viii, 120 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / International carbon offset projects are framed as a cost effective, market based approach to address global warming through the cap-and-trade model of greenhouse gas emissions trading. Emission reduction projects in the Global South attempt to mitigate or "offset" pollution in the Global North by taking advantage of economic poverty in the developing world. This thesis investigates two development projects in Central America to explore the social impacts of carbon offsetting on communities. The research findings suggest that corporate support for emissions trading disproportionately benefits business interests while remaining largely unaccountable for project outcomes. This thesis argues that cap-and-trade in general and the US voluntary emissions trading market in particular are fundamentally flawed systems incapable of effectively addressing climate change and suggests sustainable alternatives to carbon offsetting. / Committee in Charge: Dr. Galen Martin, Chair; Dr. Derrick L. Hindery; Dr. Kathie Carpenter

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2011. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 190-194). Also available on the World Wide Web.

<p>Private individuals can voluntarily buy EU Allowances (EUA) in order to remove them from the European Union Greenhouse Gas Emission Trading System (<em>EU ETS</em>)<em>.</em> It leads to progressive reduction of total carbon dioxide emissions in Europe. Kalmar Energi offers customers to obtain one EUA (equivalent to one ton of CO₂) per year by paying 25 SEK a month as a KlimatEl-supplement. The purpose of this research is to examine the customers’ attitudes in the issue of climate compensation and trying to define the reasons behind their choices.</p><p>The results of the quantitative questionnaire were analyzed by using descriptive and analytical statistical methods and have shown some correlation between customers’ ages and decisions to accept or not the offer of KlimatEl. The gender and attitudes about everyday environmentally friendly behavior allows us to segment this group. The strongest motivation for investment in KlimatEl appeared to be awareness of the negative consequences caused by climate changes and the feeling of threat to human health and welfare. The main reasons to decline the offer of KlimatEl is skepticism about the system of emissions trading, distrust of the efficiency of this act and also a lack of confidence in the energy company.</p><p>Knowledge of carbon offsetting is surprisingly weak among KlimatEl customers. Their willingness to do something morally right and to support the energy company explains their commitment more than their knowledge of the ecological impact of this act or desire to be a part of the green trend. The result of this research shows the need for efficient information building a correct and positive perception of KlimatEl as a product and even of Kalmar Energy’s environmental work.</p><p> </p>

Private individuals can voluntarily buy EU Allowances (EUA) in order to remove them from the European Union Greenhouse Gas Emission Trading System (EU ETS). It leads to progressive reduction of total carbon dioxide emissions in Europe. Kalmar Energi offers customers to obtain one EUA (equivalent to one ton of CO2) per year by paying 25 SEK a month as a KlimatEl-supplement. The purpose of this research is to examine the customers’ attitudes in the issue of climate compensation and trying to define the reasons behind their choices. The results of the quantitative questionnaire were analyzed by using descriptive and analytical statistical methods and have shown some correlation between customers’ ages and decisions to accept or not the offer of KlimatEl. The gender and attitudes about everyday environmentally friendly behavior allows us to segment this group. The strongest motivation for investment in KlimatEl appeared to be awareness of the negative consequences caused by climate changes and the feeling of threat to human health and welfare. The main reasons to decline the offer of KlimatEl is skepticism about the system of emissions trading, distrust of the efficiency of this act and also a lack of confidence in the energy company. Knowledge of carbon offsetting is surprisingly weak among KlimatEl customers. Their willingness to do something morally right and to support the energy company explains their commitment more than their knowledge of the ecological impact of this act or desire to be a part of the green trend. The result of this research shows the need for efficient information building a correct and positive perception of KlimatEl as a product and even of Kalmar Energy’s environmental work.

