Course:ECON371/UBCO2024WT1/NewsWiki/Group6

1. EU Failing to Deal With Illegal Fishing Problem

Problem

Overfishing is a common issue within our society and can have major impacts on the environment. In this case, overfishing is caused by an open access problem as the rules in force are non-existent leaving consumers to fish however they please without communication up until the point of 0 profit.

Summary

EU's sea has experienced great amounts of overfishing and the EU Court of Justice will not enforce illegal fishing rules to prevent this challenge. Campaigners believe that the EU was creating a mockery of the rules since they were keeping the audit from legal cases against their fishing restrictions. The main problem with the illegal rules not being in place is that these fishers are either under-reporting their catches or purely just throwing the fish back into the sea after harming them. The restrictions on fishing are meant to protect the population and the EU has come out with many ideas to help but has disregarded them all with no explanation. This has raised many red flags from environmental campaigners as the EU is also not recognizing the common agricultural policy when they become transparent with their audit reports.

Economic concepts

1. Sustainability refers to the act of protecting existing ecosystems and organisms so that future generations are as well off as the current one. Sustainability can involve taking actions to prevent negative changes in the environment such as species extinction, the worsening of climate change, or groundwater contamination. A simple example of a sustainable solution is replanting trees that were cut down due to deforestation.

Prof: Within the context of our course, sustainability refers to the choices being made by the current generation not adversely affecting the ability of future generations to achieve a standard of living at least as high as enjoyed by the current generation. Whether or not that requires protecting existing ecosystems isn't obvious.

1. Open Access refers to a resource that anyone can use but the cost of the resource is shared by everyone. Due to this resource being non-excludable, it often results in depletion, a situation called the "Tragedy of the Commons". An example of an open access resource is a public or community garden. People can take vegetables from the garden but as soon as there is no more food left, everyone suffers from the loss.

Application of concepts

1. Too many fishing vessels in the EU are not practicing sustainable fishing techniques. Many fishing vessels are choosing to overfish or release dead fish back into the ocean. Overfishing is causing the extirpation of fish in certain areas in the EU and leaves affected ecosystems vulnerable to collapse due to affects on the food chain. This unsustainable fishing practice will result in less fish being caught and can cause market failure in the fishing industry. A sustainable solution to overfishing in the EU would be heavy fines on fishing vessels who choose to violate fishing regulations, a limit on the number of boats who can fish, or a ban on fishing in certain areas with ecosystems at risk of collapse. However, for any of these solutions to happen, EU policy makers must provide a way of enforcement that incentivizes fisheries to adhere to their fishing laws.

Prof: Sustainability here would be a question of managing the fishery in such a way that future generations are not deprived of the ability to catch fish. Overfishing is driving down the stock of fish such that it is unable to sustain the same level of catch in the future. Policies, as you describe, are typically necessary to reduce the amount of effort being put into fishing.

1. Since the fisheries in the EU are open access, the EU must find a suitable way to prevent the depletion of fish in their waters. This can occur through the EU requiring fisheries to have a permit to fish in certain areas, officers patrolling the waters for vessels who are over-catching, or other ways of enforcement. Open access resources are generally unsustainable due to people using the resource faster than it can regenerate the good being used. If rules and regulations with enforcement are not being enacted, the fishing industry in the EU could collapse and the economic sector of fishing may also face shortages.

Prof: As noted above, the problem is open access, when it comes to the amount of fishing effort that takes place. The issue highlighted by the article seems to be a problem with coordination between the involved nations, when it comes to actually achieving a sustainable fishery. Specifically, reference to transparency, as it is seen that achieving sustainability will require publics to know to what extent fishing fleets are behaving appropriately.

Conclusion

While the EU has tried to enact fishing regulations to protect open access underwater ecosystems, these regulations are not being enforced and so they are not working. Fishing vessels are catching too many fish or throwing dead fish back in to the water causing pollution and extirpation of fish species. This is an unsustainable practice that will ultimately lead to the disappearance of fish and the collapse of the EU's fishing industry. The EU must find a way to monitor the amount of fish that fishing vessels are taking in or everyone will face the consequence of resource depletion.

Source

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/sep/06/eu-failing-to-enforce-fishing-rules-say-campaigners

2. Manitoba Group wants Lake Winnipeg Declared a Living Being

Link

https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/manitoba-group-wants-lake-winnipeg-declared-a-living-being-1.7044712

Problem

The Southern Chiefs' Organization (SCO) is stating that Lake Winnipeg is being damaged by Manitoba Hydro and the province of Manitoba. The lake is artificially controlled, causing negative impacts on fish populations and degradation to the lake's surrounding environment.

