This thesis explores the influence of governance arrangements on sustainability commitments contained within voluntary forest carbon standards. This exploration is achieved through the application of a two-stage governance and sustainability analysis, which is an amalgamation of analytical tools originating in the “new governance” literature and the sustainability assessment literature. First, each voluntary forest carbon standard is examined in terms of its institutional, political and regulatory dimensions, using a framework adopted from the new governance literature. Second, the sustainability commitments contained within each of the voluntary forest carbon standards are assessed comparatively, using criteria adopted from the sustainability assessment literature. Following this, the results of the two-stage analysis are used to consider and discuss the relationship between governance and sustainability. The voluntary forest carbon standards reviewed in this analysis are the Verified Carbon Standard, the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standard, Plan Vivo and CarbonFix. / Graduate

Empirical investigation into afforestation and bioenergy carbon finance projects in Tanzania, Uganda and Moldova demonstrates that effective projects—both in terms of sustainable development and the generation of genuine carbon credits—are more likely to result when the state is able to bring carbon finance initiatives into alignment with national development objectives. Amongst the countries investigated, the most important factor in such alignment was, paradoxically, commitment liberal economic reforms. Contrary to the expectation that the performance of projects under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) would be the same in states with similar administrative capacities, carbon finance projects were more effective in Uganda and Moldova than Tanzania. Commitment to liberal economic reforms in Uganda functions as an animating set of ideas that allows the state apparatus to work in a more purposeful manner and establish institutions and organizations which allow it to generate state power for low-carbon development. For CDM forest and bioenergy projects, the risk of unsustainability is mitigated by a land tenure system and investment regime that (i) offer opportunities for individual smallholders to engage directly with the carbon market and create incentives for domestic investors while (ii) also accommodating historical land governance practices. Genuine carbon credits were associated with project developers who possessed a latent organizational capacity for implementation and were motivated to pursue market opportunities—state forest agencies in Uganda and Moldova. However, the ability of the state to retain latent organizational capacity was restricted to sectors such as forestry that are less sophisticated technically; in the energy sector, such capacity was ceded to the private sector in Uganda and Moldova during structural adjustment. More skeptical of liberal economic policy, Tanzania has retained capacity in the energy sector; however, for the same reasons, it has not treated the CDM as a genuine opportunity. At current carbon prices, CDM projects investigated were effective when the state was able to play a developmental role in the economy. Whether commitment to liberal economic reforms can have similar developmental effects in other parts of the developing world is questionable—a different animating set of ideas may be important.

Empirical investigation into afforestation and bioenergy carbon finance projects in Tanzania, Uganda and Moldova demonstrates that effective projects—both in terms of sustainable development and the generation of genuine carbon credits—are more likely to result when the state is able to bring carbon finance initiatives into alignment with national development objectives. Amongst the countries investigated, the most important factor in such alignment was, paradoxically, commitment liberal economic reforms. Contrary to the expectation that the performance of projects under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) would be the same in states with similar administrative capacities, carbon finance projects were more effective in Uganda and Moldova than Tanzania. Commitment to liberal economic reforms in Uganda functions as an animating set of ideas that allows the state apparatus to work in a more purposeful manner and establish institutions and organizations which allow it to generate state power for low-carbon development. For CDM forest and bioenergy projects, the risk of unsustainability is mitigated by a land tenure system and investment regime that (i) offer opportunities for individual smallholders to engage directly with the carbon market and create incentives for domestic investors while (ii) also accommodating historical land governance practices. Genuine carbon credits were associated with project developers who possessed a latent organizational capacity for implementation and were motivated to pursue market opportunities—state forest agencies in Uganda and Moldova. However, the ability of the state to retain latent organizational capacity was restricted to sectors such as forestry that are less sophisticated technically; in the energy sector, such capacity was ceded to the private sector in Uganda and Moldova during structural adjustment. More skeptical of liberal economic policy, Tanzania has retained capacity in the energy sector; however, for the same reasons, it has not treated the CDM as a genuine opportunity. At current carbon prices, CDM projects investigated were effective when the state was able to play a developmental role in the economy. Whether commitment to liberal economic reforms can have similar developmental effects in other parts of the developing world is questionable—a different animating set of ideas may be important.