Carbon offsetting means to offset those greenhouse gases that are caused by our actions. The purpose of this paper is to examine how companies are working with carbon offsetting. The focus of the research is how travel agencies and companies that provides carbon offsetting. The writers also highlight the problems carbon offsetting is facing. The study was performed with qualitative methods through interviews with three companies working with carbon offsetting. The research shows that carbon offsetting within air travel can vary in price between different companies and they find it more lucrative to work with business customers. The writers have come to the conclusion that it is people's attitudes as well as lack of promotion and information that is the problem that exists for carbon offsetting. The writers have also found out that it is the uncertainty about carbon offsetting that affects the individual's attitude towards the subject. This, as well as the awareness that exists about the subject and the economy which every individual is prepared to spend on the environment.

Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 110-120). Also available online in Scholars' Bank.

Idag är det få som motsäger sig att människan är ansvarig för de klimatförändringar vi börjat uppleva. Globala överenskommelser visar sig vara svåra att formulera men regioner såsom EU har infört handeln med utsläppsrätter och allt fler enskilda nationer och verksamheter sätter nu upp egna mål för reduktioner av skadliga utsläpp. Vissa verksamheter går steget längre och har skapat interna kompensationssystem för sina aktiviteters klimatkonsekvenser. Studien har med hjälp av kvalitativa intervjuer undersökt sex verksamheter i Sverige som frivilligt valt att klimatkompensera internt. Här presenteras bakgrunderna till det interna valet, hur arbetena utformats liksom vilka lärdomar som kan dras från deras erfarenheter. Resultatet visar på en viss misstro till externa kompensationsprojekt men främst en vilja att ta ansvar och förbättra på hemmaplan först. Utformningarna skiljer sig och det är många praktiska omständigheter att ha i åtanke när verksamhetsintern klimatkompensation ska införas. Klimatnyttan av dessa arbeten är svår att beräkna, men verksamheterna vittnar om att det skapar en medvetenhet, vilken på sikt kan leda till förändrat beteende som sparar både pengar och miljö. / Nowadays, few people resist the fact that mankind is responsible for the climatic changes we are now beginning to experience. Global agreements seem difficult to form, but regions like the European Union has introduced an Emissions Trading Scheme, EU ETS. More and more nations and organizations are now also setting up their own emission reduction goals. Some organizations takes it even further and have created systems of carbon offsetting within their own organizations.This study has executed qualitative interviews with six Swedish organizations that have chosen internal carbon offsetting. Here you find their motives to compensate internally, how the work is designed and what lessons to be learned from their experiences. The results show a certain mistrust in external compensation-projects, but they mainly report a desire to take responsibility and to start improvements locally. The design of these works vary and there are many aspects of practicality to bear in mind when implementing internal carbon offsetting. The climatic benefits from these works are difficult to calculate, but the organizations claim that it creates a an awareness that, in the long run, can lead to an altered behavior, saving both money and the environment.

This paper examines the Swedish travel agencies that offer voluntary carbon offsetting to their costumers. Tourism is expanding in a fast rate globally with international arrivals predicted to reach 1,8 billion by 2030 (UNWTO, 2008). Economic development and more availability of individual free time are two of the most significant drivers to this growth in tourism. Globalization has also resulted in the growth and increase of mobility on a global scale (Harvey, 2000). The reduction of cost and time of mobility in space, driven partly by technological innovation in the transport sector has resulted in the increase of mobility (Harvey, 2000). Tourism is inseparable with transport; an increase in tourism therefore results in an increase of emissions related to tourism transports (Duval, 2007). One of the most alarming challenges facing tourism is the increase of green house gases. A number of Swedish travel agencies are offering voluntary carbon offsetting to their costumers as a way of tackling the problem off the increase of emissions related to tourism. This study however shows that the interest and motivation to buy voluntary offsetting from travel agencies are low, and gives some incentive to why that’s the case. Swedish travel agencies effort to sell voluntary carbon offsetting to their costumers must be seen as a failure, both in numbers and in doing any significant impact on the mitigation of climate change related to tourism.