Summary

To combat environmental degradation in the marshlands around Lake Winnipeg and to protect the fish population, SCO is launching a Charter challenge to have Lake Winnipeg declared a living being. The fish in Lake Winnipeg are declining in number due to the fluctuation in water level, thus disturbing their spawning patterns. The province of Manitoba and Manitoba Hydro are responsible for the inflow and outflow of the lake. Declaring the lake as a living being would allow a group to govern the lake and put in place protective measures for environmental conservation. SCO also says that the Manitoba government signed a treaty that stated all parties have a responsibility to protect Lake Winnipeg which SCO says the Manitoba government is not upholding. Furthermore, SCO states there has not been an environmental assessment done on the lake in 50 years and is asking the government to perform one as soon as possible and have future assessments performed sporadically and more frequently. SCO wants Lake Winnipeg to be treated respectfully which is not happening under the authority of the Manitoba government. At this time, spokesmen from the Manitoba government and Manitoba Hydro have refused to comment.

Economic concepts

1. Use Value refers to the worth of a good or service based on its utility or practical use to the user. It represents how beneficial a product could be in fulfilling a need or want. For example, the use value of a car is its ability to provide transportation.
2. Open Access refers to resources or property that are available for unrestricted use by anyone, without exclusive ownership or regulated access. This often applies to public goods like air, oceans, or public land, where no one individual or group has the legal right to exclude others from using the resource. While open access can promote shared use and availability, it can also lead to overuse and depletion.

Application of concepts

1. Use Value: For the communities around Lake Winnipeg, including First Nations and local residents, the lake has significant use value. It provides essential resources such as fish for sustenance, recreational activities like boating and swimming, and supports cultural practices and traditions, particularly for Indigenous peoples who have relied on the lake for generations. For Manitoba Hydro, the lake’s use value lies in its role as a reservoir that supports hydroelectric generation, a critical function for the province’s energy supply.
2. Open Access: As an open-access resource, Lake Winnipeg is available for multiple, often competing uses without exclusive ownership. This includes fishing, recreational activities, and hydroelectric operations. While open access allows broad usage, it can also lead to challenges, such as overfishing, water pollution, and ecological degradation. This means that without coordinated management and regulation, the lake’s health and sustainability could be compromised, affecting all users and the ecological systems around it.

Prof: Both of these concepts are issues here. An interesting additional topic, central to the article, is the contrast between anthropocentric values and things like intrinsic value. Of course, when you wrote this, we had not talked much about such issues.

Conclusion

Lake Winnipeg’s survival is crucial for the province of Manitoba, as well as being important for the people living in communities around the lake. It is important to understand that the responsibility to protect the lake is shared between everyone who uses the lake, which is not necessarily the case at the moment. The SCO’s move to declare the lake as a living being, will allow the lake to be more protected, allowing for a more sustainable future. The lake must be protected in a way that allows all parties to benefit from it in the future. This means that the province of Manitoba should still be able to use the lake to help generate hydroelectric energy, while sustaining the lake, so that local communities are able to use it as part of their way of life.

3. Picture of 4,000 Dead Birds in Toronto wins International Photography Award

Link

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/bird-photographer-of-the-year-2024-1.7332480

Problem

Due to the high-reflectivity of the skyscraper windows in Toronto, many birds have died by collided with the buildings. The charity, Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP), helps injured birds from these collisions and they have recorded 331,718 bird collisions in North America.

Summary

Patricia Homonylo, a conservation photographer, won an award for a photograph they took that included 4,000 birds who died preventable deaths by running into buildings. Environment Canada estimates a maximum of 42 million birds die by colliding with windows nation-wide. Another study found that 40% of birds that get injured this way survive. Many conservation groups intend to mitigate this preventable issue but advocating for bylaws that make companies use materials that reduce the reflectivity of glass windows on all new towers. FLAP is urging Canadians to show their support by urging lawmakers to pass legislation that supports bird-safe building standards.

Economic Concepts

1. Negative Externality- when a third-party that is not involved in economic decision-making is affected. Externalities can be positive or negative. A basic example of an externality is when someone plants a flower bed in your neighbourhood, a positive externality to the neighbourhood is that it makes the neighbourhood look aesthetically pleasing to others.
2. Safety Standard Policy Goals- this kind of policy involves the protection of basic rights and attempts to ensure that nobody is exposed to more than a certain level of danger. A basic example of a safety standard policy goal is when workplaces make workers wear steal toe boots or hard hats to prevent injury on the job.

