Report by UK

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions:
UK
Row "United Kingdom" - Note that the 2009 Low Carbon Transition Plan has been superceded by the "Carbon Plan" (2011). See http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/emissions/carbon_budgets/carbon_budgets.aspx
View full comment by Owen Bellamy...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions:
UK
My comments are based on the observation that more attention needs to be paid to political barriers to stronger action on climate change due to their significance in preventing progress. The texts below, which have been prepared in conjunction with my colleague Ian Bailey, are designed to help remedy this. A table setting out political barriers and examples of actions designed to overcome them will be sent separately.
View full comment by Hugh Compston...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions:
UK
Climate change itself will create repeated opportunities to strengthen climate policies due to the strong likelihood that it will cause extreme weather events to become more frequent and more extreme (IPCC 2007). The literature on agenda-setting reviewed by Pralle (2009) points out that issues can rise to the top of decision making agendas as a result of dramatic focusing events that grab the attention of the public and policy makers alike (Downs 1972, Cobb and Elder 1983, Hi
View full comment by Hugh Compston...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions:
UK
One of the characteristics of mass audiences is that they are often more open to persuasion by vivid and plausible stories than by logic and evidence (Hajer 1995). For this reason accurate information about climate change needs to be supplemented by messages formulated as stories that take advantage of narrative devices such as beginnings, middles and ends as well as heroes and villains and struggles ending in dramatic resolutions. To some extent this is already being done. T
View full comment by Hugh Compston...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions:
UK
Institutional barriers and resistance from major industry groups can inhibit action in both developed and developing countries. The means to address these will vary by country but, in general terms, two options exist. The first involves negotiation with potential opponents on the terms of policy amendments or compensatory measures that may reduce opposition. These may relate to the climate policy under discussion or to other policy areas, such as business regulation (Bailey
View full comment by Hugh Compston...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions:
UK
entry for the UK: the 2011 Carbon Plan supersedes the 2009 Low Carbon Transition Plan. Also relevant are the series of Energy Bills and Acts (e.g. Energy Acts 2008, 2010, 2011; May 2012 Energy Bill) which contain provisions for various energy efficiency and low-carbon measures
View full comment by Nina Meddings...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 0
UK
One key issue that does not seem to be mentioned here or in any of the other chapters is the potential problem of fossil fuel prices falling in response to climate change mitigation policies. This could possibly go in 15.7.5.2. In its most extreme guise, this problem becomes the Green Paradox discussed by H-W Sinn. Emissions pricing to tackle climate change may not have the desired impact on emissions or the development of renewable energy if it drives down the pre-tax price
View full comment by Alexander Bowen...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 0
UK
I have a major dilemma in commenting on this chapter. The topic of assessing policies and (to a lesser extent) institutions has been the prime focus of a book written over the past two and half years: Grubb, Hourcade and Neuhoff, Planetary Economics and the Three Domains of Sustainable Energy Development Taylor & Francis forthcoming (Chapters 1 – 5 submitted, others in draft available on request). Rather than go through in detail, my overall observation is that the chapt
View full comment by Michael Grubb...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 11 , Line Table
UK
I thought Canada had walked away from the Kyoto 'Accord'.
View full comment by Michael Jefferson...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 12 , Line Table
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The EU's targets exclude 'embedded emissions' in imports, and therefore are a dishonest prospectus.
View full comment by Michael Jefferson...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 13 , Line Table
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Germany's position is a shambles. Coal use is rising, fossil fuel subsidies continue until at least 2018, carbon emissions are rising rapidly. This Table is a grossly dishonest reflection of Germany's current and prospective position.
View full comment by Michael Jefferson...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 15
UK
re. Turkey - very good overview here: http://www.cgseurope.net/UserFiles/file/Ankara%20workshop_june%202012/presentations/Evren%20Turkmenoglu.pdf
View full comment by Ute Collier...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 15
UK
it would be useful if there was an additional column on national emission reduction targets. These are mentioned for some countries but not all e.g. Germany has a target for 2020 (40% reduction) and 2050 (80%)
View full comment by Ute Collier...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 16
UK
UK: The Low Carbon Transition Plan was replaced by the Carbon Plan in 2011 (see http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/tackling/carbon_plan/carbon_plan.aspx). Also, key features of the 2008 CC Act is that it enshrines the 80% 2050 target in legislation and sets a framework for carbon budgets.
