Reimagining energy in the Canadian boreal zone: policy needs to facilitate a successful transition to a low-carbon energy future1

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 393-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline N. Serran ◽  
Irena F. Creed ◽  
Camille Ouellet Dallaire ◽  
Harry Nelson ◽  
Catherine Potvin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Shared Vision ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Boreal Zone ◽  
Low Carbon Economy ◽  
The Future ◽  
Energy Products ◽  
Carbon Economy

Canada will be unable to meet its greenhouse gas pledges—of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30% over 2005 levels by 2030—without transitioning away from the current high-carbon economy. This transition will bring new challenges, especially to the Canadian boreal zone. The boreal zone continues to experience intensive natural resource activities including the extraction of forest, mining, oil and gas, and renewable energy products, which in combination with climate change, is placing the future sustainability of the boreal zone at risk. We explored policy options to reduce the risk to the future sustainability of the boreal zone in light of the inevitable energy transition to either a higher or a lower dependence on carbon and the uncertainty of society’s capacity to adapt to change. Current policies are putting us on a path towards failure to achieve sustainability of the boreal zone. While current policies may be moving us towards a low-carbon future, they lack a shared vision of what the energy transition will be and engagement by those members of society most impacted; they are top-down, prescriptive, and fragmented, and they lack capacity, accountability, and enforcement. Together these limitations create barriers to society’s capacity to adapt to the low-carbon future. Sustainability of the boreal zone will not only require a transition to a low-carbon economy but will require policies that overcome these barriers and create a higher capacity for society to adapt.

Reinvigorating the role of clean energy transition for achieving a low-carbon economy: evidence from Bangladesh

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muntasir Murshed ◽  
Zahoor Ahmed ◽  
Md Shabbir Alam ◽  
Haider Mahmood ◽  
Abdul Rehman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Transition ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Low Carbon Economy ◽  
Carbon Economy

Alternative scenarios for the future of the Canadian boreal zone1

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
James W.N. Steenberg ◽  
Peter N. Duinker ◽  
Irena F. Creed ◽  
Jacqueline N. Serran ◽  
Camille Ouellet Dallaire
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Adaptive Capacity ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Boreal Zone ◽  
Low Carbon Economy ◽  
Carbon Economy

In response to global climate change, Canada is transitioning towards a low-carbon economy and the need for policy approaches that are effective, equitable, coordinated, and both administratively and politically feasible is high. One point is clear; the transition is intimately tied to the vast supply of ecosystem services in the boreal zone of Canada. This paper describes four contrasting futures for the boreal zone using scenario analysis, which is a transdisciplinary, participatory approach that considers alternative futures and policy implications under conditions of high uncertainty and complexity. The two critical forces shaping the four scenarios are the global economy’s energy and society’s capacity to adapt. The six drivers of change are atmospheric change, the demand for provisioning ecosystem services, the demand for nonprovisioning ecosystem services, demographics, and social values, governance and geopolitics, and industrial innovation and infrastructure. The four scenarios include: (i) the Green Path, where a low-carbon economy is coupled with high adaptive capacity; (ii) the Uphill Climb, where a low-carbon economy is instead coupled with low adaptive capacity; (iii) the Carpool Lane, where society has a strong capacity to adapt but a reliance on fossil fuels; and (iv) the Slippery Slope, where there is both a high-carbon economy and a society with low adaptive capacity. The scenarios illustrate the importance of transitioning to a low-carbon economy and the role of society’s adaptive capacity in doing so. However, they also emphasize themes like social inequality and adverse environmental outcomes arising from the push towards climate change mitigation.

scholarly journals Product carbon footprints as tool for a low-carbon economy

2008 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fritz Reusswig
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Emission Reductions ◽  
Carbon Footprints ◽  
Low Carbon Economy ◽  
Formidable Challenge ◽  
Social Innovations ◽  
Carbon Economy

Stabilizing greenhouse gas emissions at a level that prevents a global warming beyond plus two degree celsius is a formidable challenge. The required emission reductions can only be achieved by a series of technological, organizational and social innovations.

scholarly journals Competency Gaps of Employees in the Construction Sector in Terms of the Requirements of a Low-Carbon Economy. Polish and Czech Case

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (23) ◽  
pp. 7868
Author(s):  
Honorata Howaniec ◽  
Łukasz Krzysztof Wróblewski ◽  
Hana Štverková
Keyword(s):  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emission ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Construction Sector ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Low Carbon Economy ◽  
Low Emission ◽  
Carbon Economy