Carbon offsetting has been an institutionalised response to climate change for over a decade. Over this period, climate change has become more severe and calls for climate justice have become increasingly insistent. Yet the normative controversies of carbon offsetting remain unresolved, as debates about the environmental quality, development impacts and ethical implications of carbon offsetting continue. This thesis explores the relationship between morality and carbon offsetting in three domains. First it provides an evaluation of the ethics of offsetting. Second it gives an account of the 'lay normativity' of the market, describing how carbon market actors interpret and act upon issues of moral concern. And third, it explains offsetting's moral economy. First, the thesis examines the moral rationales for and problems of offsetting in order to clarify the bases of criticisms levelled at offsets by researchers concerned about trends in neoliberal environmental governance. In evaluation of the ethics of offsetting, the PhD recognises some limited rationales, but mainly highlights widespread problems including lack of environmental integrity and failure to produce 'sustainable development'. The structure of the market is shown to create opportunities for malpractice and difficulties for reform. Second, building on work in cultural political economy, the research describes carbon offsetting's lay normativity. The account is based on interviews with over sixty carbon offset market actors including project developers, consultants, auditors, regulators, retailers and buyers in the UK, continental Europe, and in India. Findings show that the market is founded on ethical principles: offsetting is nothing without notions of environmental and developmental care. Critiques of, and reforms to, offsetting are also grounded in principled debate. But carbon market actors often use their power to further commercial interests that are not aligned with production of environmental or developmental value. And yet, even as rationales are ignored and problems are amplified, market actors maintain a discursive semblance of moral behaviour through forms of justification, story-telling and identity work. Third, the thesis explains how principles, profit and power combine to affect the governance of offsetting. It shows that the concentration of power among profit-seeking actors drives the production of offsetting's moral problems in the stages of project development, regulation and retail. Commercial interests in the politics of knowledge lead to manipulation of the discursive framings through which people come to understand offsets. Ethical narratives are deployed to sustain the market in states of dysfunction, enabling privileged groups to gain exchange value at the expense of climate protection and sustainable development. Through this explanatory work, the PhD contributes an original application of ideas about moral political economy to the case of climate change and carbon trading, demonstrating that powerful actors can shape culture and alter our perceptions of right and wrong.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Agricultural Economics / Jason S. Bergtold / In recent years, great attention has been placed on conservation systems for agricultural production. Conservation practices offer economic and environmental benefits, yet conventional practices remain the prevailing system in some regions. As conservation efforts are launched by different local and federal agencies, understanding farmers’ motivations when adopting conservation practices is important to ensure the continuation of adoption through the development of programs that are tailored to meet farmers’ preferences and constraints. The purpose of the first essay was to identify the factors affecting farmers’ choice of tillage practice at the crop level. Farmer’s choice of No-till, Strip-till and Conventional tillage was modeled for dryland corn, wheat and soybean production in Kansas. The results show that tillage decisions are crop-specific and that factors such as risk aversion, baling and grazing of crop residue, crop acreage, and farmers’ approach to adopting new technologies are significant factors affecting farmers’ decisions. The second essay focused on the adoption of continuous no-till, conservation crop rotation, cover crops, and variable rate application of inputs and the effect that incentive payments, payment mechanism, and off-farm environmental benefits from conservation have on the decision to adopt. This essay also examined the risk associated with the variability of net returns and its effect on farmers’ willingness to adopt using a non-linear extended expected utility framework, allowing for the estimation of a utility parameter for net returns, farmer’s subjective judgment of probabilities, and farmers’ risk attitudes. Farmers were found to exhibit risk aversion, with an estimated risk premium of approximately 3% of net returns. Results also suggested a preference for federally-run programs and for programs with higher off-farm environmental benefits. The third essay examined the timing of adoption of continuous no-till, cover crops, and variable rate application of inputs. This study found that risk aversion delays the timing of adoption of cover crops and variable rate application of inputs. However, the timing of adoption of continuous no-till was not affected by risk aversion. Findings also indicated that farmers who consider themselves innovators adopt at a faster rate than their counterparts.

