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Climate change

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 Influencing government through engineering expertise
 Impacts of carbon reduction schemes

•  Influencing government through engineering expertise

  Card 66
  Topic: Climate change
  

  • Can infrastructure policy, and its delivery, be improved by including engineers in government?

    • Policy delivery: engineers in local government
      ■ Local government must be in a position to provide the basic services to address poverty and offer people the “opportunity to live in dignity.” (Lawless, 2008)
      ■ Developing countries in particular often suffer from a lack of experienced engineers in government (e.g. of 231 local municipalities in South Africa in 2008, 79 had no civil engineers or technicians, 42 had only 1 technician and 38 only had technical staff under 35).
      ■ Lack of engineers in government leads to poor infrastructure policy and incapacity for policy delivery:
      ■ There is insufficient confidence to take decisions on technical matters, and holistic and long-term planning is not in place
      ■ Bulk services and designs are inadequate, contracts are not managed, systems are not in place or maintained, processes are not in place or enforced
      ■ There is little understanding of the need for operations and maintenance
      
      Policy formation: engineers in national government
      ■ Lack of engineering advice on the formation of national policy has led to key policies failing to address the delivery of engineering assets required for targets to be met (see example opposite).
       
    • Example: lack of engineers in strategic planning – the South Africa power crisis
      
      ■ In a 1998 report to government (“White Paper on the Energy Policy of the Republic of South Africa”) the state-owned electricity provider, Eskom, predicted electricity shortages by 2007 unless capacity was expanded
      
      ■ Since 2007, South Africa has experienced rolling blackouts (“loadshedding”) expected to continue until 2012 at great cost to the economy
      ■ One major factor leading to this crisis was a lack of civil service staff who were able to understand and evaluate engineering advice to support measures to maintain and expand the energy infrastructure
      
       
      
      Reasons for the lack of engineers in governments
      ■ Lack of recognition of the need for technical skills
      ■ Frustrations through exclusion of technical staff from stategic decision making
      ■ Poor conditions of employment compared to private sector
      ■ Lack of career development opportunities
       

  • Actively attract engineering expertise into government and continue to develop that expertise

    • The necessary steps…
      
      For effective infrastructure delivery, we need:
      • Engineers into policy delivery
      • Engineers into oolicy making
      • External engineering advice to government
      
      Employ more technical staff at all levels offering suitable hierarchies and responsibilities so that their skills are used (including executive decision making)
      • Conditions of employment for technical staff in government must align with the private sector
      • Advertising for technical staff and accredited training schemes is needed to show engineering in government as a viable career that also offers career development
      • Key Departments require Chief Engineering Advisers with experience of delivering large-scale projects and quality supporting staff able to source and assess technical evidence to support the formation of evidence-based policy in key areas such as climate change, energy supply, low-carbon transport etc
      
      Government should be encouraged to consider the engineering community as a resource: engineering advice should be sought early in the policy development process (see example).
       
    • Example: Engineering advice to government - USA National Academy of Engineering (NAE)
      The NEA is a private, independent, nonprofit institution, comprising accomplished members of industry and academia, that advises the US federal government, through the National Research Council – NRC, and also conducts its own independent studies that examine important topics in engineering and technology. In a typical year, more than 900 NRC study committees may be in operation.
      
      Example: Unified support of engineers in government - Local Government Engineers' Association (LGEA), Australia
      The LGEA represents engineers working within local government on matters relating to their salaries and working conditions, maximising their employment conditions and career advancement. They do this through industrial awards or negotiated agreements with Council.
       
      
      Further reading:
      Juma, C, The Hinton Lecture (2006) Redesigning African Economies: The Role of Engineering in International Development
      Lawless, A (2008) Numbers & Needs in Local Government: Civil Engineering – the critical profession for service delivery, South African Institute of Civil Engineering

•  Impacts of carbon reduction schemes

  Card 2
  Topic: Climate change
  

  • Could carbon trading help fund my project?