Application of Concepts

1. Negative Externality: in this article, a negative externality is being imposed on the birds who live in Toronto. The birds act as the third-party who are being put at risk due to developers using high reflectivity windows.
2. Safety Standard Policy Goals: To improve the safety for birds in Toronto, a policy should be put in place for developers to use a specific product on the windows to make them less reflective. This will prevent, or at least reduce the chance of, bird deaths due to colliding with buildings.

Conclusion

This issue in Toronto deserves attention and Patricia Homonylo is doing their best to do raise awareness. To prevent a negative externality to these birds, a safety standard policy can be put in place. This preventative issue is an ongoing environmental issues that has come about due to human activity and it is up to humans to solve this issue.

Prof's Comments

A bit brief. Economics is fundamentally anthropocentric. Thus, the externality is not so much something experienced by the birds, but by the people who care about birds. This of course isn't to say that birds don't have value in themselves, but that economic analysis does not look at it this way. If a standard is imposed, such as requiring low reflectivity windows, then this is a rule that may not be efficient. We don't have an obvious measure of the willingness to pay for reducing bird deaths against the cost of reducing bird deaths. However, as discussed in the text, the process of arriving at a standard, which involves lobbying by people for and against the standard, does have an aspect of public engagement - democracy - that a cost-benefit analysis does not have. People can present the case as one of concern for the birds and convince other people to care about birds, which is not possible when one states a willingness to pay in something like a contingent valuation survey.

4. Swiss glaciers are receding again after 2 punishing years and despite a good start to 2024

Link

https://apnews.com/article/switzerland-glacier-melt-2024-climate-change-57afa74ffc3a95d02ce1ddb38db4e9af

Problem

Shrinking glaciers in Switzerland are becoming a more known issue. Switzerland has more glaciers than any other country in Europe, and last year 4% of its total glacier volume vanished. In addition to a 6% reduction in 2022, which was the second-largest decline in a single year. These types of melting glaciers contribute to rising sea levels, which raise the storm surge making disasters like hurricanes more frequent and powerful due to the warmer air and ocean temperatures.

Prof: The glaciers in Switzerland hold very little water, relative to Greenland and Antarctica. Their contribution to sea level rise is minimal. Their astonishing rate of loss is an indicator though of the impacts of climate change that are happening around the world.

Summary

Following a catastrophic two-year run that reduced the ice by more than 10%, scientific experts revealed on Tuesday that the volume of Switzerland's glaciers decreased once more this summer, due to the adverse effects of climate change. High temperatures in July and August, along with the heat-absorbing effect of reddish-yellow dust blown northward from the Sahara Desert onto Swiss glaciers, caused a 2.5% loss of volume this year, according to the cryosphere observation team at the Swiss Academy of Sciences. Over half of the glaciers under the observation of the Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland network, or GLAMOS, lost all of their snow cover during the summer. Switzerland has more glaciers than any other country in Europe, and last year, 4% of its total glacier volume vanished. In addition to a 6% reduction in 2022, that was the second-largest decline in a single year.

Economic Concepts

1. Externalities: The melting of glaciers is an example of a negative externality, where the actions of individuals and industries contribute to climate change, affecting third parties (e.g., communities, ecosystems) who do not directly participate in those activities. The impact of rising sea levels and increased storm surges represents a cost borne by society that is not reflected in market prices.
2. Public Goods: Glaciers and the services they provide, such as freshwater supply, biodiversity, and climate regulation, can be considered public goods. They are non-excludable (everyone can benefit from them) and non-rivalrous (one person's use does not diminish another's). The degradation of these resources can lead to challenges in their management and conservation.

Application of Concepts

1. The melting of glaciers is largely driven by climate change, which is often caused by greenhouse gas emissions from industries, transportation, and energy production. These emissions contribute to global warming, leading to the accelerated melting of glaciers. The costs associated with this melting—such as rising sea levels, increased flooding, loss of freshwater resources, and damage to ecosystems—are borne by society as a whole rather than by the emitters of greenhouse gases. Prof: The emissions from burning fossil fuels lead to a cost that is almost entirely borne by people who did not decide how much fuel to burn, hence the externality.
2. As glaciers melt, the services they provide diminish, which can have far-reaching implications. The reduction in freshwater availability affects agricultural practices, drinking water supplies, and hydropower generation, impacting economies and communities that depend on these resources. Prof: What is it about the glacier and the services it provides that is non-excludable and non-rival? The examples, irrigation, drinking water, hydro power, are all rival. One person's use of water means it isn't available for anyone else. Even non-excludability is unclear. The extraction of water for the uses described is most likely licensed, under a regime of regulations that forbids people using water without a license. Biodiversity, which you mention in your conclusion, has more characteristics of a public good. Is the loss of the glaciers having a significant impact on biodiversity?

