International environmental and development policy cooperation and the transition process of the Central and Eastern European countries

The political and economic changes in countries of the Central and Eastern European region during the recent two decades had significant implications on their participation in international environmental policy-making. These changes were motivated by the changing international political priorities and economic interests, realization of their part in the "common but differentiated responsibility" for the global environmental processes and the relatively modest capacities for international development cooperation. The situation of these countries was acknowledged by the international community by granting specific provisions to these "economies in transition" in international environmental policy mechanisms. In spite of the rapidly diverging external relations of the various groups of these countries, to some extent and in different forms the transition phase is still prevailing and has its effect on the ongoing international environmental negotiations. The paper describes the background of these changes, demonstrates the specific provisions for these countries that made possible their participation in the common efforts to tackle the emerging global and regional environmental problems by acceding to the relevant international mechanisms.

A Consumption-Based Approach to Carbon Emission Accounting – Sectoral Differences and Environmental Benefits

In recent years there has been growing concern about the emission trade balances of countries. This is due to the fact that countries with an open economy are active players in international trade. Trade is not only a major factor in forging a country’s economic structure, but contributes to the movement of embodied emissions beyond country borders. This issue is especially relevant from the carbon accounting policy and domestic production perspective, as it is known that the production-based principle is employed in the Kyoto agreement. The research described herein was designed to reveal the interdependence of countries on international trade and the corresponding embodied emissions both on national and on sectoral level and to illustrate the significance of the consumption-based emission accounting. It is presented here to what extent a consumption-based accounting would change the present system based on production-based accounting and allocation. The relationship of CO2 emission embodied in exports and embodied in imports is analysed here. International trade can blur the responsibility for the ecological effects of production and consumption and it can lengthen the link between consumption and its consequences. Input-output models are used in the methodology as they provide an appropriate framework for climate change accounting. The analysis comprises an international comparative study of four European countries (Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Hungary) with extended trading activities and carbon emissions. Moving from a production-based approach in climate policy to a consumption-based principle and allocation approach would help to increase the efficiency of emission reductions and would force countries to rethink their trading activities in order to decrease the environmental load of production activities. The results of this study show that it is important to distinguish between the two emission accounting approaches, both on the global and the local level.

A fenntartható fejlődéssel foglalkozó nemzetközi együttműködés négy évtizede (Four Decades of International Cooperation on Sustainable Development)

Along with the recognition of the increasing environmental and social problems stemming from globalization, the need to address these problems and to develop the relevant international framework has strengthened since the 1970s. The scope of this cooperation gradually broadened and eventually it embraced all issues, which were considered to be critical for sustainable development. The summits on sustainability, namely, the UN Conference on Environment and Development in 1992, the “Rio+5” in 1997 and the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, wished to respond to all unsustainable processes by adopting, reinforcing and expanding a global program. This program is based on a series of important principles and includes various goals and instruments adopted by consensus; however, it also reflects delicate compromises between development related aspirations and environmental barriers, and also between the developed and the developing countries. Actually, there is a serious implementation gap and there are also new challenges. Referring to these problems, the idea of convening an extraordinary summit in 2012 was raised and it was eventually adopted but with a rather narrow mandate and agenda. It turned out that besides the “usual” conflicts between the developed and developing countries e.g. upon the common but differentiated responsibilities or international development financing, there were also diverting views on the green economy and on the ways of institutional strengthening of the international sustainable development and environmental governance. As a consequence, the 2012 Conference concluded with rather modest results.

Rethinking Kyoto Compliance from a Consumption-Based Perspective.

Environmental consequences of international trade are quite relevant for climate change policy. Apparent decoupling of GHG emission and GDP growth, observed in several European countries, is partly due to the increasing dislocation of manufacturing industries from the developed world to emerging economies. Consequently, decoupling is coupled with increasing GHG emission embodied in imported products from these nations. The article scrutinises the GHG emission embedded in Hungarian import of Chinese products. It argues that a stagnating GHG emission observed in Hungary is intertwined with hidden GHG export to China that takes place through trading of goods. Objective evaluation of compliance status with Kyoto targets would require a consumption-based accounting of GHG emissions rather than a production-based one, unless we accept facing a BIG problem at global level.

A nemzetközi kereskedelem hatása a kibocsátáselszámolási módszertanra Kína példáján keresztül

A fokozódó globális kereskedelem és klímaváltozás korában az üvegházhatású gázok elszámolásakor rendkívüli jelentőségű a nemzetközi kereskedelem hatásának figyelembevétele. A fejlett országokban az importált termékek növekvő fogyasztása következtében szétválik a termékek előállítása és fogyasztása során keletkező haszon, illetve a termék előállítása során keletkező üvegházhatású kibocsátásokért vállalt felelősség. A cikk bemutatja a jelenlegi kibocsátáselszámolási módszertanok alkalmazásának előnyeit és hátrányait, majd egy olyan új módszertant javasol, amely a megosztott felelősség elvére épül – figyelembe véve a nemzetközi kereskedelem hatásait. A szerzők a kínai export példáján empirikus eredményekkel támasztják alá a módszertan jelentőségét. A javaslat lényege, hogy egy termék előállítása során keletkező üvegházhatású gáz kibocsátásának anyagi inputokhoz kapcsolódó részét a terméket importáló országhoz számoljuk el, a hozzáadott érték előállításához kapcsolódó kibocsátásokat a termelő országhoz. Így a termékek előállítása során keletkező kibocsátások, valamint a gazdasági és fogyasztói hasznok nem válnak szét egymástól.

A levegőkörnyezet- és klímavédelem nemzetközi kvótakereskedelmi rendszerei

A nemzetközi, illetve államközi környezetvédelmi megállapodásokban foglalt, az azokban részes felek számszerűsített környezeti erőforrás-korlátozási vagy környezetszennyezés-korlátozási kötelezettségei teljesítésére esetenként kvóta-kereskedelmi rendszereket vezettek be. Az ilyen kötelezettségek teljesítése érdekében a megállapodásban részes államok "hazai" intézkedéseket hoznak és hajtanak végre. Ha ezek az intézkedések (pl. költséghatékonysági megfontolásokból) nem elégségesek, akkor a kvóta-kereskedelmi rendszer segítségével a hiányzó kvótákat megvásárolhatják azon államoktól (vagy közvetítőktől), amelyeknek többlete van. (...)