View full comment by Ute Collier...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 16 , Line Table
UK
Again, this is a ludicrous and dishonest reflection of the UK position. Delivering cuts of one-third from 1990 levels by 2020? At end 2011, instead of a reduction of over 20% there had been an increase of 20% due to 'embedded emissions'. Sir Robert Watson, Chief Scientific Advisor to UK Department of Environment (former IPCC Chairman) has stressed the need t take embedded emissions into account, and stated this position very clearly in September, 2010, with the then relevant
View full comment by Michael Jefferson...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 21 , Line 4 To Page 21 , Line 46
UK
Hasn't anyone mentioned to the authors the weaknesses of the Danish grid system; the resultant need to export large quantities of wind-generated electricity to neighbouring countries (frequently at a loss); and the other result that, instead of supplying 20% of Denmark's needs wind energy struggles to provide half of that. There is a substantial literature on this. Reflect it!
View full comment by Michael Jefferson...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 21 , Line 47 To Page 22 , Line 41
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This section on the UK is a nonsense, due to its complete overlooking of 'embedded emissions'. The transfer of manufacturing capacity from a number of industrialised nations since 1990, and their import of manufactured goods from countries such as China and India, must be analysed and presented in detail. The poor devised subsidy system which (though recently cut by 10%) encourages wind energy developments in locations where there is little wind, or the simple burning of palm
View full comment by Michael Jefferson...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 22 , Line 12 To Page 22 , Line 13
UK
Note that the Committee on Climate Change was created via the Climate Change Act (unlike DECC - see comment 35 above). It has a legal, statutory, basis and reports to Parliament.
View full comment by Owen Bellamy...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 22 , Line 17
UK
there are no 'sectoral carbon budgets'. The UK has set economy-wide carbon budgets but the CCC uses a set of sectoral indicators which it uses to monitor progress.
View full comment by Ute Collier...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 22 , Line 20 To Page 22 , Line 20
UK
This is incorrect, Great Britain is not made up of 3 devolved administrations. Great Britain refers to England, Scotland and Wales, and the United Kingdom is Great Britain + Northern Ireland. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are devolved administrations of the UK.
View full comment by Owen Bellamy...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 22 , Line 20
UK
This should say 'The United Kingdom includes 3 devolved administrations' (not 'made up of' - UK - and indeed GB - also includes England which doesn't have a separate administration). Northern Ireland is not part of Great Britain but part of the UK (i.e. Great Britain = England, Wales, Scotland. United Kingdom = England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland).
View full comment by Ute Collier...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 22 , Line 28 To Page 22 , Line 30
UK
This is incorrect. The Office of Renewable Deployment (ORED) and the Energy Efficiency Deployment Office (EEDO) are not separate institutions from DECC. They are simply internal directorates of DECC - the institution is DECC.
View full comment by Owen Bellamy...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 22 , Line 42 To Page 22 , Line 42
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In the light of the grossly misleading picture given in the forgoing Table of Germany's position, their submission will have to be scrutinised most carefully.
View full comment by Michael Jefferson...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 22 , Line 8 To Page 22 , Line 10
UK
This is incorrect. Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) was not created via the Climate Change Act. DECC was created via a merger of the Energy directorate of the business department (BERR, formerly DTI) and the Climate Change directorate of the Environment department (Defra). The Climate Change Act was a piece of legislation passed after the formation of DECC, and is a policy which DECC is responsible for.
View full comment by Owen Bellamy...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 22 , Line 9
UK
the Department of Energy and Climate Change was not created via the Climate Change Act. The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) was but not DECC. It was created by the Prime Minister (Gordon Brown).
View full comment by Ute Collier...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 27 , Line 20 To Page 27 , Line 33
UK
please use wind 'turbines' (or talk about 'windpower') instead of wind 'mills' as 'wind mills' is not really used in relation to modern forms of windpower
View full comment by Ute Collier...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 30 , Line 16
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beginning of sentence missing. Refers to Europe and UK. Do you mean European Union here? If so, UK is part of the EU and appliance standards are EU wide.
View full comment by Ute Collier...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 30 , Line 25 To Page 30 , Line 37
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too many US examples here - there's plenty of evidence on building standards from other countries as well.
View full comment by Ute Collier...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 30 , Line 38
UK
those rebound effect references are ancient - there are plenty more up-to date studies e.g. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eussd/pdf/rebound_effect_report.pdf (reports evidence from a range of countries), http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110217/full/news.2011.101.html
View full comment by Ute Collier...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 30 , Line 9
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which country does the study by Davis refer to? This could well be different elsehwere.
