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1 – 10 of 42Yuan Hu, Wenxue Zheng, Weizhong Zeng and Hongxing Lan
Forestry carbon sink (FCS) is not only an important measure to deal with the current global climate change but also an effective way to build an ecological civilization. As an…
Abstract
Purpose
Forestry carbon sink (FCS) is not only an important measure to deal with the current global climate change but also an effective way to build an ecological civilization. As an important form of implementation of FCS, the afforestation and reforestation projects under the clean development mechanism (CDM A/R) have important functions such as ecological protection and economic growth. This paper aims to evaluate the short-term and long-term impact of CDM on the county economy and its impact mechanism.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper first uses propensity score matching to match the county (treatment group). Second, this paper uses difference in difference to estimate the net effect of CDM A/R project on county economic development to reduce estimation error. Finally, the impact mechanism of implementing CDM A/R project on county economic development was tested.
Findings
The CDM A/R project has significantly promoted the development of real gross domestic product (GDP) and per capita real GDP in the region. Because of the long project cycle, this promotion is not immediate in the short term and has an obvious hysteresis effect. The longer the implementation time, the greater the promotion of the local economy will develop. The results are robust after the robustness test that uses the single-difference method. The CDM A/R project has promoted local economic growth by optimizing the local industrial structure, increasing the regional capital stock and raising the regional government’s fiscal revenue and expenditure.
Originality/value
This paper provides a critical overview of the relationship between clean development mechanism and local economic development.
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Sara Gurfinkel M. Godoy, Maria Sylvia Macchione Saes, Paula Sarita Bigio Schnaider and Roberta Castro Souza Piao
This paper intends to verify the extent to which Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects intend to contribute to sustainable development (SD) in Brazil, one of the top three…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper intends to verify the extent to which Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects intend to contribute to sustainable development (SD) in Brazil, one of the top three leading countries in terms of the number of CDM projects. The authors assess the impact of CDMs not only in environmental aspects, but also social and economic ones.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors define a set of qualitative sustainability indicators and scrutinize documents regarding a sample of almost half of all the projects registered in Brazil between 2004 and 2020 (219 projects).
Findings
The findings of this study contradict many previous studies finding very limited evidence of SD in CDMs in many different countries: most projects in Brazil intend to contribute to some extent with SD, with 91% and 75% claiming to improve social and economic aspects, respectively.
Practical implications
The authors derive lessons from Brazil that can be used in other researches.
Social implications
The authors derive lessons from Brazil and propose paths for public policy toward encouraging sustainable development.
Originality/value
The empirical data set relies on data collected directly from each of the projects in Brazil (roughly half of all of them) between 2004 and 2020. This is not only up to date, but pushes further the analytical scope of previous works.
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Wolfgang Buchholz and Dirk Rübbelke
Climate finance is regularly not only seen as a tool to efficiently combat global warming but also to solve development problems in the recipient countries and to support the…
Abstract
Purpose
Climate finance is regularly not only seen as a tool to efficiently combat global warming but also to solve development problems in the recipient countries and to support the attainment of sustainable development goals. Thereby, conflicts between distributive and allocative objectives arise, which threaten the overall performance of such transfer schemes. Given the severity of the climate change problem, this study aims to raise concerns about whether the world can afford climate transfer schemes that do not focus on prevention of (and adaptation to) climate change but might be considered as a vehicle of rent-seeking by many agents.
Design/methodology/approach
Future designs of international transfer schemes within the framework of the Paris Agreement are to be based on experience gained from existing mechanisms. Therefore, the authors examine different existing schemes using a graphical technique first proposed by David Pearce and describe the conflicts between allocative and distributional goals that arise.
Findings
In line with the famous Tinbergen rule, the authors argue that other sustainability problems and issues of global fairness should not be primarily addressed by climate finance but should be mainly tackled by other means.
Research limitations/implications
As there is still ongoing, intense discussion about how the international transfer schemes addressed in Article 6 of the Paris Agreement should be designed, the research will help to sort some of the key arguments.
Practical implications
There are prominent international documents (like the Paris Agreement and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development) seeking to address different goals simultaneously. While synergies between policies is desirable, there are major challenges for policy coordination. Addressing several different goals using fewer policy instruments, for example, will not succeed as the Tinbergen Rule points out.
Social implications
The integration of co-benefits in the analysis allows for taking into account the social effects of climate policy. As the authors argue, climate finance approaches could become overstrained if policymakers would consider them as tools to also solve local sustainability problems.
Originality/value
In this paper, the authors will not only examine what can be learnt from the clean development mechanism (CDM) for future schemes under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement but also observe the experiences gained from a non-CDM scheme. So the authors pay attention to the Trust Fund of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) which was established with global benefit orientation, i.e. – unlike the CDM – it was not regarded as an additional goal to support local sustainable development. Yet, despite its disregard of local co-benefits, the authors think that it is of particular importance to include the GEF in the analysis, as some important lessons can be learnt from it.
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This study investigated the visibility of carbon emissions allowances accounting in the financial reports of 32 clean development mechanism (CDM) projects in the UAE to uncover…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigated the visibility of carbon emissions allowances accounting in the financial reports of 32 clean development mechanism (CDM) projects in the UAE to uncover the obstacles to setting consistent standards for carbon emission accounting. As carbon emissions are monetized as credits, consistent accounting standards can aid decision-makers in the development of carbon emission mitigation strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a grounded theoretical framework for exploring the terms used in the policy documents of international accounting bodies regarding accounting standards and guidelines for carbon emission credits. Raw qualitative data were gathered, and an inductive approach was used by analyzing documents from various sources using the qualitative data text analysis software QDA Miner 6.
Findings
The findings showed that the financial statement reports of the corporations did not include disclosure of the carbon credit account. This omission was due to the lack of global standardization of carbon credit accounts and emission allowance recognition. This may hinder the production of a comprehensive report containing accurate and valuable financial information relevant to all stakeholders.
Originality/value
The study is among the first to use a grounded theoretical framework to investigate whether corporations are applying common standards and guidelines for carbon emissions accounting.
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