ALBERT

Description / Table of Contents: Since WEO-2008, the economic downturn has led to a drop in energy use, CO2 emissions and energy investment. Is this an opportunity to arrest climate change or a threat that any economic upturn might be stifled at birth? What package of commitments and measures should the climate negotiators at Copenhagen put together if they really want to stop global temperatures rising? How much would it cost? And how much might the developed world have to pay to finance action elsewhere? How big is the gas resource base and what is the typical pattern of production from a gas field? What does the unconventional gas boom in the United States mean for the rest of the world? Are we headed for a global gas glut? What role will gas play in the future energy mix? And how might the way gas is priced change? All these questions and many others are answered in WEO-2009. The data are extensive, the projections more detailed than ever and the analyses compelling.

Description / Table of Contents: This paper compares model estimates of national and sectoral GHG mitigation potential across six key OECD GHG-emitting economies: Australia, Canada, the EU, Japan, Mexico and the US. It examines the implications of model structure, baseline and policy assumptions, and assesses GHG mitigation potential estimates across a variety of models, including models that are used to inform climate policy-makers in each of these economies.

Description / Table of Contents: This report explores the effects of the EU emissions trading scheme on the aluminium sector (i.e. competitiveness loss and carbon leakage). With its very high electricity intensity, primary aluminium stands out in the heavy industry picture: a sector whose emissions are not capped in the present EU ETS, European aluminium smelters still stand to lose profit margins and, possibly, market shares, as electricity prices increase following CO2 caps on generators’ emissions - the famous pass-through of CO2 prices into electricity prices. The analysis includes a method of quantification of this issue, based on two indicators: profit margins and trade flows. As the EU is at the forefront of such policy, the paper provides policy messages to all countries on how trade exposed energy-intensive industries can be ‘moved’ by carbon constraint. This also is a contentious topic in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and the US, where ambitious climate policies – including cap-and-trade systems – are currently debated.

Description / Table of Contents: The IEA is undertaking a strategic inititive to improve global energy data and analysis by better incorporating energy sector methane emissions and recovery opportunities. The ultimate goal of this effort is to expand opportunities for cost-effective methane reductions from oil and natural gas facilities, landfills, and coal mines. Methane (CH4) is a hydrocarbon that is the primary component of natural gas. It is also a potent greenhouse gas(GHG), meaning that its presence in the atmosphere affects the earth’s temperature and climate system. As a result, efforts to reduce methane emissions by using methane for energy production can yield environmental, economic, and energy benefits.

Description / Table of Contents: This paper examines what “sustainable development policies and measures” (SD-PAMs) could be, and how they could be implemented and could fit into a post-2012 climate regime. This paper assumes that the option to implement SD-PAMs instead of quantified GHG emission commitments post-2012 is an option that would be likely to be only open to non-Annex I countries. There are several key, but unanswered, questions related to SD-PAMs. These include policy-related issues such as which countries could take on commitments to implement SD-PAMs (rather than quantified emission commitments)? Why would particular countries decide to take on such commitments? They also include questions related to how SD-PAMs could be implemented. For many other options for possible post-2012 GHG mitigation actions, including by non-Annex I countries, have also been proposed. However, this paper focuses solely on SD-PAMs.

Description / Table of Contents: The aim of this IEA Information Paper is to help policy makers and other stakeholders understand the challenges facing the incorporation of high efficiency combined heat and power (CHP) into greenhouse gas (GHG) Emissions Trading Schemes (ETSs) – and to propose options for overcoming them.

Description / Table of Contents: This paper offers a preliminary analysis of several scenarios for integration of sectoral approaches in international and national climate policy. We consider four broad types of sectoral approaches: • A global action, i.e. a unilateral move by industry to foster GHG improvements • A global agreement between industry and Parties to the UNFCCC • A series of national policies targeting a sector, with some intergovernmental co-ordination • A sectoral crediting mechanism whereby reductions recorded at a sector level may be eligible for emission credits

Description / Table of Contents: The environmental benefits of renewable energy are well known. But the contribution that they can make to energy security is less widely recognised. This report aims to redress the balance, showing how in electricity generation, heat supply, and transport, renewables can enhance energy security and suggesting policies that can optimise this contribution.