View full comment by Ute Collier...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 34 , Line 29
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The UK CCL is not just levied on manufacturing plants - it applies to all non-residential energy users (i.e. includes offices, supermarkets, public buildings etc).
View full comment by Ute Collier...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 35
UK
There could also be discussion of fat taxes which have been implemented in a number of countries such as Hungary and Denmark and can reduce consumption of animal source saturated fat and thus livestock related emissions
View full comment by Andy Haines...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 37 , Line 22 To Page 37 , Line 23
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This should be updated - aviation is now included in the EU ETS (and has been since January 2012).
View full comment by Owen Bellamy...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 37 , Line 22
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Aviation entered the EU ETS in 2012.
View full comment by Ute Collier...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 37 , Line 32 To Page 36
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London example - over which time period did those reductions happen? The source quoted is from 2006 - what's happened since? It says the charge is 'stiff' - would be better to say how much it is (i.e. currently £10 per day), so you can compare this with the Stockholm example.
View full comment by Ute Collier...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 38 , Line 39 To Page 42
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Developing country example is vague and doesn't really fit under the heading of 'Subsidies, Feed‐in tariffs, Certificates' as it doesn't mention any of these
View full comment by Ute Collier...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 39 , Line 35
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Australian scheme will now be linked to EU ETS and no longer will have a carbon price floor see http://www.climatechange.gov.au/en/minister/greg-combet/2012/media-releases/August/JMR-20120828.aspx
View full comment by Ute Collier...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 41 , Line 44
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almost 4 pages on US trading programmes that are not about climate change - too much unnecessary detail. Why not analyse the EU ETS instead, after all it is the first large climate trading scheme in the world and has been operating since 2005. Plenty of academic work has been done on it.
View full comment by Ute Collier...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 45 , Line 30
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the discount is for Climate Change Agreements, not Climate Change Programs
View full comment by Ute Collier...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 59 , Line 12
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I couldn't see a discussion of how co-benefits can be incorporated within policy instruments to reduce GHG emissions. Could there be a specific section on this point?
View full comment by Andy Haines...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 61 , Line 1
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Schmidt and Marschinski (2009) note that new technologies (e.g. mobile telephones) have often reached a stage where economies of scale in production, and the incentive of rising returns to R&D as output rises, have started to reduce costs fast enough to permit very rapid diffusion throughout the economy. Using a model of energy generation in which R&D responds positively to rising returns and there are several market failures, they find that multiple equilibria are possible,
View full comment by Alexander Bowen...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 62
UK
In principle, both carbon pricing and support for renewable energy reduce the cost gap between renewable and conventional electricity generation. But if both are applied simultaneously, their impacts may not be the same as the sum of each implemented separately (De Miera et al., 2008; De Jonghe et al., 2009). The interactions of technology-specific policies – including renewable portfolio standards and feed-in tariffs – with market mechanisms such as a carbon tax, if not
View full comment by Alexander Bowen...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 65
UK
there is no reference to the figure and the C40 in the text - need to explain what the C40 are
View full comment by Ute Collier...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 65 , Line 31
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surely Tokyo example is municipal, so should be in previous section. Could use other examples here, e.g. German Laender (states) - most of which have climate change targets and policies (see [in German] http://www.umweltdaten.de/publikationen/fpdf-l/4146.pdf)
View full comment by Ute Collier...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 67
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too many US examples (except the brief mention of Sao Paulo at the end)
View full comment by Ute Collier...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 69 , Line 27
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the Convention' - first mention needs to spell out that this is the UNFCCC, then can refer to 'the Convention' subsequently.
View full comment by Ute Collier...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 77 , Line 1 To Page 77 , Line 24
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These are similar to the 3 legs of an effective policy framework identified by the Stern Review (carbon pricing, technology policy, and removing barriers to change (e.g. behavioural)). See http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http:/www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/sternreview_index.htm
View full comment by Owen Bellamy...

First Order Draft, National and Sub-national Policies and Institutions: From Page 9 , Line 48 To Page 10 , Line 2
UK
The UK's Climate Change Act is based upon a false and dishonest prospectus. The fancy emissions reductions targets completely overlook those emissions 'embedded' in imports. They are therefore ludicrous, as will be seen from further comments below. For this reason the whole section as it relates to industrialised countries is grossly misleading and needs to be rewritten.
View full comment by Michael Jefferson...

Breakdown for UK