تشویق سیاست های کم کربن از طریق طرح انتشار تجاری محلی (LETS)

Local authorities are important actors to mitigate climate change. They can implement policies which can reduce emissions of greenhouse gases in sectors like transport, waste, agriculture and land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF). They can also implement policies which can increase carbon dioxide removals. The European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) is one of the most important initiatives to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the EU. It is a cap and trade scheme encompassing almost half of the European-wide carbon dioxide emissions. However, carbon dioxide removals and sectors associated with local authorities’ responsibilities are not included in the EU ETS. The main objective of this paper is to propose an original cap and trade system, called LETS, designed to involve local authorities. The LETS was then tested and applied to all the local authorities in the mainland of Portugal covering emissions and removals of a single greenhouse gas (carbon dioxide) in the LULUCF and the transport sectors. The system proved to have the necessary conditions to be implemented and adaptable to other country contexts.

Climate change is one of the most important threats to humanity. Human activities contribute to the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) and to the removal of these gases from the atmosphere. Therefore humanity has been singled out as responsible for a warming influence on the climate (IPCC, 2007). According to the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change ( Stern, 2007), overall, mitigation measures are likely to cost less than the damage caused by the effects of climate change in a business as usual scenario. The Kyoto Protocol defined commitments for 2010 on the reduction of greenhouse gases emitted by the most industrialized countries. Several European Union (EU) countries are facing difficulties to achieve their objectives. Under those objectives, EU must reduce the overall emissions by 8%, but 5 years before 2010 (the commitment period) the overall reductions were only around 2% ( Eurostat, 2008). Climate change is a global threat but local and individual actions are essential to mitigate it. In this article, we focus on the potentials of local policies on climate change. In the first place we discuss which local policies can mitigate climate change. Secondly, we analyze the EU policies on climate change and how they are linked to local approaches. Finally, we propose a cap and trade system to encourage local policies to reduce CO2 emissions and we study its application in respect of mainland Portugal.

The implementation of a cap and trade system among local authorities can be an important opportunity to encourage low carbon policies. The system is a clear alternative to conventional approaches. When a local authority decides to adopt CO2 emissions control policies in respect of the transport sector or wildfires, or decides to increase the removal capacity of forest areas, it collects the corresponding economic benefits. On the other hand, if it encourages or allows land use changes which reduce the municipal carbon removal capacity, it ends up being penalized. This local cap and trade system – LETS – is not without its difficulties, although the majority of these are likely to be satisfactorily overcome with perseverance and imagination. One such difficulty is the seeming complexity of the system for those not acquainted with cap and trade. With a responsive information and awareness campaign, we believe that the main and most influential local agents will be able to fully understand and support the operation of LETS. A second difficulty may be the lack of relevant statistical information. However, our case study illustrates how one can overcome the lack of information in one area, here in respect of harvested wood, by considering tree fellings as land use changes wherever a forest land use is abandoned. Finally, a third difficulty may rest on the argument that local authorities may not be convinced of the benefits of LETS, or, worse, the system might distract them from their principal role of defending local people’s interests and improving the quality of life and the local environmental and social conditions. To these local authorities, we would argue that the LETS offers a new form of financing projects or policies, with funds transferred from other local authorities which cannot or choose not to use them. Indeed, it is an instrument very much in line with the think global act local paradigm. In other words, LETS can be another way of contributing to the mitigation of climate change. It will not solve all climate change problems but can be an instrument, among many others, that, together, should be able to redirect current worrying trends and prospects.