本论文集由三篇关于公司金融和金融市场的文章组成。 / 第一篇文章主要探讨关于中国的控股股权的利益。通过研究1999到2006年的股权协议转让的数据，我发现控股股权相比于那些可比较的非控股股权存在显著溢价。平均值为24.97%溢价反映了控股股权的利益。回归分析发现，控股股权的利益和股权结构，公司特征以及制度环境有关。被收购对象的无形资产比例越高，控股股权的利益越少；发行了B股或者H股也会减少控股股权的利益；被私人公司收购的公司往往伴随着更高控股股权的利益。同时，控股股权的利益和非公有经济发展以及要素因子市场发展呈现负相关。进一步的研究表明，那些有较高控股股权的利益的公司往往伴随着更高的其他应收账款，关联交易额比例以及融资额比例，虽然影响不太显著。因此，我推断那些有更高控股股权的利益的公司可能更多地被其大股东侵占了利益。 / 第二篇文章主要研究关于中国股票市场上的“羊群效应“。通过应用Christie 和Huang (1995) 以及Chang (2000) 的模型，发现深圳和上海股票市场所没有“羊群效应“。 在子样本上的进一步分析发现，在2007股市泡沫期间和2008全球金融危机期间也没有“羊群效应“。最后，我使用分位数回归方法，来解决“羊群效应是否对于股市收益分歧的分位数是否敏感的问题。结果表明，在收益分歧的各个分位数上，收益分歧始终随着市场收益率增加，再次证明没有“羊群效应“的存在。 / 第三篇主要分析关于芝加哥气候交易所碳排放的价格和波动性。分析表明，某些年份的碳排放期货收益率具有长期记忆效应，有些年份则没有。但是不同年份期货收益率波动性则全部具有很强的长期记忆效应。同时，我发现FIGARCH模型很好的描述了碳价格的波动特性并且估计出了长期记忆的参数。进一步验证了碳期货收益率具有长期记忆效应。这个结论表明碳排放期货市场还不是弱式有效的。 / This thesis consists of three essays on corporate finance and financial markets. The first essay investigates the private benefits of control in China. By analyzing block share transfers in China from 1999 to 2006, I find that the controlling blocks are usually priced at significant positive premiums compared with the non-controlling ones. The premiums, with a mean of 24.97%, reflect the private benefits of control in China. Cross-sectional regression analysis shows that the benefits of corporate control vary with ownership structure, firm characteristics and institutions. In particular, targets with high intangible asset ratios have less private benefits of control; cross-listing in the B or H share market reduces private benefits and companies acquired by private firms are associated with higher private benefits. Moreover, it is found that private benefits of control are negatively associated with the non-state economy and factor market development index. Finally, further analysis shows some evidence that other receivables, amount of connected transaction, and amount of financing increase moderately with private benefits. Hence, firms with higher value of private benefits are likely to experience more tunneling activities conducted by their controlling shareholders. / The second essay examines herd behavior in the Chinese stock market. Employing the cross-sectional standard deviation testing methodology proposed by Christie and Huang (1995), it is found that herd behavior does not exist in the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets. The empirical evidence based on Chang et al. (2000) suggests no evidence of herd behavior as well. I also investigate the herd behavior in the 2007 bubble period and 2008 global financial crisis period and no evidence of herding is documented. Finally, quantile regression is employed to test whether or not herd behavior is sensitive to different quantiles of return dispersion distributions. It is found that in the lower and upper tail of return dispersion distribution, return dispersion generally increases with market return movements, indicating that no herd behavior is observed. / The third essay studies the price movement and volatility of the carbon futures in Chicago Climate Exchange. Firstly, the long-term dependence of future returns and volatilities is investigated by employing the modified rescaled range (R/S) statistics. Most of the return series have long-term memory features and the evidence for long-term dependence in volatilities is pronounced for all series. Next, the Fractionally Integrated GARCH (FIGARCH) model is applied to investigate the volatility of return series and estimate the long memory parameters in return series. The estimated degrees of integration are significantly greater than zero but less the unity, which demonstrates the presence of an explicit long memory feature in return series. The results indicate that the market is not weak-form efficient. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Liu, Xiaojin. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / 摘要 --- p.iii / Table of Contents --- p.v / Chapter Chapter 1: --- The private benefits of control: evidence from China --- p.1 / Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 2. --- Related literature and institutional setting --- p.3 / Chapter 2.1 --- Related literature --- p.3 / Chapter 2.2 --- Background on the Chinese stock market --- p.6 / Chapter 3. --- Variable description --- p.7 / Chapter 3.1 --- Measuring private benefits of control --- p.7 / Chapter 3.2 --- Ownership structure --- p.10 / Chapter 3.3 --- Firm characteristics --- p.11 / Chapter 3.4 --- Institutions --- p.13 / Chapter 4. --- Sample description --- p.15 / Chapter 5. --- Main empirical results --- p.16 / Chapter 5.1 --- Testing significance of private benefits of control --- p.16 / Chapter 5.2 --- Ownership structure, firm characteristics, and private benefits of control --- p.17 / Chapter 5.3 --- Institutions and private benefits of control --- p.18 / Chapter 5.4. --- Further evidence of tunneling --- p.19 / Chapter 6. --- Conclusion --- p.20 / References --- p.22 / Tables --- p.25 / Appendix --- p.35 / Chapter Chapter 2: --- An empirical analysis of herd behavior in the Chinese stock market --- p.41 / Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.41 / Chapter 2. --- Methodology and data --- p.46 / Chapter 3. --- Empirical results --- p.49 / Chapter 3.1 --- Dummy regression --- p.49 / Chapter 3.2 --- Nonlinearity in return dispersions and market return --- p.51 / Chapter 3.3 --- Investigating herd behavior in subsamples: the 2007 bubble period and 2008 global financial crisis period --- p.52 / Chapter 4. --- Further analysis: a quantile regression approach --- p.53 / Chapter 5. --- Conclusion --- p.55 / References --- p.57 / Tables --- p.60 / Appendix --- p.71 / Chapter Chapter 3: --- Price movement and volatility of the carbon market: evidence from Chicago Climate Exchange --- p.74 / Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.74 / Chapter 2. --- Related literature and background on carbon futures in the Chicago Climate Exchange --- p.75 / Chapter 2.1 --- Related literature --- p.76 / Chapter 2.2 --- Background on Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) --- p.79 / Chapter 3. --- Methodology and sample description --- p.80 / Chapter 3.1 --- Lo’s modified Rescaled Range (R/S) statistic --- p.80 / Chapter 3.2 --- The Fractionally Integrated GARCH (FIGARCH) model --- p.81 / Chapter 3.3 --- Sample description --- p.82 / Chapter 4. --- Empirical results --- p.82 / Chapter 4.1 --- Lo's modified R/S statistic test --- p.83 / Chapter 4.2 --- FIGARCH model --- p.84 / Chapter 5. --- Conclusion --- p.85 / References --- p.87 / Tables --- p.90 / Appendix --- p.95