Conclusion

The trend of shrinking glaciers in Switzerland highlights an significant environmental issue caused by climate change, showing the complex relationship between human activities, economic concepts, and natural resources. Switzerland, home to more glaciers than any other country in Europe, has seen a massive decline, losing 4% of its total glacier volume last year, following a 6% reduction in 2022. This decline has serious implications beyond the beautiful alpine views. Rising temperatures, largely driven by human choices, not only accelerate glacier melting but also contribute to rising sea levels and increased damage from storm surges. These changes create negative externalities that affect communities, ecosystems, and economies around the world. Glaciers provide essential services like freshwater supply, biodiversity, and climate regulation. Resources that benefit everyone but are at risk due to climate damage. This situation emphasizes the urgent need for action to tackle the root causes of this problem. With more than half of the monitored glaciers losing all their snow cover, managing and conserving these vital resources becomes increasingly urgent. Effective policies are necessary to promote sustainable practices and ensure fair access to resources. The issue of melting glaciers is not just an environmental concern, it poses a significant economic challenge that requires strategies to protect these invaluable resources and secure a sustainable future for generations to come.

5. Alberta's Squeeze on renewable energy has pushed investment to other provinces

1. Source
   1. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/solar-wind-investment-alberta-1.7360677
2. Problem
   • Energy companies who want to invest in solar or wind energy projects in Alberta are experiencing uncertainty and push back form the province in wake of a moratorium imposed on large scale wind and solar energy projects. As a result, companies are moving their investments elsewhere to other Canadian provinces where they think their investment will be more successful.

1. Summary
   •   A moratorium on large wind and solar projects was lifted 8 months ago but companies looking to invest in clean energy projects in Alberta are still experiencing push back and uncertainty. Investment unpredictability is growing stronger as Alberta starts to restructure its electricity system. The article explains that when companies experience uncertainty, they are less likely to invest in the project and begin to look elsewhere where they think their investment has more worth and certainty. As a result, many companies who wanted to invest in Alberta's energy sector have turned to investing in other provinces such as Ontario, B.C, and the Saskatchewan. Several of the sources from the article explain that Alberta has no market for solar or wind farms or that Alberta is closed off from investing in these types of renewable energy. A few years ago, Alberta was leading the country in wind and solar energy projects due to its abundance of sunlight and strong winds. However, after the province chose to pause all of these projects until an analysis of how these projects affect the agricultural industry, the environment, pleasing landscapes, and municipalities, investment has severely dropped.
2. Economic concepts
   1. Renewable Resources: materials from the ecological environment that mankind uses for our own developmental purposes that reproduce themselves in a reasonable amount of time. Renewable resources do not take a long to time to produce once used or can be reused and so they are more sustainable than non-renewable resources. Examples of this kind of resource would be solar energy, wind farms, biomass, or geothermal since these are all thinks that can regenerate within one thousand years.
   2. Non-renewable resources: materials from the environment used for human development that do not reproduce themselves at all or take extended periods of time, usually more than one thousand years) to produce. These resources are not as sustainable as renewable resources because they may become depleted if people are using them faster than they can be produced and they are being used improperly. Oil and gas extracted form the ground is the primary examples of a non renewable energy source since it take thousands of years for oil and gas to reproduce however it is being extracted from the ground everyday and underlies the globes energy sector. Supply is said to be fixed since it takes so long to be regenerated.
3. Application of concepts
   • Companies in the article want to invest in renewable energy sources in Alberta (solar and wind energy). However, policies put in place by the government are making it difficult for these investments to occur. Alberta is widely known for its economy powered by the fossil fuel industry and therefore policies reflect the importance of this industry. However, fossil fuels are a nonrenewable resource that simply will not regenerate fast enough to be sustainable. Future generations will not be better off based on how fossil fuels are being inefficiently used present-day. The fossil fuel industry in Alberta is also responsible for much of the job supply in the province and therefore when there is talk of shifting away from the fossil fuels, many become apprehensive of losing their quality of life. Others argue that solar and wind farms have their own environmental impacts just like fossil fuels, however these renewable energy sources will have less environmental impacts in the long run than fossil fuel extraction and use. For this reason, investment in solar and wind farms in Alberta are important for the concepts of sustainability, safety, and efficiency because the the continuous depletion of fossil fuel resources will not benefit future generations. Renewable resources will provide a cleaner energy sector for Alberta but this cannot happen until the government gets on board with the renewable energy movement.
4. Conclusion
   • As discussed in the article, renewable energy projects are important to endorse. Alberta is not doing this for several reasons but its participation in creating uncertainty for clean energy investments is prohibiting a shift from nonrenewable resource use to renewable resource use. Alberta's fossil fuel industry on not sustainable in the long-run since it is supported only be extraction of a resource that take thousands of years to be regenerated and thus investment in clean energy must be prioritized.