Description / Table of Contents: Climate change is a major challenge. Secure, reliable and affordable energy supplies are needed for economic growth, but increases in the associated carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are the cause of major concern. About 69% of all CO2 emissions, and 60% of all greenhouse gas emissions, are energy-related. Recent IEA analysis in Energy Technology Perspectives 2008 (ETP) projects that the CO2 emissions attributable to the energy sector will increase by 130% by 2050 in the absence of new policies or supply constraints, largely as a result of increased fossil fuel usage. The 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 4th Assessment Report indicates that such a rise in emissions could lead to a temperature increase in the range of 4-7°C, with major impacts on the environment and human activity. It is widely agreed that a halving of energy-related CO2 emissions is needed by 2050 to limit the expected temperature increase to less than 3 degrees. To achieve this will take an energy technology revolution involving increased energy effi ciency, increased renewable energies and nuclear power, and the decarbonisation of power generation from fossil fuels. The only technology available to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from large-scale fossil fuel usage is CO2 capture and storage (CCS). The ETP scenarios demonstrate that CCS will need to contribute nearly one-fi fth of the necessary emissions reductions to reduce global GHG emissions by 50% by 2050 at a reasonable cost. CCS is therefore essential to the achievement of deep emission cuts. Most of the major world economies recognise this, and have CCS technology development programmes designed to achieve commercial deployment. In fact, at the 2008 Hokkaido Toyako summit, the G8 countries endorsed the IEA’s recommendation that 20 large-scale CCS demonstration projects need to be committed by 2010, with a view to beginning broad deployment by 2020. Ministers specifi cally asked for an assessment by the IEA in 2010 of the implementation of these recommendations, as well as an assessment of progress towards accelerated deployment and commercialisation. Current spending and activity levels are nowhere near enough to achieve these deployment goals. CCS technology demonstration has been held back for a number of reasons. In particular, CCS technology costs have increased signifi cantly in the last 5 years. In the absence of suitable fi nancial mechanisms to support CCS, including signifi cant public and private funding for nearterm demonstrations and longer-term integration of CCS into GHG regulatory and incentive schemes, high costs have precluded the initiation of large-scale CCS projects. The regulatory framework necessary to support CCS projects also needs to be further developed. Despite important progress, especially in relation to international marine protection treaties, no country has yet developed the comprehensive, detailed legal and regulatory framework that is necessary effectively to govern the use of CCS. CCS is also poorly understood by the general public. As a result, there is a general lack of public support for CCS as compared to several other GHG mitigation options. This report attempts to address some of these issues by collecting the best global information about the cost and performance of CO2 capture, transport and storage technologies throughout the CCS project chain. Chapters 1-4 contain this information, and use it to conduct a scenario analysis of the role of CCS in climate change mitigation. Chapter 5 discusses the fi nancial incentive mechanisms that governments can use to provide both short- and long-term incentives for CCS. This chapter also contains an expansion and update of the 2007 IEA publication Legal Aspects of CO2 Storage: Updates and Recommendations and examines the current state of public awareness and acceptance of the relevant technologies. Chapter 6 includes a review of the status of CCS policies, research and demonstration programmes, and CO2 storage prospects for several regions and countries. Chapter 7 concludes with a proposed CCS roadmap that includes the necessary technical, political, fi nancial and international collaboration activities to enable CCS to make the contribution it needs to make to global GHG mitigation in the coming decades.

Description / Table of Contents: The world’s largest gas producer and exporter, Russia has an enormous energy saving potential. At least 30 billion cubic meters – a fifth of Russian exports to European OECD countries - could be saved every year by enhanced technology or energy efficiency. As the era of cheap gas in Russia comes to an end, this potential saving is increasingly important for Russians and importing countries. And as domestic gas prices increase, efficiency investments will become increasingly economic – not to mention the incentive for Gazprom to enhance its efficiency against a backdrop of high European gas prices. Optimising Russian Natural Gas: Reform and Climate Policy analyses and estimates the potential savings and the associated reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in the oil extraction (flaring), gas transmission and distribution sectors. Achieving these savings will require linking long-standing energy efficiency goals with energy sector reforms, as well as climate policy objectives. The book also describes Russia’s emerging climate policy and institutional framework, including work still ahead before the country is eligible for the Kyoto Protocol’s flexibility mechanisms and can attract financing for greenhouse gas reductions. Optimising Russian Natural Gas: Reform and Climate Policy stresses the need for Russia to tap the full potential of energy savings and greenhouse gas emission reductions through a more competitive environment in the gas sector to attract timely investments.