ChE664 - Environmental

Management

4/1/2016

Maheshi Danthurebandara (PhD)

Course content
Environmental Quality and Environmental Information Systems:
Environmental indices and indicators; National and International standards relating to
wastewater, gas emissions, noise, vibrations, hazardous waste and others; Environmental
legislation; Environmental regulations such as National Environmental Act and Regulations,
Noise Control Regulations, Hazardous Waste Regulations and others.
Montreal Protocol, Basel Convention, Framework Convention on Climate change, Biodiversity Convention, and Others; Environmental organisation; Data bases and resource
material on the Internet.
Environmental economics.
Environmental Management:
Basic concepts of environmental management; Management of terrestrial and aquatic
resources; Sustainable resources and biological conservation; Environmental issues and
priorities; Environmental management approaches; Enforcement and economic aspects of
environmental control; Environmental Protection Licence Program.
Environmental Impact Assessment:
Predicting impact; procedures for environmental impact assessment; integration with
development planning procedures; impact assessment of water resources, power
production, and other relevant projects; design concepts and alternative strategies for
impact reduction; monitoring.

4/1/2016

Maheshi Danthurebandara (PhD)

Time
(in hrs)
09

12

09

Evaluation
Theory: Written examination (80%)
Case study (20%)

4/1/2016

Maheshi Danthurebandara (PhD)

Environmental Indicators
Simple measures that tell us what is happening in the
environment.
Environment is very complex
Can we record all the variables in the environment??

We have to select some of them

4/1/2016

Maheshi Danthurebandara (PhD)

Environmental Indicators
An environmental indicator is a numerical value.
It helps provide insight into the state of the environment or
human health.
Indicators are developed based on quantitative measurements
or statistics of environmental condition that are tracked over
time.
GWP
OD
Environmental indicators can be developed and used at a wide
variety of geographic scales, from local to regional to national
levels.

4/1/2016

Maheshi Danthurebandara (PhD)

Environmental Indicators

A parameter or a value derived from parameters that describe

the state of the environment and its impact on human beings,
ecosystems and materials, the pressures on the environment,
the driving forces and the responses steering that system

4/1/2016

Maheshi Danthurebandara (PhD)

Environmental Indicators
Subsets of environmental indicators
Physical
biological and
chemical measures

Ecological indicators

atmospheric temperature
concentration of ozone in the stratosphere
number of breeding bird pairs in an area
atmospheric PM level

focus is on the state of the environment or conditions in the environment

These are also referred to as state indicators

4/1/2016

Maheshi Danthurebandara (PhD)

Environmental Indicators
Subsets of environmental indicators
measure human activities
or anthropogenic pressures

Pressure indicators

Greenhouse gas emission

4/1/2016

Maheshi Danthurebandara (PhD)

Environmental Indicators
Subsets of environmental indicators
track societal responses to
environmental issues.

Sociatel indicators

number of people serviced by sewage treatment

number of people live in the vicinity of landfills

4/1/2016

Maheshi Danthurebandara (PhD)

Environmental Indicators
Environmental indicators can be considered as a subset of sustainable
development indicators.

which are meant to track the overall

sustainability of a society with respect to
its environmental, social and economic
integrity and health

4/1/2016

Maheshi Danthurebandara (PhD)

10

Environmental Indicators
Who uses environmental indicators?

Governments
Non-government organizations
Community groups
Research institutions

For what?
to see if environmental objectives are being met
to communicate the state of the environment to the general public and
decision makers
as a diagnostic tool through detecting trends in the environment.

4/1/2016

Maheshi Danthurebandara (PhD)

11

Environmental Legislation
collection of many laws and
regulations aimed at protecting the
environment from harmful actions
A common law for all states???
Sovereignty of states

Environmental Legislation
Sovereignty of states

full right and power of a governing body

to govern itself without any interference
from outside sources or bodies.

Sovereign equality of states

This implies:
states are sovereign actors, which can not be forced to accept
new rules and regulations against their own will (either implicit
or explicit)
the competence of a third party to resolve conflicts between
states has to be explicitly accepted by the states involved
environmental measures addressing transboundary or global
environmental problems should, as far as possible, be based on
an international agreement (Principle 12, RIO)

International Environmental laws

Exploitation vs damage
- Stockholm 1972
"States have in accordance with the Charter of the United
Nations and the principles of international law, the
sovereign right to exploit their own resources pursuant
to their own environmental policies, and the
responsibility to ensure that activities within their
jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the
environment of other States or of areas beyond the
limits of national jurisdiction" (Principle 21).
What damage ? SERIOUS SUBSTANTIAL
APPR ECIABLE - SIGNIFICANT - NO QUALIFICATION

Exploitation vs damage:sea
- Law of the Sea Convention (1982)
Art. 193: States have the sovereign right to exploit
their natural resources pursuant to their
environmental policies and in accordance with
their duty to protect and preserve the marine
environment

Exploitation vs damage:natural resources

- Rio 1992 (2nd UN Conference on environment and
development)
"States have, in accordance with the Charter of the
United Nations and the principles of international
law, the sovereign right to exploit their own resources
pursuant to their own environmental and
developmental policies, and the responsibility to
ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or
control do not cause damage to the environment of
other States or of areas beyond the limits of national
jurisdiction" (Principle 2).