Prof: There are two other concepts that I see standing out in this article. One would be broadly dynamic efficiency, and within that discounting and risk. Firms are seeking to maximize the present value of their investments. Investing in renewable energy in Alberta right now carries a lot of risk related to a changing policy environment. Too offset this risk, investors will look for a higher rate of return, and if they cannot find that higher rate of return, they will look to invest elsewhere. The article clearly describes this investor response.

A second concept that stands out for me is sustainability, particularly the notion of weak sustainability. Electricity from renewable sources is a substitute for electricity from fossil fuel sources. Within the category of capital that produces electricity, there is clearly substitution possible. The economic perspective on sustainability held that we are sustainable when the total value of all stocks of capital was not decreasing. The stock of fossil fuel capital is decreasing as we use it, and therefore being sustainable would mean investing in alternative capital, which here would be renewable energy infrastructure. Alberta's policy situation means that this investment is not taking place.

6. World Way Off Target in Tackling Climate Change- UN

1. Source
   1. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce8yyle2eq2o
2. Problem
   • In this article, the Un states that the world is drastically behind in their plans to reach net-zero carbon in 2050. The article says that if the countries refuse to implement and follow plans, it will not be possible to keep warming under 1.5°C this century.
3. Summary
   • Scientists say that to reach net-zero carbon by 2050, a 43% reduction in emissions is needed and countries' current proposed plans only have impacts that sum to a 2.6% in reduced emissions. Greenhouses gasses have risen by 11% over the past two decades causing atmospheric concentrations to continue to skyrocket, thus furthering the conclusion that countries are not doing enough. Furthermore, due to forest loss through the globe, plants are unable to soak up carbon efficiently, exacerbating the issue. Dr. Oksana Tarasova from the World Meteorological Organization says that an increase in air temperature cause air circulation patterns to change allowing for less precipitation and less uptake of CO2. This is causing a climate feedback in which rising temperatures act on natural systems to exacerbate warming causes. If oceans and forests are unable to efficiently soak up CO2, negative climate effects may be magnified. The UN claims that if warming rises above 1.5°C, catastrophic outcomes will ensure for people all over the globe including economic damages and livelihood impacts. Due to these disappointing findings, the UN is expecting countries to implement new, stronger, and more aggressive plans by spring 2024 and guidance for doing this will be provided at the UN climate crisis being held in November 2024. The UN executive secretary of UN climate change states that though the findings are difficult to grapple with, they are not surprising.
4. Economic concepts
   1. Safety Standard: emphasizes keeping pollution amounts and emissions to a level that ensures no one is exposed to more than a certain level of hazard. This standard places a large emphasis on human health and argues that one has the right from unsolicited health damage. According to the traditional economic framework, this standard can only be upheld if benefits are greater than costs. Although safety standards prioritize the absence of significant risk to someone's wellbeing, if some level of danger must be accept, it does not mean the safety standard is abandoned.
   2. Sink: act as a repository for waste material which results in pollution when overused. Overusing sinks causes resource depletion, environmental degradation, and the over harvesting of natural capital since sinks should be able to absorb pollution but fail to when exploited.
5. Application of concepts
   • Scientists are setting a safety standard when they state the warming of the Earth should be kept below 1.5°C. This standard is partly in the interest of protecting the environment but is more so motivated by the desire to minimize negative health effects to humans. The article mentions that if warming exceeds 1.5°C, detrimental effects to the economy and to mankind's livelihood will ensure rather than discussing the effects of warming to sea levels or animal habitats. This standard focuses on reducing the cost of health damages to humans rather than reducing costs of depleting resources making them unable to be used by future generations, a sustainability standard. Furthermore, the article mentions that due to over-pollution, forests will no longer be able to act as environmental sinks. Forests are usually able to absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide, one of the main greenhouse gasses. However, due to human practices like clear cutting or human-caused events like forest fires, forests are losing their ability to absorb carbon and thus CO2 is building up in the atmospheres causing warming and climate change.
6. Conclusion
   • To prevent amplifying the effects of climate change and to reach net-zero carbon by 2050, the UN wants countries to create better plans to reduce their emissions. The goal be net-zero carbon and to keep the warming of the Earth's surface under 1.5°C, is becoming less attainable due to current plans in place and the fact that environmental sinks are being depleted. The success of the safety standards desired by the UN will not be achievable if countries do not enact more aggressive emission reduction targets and thus scientists are becoming more concerned.

