One global deal from Paris 2015: Convergence and contestations on the future climate mitigation agenda

This article analyses the 2015 Paris Agreement of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, with a focus on mitigation. The history of climate negotiations and the mitigation agenda shows the divide between developed and developing countries, with the latter insisting that the former, having caused the problem, need to do more to reduce carbon emissions to address climate change. However, as some emerging economies had continued to emit more carbon, there were calls to treat these as developed countries, requiring increased mitigation measures. The article examines the record of these emerging economies, and establishes that there was some convergence in Paris, a positive element that resulted in a single global climate treaty. However, the Paris negotiations also witnessed contestations, with the final agreement insufficient to keep global warming within advised limits, and in any case only partly legally binding, leaving its implementation success to good will.     

The problem of past emissions and intergenerational debts

The problem of past emissions – how to share fairly the costs of climate-changing emissions caused by polluters who are no longer in existence – presents an increasingly pressing challenge to scholars and policy-makers. Since standard contribution-based principles are inapplicable when it comes to past emissions, theorists have instead proposed various non-contribution-based historical principles. This paper develops such a principle – the Inherited Debt Principle – which seeks to account for the intuition that historical injustice matters to current duties in a way that does not appeal to the counterfactual benefits derived from that injustice. This principle, it is argued, offers a surprisingly plausible solution to the problem of past emissions.     

生态文明视域下的桂林低碳城市建设

低碳城市建设对于推进桂林生态文明,打造国际旅游胜地具有重要意义。桂林需探索一条以低碳产业为主导的经济发展模式、市民崇尚低碳化生活方式、政府以建设低碳社会为目标、具有自身特色的低碳城市建设道路,推动经济、社会、文化、生态的可持续发展,从而实现桂林建设"全国生态文明建设示范区"的目标。     

一氧化碳中毒致死之案例研究

通过两例一氧化碳中毒致死特殊案例的分析,探讨一氧化碳中毒原因,中毒机理,中毒致死量。案例分析表明,只有通过详细认真的现场勘查,专业性的尸体检验及检材采取,科学的富有逻辑性的案件分析论断,才能准确为案件定性,解答死者家属疑问,以避免冤案错案的产生。     

Renewable energy and East Asia's new developmentalism: towards a low carbon future?

Abstract

East Asia's renewable energy (RE) sector has grown faster than any other region's since the mid-2000s. It is argued that renewables formed an integral part of the region's new industrial policies and new developmentalism, which are founded on new configured forms of state capacity shaped in response to various challenges, primarily climate change, energy security, globalisation and global neo-liberalism. By studying the recent progress of East Asia's RE sector, we gain useful insights into these key developments in East Asia's political economy and the region's prospects for transition towards low carbon development. This analysis considers how and why different approaches to RE policy emerged in East Asia, to what extent the promotion and expansion of East Asia's RE sector is part of a new industrial policy paradigm and new developmentalism, and what the study of East Asian policies on promoting renewable energy can tell us about the region's broader approach to low carbon development. Although the promotion of renewable energy has been a fundamental part of East Asia's recent macro-development plans and new developmentalism generally, these same plans suggest that East Asian states will simultaneously continue to significantly promote high carbon and ecologically damaging industrial activities, thus undermining the low carbon credentials of East Asia's new developmentalism. The path to meaningful low carbon development will be very long and will take many decades to achieve. However, it is contended that by maintaining and improving their various forms of state capacity over time, the East Asian states will be well positioned to sustain the significant growth of their renewable energy sectors and thereby further strengthen the low carbon development orientation of their new industrial policies, macro-development plans and strategic economic thinking.     

REDD+ and the global climate policy negotiating regimes: Challenges and opportunities for Africa

Prior to developments in Copenhagen in 2009 and Cancun in 2010, global climate policy negotiations seldom culminated in concrete decisions concerning ways in which Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) could be linked to sustainable development and carbon markets in developing countries, such as those in some parts of Africa.That changed with the expansion of the REDD initiative, to REDD+. Key arguments in the discussions have concerned contested methodologies for measuring, reporting and verifying carbon stocks; ensuring adequate technology transfer; and rectifying the shortage of local experts to deal with REDD+. However, there has been no contestation on the fact that REDD+ creates financial value for carbon stored in forests, an aspect that would encourage developing countries to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation of forested lands and to invest in low-carbon growth paths. This article sheds light on how REDD+ has developed in global climate negotiations and how African governments have and should engage with REDD+. The conclusion is that since the Bali Action Plan of 2007, there has been significant progress in creating enabling global architecture with regard to REDD+, and African governments should now grasp the opportunities offered by REDD+ while advocating for a fair, legally binding and ethical arrangement to engage over the forests which are so key to many of their economies.     

A Fatal Case of CO2 Intoxication in a Fermentation Tank

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is an odorless constituent of air. Higher concentrations can be detected in geothermal and automotive emissions, fermentation, and sublimation of dry ice. An unskilled worker entered a fermentation tank to clean it, which had not been done for about 5 months allowing for high concentrations of CO₂ to build up. A second worker entered the tank to rescue the first one. Shortly after both were found the first worker was rescued directly whereas the tank had to be rotated to pull the second worker out. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was successful only for the first worker. Medico‐legal autopsy showed bruises, hematoma, myocardial hemorrhage, and edema of the lungs. The right lung was vacuum degassed in an argon atmosphere and quadrupole‐mass‐spectrometry showed an elevated CO₂ content in lung gases. Thus, CO₂ intoxication/asphyxia in a vitiated atmosphere due to fermentation of wine mash was established as the cause of death.     

Accuracy and Usefulness of the AVOXimeter 4000 as Routine Analysis of Carboxyhemoglobin

The measurement of blood carboxyhemoglobin (CO‐Hb) is important to determine the cause of death. The AVOXimeter 4000 (AVOX), a portable CO‐oximeter, has the advantages of a low purchase price and operating cost, ease of operation, and rapid results. Little information is available on the usefulness of AVOX in the forensic sample, and the previous study investigated only six samples. Therefore, in this study, we confirmed the usefulness of the AVOX through a comparison of its re s ults with data previously obtained using the double wavelength spectrophotometric method in autopsies. Regression analysis was performed between CO‐Hb levels measured by the AVOX and those measured by the conventional double wavelength spectrophotometric method in postmortem blood samples: a significant correlation was observed. This study suggests the usefulness of the AVOX to analyze postmortem blood, and the AVOX is suitable for routine forensic analysis and can be applied at the crime scene.     

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning and Death in a Large Enclosed Ventilated Area

A 55‐year‐old man with a medical history of tobacco use suddenly collapsed while power washing an empty indoor pool in a hotel. The decedent was transported to the local hospital where he was pronounced. A postmortem examination revealed atherosclerotic heart disease and bilateral pulmonary edema and congestion. A postmortem blood carbon monoxide (CO) level was 27% saturation, and a CO performed on hospital admission blood was 49% saturation. CO poisoning is a common cause of toxicological morbidity and mortality in the United States. The circumstances most often occur in an enclosed environment and may be intentional or unintentional. CO poisoning has been reported in open, well‐ventilated spaces, but rarely results in death. A warning label was present on the engine clearly stating the dangers of CO emission. However, there was a false sense of security due to the large size of the pool room and the presence of industrial blowers that were being used for ventilation.     

国际贸易中隐含碳与碳关税、碳税征收之探析

碳税作为另一法律新理念,其与碳关税有何关系,碳关税的征收是否合法,并且国际贸易中隐含碳问题的存在又会对二者产生何种影响,文章就上述问题结合国际时政和学术理论,阐述见解并提出可行性建议。