Exploitation vs damage: biodiversity

- Convention on Biological Diversity 1992
"States have, in accordance with the Charter of the
United Nations and the principles of international
law, the sovereign right to exploit their own resources
pursuant to their own environmental policies, and the
responsibility to ensure that activities within their
jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the
environment of other States or of areas beyond the
limits of national jurisdiction. " (Art. 3).

Common but differentiated responsibility

Rio 1992

"States shall cooperate in a spirit of global partnership

to conserve, protect and restore the health and
integrity of the Earth's ecosystem. In view of the
different contributions to global environmental
degradation, States have common but differentiated
responsibilities.
The
developed
countries
acknowledge the responsibility that they bear in the
international pursuit of sustainable development in
view of the pressures their societies place on the
global environment and of the technologies and
financial resources they command. (Principle 7).

Common but differentiated responsibility

Application in:
Ozone Protocol (Montreal 1987)
Article 5 (developing countries) and non-Article 5 (developed
countries) parties

Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC 1992)

Annex I and non- Annex I (developing countries) parties

Understanding and attributing climate change

AR4: IPCC, 2007:
Most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the
mid-20th century is very likely due to observed increases in anthropogenic
greenhouse gas concentrations
Analysis of climate models together with constraints from observations
enables an assessed likely range to be given for climate sensitivity and
provides increased confidence in the understanding of climate system
response to radiative forcing

1/04/2016

Maheshi Danthurebandara (PhD)

22

Climate change policy

History of the climate policy
1987 - Our Common Future (Brundtland-report)
1992 UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change) adopted in Rio de Janeiro
1994 - UNFCCC entered into force
1995 - Start of CoP (conference of the parties) meetings (CoP1 in Berlin)
1997 - CoP3 Kyoto - Kyoto Protocol
1998 - CoP4 Buenos Aires - action plan

2000 2004: CoP5 CoP9: little progress

February 16, 2005: adoption of the Kyoto Protocol
An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore
Al Gore and IPCC win the Noble Price for peace in 2007
Post-Kyoto negotiations started end of 2007 (CoP13) in Bali
2009: CoP15 Copenhagen

1/04/2016

Maheshi Danthurebandara (PhD)

23

Kyoto protocol 1997

Stabilization of GHG concentration in the atmosphere at a level that would
prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system
Such a level should be achieved in a time frame sufficient to allow
ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food
production is not threatened and to enable economic growth to proceed in
a sustainable manner

Developed countries take the lead

5 % reduction of 6 GHG (CO2) in period 2008-2012, based on emissions in
1990

Annex I and non-Annex I countries

1/04/2016

Maheshi Danthurebandara (PhD)

24

Kyoto protocol 1997

The Protocols first commitment period started in 2008 and ended in 2012.
A second commitment period was agreed on in 2012, known as the Doha
Amendment to the protocol, in which 37 countries have binding targets:
Australia, the European Union (and its 28 member states), Belarus, Iceland,
Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, and Ukraine.
Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine have stated that they may withdraw from the
Protocol or not put into legal force the Amendment with second round targets.
Japan, New Zealand and Russia have participated in Kyoto's first-round but
have not taken on new targets in the second commitment period.

Other developed countries without second-round targets are Canada (which

withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol in 2012) and the United States (which has
not ratified the Protocol).
As of November 2015, 59 states have accepted the Doha Amendment.

How to achieve this reduction ?

Domestic measures: reduce emissions & increase absorption by
sinks
Emissions Trading
Joint Implementation
Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)

What is the Assigned Amount ?

Maximum amount of greenhouse gas emissions that a Party is allowed to emit
during the first commitment period (2008-2012).
Assigned Amount = [ base year emissions x 5 ] reduction target

e.g. reduction target for Belgium

=-8%

base year is 1990

8%
Assigned Amount =
total of AAUs issued
by a Party

x5
base year Emissions
A party issues a quantity of Assigned Amount Units (AAU) into its national registry that
corresponds to its established Assigned Amount

Options for a Party to reach compliance

The Party is in non-compliance

Assigned Amount

Emissions in the commitment period

2008-2012

Reduce its emissions domestically before the end of the commitment period
Increase the absorption of greenhouse gases by sinks
Acquire units from other Parties through project based mechanisms and
emission trading

Increase the absorption of greenhouse gases by

sinks
For every tonne of CO2 -eq. absorbed by sinks during the
commitment period, a Party can issue a removal unit or
RMU
But sinks can also be net emittors of CO2 -eq.
For every tonne of CO2 -eq. emitted by sinks, a Party shall
cancel one unit.
There are two categories of sinks eligible:
human-induced afforestation, reforestation
human-induced revegetation, forest management, cropland
management, and grazing land management.

