National energy security, parallel with the ultimate goal of emissions reductions, is of utmost priority for the Chinese government. In order to comply with the requirements set by the Kyoto Protocol, the Chinese government announced, on 25 November 2009, that 2020’s CO2 emissions would be...

Although solar and wind energy are most frequently cited in popular media and scholarly reports, biomass is the greatest current source of total renewable energy for the United States, as well as other leading nations. Top nations for total biomass production in 2012 were China, followed by the...

Overreliance on biomass energy, such as firewood and charcoal, for cooking in developing countries has contributed to high rates of deforestation and resulted in substantial indoor pollution which has negatively impacted the health of many individuals. However, the effectiveness of public...

This study investigates the contribution of forest carbon sequestration to a cost-efficient EU climate policy from 2010 to 2050 under conditions of uncertainty. We note that there is a trade-off between sequestration and alternative uses of forests such as bioenergy and timber production. A...

Forests play an important role in mitigating climate change. Forests can sequester carbon from the atmosphere and provide biomass, which can be used to substitute for fossil fuels or energy-intensive materials. International climate policies favor the use of wood to substitute for fossil fuels...

Farmer's decisions to invest in renewable energy sources can contribute to lower greenhouse gas and mitigate climate change. However, it remains unclear how associated high sunk establishment costs, long-term commitment, highly uncertain net returns, and policy induced incentives could drive...

The purpose of this paper is to investigate policy instruments for interdependent carbon pools and how they can be applied in the EU climate policy to 2050. Cost-effective policy instruments for forest products which are adjusted for the impact on carbon pools are identified. A numerical,...

The implementation in 2020 of binding national targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and use of renewable energy has increased the interest in biomass as a viable alternative to fossil fuels. Thus agriculture acquires a primary role for the reduction of CO2 but raises many issues: CBA,...

This report compares the approaches of the governments of Japan, Canada, and the European Union member countries toward using carbon sinks to meet their respective Kyoto Protocol carbon reduction targets. Various policies have been proposed by which governments can sequester carbon by promoting...

This document examines Finland’s policy on natural and environmental resource management. In many fields, progress has been made and pollution curbed. However, there is still room for improvement with regard to cost-effectiveness. Economic evaluation of the measures planned in various fields...