    • Emissions allowances - history
      
      The Kyoto Protocol, 1997 placed caps on emissions for Annex I nations; final trading period ends 2012.
      Copenhagen, 2009 set out to limit global temperature increase to 2ºC. It failed to establish a binding agreement for the period following Kyoto. Developed nations are to identify emissions reductions targets and assist with funding for developing nations. Developing nations are to identify “nationally appropriate mitigation strategies”
      Cancun Mexico, 2010 is the next meeting to establish new agreement post-Kyoto.
      
      Market mechanisms for emissions reductions
      Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)
      Annex I (developed) nation implements a project in developing nation which will result in a net reduction in carbon emissions over and above that which would have occurred if the project did not take place. The developed country gains CER (Certified Emission Reduction) credits and is able to offset these against total emissions
      Joint Implementation (JI)
      Annex I country implements an emissions reduction project in another Annex I country where emissions reduction measures are cheaper to implement, off setting against total emissions
      Emissions trading
      Trading of carbon credits in carbon markets
       
    • Reducing carbon emissions: – carbon taxing vs. carbon trading
      Emissions reduction mechanisms are designed to provide economic incentives to reduce carbon emissions:
      ■ Emissions taxing is considered to be a “price” mechanism, which sets the cost of emitting, but does not necessarily cap overall emissions
      ■ “Quantity” trading mechanisms include current and proposed carbon markets, such as current “cap and trade” type schemes e.g. the European Union (EU) Emissions Trading System (ETS), which sets an overall limit on emissions, and allows for carbon credits to be traded as a commodity. It is these trading mechanisms for which Kyoto makes provision
      Nations are also free to trade in carbon outside Kyoto under voluntary systems.
      
      References/further information
      IETA and PricewaterhouseCoopers (2010) Fifth Annual IETA Market Sentiment Survey
      HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office (2006) Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, Part IV
       
      “The key challenge for climate-change policy is how the developing world can raise its standards of living towards those of the developed countries and at the same time global carbon emissions and other environmental damage can be reduced” (PWC, 2010)

  • Select and implement an appropriate carbon trading scheme

    • How could carbon trading help your project
      Using Clean Development Mechanism (CDM):
      Annex I nation wishes to implement a project with emissions reduction benefits in a developing nation.
      Notes: In order to be accepted as a CDM project, both the developing and Annex I host nation need to authorise it through Designated National Authorities (DNA). The project then goes through a rigorous system of registration overseen by the CDM executive board.
      Using Joint Implementation (JI): If an Annex I country is better able to implement emissions reduction in another Annex I country and this is likely to be cheaper than emissions reduction in the first country
      Notes: JI projects are also subject to careful controls and authorisation.
      Using emissions trading: Where a company or entity has reduced emissions or not reached its emissions limits, carbon credits can be traded for financial gain.
      Notes: Criticisms of carbon markets include volatility in the markets due to uncertainty in regulatory commitments and futures. There is also criticism that they will fail to meet the required 2ºC cap on temperature rise. However, with carbon markets the price of carbon is real and set by the market and does work with an overall cap which, in theory, can be used to meet overall requirements under successor to Copenhagen.
       
    • Possible concerns in carbon trading schemes, for developing nations (Richman, 2003)
      ■ Imposition of unsuitable developed country structures on developing countries
      ■ Potential lack of negotiation skills, resources or bargaining positions in some developing countries
      ■ Potential for exploitation: what happens if developed nations implement cheapest and “easy win” emissions reductions in developing countries under, e.g. CDM, and developing nations later are bound to emissions reductions targets. But, the schemes may also stimulate developing world, economic growth and infrastructure development, as well as introduce emissions reductions additional to those that would otherwise have been achieved
      
      References/Further Information
      International Law and Politics Vol 36:133 (2003) Emissions Trading and the Development Critique: Exposing the Threat to Developing Countries, Emily Richman.
      CDM Home on the UNFCC website
      JI Home on the UNFCC website
      Capacity Development for CDM website