IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v39y2011i9p5259-5268.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Rigorous classification and carbon accounting principles for low and Zero Carbon Cities

Author

Listed:
  • Kennedy, Scott
  • Sgouridis, Sgouris

Abstract

A large number of communities, new developments, and regions aim to lower their carbon footprint and aspire to become "zero carbon" or "Carbon Neutral." Yet there are neither clear definitions for the scope of emissions that such a label would address on an urban scale, nor is there a process for qualifying the carbon reduction claims. This paper addresses the question of how to define a zero carbon, Low Carbon, or Carbon Neutral urban development by proposing hierarchical emissions categories with three levels: Internal Emissions based on the geographical boundary, external emissions directly caused by core municipal activities, and internal or external emissions due to non-core activities. Each level implies a different carbon management strategy (eliminating, balancing, and minimizing, respectively) needed to meet a Net Zero Carbon designation. The trade-offs, implications, and difficulties of implementing carbon debt accounting based upon these definitions are further analyzed.

Suggested Citation

  • Kennedy, Scott & Sgouridis, Sgouris, 2011. "Rigorous classification and carbon accounting principles for low and Zero Carbon Cities," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(9), pages 5259-5268, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:39:y:2011:i:9:p:5259-5268
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421511004241
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Richard S.J. Tol, 2011. "The Social Cost of Carbon," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 3(1), pages 419-443, October.
    2. Kennedy, Christopher & Steinberger, Julia & Gasson, Barrie & Hansen, Yvonne & Hillman, Timothy & Havránek, Miroslav & Pataki, Diane & Phdungsilp, Aumnad & Ramaswami, Anu & Mendez, Gara Villalba, 2010. "Methodology for inventorying greenhouse gas emissions from global cities," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(9), pages 4828-4837, September.
    3. Heather Lovell & Harriet Bulkeley & Diana Liverman, 2009. "Carbon Offsetting: Sustaining Consumption?," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 41(10), pages 2357-2379, October.
    4. Sgouridis, Sgouris & Kennedy, Scott, 2010. "Tangible and fungible energy: Hybrid energy market and currency system for total energy management. A Masdar City case study," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 1749-1758, April.
    5. Reiche, Danyel, 2010. "Renewable Energy Policies in the Gulf countries: A case study of the carbon-neutral "Masdar City" in Abu Dhabi," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 378-382, January.
    6. Philip Fearnside & Daniel Lashof & Pedro Moura-Costa, 2000. "Accounting for time in Mitigating Global Warming through land-use change and forestry," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 5(3), pages 239-270, September.
    7. Bouman, Mathijs & Heijungs, Reinout & van der Voet, Ester & van den Bergh, Jeroen C. J. M. & Huppes, Gjalt, 2000. "Material flows and economic models: an analytical comparison of SFA, LCA and partial equilibrium models," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 195-216, February.
    8. Roger A. Sedjo & Gregg Marland, 2003. "Inter-trading permanent emissions credits and rented temporary carbon emissions offsets: some issues and alternatives," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(4), pages 435-444, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Abbas Hassan & Hyowon Lee, 2015. "The paradox of the sustainable city: definitions and examples," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 17(6), pages 1267-1285, December.
    2. Almansoori, Ali & Betancourt-Torcat, Alberto, 2015. "Design optimization model for the integration of renewable and nuclear energy in the United Arab Emirates’ power system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 234-251.
    3. Marshall, Liz & Kelly, Alexia, 2010. "The Time Value of Carbon and Carbon Storage: Clarifying the terms and the policy implications of the debate," MPRA Paper 27326, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Heli Lu & Guifang Liu, 2015. "Opportunity Costs of Carbon Emissions Stemming from Changes in Land Use," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-18, March.
    5. Talal Obaid Alshammari & Abbas M. Hassan & Yasser Arab & Heba Hussein & Fatemeh Khozaei & Maryam Saeed & Basma Ahmed & Manaf Zghaibeh & Wesam Beitelmal & Hyowon Lee, 2022. "The Compactness of Non-Compacted Urban Developments: A Critical Review on Sustainable Approaches to Automobility and Urban Sprawl," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-17, September.
    6. van den Bergh, J.C.J.M. & Botzen, W.J.W., 2015. "Monetary valuation of the social cost of CO2 emissions: A critical survey," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 33-46.
    7. Rong Li & Brent Sohngen & Xiaohui Tian, 2022. "Efficiency of forest carbon policies at intensive and extensive margins," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(4), pages 1243-1267, August.
    8. Sabina Shaikh & Pavel Suchánek & Lili Sun & G. Cornelis van Kooten, 2003. "Does Inclusion of Landowners’ Non-Market Values Lower Costs of Creating Carbon Forest Sinks?," Working Papers 2003-03, University of Victoria, Department of Economics, Resource Economics and Policy Analysis Research Group.
    9. Poudyal, Neelam C. & Siry, Jacek P. & Bowker, J.M., 2010. "Urban forests' potential to supply marketable carbon emission offsets: A survey of municipal governments in the United States," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(6), pages 432-438, July.
    10. Alessio Russo & Giuseppe T. Cirella, 2019. "Edible urbanism 5.0," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(1), pages 1-9, December.
    11. Yun-Yun Ko & Yin-Hao Chiu, 2020. "Empirical Study of Urban Development Evaluation Indicators Based on the Urban Metabolism Concept," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-15, September.
    12. Xinhui Feng & Yan Li & Lu Zhang & Chuyu Xia & Er Yu & Jiayu Yang, 2022. "Carbon Metabolism in Urban “Production–Living–Ecological” Space Based on Ecological Network Analysis," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-22, August.
    13. Tol, Richard S.J., 2012. "A cost–benefit analysis of the EU 20/20/2020 package," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 288-295.
    14. Lazarus, Michael & Chandler, Chelsea & Erickson, Peter, 2013. "A core framework and scenario for deep GHG reductions at the city scale," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 563-574.
    15. Attahiru, Yusuf Babangida & Aziz, Md. Maniruzzaman A. & Kassim, Khairul Anuar & Shahid, Shamsuddin & Wan Abu Bakar, Wan Azelee & NSashruddin, Thanwa Filza & Rahman, Farahiyah Abdul & Ahamed, Mohd Imra, 2019. "A review on green economy and development of green roads and highways using carbon neutral materials," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 600-613.
    16. Minihan, Erin S. & Wu, Ziping, 2011. "The Potential Economic and Environmental Costs of GHG Mitigation Measures for Cattle Sectors in Northern Ireland," 85th Annual Conference, April 18-20, 2011, Warwick University, Coventry, UK 108779, Agricultural Economics Society.
    17. Xiaoxu, Xing & Qiangmin, Xi & Weihao, Shi, 2024. "Impact of urban compactness on carbon emission in Chinese cities: From moderating effects of industrial diversity and job-housing imbalances," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    18. Marion Dupoux, 2016. "The land use change time-accounting failure," EconomiX Working Papers 2016-28, University of Paris Nanterre, EconomiX.
    19. van Kooten, G. Cornelis, 2004. "Economics of Forest and Agricultural Carbon Sinks," Working Papers 18160, University of Victoria, Resource Economics and Policy.
    20. H. Damon Matthews & Kirsten Zickfeld & Alexander Koch & Amy Luers, 2023. "Accounting for the climate benefit of temporary carbon storage in nature," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:39:y:2011:i:9:p:5259-5268. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.