Example: using sinks credits to reach

compliance
Issued RMUs because the
Partys can account for
net sinks

non-compliance

Issued AAUs =
Assigned Amount

Emissions during the

commitment period 20082012

Acquire units from other Parties through project based

mechanisms and emission trading
What type of units can a Party acquire from other Parties
(Emission Trading):
AAUs: AAUs are issued by Parties when they establish their
Assigned amount.
RMUs : RMUs are issued by Parties that can account for net sinks.
Emission Reduction Units or ERUs: (Joint Implementation)
Certified Emission Redutions or CERs: (Clean Development
Mechanism)

ERUs from Art. 6. Joint Implementation

Annex I Parties (those with reduction targets) can invest in projects
in other Annex I Parties in order to:
Reduce emissions further in those host Parties
Increase absorption by sinks in those host Parties
For every tonne of emissions reduced in the host Party, starting
from the year 2008, this host Party will convert an AAU into an
ERU. This ERU will be transferred to the investing Party.
For every tonne of increased absorption by sinks in the host Party,
starting from the year 2008, this host Party will issue a RMU and
convert this RMU into an ERU. This ERU will be transferred to the
investing Party.
Joint Implementation projects that reduce the emissions do not
increase the total allowed emissions by Annex I Parties.
Joint Implementation projects that increase absorption by
sinks do increase the total allowed emissions by Annex I Parties

CERs from Clean Development Mechanism

Parties can invest in projects in non-Annex I Parties (those with no
reduction target) in order to:
Reduce emissions in those non-Annex I Parties
Increase absorption by sinks in those non-Annex I Parties
For every tonne of emissions reduced in the non-Annex I Party, starting
from the year 2000, the CDM executive board will issue a CER. This CER
will be transferred to the investing Party.
For every tonne of increased absorption by sinks in the non-Annex I Party,
the CDM executive board will issue a CER. This CER will be transferred
to the investing Party.
There is a cap on the acquisition by an Annex I Party of CERs generated
through sinks projects. This cap is set at 1 % of the base year emissions
times 5.
CDM projects increase the total allowed emissions by Annex I Parties.

Example of a Party in compliance

It first issues RMUs generated by domestic sinks
It acquires and transfers AAUs, ERUs, CERs and RMUs. At the end of the
commitment period it demonstrates that it acquired more units than it
transferred.

Acquired minus transfered

AAUs, ERUs, CERs and RMUs
Issued RMUs

Compliance is
fulfilled

Issued AAUs =
Assigned Amount

Emissions in the commitment

period 2008-2012

Requirements to be fulfilled to participate in

ET, JI & CDM
a. Be a Party to the Kyoto Protocol (ratification)
b. To have established its assigned amount
c. To have in place a national system for monitoring of emissions by sources
and absorption by sinks
d. To have in place a national registry to account for the issuance, transfer
and/or cancellation of AAUs, ERUs, RMUs and CERs
e. To have submitted annually to the UNFCCC its inventory and other
required information

For Joint Implementation projects, special provisions allow Parties, under the
control of the JI Supervirory comittee, to issue ERUs before fulfilling all
eligibility requirements.
Under this procedure, requirements c and e do not have to be fulfilled.

Other major provisions

Commitment Period Reserve:

Parties shall not transfer units if this transfer would decrease the
total amount of units in its national registry below the commitment
period reserve level.
The required level of the commitment period reserve is 90 % of the
Partys assigned amount or 100 % of five times its most recently
reviewed inventory, whichever is lowest.
This should prevent overselling on purpose by Parties (so called
rogue trading)
Restoration Rate:
When a Party is not in compliance with its reductions target in the
1st commitment period its reduction target for the second
commitment period will be increased by 1.3 times the amount it
was in non-compliance.

Banking of AAUs, ERUs, CERs and RMUs?

Banking is the carry over of units to the next commitment

period.

There are no limitations on the banking of AAUs

A Party can only bank ERUs up to 2.5 % of its assigned
amount.
A Party can only bank CERs up to 2.5 % of its assigned
amount.
Parties cannot bank RMUs, neither ERUs converted from
RMUs

In practice, these limitations should have no real

impact.

Example: a Party is over-compliant. To demonstrate compliance a Party shall retire

AAUs, ERUs, CERs and RMUs into a retirement account.

AAUs that can be banked

Net acquired AAUs
Net acquired CERs
Net acquired ERUs
Net acquired RMUs
Issued RMUs
Emissions in the
commitment
period 2008-2012

Issued AAUs

Credits retired into the

retirement account