to scrutinize underlined assumptions and values of such policies/strategies is an urgent necessity.

This paper uses the double-loop learning concept, which was proposed by Argyris in 1976, to develop a triple cause-effect model for the management of GHG emission. The proposed model has a knowledge system that introduces the learning loop of GHG emission and environmental impact management.

A case study is conducted to demonstrate how the proposed triple cause-effect model is operationalized. The ideas and benefits of the proposed model are further discussed.

A triple cause-effect model for the measurement and analysis of GHG emission is proposed in this paper to complement GHG management by using only product LCA. This paper seeks to show that GHG management should look at not only a single tree (product LCA approach) but also the whole forest (the proposed model).

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate different greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation policy instruments implemented in Slovenia, especially their impact on industrial competitiveness.

Analysis of existing mitigation policies.

The introduction of new policy instruments in Slovenia has not been very effective in curbing GHG emissions, but it certainly brought attention to the problem. As there is still a lot of space for improvements, additional effort should be made to improve existing instruments or to propose additional mitigation measures.

The paper evaluates existing policy instruments, which are still in their evolutional phases. The significance of this paper is to help to intensify indirect influence on GHG emissions reduction, especially on the national level, as proper introduction and understanding of the problem leads to more comprehensive and credible solutions regarding GHG emission reduction strategies. In addition, some new steps and/or measures are also indicated with this paper, especially concerning future evolution of EU emission trading scheme and national CO₂ tax regulation.

The paper is a new source of information about implementation of GHG mitigation policy measures in Slovenia. Analysis of adaptation and mitigation activities as well as integration of all aspects of climate change issues into strategies for sustainable development is of significant importance for the relevant decision makers – to monitor the impact of their own policies for domestic assessment purposes, that is to choose a policy strategy, to understand the implications of existing and alternative policy strategies, and to understand the joint interactions of multiple, individual policy strategies.

This study aims to explore Taiwan's potential for bioenergy production using feedstocks grown on set-aside land and discusses the consequent effects on Taiwan's energy security plus benefits and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission.

The Modified Taiwan Agricultural Sector Model (Modified TASM), based on price endogenous mathematical programming, was used to simulate different agricultural policies related to bioenergy production. To do this simulation, the TASM model was extended to include additional bioenergy production possibilities and GHG accounting.

Taiwan's bioenergy production portfolio depends on prices of ethanol, electricity and GHG. When GHG prices go up, ethanol production decreases and electricity production increases because of the relatively stronger GHG offset power of biopower.

Taiwan is interested in producing bioenergy but only limited information is available. This study provides the information on potential bioethanol and bioelectricity production from various energy crops, GHG emission offset from bioenergy, and regional energy security.

This chapter considers the application of climate mitigation policies to the aviation sector with reference to the inclusion of aviation in the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). Assessments of the possible economic impacts of including aviation in the EU ETS are reviewed and an impact analysis using the macroeconometric E3ME model is conducted.

The aviation sector is a significant and rapidly increasing source of GHG emissions. Because international policy measures have not been agreed, the EU has incorporated aviation in the EU ETS. It is therefore important to consider the possible economic effects of the ETS on the aviation industry and the wider economy.

The paper describes the approach used by the EU to include aviation in the EU ETS. Assessments of economic impacts have been made, but have often been limited in their approach. The paper complements the existing literature by including an economic analysis using the E3ME macroeconometric model of the EU that covers 41 industrial sectors including aviation.

Microeconomic and macroeconomic assessments show the economic impacts of including the aviation sector in the EU ETS are small. The negative impacts, if any, on EU GDP and the air transport sector’s economic output are less than 0.1% and 1% respectively. Distortions in competition, both between countries and industrial sectors, are therefore likely to be small.

In the long term (beyond 2020), including aviation in the EU can be seen as a positive move. If and when aviation is fully included in the EU ETS, and when the cost impacts of GHG emissions through permit prices are made evident, it is anticipated that airlines will start monitoring and reducing their GHG emissions by investing in new, less carbon intensive technologies.

This paper aims to track the development of climate policy in the province of Alberta, Canada, particularly the province’s unique greenhouse gas emission offset mechanism. The analysis shows how the policy has influenced, and been influenced by, policy processes at the national and international levels.

The paper begins with an analytical framework that recognizes different types of influence between international, national and provincial climate policy processes. That framework is used to structure a review of four historical periods of climate policy change: prior to 1992, 1992 to 2002, 2002 to 2012 and between 2012 and mid-2015.

The analysis illustrates the interplay between the Alberta approach to climate policy and the international and national policy contexts. A period of intense policy conflict between Canada’s federal and provincial governments led to a situation in which the Alberta Government sought to lead rather than follow national policy. Subsequent periods have seen the Canadian national government oscillate between following the lead of Alberta or the USA.

Rather than national and international policies simply setting the context for Alberta’s policy, the paper identifies multiple flows of influence between the three levels of governance. The results illustrate the need to consider forward and backward flows of influence between the different levels of government that set climate change policies. Elements of several models of policy change are supported.