This thesis represents the first comprehensive attempt at providing conceptual and scholarly coherence to the topic of stranded assets and the environment. Over the last five years the topic has risen up the agenda and has become of significant interest to scholars and practitioners alike, as it has influenced a number of pressing issues facing investors, companies, policymakers, regulators, and civil society in relation to global environmental change. The thesis reveals how the topic developed and emerged, notably through a unique first-person account based on autoethnography and close dialogue. Four self- contained papers demonstrate the wide applicability of stranded assets, and further existing, relatively well-developed literatures (namely carbon budgets and stranded costs) and also two much less developed literatures (namely the calibration of climate policy to minimise stranded assets and policy mechanisms to quickly and efficiently strand assets). Though a significant amount has been written on stranded assets over a short period, there remain significant gaps in the literature. The thesis identifies substantial research opportunities, particularly to better connect our understanding of physical and societal environment-related risks; to improve our knowledge of perception and behaviour in relation to the creation and management of stranded assets; to expand the scope of work into new sectors and geographies; and to place stranded assets in an appropriate historical perspective. Stranded assets is, if anything, a geographical concept. The thesis makes the case for economic geography as the disciplinary home for stranded assets. The sub-discipline can both contribute to the development of stranded assets as a scholarly endeavour and itself benefit from interacting with a topic that intersects with some of the most pressing contemporary issues related to environmental sustainability.