Prof: I see two concepts that we have talked about standing out here. The first is the impacts of open access. The global atmosphere is an open access sink into which everyone dumps their GHG waste. This sink has a certain capacity to assimilate that waste without leading to climate change. As it is open access, each nation has an incentive to dump more waste into the sink than its fair share should the sink's assimilative capacity be respected. This is clearly not happening, emphasizing that voluntary restraint has so far been insufficient to protect this open access resource.

A second thing I see is that the renewable resource aspect of the atmosphere - it is able to assimilate GHG waste - is not constant. If we use our renewable resource model, we have that

S(t+1) = S(t) - H(t) + G[S(t) - H(t)]

In this context, harvest is the amount of GHG waste being dumped into the atmosphere, and G[] is the amount of GHG waste that is assimilated. Properly then, we could write this as

S(t+1) = S(t) + E(t) - G[S(t) + E(t)]

where E(t) is emissions at time t. What is interesting here is that it seems like the ability of the atmosphere to assimilate our GHG waste is going down as the level of GHGs in the atmosphere is going up. In the article evidence that forests are loosing their ability to act as carbon sinks as the temperature warms. If this proves to be true, then we can't count on as much help from the natural systems to deal with our GHG waste, meaning that to prevent more extreme climate change, we would need to reduce emissions even faster than currently seen as necessary.

7. Canada to unveil long-awaited plan for emissions cap on oil and gas sector

1. Source
   • https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/canada-unveil-proposed-emissions-cap-oil-gas-sector-monday-2024-11-03/
2. Problem
   • Canada's Liberal government wants to cut emission levels of Canada's energy industry using a cap-and-trade system which the oil and gas industry, specifically Alberta, is opposed to since it will cause detrimental impacts to its labor force and economy.
3. Summary
   • Canada's highest-polluting sector is the energy industry and the Liberal government wants them to cut emissions to 37% below 2022 levels by 2030. Canada will be releasing its plan to cap greenhouse gas emissions from the oil and gas sector to curve increasing pollution levels. The government of Alberta is pushing back on the policy implementation claiming that it will cost the province 150,000 jobs and cut GDP by $720 billion. Hermine Landry, a spokeswoman for Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, says the imposition of a cap-and-trade system will recognize better-performing companies and give firms that pollute more incentive to invest in reducing pollution. Landry claims the cap-and-trade system is to restrict pollution and not production which fossil fuel companies disagree with. These policies may not come into effect however as the next federal election comes up in a year. The conservative government is favoured to overtake the liberal government and is promising to scrap the federal carbon tax. Lastly, the Keith Stewart, a member of Greenpeace, says oil companies must do better in cutting their emissions and the federal government is responsible to motivate the fossil fuel sector to do so.
4. Economic concepts
   1. Cap-and-trade system: a type of policy that consists of exchangeable or sellable permits. These permits specify a certain level of emissions that can be emitted by a polluter and these restrictions act as a "cap" or a ceiling for companies that they are not allowed to exceed. Permits are issued by the government and they place a price on pollution which increases the price of "dirty" fuels. This method requires high monitoring and transaction costs since companies must be held accountable for exceeding the cap for this system to be effective. A simple example of a cap-and-trade system is when the government sets a cap on emissions in the fossil fuel industry and a company exceeds the cap. That company can then buy credits or permits from another company that did not exceed the cap.
   2. Incentive-Based Regulation: policies that are based on encouraging firms to do something. Usually, the government desires to incentivize firms to implement new technologies to lower pollution-control costs and so they implement policies and regulation that encourage them to do so. However, it requires monitoring and enforcement and thus can be costly or inaccurate due to information asymmetry between the firm and the government. This type of regulation includes pollution taxes and cap-and-trade regulation. A simple example of incentive-based regulation is teachers handing out candy if a student does their homework. The student is incentivized to complete their homework because they know they will receive an award. Prof: So is this a hint that I should be bringing candy to class?
5. Application of concepts
   • The government wants to place a cap-and-trade regulation on Canada's oil and gas sector that will recognize companies who successfully reduce emission and incentivize forms to spend resources on pollution-reducing projects. The regulation aims to cap emission but not production meaning firms must find a way to keep producing at the current rate but with lower emissions. However, firms in Alberta claim the regulation will cause price volatility, cost the province 150,000 jobs and will create a loss of $720 billion in GDP. This cap-and-trade system is an example of incentive-based regulation as it relies on incentives to make oil and gas firms reduce their emissions 37% below 2022 levels by 2030. Conversely, fossil fuel firms in Alberta claim that the cap system will cause firms to cut production, therefore raising oil prices, instead of incentivizing them to invest in carbon capture and carbon storage technology. Whether the proposed cap will be implemented will depend on the next federal election since the cap proposal is from the liberal party, the current government in power, however the conservative party, a group with close ties to the fossil fuel industry, is favoured to win the next election which will jeopardize the cap-and-trade policies success. Prof: A central issue here is the potential for innovations that reduce emissions per unit of fossil fuel produced. Note that the cap applies to emissions from the fossil fuel industry operations, not those embodied in the products they sell. If there are no opportunities to reduce the emissions per barrel produced, then it would be a production cap. The suggestion that this will reduce investment in carbon capture and storage is confusing. If this is in fact a technology that can be effectively implemented, then this cap would create an incentive to invest in CCS, thereby reducing emissions. It is perhaps to be taken as a revelation that CCS is not seen by the fossil fuel industry or by the Alberta government as actually a cost effective way to reduce emissions. Rather, it is only a solution for Alberta and the fossil fuel industry if most of it is paid for by the public at large.
6. Conclusion
   • The cap-and-trade system and incentive-based policies in theory seem like great approaches however, they have their practical drawbacks. The government is arguing the cap-and-trade system will incentivize firms to reduce their emissions while still producing the same amounts but the affected firms argue that the cap system will only hurt production and drive up costs. The only way firms will cut emissions however, is if the government imposes hard limits on their emissions.