Climate change and forest deforestation pose significant threats to our way of life.  In response to this challenge, various countries, companies, and nations in the Global North have launched initiatives for forest reservation and carbon credit in the Global South. This thesis examines the impacts of carbon trading projects on forest-dependent communities in Manyara, Tanzania, focusing on environmental conservation efforts and socio-cultural justice for local people. It is based on a qualitative field study that includes interviews with community members and key stakeholders. The findings indicate that while carbon trading projects can generate economic benefits and contribute to forest biodiversity,  they also apply significant restrictions on local communities' access to forest resources, leading to socio-cultural inequality and increasing dependency. / Institutionen för naturvetenskap, miljö och teknik, School of Natural Sciences, Technology and Environmental Studies

Energy markets feature a wide range of unusual price behaviour along with a complicated dependence structure between electricity, natural gas, coal and carbon, as well as other variables. We approach this broad modelling challenge by firstly developing a structural framework to modelling spot electricity prices, through an analysis of the underlying supply and demand factors which drive power prices, and the relationship between them. We propose a stochastic model for fuel prices, power demand and generation capacity availability, as well as a parametric form for the bid stack function which maps these price drivers to the spot electricity price. Based on the intuition of cost-related bids from generators, the model describes mathematically how different fuel prices drive different portions of the bid stack (i.e., the merit order) and hence influence power prices at varying levels of demand. Using actual bid data, we find high correlations between the movements of bids and the corresponding fuel prices (coal and gas). We fit the model to the PJM and New England markets in the US, and assess the performance of the model, in terms of capturing key properties of simulated price trajectories, as well as comparing the model’s forward prices with observed data. We then discuss various mathematical techniques (explicit solutions, approximations, simulations and other numerical techniques) for calibrating to observed fuel and electricity forward curves, as well as for pricing of various single and multi-commodity options. The model reveals that natural gas prices are historically the primary driver of power prices over long horizons in both markets, with shorter term dynamics driven also by fluctuations in demand and reserve margin. However, the framework developed in this thesis is very flexible and able to adapt to different markets or changing conditions, as well as capturing automatically the possibility of changes in the merit order of fuels. In particular, it allows us to begin to understand price movements in the recently-formed carbon emissions markets, which add a new level of complexity to energy price modelling. Thus, the bid stack model can be viewed as more than just an original and elegant new approach to spot electricity prices, but also a convenient and intuitive tool for understanding risks and pricing contracts in the global energy markets, an important, rapidly-growing and fascinating area of research.

Submitted by Tatiana Lima (tatianasl@ufba.br) on 2016-10-11T21:17:36Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Gomes, Guineverre Alvarez Machado de Melo.pdf: 3953783 bytes, checksum: d76854e8de457e6bc4fa77c78fe6a562 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Tatiana Lima (tatianasl@ufba.br) on 2017-02-15T19:02:43Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Gomes, Guineverre Alvarez Machado de Melo.pdf: 3953783 bytes, checksum: d76854e8de457e6bc4fa77c78fe6a562 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-02-15T19:02:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Gomes, Guineverre Alvarez Machado de Melo.pdf: 3953783 bytes, checksum: d76854e8de457e6bc4fa77c78fe6a562 (MD5) / O mecanismo de Redução de Emissões por Desmatamento e Degradação Florestal (REDD+) surgiu no cenário internacional como uma aposta em enfrentar as mudanças climáticas a partir do setor florestal, um dos importantes setores mundiais de geração de gases de efeito estufa. A lentidão das tomadas de decisão nas Nações Unidas (UNFCCC) fez com que o Mercado de Carbono Voluntário (MCV) se mostrasse como um ambiente mais célere e menos burocrático para desenvolvimento desse modelo. Foi também nesse espaço que outras modalidades de REDD+, além da prescrita na UNFCCC, encontraram espaço para crescer. Contudo, a aprovação das diretrizes internacionais para REDD+ pela UNFCCC em 2013 trouxe questionamentos sobre a harmonização desses dois ambientes, especialmente em países em que eles coexistem, como o Brasil. Isto posto, esta tese parte do seguinte problema de pesquisa: quais os principais desafios para a implementação do REDD+ no Brasil? Assim, objetiva-se, a partir da experiência brasileira, compreender as forças, fraquezas, ameaças e oportunidades para a implementação do REDD+no território