Staff:
Lee, C.
;
Lazarus, M.
Date: 2011-ongoing
Client/Funder: Natural Resources Defense Council
Research Area(s):
Climate Mitigation Policy
;
Emissions Trading & Offsets
Description: Backed by numerous national and global studies, climate and renewable energy experts and advocates have long pointed to biomass energy as offering a potentially significant contribution to long-term, sustainable energy supply. However, in several regions of the United States, proposals to build new biomass power plants have met with stiff opposition, with questions raised regarding the climate benefit of woody biomass energy production. To help address these questions, SEI is developing a spreadsheet tool capable of assessing and clearly presenting the timeline of climate impacts, both GHG emissions and climate-forcing, of using a range of woody biomass sources for electricity production, building upon the foundation of the Land-Use Change Emissions (LUCE) model developed by SEI with NRDC support. Our overall objective with this effort is to develop an educational tool that can inform ongoing biomass energy discussions at both at the government agency level and with civil society at large, and through doing so, achieve greater consensus on the role of U.S. biomass energy in mitigating global climate change.
Staff:
Lazarus, M.
;
Erickson, P.
;
Chandler, C.
;
AEA (lead), Centre for European Policy Studies, CO2logic
Date: 2011-ongoing
Client/Funder: European Commission Directorate-General for Climate Action, AEA
Research Area(s):
Emissions Trading & Offsets
;
Climate Mitigation Policy
Description: SEI is part of a team led by AEA, a global sustainability consultancy, that is providing the European Union with a comprehensive appraisal of the strengths and shortcomings of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and a suite of practical reform options. We are examining systemic reforms that the EU could promote through changes in CDM governance, rules, and operation as well as unilateral demand-side" steps that the EU, as the principal market for certified emission reductions (CERs), could take to leverage change.
Staff:
Erickson, P.
;
Lazarus, M.
;
Chandler, C.
;
Varnäs, A.; Nykvist, B.; Nilsson, M. (SEI-Stockholm)
Date: 2011-ongoing
Client/Funder: 3C – Combat Climate Change
Research Area(s):
Climate Mitigation Policy
Description: This study, part of SEI's broader 3C program partnership, focuses on the necessary requirements for key low-carbon technologies to be developed and commercialized; the various structures, policies and other incentives needed to enable this development; as well as the incentives that would spur companies to move to and invest in these new technologies. We focus our study on solar photovoltaic and carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies in the United States and Europe.
More information
External Link
Staff:
Lazarus, M.
;
Erickson, P.
;
Lee, C.
Date: 2006-ongoing
Client/Funder: Western Climate Initiative, U.S. member states
Research Area(s):
Emissions Trading & Offsets
;
Climate Mitigation Policy
Description: The Western Climate Initiative is a regional collaboration between seven U.S. states and four Canadian provinces, representing over 70 percent of the Canadian economy and 20 percent of the U.S. economy that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. SEI advised and supported the Initiative in the development of the program design to work towards putting the program in place to start on January 1, 2012. SEI staff serve as technical advisors supporting work of the offset, cap setting and allowance distribution, and competitiveness committees.
Staff:
Erickson, P.
;
Lazarus, M.
;
Stanton, E.A.
;
Chandler, C.
;
Bueno, R.
;
Ackerman, F.
;
Kollmuss, A.; Cascadia Consulting Group Inc.; Gordon Smith, Ecofor LLC; Michael Gillenwater
Date: 2010-2011
Client/Funder: King County (WA), City of Seattle, Puget Sound Clean Air Agency
Research Area(s):
Climate Mitigation Policy
Description: In the absence of an accepted, standard greenhouse gas inventory protocol for communities, King County and other partners have funded this ambitious project to recommend a GHG emissions monitoring framework for the region of King County (which includes Seattle). SEI's work on this project has included compiling a 2008 update to the County's GHG emissions inventory (using traditional inventory methods) as well as conducting an innovative consumption-based GHG inventory (counting all the emissions released to support consumption in the county, regardless of where those emissions were released). Using results of these two inventories, coupled with additional research, SEI has been working with King County and other project partners to recommend a comprehensive, policy-relevant, cost-effective emissions measurement framework.