8. 5 deceptive ways the fossil fuel industry is trying to co-opt climate talks

• Source
  • https://www.fastcompany.com/91231817/5-deceptive-ways-the-fossil-fuel-industry-is-trying-to-co-opt-climate-talks
• Problem
  • Fossil fuel companies continue to send representatives to climate meetings to defend the oil and gas industry (OGI) which is threatening to drown out the voice of climate advocates.
• Summary
  • The article provides five ways in which fossil fuel industry representatives are attempting to defend the OGI's contribution to the climate change crisis. Firstly, OGIs send large numbers of lobbyists to climate summits to advocate for their company. In this article, the author talks about the COP29 summit where there were 1,773 fossil fuel lobbyists where as the 10 most climate-vulnerable countries had 1,033 delegates combined. The second strategy of OGIs is that they obtain high-level access to speaking opportunities to foster support for fossil fuels. If OGI representatives are able to speak at climate events to spread information about why the fossil fuel reliance should be strengthened rather than opposed, climate narratives will be negatively affected. Thirdly, OGIs refuse to pay or fund lower income countries to mitigate loss and damages driven by the fossil fuel industry. Fourth, OGIs use the climate crisis and the need for the fossil fuel industry to move towards cleaner technology to generate income. Fossil fuel companies demand the government to provide them with subsidies for clean technology transitions ad incentive. Lastly, OGIs use greenwashing, attention diversion, and conversation hijacking to push their own agendas. Information from OGIs is twisted to look like it is helping the environment such as the author's example that fossil fuel companies will claim they use the "cleanest of the hydrocarbons" which is natural gas supposedly. These are the five ways in which the article claims OGIs are attempting to shift the conversations away from sustainable solutions to preserving the current inefficient practices of the fossil fuel sector.
• Economic concepts
  • Opportunity for political influence: refers to the amount of influence that political parties have on determining policies. Traditional progressives tend to view the government as capable of promoting environmental activism in the interest of the people. Traditional conservatives however, view government intervention as a downfall that in unfortunately required and argue for as little involvement as possible which strengthens free market capitalism and the pursuits of big businesses.
  • Sustainable Business: businesses can choose to view environmental problems as a profit opportunity to reduce emissions and cut costs. This can be brought about by risk reduction of legal liabilities, resource savings since pollution is often a sign of waste, and foster a culture of innovation for clean technology. Prof: We have spoken in class about nonrenewable resources and the rent that is generated because the resource is scarce. Fossil fuel companies, and the countries that they operate in, capture these rents. Ideally, governments that capture a share of these rents use them for the good of the people in the country. We also talked about a backstop technology, a technology that is available in very large quantities at a constant marginal cost. The backstop technology is the renewable technology that is supposed to replace fossil fuels. Efforts to reduce GHG emissions are efforts to lower the cost of the backstop and/or increase the cost of using fossil fuels.If efforts to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels are successful, the profit will be taken out of fossil fuels. Fossil fuel interests are therefore investing resources in efforts like lobbying to slow the rate at which this transition occurs and/or be paid to be part of the transition.I would like to see concepts related to these issues, such as cost to firms of regulations, backstop technologies, nonrenewable resources, etc. These we have talked about in class.
• Application of concepts
  • Oil and Gas companies used the COP29 conference to further their political influence to protect the fossil fuel industry. They used their strength in numbers to protect the oil and gas industry from being held accountable for their emissions and lack of motivation to incorporate clean technologies into production thus driving down pollution. Oil and Gas companies do seem to desire the sustainable business model in terms of profit potential but only in the way of retaining subsidies for inventing clean technologies from the government. Top be a sustainable business, companies must actually be willing to use their profits for climate action and not just take advantage of government subsidy programs.
• Conclusion
  • In conclusion, fossil fuel industries are using their platforms to further their own agendas and not for climate actions. The fossil fuel industry is the main contributor to climate change and therefore, for real progress to be made, these big businesses must be willing to cooperate and incorporate the sustainable business model.