The Alberta climate mitigation policy has many elements that can be effective in reducing carbon emissions in a way that is both flexible and predictable. These elements are of interest to other jurisdictions. Other elements of the current policy, however, limit its effectiveness in reducing emissions. More concerted policy action is needed to mitigate carbon emissions in Alberta for Canada to meet its agreed targets.

No other paper has tracked the historical evolution of climate policy at the provincial/state level in a way that clarifies the forward and backward linkages with national and international policy.

A fully functioning carbon accounting system must be based on measurement that is materially accurate, consistent over space and time, and incorporates data uncertainty. However, achieving these goals is difficult because current carbon accounting efforts are spread across three distinct organisational fields, each prioritising different goals. This paper aims to address these issues.

The authors identified three fields drawn together by the science of how carbon emissions can be measured, the social practices of carbon accounting, and accountability within the global carbon governance system. The authors hosted a workshop, and invited representatives participating in each of the organisational fields to highlight the contentious conversations within their field. The authors facilitated an across‐field exploration of whether and how to achieve accuracy, consistency and certainty in carbon accounting.

It was found that there are tensions between accuracy, consistency and certainty in carbon accounting both within and across organisational fields. Framing the evolution of carbon accounting as negotiation between these goals across fields yields powerful implications for addressing current challenges in carbon accounting.

The authors provide guidance to policymakers on how to recognise legitimate uncertainty in carbon management science, manage the cost‐benefits of policy and reporting mechanisms, and ensure actual greenhouse gas emissions reductions.

This paper exploits the unusual approach of integrating carbon accounting across levels of analysis, from the molecular level through processes, organisations, industries and nations. This approach should help scientific, corporate and policy decision‐makers move towards a more fully functioning carbon accounting system.

The purpose of this research is to explore the drivers of computer-related sustainability behavior at a medium-sized US university and the extent to which an inexpensive energy-saving device installed on 146 administrator, faculty and general staff workstations achieved significant savings in kWh, CO₂ kg and dollars.

A mixed-method approach was used to collect qualitative and quantitative data to inform the study, and an intervention was introduced to raise awareness of energy-saving initiatives on a medium-sized university campus at an individual level. A simple computer energy efficiency device to measure the kWh, carbon emissions and monetary savings was installed on office workstations of 146 administrator, faculty and general staff. The research design enabled analysis of university mitigation strategies along with energy-saving behaviors, attitudes and savings in CO₂ kg and dollars resulting from the installation of the adaptation intervention.

Extrapolating individual workstation savings over the eight-week study period suggests potential annual average savings of $122,087.21; 1,327,003 kWh of energy; and 577,044 kg CO₂. Usage behaviors and attitudes of study participants toward green practices in general and the specific energy-saving device showed participants hold highly positive attitudes toward both. Themes that captured participants’ feeling toward the energy-saving device included: easy to use; enjoyment; feedback; habit and technical issues. Drivers that most highly motivated participants to save energy at work were participants’ sense of social responsibility and the recognition of the need to reduce energy at work.

The implementation of a voluntary individual-level energy-saving adaptation has the potential to be more far effective than expensive mandated strategies imposed on university employees and the value of feedback in positively influencing sustainability behavior.

This study is one of the first to report on the implementation of a voluntary individual-level climate change adaptation intervention on a university campus. The research addresses concerns voiced in previous literature that higher education is not stepping up the critical role in climate adaptation required of it and contributes to the sustainability in higher education literature by providing empirical evidence of the usefulness of implementing a simple adaptation technique. Specifically, it documents how increasing sustainability awareness in university employees can encourage socially responsible and energy conversation behaviors and achieve significant energy savings in dollars, kWh and CO₂ kg.

Environmental degradation resulting from human activities may adversely affect human health in multiple ways. Until now, policies aimed at mitigating environmental problems such as climate change, environmental pollution and damage to biodiversity have failed to clearly identify and drive the potential benefits of these policies on health. The conducted study assesses and demonstrates how specific environmental policies and instruments influence perceived human health in order to ensure input for a data-driven decision process.

The study was conducted for the 2004–2020 period in European Union (EU) countries with the use of dynamic panel data modeling. Verification of specific policies' impact on dependent variables allows to indicate this their effectiveness and importance. As a result of the computed dynamic panel data models, it has been confirmed that a number of significant and meaningful relationships between the self-perceived health index and environmental variables can be identified.

There is a strong positive impact of environmental taxation on the health index, and the strength of this relationship causes effects to be observed in the very short term, even the following year. In addition, the development of renewable energy sources (RES) and the elimination of fossil fuels from the energy mix exert positive, although milder, effects on health. The reduction of ammonia emissions from agriculture and reducing noise pollution are other health-supporting factors that have been shown to be statistically valid. Results allow to identify the most efficient policies in the analyzed area in order to introduce those with the best results or a mix of such measures.

The results of the authors' research clearly indicate the health benefits of measures primarily aimed at improving environmental factors, such as environmental taxes in general. The authors have also discovered an unexpected negative impact of an increase in the share of energy taxes in total taxes on the health index. The presented study opens several possibilities for further investigation, especially in the context of the rapidly changing geopolitical environment and global efforts to respond to environmental and health challenges. The authors believe that the outcome of the authors' study may provide new arguments to policymakers pursuing solutions that are not always easily acceptable by the public.