Environmental policy obliges modern society to transition to a low-carbon economy. After entering to life, the Paris Agreement obligated the signatories to prepare the first nationally determined contributions (NDCs). The NDCs aim first to reduce greenhouse gas emission targets under the UNFCCC and they apply equally to both developed and developing countries. Countries voluntarily indicate what actions will be taken to achieve the declared goals. The construction sector is an industry that is under scrutiny due to its negative impact on the environment, but it also has the potential to reduce it. Activities that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions can be carried out at various levels in the construction industry. One of them is the appropriate preparation of the staff, including equipping them with the so-called green skills. This research aimed to determine the competency gaps of people employed in the construction industry, including competencies in the field of low-emission economy. For the purposes of the study, a questionnaire survey was carried out in Poland and the Czech Republic and based on the results obtained the appropriate competencies were determined that should be possessed by people employed in the construction sector, including competencies related to a low-emission economy. Competency profiles for people employed in the construction sector were built and competency gaps of these people were determined. In both countries, no competencies have been identified in any of checked areas that meet or exceed the requirements of managers according to specific competency profiles.

scholarly journals Should Countries Fire Sell their Oil & Gas Assets? Addressing the Mis-conceptions Surrounding the Continued Role of Fossil Fuels in the Energy Transition Era

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 432-440
Author(s):  
Victoria R. Nalule ◽  
Xiaoyi (Shawn) Mu
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Energy Access ◽  
Poverty Eradication ◽  
Low Carbon Economy ◽  
Tackle Climate Change ◽  
Oil Gas ◽  
Carbon Economy

Access to modern energy such as electricity is key in the economic development of any country, and yet over 600 million people remain with no access to electricity in developing countries. It is true that both renewable energy and fossil fuels are key in the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development (UN SDG) Goal 7 and Goal 1 on energy access and poverty eradication respectively. However, the current global efforts to transition to a low carbon economy, and tackle climate change as stipulated in the SDG 13 and the 2015 Paris Agreement, have created a lot of tension on fossil fuel developments in recent years.This commentary article is presented as a question and answer session aimed at addressing the misconceptions surrounding the achievement of SDG 7 and SDG 13 in this energy transition era. The paper is of interest to oil producing countries. The article follows the various questions raised by policymakers during an online seminar delivered by both the authors entitled, ‘Fossil Fuels in the Energy Transition Era’.

The Role of Clean Energy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Romm
Keyword(s):  
Energy Transition ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Low Carbon Economy ◽  
Energy Technologies ◽  
Carbon Economy

This chapter will focus on the clean energy revolution and the technologies most widely discussed for a transition to a low carbon economy. It will explore the scale of the energy transition needed to explain why some energy technologies are considered likely to be major...

scholarly journals The use of agricultural soils as a source of nitrous oxide emission in selected communes of Poland

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-49
Author(s):  
Paweł Wiśniewski ◽  
Mariusz Kistowski
Keyword(s):  
Nitrous Oxide ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Agricultural Soils ◽  
Nitrous Oxide Emissions ◽  
Organic Soils ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Gas Emissions ◽  
Low Carbon Economy ◽  
Carbon Economy

Abstract Nitrous oxide (N2O) is one of the main greenhouse gases, with a nearly 300 times greater potential to produce a greenhouse effect than carbon dioxide (CO2). Almost 80% of the annual emissions of this gas in Poland come from agriculture, and its main source is the use of agricultural soils. The study attempted to estimate the N2O emission from agricultural soils and to indicate its share in the total greenhouse gas emissions in 48 Polish communes. For this purpose, a simplified solution has been proposed which can be successfully applied by local government areas in order to assess nitrous oxide emissions, as well as to monitor the impact of actions undertaken to limit them. The estimated emission was compared with the results of the baseline greenhouse gas inventory prepared for the needs of the low-carbon economy plans adopted by the studied self-governments. This allowed us to determine the share of N2O emissions from agricultural soils in the total greenhouse gas emissions of the studied communes. The annual N2O emissions from agricultural soils in the studied communes range from 1.21 Mg N2O-N to 93.28 Mg N2O-N, and the cultivation of organic soils is its main source. The use of mineral and natural fertilisers, as well as indirect emissions from nitrogen leaching into groundwater and surface waters, are also significant. The results confirm the need to include greenhouse gas emissions from the use of agricultural soils and other agricultural sources in low-carbon economy plans.

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