Search results

This study estimated greenhouse gas emissions from aviation transportation and sought systems that could manage these emissions based on the IPCC guidelines to prepare for greenhouse gas regulations on international airlines. For this purpose, policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from aviation transportation were developed based on international agreements and the cases of advanced countries. In addition, marginal abatement costs and greenhouse gas reduction measures were derived for the effective execution of these policies. While estimating greenhouse gas emissions from aviation transportation, it was found that there has been an average increase of 3.9% and 12.9% for domestic and international flights, indicating that it is urgent that we prepare global greenhouse gas regulations. The estimated marginal abatement cost of greenhouse gas from airplanes was approximately. USD 123, and this amount could be used to decide the price of emission rights, the amount of carbon tax, and could be referred to when distributing incentives for voluntary agreements.

The measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for aviation transportation were classified into four types: voluntary agreements, international collaboration, greenhouse gas reduction technology and operation process development, and application of emission trading and carbon tax.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the situation in Spain after the Kyoto Protocol with respect to greenhouse gas emissions and the national allocation plan published in 2005, which assigns CO₂ tonnes to approximately 1,920 Spanish firms for the 2005‐2007 period.

The author analysed the international norms related to the Kyoto Protocol and the situation in Spain.

From the conclusions of the study it can be derived that, although in recent years notable progress has been made, there is still a series of issues that can only be resolved, in the author's opinion, with practical application on the part of firms over time. These issues, both on an international level and in Spain, are: how to reflect the greenhouse gas emissions allowance in accounting; what information firms should include about greenhouse gas emissions in their annual reports; environmental reports and web sites; and what the economic impact of the Kyoto Protocol will be on the world economy, considering that some countries have already ratified it, while others have not.

This work should also be extended to more countries and not just be limited to Spanish companies. There is still much to be done to cover the possible gaps in this topic.

It is believed that the issues posed by the different sets of regulations are developing little by little, as seen in the fact that different countries are passing their respective national allocation plans, which specify the individual allocation of greenhouse gas emission allowances of different industries.

The purpose of this paper is to outline the cause of global warming, its trends and consequences as indicated by the International Panel on Climate Change. Sea‐level rise is one consequence of particular concern to Pacific Island states. It also reviews the views of economists about connections between economic growth and global warming.

International efforts, such as through the Kyoto protocol, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and their atmospheric concentration are discussed and prospects for post‐Kyoto policies are considered. Ways are also examined of addressing the consequences of global warming for the Pacific Island states. How they will be affected and to what extent is discussed, together with their ability to cope with the emerging problem.

The paper finds that whereas the majority of economists did not foresee a conflict between economic growth and global warming, the possibility of such a conflict is now more widely recognized following the Stern Report. It is predicted that a significant reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions is unlikely to be achieved in the foreseeable future owing to conflicting national interest (a prisoners' dilemma problem) and because is will take time to develop new technologies which will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, payment for greenhouse gas emissions (for example, via tradable permits) will accelerate desirable technological advance. Both international political action and efforts to develop and use technologies that lower greenhouse gas emissions need to be pursued. Given current and likely increases in greenhouse gas emissions, continuing global warming in this century (and beyond) appears to be inevitable and consequently Pacific Island states will be adversely affected by sea‐level rise and climate change.

The paper emphasizes that Pacific Island states will suffer great hardship from global warming but are ill‐placed geographically, financially and administratively to prevent or adjust to the possible environmental disasters that await them. Nothing may save some from eventual environmental annihilation.

The purpose of this study is to analyse different factors behind the disclosure of corporate information on issues related to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change world‐wide.

The empirical analysis carried out was performed in two stages: analysis of the data obtained through content analysis and analysis of the factors that influence the disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change using a dependency model, a multiple linear regression. Several variables were introduced to represent the size of the companies, leverage, return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE) and Market‐to‐Book ratio. Also, other dummy variables have been incorporated: Kyoto Protocol, activity sector in which the company operates and inclusion in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.

The results obtained show a direct relationship between corporate size, its market capitalization and the disclosure of information in addition to proposed Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) indicators on greenhouse gas emissions. Conversely, an inverse relationship between ROE and disclosure is detected.

The findings emphasize that the main quoted companies operating in industries related to greenhouse gas emissions typically reveal information on almost all the GRI core indicators as well as the additional items specifically proposed for this issue. Moreover, the results suggest a trend for companies to utilize information on greenhouse gas emissions as a mechanism that enables them to legitimise themselves with those groups that can be of benefit to them.

The paper has analysed the disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions and other information of importance to climate change in companies from different countries, some of which have ratified, approved, adhered to or accepted the Kyoto Protocol, and some of which have still not accepted it.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors driving greenhouse gas reporting by Chinese companies.

Content analysis of annual reports and corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports for the year 2010 of the top 100 A‐share companies listed on Shanghai Stock Exchange was conducted to investigate the extent of greenhouse gas reporting. Multiple regression analysis was performed to determine the factors driving these companies' greenhouse gas reporting.

It was found that most Chinese companies reported neutral and good news. The results also indicate larger companies operating in an industry which has higher level of carbon dioxide emissions tend to have higher levels of greenhouse gas disclosures, consistent with the expectation of legitimacy theory. However, profitability and overseas listing were not significantly related to greenhouse gas reporting. This is consistent with the findings of previous literature. Finally, contrary to expectations, state‐owned companies report less greenhouse gas information than private companies.

