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Compliance and Emissions Trading under the Kyoto Protocol: Rules for Uncertain Inventories

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Water, Air, & Soil Pollution: Focus

Abstract

A solution is proposed for proving compliance with emission targets and for emissions trading in the event of uncertainties in reported emission inventories. The solution is based on the undershooting concept, from which the mathematical conditions for both proving compliance with a risk α and calculating effective emissions for trading are derived. Based on the reported emission units, the number of permits granted is reduced in proportion to the uncertainty in the inventory. A country whose inventory has higher uncertainty is thereby allotted fewer permits than a country with the same inventory but smaller uncertainty.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Systems Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Newelska 6, 01-447, Warsaw, Poland

    Zbigniew Nahorski & Joanna Horabik

  2. International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, 2361, Laxenburg, Austria

    Matthias Jonas

Authors
  1. Zbigniew Nahorski
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  2. Joanna Horabik
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  3. Matthias Jonas
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Correspondence to Zbigniew Nahorski.

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Nahorski, Z., Horabik, J. & Jonas, M. Compliance and Emissions Trading under the Kyoto Protocol: Rules for Uncertain Inventories. Water Air Soil Pollut: Focus 7, 539–558 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11267-006-9112-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11267-006-9112-8

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