nacional. Para tanto, foram definidos os elementos essenciais de REDD+ e empregada uma análise do tipo SWOT para verificar forças, fraquezas, ameaças e oportunidades de cada um dos elementos e de cada uma das modalidades de REDD+. Foram também realizadas pesquisas exploratórias, análise documental e entrevistas. Os resultados encontrados indicam como desafios do REDD+UNFCCC no Brasil posicionar-se sobre as iniciativas subnacionais de REDD+ e aprimorar e coordenar suas estruturas normativa, institucional e tecnológica. Para as atividades-projeto do Mercado de Carbono Voluntário, comprovar a idoneidade do modelo de certificação por terceiros, buscando alternativas para redução dos seus custos, e ampliar e consolidar o envolvimento do setor privado, a geração de cobenefícios e o cumprimento de salvaguardas. Por fim, para o programa jurisdicional brasileiro superar as incertezas sobre sua compatibilidade com o REDD+ nacional e melhorar o arcabouço normativo e institucional de nível subnacional no qual está inserido, para, assim, alcançar o reconhecimento nacional e internacional de seu modelo. / The Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation Mechanism(REDD+) emerged within the international scenario as a bet on tackling climate changethrough the forestry sector, one of the major global industries that generate greenhousegases. The slow pace of decision-making at the United Nations (UNFCCC) has provedthe Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) to be a faster and less bureaucratic environment forthe development of such model. It was also in this area that other REDD+ arrangements,beside the one prescribed by the UNFCCC, found room to grow. However, the approvalof international guidelines for REDD+ by the UNFCCC in 2013 brought about questionsconcerning the harmonization of these two environments, especially in countries wherethey coexist, like Brazil. That said, this thesis is based on the following researchproblem: what are the main challenges for the implementation of REDD+ in Brazil? Thus,based on the Brazilian experience, the objective is to understand the strengths,weaknesses, threats and opportunities for the implementation of REDD+ in the country.Therefore, the essential elements of REDD+ have been defined and we used a SWOTanalysis to verify strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities of each of the elementsand of each REDD+ arrangement. We also held exploratory research, document analysisand interviews. The results indicate that the UNFCCC REDD+ challenges in Brazil arepositioning itself about subnational REDD+ initiatives and improving and coordinatingtheir regulatory, institutional and technological frameworks. As for the Voluntary CarbonMarket activity-project, the challenges are verifying the suitability of the certificationmodel by a third party, seeking alternatives to reduce its costs, and expanding andconsolidating the involvement of the private sector, the co-benefit generation and thecompliance of safeguards. Finally, the Brazilian legal program should overcome theuncertainties regarding its compatibility with the national REDD+ and improve theregulatory and institutional framework, at a sub-national level, in which it is inserted, inorder to achieve national and international recognition for its model.

Submitted by Tatiana Lima (tatianasl@ufba.br) on 2015-12-01T21:11:43Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Paiva, Danielle Soares.pdf: 2826914 bytes, checksum: c693ab7596a89b6c1fccef41de02ce9e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Tatiana Lima (tatianasl@ufba.br) on 2015-12-01T21:17:22Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Paiva, Danielle Soares.pdf: 2826914 bytes, checksum: c693ab7596a89b6c1fccef41de02ce9e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-01T21:17:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Paiva, Danielle Soares.pdf: 2826914 bytes, checksum: c693ab7596a89b6c1fccef41de02ce9e (MD5) / A mudança climática tem sido um desafio à diplomacia internacional e à governança global do clima, demandando um esforço coletivo entre governos, mercado e sociedade civil, no sentido de buscar alternativas possíveis à mitigação e/ou adaptação ao fenômeno. Até o momento, a maior parte destas estratégias está focada em instrumentos de mercado, operacionalizados no âmbito do mercado global de carbono. Inicialmente utilizado por empresas e indivíduos de países não signatários do Protocolo de Kyoto - como os Estados Unidos – surge o mercado voluntário de carbono tornando-se uma alternativa a critérios rigorosos do mercado regulado de carbono. Assim como o mercado regulado de carbono, os projetos de redução de GEEs desenvolvidos no mercado voluntário de carbono buscam reduzir as emissões de GEEs e promover o desenvolvimento sustentável. Desta forma, esta tese objetiva analisar os cobenefícios em prol do desenvolvimento sustentável, para além da redução de GEEs, dos projetos brasileiros do Mercado Voluntário de Carbono. Para tanto, foram realizadas pesquisas exploratórias, análise documental e estudos de casos ilustrativos, tendo como base a matriz analítica construída a partir de estudos da United Nations Framework Conventions on Climate Change (UNFCCC) sobre