The paper contributes towards theory development by testing legitimacy theory in the context of greenhouse gas reporting by Chinese companies and contributes to existing literature on greenhouse gas reporting by focussing on the large emerging economy of China. The practical contribution of the paper rests in the area of accounting practice. The results outline the dearth in greenhouse gas reporting by Chinese companies, suggesting there needs to be future development of accounting standards in this area.

The purpose of this paper is to predict the amount of energy consumption by using a suitable statistical method in some sectors and energy carriers, which has shown a significant correlation with greenhouse gas emissions.

After studying the correlation between energy consumption rates in different sectors of energy consumption and some energy carriers with greenhouse gas distribution (CO₂, SO₂, NO_X and SPM), the most effective factors on pollution emission will be first identified and then predicted for the next 20 years (2015 to 2004). Furthermore, to determine the appropriate method for forecasting, two approaches titled “trend analysis” and “double exponential smoothing” will be applied on data, collected from 1967 to 2014, and their capabilities in anticipating will be compared to each other contributing MSD, MAD, MAPE indices and also the actual and projected time series comparison. After predicting the energy consumption in the sectors and energy carriers, the growth rate of consumption in the next 20 years is also calculated.

Correlation study shows that four energy sectors (industry sector, agriculture, transportation and household-general-commercial) and two energy carriers (electricity and natural gas) have shown remarkable correlation with greenhouse gas emissions. To predict the energy consumption in mentioned sectors and carriers, it is proven that double exponential smoothing method is more capable in predicting. The study shows that among the demand sectors, the industry will account for the highest consumption rate. Electricity will experience the highest rate among the energy careers. In fact, producing this amount of electricity causes emissions of greenhouse gases.

Access to the data and categorized data was one of the main limitations.

By identifying the sectors and energy carriers that have the highest consumption growth rate in the next 20 years, it can be said that greenhouse gas emissions, which show remarkable correlation with these sectors and carriers, will also increase dramatically. So, their stricter control seems to be necessary. On the other hand, to control a particular greenhouse gas, it is possible to focus on the amount of energy consumed in the sectors and carriers that have a significant correlation with this pollutant. These results will lead to more targeted policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The tendency of communities toward industrialization along with population growth will doubtlessly lead to more consumption of fossil fuels. An immediate aftermath of burning fuels is greenhouse gas emission resulting in destructive effects on the environment and ecosystems. Identifying the factors affecting the pollutants resulted from consumption of fossil fuels is significant in controlling the emissions.

Such analyses help policymakers make more informed and targeted decisions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make safer and more appropriate policies and investment.

The purpose of this paper is to raise a selection of issues and questions that have begun to face academics and business professionals in the technically complex field of greenhouse gas accounting.

This paper drew on accounting, audit and assurance‐based field work whilst the author was employed with a “Big 4” accounting firm and undertaken with a range of Australian companies preparing to report greenhouse gas emissions to the Australian Government for the first time during June‐October 2009. The issues discussed in this paper include: determination of organisational boundaries and ownership of greenhouse emissions; determination of operational boundaries and how to account for the greenhouse emissions of contractors; and challenges of measuring and accounting for greenhouse gas emissions in the underground coal mining industry.

This paper highlights the need for further research into greenhouse gas accounting methodologies.

The paper is primarily a news piece with a focus on three of a possible multitude of issues. The intention is not to provide a complete review of the growing academic literature in the greenhouse gas accounting field, nor to elaborate on the entire array of challenges presented by greenhouse gas accounting for a range of industries. Further, the paper does not intend to discuss climate change science or emissions trading in any detail.

Whilst the focus is on the Australian experience, the questions raised may be of interest to a more international audience as attempts are made to put a national framework using local measures on a global problem are commonplace.

The purpose of this paper is to suggest an approach to post‐Kyoto climate negotiations that could provide a way out of the apparent deadlock between developed and developing countries. This is an urgent issue as the world already appears to be close to a level of climate change that could be considered “dangerous”.

The paper explores the potential that control of short‐lived greenhouse gases such as methane, tropospheric ozone, and soot could have, in addition to steep cutbacks in industrialized nations, to both mitigate global warming and overcome political stalemate in the international climate negotiations.

Although rarely mentioned in climate discourse, reducing emissions of short‐lived greenhouse gases offers a cost‐effective way of actually reducing the radiative forcing in the atmosphere, while at the same time producing substantial subsidiary benefits such as improved urban air quality. The paper suggests leveraging this potential in the post‐Kyoto treaty in order to “buy time” to address the arguably more difficult problem of essentially eliminating fossil‐fuel related CO₂ emissions, which will ultimately be required to truly bring climate change under control. While high‐income countries work on steep cutbacks of all greenhouse gas emissions, middle‐income nations could make significant additional contributions by undertaking commitments to control only short‐lived greenhouse gases until they reached a threshold level of per‐capita GDP, at which point they would cap and begin reducing all greenhouse gas emissions.

This paper recognizes that political tradeoffs will have to be made in negotiating the next climate treaty, and offers a way of approaching these tradeoffs that could minimize resulting environmental damage.

Society has to find ways and means to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide, to prevent global warming when considering inter‐generational equity with respect to environmental quality. The aim of the carbon dioxide emission control is to keep the level of carbon dioxide below a certain threshold level. This paper deals with the various policy instruments that are available to control greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. The criteria that should be used in selecting the appropriate policy instruments in controlling carbon dioxide emissions are: efficiency, equity and flexibility. Based on these criteria, the author is of the view that in the short‐run it is important for all the countries to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. However, in the long‐run, it may be possible to use the Kyoto targets to achieve an international carbon dioxide emission tradable permit system.