Sebastian Thomas

Opportunities for Small-Scale Forestry in Carbon Markets

This paper presents an explanatory framework of how greenhouse gas emissions offsets produced from natural and planted forests (‘carbon forestry’) feature in voluntary and regulated carbon markets. An introduction to the convoluted policy malaise surrounding the use of forests in regulated carbon markets is also presented. Whilst there are many opportunities and potential benefits of using forests to produce offsets, relatively few carbon forestry projects currently exist, particularly in regulated carbon markets. This seems due to financial, institutional and administrative obstacles, with prohibitive transaction costs often cited as the most prominent constraint to expanded carbon forestry development. The papers in this special issue present a wide coverage of carbon forestry development policy issues. The special issue provides a unique insight into the state of carbon forestry globally and highlights the pressing need for policy and market reform to facilitate more sustainable carbon forestry development.

How geoengineering scenarios frame assumptions and create expectations

Geoengineering could remake environments and societies, and early governance can help to steer the development of technologies towards sustainable outcomes. In the absence of observational data, geoengineering research and discussions are increasingly informed by scenarios, which provide heuristic tools for ‘envisioning’ potential futures. Although designed for specific research goals, scenarios can have broader implications by influencing expectations about the societal role that emerging geoengineering technologies can play. Yet the design of geoengineering scenarios has gone largely unscrutinized. This study is a meta-analysis in which we evaluate geoengineering scenarios from the literature to identify emerging expectations and assess these in the context of sustainability science. We find that geoengineering scenarios can be classified into three types based on purpose and use: for scientific knowledge-building; as ‘structured conversation’ starters; or as exploratory research tools. The first category dominates the literature; these scenarios stem from physical science disciplines where scientific tradition dictates simplification and standardization, both of which may provide misleading images of the future and therefore hinder robust decision-making. In contrast, scenarios used as exploratory tools depict not one single image of why and how geoengineering might evolve, but many. Analysis of these exploratory scenarios reveal expectations that a geoengineered future may hinge on at least four key elements—the potential for a universal geoengineering agreement, public perceptions of geoengineering, technical controllability, and the severity of climate impacts. These elements were not studied in the scientific knowledge-building scenarios, suggesting the need for an additional category of scenarios. Aligning with concepts of sustainability science, new geoengineering scenario exercises would merge participatory practices of exploratory scenarios with deterministic practices of technical scientific scenarios.

Millennium development goals and clean development: synergies in the Pacific

This paper addresses synergies between the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), and considers how the CDM can facilitate the MDGs in Pacific Island Countries (PICs). To date, only 6 CDM projects have been registered in PICs, highlighting the ‘lose-lose’ business case that applies to this type of project development. This paper identifies constraints on and opportunities for CDM project development in PICs, and proposes a range of specific policy reform measures that could alter existing negative investment profiles. Key findings are that small-scale agricultural projects providing renewable energy from existing sources of biomass (currently seen as waste) are ideal candidates for CDM investment in PICs, and that the single most important reform to facilitate CDM activity and contribute to achieving the MDGs would be the implementation of a regional approach to CDM administration, in which a regional body became the designated CDM Authority for all states in the region. This would offset investment risk, improve governance transparency, and facilitate a targeted approach to sustainable development activities in the Pacific region.

Ecosystem Approaches to Community Health and Wellbeing: Towards an Integrated Australian Governance Framework in Response to Global Environmental Change

Delay is a luxury that Australia... can no longer afford... the world is rapidly approaching points at which high risks of dangerous climate change are no longer avoidable... Our location makes us already a hot and dry country. We live in a region of developing countries, which are in a weaker position to adapt to climate change than wealthy countries, and their problems will become our[s] (Garnaut 2008a, p. 1).

Value propositions of energy storage options for wind power output smoothing

Energy Storage Systems (ESS) provide a solution allowing higher levels of Renewable Energy (RE) integration into electricity systems, as the intermittency of RE power output can be addressed with storage solutions. This paper evaluates the value propositions of commercially available ESS for wind farms in Australia, focusing on power applications as a relevant market segment of the energy storage industry. Specifically, the ESS application analyzed in this paper is wind farm power output smoothing. First, a general techno-economic model is developed which considers the technical, economic, and regulatory aspects pertaining to ESS and wind farm connections. This model is then used to compare five technological ESS alternatives for meeting technical requirements associated with the wind farm operation. The comparison is performed using an Australian wind farm as a case study. The analysis shows that along with the investment costs of an ESS technology, the regulatory framework is a pivotal factor governing the value proposition of an ESS.