cobenefícios oriundos do Mercado Regulado de Carbono. Os resultados encontrados indicam que os projetos de redução de GEEs do mercado voluntário de carbono brasileiro pouco contribuem para o desenvolvimento sustentável, tendo se utilizado na maioria das vezes de tecnologias relativamente simples e convencionais, e raramente beneficiam a comunidade local, gerando poucos cobenefícios “para além dos muros da empresa”. Os cobenefícios econômicos e ambientais são apontados mais frequentemente que os sociais, confirmando o mesmo comportamento dos projetos de mecanismo de desenvolvimento limpo no mundo. Ademais, verificou-se maior potencial de contribuição para aqueles projetos de redução de emissão de GEEs brasileiros desenvolvidos no mercado voluntário de carbono que se utilizaram de padrões de certificação que incluem cobenefícios econômicos, ambientais e sociais na sua avaliação assim como tiveram envolvimento de mais atores no processo de concepção e desenvolvimento do projeto. / Climate change has been a challenge to international diplomacy and global climate governance, requiring a collective effort between government, market and civil society, in order to seek possible alternatives to mitigation and / or adaptation to the phenomenon. To date, most of these strategies is focused on market instruments, operated under the global carbon market. Initially used by companies and individuals from non-signatory countries of the Kyoto Protocol - as the United States - comes the voluntary carbon market becoming an alternative to stringent regulated carbon market criteria. As the regulated carbon market, the GHG reduction projects developed in the voluntary carbon market seek to reduce GHG emissions and promote sustainable development. Thus, this thesis aims to analyze the co-benefits for sustainable development, in addition to the reduction of greenhouse gases, based on the Brazilian projects the Voluntary Carbon Market. The research methodology consists on a exploratory research, with document analysis and illustrative case studies, based on the analytical matrix constructed from studies of the United Nations Framework Conventions on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on co-benefits arising from the regulated carbon market. The results indicate that the Brazilian GHG emission reduction projects in the voluntary carbon market contribute little to sustainable development, having used most often relatively simple and conventional technologies, and rarely benefit the local communities, generating few co-benefits "to beyond the company walls. " The economic and environmental co-benefits are mentioned more frequently than social, confirming the same behavior of the clean development mechanism projects in the world. In addition, there was greater potential to contribute to those Brazilian GHG emission reduction projects developed in the voluntary carbon market which used certification standards including economic co-benefits, environmental and social in their assessment as well as had involvement of more actors in the design process and project development.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This paper presents an approach to electricity generation using biomass from a rice mill as a basis for implementation of a CDM project and negotiation of credits in the carbon market, in a case study. Through which we could observe management strategies and corporate sustainability in waste management. We used personal interviews with those responsible for management and power generation plant at the company in Itaqui Camil Alimentos SA-RS. It was found that the company is self sufficient in electricity which means lower manufacturing costs and increase financial gains by increasing their competitiveness in domestic and international, in addition to the significant social and environmental gains. Competitive factors and business sustainability work together, because the waste generated in the device are used in energy production. We conclude that the carbon market is a good management strategy when the goal is a cleaner energy, minimize waste and increase financial gains. / Este trabalho apresenta um estudo de caso em uma abordagem da geração de energia elétrica utilizando a biomassa proveniente de um engenho de arroz como base da implantação para um projeto de MDL e das negociações dos créditos gerados, no Mercado de Carbono. Através da qual foi possível observar estratégias de gestão e sustentabilidade empresarial na gestão de resíduos. Utilizou-se entrevistas diretas com pessoas encarregadas da gestão e da usina de geração de energia na empresa Camil Alimentos S.A em Itaqui-RS. Foi possível constatar que a empresa é autosuficiente em energia elétrica o que significa diminuir custos industriais e incrementar os ganhos financeiros aumentando sua competitividade no mercado nacional e internacional, além dos significativos ganhos sociais e ambientais. Fatores competitivos e de sustentabilidade empresarial trabalham juntos, pois os resíduos gerados no engenho são utilizados na produção de energia. Conclui-se que o mercado de carbono é uma ótima estratégia de gestão quando o objetivo é uma energia mais limpa, minimizar os resíduos e incrementar os ganhos financeiros.