The performance of industrial sector voluntary climate programs: Climate Wise and 1605(b)
The performance of industrial sector voluntary climate programs: Climate Wise and 1605(b)
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工业部门自愿气候计划的绩效：Climate Wise 和 1605(b)
DOI：
10.1016/j.enpol.2011.09.040
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发表时间：
2011
期刊：
影响因子：
9
通讯作者：
J. Shih
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
W. Pizer;R. Morgenstern;J. Shih
企业自愿气候计划的评估有限。参与者的自我选择（此类举措的一个基本要素）给研究人员带来了挑战，因为参与的决定可能不是随机的，并且可能与结果相关。本研究旨在衡量两个具有既定记录的早期自愿气候变化计划（美国环境保护署的气候明智计划和美国能源部的温室气体自愿报告计划（1605(b)））的工业部门要素的环境有效性。特别关注参与决策以及各种假设如何影响使用应用于工厂级普查数据的倾向得分匹配方法对计划结果的估计。总体而言，效果不大：燃料和电力支出的减少不超过 10%，甚至可能低于 5%。实际上没有证据表明这两个计划对燃料成本具有统计上的显着影响。一些证据表明，参与 Climate Wise 导致电力成本增加 3% 至 5%，但两年后就消失了。更有力的证据表明，参与 1605(b) 导致电力成本下降 4-8%，这种下降至少持续了三年。这些结果表明，虽然自愿计划可以在应对气候变化方面发挥一定作用，但它们不太可能带来当前辩论中所要求的大幅减排。
Corporate voluntary climate programs have had limited evaluation. The self-selection of participants—an essential element of such initiatives—poses challenges to researchers because the decision to participate may not be random and may be correlated with outcomes. This study aims to gage the environmental effectiveness of the industrial sector elements of two early voluntary climate change programs with established track records, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Climate Wise and the U.S. Department of Energy's Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases Program (1605(b)). Particular attention is paid to the participation decision and how various assumptions affect estimates of program outcomes using propensity score matching methods applied to plant-level Census data. Overall, the effects are modest: reductions in fuel and electricity expenditures are no more than 10 percent and probably less than 5 percent. Virtually no evidence suggests either program has a statistically significant effect on fuel costs. Some evidence indicates that participation in Climate Wise led to a 3–5 percent increase in electricity costs that vanished after two years. Stronger evidence suggests that participation in 1605(b) led to a 4–8 percent decrease in electricity costs that persisted for at least three years. These results suggest that while voluntary programs can play some role in addressing climate change, they are unlikely to bring about the kinds of steep reductions called for in the current debate.