9. From eyesore to asset: how a smelly seaweed could fuel cars

1. Source
   • https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czr71vpz4ypo
2. Problem
   • To keep building on this successful fuel alternative, Dr. Legena Henry estimates it will cost $2 million to display initial commercial activity and $7.5 million to reach a point where they can sell gas to 300 taxis in Barbados.
   • Prof: How to manage the combined problems of sargassum beach pollution, island state dependence on imported fuel, and contributions to climate change. AND/OR how to scale up an potential clean technology.
3. Summary
   • A bio-fuel made of sargassum (a troublesome algae), wastewater from local rum distilleries, and solid waste from blackbelly sheep, has been found to be successful in replacing fossil fuel-powered vehicles. A team of scientists from the University of the West Indies has created a simple and affordable four-hour installation kit that can convert any car to run on the gas for $2,500. The main ingredient, sargassum, has become a nuisance for the tourism industry in the Caribbean as it has washed up on beaches completely covering them. The fuel makes use of all this material that was being transported to the landfill. The team filed for a patent ion the formula and started gaining investors, starting with $100,000 from the Blue Chip Foundation. The team was able to execute a successful test drive of a biogas-charged Nissan Leaf. To continue the innovation and incorporation of this new biofuel, Dr. Henry estimate the team will need $2 million for initial commercial activity and $7.5 to produce enough gas for 300 taxis in Barbados. The team has found many potential investors but the article does not give details on any successful deals yet.
4. Economic concepts
   1. Clean Technology (CT): consist of three characteristics. Firstly, these technologies generate the same service as an existing technology with similar or better quality. Second, they are cost-competitive, cheaper, or demonstrating that it will be cheaper in the future than existing technologies. Lastly, these technologies are substantially environmentally superior to existing technologies. These factors put together makes them "clean" technologies. Examples of CTs are waste reduction in manufacturing, recycling of wastes, low-input agriculture, renewable resource use/production, etc.
   2. Early-stage Clean Technologies: this type of CT needs more information and innovation or an increase in production to be able to cover the long-run costs. Research and developments allows firms to invent less costly and more sustainable methods of production which will lower costs that early-stage CTs must account for. Governments can provide policies to help early-stage CT by providing funding for research and development, technology-forcing standards, infrastructure investment, and producer subsidies.
5. Application of concepts
   • This sargassum fuel is an early-stage clean technology. It has demonstrated that it is potentially cheaper than fossil fuels, performs the same function as fossil fuels, and has substantially better environmental effects than fossil fuels thereby making it a clean technology. This biofuel is a early-stage CT because it is still in the development process and there are many costs that must be accounted for to achieve the next stage of development for this fuel. A US NGO has donated $100,000 dollars to the sargassum team, however, the team estimates it is going to need about $10 million for production. This is a real-life example of the barriers CTs face in entering the market. This biofuel source has the potential to be a sustainable CT that replaces oil and gas-powered vehicles by utilizing a seaweed that is a otherwise an invasive nuisance to Caribbean beaches.
6. Conclusion
   • For early-stage CTs like this sargassum biofuel to be successful, they require funds, research, and development. This biofuel has already proved it has potential to be a new sustainable fuel source, however there are many barriers that still stand in the way, specifically financial barriers. To mitigate climate change, CTs are required, but they cannot be successful if they are not supported appropriately by government policies and financial subsidies.